"Love And Hate Come Through The Same Door"
Tale Thirty Three---Sect of Seven Stars part three---
Rating: T
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Pan wasn't home-tutored like her father had been. No, Pan was to attend public schools because her mother thought it would be good for her character. Pan however, had a hard time dealing with the special treatment classmates gave her. Teachers had been given strict orders as to treating her just like all the other students but the same could not be said of the students. Everybody knew she was the daughter of the great champion of the world, Mr. Satan. And they also knew her other grandfather was a gifted fighter as well. They looked into her background as if it would make her a different person. Her great-grandfather being the legendary Gyu Mao, the Ox King. What difference did it make?
Pan learned at a young age that it made all the difference in the world. Her mother had been her own person despite Mr. Satan's fame. Videl had had her own things to strive to. The same could not be said of Pan, for she was still too young to be her own person. At this age, she was the product of her environment, the product of what people made of her.
Most people were either intimidated by her or hung out with her for the sake of being with a celebrity, or at least granddaughter of a celebrity. But Pan was still too young to realize the counterfeit of virtually everybody involved in her life, save the family that loved and cared for her unconditionally.
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Piccolo continued a life in solitude, occasionally paying a visit to the Lord Kami, well, the current God anyway. Dende was growing taller by the years. And, much to Piccolo's bother, the young Nameckuseijin was growing wiser and cleverer at at least the same rate. Dende knew Piccolo still desired to own a piece of the world, but neither of them spoke of it.
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Yamuna Tacra had her fists balled tightly and wiped blood from her mouth with the back of her clenched hand. She didn't remember anyone with a control over his chi quite like this. She had to admit not even she was able to fly like that, or fire balls with such swift array.
As she stood in a fighting stance he suddenly burst forward, his feet off the ground, shooting forward like pouring rain. He was fast, especially for such a fat bastard. She sneered, readying herself for collision.
He halted inches before her, his ugly face near hers. He was taller than she was, and probably twice as big as her. He smirked an unsightly smirk. She returned a smirk that was equally nasty but she should've known better as his eyes glittered and he headbutted her.
She refused. She refused to fall to the ground. She moved her feet, adjusting her weight. There was no way in hell he'd get her to the ground a second time. There was no way she'd be at his feet. There was no way. Her head spun and the impact of the confrontation singed through behind her eyeballs, smouldering in her brain.
Yamuna opened one eye. He hadn't moved the entire time, only smirked at her more. Feh! She'd get him for this! She'd even out the score. She'd level herself towards conquest, towards that fat bastard's gory death!
She threw a punch at him, which he effortlessly blocked, grabbing hold of her hand. He continued to smirk.
He was in for a treat all right. She glared at him, and threw in another punch, which he stopped just as easily. Good, she thought. There's a good fatass.
She uplifted herself smoothly with her chi and he watched her. It was obvious what he was expecting, that fool of a beast. He'd seen her somersault over her enemies before. She knew it was exactly what he was expecting. She sneered and landed both of her feet in the Crothian's face, mustering all the strength she had left.
She screamed, laughing.
Her laughing died down when she realized the Crothian was not moving, simply cackled. The creature's mocking laughter grew, ringing across the entire forest, unsettling her to the point she felt something coil through her body, something she hadn't felt in a long time.
Was it fear?
He grabbed hold of her feet and hammered her into the forest's damp soil, laughing like a maniac. He then slammed her into a tree before letting go. She jumped up again, her eyes bawling rage. He in turn brought up his knee to the side of her body and she lurched out of the way. She wasn't fast enough when he countered another attack with both his arms, slamming her on both sides of her head, right above her ears.
Yamuna Tacra fell down. This time, she couldn't get up.
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Bulma hadn't heard from her son in days. Now, Bulma was well aware that her son was no child but she worried nonetheless. Why hadn't he called? What was keeping them so long? She knew gathering all seven dragon balls could be a hassle but she'd had times the balls were not at all hard to collect. And she was human, Trunks was half Saiyajin, as was Goten. What on Chikyuu was keeping them?
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Once Trunks woke up he soon realized things were more complicated than they looked. His Saiyajin body was affected by the poison still but he could feel his strength returning quickly. He glanced over his shoulder, to see Goten drooling happily. Trunks didn't think his friend would wake up anytime soon.
As he got up, his feet feeling wobbly, he did his best to charge up to Super Saiyajin. He noticed it was hard, harder than it usually was when his father forced him to train but he blamed the poison that clouded both his mind and muscles.
Goten slowly woke up, stretching lazily. Didn't the poison even so much as affect him!
"Goten!" he called to his friend. "Super Saiyajin!"
Trunks powered up, his hair a massive golden. Goten stared at him, then did the same, though not without trouble.
