-I was forced to write this chapter twice, and I still didn't quite get it exactly the way I wanted it. I hope you enjoy it anyway.
Chapter 22
"… Another one," Piccolo grumbled, as he and the other Z-senshi stumbled across yet another body. It looked just like all the other's they had found scattered around town, darkened complexions with their eyes wide open highlighting an otherwise blank expression. Not a one of them had even a trace of life left in their bodies.
"Is he dead?" Gohan asked softly without really thinking about the question.
"Well obviously!" Vegeta huffed.
"Actually I'm not sure if the answer is yes Vegeta…" Piccolo informed him. "I mean, he obviously isn't alive, but I'm not sure if dead is the term I'd use…"
"Then what would you call it?!" Vegeta growled in irritation.
"I honestly don't know…" Piccolo replied.
"Though I sincerely doubt it, I guess we have to hope this is the only town that's suffered this fate," Gohan said solemnly.
"Look, I hate to say this, but there's only a couple places I'm worried about right now!" Ryo snapped, with a clench of his fists. "We've got to get back to our homes before the same things happens there that happened here, if it's not too late already!"
"Kami, you're right!" Gohan growled in agreement. "We've wasted too much time here already, knowing there's nothing we can do! We've got to get back home and fast!"
The others weren't sure if Vegeta agreed, disagreed, or what unless they counted his enraged grunt as agreement. Whatever it meant, the Sayian Prince immediately took to the air and shot off leaving the others to assume he was headed towards Capsule Corp.
"Well, that's the right idea, but he could've at least waited until we planned something out before he took off!" Gohan said.
"Right, but we don't have much time, so let's decide what we're going to do and quick!" Ryo suggested.
"Already decided! Let's do what we've got to do, and meet back at Dende's lookout whenever we're through, now let's go!" Gohan commanded, as the trio shot off in different directions.
"I'll check out the next couple of towns over while you guys are at it!" Piccolo called after them. "Watch your backs okay?!"
********
A loud boom echoed through the air, as countless debris floated down the empty deserted streets. It was just as Vegeta feared. The entire city was this way… Suffering the exact same fate as the first town they came across after escaping Kashunari's ship, and every city he had passed in between. Just like the rest, not a trace of life human or otherwise was anywhere to be felt, seen, nor heard. That was, except for one faint trace of energy nearby… And if Vegeta's sense of direction was as good as he thought it was, it was coming straight from Capsule Corp. That was the only shred of hope he had left to hold on to at the moment…
Not wasting a second, Vegeta's haste paid off as he arrived home in a matter of seconds. At least what was left of it. The building was still standing on it's foundation, much like most of the other structures around town, but numerous windows were blown out, parts of the outside were singed or broken off where they had been hit by some sort of blast, and smoke rose to the sky from where a fire raged in some building down the road. In no mood to make use of a door, or an elevator Vegeta crashed straight through one of the few planes of glass that hadn't already been broken, conveniently landing in his own living room. He searched the room frantically searching for one of them… Any one of them. All at once his head stopped, as his eyes picked up a glimpse of something behind the sofa… He walked around it slowly… Very slowly, not wanting to see what he feared he knew he was going to, but he knew he would have to eventually. And finally he did… He found Bulma lying on the floor in the exact same manner he had found all the other humans in this town and the towns over. Eyes open part way, dark complexion, completely still and void of life. He didn't rush over to her, just a slow walk and hoisted her up in his arms. With his face cringing ever so slightly, he felt something burning at his eyelids… Something new and usual, something Vegeta didn't like one bit so he forced them to stay back. His face cringed violently, and a lump formed in his throat as if he was about to scream…
Vegeta paused, and snapped his head behind him when he heard something rummaging through a large pile of rubble at his back. He set his wife's body on the ground, and struck a fighting pose as he turned around just in case… His eyes grew slightly when a soft but familiar grunt caught his ear. He watched the pile of debris intently as it heaved upward, eventually revealing a small lavender head as it pushed its way out of the rubble. "D-Dad?… Is that you?… What happened?"
Trunks pulled himself out of the debris, and immediately collapsed to the floor. Vegeta rushed over to him, placing his hands of the sides of his son's arms as the boy struggled to his feet. "Trunks, are you alright? What in the heck happened here?!"
"I'm not sure…" Trunks coughed. "One minute everything was normal, and the next all these creepy monsters were attacking people left and right… A couple of them broke into the house, and the next thing I knew the ceiling was caving in on me… I don't remember anything after that except for waking up just now… What happened to mom?…"
"Don't worry about that right now!" Vegeta barked, as he hugged his son, and turned their bodies around so his eyes wouldn't behold his mother's fate.
"Owey, my head hurts…" A little voice grunted from inside the rubble. Vegeta's eyes turned to the side, and watched as a spiky head of hair raised up form the debris. Goten looked around the place absently after emerging apparently just as lost as to what had happened as Trunks was. "Mr. Vegeta?… What's going on?…"
"I'd like to know the same thing," Vegeta said, as he stood up. "Come on kids. I know you've been through a lot, but we have to get out of this place. There's nothing left for us here… I'll try to explain things on the way…"
********
A cold sweat dripped down Gohan's face. The next several towns Gohan passed on his way home were in the same shape as that of the ones before. His only hope was that his house was too far out and secluded, hidden away deep in the mountains for the monsters that caused this carnage to reach. What he didn't know was that these creatures didn't discriminate based on where their victims lived. Gohan realized this as he flew over his home and found an enormous hole that had been blown through the roof of his house, and acers of land that surrounded his home had been scorched black. He flew into his house through the hole in the roof, and immediately searched the area looking for any signs of his family. He felt nothing, and that scared him to death. The entire homestead was in shambles, but there seemed to be a pattern or trail to the madness. The trail led to the kitchen where it was fairly obvious that some sort of struggle took place, at least from the look of the damage anyway. Pots and pans were strewn everywhere, and parts of the kitchen counter where blown to bits. That's where Gohan found his mother, lying face down in the middle of the kitchen surrounded by debris from the fight he was sure his mother put up before meeting her untimely fate. While deep down he knew she was gone, his heart just wouldn't listen. He rushed over to where his mother laid, dropped to his knees, and scooped her up in his arms. She looked just like all the other bodies he came across before. Her complexion was dark and yet somewhat pale at the same time, and her half open eyes were empty and bleak.
