Chapter Three: Out of the Frying Pan...
The Z-Warriors slowly landed in Hell. They looked around them.
"I remember my Dad telling me what Hell looked like." said Goten, "And this sure ain't it."
All around them, the formerly lush, green landscape of Hell had been changed to the average perception of it. Firey brimstone rising from the ground, tortured souls being horribly, well, tortured, and of course, demons of all types. Vegeta folded his arms around his chest.
"Well," he said, "This is pleasant."
The Z-Warriors decided to begin walking in no particular direction, hoping to possibly come into contact with the renegade Oni, or in Shu and Yajirobe's cases, hoping to avoid them. Suddenly Shu felt a tug at his ninja suit.
"Stop it, Mai." he said, "I'm tryin' t' be cowardous here."
"It's not me." said Mai, standing in front of him. Shu stopped in his tracks and slowly turned around to see a horrifying winged demon.
"AIEEEEE!" screamed Shu, quickly running into Vegeta's arms. The Saiyan prince tossed him to the ground.
"Alright." said Android 17, "Let's dance." 17, 18, Vegeta, and Goten battled the demon while Yamcha got some of the others to safety. It just so happened, however, that Captain Ginyuu hopped onto a part of the ground that was actually the secret entrance to the renegade Oni's lair.
"Ribbit!" cried Captain Ginyuu, before falling into the hole. After the demon had been killed, the remaining Z-Warriors jumped down into the hole. Bulma looked around and saw that they were now inside a large maze of catacombs. The hole above them suddenly sealed up and was unopenable. The halls went pitch black.
"This is nice." smiled Android 17.
"Yeah, but you guys have, like, infrared vision or somethin'!" retorted Yajirobe. Android 17 rolled his eyes.
"Oh, shut up." said Yamcha, forming a very small yet powerful Sokidan that lit the entire path. He held it in his hands. The team walked through the halls, hoping to finally come to an end, but they never did. Occasionally they would come upon a wandering demon, but they couldn't find their way out.
After what seemed like days, the Z-Warriors found their way into a large, circular room. A humongous winged demon descended from the ceiling.
"What the Hell is that?" asked Android 18.
"I am your end, heroes." laughed the being, his body swirling with Hellfire, "I am called the Amalgamation. I have the powers of all your greatest enemies, rolled into one. I am Raditz, Nappa, Frieza, Cell, Buu, Baby, the Dark Dragons, Super Cell, Upuar, and Kakarot rolled into one. Plus, since Pilaf is in your group, I have Goku's power as well. Now come and face your second deaths. Come and face your end."
Vegeta smirked. He suddenly turned Super Saiyan Level Four and rushed at the new enemy. The Amalgamation batted him to the side. All the Z-Warriors then went after him, each of them being swatted away. Even Bulma, Paris, and Shu attacked the gigantic demon, but to no avail.
Finally, after a good thirty minutes of battling, Pan realized how to defeat him.
"You're our greatest enemies all rolled up into one?" asked Pan, "Fine. Then my greatest enemy is Shu."
"What?!" exclaimed Shu. Amalgamation cringed.
"Yeah!" yelled Yamcha, "My greatest enemy is, uh, Swiss Cheese!"
"Mine's marshmallows!"
"Teddy bears!"
"Barbie dolls!"
After every person stated who or what their worst enemy was, the Amlagamtion changed appropriately. Soon, he was a being comrpised of Shu, swiss cheese, marshmallows, teddy bears, Barbie dolls, muffins, kittens, a school guidance counselor, and a burned up stack of porno magazines (Thanks to Master Roshi).
"Shit." said the Amalgamation before being totally annhilated by the Z-Warriors.
"That was a bit easy." remarked Vegeta, "Actually, it was too easy."
They looked around them, waitning to see if any more threats were ready to spring upon them. Suddenly two figures wearing black cloaks and hoods ran out of the main corridor and stood still.
"We will not let you go!" yelled one.
"Nuh-uh!" yelled the other.
"Let me guess." smiled Yamcha, "Gozu and Mezu." The two cloaked figure looked at eachother and removed their cloaks, revealing two ogres in jogging outfits. The word HELL was emblazoned across their chests.