When Trunks turned to look at his enemies he noticed the men and women of the tribe who had gathered at the pit of the volcano had stopped trying to fight him, instead threw themselves humbly at his feet.
"Lord Efflata!" they exclaimed in chorus. "Be our guide, lord Efflata!"
Trunks had prepared for a fight and now the only fight he was getting was the one in his conscience. Should he exploit these people to get even? Or should he simply demand the Dragon Ball and be done with it?
Trunks was not given the opportunity to mull over his not so pure thoughts. When he turned to look at Goten the latter had already installed himself on a throne, surrounded by beautiful women and endless trays of meats, fruits and pastries.
Exasperated, Trunks made a face and fell to the ground.
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Aera knew she had no choice when the pink lump that had attacked Yamuna Tacra knocked the latter out without so much as putting up a fight. The upper hand the enemy was soon gaining was not something she had hoped for. Fighting was something she had not hoped for. But everywhere around her, felines were falling victim to the Crothian's malice and she refused to let them get away with it. When the pink lump that had knocked Yamuna out lashed out to kill the half-Saiyajin, Aera could no longer bear to watch and closed her eyes fiercely.
"Stop it!" she screamed.
Her body shivered, starting to radiate with the purest of lights. There was a flash, blinding everyone.
When the remaining felines who had tried so hard to keep the enemy at bay slowly opened their eyes, when Aera opened hers, the enemy was gone.
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Trunks got up. "Goten! We're not on some holiday!"
Goten looked at Trunks, his blue-green eyes staring innocently, his face stuffed with a banana cake. He stopped eating for a little while, mumbled something unintelligible and descended from his throne.
Both Super Saiyajin stood tall, especially compared to their humble, grovelling subjects.
"Give us the Seven Star Dragon Ball," Trunks demanded.
They bowed before Trunks, then turned towards Goten.
Goten stared. He swallowed his banana cake, and quickly ate the cake he still had in his hands. He smiled uncomfortably.
"Do you wish this also, other Lord Efflata?" the town elder asked in a dutiful voice.
Goten blinked. "Ehh… oh eh… Sure! What he said!"
A pretty girl from the tribe, probably the elder's granddaughter, handed them the Dragon Ball.
"Here you go, Lords Efflata!"
"Man!" Goten exclaimed, looking at the Dragon Ball. "I can't believe it was so easy!"
"Easy?" Trunks said, his Super Saiyajin aura flaring. "You call this easy!"
The volcano started to protest in a low, shattering rumble. It soon became clear the volcano had woken up.
Trunks and Goten stared at each other, then looked about them, trying to figure out what was going on.
"Now look what you've done!" the elder screamed at the girl. "You've angered one of the Lords Efflata!"
"Eek! I'm sorry grandfather!" She bowed, apologizing over and over.
The volcano continued to protest.
"Not to me!" the old man roared as he waved his arms about. "To the Lords Efflata!"
The girl turned towards Goten and Trunks, again bowing and bowing. "I'm sorry, Lord Efflata," she said while bowing to Goten. "I'm sorry Lord Efflata!" she said again, this time to Trunks. She continued to bow.
The volcano roared, louder this time.
"We have to get these people out of here!" Goten exclaimed.
Trunks stopped moving in a near panic for a little while, to look at his friend. "We have to get out of here!"
Lava started pouring in from the edges of the volcano's centre, and Goten could feel the ground shaking and starting to burst. Lava poured in under his feet and he danced trying not to burn his toes.
"Ow ow ow! That's hot!"
The Son recomposed himself. "Everyone!" he called to the panicking people. The crowd stopped running around, and began bowing to their 'Lord Efflata'.
"Everyone hold on to either me or Trunks!" he yelled. He pointed to his friend, who glared at him in protest.
The people blinked, burbling to each other as if they didn't understand.
"You mean Lord Efflata, Goten." Trunks corrected the Son who stared at him, dumbstruck. Only after a while, when his sneakers started to melt did he understand what Trunks meant.
"Oh!" he shouted with approval. "I get it!" He spread his arms. "Everyone! Hold on to Lord Efflata!"
Although the volcano did not stop from readying to erupt, the crowd was still confused. "Which one?" the town elder wondered.
Again, Goten stared.
"Either one!" Trunks filled in, reaching out his free hand, holding the dragon ball in his other. "Hurry!"
The lot of two-hundred-plus citizens held on to either Goten or Trunks and as the two Super Saiyajin uplifted themselves the volcano fully erupted, covering the whole of the island in molten rock and ashes.
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Ziyuu wasn't planning on waking up. The doctors had said there was no telling when or whether Ziyuu would ever wake up. What disturbed Lunch most was that her little girl would talk in her comatose state. And there was only one word she would utter the entire time.
Juunana. Seventeen.
