Nafta walked slowly through the streets, the rest followed. The houses and the little church were all deserted. There were a few children playing around, but they were all misformed and handicapped like the little girl. It was awfull to see them. They didn't really seem to care about that themselves. They played, mostly alone. There didn't seem to be any adults around. Goku gazed at a boy who was pulling a chart behind him. On that chart a body of another child was sitting. It had to be dead for quite a while, but the boy didn't seem to care. He was talking to the corpse, pointing to things, and laughing happily. No child seemed to notice the group that just walked in.

Piccolo walked to a girl who was skipping. She had two wooden legs, but was very skillful. "Hello." "Hello sir." "What happened to this town?" "Did something happen?" "Where are your parents?" "They are at a better place now." "Where is that place?" "I don't know." "And who is taking care of you now?" "Miloen." "Where is she?" The girl said nothing, but ran away. Piccolo shook his head.

Goku and Nafta interrogated other kids, but they didn't get much usefull information. They all denied to say where Miloen was, what she was, and how she took care of the kids. The kids also didn't really know where their parents were. Some kids didn't even know what 'parents' meant. In the bushes some children were singing in a circle around a giant pumpkin. They didn't even react on the questions of remarks of others. The girl they saw in the cave was also with them.

Boomer and Ariadne only looked around them. They were scared.

They all talked about it on the village square. Goku had a strange expression in his eyes. "This scares me. It's so strange. I wonder what would have happened here." Trunks held a paper in his hand. "Take a look at this." Goku, Piccolo and Nafta read it. On the frontpage there were gigantic front lines; 'comet coming to earth.' "That makes sense. So the comet, or radiarion from it could have killed the people." "But why only adults?" "Maybe children were immune." "And that thing they were talking about?" "Maybe something came from the comet that killed the adults, but let the children live." "Than, where would it be? And why are these children deformed? And why are they admiring pumpkins so much?" "I don't know. We have to find it." Boomer stepped forward. "You know, there is one locked place in this village. A farm. And another special thing about it is almost covered with pumpkins. There is no child to be found there either." "Ok. Let's go there." Trunks and Goten walked into another direction. "We try to get some more info from the children here. Or maybe we can find some other papers or notes." "Good idea." Boomer and Ariadne didn't go anywhere. "I'm sorry guys, but I think we won't be much help. In fact, I'm afraid, you know."

Trunks tried to break in houses and looked in cabinets and stuff. Goten tried to talk to the kids. He listened for a while to the children singing for the pumpkin. It didn't sound so bad. Yes, in fact, this was good. Maybe he would get some info from their songtext. He listened, but couldn't understand it. He kept listening. The song kept sounding in his head, echoing. Goten murmered with the melody of the song. He slightly smiled. It had a kind of hynotizing effect on him. He sang the song with them, not knowing what the words meant, but it was good!

Trunks had explored three houses when he started looking for Goten. Where the hell was he hanging around? He didn't see him anywhere. He walked through the streets. No Goten. He heard singing near. In a garden. He looked. Several children were singing around a pumpkin, in a circle. It was a strange melodic voice. Trunks closed his ears. He didn't trust it. He noticed Goten, singing enthousiastically with them.

Goten! What the heck are you doing! We are supposed to look for information!" Goten didn't react. Trunks feared the worst. "Goten, idiot, come over here, NOW!" Goten still didn't react. Trunks walked to him and grabbed his arm. "Ok, you are coming with me now." Trunks couldn't even move Goten away, no matter how hard he tried. Some force kept Goten standing on the same place. Goten didn't even seem to notice Trunks. Trunks was getting desperate. What now? He noticed another strange thing. The giant pumpkin started to glow. The ground around it started to glow too. Trunks floated up. What was it? The children glowed, only a very little. Their singing became weaker, their skin paler. The glow spread across the city, and all children glowed too. The same thing happened to Goten too. But he glowed much more than the other children. His skin became almost white. One of his hands deformed. The glowing stopped. The children kept singing, like nothing had happened. Trunks wondered what this meant, but one thing was sure, he had to tell this to the rest. He would try to get Goten later. He flew to the farm.

