Disclaimer:I don't own DBZ
Notes: Here's the 3rd chapter, which'll involve the humanas. Now, I have two issues
I just want to get off my chest. One, short stories are read FAR more often than sagas.
Example: My current saga gets a decent number of hits, but I wrote an 18/kururin fic two weeks ago.
It took me about 25 minutes to write. The number of hits on that story were, um, triple digits,
pretty close to quadruple. Could someone, in a review, tell me why this is? K, second,
I have gotten some E-mails and such telling me Vegeta couldn't lose, but I don't buy it.
Ever since Super Saiya-jin-ism started, any fighter with this ability fighting without it,
in the show, was either warming up or about to lose. Admit it, Super Saiyajin is a power
up, like Kaioken. Besides, now the humans, for once, will get a turn at being the heroes ^_^. Anyway,enough of my rambling,
lets start......
Chapter 3: The Last Hope
Darkness.
Cold, enveloping dakrness.
Slowly, ever ever so slowly, #18 opened her eyes, waves of pain shooting through her head. Throwing flowing hair
off her face, she raised herself from the ground. The smooth stone floor under her hands was ice cold. Breathing
painfully, she got to her feet. Touching her head tenderly, she winced as she felt a large, painful bumb on the
back of her head.
"So, your awake."
The android jumped, then spun around. Huddled in a corner was a strange, blond-haired woman, much like herself. She
looked slightly older than #18. "I'm Lunch. You must be #18"
#18 was surprised. Indeed, this was one of the first people she had met in months. Furthermore, she didn't seem
to be afraid of her. "Where are we? And how do you know who I am?"
"I don't know, men in wierd armor took me from my home. As for who you are, Tien told me about you, I recognized you
instantly."
#18's memory was blurred, she couldn't remember how she had been captured. A frantic fight, two men down, then a large,
screeching pain in her neck. Then darkness....
Lunch continued talking, "The old man Mutenroshi still hasn't recovered. The pig's been out cold all day. And the
children, thank god, are asleep."
Looking around, as her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she noticed, for the first time, the others that were around her.
Cuddled up next to Lunch were two children. She immediately recognzied one of them as a son of Goku, and the other
decisivly looked like Vegeta's, though he had silvery hair. A small pig was cuddled up in a corner, sleeping, whiimerping.
Finally, her eyes fell upon an old man, clearly in his golden age. What do they want with these people. None of
these could harm a fly
"I've overheard rumors from the noisy gaurds. Apparently, we've been kidnapped to lure the other fighters."
The others? But I'M a fighter? "Huh, this'll take no time at all to get free."
"Wait! Don't!...."
#18 raised her hand, and concentrated her energy into a fireball, preparing to blow the cell door off. But suddenly, eletric, swarming pain enveloped
her body. Screaming she fell to the floor. Finally, after what seemd like ages, the pain died. "Wh...what's wrong
with me?"
Lunch sighed. "It's the way the cell is built. You can't concentrate any power or strength in here. If you try,
the floor panels electrocute you." She banged her fist in anger, "Oh, if ONLY they would set me loose. OOOH, then they
would get a fight!"
#18 sat up again, rubbing her body sorely, and looked at Lunch in wonder for a second. Is she mad? She let her eyes wander around the blank room, and they fell upon
Mutenroshi. The man, strangely, reminded her of Kururin.
Kururin. That weak, bald, soft-headed...WEAKLING. How dare he 'like' her. Of all people. Yet, strangely, she
didn't really do anything to stop him. She clenched her teeth. If ANYONE else tried to 'like' her, they would
be flaming, smouldering ashes in an instant. Yet the human....he had protected her. He had cared about her
when she was hopeless. She had strange feelings for him that she didn't have for anyone else. Why had he removed
that horrible bomb? Why had he....?
Suddenly, blinding light flashed through the room. #18 and Lunch shielded their eyes, and another body
was thrown in. A mauled, bloodied body. The children woke, and started to cry, but Kamesemnin and
the pig remained unconscious
The door shut, and the room was silent again. #18 looked at the newcomer intently. "Vegeta." She
looked at him for a second, then turned away. She had no care for this arrogant man, and it was almost
satisfying to see him beaten as he was.
"Would you hold Goten? I'm having my fair share with Trunks alone."
#18 recoiled for a second, she had never held any children before. Slowly, however, she approached and took
the screaming child. Almost instantly, Goten quieted down, and began to sleep again. #18 suddenly had the strange,
alien urge to rock and comfort the baby, tell it everything would be alright. For the first time ever, she felt sympathy, but then anger again. Why did this child
have to suffer for something he never took part in. He didn't deserve this. #18 sat in silence, rocking the baby softly,
and wondered what she could do.
It would take a near miracle to find a way out of this darkness.....
"Chao-zu, what happened? What's going on?" Tien looked at Chao-zu strangely. FOr the last ten minutes, the little mime
had been in a trance of sorts, focused on somehting even Tien could not see. Chao-zu suddenly jumped in a great
yelp of fear, and Yamcha and Kururin stopped talking in surprise.
The little body quivered and shook with fear, as Chao-zu slowly comprehended what he had just seen. Rarely did he ever seem so frightened; the only time
Tien could remember him looking that scared was against the Saiba men years ago. The red, fanatic eyes and green, scaly
skin of the creatures had frightened Chao-zu in his dreams for the last six years. Though Tien knew Chao-zu was much stronger
then them, he could do nothing to rid his friend of those fears.
"-I...I've been watchting that guy, Turan. H-he beat Vegeta! With hardly a scratch on him!"
Yamcha jumped up "What! How do you know, how could you possibly see!"
