"Bulma," said Chi Chi, tugging at Bulma's arm as she tried and failed to dial her father's phone for the sixth time. "Bulma."
"What?!" screamed Bulma, whirling on Chi Chi.
Chi Chi pointed.
A giant, bulbous craft soundlessly came down from the clouds and floated to the uphill end of their clearing, just outside the perimeter of the Fire Mountain settlements scattered around the Son household. As it came closer to the earth, tiny tendrils of green sprouted from its base to touch the ground, and then buried themselves into the soil like an army of lampreys latching onto the flesh of their prey. They anchored the craft like it was a giant balloon, and then slowly reeled it in so that it settled against the mountain's uneven face.
"Uh," said Bulma, anger momentarily forgotten.
An instant later, Tienshinhan - followed by Sevoya, her father, Mark Satan, and a swarm of Fire Mountain villagers hurried into the clearing to look up at the strange object grafting itself to the mountainside.
"Uh," echoed Mark, "shouldn't we, I dunno, sh-shoot at it, or something? Mr. Three Eyes, you're really strong, right?"
"My name is Tienshinhan," Tienshinhan corrected. "And I have no idea what that thing is, or what it might do if I start attacking it indiscriminately. But if you want to give it a shot, be my guest."
"Oh, n-no," said Mark, bowing his head.
"Shh," hushed Hass, pointing.
"Get back inside," Tienshinhan commanded. "All of you. If this turns ugly, it's better if you're not in their direct line of sight."
When nobody moved, Chi Chi turned around and barked, "Hey! You heard him! Now!" and received much better results.
Mount Paozu cleared out in a flash as citizens popped back into their houses, and then merely pulled cracks in their capsule house curtains or peeked through their keyholes at this new, strange craft. Hass and his daughter blinked through Chi Chi's open door in confusion when they realized that she and Bulma stayed put. Tienshinhan did much the same when he noticed.
"I meant for the two of you to go, too," he said.
"No," said Chi Chi. "This is my home. I'm not going anywhere. Bulma can do as she likes."
Bulma grinned. Tienshinhan simply exhaled brusquely through his nose as he looked back to the odd ship tying itself to the land.
A single sheaf of the ship's glossy, black-green exterior peeled from the side like a massive petal spreading from a clustered, budding flower. It gently fell forward into a sloping ramp, and released with it the smell of freshly cut grass. Chi Chi felt herself become lightheaded under its influence, and covered her eyes when a billowing wind carrying loose leaves, dirt, and pine needles pushed down the mountain from the craft's sudden displacement.
When it cleared, she blinked back the dust and discovered two figures walking towards them. One of them was short and stocky, with four arms that appeared like they were made out of clay, four bugged-out eyes similar in size and color to those of a fish, and six flaring nostrils evenly spaced in two rows between them. A thick, scalloped ridge connected their cheeks and upper lip into one complete line.
The second was humanoid, but had no face, had no fingers, and wore no clothes. It was almost like someone took a mass of grey clay and crudely shaped it into a man. A series of glassy, blue-green orbs protruded from its body at almost every joint, and broke up the smooth grey of its torso.
The stocky one planted its feet, crossed two of its arms, and spoke.
"Son Gohan," he said, in a booming voice that added more consonants to his words than were necessary. "Which one of you is Son Gohan?"
Chi Chi's mouth curled into a frown. Who were these people, what were these people, and what business did they have on her property, asking about her son?! She clenched her fists and straightened her back to unleash some fresh vitriol, but Tienshinhan beat her to the punch.
"Who's asking?" he said, striding forward to meet the two figures halfway.
The stocky one snorted. "It's none of your," a strange, garbled clicking came out of his mouth, "business, who we are, you two-armed," the clicking happened again, as the creature snarled.
Chi Chi realized that clipped to his collar was a small, blue and black device. A translator, probably, like the kind Bulma had shown her once.
His strange companion held up one long, gummy appendage.
"Calm down, Gyoza," said the figure, with a buzzing voice not unlike the tinny sound of a cheap microphone. Another translator encircled what Chi Chi could only describe as the figure's wrist. "That's not gonna get us anywhere."
The stocky creature, Gyoza, turned an orange-brown in the face, and the area above its huge upper lip puffed. His head looked like a fried, stuffed dumpling ready to come out of the oil.
"What!" he screeched. "Don't tell me what to do, you-!" this time, when the clicking started, it didn't stop. The creature stomped his feet and kept clicking even as his companion stepped forward and addressed everyone else.
"We're looking for Son Gohan. Our boss wants to talk to him. If he comes with us, we won't have any cause for violence. Okay? Sound square?" The creature held out one of its armlike appendages. One of their glowing orbs sat on the end of it like a hand.
"What are you?" blurted Chi Chi. "Why should we listen to you?!"
Gyoza's coloring changed from well-done to burnt. He rebutted, or at least Chi Chi thought he did, because the clicking increased in speed and ferocity.
"Aliens," said his companion, simply. "We're aliens. We want to speak with the strongest this planet has to offer, and we're pretty sure that's your son."
Tienshinhan narrowed his eyes. "Gohan's busy. Why not talk to me instead?"
Gyoza and his companion looked at one another- or Chi Chi supposed the other one looked at Gyoza, because the light in the orb serving as its head swivelled towards their companion before looking back at Tienshinhan.
