CHAPTER13: Trials.
-Part 1. "The eye of the Beholder."-
In the two months that Cale had been on Earth, he'd gone from being someone the Z Fighters were cautious and suspicious of, to becoming a regular part of the gang. He'd forged close friendships with Chasity, Tien, Goten, Krillin and Gohan. Trunks still was rather distant and cold, whilst Yamcha just downright didn't like him.
Cale was both impressed and disappointed (in himself more than anything) that the humans on this planet were all able to keep stride with him, despite his Saiyan blood and his in-depth training. On this particular day, he and Tien were sparring in a paddock near a sleepy coastal fishing village, and the triclops was giving him a run for his money.
"Alright, Cale." said Tien, dropping his stance and crossing his arms in front of him. "Time to show you my trump card. Multi-Form!" Cale raised an eyebrow suspiciously, watching as Tien first glowed at the edges, then began replicating himself.
"Wow." Cale said with a grin, eyes flicking between the four Shinhan's standing opposite him. He'd never seen anything like this before, and marveled at the fact that despite multiplying his form, Tien's energy hadn't dropped in the slightest.
They resumed battle, Cale ducking and weaving between 8 arms and legs with acute precision. It was inevitable, however, that he slipped up eventually. A low kick swept Cale's legs out from under him, and his hair ruffled as Tien's boot narrowly missed his temple. He rolled to a halt, coming up on one knee. "That's some trump card!" he said, impressed. "You'll have to teach that to-"
Loud shouts issued from the village, the two warriors exchanging a glance which said one thing: Dragon.
"We'd better check that out." Tien muttered, lifting into the air slightly and gazing towards the coast.
"Agreed. Let's go." The pair shot off towards the village, fearing the worst. But something wasn't quite right. There was joy and excitement in the shouts.
As they approached, they became aware that despite the pristine blue skies, it appeared to be raining over the little hamlet. On closer inspection, it wasn't rain at all.
Hundreds of fish were falling from the skies, the ecstatic villages running around below, catching them in whatever they could find at the time. Two men raced through the streets pushing overflowing wheelbarrows, another two men were carefully carrying a fully loaded bathtub.
"Praise Princess Ohto!" they shouted, much to the confusion of Tien and Cale.
"Princess Ohto?" Cale asked as the pair hovered just outside of the town limits. "Is that one of your human folklore stories?"
Tien shook his head in confusion. "Not one I've ever heard of, that's for sure." None of this made any sense to the human. He'd seen and heard of strange things before, but a mythical princess blessing villages with bounties of fish…. No, this wasn't right.
The pair waited for the madness to subside before descending down into the village square. Both of them were thinking that a Dragon was behind this, but for all they could see, this wasn't an evil deed. It didn't make sense.
"Excuse me." Tien asked, approaching one of the villagers. "But who is Princess Ohto?"
The man, who was groaning under the weight of two sacks laden with fish, smiled brightly. "Princess Ohto is amazing!" he cried, doing a little jig on the spot. "For the last month, she's been blessing us with fish everyday! Nobody's had to work at all!"
"Princess Ohto is nothing but a curse, Kazu." said a voice. They turned, seeing an old man standing on the porch of the general store.
The man, most presumably Kazu, shook his head and laughed. "Oh Mitaka, always so positive. Don't mind the old man." He added in an aside to Cale and Tien. "He's just a miserable naysayer."
Mitaka stepped down from the porch, beadily eying the two fighters. "Naysayer? Tell me, don't you find odd that everybody is becoming wealthy thanks to a strange flying woman?"
Cale and Tien exchanged a glance. Yes, it was odd. "Where is this Princess?" Cale asked.
"Oh, she doesn't show herself." replied Kazu. "We've only seen her once, on the very first day that fish fell from the sky."
"Mark my words boy, no good can come from this." The old man gave his final word, moving off whilst Kazu scoffed loudly. Tien had opened his mouth to reply, when more shouts from the waterfront could be heard.
