Chapter 20 - Unleash Your Power Rasha!
The king, the dark god of the world stared down at the last resistance of his domination. This small girl and her friends had somehow survived against him. Not once but far too many times. His long-sought-after quest of obtaining the Dragonballs has been marred by three punks. He was ready to make them suffer.
"Now that they are out of the way, are you going to fight me at full power?"
Piccolo's comment took Rasha by surprise. Her lips curved into a smirk. It betrayed her intentions. "What do you mean?"
"I can sense that your power is different from the others who crawl around down there. It feels...otherworldly."
She looked over her shoulder and back at her friends. She bent her knees as she returned to facing Piccolo. "I guess you are right." Tightening her fists, she let out a primal roar. An aura, a mixture of blue and red, flared up around her and into a point. She kicked off from the lookout and raced towards Piccolo.
He was unamused by her power increase. He met her halfway for an exchange of high-speed punches and kicks. She matched him blow for blow. Small shockwaves burst in the air every time their fists and legs collided. Falling back, she switched to a barrage of ki blasts. He deflected a few before becoming overwhelmed by the onslaught. She continued to hurl ki blasts until she fired two ki beams into the smoke. They exploded upon contact, throwing even more smoke out. Rasha had learned from the previous fight not to drop her guard.
She felt a little validated when she saw his arm whip out from the smoke like a snake. He tried to grab her but she evaded by flying back. He tried a few more times but each time she evaded him. His arm retracted back as the smoke finished clearing. He assumed his attack stance, signaling that he was going on the offensive.
Rasha knew she lacked the energy or power to obliterate him fully and with his ability to regenerate, her options were limited. Also given that she could feel her power fleeting added a countdown to this fight. Rasha's aura flared up again for a moment before fading. Seconds later, her fists began to glow with the same blue-red color. She rushed towards Piccolo, who matched her speed. She slugged him across the face but unlike before, he felt this one. The blow knocked him back a little, enough for Rasha to follow up with additional punches. Each punch stung and pushed Piccolo further back. Rasha landed a devastating blow to Piccolo's stomach before jumping back and kicking him in the head. He sailed through the air and collided with one of the lookout pillars. Rasha kept her guard up.
Before the dust could even settle, Piccolo raced towards her. He elbowed her in the face and followed with a barrage of punches of his own. She managed to bring her arms up into an X to help block his blows. With each punch she noticed something; they were much weaker than before. Seeing her moment, she ducked under one of his punches and delivered an uppercut. She quickly formed and fired a small ki blast, not to do any damage but more to stun him. His hands instinctively went to this face, leaving him open. She continued to pummel him; head strike here, body blow there. With each punch she felt victory was a little bit closer...and with each punch, she felt a little bit weaker. Cupping her hands together, she raised them above her head and slammed them against the back of Piccolo's neck. With it, the aura around her hands faded.
Piccolo tried to flip around to land on his feet but he wasn't quite quick enough. He collided with the tower on his back, creating a small crater in the cracked tile. Rasha hung in the air and tried to catch her breath. She thought about firing some blasts but she was sure it was over. If it wasn't, she would need that energy.
"How dare you..." He mumbled as he sat up. "How dare YOU!" He screamed. A burst of energy seemed to spread out with his voice. Normally a devastating explosion, this time it was nothing more than a strong gust of wind. Piccolo got back on his feet and fired several ki balls at Rasha. Instead of hitting her though, the balls hung in the air. Piccolo quickly swiped his hands through the air like he was swatting a fly until he stopped with palms outstretched. "Let's see you survive this! Demon Fire Grenades!" Closing one hand, he pointed at one of the balls with his index and middle finger. He whipped his fingers through the air, causing one of the ki balls to race towards Rasha. Luckily for her, she was always good at dodging Yamcha's Spirit Ball attack. Unlike Yamcha's attack though, the ki ball didn't come back once she dodged it.
Mr. Popo was inside the main building of the lookout, his eyes peeking out from around the corner of the building. Sitting in a jar beside Mr. Popo was a shrunken down Kami. He was sweating and his staff was the only thing that was keeping him from falling over.
"Can she do it?" The attendant asked. "Can she defeat this nightmare?"
Kami's eyes hung low. His voice was harsh and weary. "I do not know Mr. Popo." Kami's eyes moved from the fight to the two teenage boys across the lookout. "Mr. Popo, you must find a way to release me. There is something I must do."
