A burning light ripped through the blackness of Bea's mind. His eyes jerked opened and for a moment he wasn't sure where he was. His eyes focused on Krillin. "What… happened?"
"You guys got beat up pretty bad, but no one died. Everyone else is awake." Krillin tucked the senzu beans away as he answered.
"Last thing I remember was having my tail grabbed." He flicked his tail so that he could see that it was still there. "Those Androids are serious. How's Vegeta's arm, by the way?"
"Healed by the senzu bean, he's already left. He's hiding his power though so we can't follow him. Trunks says that his dad is probably embarrassed at being defeated so easily. Honestly, I was too scared to even move. They took out four super saiyans like it was nothing."
Bea sprung to his feet. He then placed an open hand on Krillin's shoulder. "You did the right thing. Without you, we'd all be laying down here dying. Now we have a fighting chance. This battle, the four of us coming so close to death, well it should give us a huge power boost."
"So now what?" Pikada asked as he and Trunks walked up.
"We need to move Kakarot again. It wont take the androids long to figure out where he's at. Yamcha, ChiChi, and Angel are no match for them."
"Krillin, where is a place we could hide him for a few days?"
"Kame House. Master Roshi's island."
"Gather around then." They all touched Bea, except for Piccolo, who shot into the sky, heading in the general direction of the lookout. Bea placed two fingers to his forehead. Then he lowered it down. "Damn."
"Bea?" asked, Pikada.
"They might be able to sense that energy. We can't instant transmit there."
"What about flying then?" Asked Tien.
"They haven't shown indication of sensing flight." Bea replied.
Pikada jumped into the air. "Let's go then, right now."
Everyone followed suite, and soon they were streaking across the sky to Goku's home.
Angel stood outside of Kakarot's home. His wife and the human named Yamacha were both in the room where he rested. When they had first arrived the pain of the virus attack his heart had made Kakarot cry out in pain for hours, but not that had passed the Saiyan rested in silence. Angel wasn't sure what had happened with the Androids, but there had definitely been a major battle. Power levels had become outrageous for a long while, but now she sensed nothing. She had a knot of dread that her friends had died, but she fought to keep that thought from her mind.
Angel sat down and crossed her legs. She closed her eyes to take in sounds that surrounded her. In her days of taking planets over with the other members of the Guild, she had never taken the time to enjoy her surroundings. Now, on this backwater planet, she listened.
Birds sang, insects skittered, the river that ran past the home rushed by. Her mind built a picture, and pushed the thoughts of her friends away.
There was a presence near her, startled from her trance she stood. Yamcha stood a few steps behind her. He gazed at her thoughtful, then realized that she was looking at him.
"Umm." He blushed, and quickly looked away. "You look worried."
"Well, I am. That had to be a hell of a battle, but I haven't sensed anything for quite a while. I wonder if…" Her voice trailed off.
"No way, four saiyans, not to mention Piccolo, Tien, and Krillin. Nah, they're fine. Probably have the whole situation fixed by now." Yamcha started to pat her on the back, then caught himself.
Angel pretended to not notice. Then, she actively noticed something in the distance. Four specks of light, quickly growing in size. She pointed to draw Yamacha's attention. "Look! Here they come."
The dots swelled into recognizable forms, and in minutes the group stood in front of Yamacha and Angel. Bea and Pikada both nodded a hello to their compatriot Angel, while Krillin and Trunks approached Yamcha.
"Hey, Guys." He said excitedly. "See, Angel, I told you they'd handle those androids. No problems. Right?"
The four exchanged glances. Then Krillin spoke up. "No, actually we're all pretty lucky to be alive. They beat them, I didn't fight. It's bad, Yamcha, they're stronger than Trunks thought."
"We need to move Kakarot, now. The androids are looking for him, and this is a logical first step." Bea said, stepping up.
"We all need to go." Said Krillin. "We can take the truck." He pointed over his shoulder.
Together, they moved Goku from the bed to the hover truck, and soon they were flying over the ocean, heading towards Roshi's island.
Pikada suddenly stood up. "I'm going back to the house. If they show up I'll slow them down."
"No way. They'll kill you in a one on one fight." Bea Answered angrily.
"Never said I was going to fight them Bea. I have a plan though."
Bea glared at him. Then gave a terse nod. "I wish we still had our scouters suddenly. You could call for back up then. But fine. Just have an exit plan."
Pikada cracked open the side hatch and stepped out into the sky. He raced towards Goku's empty home to await the trio of androids.