"It has to be Gohan," said Gyoza. "If you [garble] refuse to cooperate, we'll have to assume you [garble, click] mean us harm. We won't hesitate to assert ourselves."
"I'd like to see you try," sneered Bulma, planting her hands on her hips.
Tienshinhan glared at her, and Chi Chi felt her confidence shrink. She knew enough to know that whatever she thought, Tienshinhan's read on their power was probably accurate. But still, Chi Chi was never one to back down, and she never would be.
"Ah, geez," said the creature, the light in its head swiveling from left to right like it was trying to focus on all of them at once.
Gyoza's stance lowered, and his four fists arranged around his face- two closed for fisticuffs, and two open for grappling.
Chi Chi squared up, ready to take whatever Gyoza might throw at her, but Tienshinhan suddenly gasped and tilted his head towards the door. Chi Chi didn't dare break eye contact to see what had startled him until she heard her son's voice. Then, she whirled around.
OOO
Sevoya covered her mouth and bit her finger as Polymnia stepped out of the Son household disguised as Gohan. She was certain Chi Chi and Bulma would blow his cover immediately - he hadn't even chosen to wear the clothes Gohan had worn yesterday night, when they had last seen him. Instead, he was in the black vest and khaki pants Sevoya recognized from school.
"Gohan!" called Bulma, stepping back from the Son household as Polymnia stepped out of the door. "Gohan, I thought-!"
Polymnia smiled at her as he made his way to pat Tienshinhan on the shoulder.
"Bulma, Tienshinhan," Polymnia said, and then, with another smile towards Chi Chi, "Mom. I think it's better if we don't start our introductions by causing a fight when we can avoid one."
Tienshinhan's brows furrowed, and Polymnia squeezed his shoulder again. His smile looked relaxed, but Sevoya knew from watching Polymnia just before he'd transformed that it was strained. She knew that Tienshinhan could feel Polymnia's energy the way that her mother could feel people's energy, and was probably confused the way Sevoya was confused. Polymnia was nothing compared to Gohan's power, but even Sevoya had to admit that something about his presence, something about his energy, was unnervingly identical to Gohan's. If Sevoya had not seen him transform in front of her eyes, she would have been fooled.
The bigger question was whether or not Chi Chi and Bulma would blow his cover, or if they would keep quiet. Sevoya felt her father's fingers press into her shoulder as the two of them held their breath and watched from the house doorway.
Polymnia turned to the strange pair squaring up on Chi Chi's lawn.
"You're Son Gohan?" asked Gyoza. "You don't seem that tough to me."
Polymnia smiled. "That may be, but isn't it better that you never find out if I am or not? You said your boss wanted to see me. I'd like to cooperate, if it lets us avoid any trouble."
Gyoza looked to his partner. "Fifteen Stars, is that really him?"
His humanoid partner, Fifteen Stars, was quiet for a long moment, and Sevoya was certain that they could see through him, somehow.
"Hmm," said Fifteen Stars, sizing Polymnia up with the lights in its orb. "The energy moves the same, but-"
Gyoza sent a beam of light towards Polymnia without warning. It erupted in a cloud of smoke upon contact with its target, and Sevoya saw the light of panic enter Tienshinhan's eyes even as it cleared. Chi Chi shrieked, and made to charge.
"Wait," said Polymnia. "Mom. Wait. It was a test."
Chi Chi froze.
Polymnia stood, smiling, with a hand in front of his face where he blocked the beam. He moved it behind his back an instant later, and Sevoya saw it was charred and raw beneath the freshly-tattered sleeve. A smaller, more isolated puff of pinkish smoke enveloped it and left unblemished skin in its place.
"Are you satisfied?" he asked.
Gyoza and Fifteen Stars tilted their heads towards one another, and then nodded.
Polymnia released Tienshinhan, and strode forward.
"Good. Now, I don't want any more trouble. Take me to your leader, and let's stop this."
OOO
The ship on Mount Paozu truly was a giant bud unfurling its petals. Its soft interior was a glowing, gentle purple-white of massive, layered petals meeting at the center of the ceiling, and the spongy floor let off puffs of glowing pollen when he stepped upon it that floated in the air like glitter until they gently dispersed into particles too small to see. It smelled of sap from new, green, broken stems, and like the gardenias Erato grew in his personal garden. Polymnia felt like he'd stepped into the center of an enormous grass stain as he journeyed deeper and deeper into its body.
Gyoza and Fifteen Stars flanked him for the entire journey.
He resisted the urge to wipe the sweat from the back of his neck, and show how nervous he was. He knew from the look in Chi Chi's eyes that he hadn't fooled her, but that was irrelevant. He'd fooled these invaders, but was that better, or was that worse? He wasn't Gohan. He wasn't even comparable to Gohan. They could crush him like a bug if they treated him like the genuine article. He might die. He might die here and now, impersonating someone he should have never become involved with.
His hand burned and throbbed, and his entire torso screamed in pain. He'd pushed too far. He was always pushing too far. If only Polymnia had power! If only he had the power to match his ambition!
Something smooth and cool pressed into his back cut his thoughts short. He turned his head to find Fifteen Stars' orb-like hand gently pressing into him. They were so close that Polymnia could see the movement of the thin green wave on the tiny screen of Fifteen Stars' translator as he spoke.
"No hard feelings," said Fifteen Stars, glowing brightly from within each glassy orb. "Orders are orders."