On the opposite side of the lookout, Tako's eyes started to twitch. Slowly, they opened. He tried to jolt up but every ache and wound in his body screamed out and pushed him back down. He had no idea how he got near the edge of the lookout. El was nearby, still unconscious. It didn't take long for Tako to spot Rasha and Piccolo. He wanted to help but there was nothing he could do. All he could do was watch.
Each ki ball came closer than the last. Her sore body throbbed with each close call and narrow miss. Cupping her hands together, she raised them above her head and hit one of the ki balls towards Piccolo. The impact singed her hands. The ki ball traveled in a spiral as it sailed towards Piccolo. The Demon King, too exhausted to move, could only watch as his ki ball slammed into him. With his concentration broken, the remaining three ki balls fell from the sky. They faded away before touching the lookout. Rasha threw her arms up, resembling a capital X. With a scream, her aura reappeared but this time it was different. It was choppy with jagged edges. Instead of the smooth flame-like aura from before, this resembled a starburst. The more she screamed, the more erratic her aura became. She thrust her hands out and pointed them, along with her feet, at the dust covering Piccolo. This was going to be her final attack.
"This is the end, Piccolo! This is for all the lives you have taken, for all the damage you have done! Monstrous Buster!" The beam was the size of her aura and the same color; a mixture of red and blue. The crackly beam cut through the smoke and slammed into the lookout. Rasha tried keeping the beam stable but parts of the beam broke away and slammed into the buildings and ground of the lookout. The beam only lasted for a few seconds before fading. Her energy spent, she fell from the sky. Still conscious, she moved in the air to avoid snapping her neck upon impact. Instead, she landed on her left shoulder, shattering it. She gripped her teeth as pain rushed through her whole body. As she wrenched in agony, Mr. Popo and the now freed Kami rushed over to her. The moment her eyes met the older-looking Piccolo, she tried to punch him but Kami avoided the slow, weak punch.
"It is okay my child. You are safe."
Rasha knew this wasn't Piccolo. The energy was the same but different. This old green being felt warmer. He reminded her of her grandfather. "Y-You look just like Piccolo."
Kami smiled. "Long ago I split the evil in my heart off and Piccolo is the reincarnation of that evil. The original evil, the first King Piccolo, was defeated by Goku. Before he perished though-" Suddenly, they felt a familiar evil power from behind them.
With the smoke cleared, Piccolo stood at the edge of the small crater. His once regal robes, befitting his status as ruler of the world, were now reduced to rags. He let out a primal roar, signaling that he was not beaten yet. Rasha took a step forward and positioned herself between Kami and Piccolo. Worn down and exhausted, she was unsure how she was going to go another round. Piccolo took a step forward before collapsing to the ground.
The trio remained on edge, even when they accepted that Piccolo wasn't going to get back up.
"Is...is it over?" Mr. Popo never thought he would say those words. The others never thought they would hear them.
"Yes," Kami answered. "Yes, it is."
"Until he recovers. I think I have enough energy to finish him off." Rasha took a few steps forward before she felt Kami's hand on her shoulder. A sharp ting shot through her entire body. "Ow!" She snapped as she jerked away.
"O-Oh!" Kami sheepishly proclaimed as his arms went up. He wanted to do something but he had no idea what to do. "My apologies!"
Rasha recognized that it was an accident but made sure to keep that shoulder away from Kami. After clearing his throat with a cough and offering another apology, Kami returned to the topic at hand. "Piccolo and myself are linked, with him being the reincarnated offspring of the Demon King Piccolo, the darkness within me. If he were to die, I too would die and with it, the Dragonballs would turn to stone."
"What are we supposed to do? He's going to recover and it was only luck that we won." Those words stung. Rasha wished it was her own strength that had overcome the Demon King but it wasn't.
Kami stared at his doppelganger before looking back at Rasha. "We shall do to him what he did to me. We shall seal him away. Mr. Popo, will you fetch me a jar?" The genie nodded before walking towards the center building. There was a noticeable bounce to his walk.
Tako had managed to get to his feet by now. He was making his way over to them when he noticed the unconscious Piccolo. He had just enough energy...
Kami waited until Mr. Popo disappeared through the arch before saying, "I am afraid we have bigger issues to address." Kami began to walk away and Rasha figured she was supposed to join him. "Before you arrived, Piccolo used the Dragonballs to open a portal to the Demon World. I can imagine he believed he would be able to conquer it." Kami had guided Rasha over to the edge of the Lookout. He looked down at the clouds at the land below them.
A feeling of peace and relief came over Rasha. Even the planet itself seemed better. The once dark storm clouds that lingered were beginning to fade. New soft and puffy clouds were taking their place. "How do we close it?"
