This was not turning out well. Not well at all.
There were the Dragon Balls, just within reach – and there was the odd assortment of alien fighters between them and the wishes.
Homura took a swift assessment of the situation. The obvious leader of the group was significantly taller than her, purple skinned, with long black horns on each side of his head. The next tallest was blue and lizard-like, with a flat face and pupil-less red eyes. Beside him was a red-skinned alien with long, bushy white hair. The tallest and broadest of the group looked almost human, with a wide face and a tuft of orange hair on top of his head. And the last one was almost unnoticeable in the group, barely taller than Gohan with a round, rough-skinned green face and an extra set of eyes, each one placed on either side of his head. All of them wore the same space armor and jumpsuits that she had seen before, and they held themselves straight and loosely confident. These were professionals with more combat experience than even she could claim to have.
In comparison, they had herself, Krillin (whom she had not seen in battle yet but was certainly weaker than Vegeta), Vegeta (who had almost expressed actual fear at the arrival of these aliens), Gohan (who was, as Kyoko stated quite loudly, only five years old), and Kyoko (who no longer had any access to her magic which would put her at a significant disadvantage against enemies of this magnitude). Homura did not like the odds thus far.
"Long time, no see, Vegeta," the blue-skinned alien said with a hiss.
Vegeta scowled and did not reply. Homura tensed herself. She was unsure whether she should transform yet. On one hand, she needed to conserve energy, because she was out of Grief Cubes. On the other hand, these new soldiers were definitely stronger than Zarbon, and she had misjudged Zarbon's speed one too many times.
"Get the hell out of the way," Kyoko snapped at them. "Nobody asked to see the freak show – so move!"
The purple-skinned alien chuckled.
"I don't know who this is, but I think I like her," he said. "Vegeta, would you care to introduce your teammates? I'm most interested to know about the people that you, of all people, have allied yourself with."
"Shove it, Ginyu," Vegeta said.
"Hm, lacking in manners as always. I suppose I'll have to keep the common courtesy, then."
He glanced at his team with a snap.
"Ginyu Force. Attention!"
And then for the next half a minute, Homura found herself subjected to bizarre series of poses and shouted out introductions that made her think of the five minutes of Power Rangers she had seen when she was eleven.
"Guldo!" the small green-skinned alien said.
"Jeice!" the red-skinned one said.
"Burtaa!" the blue one said.
"Reecoome!" the orange-haired one said.
"And Captain Ginyu!" Ginyu said, ending up in some very awkward position that involved him turning his back to everyone else and bending over so that he was looking at them between his own legs.
Silence greeted the frozen poses.
Kyoko, of course, was the first one to break the silence. First with a snort, and then a rolling roar of laughter.
"What – what the hell was that?" she said, between chortles. "You've got to be kiddin' me! That was the lamest thing I've ever seen!"
At the looks of unease and irritation from the others (particularly Vegeta), Kyoko quieted down. But Homura could still hear her snickering.
"Why you!" Jeice said in almost an Australian accent. "We work 'ard on that, you know!"
Another spat of muffled snickers came from Kyoko's direction.
"Calm down, Jeice. She'll understand soon enough," Ginyu said, straightening. "All right. I'll be taking the Dragon Balls. Ginyu Force, you'll take care of the trash."
"Just try it!" Gohan shouted.
Homura shifted ever so slightly. Vegeta held one Dragon Ball. Krillin had the other. As long as one was out of Frieza's hands, they were safe.
Vegeta's dark eye flickered towards her for only the briefest second. In response, she made a step forward, towards the Ginyu Force. Her motion caught the attention of the group, and five pairs of eyes glanced towards her for a moment.
And then in a glint of orange-yellow, Vegeta hurled the Dragon Ball back behind them. It rushed through the air so fast that Homura only caught the barest blur – ah, so that had been his plan. Clever. It would take them a while to locate that; Vegeta had quite the arm.