Polymnia opened his mouth to protest, but instead fell to his knees when a sudden surge of white-hot pain ran through his body, and then to the floor.
OOO
Tienshinhan felt the disturbance before anyone else saw that anything was wrong. Polymnia's strange energy suddenly disappeared, and no sooner had he barked at everyone to hide did a swarm of oblong green creatures with a mass of tiny, spindly legs come scuttling out of the ship like furious ants from an overturned anthill. Gyoza and Fifteen Stars emerged not long after- two specks of cream and teal blue among a sea of green and black rolling towards them.
A second, more delayed rustling in the trees around the valley grew louder and more constant, and suddenly a second stampede began- of deer, birds, boars, monkeys, lizards- every kind of creature on Mount Paozu suddenly leapt from wherever they hid and began running in the opposite direction of the threat. Tienshinhan saw why- as he looked closer at the approaching waves, he saw one of the oblong creatures open itself up like a giant venus flytrap and envelop one of the fleeing deer before turning around and scuttling back to the ship.
Tienshinhan wasted no time in letting loose a wicked wave of blasts towards them to break their ranks. The first line of oblong green creatures dissolved in the light or overturned from the oncoming force, but from the smoke, more emerged to trample over their fallen companions and continue the advance. Tienshinhan cursed, and turned to Chi Chi and Bulma.
"We need to run!" he said. "There's too many of them for any one person to take care of them all without destroying the whole-!"
No sooner did he say that than another series of explosions echoed over the mountain. He turned to find a trio in the air above the forest to the east of the house- Goten, Trunks, and the white-haired Calliope. The two boys flung blast after blast at the swarm, and Calliope pointed as if she was directing them.
What they didn't see was Gyoza and Fifteen Stars changing their courses towards them.
"Tiensh-!" started Chi Chi.
A vein appeared in Tienshinhan's temple.
"Just get everyone out of here!" he said, springing from the ground and launching himself towards the three children.
He reached them just in time to crash into Gyoza and prevent him from snatching Goten directly out of the air. Gyoza fell from the air for a moment before regaining his bearings, and then hurled his two right fists towards Tienshinhan with a furious grunt. Tienshinhan avoided them and the two left follow-up jabs, and then landed a kick to Gyoza's abdomen.
Gyoza barely flinched. What he lacked in speed, he made up for in strength and endurance. Tienshinhan narrowly ducked under another strike at his head.
Meanwhile, Goten and Trunks brought Fifteen Stars to the ground, and narrowly avoided the creature's stretching appendages as they swung them around like weighted ropes. Gashes appeared in the earth under their force as they collided with the ground. The glowing orbs leading Fifteen Stars' movements changed the direction of the blows in midair to give chase to the boys. They independently controlled the parts of Fifteen Stars' grey body immediately attached to them, so Fifteen Stars appeared almost like a four-armed octopus reaching for the children.
A sudden, searing disc of light cut through Fifteen Stars' torso, and then spiralled out over the oncoming wave of oblong creatures beyond before colliding into the apex of the black ship in the distance and erupting in a magnificent shower of sparks. Krillin hovered in the air just above the Son household readying a second Kienzan. Below, Chi Chi dodged and weaved as two of the green, oblong creatures threw themselves at one another and only succeeded in colliding with one another. Their translucent green bodies melded into one another as both unsuccessfully tried to envelop the other. Bulma, now hovering in a Capsule craft, sprayed bullets at the oncoming creatures.
The two halves of Fifteen Stars' body hit the ground with a thud, but no blood erupted from the cut. Frankly, such a victory hardly mattered; there were too many of them. The Son family and their acquaintances could handle themselves, but the screams of the other bystanders told Tienshinhan everything he needed to know- they were being overrun.
"Krillin!" Tienshinhan called, still narrowly avoiding Gyoza's blows. "There are people and animals trapped inside of those things! If you don't-!"
"I know!" shouted Krillin. "Why do you think I went for the ones that haven't made it here yet?! Why do you think I went for the ship?!"
Gyoza paused in his assault and looked up. His scalloped upper lip turned down at the corners when he spotted the smoke trailing off the glistening green casing of his ship.
Tienshinhan took the opportunity to collide his knee with Gyoza's stomach. When he flinched, Tienshinhan sent another blow to knock back his head and open his stance, and then kick him to the ground. However, Gyoza's hands wrapped around Tienshinhan's final kick, and he found himself being spun about before hurtling to the earth himself. He took the fall and got to his feet before the dust cleared to throw himself right back at Gyoza.
Gyoza had other plans.
"Now!" he shouted, diving towards Goten and Trunks. "Fifteen Stars, let's go!"
The two boys dashed out of his reach, but Gyoza didn't even try to pursue them. Instead, he wrapped his arms around Calliope, who wasn't quick enough, and then dashed away in the direction of the ship.
"Calliope!" Trunks screamed, taking chase.
A sudden dart of light passed by his face and plinked against Gyoza's back. It had no real effect besides creating a charred mark on his armor, but Sevoya, who held the gun that produced it, fired again anyway, and continued to do so until the grey connective tissue from one half of Fifteen Stars' body unspooled and reshaped itself into a long, single cord to wrap around her body. The other half took to the air and fired five separate beams from each of the glassy orbs embedded within the grey connective tissue to send Krillin, Chi Chi, Hass, Trunks, and Goten scrambling while the first escaped with Sevoya.
Goten and Trunks didn't give up. They both narrowly avoided the beams and continued their pursuit of the hostages.