"Mom… Mom! Are you still in there?! Say something to me please…" Knowing pleading was useless despite his reluctance to admit it, Gohan curled his mother's body up against his chest barely noticing the streams of water beginning to flow down his cheeks. He forced his eyes back open, and through his tears noticed something on his mother's back. A hole in her blouse that had appeared to have been punched in rather than ripped or burned. Curious, he lined the hole with a nasty looking black gash pierced into her skin. The strange thing about it was that the wound hadn't even appeared to bleed much, except for a couple small traces of dried blood. Was this how his mother had been killed? And if so how? Was she poisoned maybe?"
Gohan reluctantly set his mother on the ground, and gave her one last look before reassuming tarring through the house in search of his last missing family member. After searching through the entire house he found exactly what he had hoped to find. Nothing. Goten was nowhere to be found, and that at least gave Gohan hope, until thoughts of one more person that meant the world to him. For the sake of his last shred of sanity he prayed nothing had happened to Videl, but in the back of his mind feared that it might've been far too late for praying.
"Videl! Hold on I'm coming… I just hope I'm not too late again!"
********
Dread was a funny thing. It crept into your heart, and squeezed down on it until your heart rate was so rapid you feared it might burst out of your chest. Ryo was no stranger to that sensation, and this day it was as bad as it had ever been. The miles passed underneath him by the second, and the more ground he covered the heavier the pressure became. It wasn't long until he found himself flying over his hometown, or one of the many places he'd called home in his young life. This was simply the first place he'd ever lived that really felt like home. He made his first real friends here, and the local high school was the first school he had attended for more then a couple of months usually at the most.
Ryo touched down in what used to be the heart of town… Usually, by this time of the day, the streets would be swarming with the early morning rush hour traffic with dozens of local peddlers trying to cheat an honest buck out of pedestrians passing by. This morning those streets were completely empty, so to speak. Cars filled the streets, but they all stood still in the middle of or at the side of the road. Some were crushed, or torn open from the top. Some of the vehicles still had their passengers inside, apparently struck down from within. Ryo could even hear one car engine still running nearby, from where some doomed soul escaped his vehicle in a hurry apparently. Other then that there was nothing… No signs of life whatsoever. All the people he had meet or known over the past two years… The few people he'd grown to call friends. They were all gone, every last one of them. Ryo wasn't a fighter by nature. It was a way of life that had chosen him somewhere along the way, but you wouldn't be able to tell that at the moment for he reacted the exact same way any warrior with the slightest bit of bloodlust in his veins. Overwhelmed by the carnage around him and tears in his eyes, with an enraged growl, Ryo charged up his Ki to a level he never had before. A sea of purple erupted all around him, incinerating several cars, and doing yet more damage to several buildings in the immediate area.
"How the hell did they move so fast?!" Ryo growled, his breathing heavy. "I don't even care… They're not getting away with this… I'm through with playing it calm! This isn't going unanswered, you understand me?! This is too much, I've had it!" Ryo screamed out to some unseen enemy, and blasted off into the morning sky.
********
Piccolo wasn't surprised to find just about every town in the immediate area had suffered the safe fate. However, he was surprised to find the carnage had spread as far as the remote island of Master Roshi. Shocked would be a better word actually. Panicked, Piccolo landed on the island beach growing hopeful after sensing a faint trace of Ki coming from the island grounds. There wasn't much left of Roshi's house. From the looks of things a vicious battle must've been waged here. He rushed inside, and right away noticed three bodies lying prone on the floor. One was the old warrior Roshi who appeared to have finally fought his last battle. The second was the woman known only by the number 18, oddly enough laying in the same fashion of every other victim of this invasion. Maybe she really was more human than she was android. The other body, the one of a young girl, was an image Piccolo would rather soon forget.
Piccolo traced that faint trail of Ki deeper into the homestead, and eventually the gentle sound of soft sobbing caught his sensitive ears. The little man was huddled up against a wall that was half destroyed, and he never even sensed Piccolo coming. He did not become aware of his presence until a leathery green hand touched him on the shoulder.
Krillen jumped slightly, and his head snapped upward. "Piccolo?… You're alive?!"
"I was thinking the same thing about you," Piccolo smiled slightly, then got deadly serious. "Krillen… What in the hell happened here?!"
The question appeared to be more than Krillen could handle, as he burst into tears. Piccolo grunted, sensing it might take Krillen a while to gather his emotions, and it did. Under the circumstances, Piccolo remained patient. A few minutes passed, and finally Krillen managed to funnel a sketchy recap to Piccolo. "I'm not sure how to explain it… Everything happened all at once! We were sitting at home doing a whole lot of nothing, when we saw this story on the news about towns all over the world being attacked and decimated by some sort of alien monsters. Eighteen and I were going to go check it out when all of the sudden about a dozen of these scorpion type monsters dropped out of some portal that appeared in the sky… We tried to fight them off, but they were just too much for us to handle… We managed to fight a few of them off, and even took out a couple in the process, but it was only a matter of time… Before I knew what hit us we started dropping one by one… I watched one of those things catch Eighteen from behind and stung her, and the next thing I knew she wasn't moving… I just snapped, and jumped on the back of one of those things. It wasn't the smartest thing I ever did, because the next thing I knew I was flung through the wall there, and passed out. I guess they forgot about me, or thought I was already dead because when I came to they were long gone… Then I saw what happened to Roshi and… And Marren, and I just…"
Piccolo's expression didn't change as Krillen broke down again. It was times like this he wished he was better with emotional moments like this one, but he wasn't and he wasn't about to pretend like he was. "Krillen, I know this is tough for you, but please try to compose yourself. Now, can you tell me what these creatures look like?"
