Jenny was feeling guilty as she yanked open the door to the next challenge. She knew it wasn't her fault, yet because they had agreed to help rescue her child, Goku and Trunks now found themselves captive as well. She cast a nervous eye at Catie, who had fallen into step beside her as they walked the long, torch-lit corridor. Catie's jaw was set and her eyes stared firmly ahead.
"You mad at me?" Jenny whispered quietly.
Catie looked at her without breaking stride. "No."
"I wouldn't blame you if you were," Jenny admitted.
Catie cocked an eyebrow. "Jenny, don't be stupid. I have no reason to be mad at you."
Jenny shrugged. Without Trunks and Goku, she was starting to get nervous. The last time they were in this castle, it had been the Saiyans that won the fight. Now, they were two down.
Catie seemed to sense Jenny's dwindling hope and linked arms with her, pulling Jenny closer, locking her to her side. "Now you listen," Catie said in a soft tone as they continued to march down the corridor. "You don't worry about what Trunks did. He did that – not you."
"But it's because you all are helping me that it happened," Jenny muttered.
Catie shook her head firmly. "I didn't see anyone else jumping into that woman's arms. Just like I didn't see Vegeta or Gohan stopping to eat off that table, but Goku did. I think he could have stopped himself."
Jenny shook her head. "I dunno," she said uncertainly. "I think any of us would have done it."
"That's not what's important right now anyway," Catie said, tossing her blue-streaked hair over her shoulder and setting her jaw again. "All that matters to me is helping you. You're my sister, Jenny."
It was Jenny's turn to raise an eyebrow.
Catie sighed good-naturedly. "C'mon, you know it. All those months living together at Capsule Corp, training under Vegeta… We're sisters now and you know it, like it or not."
A small smile pulled at Jenny's lips. "I suppose there are worse people I could have for a sibling."
Catie nodded sagely. "You could have that hot mess walking behind us as a sister."
Jenny and Catie looked over their shoulders at Lindsey, who stuck her tongue out at them. "I heard that."
"So what are you gonna do about it?" Catie challenged, turning to face Lindsey. She walked backwards, still maintaining pace with Jenny.
"Kick your ass," Lindsey quipped.
Catie smirked. "Gotta catch me first." She turned on her heel and sprinted down the corridor.
"Catie! Come back!" Jenny shouted.
Lindsey tore out after her friend and they both disappeared into the dim lighting ahead.
"Dammit, you two!" Jenny yelled, running after them.
"Jenny, don't!" Piccolo shouted, but it was too late. She disappeared into the darkness as well.
He huffed and walked faster.
"They won't get far," Vegeta said.
It felt good to run. Catie pushed herself harder, impressed with herself that she was able to run in the high-heeled boots. The dark green corset made her breathing labored, but she didn't care. She felt as though she could run forever. She blinked away the burning sensation in her eyes and pushed Trunks from her mind. Now that she was running, she didn't want to stop. She felt freer, running like this, as though she was running away from the mental image of him. God, it hurt. She stretched her legs further, running as hard as she could, her boots slapping the stones noisily as she ran. She skidded to a halt at the end of the corridor, nearly slamming into thick, wrought iron bars that blocked the entrance. She hadn't realized it as she ran, but the ceiling had become much higher. The entrance to the next chamber was massive and the bars covering it were as thick as saplings.
"What… is that… smell?" Lindsey gasped, walking forward and clutching a stitch in her side. She may have been in good shape from her training with Goku, but she was still no match for Catie.
The clopping of heels told them Jenny was drawing closer. She finally caught up to them, her hands on her hips, and narrowed her eyes. "Shame on you two, scaring me like that. You don't know what you're running into!"
"Oh come on, mom," Catie huffed.
Jenny stepped forward to inspect the bars. "Good grief, these are huge."
"Yeah," Catie grunted, sliding between the bars. "But not very affective at keeping us out, are they?" She squeezed the rest of the way through and grinned.
"Uh, Cat," Lindsey said nervously. "I don't think they're there to keep us out."
"Huh?" Catie blinked.
Lindsey was pointing at something behind Catie, her hand shaking, and Jenny backed up a few steps, looking terrified.
"I think they're to keep that IN!" Lindsey cried.
Catie turned and let out a blood-curdling scream.
"That's Catie!" Leelee cried as Catie's scream echoed back to them.
"Catie! Catie!" came Lindsey and Jenny's terrified voices.
Without hesitation, the other Z-Fighters sprinted down the corridor after the muffled screams.
Lindsey and Jenny had slipped through the bars, trying desperately to get to Catie.
Lindsey's voice cracked as she spoke. "Oh my god, Jenny, what do we do?"
"PUT ME DOWN!" Catie screamed.