"Fifteen Stars!" barked Gyoza. "I said now!"
"Okay, okay! Fine! Fine!"
Fifteen Stars' bottom half tossed Sevoya towards Gyoza, and then rejoined with its upper half before their entire body changed shape so that every one of its glowing orbs faced the Son household before changing color to an ominous red.
The boys, particularly Trunks, charged towards it, fists raised, without a second thought.
"Trunks!" shouted Tienshinhan. "Trunks, move!"
The orbs glowed brighter, like fifteen miniature stars about to explode.
Tienshinhan changed course from pursuing Gyoza to throw himself between the boys and Fifteen Stars. He shoved Goten out of the way, and then grabbed Trunks' arm and pulled him against his torso.
OOO
"Wait for your opportunity," Tienshinhan told her. "Know your enemy and his weaknesses, and use them. Don't put yourself in a bad position if you haven't done the work to mitigate it first. That includes knowing when to run away, or take a cheap shot."
To Videl, it sounded like cheating. But Tienshinhan was adamant.
"The crane strikes at its prey from on high. Is it cowardly? Perhaps. But the crane also gets to eat for the day. Fairness and mercy are for sportsmen. When you are competing in exhibition matches or contests for sport, you can uphold those kinds of fantasies. But you didn't come to me to learn martial arts as a sport. You've come to learn it as a skill."
Videl's new master had proved himself quiet, peculiar, and hard in the short time she had known him, but he was also shrewd, disciplined, and effective. Even in basic sparring, he had already pushed her harder than anyone else ever had, and though she had accepted her swift defeat without complaint, the wide gap between her skill, or her power and his, or Krillin's, or even Eighteen's had her questioning if she should have bothered coming to Satan City at all, or if she should have stayed with Tienshinhan and learned more. Learned anything, really. She'd barely had enough time to be thoroughly trounced and made sore, and then given Tienshinhan's personal dao. But now, with strange creatures flooding the ruined streets of Satan City in the shadow of a craft meant to take them away, the only thing she could think about was what Tienshinhan had to say.
"That was the way of my master's Crane School. It not only taught me to survive, but to thrive, and never let anyone take that away from me. But it was flawed. This philosophy is wrong when it becomes cruel, and pride gets the best of its wielder. Picking on the weak for no other reason than to make yourself feel better is the mentality of a bully, and someone of weak mind. I will teach you to strengthen your mind and steel your heart; I have no interest in empowering bullies, or being one."
Videl had lived her life trying to prove herself her own hero to step out of her father's shadow, only to have that same shadow come crashing down like a cheap prop. She'd been falsely empowered by the idea that her father had conquered all of the universe's danger by unmasking it as a sham, and that he was invincible - that she was invincible as his daughter, if she worked hard to be like him. But it wasn't true. She was a child enraptured by an illusion of invincibility. Now that it had been shattered, things were different. Videl knew fear.
The strange green creatures- they reminded Videl of the diagrams of viruses in her textbooks, with their inflated, rounded heads and spindly legs- filed from the ship with the intent to capture the people within their translucent green heads, and then bring them back to their bulbous mothership. It was strange. Like a dream. But Videl immediately began barking orders to the people around her on the best way to evacuate the area, and commanding Seventeen on the best places to strike. It was like she forgot her fear and knew only one thing: to act, to protect, and to win.
Seventeen targeted the root-like tendrils anchoring it in place first, ripping them apart with his bare hands, and when he couldn't lift the entire ship on his own, resorted to tearing open its hull. Seventeen's incredible power shredded the outer layers of the ship's gleaming black leaves like a rotary blade, and sent glowing spores falling over Satan City like snow. Watching him was like watching a natural disaster. Seventeen was terrifying, graceful, and impossible to ignore.
Eighteen joined her brother in pulling it apart, and then in ripping it from the earth to continue deconstructing it away from the city, where collateral damage ran rampant.
Videl's actions were so small compared to theirs, but it was what she had, and what she could do. She methodically took down the strange creatures she encountered one by one- tear a leg off here, send two crashing against one another there, kick another in its gelatinous head and let it struggle to right itself when it fell over. Nothing existed to Videl beyond the task in front of her, and the fear that she might not be enough. But she had to try anyway- to prove herself in her own mind, and to Tienshinhan.
"The Crane School that I pass on will never be my master's, but it teaches the philosophy of a predator. There is no shame in guaranteeing that, should you need to fight, you will win. We win not because we want to, but because we must!"
OOO
A piercing hiss erupted into the air as fifteen beams of light shot out from Fifteen Stars. Tienshinhan turned so that his back was towards the blast and Trunks was shielded by his body, and screamed as white-hot pain seared over the right half of his back and down the top of his leg before his nerves overloaded and all he could feel was freezing cold. Spots swam over his vision, and an incredible, unending ringing began playing in his ears.
He pulled himself from the light and fell, smoking, towards the ground. Fifteen Stars' destructive energy scattered across Mount Paozu in random bursts, like columns of light falling from the sky to form craters in the ground, decimate the scattered capsule homes, and ravage the forest. Smoke and dust billowed in thick clouds from the blasts to cover the whole mountain, and Tienshinhan covered his eyes and mouth with his good arm.
His whole back practically screamed with the motion. That was the thing about pain- when it was bad enough, the brain shut it out. The thing to fear about injuries was not the initial cause, but the agony of living with it after it happened.