"Why bother telling you," Krillen sniffed, and wiped his eyes dry with his arm. "Follow me, and I'll show you."
Krillen lead Piccolo to another section of the house, and the Namek's eyes widened at the sight of what was left of what looked like a giant scorpion. The only real difference was a long neck, and a human shaped head with troll-like facial features. At least he assumed that the head once belonged to the creature, for all the different pieces of him scattered all over the room. "It's hideous! What the heck happened to it anyway?"
"Let's just say I got a little antsy, and used the big freak for target practice," Krillen said with little feeling.
"I see," Piccolo replied hardly able to blame him. "We better get out of here. With any luck we can catch up to that spaceship, and get the guys who unleashed these creatures on Earth."
"Yeah, why not," Krillen mumbled like someone whose world had already ended. "Not like I have any other place to go…"
********
"How the hell did they do this?!" Gohan growled, as flew over Satan City. If possible, the city looked even worse than the other's he'd flown over that day. Different from the other towns however, he did sense one trace of Ki throughout the mostly deescalate town, and belonged to a person he couldn't of mistaken in a sea of one million. "Hold on Videl, I'm coming! I just hope she's somewhere safe…"
In reality, Videl was still back at her home, or at least what was left of the Satan Mansion, and that was a place you couldn't quite call safe. The building now lye in ruins mostly due to one stubborn girl who refused to be beaten easily. "Damn it! Doesn't this thing ever give up?!" Videl asked herself as she darted out from behind a line of ruble to another one as the monster pursuing her crashed through the shelter she had just fled.
Videl looked up, and her eyes widened finding that the creature was already over top of her. It was a hideous monster in the shape of a giant scorpion, with the exception of the troll like head attached to the end of a long neck that protruded from the top of it's torso. The monsters known as Durgan's only stood about six feet tall, close to nine if you counted the neck and head, but they compensated for that with a body nearly three times that long. Videl ducked out of the way of one of the Durgan's pincers as it snapped for her neck, then rolled out of the way as it's stinger rained down at her. Videl tried to jump up and run, but lost her footing and found herself kissing the dirt. That momentary stumble was just enough time for the Durgan to run her down, and Videl soon found herself flat on her back boxed in by eight crusty legs, four on each side of her. This would of surely meant death for any ordinary person, but luckily for Videl she didn't give up that easily even with the monster's face inching down ever closer to hers. A putrid stench strewed from his mouth, gushing straight into Videl's face causing her to grimace.
"Awe! What the hell have you been eating?!" Videl growled, before realizing she probably didn't want to know. She arched her back upward suddenly, planting her feet hard into the lower jaw of the creatures face. Videl had barely scrambled to her feet, when the Durgan growled angrily and whacked Videl in the back with its pincer. Videl went sailing forward, eating more dirt as she skidded along the ground. Nearly knocked unconscious from the impact with the ground, Videl was barely aware of her surroundings while the Durgan stalked ever closer.
"I can't…" Videl groaned, unable to pick her body up off the ground. "I can't let it end like this…"
Videl wasn't aware of how close the monster was to her. Lucky for her, it wouldn't get any closer. Videl's eyes widened as she heard what sounded like a sonic boom, a loud high-pitched scream from the monster, and then the sound of something large crashing through a nearby building all in the span of about three seconds. The next thing her conscious mind noticed was a pair of hands on her shoulders, shaking her gently.
"Videl?! Please tell me you're all right! Talk to me please Videl!"
"Go… Gohan?!" Videl shouted happily, and threw her arms around his neck. Gohan returned the embrace, and held her close to him. "Thank goodness you're still alive… I thought you were gone too…"
"Hey, I'm not easy to get rid of trust me," Gohan assured her. "Now, are you okay? What exactly happened here?"
"I'm sore, but I'll live," Videl sniffed, still clinging on tight to him. "I'm not even sure what happened! These things just came out of nowhere, and started destroying stuff left and right… I tried to fight them off, but I couldn't even touch the damn things! My dad even tried to… He died trying to protect me because I couldn't…"
"Don't beat yourself up about it Videl, there was just nothing you could do," Gohan said solemnly, holding her tight considering it was the only thing he himself could do for her. His mind did have an interesting time processing this information however. It looks like the big goof did finally at least try to live up to his billing, and paid the ultimate price for it. Maybe he had actually learned something…
Neither one of them wanted to move, but it soon became obvious that they didn't have a choice. A rumble came from the wreckage that used to be the Satan mansion, and both teens looked up to see the Durgan picking himself up out of the rubble. Videl looked wary as Gohan stood up, staring down the beast with conviction. "I see our little friend here thinks he's a cockroach or something."
"Gohan be careful!" Videl cried out to deaf ears as the boy stalked over to the monster. Gohan wasn't expecting much out of a creature that had been knocked half senseless already as it was. However, the creature was about to receive some help. Gohan looked to his right with his eyes, and watched as another Durgan appeared out of nowhere crawling over the piles of rubble scattered all around.
"Great, they must really think they're roach's, now they're mutilating too! I looks like things are going to get interesting…" Unfortunately for Gohan things got interesting a little too quickly for his liking. The monsters moved much faster than he had anticipated they would as they rushed him, one of the monsters knocking Gohan down to his butt with a back swing of one if it's pincers.
"Gohan!" Videl gritted her teeth angry at the situation, and with herself for knowing that she could do nothing to help him. She could barely help herself when those things attacked, and even if she could do something she was going to have a hell of a time doing it. A scaly orange tail appeared over her head, and at the sound of a snarl Videl whirled around to find yet a third Durgan with its sights locked firmly on her. She did the only logical thing she could do. She ran like hell, moving away from his piercing stinger forcing it to impale the ground. "Another one! Where the hell did you come from?"