But those thoughts dissolved when Burtaa suddenly blurred. In a second, he was standing in the exact same position, but holding the Dragon Ball.
As a thrill of terror fled down her spine, Homura glanced back at Vegeta. His eyes were wide and blazing with fury.
"Nicce try," Burtaa said, a forked tongue flicking between his teeth as he spoke with a hiss. "But You sshould remember that I'm much fasster than anything you can throw."
"No way," Krillin said, a look of terror flashing across his face.
"Krillin! Destroy it!" Vegeta shouted.
"What?" Krillin said.
"The Dragon Ball – destroy it now! I'd rather have it shattered to pieces than let Frieza have it!"
Homura's heart flashed with an instant of thousand-year-old memories. She whipped around, planning on stopping Krillin by freezing time –
But the Ball was already gone.
A spark flared in her mind, and she glanced back to find Guldo leering at them from over the Dragon Ball, which was nearly the size of his head.
"Guldo has that ability, but he doesn't have the firepower to back it up..."
"Ah," she said softly, understanding.
"Good work, men," Ginyu said, looking pleased. "I've trained you well."
"Thank you, captain!" they said in unison.
"Geez, it's so cheesy that it's not even funny anymore," Kyoko said.
Ginyu hovered a few inches off the grounds, the Dragon Balls joining him.
"Well, take care of them as you like. I trust you to clean things up," Ginyu said. "Meet me back at Frieza's ship when you've finished."
"Sir, yes sir!"
Ginyu and the Dragon Balls flew up into the air – in a second they would be gone –
"I don't think so, ya bastard!"
A glimmer of red light caught Homura's attention. The silver blur of a spear cut through the air – Kyoko, no!
Ginyu barely even glanced Kyoko's way, even as she shot through the air towards him. And then in a flash of motion, Kyoko surged back to the ground like a comet. The impact jarred Homura's fast-pulsing heart. And Kyoko had vanished into the crater her impact had made.
"Well, there's one down already," Jeice said with a laugh.
The others joined him in laughter – Homura sent them an ice cold glare – and then she just smiled softly as she caught the glint of a spear poking up over the top of the crater.
"Holy shit," Kyoko said, pulling herself up over the side of crater. "That bastard didn't even look at me! Stupid piece of –"
"We get it, Kyoko," Homura said. "That was stupid and reckless of you."
Ginyu had already vanished with the Dragon Balls. It was just them and the remainder of the Ginyu Force. Who were, at this point, staring at Kyoko in disbelief as she hopped out of the crater, dusted herself off, and walked back over to her group without any visible injury.
"Whattya want me to do? Let him leave with them?"
"We have bigger problems," Homura said, fingering her Soul Gem.
The Ginyu Force was silent for just half a second longer, and then Jeice broke the silence.
"Forget Vegeta," he said, pointing at Kyoko. "I call fightin' 'er. She's got spunk!"
"Hey! Nobody gets to call dibs!" Burtaa hissed.
"Calm down, everyone!" Reecome said. "We'll divide it up as we usually do. Let's see, there's the two girls, the two midgets, and Vegeta, so I say, the two midgets go together, and we divide up the last three one per person. Everyone agree?"
"Midget!" Krillin muttered indignantly.
"Agreed!" the Ginyu Force said.
"And now, let's begin the contest –"
And then, to Homura's absolute disbelief, the group moved into a circle and started...playing rock-paper-scissors?
She glanced back at Vegeta, who shrugged.
"Yes," he said, growling softly. "They are always like this."
"Damn," Kyoko said. "They're so strong, but they're so stupid! That doesn't seem fair."
Homura, however, was glad of the change. They wanted to do it in a one on one, almost tournament layout. This would give her some time to strategize, and it would not be as chaotic as a free-for-all. She wouldn't have to worry about blowing up her allies by accident.
This whole rock-paper-scissors thing also gave her a moment to speak to Kyoko.