"Princess Ohto! Princess Ohto is here!" came the joyous cries. The two men took off at a sprint, running down the gravel road to the jetty. It soon became apparent that something was wrong.
A vicious wind kicked up, and the excited villagers began to scream. Several bodies shot into the skies, and boats were tossed to and fro on the suddenly choppy waters. Cale was the first to spot her, skidding to a halt on a short cliff that overlooked the quay. Princess Ohto was a beautiful blue skinned woman, a dragonball visible in the centre of her forehead. Miniature twisters spun around her, ripping apart the small docks and ships.
Simultaneously, Cale and Tien leaped into the air, tossing balls of ki in the direction of the cackling woman. She spotted them, summoning another twister around her, deflecting the blasts. But her attention had been caught.
"You are not villagers." she said quietly, the tempest dying down around her. "Much too powerful to be one of these fools."
"Yeah, and if you're a Princess, I'm a sea turtle." replied Tien.
"Oh, that's the name those imbecilic townspeople gave me." she said in a soft chuckle. "My real name, is Oceanus Shenron."
The wind kicked up slightly, a light mist of sea spray drifting eerily around the woman. "And let me guess." said Cale, adjusting the strap of his longsword. "You're the mightiest of the Shadow Dragons?"
Oceanus slowly closed and opened her eyes, a small smirk playing at her lips. "I'd never claim that, although I'm far more powerful than anything you could imagine."
Tien let out a light snarl as he and Cale assumed their fighting stances. "Enough of this, Dragon. You know why we're here. It's time to fight."
As the two began to power up, Oceanus felt a wave of surprise. She hadn't expected them to be this powerful, not at all. In response, a swirling wind rushed around her, the sea below rising in fury. "Very well. Rest assured, you'll be sleeping in the sea tonight."
Cale and Tien moved in swiftly, rushing the Dragon. Cale drew his fist back, Tien swinging his leg. To their great shock, the pair found themselves being thrown away; It seemed Oceanus' powers of the ocean were a force to be reckoned with.
"Let's blast her!" Cale shouted over the roaring wind as the pair corrected themselves. "On three! One! Two! Three!"
From either side of the Dragon, Cale and Tien fired beams of energy. Both had prepared themselves for the explosion, but it never came. The attacks simply dissipated into nothingness, swallowed up by the violent tornado.
"Boys, boys, boys." laughed Oceanus, holding her hands together in front of her chest, much like a child holding a pretend pistol upwards. "Seems you're going to have to learn the hard way that you simply cannot hurt me!" She extended her arms outward, middle and index fingers pointed skywards. "Whirlwind Spin!"
The woman now span rapidly, firing off wind-like razor ki blasts towards the two warriors. The duo received many cuts and lacerations as they attempted to maneuver between the attacks.
"I've had just about enough!" Cale transmitted out of harms way, appearing with his longsword, Edge, drawn right in front of Oceanus. With a roar of rage, he swung it from behind his shoulder in a slashing motion. Again, to no avail. He barely managed to hold on to the blade as it met the twister and was nearly wrenched from his hands.
Oceanus' fist broke through the barrier, sending Cale sprawling backwards. Before she could return it, Tien's hand fastened around her wrist. "No you don't!" he shouted, feeling the bones crunching as he tried to drag her from her protective wall.
The tornado doubled in ferocity, and Tien was launched into the cliff face. "Human swine!" she shouted. "Whirlwind Spin!" Tien was blasted by the attack. He was pushed further and further into the cliff face, pain riddling his body.
Cale felt this was hopeless, that there was no way to defeat this dragon. He charged his energy, intending to put his all into one final assault. If this didn't work, nothing would. Then, something amazing happened.
A flock of territorial seagulls, who had been circling high above, dove in unison. They dropped straight down towards the Dragon, and to Cale's amazement, managed to break through and start pecking and scratching at Oceanus' face.
"Damnable nuisance!" she roared, dropping the attack and the barrier. She released an explosive gust of wind, scattering the birds all over the sea. The break was enough, however, for Tien to rush in and savagely chop her in the neck.