Gohan managed to knock the creatures back when he heard Videl scream. He turned his head, and to his horror found another one of those things chasing down Videl. His first instinct was to run and help her, but with submitting to that urge left himself open for a second too long, an opportunity his two adversaries took full advantage of. One monster slammed him to the ground, while the other climbed up onto his back and held him down with its long pointy legs. He readied his stinger to make the kill, but Gohan didn't waste much time before powering the big lummox off of him. He stood up to defend himself against the monsters with one tough fact nagging at his mind. Videl was on her own for the time being…
"Ah damn it!" Videl cursed, as she ran into a dead end… A section of wall that used to have three more around it. Videl turned quickly to run to her left, but stopped in her tracks when she saw her pursuer was already on top of her. The Durgan shot his hand out at her neck, and somehow Videl managed to power his claw fingers back temporarily preventing him from closing its pincer on her neck. After a brief struggle, she managed to wiggle herself free, but hit the dirt hard in the process leaving herself open to the monsters assault. She closed her eyes waiting for some sort of impact, but it never came…
"Videl, get out of the way!" she heard somebody yell to her from above. Confused itself, the monster looked up only to have a purple streak land feet first on it's back, driving the Durgan to the ground.
"Ryo?!…" When the shock faded a few seconds later, she realized it might be best for her heath if she got out of the way. She was a bit frightened for the boy at first, unsure if he could really handle the thing he was riding. She wasn't as concerned with Gohan, he had defeated Cell after all, though she wasn't thrilled that he was trying to fight off two of them. Her eyes widened in amazement as Ryo produced a purple sword like weapon in his hand, made out of pure energy, and then watched him drive it down into the center of the monsters back. The Durgan squealed as its spine was pierced, and it collapsed in pain. Moaning in agony, Ryo lifted the energy blade, and promptly sliced the monsters head off preventing it from suffering or causing any further agony for anybody else . Videl cringed when the severed head rolled towards her feet before punting it away.
"Ryo, you're alive!" Videl said, stating the obvious as he hopped off the monsters back landing next to Videl.
"Funny, I was just as surprised to see you."
"Well, we can get reacquainted later! Gohan needs your help, there's still two more of…" Videl turned back towards Gohan, and immediately paused. Gohan already had one of the monsters lying motionless on the ground, and was currently in the process of punching the lights out of the other one.
Ryo didn't seem nearly as surprised as Videl. "That's funny, looks like he's doing just fine to me."
"How does he?…"
"Don't worry about it, it's what Sayians do."
"That's it! I've had enough of you!" Gohan growled, and pulled his arms back. "Ka-me-ha-me-ha!"
The blast enveloped the Durgan, revealing nothing but ashes as the burst of energy fizzled out. Videl looked on in complete shock. She knew Gohan and Ryo were much stronger then she originally gave them credit for, but this was absolutely ridiculous. She had watched swarms of those monsters, seemingly invincible at the time, destroy her entire town and kill countless people including her father without so much as scratching them in return. Now these two come along, and twenty seconds later three of those monsters were lying on the ground dead. Gohan rushed over to Videl to make sure she was okay before turning to address Ryo.
"I'm assuming the situation wasn't all that great over on your end either?…"
Ryo shook his head solemnly. "Nope… Completely wiped out, along with everybody in it… I'm afraid the entire world may have suffered this fate by now…"
"The entire world?…" Videl chocked, not even fathoming the thought of total world devastation until that very moment. "This is just… I thought it was just our town, or the country maybe! But the world?! These things couldn't possibly move that fast!"
"According to Satara they can…" Gohan cringed. "From what we've heard about these guys, they can destroy entire planets in a matter of hours, and Earth is a relatively small planet in the great scheme of things…"
Videl looked confused, but it wasn't a relatively new feeling for her, not since she started hanging around Gohan that was. "Who's Satara? And you know who the guys are that did this?! How?!"
Gohan sighed, and looked up towards the sky. "I'll explain on the way… Right now, we need to get to Dende's lookout and fast."
********
"So, you're saying that if anything happened to this Dende guy, then the Dragon Balls will disappear?" Videl asked Gohan after he finished explaining to her where they were going, and why.
"Yeah…" Gohan said anxiously, flying as fast as he could towards Dende's lookout, but attempting to travel slow enough for Videl so she could keep up. She wasn't quite up to par with the others yet, but wasn't so slow that she held them back too much. "And if that happens, then any chance we have to fix what happened here today goes by the wayside… Hopefully, he'll be okay though. He isn't exactly the fighting type, and I think he's smart enough to realize with what was going down on Earth that his survival would be important to restoring the planet."
"You know I'm not trying to be negative, but that doesn't mean the pirates didn't go to him," Ryo added.
Gohan's expression remained serious. "That's what worries me too… We're almost there, and I think I feel several presences at the lookout… Their Ki's are kind of low, so I can't make them out. There's only one way to find out, so let's go!"
Several minutes later, Dende's lookout came into the view of the trio. Sensing three presences approaching, Piccolo stood out on the field in front of Dende's house seeing whom he had expected to find preparing to land at the lookout. He was a little surprised to notice Videl was with them, but was thankful she was still alive for Gohan's sake.
"Piccolo! You're here already! Tell me, is Dende okay?" Gohan asked with a mixed tone of excitement and dread.
Piccolo smirked slightly at his pupil. "Relax, he's fine. In fact, we've been waiting for you guys to show up. Krillen's inside too, but he's a little worse for ware… He lost his wife and daughter in the attack… Tell me, how is your mother and Goten? Are they?…"
Gohan gritted his teeth, shaking slightly. "Goten was no where to be found, but my mom… She's gone…"
"Oh Gohan, I'm so sorry," Videl said, wrapping up his arm within hers. Gohan smiled at her weakly.
"Don't worry about it Videl… As long as we have the Dragon Balls, there's still hope. There's nothing that happened today that can't be fixed with them."
"Hold on a second Gohan," Ryo interrupted. "Didn't you use the Dragon Balls a few months back to wish back the moon? I thought it took a full year for the balls to recharge?"