Jenny stared up in horror at the thirty-foot tall minotaur that held Catie in his grasp. The smell in this chamber was unfathomable. The air was thick and putrid with the scent of rotting flesh and feces. The floor was slick and red.
"Jenny," Lindsey whispered in horror, tugging at Jenny's elbow. Jenny followed Lindsey's gaze. It felt like she'd swallowed a block of ice. The edges of this huge chamber were piled with broken and rotting bones, most of which looked human. Bits of clothing and flesh still clung to some of the bones.
"That explains the smell," Jenny said, trying very hard to not breathe too deeply.
"LET GO OF ME!" Catie demanded, powering up. Her hair turned a shocking emerald green as she fanned her fingers out, aiming an energy attack at the bull-headed monstrosity that held her in one fist. She hit it squarely in one eye and he released his grip on her, dropping her back to the stone floor, where she crumpled to the floor.
"Cat!" Lindsey cried.
"Ewwwww," Catie groaned, getting to her feet and looking at the sticky, thick blood that now covered the right side of her body. "Don't they muck this room out?"
The minotaur was bellowing in rage and pain, stomping about with his hands over one eye, his huge feet causing the muck on the floor to splatter.
"How do we get out?!" Jenny shouted.
Catie was scrambling away from the massive feet that had come dangerously close to stomping on her.
All three girls dove away from the bars as the minotaur stumbled backwards towards them. He rubbed his right eye, then pulled his hand away, blinking harshly, and snorted in anger.
"I think you pissed it off," Lindsey said quietly.
"JENNY!" Piccolo shouted as he and the others reached the bars.
The minotaur looked down at them, anger blazing in his red eyes, and he bent over and roared through the bars, spraying them with saliva.
"Ew. Ew ew ew ew ew!" Sabriena cried dancing around like an idiot, trying to fling the spit away.
The minotaur seemed more agitated by her shrieking and pulled back, then rammed his horns against the bars, rattling the entire room and corridor.
"Would you shut up?" Vegeta hissed.
"Hey! Yoo-hoo! Over here!" Lindsey suddenly shouted.
The minotaur turned to look for the sound.
Lindsey was hovering at eye-level to the bull, her hair dancing in flames about her shoulders, the light glimmering on her vibrant red corset. "Come at me," she growled in a voice that was heard to no one but herself.
"Lindsey, NO!" Gohan shouted.
The minotaur paid the half-Saiyan no mind as he charged towards the enraging red light. Lindsey dodged out of his way as the bull's head made contact with the stone wall behind her. Pieces of stone and mortar crumbled from the wall, raining down on the half-eaten bodies of the dead.
Gohan was struggling to get through the bars, as were Piccolo and Vegeta, but Leelee, Seventeen and Sabriena slipped through them quickly, due to their smaller frames.
Catie and Jenny were frantically searching the walls of the room, tripping over rotting corpses, looking for a way out of the room. The smell was overwhelming and more than once, they had to stop and hold their breath to keep from throwing up.
"KAMEHAMEHAAA!" Gohan shouted once he'd squeezed through the bars, aiming the blast directly at the center of the minotaur's back. The powerful energy wave ricocheted off the beast, slamming into a wall and crumbling more stone.
The half-man, half-bull creature turned towards Gohan, who laughed nervously. "Oh man."
Bellowing in anger, the minotaur raised his foot to stomp on what he considered a pest. Gohan dove out of the way quickly, his mind racing. Soon everyone was jumping, running and dodging the bull's stomps as he spun on the spot, slamming his gigantic feet down over and over, trying to squash them. They were never going to find the exit if the minotaur kept this up. A sudden idea came to Gohan. He didn't like it, but he couldn't see how else they could distract the monster.
"Lindsey! Power up again and distract him!" Gohan shouted.
Lindsey nodded to her husband, rising into the air and powering up once more. "Aye, Toro! Aye!" she shouted. The bull lost his interest in the people on the ground and charged her once more, slamming his horns into the brick wall as she dropped out of its way.
"There's got to be a way out of this place," Piccolo growled to Gohan. The room was fairly well lit, but there wasn't the outline of a door anywhere.
"Find the dooooor," Lindsey said in a shaking voice as she once again dived out of the way of the monstrous horns.
"We're looking! We're looking!" Jenny called back in a similar tone, nearly twisting her ankle as she stepped on a skull that rolled out from under her shoe. She paused momentarily to stare at it and had to choke back a scream as she realized that the skull had belonged to a small child. She took a shuddering breath and looked away, returning her attention to the wall in front of her.
"I can't find anything!" Leelee wailed as she joined their search. She slapped her palms against the stone walls as she worked her way around, hoping to possibly find a hidden trigger or stone that may open up a new passage.