"How did you know who we were?!" asked Mezu.
"Lucky guess." snided Yamcha. He could tell that their power levels were next to nothing.
"So," said Vegeta, "You two are the leaders of the renegade Oni, huh? That's cute. Whatever the case, we're going to have to cut your little rebellion off at the head."
"Leaders?" asked Gozu, "Us? Heh. That's funny. Naw. Actually, we're just errand boys for the real leader."
"And who is that?" asked Ubuu.
"Yeah," laughed Gozu, "Like we're gonna tell you. C'mon, Mezu. Let's go back to the boss. Maybe he can tell us what to do with these guys."
Mezu smiled and nodded. The bowed at the Z-Warriors and turned and ran away.
"Things just keep gettin' weirder and weirder." said Yajirobe.
And so the Z-Warriors tried to follow the two demons, but they were already gone. The heroes made their way through more corridors for what seemed like weeks. They then came across the opening to the pathway and came into yet another large circular room, this one without a roof and with bright torches hanging from the walls.
"Creepy." said Goten.
Suddenly a small demon encased in a purple cloak made his way down to the floor. His face was hidden in the shadows. He began laughing hysterically.
"What the Hell are you supposed to be?" asked Vegeta.
"None of you know me." laughed the demon, "If only Mr. Popo, or Piccolo, or Krillin, or Gohan, or Goku were here. Then maybe they might know me. In this case, I shall introduce myself."
The purple cloak suddenly vanished and in it's place was a large, green alien-type being, who had red eyes and glistening fangs.
"I am Garlic." he said, "Leader of the renegade Oni. Of course, I'm not a demon. Not a full demon, at least. You see, I am of a race from the Makyo Star. My son has tried twice to avenge my defeat at Kame's hands, only to get himself imprisoned in the Dead Zone that I myself created. There is nothing I can do about that, however. So I must avenge my son. In order to do so, I have gained power by absorbing the wandering souls of Hell into my own being. Then, I have gathered the Oni and made them my willing followers. Now all that is left to do is wage full on war against King Yemma, get to Earth, and destroy it. Then I shall re-open the Dead Zone and my son and I shall rule the cosmos!"
"You're quite insane." said Vegeta, "You realize you'll have to go through us first."
"Oh yes." said Garlic, "I was hoping for it, in fact. Of course, out of all of you, I have no personal animosity. Then again, there is one person who I have a bit of a grudge against. You who lives at Sky Palace. Yajriobe."
Garlic lifted his finger and pointed it at Yajirobe, making the pudgy samurai quiver in his sandals. Garlic fired a blast, but Vegeta deflected it.
"Vegeta?!" exclaimed a shocked Yajirobe.
Vegeta only smiled and looked up at Garlic. "We're all in this together." he said, "We already lost Broly. I won't let another one of you die while I'm still around."
"The let us rectify that." snarled Garlic, firng blast after blast at Vegeta. The Saiyan prince once again turned Super Saiyan Four and was barely able to dodge the blasts. Garlic laughed and tossed more energy around, destroying the room. As the walls crumbled, the demonic Oni on the outside were let in. The other Z-Warriors defended themselves from the Oni while Vegeta tried his best to combat Garlic.
"This is hopeless!" cried Chaozu, "We can't win!"
"Yes we can!" yelled back Ubuu, "Where there is a will, there is a way! We will not fall this day!" Ubuu charged a horrendous blast that none of the others had seen before.
"SHOOTING STAR!"
Ubuu released the attack onto a large group of Oni, taking them all out. Yamcha joined in by destroying a large group with a humongous Kamehameha, as did Goten and Pan. The Androids combined their attacks in order to destroy a quarter of the Oni. Master Roshi and Chaozu helped out too, as did Brarron.
Vegeta suddenly felt a large blast ping him from behind; Gozu and Mezu stood with a giant ray gun.
"Fools!" yelled Vegeta, "I'll kill you both!" Suddenly Vegeta was knocked to the ground by a blast from Garlic.
"Your end is now." laughed Garlic, "Time to die." Garlic fired a great blast at Vegeta, one too fast for him to dodge in his stunned position. Vegeta awaited the second death.