Oceanus fell back, eyes squeezed shut in pain. In truth, she wasn't physically powerful at all. Her bizarre powers were her only fighting ability, and Cale (who had watched this whole scene play out from not too far away) had finally worked it out.
"Tri-Beam!" roared Tien, hands held in the typical triangle pattern of his major attack. The pillar of torrential ki rocketed towards Oceanus, but the crafty Dragon brought her defensive barrier up just in time to deflect the assault. "Dammit!" Tien shouted in frustration.
Cale took his moment, transmitting beside Tien and whispering to him. "I'm going to disappear in a moment. Keep her distracted." Before Tien could reply or even acknowledge, Cale had charged in. A second later, he went crashing into the sea.
"You're going to pay for your insolence, human!" shouted Oceanus. She raised her arms up, a gigantic water spout rising below Tien and engulfing him. The Triclops was buffeted around in the torrent, unable to move or breathe. 'Come on, Cale!' he thought hopefully.
Now, Cale appeared just above Oceanus' shield-like tempest. As soon as he saw the birds dive in and attack the woman, he knew that she was sitting in the 'eye of the storm', and that the protective wall was useless from above. Edge held aloft in both hands, Cale let out a berserker roar as he dropped down.
The Dragon knew what was happening too late. She turned her head upwards just in time to see Cale's blade slice her cleanly in half. The tempest died, and Tien was ejected from his watery prison.
Oceanus began to drift into two pieces, and Cale spun around, throwing an arm out and firing. The explosion that followed blasted the Dragon into oblivion, and a Dragonball dropped from the smoky haze into Cale's open palm.
He sheathed his sword with a flurry and looked up at Tien. Another dragon, down.
-Part 2. "Fissures."-
"This just in, Abacus City has been completely leveled by an Earthquake!" The news reporter shouted, whilst helicopter images of the ruined city flashed across the screen. "No survivors have yet been…." A studio aide rushed in and whispered something in the man's ear, the reporter's face becoming suddenly horrified. "Now Kimba Town, 5 miles North has also been hit!"
Gohan took off his spectacles and sat up on the couch. His gut told him there was something more to this than met the eye.
Sure enough, a report came in a few moments later that another town nearby had been raised to the ground. Gohan reached across and nudged Goten who was snoozing lightly in the armchair in front of the television. "Hnn? What?" he grumbled, sitting up. Gohan merely pointed at the screen, now showing disturbing images of a gigantic fissure tearing through the Wastes.
After hurriedly changing into their fighting gear, the pair had taken off towards the trouble. "It might take us a little while to get their." Gohan said to Goten as they flew. "And it may have moved or changed course."
"No sweat." Goten replied, pulling his cell phone from his pocket. "I'll call Trunks and get him to check the Dragon Radar."
The Radar showed three Dragonballs (the ones gathered from Haze, Rage and Oceanus) grouped together, one in the snowy regions to the south, and one out in the desert. All these were completely still, but another wasn't.
"It's moving North in a pretty straight line." Trunks said urgently with the phone resting on his shoulder. His fingers were a blur as he typed furiously at the computer in front of him. "There's another town about 30 miles away from it's current position, so you'll have to… Hey, it's stopped!"
Goten exchanged a glance with Gohan at this news. "Where is it?"
"In a valley, about half way between Kimba Town and the mountains." Trunks replied. "If you hurry, you might be able to get there before it moves again. I'll keep you posted."
They reached the valley in good time, coming over a short rise and catching their first view of the next Shadow Dragon. As tall as a 4 story building, it looked more like a giant burrowing rodent than a dragon. It sat quite peacefully at the bottom of the valley, staring blankly off into the distance.
Gohan and Goten landed in front of it, staring up at the beast. For a few moments, all they did was look at it; it seemed oblivious to their arrival. A sweatdrop formed at the back of Gohan's head, as he shouted, "Hey! Dragon!"
As if coming from a deep reverie, the Dragon started, nearly falling backwards in surprise. "What's the big idea?" the Dragon rumbled in a loud, docile voice. "Why'd ya sneak up on me like that,eh?"