"It does normally, but I didn't have any need for a second wish, so I didn't make it. Dende explained to me once that if I only made one wish, then it only take the Dragon Balls a few months to recharge rather than a year. More than enough time should've passed since then…" Gohan's head snapped around slightly. Confused, Videl looked around her and noticed Piccolo and Ryo were looking out towards the sky as well.
"Hey guys, what's up?"
"Somebody else is coming," Gohan told her. "I think its Vegeta, but there seems to be two people with him. I assume one of them is Trunks, but the other Ki feels too strong to be Bulma… Maybe?…"
Videl noticed the hopeful glint in Gohan's eyes, though she wasn't sure why it was there. Not until the three Sayians come into view, and a jubilant looking Goten waved at his brother. "Gohan! Hey, up here!"
"Goten!" Gohan cheered, relieved to see his brother alive and well. Goten sailed into his brother's arms, nearly knocking him over with the impact. "I'm glad to see your okay…"
Vegeta and Trunks landed a few moments later, both with looks bordering along the lines of remorse and anger. The first thing Gohan noticed upon their arrival was that Bulma was not with them. Gohan didn't even have to ask about her whereabouts, the look Vegeta gave him upon eye contact was all he needed to know. No point in causing them any further pain by asking a stupid question with an obvious answer. Unfortunately, Goten wasn't thinking along the same lines with him, as he tugged at his brother's pants leg.
"Gohan, I was so scared! You went on that spaceship, and then those monsters attacked I was worried because I didn't know what happened to you… Hey, where's mommy? Did she come up here with you?… Gohan?" Goten asked worriedly, when Gohan didn't answer right away.
Gohan's face went white, and he failed to answer quickly. He gathered himself despite slightly watering eyes, and dropped to one knee placing his hands on Goten's shoulders. "Listen to me Goten. Mom is gone for now, but don't dwell on that for now. We're going to get her, and everybody else back Goten. Everything will be all right okay?"
"Huh? What?… I don't understand," Goten whined tearing up slightly. "Where did mom go to?"
"Let's just say she's visiting dad for a while," Gohan lied somewhat, unsure if his mother would be granted the same gift that his father had been. Oh well, Goten didn't need to be aware of that little fact. "We'll wish her back soon enough, so don't you worry yourself about it okay?"
"Okay…" Goten said softly. "You mean with the dragon balls?"
"Exactly," Gohan smiled for his brother.
"Hold on a second, what do you mean spaceship?" Videl asked finally, waiting for a point where the little scene between the two brothers appeared to be over. "What were you guys doing on a spaceship when those things attacked anyway?"
"I'll tell you why?!" Vegeta growled, with a clench of his fist. "They suckered us onto their ship so we wouldn't be down on Earth to oppose them when they attacked, and blocked out any capability we had to sense what was going on down on the surface of Earth! They made fools out of us, that's exactly what they did!" Vegeta roared, and put his fist into the ground. The small floating island shook slightly, a large hole left in the surface where Vegeta's fist hit the ground."
"Dad…" Trunks gulped, wisely keeping his distance.
"Lured you on their space ship?" Videl asked, once the rumbling stopped. "Why did they do that?"
"Like Vegeta said, so we wouldn't be on Earth when their monsters attacked," Gohan explained. "They tricked us claming to be holding some sort of tournament on their ship, and we went along to make sure they were on the up and up… As it turns out, it was agreeing to board the ship that was our fatal mistake. They led Piccolo, Ryo, Vegeta, and myself on board planning to capture and enslave us once we came inside. In the process, it also left nobody on Earth that was strong enough to defend against the pirate's monsters…"
"Maybe, but we don't have time to dwell on that now!" Piccolo jumped into the conversation. "The sooner we find the Dragon Balls, the sooner we can get things back to normal around here…"
"Then why are we wasting time here for?!" Vegeta barked, and pulled a large round object from his belt. "I'm lucky I remembered to grab this ridiculous radar device before we left what was left of Capsule Corp. I almost forget about it."
"I'm afraid that your Dragon Balls won't do you that much good in this case," a low almost snakelike voice spoke from inside of Dende's home. Everyone turned towards the voice curiously, except for Piccolo who already knew who the voice belonged to. Standing beside of Dende was none other then the Supreme Kai himself, whose face was dirty and the clothes on his body were ripped and torn like he'd just been through a war. Krillen wandered out behind them, a look of someone who was overwhelmed on his face.
"Supreme Kai? You're here too?" Gohan said. The Kai nodded his head.
"What do you mean the Dragon Balls won't help?!" Vegeta growled, demanding an answer form the short purple man.
"I mean just that. Dende and Piccolo have informed me that you've used the Dragon Balls in the past to wish the Earth back to normal after a devastating event on the planet. Well, I'm afraid that this case is a quite different. You see, Kashunari's horde is a unique band of space pirates. They aren't interested in treasure or power, like pirates are normally associated with. They travel around the universe collecting souls, literally stealing the life right out of their victims by way of Kashunari's pet monsters called Durgan's. I'm unaware if any of you actually saw one of them, but they aren't pretty.
"Yeah, I saw of them too up close," Videl cringed, not even needing to ask if that was the for mention creature Shin was speaking of. "Gohan and Ryo had to fight off three of them after they found me…"
"I'm guessing they absorb the souls through that stinger thing poking out of their butt hey?" Ryo assumed.
"Exactly. They store life energy until their capacity is full, then when they re-board the spaceship transfer it into special storage tanks designed by some of Kashunari's top scientific minds. Kashunari has lived over 800 years, and has achieved enormous power through this method literally using the life force of other living beings to make himself more powerful. That's why it won't do you much good to use the Dragon Balls to restore the planet, because Kashunari will still be in possession of all the living people on the planet. I'm not sure if it would be within your Dragon's power to take back the billions of souls Kashunari has kidnapped. The planet will be restored, just no people in it."
"So, you're saying it's hopeless?" Gohan winced, his expression growing so dark it looked like the sun was setting in his face.
