Chapter XXXVIII: Mutiny

It was January 15th, and Ichimei was getting ready to leave the house when she heard a knock on the door. Her first thought was that it was Dominick. To her surprise, it was actually Jishako and Nagashi. "Guys...I haven't seen you in forever." She gave a sad smile. She really wanted it to be Dominick.

"We dropped by a week or so after you were shot, and you were already fully recovered, but you said Dominick wouldn't be around for a while." Nagashi said. She remembered, now. They came over only a day after Dalton and Dominick had their scuffle, so Dominick was out looking for the Black Sclera. "But we felt that earthquake earlier, and we both had the feeling it had something to do with him."

"Yeah, I have that feeling too." She said. "I just haven't seen him since yesterday morning. That's why I was going to go look for him."

"What's wrong with him?" Jishako complained. "Leaving his girl home alone for days at a time…"

"No, I understand why he has to." She said. "He has to do this, or else he may never have peace within himself. I just want to be there for him in case anything goes wrong."

"I'm sorry Ichimei, but I can't let you go this time." A voice said.

"Huh?"

"The situation now is much worse than it was a couple of months ago." Josh made his way between Jishako and Nagashi, both of whom were almost a foot taller than him.

"What do you know, shorty?" Jishako called him out. He did not like Josh. "She just wants to see her boyfriend."

Nagashi flicked his friend's forehead. "Idiot, I think Josh knows what he's talking about. He's been in that business before." Then he looked at Ichimei. "Dominick would never forgive himself if you got hurt. And I don't know a lot about how the Dragon Balls work, but I'm pretty sure if you die again, there's no coming back."

Her face became more determined. "I won't die." She said. "It's the Black Sclera that Dominick's fighting right now, and the Black Sclera won't kill me. He had the chance last time I was there, but he couldn't do it."

The three boys all stared at her, surprised. Then, Josh got serious again. "No, I'm saying you could get killed by accident. You couldn't feel it yesterday, but there was a grand power that made me sick to my stomach from miles away. If someone with no defense against that kind of power even got close, they would most likely…" They all knew the answer. Even if they wouldn't die, that much power would definitely have real, physical consequences.

"I'm still going." Ichimei declared.

"You don't understand, we won't be able to do anything! If we show up, Dominick won't even be able to fight at full strength! The best thing we can do right now is-" He suddenly looked up at the sky. "Not again...the planet may really be in trouble at this rate."

As they all followed his eyes, they saw a massive wall of flames rising in the east and it was extended south. It didn't get very far before it dissipated. That was Dalton's power! Why are Dominick's and Dalton's energies the only ones that are elevated right now? Josh thought to himself.

"You know who's responsible for that, don't you?" Ichimei said. "Tell me. Your face is telling me you know."

Nagashi patted Josh on the back out of pity. At this point, he was wrapped around Ichimei's finger. "It was Dalton."

Nagashi and Jishako both almost jumped back. "Dalton?!" Jishako exclaimed. "I thought he was on our side. He's trying to destroy the planet?"

"Dalton isn't stupid." Nagashi said. "He wouldn't use an attack like that knowing it would harm people. What's happened to him?"

"Well, your guess is as good as mine. You're probably as smart as the three of us here combined." Josh replied.

"Three months ago," Ichimei started, "was the last time I've seen Dalton. He and Dominick got into a fight at our house, and then we were at the lookout, and Dalton said something about choosing the 'path of power'. Apparently, Dominick hadn't seen him since, because he spent the next three months searching with no luck. The situation hadn't changed before he left yesterday."

Josh shook his head and set it into his palm. "That must have been quite the fight, then. Those two aren't holding back anything right now. It's likely they're fighting to the death."

That wasn't the way Dalton had died in the dream. He can't be dead then, right? Dominick tried looking back at the other three to see if their facial expressions showed anything, but they were too far away to be able to tell what exactly was going on. "FUCK!" Dominick was just about to fly into the source of the explosion when he saw a jet of steam shoot out from the ravine. It stopped about 20 meters in front of him. Dalton was standing behind the steam, his face bloody and his right arm scarred and burnt.