The problem was, Juunana-gou was nowhere to be found. Likely, Juu was the only one able to wake up her daughter. She sighed dreamily. It sounded so much like the fairytale of the sleeping beauty. But Lunch had no idea if there would be a happy ending for Ziyuu. And worse, the evil witch was not some villain, the evil witch was her own man, Tenshin-han.
How had she ever gotten herself into this? Her dark eyes traced the dimly-lit room and she leaned in closer to her daughter. "Please wake up, Ziyuu-chan."
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Trunks, Goten and more than two hundred villagers moved in mid air and in a tight pack due west. Neither Trunks nor Goten had any idea how long it was going to take before they would reach land. Trunks remembered main land was about seven hundred miles away from the island with the Seven Star Dragon Ball on it. Would he be able to maintain being a Super Saiyajin that long? He couldn't move too fast, not with so many people trying to hold on to him, and he wasn't sure if those people would be able to hold on to him or Goten that long.
"Is everyone okay?" Goten asked. The Son could feel people's hands moving, trying to regain their grip. Now what was he gonna do? He turned towards Trunks, barely able to see him but nonetheless able to feel his energy. "Trunks!" he called while trying to follow him in a western direction, "What next?"
"Main land is about six or seven hundred miles in that direction!" he yelled, trying to move his arm to point.
"That's way too far away! We can never reach it!" Goten responded.
"Well, genius, you have any better suggestions!" Trunks glared.
"Not to be rude, Lord Efflata," the town elder sitting on top of Goten's spiky Super Saiyajin hair said, "But there's another island behind you, about a mile away, see?" Both Goten and Trunks turned but only Goten saw an island.
"Ah, that's great! Let's go!" Goten exclaimed enthusiastically and Trunks turned back, as if never having turned around in the first place.
On the beach, the islanders soon got back into their routine of bowing and grovelling. Goten and Trunks both paid little attention as they watched the other island being covered in lava and fire, smoke billowing high, mingling with the sparse clouds above. Both of them powered down, leaving the villagers disillusioned.
"Lords Efflata!" the elder stammered. "You… you… eh…"
Goten turned to look at the man, and the staring villagers behind them. "Do you want for someone to pick you up and take you to mainland later?" he asked.
The elder shook his head. "That's all right," he said. "The Efflata Island is only for religious purposes. This is our actual home, you see."
"Ah," Goten replied. "Good." He took to the sky, waving. "Bye!"
"Won't you stay, Lords Efflata?" the town elder's granddaughter pleaded. She looked at Goten with puppy-dog eyes.
Goten's smile widened and he put a hand behind his head in discomfort. "Eh, we're kind of on a mission, so love to but no."
Trunks looked at his friend and knit his brow. "They tried to kill us, Goten!" he protested. "Can't you even pretend to be angry?"
Goten laughed. "Come on, Trunks! We got what we came for, didn't we?"
The girl interrupted again, brushing her black hair out of her face, holding Goten's orange rucksack in her arms. She walked up to Trunks real closely, into his personal space. "I believe this belongs to you, Lord Efflata," she said in a humble, though tempting voice.
Trunks took the backpack and put it over his shoulder, the Seven Star ball still firmly clenched in his hand. "It's Trunks," he said with a blush. "My name's Trunks." He recomposed himself and decided it would be wise to check if the other dragon ball was still in the bag. He glanced at the girl. "You didn't go through our belongings, did you?" he said, already knowing the answer.
She shook her head as if Trunks had suggested something horrible. "Oh no! That would be awfully rude, wouldn't it?" she replied.
Trunks stared. "You have no problem serving us to your Efflata god but you find it rude to go through our stuff?"
"Of course!" She fumbled at her dress nervously. "That is, we didn't know who you were, Lord Efflata! Please forgive us!" She bowed again, almost grovelling. Trunks pulled her up, feeling about as embarrassed as his mother usually made him feel. "Are you sure you'll be fine? Volcano gasses can be very poisonous." Although he hadn't forgiven these people, he didn't want to see anyone hurt.
"We'll be fine, Lord Efflata."
"Let's get going, loverboy!" Goten shouted at his friend. "We still have five more to go!" Trunks' blush grew deeper and he put the Seven Star Dragon Ball in the backpack, taking out the Dragon Radar to see where the other five were located.
He took to the sky and the villagers bowed to the spectacle, as did the girl by Trunks' feet. He looked up to Goten and his smile widened. Trunks wondered if Goten could ever feel resentment for anyone as he watched the Son wave at the people below with the eagerness of a child.
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Author's Note: Yes, I took way too long. I've been out of Dragon Ball for a while. Nothing permanent though, so not to worry. I will finish this story even if it will take me another five years to do so (yes, this story is now more than five years old).
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