"The same way we opened it, with Shenron. However, the Dragonballs require a year to recharge before they can be used again." Kami turned away from the edge to face Rasha. He gave her a soft smile like a grandfather would give to his granddaughter. He placed his hand on her shoulder, making sure it wasn't the one that was injured. "For now, I want you three to go deliver the good news and get some rest. Once you are healed, come see us so we can train you. You three have potential that needs to be unlocked. Especial-ugh!" Kami suddenly reacted as if he had just been kicked in the gut. His staff slipped from his hands and made a hollow clanging noise as it hit the cracked floor. Kami collapsed to all fours, his hand clenching his chest. Sweat quickly formed on his face. His staff rolled off the edge of the lookout, plummeting to the ground below.
Kami was in pain but from what? Rasha had no idea what just happened. At first, she didn't know what to do. There were no signs of injury to the old green man. No blasts or beams had flown between them. Why was Kami in pain? She knelt and hastily asked, "What's the matter? What's going on?"
Kami uttered a simple but painful, "Oh no," as he looked at something beyond Rasha. She looked over her shoulder just as the sound of glass shattering echoed across the damaged Lookout.
Standing over Piccolo with his hand opened wide was Tako. A small blast had punctured Piccolo's back, killing the man who had incited so much fear. "He will never hurt another soul."
"Kami!" Mr. Popo shouted as he rushed to his friend's side.
"I'm sorry...Mr. Popo. It would appear my time is up," Kami gave a weak smile. "Please do not hold it against them. They did not know. You must trai..." Kami let out one more painful groan before fading away.
The renewed bit of hope was now gone.
"His reign of terror is over," Tako proudly declared, unaware of the tremendous damage he just caused. He kept his eyes on Piccolo's body as he started walking towards Mr. Popo and Rasha. When he finally turned his head, he was surprised to see that they weren't breathing sighs of relief or nodding in agreement.
"What's wrong? Where did that old guy go?"
"You..." Mr. Popo growled as tears rolled down his face.
Rasha stood and backed away from Mr. Popo. Her body, especially her shoulder, throbbed in pain. None of that mattered as she could feel the attendant's energy building. She turned her head to the side and spoke to Tako. "By killing Piccolo, you killed Kami. Now the Dragonballs are useless!"
Tako's mouth hung open. "No, no," He repeated as he looked back and forth at Mr. Popo and Piccolo. "If the Dragonballs are useless...how are we going to bring everyone back?" There was panic in his voice as the realization hit him. Rasha was too focused on Mr. Popo to worry about him.
A green aura had formed around the genie and it continued to grow. While his power was nothing compared to Piccolo's, he was more than strong enough to kill them in their weakened state.
"Leave..." He growled. Strong winds followed his demand, pushing everyone and everything back.
"We need to go!" Rasha ordered before running past Tako and over to the still unconscious El. He was dangling halfway off the lookout when she reached him. She picked him up and tried to find a way to carry him that wasn't going to hurt. Hearing Mr. Popo shout again, she knew she didn't have that opinion. She threw his good arm over her shoulders, the pain nearly dropping her. She expected Tako to be beside her but he was still standing where she had left him. He was muttering something to himself. "Tako! Let's go!" Her shout was met with another burst of strong winds. This time it nearly knocked her off her feet. "Tako! We need to go!" She wanted to dash over and either grab him or knock some sense into him but she couldn't leave El.
"This is all your fault!" Mr. Popo shouted as another burst of wind, the strongest yet, blew across the lookout. Rasha braced herself and threw her good shoulder into the wind. The wind was still strong enough to blow her back and off the lookout. Piccolo's body had been blown off with the previous gust.
The wind had knocked Tako off of his feet and threw him across the lookout. "No, no," He repeated as he stood up. When he finally stopped mumbling, he took off running but not towards Rasha or Mr. Popo. He ran in the opposite direction of them and jumped off the lookout.
"Tako!" Rasha shouted as she floated in the air. She adjusted El and locked eyes with Mr. Popo. His anger pierced right through her. Without a word, she flew back towards the ground. She tried to see if she could spot Tako or the path he took but she saw neither.
She was unsure of what was going to happen next. How she was going to tell everyone back at North City that they defeated Piccolo but something way worse had happened. What was going to happen to Tako, to El? Was El just going to be a corpse by the time she got back to the north? Where could Tako had flown off too? Was he going back home? He probably didn't want to face everyone any more than she did. With the added weight, she would have plenty of time to think about everything.