"Look what happened to my arm." He said. "It's all burnt, I can't even feel it anymore."

Dominick was relieved, but held himself together nonetheless. "Give up, Dalton. Please."

"It doesn't matter though. My fucking sword got swallowed by the lava."

"Alright…" Dominick threw his sword on the ground. "No more swords, then." This was good for him. In his dream, Dalton was ran through by his sword. But if he wasn't using it, he could change that.

"I can still beat you with without my right arm."

"If you're looking for sympathy, you won't get it from me." Dominick said. "I don't want to be fighting you, so I want to knock you out as soon as possible."

"Don't make a fool out of me!" Dalton shouted, charging at his brother. Both of them were undeniably tired. Dalton swung at Dominick with his left hand. Dominick jumped back out of the way. Dalton followed with two consecutive kicks; the first one missed, and the second one hit him square in the nose, causing more than a couple drops of blood. Dominick reacted with by grabbing Dalton's foot and slamming him into the ground. He went down on his burnt shoulder, causing him to scream in pain. Without thinking, the younger brother sat up and raised his right arm, willing flames from his palm at his brother. Dominick dodged just barely, and Dalton had surprised himself. Dominick allowed his opponent to stand up, and the two did not move for at least a full minute. Wind blew lighty from the ocean shore and hit Dalton's right, and Dominick's left. Then, the two of them were exchanging blows again. Dominick had the clear upper hand this time, but it wasn't enough for him to end it. The longer they fought, the more energy he drained, and the more impossible it would be to defeat the other two. Dominick began to push Dalton back. As they sent flurries of punches and kicks at each other, dodging what they could, they slowly retreated inland toward the other three. Before long, they came into view. None of them had moved since they went underground. As the brothers continued to exchange blows, the power behind their attacks did not decrease, but became more desperate. They were slower, but they hit harder. They had slowed to only about one or two hits every second. Their defenses, on the other hand, they had pretty much abandoned. Nearly every attack hit its mark. Both of their energies decreased more and more with each attack.

Eventually, Dalton leaped backward. Panting as blood dripped down both of their faces, they stood still once more. The one to retreat was the one to resume motion again. "I was surprised that I could shoot fire out of my burnt hand." He said. "And that gave me an idea. Maybe I don't need that sword to finish you off, after all."

"What do you mean?"

Dalton winced as he raised his right hand vertically into the air. He then began to float into the air, slowly rising as Dominick watched. After a break from throwing punches and kicks, the older brother's breathing calmed. He felt a warm wind coming from his younger brother. As Dalton's right arm remained upright, it burst into flames. He turned his head, squeezed his eyes shut, and gritted his teeth as his already scorched arm was subjected to even more flames. "I...didn't...think it would hurt...this much…" He muttered to himself.

Dominick's eyes widened. "How can he have that much energy left?" He breathed.

Martin shouted, "Dalton, you can't! If you fire another one, you really will destroy the planet!"

Thirteen's fist simply clenched in place.

As Dalton's arm became less and less visible behind the flames, he began to yell out in pain. "Hurry...HURRY UP!" He cried out at no one in particular. Gritting his teeth, he resisted the urge to just extinguish the flames, until his eyes snapped open. "NOW! JIGOKU SEPPEN!"

Dominick was going to dodge again, but he noticed that this one was pointed south. There was no ocean to act as a safety net this time. It had a real chance of hitting a town. That is, if the world didn't fall apart from the pressure, first. He had to take this one head on. The wall of flames extended down out of Dalton's arm, and straight at him. He had little time to think about how he was going to stop the flames. Luckily for him, this attack had only a fraction of the power the last one had. However, flames were different than pure energy. There was no way he could stop them with his bare hands. Then he got an idea. He didn't have much energy to spend, but he didn't have much of a choice. Ka...me...ha… The familiar blue energy ball formed in his hands. Me...HAAA! His energy blast stopped the flames in their tracks, but only for a second. Inevitably, the fire began creeping around all sides of Dominick's attack. It was no use. There was no good way to defend against this attack, and his power was draining fast.

