Darkness

Disclaimer-

Nuke: *still running from Piccolo, rushes by the screen* I do not own Dbz!!

Piccolo: AND?! *still chasing*

Nuke: Or Piccolo! Or Piccolo!!!! *slows to a stop*

Piccolo: *finally stops chasing* That's better. *growls* little brat….

*To the tune of 'Three Blind Mice*

~One lil' Nuke

One lil' Nuke,

See how she writes,

See how she writes….

La de de da….*stops because she can't think of anything else*

Uh…yeah~ (Kami help me!)

*

Gohan shot out of bed like a bullet out of gun, and strained his senses to the max to feel out the kis of his friends. He searched over the energy waves to the East, West, North, and South. All of them were intact….except….Gohan gasped and reached out with his mind again.

"Piccolo?! Piccolo-san!?" He cried out involuntarily as he realized his best friend's ki was gone. Demolished. Utterly and totally. "Piccolo! NO!" Gohan, still clad in his pajamas, took off out his open window and began flying to the lookout. As he flew toward it, Gohan noticed a disturbance beneath, a fire raged and people were running everywhere. 'Maybe something happened to him down there.' Gohan thought, fighting back tears of dread at what he might find.

The sight that met his eyes when he touched down was enough to drive the young boy into hysterics.

"N-no…." he whimpered as he recognized what were the remains of the lookout. Fire burned all around him, a perfect background to the fire of pain that roared inside his soul. "Kami-sama… Piccolo….no…" Gohan began to moan, dropping to his knees as fire trucks arrived, the wail of the sirens did not reach Gohan's deaf ears. "Noooooo….nooo……Piccolo-san….no…" Sobs sputtered forth from him, slow at first and then with such force that his small body began to shake. "Oh..Kami…." he wailed, "Piccolooooo……"

"Hey…hey son. You all right?" Came the voice of a man that Gohan didn't recognize. He looked up to see a firefighter shaking his shoulder. "You okay kid? You know what happened here?" The firefighter asked with a stern face. Gohan shook his head slowly and pushed the man's hand away.

"Go away…go awaaaay…" He cried. The man hesitated, and was about to ask Gohan if he was all right again, but one of his colleagues called out to him.

"Hey! Kenji!! Get over here! This fire's getting' outta control!" The other firefighter yelled, struggling to keep the flames under control. His attempts were in vain, for the fire had the upper hand. The wind was blowing, spreading the deadly flames to more wooded areas. Gohan knew he had to get up and help… had to tell his dad…had to find out what had happened… but it all hurt so bad. He just hurt so very, very much…..

*

The sun barely peeking over the horizon, Keket began to awake. She noticed her strange position, wondering why she'd be dangling in her sleep. She screeched as she realized that she was nearly 200 hundred feet in the air.

"What?…What are…" She stammered breathlessly, trying to make sense of what was going on. Keket shrieked again when she looked up and saw that it was not Piccolo who carried her this time. It was a cyborg. Dark metal, red eyes, and a grip that was nearly crushing her.

"D-doctor…. No….not that…no…not mamma…please no!" She pushed at her restraints, a futile endeavor. The cyborg looked down at his (or her) prisoner.

~Keket Nako~ Came its raspy, metallic voice.

"Y-yes.." the child stammered, "T-that's me. What… what have you done with Piccolo! And Kami!! Where are you taking me?!" She yelled at the creature, knowing the horrible truth already, but unable to stop herself from asking.

~Dead. Dead. Home~ The machine answered, turning it's attention back to their destination.

"D-dead…Piccolo….no…" She whimpered, but knew it was the truth. 'How did this monster find me?' She asked herself, and was surprised when the cyborg answered her unvoiced question.

~You have transmitter~ It replied.

"A…what? Wh-what do you mean?" Keket asked, puzzled by the answer she received.

~Explained later. Doctor will explain~

"Doctor Gero?" She asked tentatively, hoping she didn't make the machine angry, and wondering if it was even possible to make a non-living creature angry.

~Yes, master Gero~ The cyborg seemed to harbor no malicious feelings toward the girl. This did not make Keket feel any better. This monster had just killed the only friend she had ever had. In her entire life. The person she had hoped would eventually love her and care for her. Now, all her hopes of a stable, happy life were shattered. All because of this thing…this awful thing that carried her. She wrinkled her nose in disgust, hating to even come into contact with such a loathsome creature.

"When… when will we get there?" She asked, steeling herself against tears, though she knew they would come sooner or later.

~Not long. Close now~

Keket closed her eyes and tried not to think of what was going to happen to her. She began to wish she was still asleep and off in a dream world, where there were no robots, cyborgs, androids, evil doctors and cruel mothers. She wished in vain for Piccolo to come save her, take her into his arms and hold her, telling her everything was all right… everything was fine. But no one came to her aid, and Keket was certain that no one ever would.

*

"What the hell happened, old man? Why are we here?" Piccolo asked in frustration as Kami sat up with a dazed look etched across his face. Popo stood up and dusted himself off, wondering why he had been awoken from his sleep. Kami narrowed his eyes as he took in the scenery before him.