Tien glared at Yamcha, but was curious himself of this new ability. Chao-zu looked down, embarrased, but replied "I learned many other
techniques aside from fighting during my training for the Saiyajin 6 years ago. I used this to an extent, I could
even see the androids as they were being created only one year ago.
Yamcha sat down, ashamed of himself. What the hell am I doing? What's wrong with me? "Ok, so what
exactly did you see? How could Vegeta possible lose?"
"I couldn't see inside the fort, but they took the fight outside, in some strange valley. They...they started fighting almost immediately,
Vegeta's face was a nightmare. I could tell that Vegeta wasn't a match, his few blows only hurt the monster slightly.
Of course, he never fully powered up. I don't know why, but he couldn't go Super-Saiyajin. The blow to his
confidence put his gaurd down, and Turan finished him off. I..I don't think he's dead though."
Kururin looked down. "How are we supposed to win if even Vegeta lost. Goku's dead, Gohan's gone God knows where, and
Picollo went with him. "
Tien banged his hand on the table angrily, crushing it. "We're going to have to go ourselves! I'm not going
to sit around and let others be the hero again. We have no idea when Gohan or Picollo are going to be back."
"But what about a plan?"
"We're going to have to make one up on the go, what else can we do? We don't even know much of what we're up against!"
Kururin stood up, determination in his eyes. "Your right! We should get going."
AS puaru headed back to Yamcha's apartment, the others flew off, dissapearing like shooting stars. The last rays of the sun faded out of sight, and
a gloomy, misty darkness enveloped the heavens....
The four warriors glided across the night sky, slowly cruising closer to the ground near Nickytown's ruins.
Yamcha spoke up for the first time in a while. "We shouldn't fly right in. I've had experience with raids as a
desert thief. It's better to go in on foot, and keep our powers down. We need every advantage we can get."
The others nodded silently, and touched softly on the ground with a low thump. Through the rustling leaves, they
slowly walked through to the outskirts of the ruins. The town, destroyed by Cell and Picollo, was a neverending reminder
of the horrors emerged by Dr. Gero's creation. Though the citizens had been wished back, most were forced to find new homes.
Thus the city had remained a ghost town. Kururin stepped out into the open, and was immediately pullled back by Yancha.
"Shhhhh...look."
Stomping near to the area were four armed gaurds, all in white helmets and white Saiyajin armor, with red scouters. They each had blasters attached to their arms. While Kururin
could tell they weren't threatening fighters, he knew that if they were seen, the mission would end disaterously. He
made a mental not to himself to be more careful, and silently applauded Yamcha for his instincts.
"-and that's how it went."
The gaurds laughed uproarously, then collapsed behind a tree, and took off their helmets, not ten feet from where the others were hiding. "Yeah, heard
the boss beat up one of those other monkeys."
"Uh huh. Trisor looked thoroughly spooked at the end of that. My quarters were near the valley, so I heard the explosions.
Wow, I'm telling you, Turan's unbelievable."
"Yeah, well, wait till you here this....."
As they continued talking, shattering the calm of the night in their laughter, the others watched silently. Suddenly,
Yamcha whispered to them. "Lets take them out. But quietly. I'm thinking we can steal the armor and sneak in. There's
no telling how many of these guys there are out here.
Kururin, Tien, and Chao-zu nodded silently. "Each one take his own. Kururin, you and Chaozu should take the two short
ones," pointing at the two shorter blue and yellow aliens, "and Tien and I will take the Humanoids. Don't let them fire their guns."
The four gaurds stood up. The tallest one spoke. "Come on, lets report back, there's noth-"
Crack/ The gaurd's head twisted backwards, neck snapping, and he collapsed to the ground with a clatter. Tien
landed softly. The others stared wordlessly at the intruder. Before they recovered, Yamcha blurred into sight and smashed
his fist into the chest of the other tall one. While it flew back, Kururin kicked the blue dwarf hard on the chin, sending the other gaurd airborn, blood flowing from his mouth. The two bodies
bashed in mid-air, and fell to the earth without a sound.
"WH...WHAT? He-!"
The remaining yellow dwarf raised his gun and started to yell, but then froze in agony, clutching his chest. Chao-zu,
arms outstretched, psychically froze the soldier, and, with a small yell, kicked him full in the face. The creature
rocketed skyward, then landed with a dull thud, eyes rolled upward.
Tien breathed a sigh of relief "pffff! Wow, that was intense. Nice work everyone."
They silently congratulated eachother, and, with difficulty, began to put on the armor, suits, and visored helmets over their own clothes. While
Yamcha and Tien had little trouble, Kururins equipment was too small for him, and Chao-zu's slightly too big. Chao-zu was
almost lost under the helmet, and the armor went down to his ankles. He was unable to put his scouter on.
"It'll have to do, we're not planning to stay long as it is."
They marched on, passing other units wordlessly. Truthfully, they didn't really know the exact location of the base, though they could feel all the kis beneath them. The gravel crunching beneath their feet, they trudged on. Just as all seemed lost....
The silence cracked, and out came a crisp command through their scouters. "All units return to base for replacement." The warriors
jumped almost a foot in surprise, and then fell on their faces as the ground started to shake.
"Is this an earthquake?"
Chao-zu floated upward, then looked down. "Ah...I-it's a giant hole!"
Sure enough, the rock opened to reveal a giant, darkly lit chasm. The four stared openmouthed under their helmets as
many other sentries pushed past them.
Kururin spoke softly. "Well....here we go......"
SLowly, they descended into the darkness, not knowing if they would ever return....
To be continued......
Well, enough of the setup. Next chapter we'll begin the action meat of the story. Like it, hate it, give me some
reviews! 4 is still the standard to continue. Oh, don't worry, all sorts of crazy stuff starts to happen. ^_^