Not much later the air truck landed at the Kame House, and the group unloaded Goku and their supplies. Bea strolled to the beach and stood standing looking over the ocean. He sighed, the said, "Shit." Before he sat down, and began to wait.
Pikada rested on the domed roof of Kakorat's little bungalow. In the distance he could hear an engine approaching, the first thing besides wildlife he'd heard in the few hours he'd been sitting there. A pink delivery truck pulled through the woods and came to a rest near the house. The three androids all got out and looked around. As they walked towards the house Pikada leapt from the roof and leaned against the door to the house. "Long time no see." He said casually.
"Look 18, this one has come back for more already." 17 said mockingly.
"A insignificant amount of time has passed since we last encountered you." 16 stated matter-of-factly.
"I wonder where his friends have gone." Said 18.
"I suppose you're not selling cookies?" Asked Pikada.
"Sorry, fresh out." 17 again.
"Well if you're looking for Kakorat, you're too late."
"We are here to kill Goku." Replied number 16.
"Well 'Goku'," Pikada made quotation marks with his fingers, "isn't here big boy."
"Where is he, then?" The giant android responded calmly.
"Well here's the fun part about that. I'm not sure. I stayed here, and they left. My best guess is he's still somewhere on Earth, but at this point I can't guarantee that."
"Oh, that is a shame. It would have made completing our mission easier."
"Those senzu beans really do work, don't they?" asked 17 as he examined Pikada. "We left you in far worse shape than this."
"They are pretty impressive." Pikada said.
"You won't mind if we look for ourselves?" asked 18, while she absentmindedly brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear.
Pikada stepped to the side, and bowed them in. "One request. Remember, not only Kakarot, excuse me, Goku, lives her, he has a family. If he is killed by you, do them the favor of not ransacking their home. Look all you want, but it'd be appreciated if you don't destroy anything." He opened the door.
"We'll think about it. Come on 16 and 18." The trio brushed past Pikada. He followed them in.
"By the Gods, I'm an idiot!" Bea leapt to his feet. He turned towards the upstairs of the house.
There lie Kakarot sweating but peaceful. Chi-Chi, Bulma, and Yamcha looked over him. Bea pointed at the three of them. "Gather a few days worth of clothes and supplies. We leave in 30 minutes." He spun and walked out. The three caregivers looked at each other quizzically.
"So, are you satisfied that he's not here." Pikada strolled through the house with his hands tucked behind his head, watching as the androids searched the place.
"He is not here." Agreed 16 stoically.
"So where is he then?" Asked 18 impatiently.
"We could force him to tell us." Responded 17.
"You can try. But the real answer is that I don't know." Pikada said nonchalantly. "You see when they left, I stayed behind. Won't lie to you three, it was mostly to buy time. But after fighting you, I give it about even odds that you'll kill Kakarot, Goku, whatever you call him, and that'll be hard enough on his family without you smashing up their home." He turned to face the trio and stood as relaxed as possible. His aura burst around him, his hair turning gold and his eyes green. "Now, if you want to try and force me to tell you where he's at, then I'm game. I would rather do it away from here."
17 and 18 looked him, their hair swayed in the wind created by the pressure of his form. 17 made his hands into first, and dug his feet into the ground to charge. 16 placed a giant hand on his shoulder. "I think he is telling the truth."
"So do I." said 18.
17 relaxed. "Oh, fine." He turned to Pikada. "We'll leave. But if we see you again and you try to stop us from defeating Goku, we'll kill you."
"Fair enough." Pikada said as his energy returned to normal. "If that battle happens, I'll be there to defend him, and you'll have your chance."
The Androids turned to fly off. 16 turned to back to where 17 and 18 were. "After reviewing the information we found in his home, I believe that Goku is probably at the "Kame House" which is on a small Island in the ocean. We should search there first."
Pikada felt a little deflated when he heard this but he tried not to show it. In a few minutes the Androids disappeared, Leaving him alone in the empty house.
"Everybody ready?" Bea asked. The three humans nodded.
"Grab onto Kakarot, hold him tight." Bea placed his left hand onto Goku's shoulder and gripped firmly. He places his index and middle fingers to his forehead. His mind sensed for the familiar energy of Udon or Curi, his Yardrat mentors.
"There…" He mumbled. "That's pretty far…"
Bea forced his energy to raise. Golden energy spilled around him as his super saiyan state emerged. "Much better…" another mumble, then he looked up, "Take a deep breath, and… Hold on."
A moment of nothingness, then the familiar bedroom at the Kame House was replaced by an alien sky.
"Whoa." Yamaha looked around in amazement. "Where are we."