She lowered her voice to a whisper, so that no one but Kyoko could hear.
"Kyoko...how bad was that fall?"
Kyoko grimaced, and replied in the same tone.
"Pretty bad. My leg's broken. In two places. Not too mention I technically have head trauma and several fractured bones. Guess this zombie body's good for something, huh?"
Homura nodded quietly.
"Do you have enough magic to heal yourself?"
"I think so. It'll take me a few minutes though; I can fight fine even with the injuries."
"I don't doubt that, but we need everyone at their top form."
After a moment's hesitation, she reached over and touched Kyoko's hand. Kyoko stiffened as she felt the first sparks of Homura's magic jumping over to her. Instantly, she grabbed her hand away.
"Idiot! You need that magic more than I do – you can actually use it for something!"
"Yes, but you also need to fix your injuries, and my magic levels are significantly higher than yours," Homura said. "Now stop whining and give me your hand."
Kyoko glared at her, not moving an inch. With a sigh, Homura grabbed her teammate's hand anyway and managed to send a few more ounces of magic to Kyoko. It would be enough to fix the fractures, at least.
She shifted her gaze to the Ginyu Force, trying to assess their strengths. It was no good, however. She didn't understand the alien anatomy well-enough to determine. Magical girls were much easier to read.
She thought about asking Vegeta, but the look on his face wasn't prompting conversation.
"Homura-san?" Gohan asked.
She glanced down, surprised. She hadn't noticed him come over.
"Yes? What is it?"
"Um...do you think we can do this? They seem really strong..."
Homura blinked. Well, this was something she hadn't been expecting. She had never been expected to give someone encouragement; even with Madoka she hadn't been good at it.
"Well," she said after a beat. "I haven't lost too many times before this. I think our chances are good."
She looked down, meeting his dark eyes.
"But why ask me? You know me less than you do Kyoko."
Gohan glanced down, embarrassed.
"Neyru said...that you were here to save everyone," he said. "I guess...I just need to believe in some kind of savior...because I don't think I'm strong enough."
Homura looked back towards the still oblivious to everyone else Ginyu Force.
"I've caught a glimpse of your power. I think you're plenty strong enough. Certainly stronger than I am, physically speaking."
"Really?"
Homura just nodded. Her heart felt funny. She couldn't explain why.
"I wish I could be as strong as my dad," Gohan said quietly.
Homura had nothing to say to that. But, it seemed, Kyoko did.
"Oh, yeah," she said. "Your dad's name...wouldn't happen to be Goku, would it?"
Both Homura and Gohan turned to face her.
"You know my dad?" Gohan said, looking excited.
"Kyoko?" Homura said.
Kyoko grinned sheepishly.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you guys. But Bulma told me to tell you she got a phone call from her dad back on Earth. Don't ask me how she gets a signal, I've got no idea."
"The point, Kyoko," Homura insisted.
"Right, right," Kyoko said. "Well she said Goku's coming. In a day or so. I don't know, is that a good thing?"
The change on Gohan's face was immediate.
"My dad is coming!" he said in an excited whisper. "He's coming!"
And in spite of everything, in spite of the terrible and powerful beings waiting to fight her, in spite of the witches she knew were just out of sight, and in spite of the terrible burden Homura knew she was holding onto, something in her heart sparked.
"Goku...huh...?"
A/N: I know, I know, it took me forever to post this and nothing really happened. I had planned on adding Guldo battle to this chapter, but then it was too long and it didn't flow well. Don't worry, Homura vs Guldo will be up before the end of the week, I promise. And, really, guys, I know you're excited for the story, and honestly I'm flattered that you like it so much, but please try to be patient with me. I'm in the middle of my senior year of high school, and I rarely get home before 5:30. I'm working as fast as I can to give you guys the best that I have. So thank you for supporting me thus far, and I hope you continue to support Wishes of a Different Sort!