Beneath him, Trunks gaped. Sweat glued his lavender hair to his forehead, and his pale eyes enveloped Tienshinhan in a wild, panicked stare.
"We," he said, " we have to go after-!"
Trunks tried to take to the air, but Tienshinhan grabbed his leg with his good arm and pulled him down.
"No," said Tienshinhan. "That's what they want. They're trying to take people. Don't you get it?"
"But Calliope," said Trunks, whirling around and catching sight of Tienshinhan's right side.
The boy froze.
"You're," he said, "are, are you okay?"
No. But if the blast had enveloped Tienshinhan's head, he wouldn't be of this earth anymore. Most of his arm wasn't, but what was left was charred so badly that it couldn't be bloody, which was a blessing. Bits of bone showed through on the outside of his forearm, and the fingers on his right hand refused to move. He didn't want to know what his back looked like.
"Listen," he said. "There's nothing else I can do in this state. I need you to make sure your mother and the Sons haven't been taken, and get the rubble off of everyone you can." He squeezed Trunks' leg, and glared into the boy's eyes with all three of his own. "Don't rush after the craft without a plan. Do you understand?"
"But-!" said Trunks.
"Trunks," said Tienshinhan. "I know you want to go after them. But you must protect your mother and get her to safety. You have to put all of that away, and do what's necessary. Right now, we have to accept what we've lost, and salvage what we can. Do you understand?"
Trunks bit his lip, and then looked away to the ground.
"Yes, sir."
OOO
The thin air of the Lookout pressed itself into Gohan's nostrils like an old friend. It was fresh, clean, and cool, and lacked the uncertainty and volatility of the air within the Hyperbolic Time Chamber at his back. The gleaming tile ocean here was merely an island, with the blue sky giving it borders, and alluding to the freedom of a world below. Gohan felt like a bird escaping its cage just from the sight of it.
What he didn't expect, and what Thalia, Terpsichore, and Broly didn't expect, was to find Piccolo sitting perfectly still immediately in front of the door. He held his meditative position, but rather than floating in midair, he sat in a shallow pool of water just out of the direct sunlight. Tiny needles protruded from his head in perfect intervals. His turban sat by his side. Everything about him was even more perfectly still than normal.
"He's like a flower in a vase of water," commented Thalia.
Popo appeared from around the corner, with a watering can in hand. He smiled.
"Welcome back," he said. "You may remove Piccolo's needles now."
The four of them blinked.
"Needles?" asked Broly.
"Why needles?" asked Terpsichore. "Was Erato here? Does the Guardian know about this?"
"Yes," confirmed Popo.
"Where is Dende?" asked Gohan, looking around. "I don't sense him. I can't imagine he wouldn't be here to-"
Popo smiled wider. "You may remove Piccolo's needles now," he repeated.
Then, he walked away without another word.
The four of them looked at one another, and then to Piccolo. Terpsichore and Thalia stepped forward to pull out needles in a particular order Gohan didn't quite understand. After about ten were taken from his temple, Piccolo's eyes shot open and began roving in angry circles over each of them. Fifteen more, and he could move his mouth and neck. The tendons at his throat tensed and strained with each word.
"Dende has been kidnapped," said Piccolo.
"What?" said Terpsichore, settling backwards.
Piccolo's color deepened. Gohan thought he might explode into a puddle of purple. He'd never seen him look this angry.
"That fool. That naive, childish fool. He went willingly with Erato and left me like this, and now he's no longer on the planet!"
A rush of blood entered Gohan's ears. He looked up towards the sky like he might be able to see wherever Dende could be. The only thing he found was blue sky and thin air. He closed his eyes and searched for Dende's energy instead. He found nothing.
"How far off the planet, and from where?" he asked. "He's far enough that I can't find him."
Thalia pulled the last of the needles out, and Piccolo stood. The shallow pool of water around him sloshed at his feet. His sharp teeth ground against one another and his fists clenched. Broly made ready to tackle him until Gohan held up a hand.
"North City. He ascended from North City. That fool! That arrogant child! He's done all this because of-!"
Piccolo whirled on Gohan like he had more to say, and with an expression he couldn't quite read. He knew a lot about Piccolo when he was angry, and the subtle tics of his stern face when he was happy. But this was something different. Piccolo embarrassed easily, but this was more than that. He was humiliated, and defeated in a way Gohan had never seen before.
"Because of what, Piccolo?" asked Gohan, perplexed and horrified in the face of his rage.
Behind him, Terpsichore shrank back like a frightened animal. Broly looked between the three of them like he should either attack or jump to the defense of one of them, but wasn't sure which.
Piccolo remained silent for a long, hard moment. Gohan could practically feel electricity coming from his antennae from the wrath that had nowhere to go. Then, the tension broke like a heavy cloud dissolving into rainfall.
"...It doesn't matter," decided Piccolo, almost as if to himself. "We have to retrieve him. This mistake is too large for him or the Earth to bear, even as a punishment. Something has come to take him and the people of Earth away. They're at or on their way to almost every major city right now."
Piccolo put his face in his hand. His long nails dug into his forehead as they clutched at his temple.
"Piccolo?" said Gohan. "Piccolo, what's-?"
"We're going to need a ship," interrupted Thalia. "Unless you can breathe in space, we're going to need a ship."
"Yes," said Gohan, one hand reached out towards Piccolo. "R-right. Right. She's right. Do you think Bulma-?"