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, we are on Snake Way." The elderly Namek concluded, picking up his staff, which had clattered to the ground.

"Yes… I realize that," Piccolo growled. "What I meant was, how did we GET here?"

"I… I have no idea…" Kami shook his head uncertainly, a confused look on his face. "I don't remember anything." He looked over at Popo, "Mr. Popo, do you remember what happened?" Popo shook his head, and turned around in all directions, gaping at the miles of rolling, swirling, rising and falling hills of road in either direction.

"Something must have happened…" Piccolo stated calmly while glaring at Kami, "Because we are all DEAD!" He shouted the last part of his sentence, veins beginning to make themsleves visible on his forehead. Kami looked up at the halo above Piccolo's head and then noticed his own.

"Well, I'll be. We are dead…" Kami replied, nonchalantly. Piccolo promptly face-vaulted. He quickly righted himself, however, loathe to have his dignity bruised.

"Listen… I want to know what happened. Something must have happened to the lookout. And if something DID destroy the lookout, then where is Keket? Shouldn't she be here as well?" Piccolo stated, crossing his arms and awaiting an answer. Kami's eyes widened.

"You're right… where IS the girl?" Kami strained his neck to look in all directions for a sign of the child he had met only a few hours before.

"I do not see her, Kami." Popo finally spoke up, looking up at the Guardian of Earth.

"Neither do I, my friend… and I have a bad feeling about all of this…" Kami trailed off momentarily. "We had best get to Lord Enma… perhaps he can help us to understand this…" Piccolo nodded his agreement and grasped the elder's arm.

"Just transport us there…" He growled, "I'm not wasting my time walking all that way. Something could have happened to Keket." Kami nodded and motioned for Popo to take his other arm. The genie obliged, and soon the three of them began to flicker in and out, before finally disappearing from the scene all together.

*

"Dad? Daddy?" Gohan whispered weakly to his still sleeping father. Chi-chi rolled over, moaning softly. "Please, daddy… wake up!" Gohan began to shake his father violently, sobs spilling forth from him once more. Goku sat up in bed and yawned loudly.

"Yeah, I'm up… I'm up…" Goku stretched languorously, not realizing what had happened while he had been sleeping. Gohan launched himself against his dad, sobbing pitifully. Goku yelped in surprise and looked down to see his son, buried against him. "Gohan… what's wrong? What happened?" He rubbed Gohan's back reassuringly.

"He's gone daddy… He's gone…" Was the only reply he received. Goku narrowed his eyes in confusion and searched through millions of energy waves, searching for one that might be missing. He found it… very quickly. A gap where there should have been a strong throbbing life force.

"P-piccolo…" Goku whispered, wrapping his arms around his son and wondering what could've happened. "Son? Do you know what happened?" Gohan shook his head and swallowed a sob.

"N-no… I woke up… I knew something was wrong. I felt empty, like a part of me had gone…" Gohan nuzzled his father's chest, neither of them noticing that Chi-chi was stirring. "I tried to find him… and the lookout…it's gone. Kami and Popo… they're all gone." The young half-saiyan hiccuped. "Big fire… so many people…I looked through the whole thing, but he just wasn't there. He's gone, he left me… he left me…"

"The lookout? It's gone!?" Goku jumped out of bed, placing Gohan on the ground. Quickly, he began to dress. "Gohan, go get your gi on. Hurry! We're going to get the others!" Gohan, trying to calm himself, ran to his room to dress.

"Wha? What's going on?" Chi-chi asked groggily and slowly sat up. She heard her husband bumping around and turned to see him tugging on his left boot. "Goku?" She whispered, sensing the tenseness in the air around her. "What's wrong?" Goku snapped his head up, his wife's voice startling him.

"Chi-chi…the lookout… it's gone." Goku answered silently, slipping on his wristbands. "Gohan and I have to gather the others, Piccolo and Kami are gone as

well…" Chi-chi gasped, she wasn't friends with either of the Nameks, but she knew her son had a strong attachment to his mentor.

"Oh, Goku… I'm so…so sorry." She struggled to find words that would be adequate for a situation as dire as this one.

"Don't worry, I'm gonna find out what happened. Gohan won't be studying today. And don't yell at him." Goku stated firmly.

"Of course I wouldn't. Oh, my poor boy." Was her motherly reply. Goku finished dressing, kissed his wife gently on the cheek and headed for the door. "Be careful!" She called after him, but he was gone.

*

A/N- not a very exciting chapter…but this story is going at a pretty slow pace anyway. Sorry 'bout that, I'm just writing down whatever pops up in my head. And with my poor slow brain, that takes a while. *lol* Review if you will, leave if you won't, friggin' FREELOADER! *grumbles* People…readin' story…don't even review to tell you….*gripe, gripe. Grumble, grumble*

Piccolo: For Kami's sake, Shut-UP!

Nuke: Oh…go screw yourself….

Piccolo: Actually… I COULD do that, ya know? 'Cause of the split form thing? Heh, what a weird thought…

Nuke: Why do I put up with this??….