Chapter Thirteen

Chi-Chi kept her eyes pealed on the swath of beach just outside the kitchen window and sighed loudly.

"What's the matter, Chi-Chi?" the Ox-King asked, removing his helmet long enough to run his meaty fingers through the hair underneath before replacing it. "Did you forget something?"

"No, Papa," she replied. "I was just wondering what on Earth could be taking Goku so long. Yamcha could have flown around the continent in the time since he's left, and Goku knows how to teleport. I hope nothing is wrong, that's all."

Across the table from the anxious woman, Krillin folded his hands behind his head and rocked back in his chair. "They'll be fine, Chi-Chi," he said, speaking slowly to mask his own irrational anxieties. "I've been keeping an eye on their ki for as long as I could spot it, and neither one of'em has done anything rash. Yamcha just left the vicinity of two very large ki sources, one of which is following him. The other's stationary." He followed Chi-Chi's gaze out the window and found himself staring at the stars. "I think he's being followed by Goku, which would make the other ki Piccolo. Though why he'd be spending time with him right now I don't really know."

Yamcha was the older brother he never had, Krillin decided, both for himself and for Goku. When Goku had first mentioned the man to him all those years ago, during their training under Master Roshi, he held him in the highest of regards and spoke of him with nothing less than the utmost respect. Yamcha was the first martial artist Goku ever regarded as his equal, and the Saiyan confessed that even now he went to the ex-bandit for advice. Piccolo might be the tactician, and Vegeta might be, well, Vegeta, but Yamcha had known Goku longer than any of them save Bulma. He had watched Goku grow up and come into his own.

And just as if he'd been jerked forward by a chain, Yamcha had gotten to know Krillin. Just as well, too. There were some things Krillin could never speak about with the Saiyan because he was too darned naïve, too innocent. For instance…Goku had never been interested in the opposite sex. Ever. So whenever Krillin went to ask his friend what he thought about some girl he had seen somewhere, Goku would simply shrug and smile. Whereas Yamcha would actually give him a decipherable response.

The two young men got along well, interestingly enough. Krillin could always count on the scarred man to remember any one of a number of important bits of information – Goku would have forgotten them on principle – or to be around for him to vent to. They had spent many a late night in deep discussion over a pot of coffee (or stronger spirits, depending on the conversation…when Yamcha had asked Krillin what he would think if he proposed to Bulma, he had been sipping at a mug of Roshi's Finest), and in the process had become more familiar with and comfortable around each other than most brothers. He had gone positively ballistic when Yamcha died fighting the Saiyans.

Krillin sighed. He had been considering asking Yamcha to accompany him when he went searching for a car later in the week, but now he doubted the man would be willing to do much of anything at all.

He didn't blame him.

Chi-Chi gave a sigh to echo his own. "It all comes back to that green monster. First with my Gohan, then my Goku, and now with Yamcha. You're so lucky you can sense ki, Krillin. I wish I could keep track of my boys all the time like that." Her wistful countenance twisted into a scowl. "Then I could make sure they didn't go anywhere near him."

The monk rolled his eyes and let his head fall back. "Oh, come off it, Chi-Chi," he grumbled. "Piccolo's not half-bad once you get used to him. Vegeta's worse. And besides, it felt like Yamcha just ran into him at random. From what I can tell, they were sparring. Kami knows Yamcha would have needed that."

Chi-Chi made a rude noise, and her father choked on his latest mug of cocoa.

Oy, this is not going well, Master Roshi thought, carefully studying the young woman and the monk from his seat across the room. Goku, you and Yamcha had better get your butts back here before your wife mauls my housemate!

As his world exploded in a violent rush of ki, as he felt his body being burned away piece by excruciating piece, he had only one thought on his mind: Bulma, I'm so sorry…

He did not speak his thought, however; he only had voice enough to scream.

The battle had begun well enough…truly, it had. Yamcha had felt the arrival of the Saiyans, had been angered when one or both of them had snuffed out all life in the city. Actually, 'angered' was an understatement. It was more along the lines of 'enraged'. What had all of those people done to deserve such a fate?

He had been shadow-fighting up until that point, when he felt the surge of ki and resulting loss of life, like so many candles being blown out by the wind. The untimely end to his exercise left him knee-deep in a river just outside West Capital, where he turned his head in the aliens' direction. Pu'ar had already gone with Bulma to the Kame House for safety, and he had stayed behind in case the aliens decided to land close enough for him to intercept them. They had not, and Yamcha had felt a frustrated pressure build up in the space behind his eyes. All those people, all those lives…gone, in an instant. If he had been listening carefully enough, he might have heard their final, collective scream.

What a horrible, awesome power!

And there was still no sign of Goku.

When the Saiyans had finished with the city and began to move away, he raised his head and cursed loudly. He locked onto their ki signals with his own and burst into the air straight from the river. That'll leave a mark, he remembered thinking grimly, but he didn't look back. Instead he raced toward the two aliens, who in turn were rapidly approaching two of the highest kis on the planet…and he was almost positive he knew who they belonged to.

Son Gohan, Goku's little boy, and Piccolo.

He silently thanked Kami for his training, knowing full well that a year prior to this he never could have flown this fast, never could have sensed or distinguished the other warriors' ki. He had come a long way down the road from being a bandit to being a true warrior. And now he was going to fulfill that role and defend his planet.