"Don't play stupid Dragon!" Goten yelled up at him, taking a step forward. "We're here to defeat you!"
"Dragon? My name ain't Dragon. It's Naturon Shenron." replied Naturon, scratching the back of his head. "And defeat me? I'm not gonna fight ya."
The brothers nearly fell over in exasperation. "Wait, you don't wanna fight?" Goten queried. "What kind of Dragon are you?"
"I just wanna dig." said Naturon. "Dig, and make stuff fall over. That's all." As if to demonstrate his point, the Dragon stomped on the ground, sending cracks and fissures rushing towards Gohan and Goten.
The brothers leaped into the air to avoid the earthquake, Goten in particular becoming increasingly frustrated with Naturon's stupidity. "You may not want to fight, but you don't really have an option!" The demi-saiyan gathered a ball of ki in his palm and launched it at Naturon. The docile Dragon felt the ball bounce off his head, and the minor attack skittered away, exploding on the ground.
"What'd you do that for?" Naturon grumbled, lightly rubbing the side of his head. "If you guys were strong, that woulda hurt!" Still grumbling slightly, and ignoring the mutinous glares of the brothers, he turned around and began to dig. "If you'll excuse me, I got more stuff to knock over."
"Goten, we have to get him to fight us. We can't let him hurt any more people." Gohan said urgently, and instantly, the brothers shifted into their Super Saiyan forms. "Lets attack together! Masenko-Ha!"
"Kamehameha!"
By the time Gohan and Goten had fired, Naturon's tail had vanished into the ground. The blasts erupted into the tunnel, but Naturon's digging prowess kept him out of harm's way.
"C'mon! We have to stop him!" shouted Gohan, aura flaring as he streaked off after the burrowing Dragon. Goten following suit.
Cracks and fissures marked Naturon's path, heading in a straight line towards the city that lay just past the mountains on the horizon. Gohan sped on ahead, eclipsing Naturon, blasting away at the deep crevice that was opening as the monster dug.
The mountains loomed closer and closer, and so far the pair hadn't managed to drive the Dragon from his hole in the ground. Despite his docile nature, Naturon was becoming annoyed by Gohan and Goten's interference. So, he dug deeper, going further underground and passing far beneath the mountains.
"Dammit! We have to get to the city before he does! Maybe we can stop him once he gets closer to the surface!" Gohan led the way over the mountain, zooming down across the sparse forest towards the city. Already, people were feeling the Dragon's approach, the shaking lamp posts and flickering lights heralding the arrival of Naturon Shenron.
When the quake hit, the sons of Goku zoomed across the area, dragging people out of sink holes opening in the roadways, pushing falling buildings back into place, stopping a bridge from crashing onto the motorway. Due to their quick action, not a single life was lost, and minimal damage had been done to the city.
Naturon burst back out through the ground just past the city limits, planning to stop and admire his handiwork. But to his surprise (and outrage), barely any damage was visible. "Hey! What's going on here?" he roared, stomping his feet like a child throwing a tantrum.
"We're putting a stop to your spree, Naturon." called Gohan as he hovered above the Dragon. "You won't be hurting anyone on our watch."
"How dare you ruin my fun!" shouted the Dragon in wrath, gritting his teeth and snorting like an enraged bull. "I'll teach you a lesson in respect!"
He lifted his clawed hand up and slammed it into the ground, a second later, pillars of ki burst through the ground at the Super Saiyans. Gohan and Goten dodged the attacks easily, while Naturon continued to blast away with his Aftershock attack.
Gohan shot in, slamming a kick into the side of Naturon's head, the Dragon falling slowly and heavily to the ground. Before he could rise fully, Goten moved up, driving a punch up under Naturon's chin.
He fell backwards with a thunderous crash, eyes rolling in an almost comical manner. "I can see why you don't like to fight." Goten laughed cockily. "You're embarrassingly weak!"