"Not exactly…" Dende jumped into the conversation. Shin smiled, knowing Dende was going to give them the one bit of good news they actually had for them… About as good as it got at the moment anyway. "All you'd have to do is wait to restore the planet until you've gotten all the souls back."
"We can do that?" Gohan asked in disbelief. "It's not already too late?"
"Not at all Gohan," Shin told him. "Kashunari can't absorb the life energy he's gathered from Earth, until he gets back to his home planet. If you can get to him before that time, you can free the souls of the Earthlings before they meet their final fate. Then you'd be able to wish everybody back, however, if you fail to save them in time they'll be lost for all eternity."
"Well that's about as high stakes as you can get," Gohan mumbled. "How long do we have before he reaches his home planet."
Shin smiled at this. "Well, they live all the way on the other side of the universe. Truthfully, I was shocked to see that they traveled this far out of their way just to attack a relatively small planet like Earth… I'm still curious as to why…"
Vegeta growled in frustration. "Will you get to the point already?! We don't have time for all this mindless chitchat, or your goofy curiosities! How much time do we have?!"
Shin coughed, and answered Vegeta's question with a smile. "I'd say about fifty years or so."
Just about everyone fell on their face, except for Vegeta who changed his way of thinking to maybe they did have a little time to spare after all. A bead of sweat formed over Ryo's head. "Dang… I thought I took some long trips…"
Dende cleared his throat to gather everyone's attention. "Yes, well that may seem like an eternity, it won't do you a lot of good if they get too far ahead of us. I've already sensed their spaceship leaving Earths atmosphere so…"
"Well, well, the little green bean finally speaks!" Vegeta snapped, and stalked over to the little Namek. He grabbed Dende by the collar of his robe, forcing his head up so he was looking into his eyes. "And just where the hell were you when those monsters attacked huh?! Up here cowering like a scared kitten?! What the hell kind of Guardian are you anyhow?! I have no doubt that you just stood up here and watched while the planet you're supposed to be looking out for was reduced to a living hell hole!"
"Vegeta I…"
"Vegeta, that's enough!" Gohan shouted, trying to pry Vegeta's arm off of his childhood friend. "For one, he's not much of a fighter to begin with, and two if anything happened to him we wouldn't have any Dragon Balls to wish anybody back! Don't you think he knew that?!"
Vegeta stared Dende down, and with a growl tossed the boy backward. Dende managed to keep his feet, but was still rather stunned by the entire scenario. "Fine then! Let's find those damn Dragon Balls, and get after that spaceship! We're wasting time standing around here!"
"We might have to do some damage control as well," Piccolo added. "There may be some more of those Durgan creatures crawling around on the surface of the planet. We definitely want to make sure we clear them out before we do any sort of wishing."
An evil smile formed on Vegeta's lips. "Well, I most certainly hope there's a few more out there somewhere, because I'm going to show them first hand what it's it like to go up against an angry Sayian warrior!"
Wow, I've never seen Vegeta like this before, Gohan thought to himself. Losing Bulma must really be getting to him. I guess it's not surprising to see him reacting in this way… On top of that he's angry, but he's not going off the deep end and destroying everything in sight… Maybe because he knows he can get her back? I don't know, but at least he's willing to take out his frustrations on the bad guys for once instead of the first person he sees.
"Well, what are we going to do first then?" Ryo asked. "Find the Dragon Balls, or go after Kashunari's ship?"
"We may need to find the Dragon Balls just to have a way to get to his ship," Gohan replied, his thumb and index finger resting under his chin. "Unless you know of another way Shin…"
"I'm afraid I don't…" Shin looked over at Vegeta, picking up on an interesting thought pattern from him. "Though. from the looks of things Vegeta might."
Vegeta snorted, not liking the thought of somebody else in his head. "There might be a ship that's still in operation back home… I need to go see if I can find another radar anyway. If we have to resort to an all out search for the Dragon Balls then it would be better if we split up. I hate to say it, but it might be better if somebody accompanied me back. I might need an extra set of hands."
"Sounds like a plan to me. The rest of us will start searching while you check back at Capsule Corp… Krillen, would you mind going with him?" Gohan looked over at Krillen who didn't answer right away. He was sitting up against one of the support beams of Dende's house. He looked at Gohan, then lowered his head dejectedly. "Krillen?… What's wrong Krillen, didn't you hear me?"
"I'm sorry Gohan… There's no point in me going along, I'm useless anyway. I couldn't help my family when they needed me, so what good am I going to do against a ship full of pirates? I'd just hold you down…"
"Don't talk like that Krillen," Gohan told him. "You've been a big help to us plenty of times before, though you never were the strongest out of us. I know you're upset over Eighteen and Marren, but we all lost somebody today buddy. Now's the time we have to focus on getting them back."
"Why, so I can let them down again? So I can let everybody else down… Forget about it, I'm better off staying out of the way…"
"Krillen…" Gohan shook his head, unsure of what to say.
"Argh, we don't have time for this!" Vegeta growled, and charged towards Krillen. He grabbed him by his shirt collar just like the way he had to Dende before, only this time lifted the little man up of the ground. Needless to say, Vegeta scared the living hell out of Krillen. "What kind of man are you anyway?! You're going to sit there and sulk, while you let the bastards that killed your family get away scot-free! You're right, you are useless! A pathetic waste of flesh and bones, you miserable little twit! Either get off your ass and do something about it, or slap on a diaper and crawl back into the crib where you belong! If you were half the man the girl or the two boys were, then you might actually amount to something!"
Vegeta threw Krillen back to the ground, and stormed off. Nobody said to a word to him… Though they may not have agreed with the way Vegeta said it, the basic point of the message was true to everyone there. Right or wrong, the tongue-lashing seemed to seep into Krillen's head. "All right then Vegeta… I'll go with you I guess…"
"Forget about it!" Vegeta snorted, completely disgusted with him at the moment. How he despised cowardliness unless it was he the cowards fearing. "I need somebody that can actually be of some use to me! Come on boy, we don't have time to waste!"