"Hurry-y-y-y," Lindsey begged again, narrowing avoiding the minotaur's charge.
"There it is!" Piccolo suddenly shouted, pointing to the center of the room. Beneath the minotaur's feet was a small trap door in the floor.
The minotaur turned to look at Piccolo, narrowing his red eyes at the Namek. It may not have the capacity to speak, or even understand their language, but it understood the excited tone in Piccolo's voice and the way he pointed to the door.
It stood shivering in anger, his breaths coming out in heavy snorts. Trumpeting like an enraged elephant the bull started for Piccolo.
"AYE TORO!" Lindsey shouted again, lashing out with one of her fire whips, wrapping the end of it around the ring through the bull's nose.
His head whipped around and glared at Lindsey. She was really getting to the creature. He ran at her again, leveling his horns with the place where she hovered, and slammed the crown of his horns against the stone again.
Piccolo had a sudden idea. "Catie! Trip him up on my signal!"
She turned and looked at Piccolo, nodding to him.
"Lindsey! Get him to aim right here!" Piccolo shouted, pointing high on the wall, directly above his head.
Lindsey flew across the room and pressed her back against the stone in the place he had indicated, breathing hard. She didn't know what Piccolo's plan was, but she was grateful he at least had one. She let out a loud whistle and the bull turned to her once more. He lowered his horns one more time, aiming for the place where she hovered. With determination, he took a few running steps towards her.
"NOW CATIE!" Piccolo ordered.
Catie threw both of her arms out; thick, bark-covered vines shot from her arms and tangled around the minotaur's ankles. The bull continued to launch forward as Lindsey once more slipped past his horns. Focusing all his energy into his hands, Piccolo laced his fingers together and slammed his clenched fists against the stone at the exact moment the minotaur slammed his head against the wall. Deep cracks ran up the walls and Piccolo flew out of the way. Huge blocks of stone fell away from the wall as the minotaur slipped to the floor, crushing the monster beneath their weight. The minotaur's feet and tail twitched for a few moments, then went still.
Lindsey dropped to the floor, powering down, breathing heavily as Gohan and Catie ran to her.
"Nice work, girls," Vegeta said to them.
"You okay?" Gohan asked, looking her over carefully.
"Yeah," Lindsey panted. "He didn't get me."
"Good job," Gohan breathed, wrapping her in a hug.
"Can we please get out of here?" Jenny asked shakily as she stumbled over more bones to get away from the wall.
"Are you all right?" Piccolo asked her in a quiet voice.
"Just shook up," she answered honestly. "I don't like this place at all."
"Don't you three ever go running off like that again," Piccolo scolded, giving Jenny a stern look and then turning towards Catie and Lindsey, who winced as he looked at them the same way.
Seventeen reached through the blood and muck to pull open the trap door. "Gross," he groaned, looking at his hand.
"Don't you dare touch me," Leelee warned, crossing her arms across her smoky gray corset.
"Even I'm not that cruel," Seventeen answered.
Vegeta stepped closer to the trap door and peered inside it, sighing as he did so. "You'd think they could light this place better."
"Light," Sabriena whispered. Why it had slipped her mind, she didn't know. It had been so long, though, she didn't know if she could do it anymore. Concentrating hard, she managed to power up, throwing a brilliant light around the room as her hair and eyes glowed brightly.
"You couldn't have done that before?" Vegeta growled as he looked deep into the trap door again.
Gohan joined him at his side. "It looks like it goes straight down."
Vegeta nodded.
"Please clean me off," Catie gagged, walking to Jenny.
"No problem," Jenny answered, holding her hand out and letting a steady, but gentle stream of water fall from her hand and cascade over Catie's shoulder and Catie frantically scrubbed away at her skin.
"Me too?" Seventeen asked, holding out his dirty hand.
Jenny rinsed his hand and he muttered, "Thanks."
Leelee once again blew Catie dry, although Lindsey protested that the wind was stirring up the smell in the room even worse.
"Oh hush," Catie scolded. She looked down at herself, amazed that her clothing wasn't stained.
"Ladies, first, is it?" Vegeta asked, motioning towards the door. "You're all so eager to meet your deaths."
Lindsey bowed her head sheepishly, but Catie strode forward and answered, "YOU go first this time."
"You're getting bossy and I don't like it," Vegeta growled. "You've spent too much time with Bulma." But he stepped into mid-air and began to lower quickly into the tunnel.
"I wish she was here, she'd keep you in line," Catie mumbled.
Vegeta's voice echoed up to them. "I HEARD THAT."
Author's Note: Thank you Jenny, Rinpup, and Princess for reviewing my chapters! It means a lot to me!