Grumbling, Naturon returned to his feet. "Weak, huh?" he asked, a ghost of a grin appearing on his rat-like face. "Wait until you see my true power, you won't think I'm so weak."
Goten simply scoffed. "Ha, right. Your AMAZING true power, right?" The arrogant young Saiyan folded his arms and chuckled. "Well, hurry up with it. I got stuff to do today."
"Goten, careful." muttered Gohan. "This guy could be a lot stronger than you realize. Don't do anything stupid."
"I'm much stronger than you could believe." said the Dragon as the earth slowly began to shake again. "Get ready." Almost instantly, Naturon's gigantic form became engulfed in an oddly dark light. The brothers felt his power rise swiftly, and Goten's smug look was wiped from his face.
What now stood before them was something out of a nightmare. Naturon was now larger in size, with wicked claws protruding from his finger tips, a horned frill emerging from the back of his now much more Dragon-like head, two long whip-like tails.
"You've gotten uglier, but not much stronger." Goten shot tauntingly, trying to hide his apprehension.
"If you're so sure of yourself," began Naturon with a flick of his tails, "why don't you come and take a piece of me, hot shot?"
"You got it!" Goten's aura erupted, and the young saiyan ignored Gohan's shouts of 'No! Wait!' as he shot towards Naturon. The Dragon's tails whipped around, striking Goten and knocking him cleanly from the skies.
"You'll pay!" roared Gohan, the elder brother rocketing in, narrowly dodging Naturon's attacks and landing a sweeping kick right across the Dragon's fearsome maw. Naturon staggered from the hit, but swiftly countered, slashing away with his gigantic claws.
Gohan was shocked that something so big could be so fast; He could barely keep up with the beast. He pivoted to the side, narrowly avoiding a strike from Naturon, but was swiped to the ground by yet another follow up attack.
Naturon's joy was short lived. With a shout, Goten rose into the air, firing a hefty wave of energy into the back of Naturon's frilled skull. "Hope you hadn't forgotten about ME!" he shouted, gathering another ball of ki as the Dragon stumbled.
"Pesky little fly." Naturon rumbled, turning and firing his own ki wave at the young saiyan. Goten shot to the side, yet despite his swiftness, he was clipped by the wave and sent tumbling again.
"Masenko-Ha!" Naturon felt a rib or two break from Gohan's signature attack, caught off guard. He turned to return fire, and Goten seized the opportunity. The young saiyan shot through the air like a javelin, fists held out in front of him, and drove himself into Naturon's spine.
With a roar of pain, Naturon slapped Goten away with a flick of his tail, and returned to attacking Gohan. The son of Goku however, was gone. "Up here, you big oaf!" Naturon looked up, and Gohan planted his feet right between Naturon's eyes.
The Dragon was furious. Things weren't supposed to be going this way at all. He needed to take control of the battle. Shaking with anger, he charged his energy, knowing that doing so would make him lose this true form sooner, but believing that it would be enough to turn the tide.
"He's powering up!" shouted Gohan as he and Goten crossed paths high in the air. "Let's attack together!" The dove swiftly and steeply, zooming towards the giant Dragon. When they attacked, they hit nothing; Naturon had vanished.
"Not so tough now are we, boys?" Naturon laughed from behind them as he fired dual energy beams from his eyes. The brothers were stricken to the ground, and thrown back into the air from a sweep of Naturon's tail.
He appeared again in front of them, bringing his hands together in a clap, slamming Gohan and Goten together between the palms of his hands. When they hit the deck, they were forced to roll away from Naturon's trampling feet. Such a sudden change in the battle; the Shadow Dragon was pleased.
"Behold the strength of Naturon Shenron!" he roared, opening his mouth, a dark light glowing at the back of his throat.
"Look out!" Gohan shouted, dragging Goten up by the collar and diving away from the colossal energy wave issuing from between Naturon's jaws. The mountains behind them were blasted into a thousand pieces, even before Gohan and Goten had hit the deck.