He cleared the air above Western Capital in record time and left his unmitigated rage behind. Battle was no place for that unthinking emotion. He did not need muddled thoughts at a time when his mind might be the only thing that would keep him alive. He sped up, forming a small barrier around him to keep the sharp wind from blinding him.

Yamcha ground his teeth together and clenched his fists. Goku, he thought forcefully, where are you? You're supposed to be helping us fight these Saiyans! We're gonna be in big trouble if you don't hurry up!

He felt a third ki join up with Piccolo and Gohan, followed by the two terrible powers that belonged to the aliens. When six other kis suddenly popped up out of nowhere, he began to worry. What is going on over there? Where did those new powers come from?

Yamcha began to wonder how different this upcoming battle would be from his previous experiences. Heck, he was beginning to wonder why he'd offered to fight in the first place. The closer he drew, the better his sense of the happenings. The six new powers were attacking Piccolo, Gohan, and the third warrior – he thought it might be Krillin. Yajirobe would never show up for something like this, even if the fate of the Earth rested on his shoulders. Besides, what would he do, save the day?

When two other kis dropped down beside the three from Earth, Yamcha knew he had to be getting close. Those two felt so much stronger than the three others from a distance. It would have to be Tien and Chaozu. There was no possible way the two new fighters could be Saiyans, right? Kami, he fervently hoped not!

The land suddenly dipped away below him, and all thirteen ki powers could be sensed with more clarity. He was soaring over the valley he knew 'belonged' to Piccolo, or at least was the place he knew the demon inhabited. He remembered flying a prototype capsule jet over this valley once with Bulma; when he told her he could feel the demon lurking in the forest somewhere below them, she had panicked and hit the accelerator. If he wasn't mistaken, there should be two towering rock pillars signaling the border of the badlands right about…there.

Yamcha heaved a sigh. Well, this was it. If he was going to turn back, he would have to do so now, before the others caught sight of him.

"Hah, who am I kidding?" he grumbled. "I didn't spend all that time training for nothing! If I'm gonna go down, I'm gonna go down fighting!"

It was at that point that he spotted the small cluster of warriors among the rock columns and foothills of the barren land. The ground was scuffed and in some places scorched – have they started without me? he thought briefly – and he swooped down to the Earthling fighters. "Sorry I'm late," he grunted as he touched down, coming to a standstill beside a small boy and Piccolo.

That's got to be Goku's boy.

"Yamcha!" Krillin exclaimed happily.

Yamcha took the time to assess the small group. At the far end were Tien and Chaozu, with Krillin between them and Piccolo. The demon stood before the group, looking about as tightly-wound as could be without breaking, in the place Goku probably would have taken had he arrived. They would be following Piccolo's lead, then, as the strongest of the Earth's defenders. That meant the demon knew something about these guys the rest of them did not. Or perhaps he was standing before them to let the Saiyans know who they'd be dealing with, who the leader of this small rabble was.

Yamcha wasn't quite certain, but he thought Piccolo looked a bit concerned. And that emotion, coming from the most deadly threat the Earth had known to date, was not a good sign. If even Piccolo lost confidence, the rest of them would be sunk. Out of luck. Up a creek without a paddle.

Between the demon and himself stood – or more accurately, cowered – Son Gohan.

"Weren't there supposed to be two Saiyans?" Tien muttered.

"Maybe you should complain," Krillin remarked out the side of his mouth.

Yamcha bit back a chuckle.

But then the smaller of the two Saiyans proposed a 'game', where each of the Earth's defenders would take on one of their home-grown plant warriors. Tien had gone first and wiped the smirks off their faces. He had beaten his warrior so badly that the small Saiyan had to put the useless creature out of its misery.

"Who's next?"

Krillin had begun to move forward when Yamcha cut him off. "I'll do it. You've already been wished back once, Krillin. Let me do this." The monk had reluctantly stepped back into line, and Yamcha charged the creature.

Like he had first thought, it went easily enough. He was stronger, swifter than the green fighter. He fought it with a wild grin on his face, his hair whipping out behind him. It was a piece of cake! He launched a ki wave into its midsection and ground it into the earth. Landed on the edge of its crater, he smirked. "These monsters aren't as fearsome as they look. I'll take the other four on myself."

It was a terrible, terrible mistake, his underestimation of the aliens, and he realized as much when the dying creature lunged from the pit and latched itself onto the front of his body. NO! he screamed silently, struggling to break free.

Their eyes locked, his with horror and the plant man's with glee, and it chuckled.

Time slowed down…

…and his world caught fire. The alien detonated itself with its own ki, and he was caught in the resulting storm. He couldn't scream, he couldn't see past the brilliant white of the creature's ki. He couldn't feel anything past the heat that seared through his limbs, his body, his very self. It wasn't supposed to be like this!

Bulma, I'm so sorry…

Then his vision went black from the outer edges in, until he could see nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing.

And his lifeless body fell to the charred earth.

In case you hadn't caught it in my profile, I injured my arm over the summer, just before posting the previous chapter. I didn't think too much of it until it started hurting while I was typing. I had to do this chapter in fits and bursts, literally. I apologize for keeping you waiting – especially Elenek and Thanos6.

-Dreamwraith