Ryo's eyebrow twitched upward, as Vegeta passed him. He shrugged his shoulders, and waved good-bye to the others. "Well, see you guys later I guess. Good luck, and be careful."
"Bye," Videl said, as Ryo flew off after Vegeta. Gohan looked over at Krillen who still seemed a bit out of it after Vegeta chewed him out. Gohan walked over, not wanting his old friend to feel any more out of place than he already was, and made a request of Krillen.
"Hey buddy. Would you mind looking after Goten and Trunks while the rest of us search for the Dragon Balls? It would be a big help to us."
"What?! Why!" Goten whined. "Why can't we go too?"
Trunks protested as well. "Yeah, we don't need a baby sitter! We want to help!"
"Sorry guys, it's too dangerous. There might be more of those things out there."
"We know!" Trunks persisted. "That's why we want to go!"
"Sorry guys, but the answer's still no," Gohan smiled. "Maybe once we're sure it's safe down there then we might find a way for you guys to help. Until then, stay up here with Krillen okay."
The two youthful Sayians argued for another minute or so before Gohan got an insincere promise from the two boys to stay put. It wasn't very reassuring, but it would have to do for now. Gohan, Piccolo, and Videl wished good-bye to the others and left Dende's lookout leaving the quartet left at the lookout staring up at them. Krillen's eyes thinned out, as he looked over at Dende. "So you're still here too huh? So much for Gohan's ego stroking…"
Dende smiled at him. "Hey, don't talk like that Krillen. I'm no good with kids, they really do need you to look after them."
"Yeah…" Krillen mumbled, and eyed the two boys. They both had their arms crossed looking grumpy, Goten adding a bit of poutiness to his expression. Like I could stop those two if they decide to go AWOL. I'd have better luck trying to bounce a balloon off a porcupine!
********
In the past it could take months to finish all the traveling required to locate and gather all the Dragon Balls, as Bulma, Goku and Krillen could all attest to. Nowadays, with advance Capsule Corp technologies, not to mention a hawked up Sayian, a Namek, and the overseer of the known universe, months turned into a few hours. A little less then three hours since they had left Dende's lookout, and Gohan and company had already gathered four of the little round objects. Videl and Shin seemed particularly interested in them, each studying the balls as the group raced through the air towards the next Dragon Ball.
"So this is a Dragon Ball huh?" Videl asked, trying to be careful not to drop the small but valuable item. "I thought they'd be bigger."
"They were on Namek," Gohan told her, recalling those old memories form his boyhood. "About the size of a human head actually. I like them better this way though. Fits in the palm of your hand, and they aren't as much of a hassle to carry."
"Fascinating," Shin remarked, staring at the ball in Videl's hand. The other three were stashed away safely in a satchel at Gohan's side, which ran out of room after the first three. "I've heard tales of the Namekian Dragon Balls, and the magical dragon that could grant wishes but I never imagined there would be a set located on Earth. I guessed I should've assumed that there would be with a Namek serving as Guardian of this planet."
Piccolo smirked. "Sounds to me like you haven't paid enough attention to this part of the universe."
"Probably not as much as I should," Shin admitted. "There was never any real reason to until recently."
"Excuse me Shin sir…" Gohan said, referring to him by the name he insisted they call him upon why he was accompanying them. For whatever reason the Kai didn't really care for being formal, or so it seemed. At least at the present time anyway… Maybe it was the situation. Anyway, Shin turned his head towards Gohan. Immediately, Gohan's face went red, and he turned his head away. "Um… Never mind…"
Shin smiled weakly, before his expression took a dark tone. "I know you've been wondering if it would be proper to ask about Kibito… Don't concern yourself. He died the same way he lived his life. Protecting me, and fighting by my side…"
"I'm sorry…" Gohan mumbled.
"So am I, but I won't let that consume me. If we're successful he'll be back, along with all the others from your planet. Maybe I'm just an optimist, but I think our chances for victory are rising by the minute…"
Gohan smiled, finding comfort in the Kai's confidence. He'd be lying if he said he was completely convinced they were going to pull this off. Suddenly, the dragon radar began to beep. Gohan looked down at the screen, and saw a little bleeping 5 approach the middle of the screen, signaling the next Dragon Ball was nearby. "Hey, we're already on top of another one! We'll have them all before you know it guys! We should probably land about here…"
That was easy for Gohan to say. The land below was a small rocky and ridged mountain range, but nothing the four of them couldn't handle. They touched their feet to the ground, and split up searching every last crevasse and cave burrowed into the rock in search of wherever the fifth ball might be hiding. It didn't take long for the dragon radar to lead Gohan right to it. There it was, the three star ball propped up behind of a big rock sticking out of the ground, the only thing keeping the ball from rolling down the side of the rocky cliff it seemed. Gohan was prepared to announce his discovery when he heard Videl's voice carrying through the thin air.
"Ah, gross! I didn't find the Dragon Ball, but I did find two more bodies… The funny thing is they don't look human! Do one of you want to come, and take a look?! You know more about these alien guys than I do!"
Gohan, Shin, and Piccolo converged towards the spot Videl was standing. Gohan and Piccolo looked down unimpressed by the pair of corpses, but the second Shin laid eyes on them he gasped like he had just swallowed his tongue. "No… It can't be!"
"What's the matter Kai?" Piccolo asked, concerned by his abrupt reaction.
Shin didn't respond right way. Instead, he knelt down in between the two bodies to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. "Well I'll be… It is… Babadi, and Dabora…"
"Babadi, and Dabora?" Gohan repeated. "Aren't those the guys you said you came to Earth looking for?"
"Indeed," Shin confirmed, and rose to his feet. "The evil wizard, and the demon king himself… I guess the number of Durgan's must've been too much for even them to handle… My only hope is that they didn't have enough time to put their evil plans into action before they met their sudden fate…"
"Are you referring to that Buu creature you mentioned?" Piccolo asked.