Piccolo reached for Gohan's hand, and then firmly pressed it to his shoulder.
"She's with your mother on Mount Paozu," he said, and closed his eyes to act as the conduit between Gohan and the mountain.
OOO
Vegeta blinked as his swimming vision came to focus on the interior of some sort of hangar. Painted yellow and white marks accompanied by evenly spaced numerals and lights lined the floors, and a small fleet of crafts quietly waited for activation.
He pressed his fingers into his temple like he could hold back the quiet throbbing pounding from within his skull. The last thing he remembered was the bitter cold of the northern mountains, and facing Gohan and that strange Saiyan. Where was he? What happened?
He sat up. He was propped against some metal crates at the back of the room, and could see a small cluster of people discussing something over a map spread over a table. Several of them wore flight gear. One, the King of Earth, if Vegeta correctly recognized him from television, was in a suit that looked like it had been dragged through the dirt. Another wore hospital scrubs. Yamcha. Pu'ar floated near his shoulder.
Yamcha spotted him, too. He turned from the conversation towards Vegeta instead.
"Vegeta," he said. "Are you awake?"
Vegeta sneered. "My eyes are open, so obviously, the answer is yes."
He pulled himself to his feet with a grunt. His head felt awful.
"Where is this? Where is Gohan and that other whelp?"
"You're in North City. Someone named Clio was using a device on your head to control you. Do you remember any of what happened next?"
The woman. The redheaded woman. Vegeta remembered her thrusting something upon his head. It was the last thing he remembered.
"No," said Vegeta.
Yamcha scratched the back of his head and came forward. Vegeta noticed his steps favored one side of his body over the other.
"Well, it doesn't matter. A lot has happened since then, and there's a lot to explain. But we don't really have time for that now. We need your help."
Vegeta looked down his nose at Yamcha. Then, he chuckled.
"You need my help," he said. "You need my help doing what? Did Gohan's newest friend do exactly as I said he would, and start destroying everything? Did he start his talk of mercy, and then lose his handle on the situation?"
Vegeta grinned, but nothing about the situation was particularly funny. In fact, he could feel himself starting to sweat. It formed in treacherous beads on his forehead and the back of his neck like the pressure of an unwelcome weather movement on an important day. He crossed his arms.
"Did he decide to give the cretin a sporting chance and toss him a senzu bean?"
"What?" said Pu'ar.
"What?!" echoed Yamcha, baffled. "What are you talking about? Aliens are invading the Earth."
Vegeta paused. The smile dropped from his face, and the sweat chilled.
"Excuse me?" he asked. "Aliens? From where?"
"We don't know," said one of the pilots - a tall woman with white-blonde hair. "But they will be landing here soon, too. It's our mission to try and stop them, if you would care to join us."
Vegeta looked her up and down. She was tall, slight, and definitely not a martial artist of any kind.
"And you are?"
"Urania of the Circle of the Inner Flame," she said. "If I'm not mistaken, your name is Vegeta."
Vegeta looked from Yamcha to Urania.
"What?!" he said. "You are working with them, now? You expect me to believe the same people that caused such a ruckus at the tournament and so much idiotic upheaval would-!"
"Actually, as I remember it, you were the first to cause a ruckus at the tournament," said Yamcha, lowering his eyes. "You stepped into the middle of the ring and blew yourself-"
"Gentlemen," interrupted Urania, holding up a hand. "Please. We haven't the time for this. We need to take to the air and lead the craft as far away from the city as we can, and then take it down."
"Quiet, woman," said Vegeta, tossing his head. "I could crush you like a bug."
Urania smiled. It was a peculiar thing, from someone weaker than him. It reminded him of the smiles Bulma would give him when he was particularly angry about something.
"I know. But so could the ship outside," she said. "I would appreciate it very much if we could count on you for help, Vegeta."
She extended her hand as if to shake. Vegeta turned his head away and snorted.
"How you die is no concern of mine," he said.
Yamcha bristled, but Urania paused. She tilted her head, hand still outstretched, and kept smiling even as she took it away.
"Of course," she said, returning to the cluster of pilots hovering over a map spread on the table of the city.
She had no sooner turned her back than Yamcha advanced towards Vegeta.
"It's not just here," he said. "They're coming for almost every major city, including West City, where you live. They've just landed in the southeast. Or haven't you noticed?"
"Are you really going to trust them?" asked Vegeta.
"Yes," said Yamcha. "There's no one else! Dende has been taken, I don't know where Gohan is, or Piccolo, and I don't even know if I can trust you to give a shit about the planet you've been living on for years now! Do you even care what happens to us? Sometimes I wonder if you even care about Trunks and Bulma!"
"That's none of your business," barked Vegeta.
Of course he cared! Idiot whelp. Stupid human. He could never understand how Vegeta felt.
"Don't try to intimidate your way out of this," retorted Yamcha. I'm not scared of you."
Vegeta could feel himself rising to the bait, even though he knew he shouldn't, and knew he regretted it before he'd even started.
"Big words from someone I put in the hospital," he said.
He'd never actually meant to put Yamcha in the hospital. They both knew it.
"I'm terrified of your power, but not of you anymore. And that fear is nothing compared to the idea that I'd sit here and let you do whatever you want!"