"You kids put up a good fight, but in the end, no one can defeat the mighty Naturon." chuckled the Dragon, standing over the brothers. "Time to put your meddlesome lights out, for good." He opened his mouth again, intending to end the fight (and the lives of the demi-saiyans) once and for all.
Instead of the hefty blast, a dry cough escaped Naturon's mouth. "What? No!" he said, stumbling back. "Not now!" Sure enough, Naturon had wasted too much time and energy. He was reverting to his original form.
Engulfed again in that dark light, Naturon's body shrank, and shrank. To the brothers' great surprise, the Dragon kept dwindling, until he was no more than two feet tall. The "mighty" Naturon was now a tiny replica of the original form they encountered, and his small beady eyes trembled in fear. "P-Please don't k-kill me!" he squeaked, stepping backwards swiftly.
"Give me one good reason why we shouldn't!" said Goten angrily, wincing as he got to his feet. "You were about to kill us just now."
"I promise, I won't harm another person! I've changed!" he said pathetically, falling to his knees. "I'll hand over the Dragonball, just let me go!"
Goten's face was impassive. "Nice try, that probably would have worked on our dad." The young saiyan took another step forward, a ball of ki gathered in his palm. "Unfortunately, I'm not as forgiving as he is."
Naturon's groveling and sniveling ceased immediately, a look of pure anger crossing his face. "Why you impertinent brat!" he shouted, rising suddenly and swiftly. "I'll kill you!" The little dragon dove at Goten, his body glowing with ki.
Goten acted swiftly, pointing the ball calmly at Naturon, the blast hitting point blank. The saiyan squinted his eyes against the small but bright explosion right in front of him.
They collected the Dragonball and headed for home, feeling a little better about the situation the Earth was now in. Four dragons were now dead (without causing too much concern), and Cell and Frieza hadn't shown their faces since defeating Vegeta. The thing they marveled at the most was that neither Goku nor the Prince had played much of a role so far in fighting this colossal new foe. Perhaps they were all stronger and more capable than they realized. Even Tien had played a part.
Only time would tell if the Shadow Dragons were as powerful as they'd first thought. Gohan's head told him no, his gut told him that the worst was still to come.
…
Deep under the Earth, the two most powerful beings on the planet were deep in counsel about the current war. Things weren't going quite to plan.
"Naturon has died, Blacksmoke." growled Syn Shenron, massaging his knuckles in frustration. "Four of us are gone."
Blacksmoke Shenron, the embodiment of negative energy, lounged lazily in the deep cave, seemingly unperturbed by the recent turn of events. "Relax, would ya." he rumbled airily, twirling his whiskers around his finger. "No need to get your panties in a twist. Those louts were weaklings."
Syn didn't seem too happy at being told not to 'get his panties in a twist', but took the comment stoically enough. "So… You intended for them to be defeated all along?"
"I factored the possibility in when I came up with my plans, yes." responded Blacksmoke. "And I ain't worried, at all. We still have Nuova and Eis. Those two are going to be much harder to take down than those other idiots."
Despite the situation, Syn's lip twitched in a slight smile. Oh yes, Nuova and Eis would put the humans and the saiyans to the test. And if they failed, well, Syn himself would give the world a baptism of fire.
"What of that bug Cell and his companion?" he queried after a moments silence. "Why have they not participated."
"It's simple." replied Blacksmoke, lighting another of his truck sized cigars. "They're waiting for the opportune moment. Cell's a crafty little cricket, he ain't gonna rush in just yet, not when he ain't sure of his own power just yet."
"That, or he's scared." growled Syn, who didn't like the duo in the slightest.
Blacksmoke chuckled darkly. "Oh, he ain't afraid. You can believe me on that. To give you an idea, Cell could take down Eis and Nuova in a one on one fight, and his comrade would give 'em a run for their money."
This news was surprising. The being that Syn had shaken down hadn't seemed all that powerful at all. And his partner in crime had seemed a downright coward.
"We'll have to wait and see what they do next." Blacksmoke muttered, bringing Syn out of his reverie. "The practice skirmishes are over, the real war is about to begin."