Dalton writhed in pain as the flames kept coming from his arm. Why aren't they going anywhere?! Did he actually stop the attack?! His energy was running out, and he could tell Dominick's was too. He wanted to give up. The pain in his arm was too much.

Just then, Thirteen appeared behind Dalton in his transformed form and roundhouse kicked him in the neck. Dalton lost control of his attack and the flames dissipated. Dominick abruptly stopped his kamehameha as well.

Dalton flipped over a couple times in midair, but managed to stop himself. With enraged eyes, he glared at the Android. "What did I tell you about interfering, Thirteen?" He growled.

Thirteen looked down at Dalton with disappointed eyes. "Listen to me. Cleaning the earth of its scum is one thing, but destroying the whole planet is the farthest thing from bringing peace."

"Oh, and what do you know of peace?" Dalton replied. "Just look at the form you're taking right now. You seem to resemble the same guy that wanted to destroy the planet only six years ago. You're basically the same person now, aren't you though?"

"Do not compare me to that trash." Thirteen snarled through gritted teeth. "I simply have done what I must to gain power in order to achieve peace."

"So that makes us the same, then."

Thirteen clenched his fists, and something inside him snapped. He shouted in rage. "AAAAAAAGHH!" Spikes sprouted out of him that were strikingly similar to those that Molecule had. "THAT'S IT! I'VE GIVEN YOU TOO MANY CHANCES!" Dalton was startled and jumped back. The Android charged at him with lightning speed. Dalton was caught off guard, but it wasn't like being wary would have saved him, either. With his fatigue, the android was actually stronger than him. Not to mention, he wasn't used to Thirteen losing his cool like this. In fact, he'd never seen it happen. Before he knew it, the android was already behind him. He pounded Dalton's head downward with his fists, sending him flying to the ground. However, before he hit the ground, Thirteen dove down quicker than his opponent was falling, and put a foot in his back, once again sending him further away from the shore.

Dominick tried to fly over to stop the fight, but he knew there was nothing he could do. He couldn't even fly straight, either. He had really expended more energy than he thought while using the kamehameha.

Thirteen kicked Dalton into the sand of the desert. He kicked him in the stomach again. Dalton coughed up blood all over Thirteen's pant leg. The Android started repeatedly punching Dalton in the face.

"Thirteen, stop it now!" Dominick yelled as he made his way over to the two of them.

Martin chimed in. "He's had it already! You'll really kill him!"

The android ignored both of their pleas and continued his beating on Dalton. The kid had already reverted back into his base form a while back. He had no way to defend himself now. If this didn't stop then he really would die.

But suddenly, a quick, thin bar of light beamed over to Thirteen and exploded upon impact with his right shoulder. A severed arm with an assortment of wires flew out of the explosion. Thirteen winced in pain as he clutched the exposed innards at his shoulder. "Who-" His eyes widened at the sight of Hotokira, with his left index finger extended outward and smoking.

"I was right in labeling you as the most dangerous, Thirteen." He said. "No hard feelings, though. It just looked like you were going to kill Dalton." He smiled. "And if I had to choose between you and Dalton, I'd choose the latter every time."

The android's blackened eyes filled with rage. "YOU BASTARD!" He turned away from Dalton, and charged toward Hotokira.

"How unfortunate." The Black Sclera said under his breath. Hotokira shot another blast, but this time with his whole palm. The blast penetrated and fully impaled the android's abdomen. He stopped in his tracks and looked down at the hole in his stomach, his face contorted in pain, then his expression dropped as a thin puff of smoke escaped from his mouth. Then, his limp body fell to the floor.