And then he realized that it never came. Vegeta looked beside him on the ground and saw Yajirobe lying there, ahole blown through his chest.
"Yajirobe!" cried Vegeta.
"V... Vegeta..." muttered Yajirobe, "I... I'm glad I could help. At least... I was able to help save the world... in my own... way..." And as Yajirobe uttered those final words, his consciousness diesntegrated and spread throughout the cosmos. Yajirobe had suffered the same fate as Broly. The second death.
"No!" cried Vegeta, "Damn you! Damn you all!" Vegeta's ki flared up again, this time his eyes going bright white. He charged at Gozu and Mezu and punched them into a wall, their necks snapping. They died again.
Then Vegeta turned his attention towards Garlic.
"You and your kind are disgusting." he said, "You're no better than Frieza. You kill people for no reason. You take away lives of people who haven't really had a chance to live. Broly. Yajirobe. Who next? Huh?! WHO'S NEXT?!" Vegeta swirled with yellow energy, and then lifted his hands above his head.
"BIG..."
Garlic stared in horror at Vegeta's sudden power increase.
"BANG..."
The Z-Warriors and the Oni stopped in their tracks.
"...X!"
The Big Bang X was an attack Vegeta had been working on for quite some time, ever since Yamcha upset him at the Tenkaichi Boudokai. It was a thousand times as powerful as his normal Big Bang, as it was powered by rage and could only be done in Super Saiyan Level Four. Garlic watched in horror as the blast came towards him, but he still let out one final cry.
"You may kill me, but this war is not yet over! OH YES! IT IS FAR FROM OVER!" And Garlic was killed in the horrendous blast, suffering the second death.
The remaining Oni saw this and shook their heads. The spell Garlic had put over them was now made null and void. Gozu and Mezu stood up from the rubble of the room and rubbed their heads.
"What happened?" asked Mezu. Gozu shrugged his shoulders.
Then the corridors faded away and the rocky, firey ground was replaced by the normal grassy fields.
"So, we won?" asked Yamcha. Vegeta nodded. The Z-Warriors flew back up to Snake Way, which was reopened due to King Kai's powers. The power-ups King Kai had given them faded and Bulma almost fell back down to Hell after losing her ability to fly.
On King Kai's planet, the catfish God prepared a huge feast for them. Karin shook his head when he heard about Yajirobe.
"So even if we do find a way to get wished back," said Karin, "Neither Yajirobe nor Broly can return." Vegeta solemnly nodded.
Suddenly there was a bright light above the planet. The Z-Warriors looked up at the light and heard a familiar voice.
"All of you!" said Goku, "Come into the light! There is a battle to be fought, and I need you guys' help! Please!" The Z-Warriors looked at eachother.
"Well?" asked Goten.
Everyone flew into the light, leaving King Kai, Bubbles, and Gregory. Shu tried to stay, but Mai pulled him into the light.
"It's so nice to have visitors every once in awhile." mused King Kai, "Still, it'd be nice to have one of them stay for dinner every once in awhile. You know, this reminds me of a joke. Two blondes walk into a building. You'd think one of them would have seen it! Hee-hee-hee! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Bubbles and Gregory looked at eachother. "What did that have to do with anything?" asked Gregory. King Kai stood there for a second.
"Shut up." he said, "I'm the King, so whatever I say goes."
Gregroy and Bubbles loooked at eachother again and went into the house, leaving King Kai cracking up over the joke again.
A little more of a lighthearted take on Dragonball this time. Sure, it's all leading up to the serious finale, but I just wanted this one to be sort of funny. I also wanted to focus more on the female characters in this story, since I think I'd been alienating them in the other stories.
The next fic will be dealing with the living characters, with a bit of an empahsis on Trunks, Gohan, Videl, and Virudo. Plus I'll have a good little bit about Krillin's feelings as he's lost his family again, and this time there's not much hope of them being wished back. So watch out for Dragonball Zero: Trust No One.
So, feel free to E-Mail me at Superguymatt . Also visit my website at rpg/MATTSPAGE. It be plenty good. Check out the Dragonball Quiz! It's awesome! Well, that's it! Until next time, make mine Marvel! Or, uh, something.
BOOYA! - Matt Ryan