They glared at one another. Yamcha leaned forward to stand eye level with Vegeta and bore holes into him with his dark eyes. Vegeta returned with his own intensity, until he broke eye contact with a harsh click of his tongue and looked around the hangar.
Vegeta grunted. If there was anyone who would use Bulma and his son as leverage against him in good faith, it was Yamcha. Still, he hated it, and he hated admitting it even more. He quieted his emotions enough to let his senses filter over the earth. Something large- and strange- loomed somewhere far, far above his head. It didn't strike him as particularly imposing, but it was strange. Farther away was another one, and another one, and even farther to the southeast, he could pick out his son.
Gohan, and the people he had been with when Vegeta had last seen him, was in none of those places. He wasn't even close. If Vegeta didn't act, nobody was going to do it for him.
"These crafts," he said. "Is this everything they have?"
"Yes," said Yamcha. "And the two of us, but frankly I'm not in a position to be of any assistance."
"How are you so certain you aren't being tricked?"
"Because we were all tricked already, and by the same person. Some lunatic by the name of Clio. He's taken Dende. Like it or not, we're all on the same side right now."
Vegeta cursed under his breath. The Earth. This was about the Earth. It was always about the Earth, and not just him. Even his decision to try and kill the Saiyan in the northern mountains was about the safety of the Earth, and his own fear.
He was growing soft. He realized he had so much to lose, and it made him soft.
He turned on his heel and strode through the hangar towards the cluster of pilots.
"So you and your people caused all this ruckus over how using your own power is superior, but rely on a machine when the pressure's on?" Vegeta's voice echoed through the hangar like a microphone with just a touch too much sensitivity.
Urania's head popped up from the table, followed by a series of her compatriots' faces.
"There's no shame in using tools when they are available, Vegeta," she said. "We do what we can with the power available to us, and work with what's offered."
"Hmph."
"I have faith in where your strength comes from, and I have to trust that you have faith in mine. Shaming one another for it accomplishes nothing. Are you going to help us?"
Vegeta wrinkled his nose. He tossed a glare over his shoulder at Yamcha, just because.
"Fine."
OOO
"Bulma, please, I just-!" Gohan tried.
Bulma screeched at him through Piccolo. She'd lost control of her temper the moment she began her tirade of everything he'd missed.
"YES, YES, I KNOW WHY YOU'RE CALLING, GOHAN, SO LET ME FINISH! Clio took my best spaceship, and my employees, and Vegeta, so you're going to have to break into the underground floors of my lab and take whatever's left!"
Gohan bit his lip and looked up at the sky. It was cloudless, and perfectly blue.
"Okay," he said.
"Okay?" asked Bulma. "Okay? That's all?"
Gohan shook his head. "No."
"No?!"
"No. Do you have a personal spacecraft on you, Bulma?"
She fell silent.
"W-well, I mean," he couldn't see Bulma, but he was sure she was crossing her arms, "legally, I can't have untested equipment on my person outside of my lab."
Gohan didn't even blink.
"Hypothetically speaking, if you had one, how many could it hold?"
"Three people, max."
Gohan frowned. Three. There were more than three people on that ship, and if what Piccolo said about Dende was true, they had sent more ships to more cities to kidnap more people.
"Okay. Hypothetically speaking, if you had this spaceship, my mother, and Tienshinhan to escort you, do you think you could break into their ship, and then pilot it and all of its cargo back to Earth? Do you think you could do that?"
"Um," said Bulma, "Tienshinhan can barely move right now. He's, um, he got hurt. Defending the boys."
Gohan bit his lip. The boys. The last thing he wanted was to send Goten or Trunks into a situation like this- one where they'd had no training, no experience, and no primer whatsoever. They were strong, but they were children. If Tienshinan's injury was in defense of them, it exemplified that they weren't ready.
"Was anyone else hurt? I thought you said you were fine."
"We are, mostly," said Bulma, defensive. "Tienshinan's alive, he's just, well, he's hurt. Not mortally wounded, not in a coma, but... hurt. Your family and everyone else just has some minor scrapes and bruises at worst."
Gohan sighed.
"Alright, fine. Is my mom there with-?"
Piccolo sighed, too. Gohan had never thought of him as particularly old before, but his lifetimes of experiences were starting to show in the slope of his shoulders.
"Yes!" erupted Chi Chi's disembodied voice in his head. "Yes! Yes, honey, I'm here! Oh, it was awful! These rude creatures just showed up in the yard and started-!"
Gohan smiled despite himself as she finished retelling the entire situation, and then winced when she finished with, "...and why didn't'cha think to call me first, huh? You asked for Bulma before your own mother?! It's been 24 hours, young man, and I have been worried sick! Have you been eating? Have you been sleeping? Did you keep up with your studies?!"
"Hi, mom, I'm glad you're alright, too," Gohan said. "Listen. We don't have a lot of time. Can you do me a favor? I need you to-"
"Yes, yes, we heard. We heard! We heard!" said Chi Chi. "Gohan, I-!"
"I want to go!" volunteered Goten.
"Let us go!" screamed Trunks, at the exact same time. "Gohan, we want to go!"
Chi Chi continued over them, and then Bulma joined in, and everything they had to say became a jumble of excited words and shouting.
"Stop wasting time and go break into Bulma's lab! By dinner, I want this done and over with!"
"I should be the one to go, not mom!"
"Goten, you're not going!"
"But mom, I am going! I am!"
"I'm going!"
"Trunks, did you not just hear-?!"