In the meantime Nafta, Piccolo, Cheva and Goku forced the fence open and entered the farm. There grew a lot of pumpkins everywhere. Piccolo and Cheva explored the house. They couldn't find anything, exept the pumpkin plants that seemed to grow everywhere here. Goku tried to open the shed, but it was locked. Pumpkin roots curled around his tail, binding him on the ground. Goku destroyed them with a Ki-blast. More roots came. Nafta had the same problem. "Seem that they don't want us to go in there. I bet the cause of all this is in there. Goku shot a small blast at the lock. It didn't break. A bigger Ki-blast. Didn't work also. The shed didn't get damaged also. Nafta was busy with shotting the roots away from his feet and Goku's tail. Finally, when Goku shot a full-power Kamehameha at the lock, it broke, along with the rest of the door. The thing he saw, almost knocked the breath out him by terror. Some giant thing was lying there. A thing with many tentacles. In the middle two red lights (eyes?) were pointed at him. The thing seemed formless, like a heap off compost. It had the same color also. They could see the remains of humans around it. Bones, hairs, clothes, rotting flesh. The smell was disgusting. Pumpkins were lying all around it. "Piccolo, Nafta, here it is!" Piccolo, Cheva and Nafta ran to the entrance. The thing, whatever it was, seemed to watch them. Piccolo growled. "You must be the thing that caused all this trouble." A hole opened under the two red lights. The thing spoke. "That… I… am." "We will stop you." "Hehe. You won't." At that moment the creature sttarted to glow. Everything glowed. "What the…" After a while the glowing had stopped. The power level of the creature had risen enormeously. The creature spoke again. "Come, my children, my beloved creatures….. Aaahh, I see you have a new friend. Come..my children..protect me." At the time the creature spoke, Trunks landed next to the rest. He stared at the creature. "So that's the one who did it. He absorbs the power fromn the children here! And that causes their bodies to disform. He has full control over the minds of his victims!" "So that was what has been going on. This creature must have came with the comet." "You are right, strangers. Now deal with my servants." Several children appeared. "Now that will be hard" Piccolo snickered. "I think these children could better be dead than being your servant." The children shielded the creature. More children appeared. "Maybe. Hehe. But I think it will be hard for you to send them there. Espacially one new kid." Trunks was frightened. He knew what the monster meant. "Goten" He whispered. "He is talking about Goten." "WHAT?!!!" Goku yelled. Goten appeared with another load of kids. Not only his hand was disformed, his back now as well. Goku gazed at him. "Please Goten, listen to me. I'm your dad. Don't listen to that creature.." Goten leapt up and kicked Goku right in his face. The creature laughed evilly. "Well, where are you waiting for? He could better be dead than be my servant, couldn't he?" Goku growled. "Let him go." "No." Other kids attacked the group, along with Goten. Goten fought Goku. Goku tried to shrug him off every time, but Goten kept attacking. Cheva helped him. While Cheva tried to shrug off Goten, several tentacles slapped Goku. Goku tried to blast them away, but there were to many. They turned around Goku's neck. Goku screamed. Nobody could help him. Everybody was busy to get the children off their backs. Goku screamed and powered up. It didn't help. The creature laughed evilly. Goku weakened. He tried to pull the tentacles away, but it didn't help. He was too weak and more tentacles curlede around him. The creature winded his tentacles around Goku like a spider spinned a web around his victim. Goku moaned. A tear rolled from his snake eye. "Please….Goten…" He lost consciousness. Goten, sitting on Cheva's back, trying to kill him, looked up. Finally, he reacted on his name. His eyes, which had been faint all the time, became clear. He jumped away, and shot at the tentacles and roots binding Goku. The creature yelled. "You little…" He grabbed Goten with one of his tentacles. A flash of light came from it. He absorbed Gotens energy in one time, his whole life force. Goten was dead, instantly. The power level of the creature rose again. Cheva saw what happened. Nafta yelled. "NOOO! You horrible creature!" Three children grabbed his ankles. He couldn't shrug them off. They were very powerful. He cursed. Even his special powers didn't work! Cheva saw that. He spit fire at the creature. It didn't harm him. Trunks became super saiyan and blasted the monster. Only one scratch. He attacked a few other times. Nothing. Cheva narrowed his eyes. He knew what to do. He powered up, and concentrated the power in his belly. "Want a piece of me Miloen? Come and get me!" Several roots and tentacles grabbed Cheva. Cheva didn't even struggle. Nafta screamed. The hole in the creature became bigger. It didn't even have teeth. The tentacles dragged Cheva to it's mouth. Cheva still didn't struggle. Nafta killed two children. "Cheva, NOOOO!" "Find the rest of the armor, master, and remember your loyal servant." Cheva disappeared in the hole. The creature burped and gigled. It abruptly stopped. There was some kind of power in his belly. And it wasn't his. An explosion. Inside him. He exploded. All the children screamed, the monster screamed, Nafta screamed. The monster died, and the children along with him. It took more then ten minutes before it ended. Nafta gazed at it. Cheva must have gathered energy and let it explode when he was inside the monster. He knew that he would do more damge inside. Tears rolled down his face. Two deaths. His best friend, and the boy, who he liked too. Goku woke up, slowly. He saw the bodies. "They…are..gone?" Goten?" Piccolo laid his hand on Goku's shoulder and nodded. "He saved you….We couldn't save him." Goku cried softly. Trunks, also with tears in his eyes picked up some strange objects from the ground. A plate mail and gauntlets. He gave them to Nafta. Nafta just nodded and took them, not really realizing what it was. The grief blinded him. He knew his powers barely worked here. He tried anyway, but he couldn't resurredt Goten. That damn twisted fortress!

They walked to the square again. Boomer and Ariadne were still waiting there. Ariadne wanted to ask what happened, but then Cheva wasn't there and Goten being dead. She didn't say anything. Nafta looked at the car with the body sitting on it. It looked even stranger now, without its owner. So alone. Goku carried Goten in his arms. They walked to the burial grounds near the church. There were still some graves open. Goku put Goten in one of them, softly, as carefull as he could. Tears rolled down his face. Everybody slowly threw handsfull of earth on him. After an hour he was buried. Everybody was crying. Even Piccolo couldn't hold back a few tears. Goku lied down next to the grave. Nafta, despite his own grieve, tried to comfort him.

Boomer went to the shed to see what had happened. The body was gone! Instead, a large portal was there, leading back to the cave. He warned the rest. But they couldn't move on on this moment.

In the church they made a camp. Not that anybody could sleep….No one could, not after these horrible events.

The next morning they departed soon, after a long visit to Gotens grave. Goku cried again. Nafta was thinking about the things Vegeta had said. It was all his fault. He shouldn't have pulled everybody into this crazy adventure. Everybody disappeared, disformed, and died.

They stepped through the portal and proceeded, silent.