A voice familiar to only Bea, and perhaps Goku's subconscious sounded out. "Welcome to Planet Yardrat, Goku appears to be ill, Bea, you have improved greatly."
"Master Udon." Bea said with a formal bow, "yes Kakarot is very ill and in danger. May he and my other friends stay here until our business is finished on Earth?"
"Of course, Goku will recive our finest care and your friends the our best hospitality."
"Thank you, Master Udon, this is Bulma, Yamcha, and this is Chi-Chi, Kakarot's mate." He swept an arm towards Udon, "This is Master Udon, Kakarot's and my teacher."
As they exchanged pleasantries, a group of medics arrived. The began to direct everyone towards the hospital. Bea turned back towards space, locking on to a familiar energy pattern. He placed his fingers to his forehead and vanished.
Pikada startled as Bea appeared next to him. "Any updates?"
"Well the Androids left not to long ago, heading towards the Kame House. I felt your power disappear for a bit. What's up?"
"Well the Androids definitely won't be finding Kakarot now, He's light years away."
"Not bad. Honestly without him here I think these androids could be neutral, if not friends."
Bea just stared at the horizon.
"You think Chi-chi or Kakarot would mind if we camped here for tonight?"
"I doubt it, It'd be nice to keep an eye on the place incase the androids showed back up."
"Yeah." Pikada strolled to the edge of the creek and lay down. Bea did the same under the largest tree nearby. In a few minutes both of the exhausted Saiyans were snoring loudly.
Bea angled straight up from the waist. "Shit, you feel that?" He looked around remembering that Pikada was by the creek. Bea hopped to his feet. He could feel Kakarot's energy again, but it wasn't really Kakarot, something felt off, and there was a second Piccolo and Vegeta there too. He turned to the creek but noticed that Pikada was already floating towards him.
"Something big is going on, Bea. Maybe the local's news programs would know." He gestured to Goku's home.
"It's our best opportunity to see what's going on I guess. Better than jumping in blind."
They both entered the house and turned on the primitive radio set that was present.
A burst of static crackled from the speaker, Pikada began to adjust a knob. Distant voices mumbled and music began to soak through and fade away, then suddenly a stronger signal broke though.
"…you can hear in the distance, emergency forces are responding to this epidemic. For those of you just joining us, Gingertown is apparently under an attack by an unknown assailant. We now go back to our affiliate's correspondent, live in Gingeretown."
The voice changed, "I'm here live, all around me are empty vehicles and shops. Most distributing are the empty clothes. I've been trying to find a witness to what has happened, but so far I've not seen another living soul besides my crew, and myself." A shuffle is heard, "Oh, good! A survivor. Excuse me sir, can you, oh, oh… no, no, no!" The microphone hits the ground with a thump, and the reporter can be heard screaming in the background. His voice go silent, and the sound of running is heard.
"Oh, no you don't." Said a grainy, inhuman voice. A moment of silence and then more screams.
Bea turned the radio off. "Well that's enough for me. Lets go."
Pikada stood and nodded. He grabbed Bea by the shoulder, as the other Saiyan put his fingers to head and concentrated. They vanished.
Angel almost screamed as her two comrades appeared in front of her. At first she was overjoyed and seeing them, then she became furious.
"Just where the hell have you two been? I've been looking for you, or Kakarot or even that Yamcha guy. I couldn't sense your ki anywhere, I thought you were dead!"
"We were… off planet." Bea said sheepishly, somewhat ashamed he'd forgotten to grab Angel on the way out.
"We needed you to stay here incase something happened to us on that mission. But now we have a bigger one." Pikada said, stepping in to save the day.
"Let me guess. Gingercity." They nodded at her. "I was just getting ready to fly there. I suppose we can take the express now." She grabbed Bea's other shoulder, gripping hard enough that he grunted. He placed his fingers to his forehead and the group of them winked from existence.
They appeared in the center of a rolling mass of running, screaming humans. The sudden appearance of three armored people with monkey tails did nothing to calm them. Bea's right hand shot out and caught a runner but his shirt collar.
"What are you running from?" He asked gently.
"Monster! Big green monster." He struggled in Bea's grasp for a moment before the saiyan let him down.
"Big green monster. Sounds exciting." Pikada said, looking where the mob was running from.
"Let's go then." Angel replied.
"Does anyone else feel two Piccolos?" Asked Bea.
"Now that you mention it…" said Angel.
"Yep. And Frieza, and his old man too." Pikada remarked nonchalantly .
"Yeah…" Bea drawled.
They turned and launched into the air together.
As they closed towards the source of the strange power there was a shift from running survivors to piles of clothes.