"She's the only one who can take care of all these people!"
"No!"
"My father might be with the rest of them, and I have to stop him!"
"You hear me, Gohan? I want it all to be over!"
"He's my dad, and I am going!"
Piccolo gave another aggravated grunt, and suddenly Gohan could see Mount Paozu in his mind's eye: his mother, screaming over his brother, and Trunks, red-faced, shouting over both of them and getting into his own mother's face. The grass around them was riddled with holes and shrapnel, and bits of ash and smoke where unfortunate trees and grass had sparked into flame in the chaos of the past hour.
It was incredible how things could change in 24 hours when your back was turned. It was incredible, horrible, and awful, and Gohan felt responsible for all of it. When his family needed him, where had he been? He went to the other side of the world to escape them, and everyone else, because he was filled with so much fury it had made him useless.
But even a year of solitude couldn't eradicate all of it.
"Enough," Gohan commanded, and something in his tone sent the valley into silence.
Chi Chi, Bulma, and their sons looked at the sky in wide-eyed, shocked wonder.
Gohan calmed himself, and quieted.
"We don't have time for this," he said. "Goten. Trunks. Be honest with me. Do you really think you would be able to keep a clear head for this? I don't expect you to be flawless; I only expect you to do your best to keep Bulma safe, and keep thinking on your feet when things get tough."
"I have to go," said Trunks, stepping forward. "I have to! It's my responsibility to-!"
"No, Trunks," said Gohan, with quiet finality. "It isn't your responsibility. You're a child."
"But Goten and I are the strongest ones here!" insisted Trunks.
"That doesn't matter," said Gohan. "Believe me. That does not matter, Trunks."
Trunks ground his teeth, and contorted like a spring coiling in on itself.
"I'm going to go anyway," said Trunks, with a dark intensity Gohan was horribly familiar with.
Here was a child who'd gotten it in his head that the world was his to carry, and hadn't yet realized that it had already started to crush him beneath it. He might have the drive and fury to be even more terrifying than Gohan one day, if he didn't crash and burn once he crossed the line. A horrible legacy. If Gohan had his way, it would never happen to anyone.
"Trunks, sweetie," started Bulma, but whatever she wanted to say next died in her throat.
"I know," Gohan admitted.
"Gohan!" exclaimed Chi Chi, wringing her hands. "They're only boys!"
"They are." He sighed. "But neither you nor I can do anything to stop them, unless you think you could beat them into the dirt. And where would that get us?"
"No," said Trunks, his bright eyes staring at the sky like he could focus on Gohan and pick him out from the ether. "You can't."
Gohan knew they couldn't see him, but he nodded, throat thick. His earlier anger and aggravation melted into something else. His chest felt like the entire world was pressing down on top of it. He cast a glance at Thalia, Terpsichore, and Broly, who watched him with bitten lips and hunched shoulders- the portrait of curiosity and inner conflict combined.
Gohan sighed, and turned his attention back to the ruined field on Mount Paozu.
"I wanted to spare you these kinds of situations, but I see now that it was arrogant of me to assume I had anything more than an opinion on the matter."
He ground his back teeth. In front of him, Piccolo's ears twitched from the sound. He tried to stop for his sake.
"I've stood where you're standing now. Exactly where you are- I've stood there physically, and I've been where you are emotionally. I know you'll hate yourself if you don't go and this fails, and you'll hate yourself if you do go, and something goes wrong. I know you'll blame yourselves no matter what happens, or what has already happened, but I need you all to understand that no matter how things turn out, it isn't your fault. It is neither your responsibility nor your fault."
Trunks and Goten both stared at the sky with bright, shining eyes and twisted, perplexed frowns.
"I want to hear you both say it."
"What?" asked Trunks.
"I want you to both say that this is neither your responsibility nor your fault, and that no matter what happens, it will not have been your fault. Even if you think it's stupid, please just do it."
Chi Chi covered her mouth and looked at the ground. Bulma put her hands on her son's shoulders and squeezed.
Goten and Trunks looked at one another, puzzled, and then repeated Gohan.
"Good," said Gohan, smiling. "Thank you. Please don't forget it, and make sure you keep yourselves and Bulma safe. Mom, I'm sorry that you're going to have to wait this one out, too. I know it's asking a lot of you."
Gohan suspected that, in the cruelest twist of fate, his mother had the most awful task of all of them: to wait, and to struggle with herself. The reward for avoiding the front line was a prolonged siege against her self-worth. She would tell herself she was useless; she would tell herself she was weak. She would feed herself all sorts of poison even as she knew that she was the reason they fought so hard, and she was the one holding everything together once they came back.
Not that Chi Chi ever spoke about it. She wouldn't dare, when she thought it might run down onto her sons. But Gohan knew the truth.
"Oh, Gohan!" cried Chi Chi, devolving into wet tears and covering her face. "Please be safe! Please!"
"Yes ma'am," said Gohan. "Love you. Just, um," these were the situations where everything he might say sounded hollow and insincere. "You be safe, too, okay? Be careful."
His mother hid in her hands for ten seconds, fifteen, twenty. For a moment, Gohan was afraid she hadn't heard him. Goten reached out his hand like he might tap her leg, but then stopped short with a shy uncertainty.
"By dinner," Chi Chi commanded, sniffling, but still raising her head. "I told you. By dinner. I want this done by dinner tonight!"
Gohan smiled. "Yes, ma'am."