Suddenly Angel motioned for them to land. In the distance a massive plume of dust rose into the sky. At the leading edge of the cloud, a large vehicle could be seen. The trio traced the direction that the vehicles were moving until they noticed a dot hovering in the air.
"That doesn't look good." Said Bea.
"Earth armor. Big toys to most of us." Replied Pikada.
"That's a huge power rushing from the general direction of that speck on the horizon." Finished Angel.
The lead vehicle slowed and the dust fell away as the armored division took up position. A few tense moments passed with nothing seeming to happen, then suddenly smoke erupted from the barrels of the tanks. A few seconds passed before the sound of the cannon fire reached the Saiyans. A barrage of missiles was launched at the spec, but they crashed back to earth nearly immediately.
After the dust and smoke from the combined explosions cleared, all that remained was the speck.
"Go!" Bea shouted. Together the trio rocketed back into the atmosphere.
They flew until the speck became distinguishable as two figures, one was Piccolo, but they group didn't recognize the other. Neither took notice of them, but the unknown one suddenly attacked the tank group.
Piccolo looked up and noticed the trio of Saiyans, he motioned very subtly for them to land and hide. They hid behind a bit of rubble, and reduced their power levels.
The attack on the vehicles was over, and the creature had turned back to Piccolo, and she was straining to hear the conversation.
"We have to help him." Pikada said.
"The Namekian has a plan I think." Replied Bea.
"Look!" Angel said excitedly.
In a flurry of motion Piccolo exploded away and landed.
Pikada looked at Angel, "Did you notice Piccolo's arm?"
Angel nodded while she looked up at the other presence. It too landed and walked towards Piccolo.
The Namekian looked defeated, his left arm a shriveled husk. The Creature and him seemed to be carrying on a conversation.
Then Piccolo smiled.
And proceeded to rip off his own arm.
The Saiyans stared in shock. That was by far the most surprising thing that they had seen so far today. Until another arm sprouted from Piccolo's torso.
The creature jumped back, closer to the trio, but still with his back towards them.
He looked up, spotting two bright lights heading towards them. Trunks and Krillin landed.
He was still out of ear shot of the Saiyans. Though it looked like Piccolo, Trunks, and Krillin were preparing to attack the creature. The Green Monster raised both hands to its face.
"Pikada, let's go. Angel stay in case we get trashed." Bea's power shot up as he went super Saiyan. On the other side Angel, Pikada went super Saiyan also. They rushed the creature.
"SO…" the creature's voice was finally loud enough to hear.
"Lar…" Bea flashed into existence directly in front of him. Both of his hands knifed down on the junction of the creatures shoulder and neck. Its attack faded off. At the same moment Pikada drove a heavy boot into the area where the first and second vertebrae should have been. There was a pleasant crushing noise.
Then something blurred past Pikada, and Bea's eyes shot wide open in surprise. He looked down at his chest where a large stinger had penetrated through his chest armor. He opened his mouth to scream, but only blood shot out. The tail attached to the stinger began to pump.
Bea's red hair fell limply back across his shoulders, and his eye lost their sparkle.
In a moment of blinding instinct, Pikada's sword ripped from it's scarbard and in one motion sliced through the stinger a few inches back towards the tail. Bea collapsed to the ground.
Angel saw the whole thing, and in her mind time seemed to crawl to a stop. She tried to call out, but lost herself in a howling scream.
The creature looked in dismay at the seeping stump of his tail. He then turned to Pikada.
"You are going to pay for doing that." He hissed.
Pikada flicked the goo from his blade.
Meanwhile Angel continued screaming.
Piccolo charged the monster while Krillin landed next to Bea.
"Bea! Can you you hear me? Bea!"
The saiyan remained completely motionless, a puddle of blood spreading around him.
Piccolo threw a punch, but the creature easily evaded it.
"Even the little energy I absorbed from your dead friend and your own arm has made me much more powerful than you Piccolo." He kicked the Namekian in the chest while simultaneously wrapping his still oozing tail around Pikada's neck. "And for you, I'll kill you just like your friend."
In all of the commotion the creature never noticed the overwhelming power rush behind him. He barely felt the hands clamp down on his forehead and chin. Hardly heard the sickening snap as his head was jerked around from staring into Pikada's eyes to look directly behind him, into the burning insanity glaring at him from a slight saiyan female with flaming golden hair. He never even sensed the moment he could no longer fell his body or its impact on the ground. And he wasn't even conscious enough to hear that female say "Shattered World Attack!" Or to feel the energy of her attack wash over him in waves of gold, red, and black.