"Yes… I don't see any signs that he's been in the area however… If I could find that damn ball he was imprisoned in then maybe I could put my mind at ease. With Babadi gone there's no one else alive who can revive him, so Buu will never be a threat again."
"Ah, hah, huh…" Videl stammered, looking white as a ghost. "Ball?… I kind of saw something that looked like some sort of shell on the other side of that small mountain over there… That might not be the ball you were talking about would it?"
"From the sound of your voice let's hope not," Shin grunted, sounding just as nervous as Videl had. He wasted no time in sprinting around to the other side of the mountain. The other's chased after him, and stopped when they noticed the Kai standing still shaking slightly, as he stared directly ahead of him. What they saw was a large circled shaped stand, with what looked like two halves of a broken eggshell lying on each side of it. The rest of the Z-senshi were hit with a sudden wave of dread that the Kai was displaying much more physically.
"Umm… Shin sir… That wouldn't be the ball would it?…" Videl shouldn't even of had to ask. Just by the way the Kai was shaking should've been a good enough answer for her. He looked exactly like Erasa that time they went through the haunted house at the fair together a couple years back. The only difference between then and now was that the demons, the monsters, and threat of death were all too horribly real.
Shin regrouped just enough to stutter. "This… Is the last thing we needed right now…"
Piccolo grimaced, as his head snapped upward and Gohan's soon did the same. Videl was afraid to ask him, but did anyway. "Gohan, what's wrong?…"
"We're not alone…" Gohan growled, feeling a strong presence nearby.
Behind that mountain over there," Piccolo grunted, and turned his body in that direction as did the others. In the distance they could hear what sounded like the sounds of a child humming, and the faint patter of feet pounding on the ground. As the presence crept closer, the words to the primitive song whoever it was, was singing caught their ears. "Da, da, da, da duh. Da, da, da, da, at, dah!"
"No… It can't be him…" Shin recoiled in horror. "Not again…"
The Z-fighters prepared themselves for what they imagined to be the most horrid creature they had ever seen. What they got was a fat pinkish creature that appeared to be wearing a cape and a diaper. Never the less, the pure strength coming from the creature was enough to demand their respect. The creature did a little dance as it appeared before them, turning to face the four strange people staring at him once he'd finished his little routine. The tub of lard smiled stupidly, and waved toward the Z-senshi as if it were saying hello. "Hi, hi! You come play with Buu?"
********
"Damn piece of junk!" Vegeta growled, and threw the faulty Dragon Ball radar into the sea he was conveniently flying over. "What a waste of time! It was dumb luck we stumbled across the stupid ball we did find!"
Ryo watched the ridiculously large wave rise above the water that the little object made after splashing into the water. Undoubtedly, a large number of fish were senselessly slaughtered in the process. "Maybe we'll get lucky, and the others will have…"
An invisible clap of light flashed in front of Ryo's face, prompting him to come to a violent stop, creating a loud boom as he stopped. Sensing Ryo's halt, Vegeta came to a much gentler stop and glared the boy's way. "Boy, what are you doing? Did you get a cramp in your butt?!"
Ryo didn't reply right away. He stood still except for a slight shaking, and his mouth hanging open. It almost looked to Vegeta as if Ryo was staring at, or hearing something Vegeta could not.
Ryo, can you hear me? It's vital that you and Vegeta meet with us quickly! There's no time to lose!
Supreme Kai? Man, I really wish you'd stop doing that, it's starting to freak me out!
"Boy, are you ignoring me?!" Vegeta growled, after a full minute with no response. He flew up towards him determined to get an answer out of the boy, even if he had to slap it out of him. Before Vegeta could put those thoughts into motion, Ryo snapped out of his trance and spoke out to Vegeta.
"We've got to find Gohan and the other's quick! Shin just told me that the Buu monster he was looking for is on the lose, and it's going to take all of us if we have any chance of stopping it."
Vegeta's face got serious, even for him. "Well then… We'll just see about that when we get there! What are you just floating around there for, let's get going!" With that Vegeta and Ryo sped off into the distance, locking in on a strong negative energy that had suddenly made itself known.
********
"That's Majin Buu?" Piccolo asked, staring at the creature in disbelief. Disbelief that this creature could pose a threat to a flock of geese let alone the entire universe.
"Yes there's no mistaking it… That's definitely Buu…" Shin murmured, sounding as if he was already conceding death.
"He don't look like much of a threat to me," Videl scoffed. "Well, maybe to a bakery or two, but not to the entire world! What's left for him to terrorize anyway?"
"I wouldn't be too sure about that Videl," Gohan said through clenched teeth. "He may not look it, but he's strong… It's the most hollow energy pattern I've ever felt, but it's tremendous."
"You really think so?" Videl muttered, a bit nervous now that she had an opinion from someone she trusted whole-heartedly.
"Yeah… You better back away Videl, this could get ugly…"
"Okay…" Videl backpedaled a few steps. "You be careful all right?"
"Buu, Buu, Buu," the pink creature sung, as he wobbled around the landscape. Tired of its childish antics, the Supreme Kai finally chocked down his fear and addressed the beast.
"Enough fooling around Buu! We're not about to let you unleash your reign of terror on this universe again! You understand me Buu?"
Buu stopped dancing, and glared Shin's way in a not so flattering manner. Soon enough, that sinister smile was back across his lips once more. "Me remember you. You help lock Buu in ball. Me get you for that one! Yeah, Buu get you good!"
Shin gasped, and took a step back. Piccolo and Gohan stepped forward standing side by side with the Kai. "Don't worry Shin, we're with you all the way!"
They waited for the monster to attack, but nothing came. All Buu did was stick his tongue out at them, and started to prance around again. Having seen enough foolishness from the bloated pink blob, Piccolo growled and charged the homemade demon. "Enough of this! You're going down Buu!"
"Piccolo no!" Shin screeched with his arm out stretched.
Piccolo slammed his fist into the pink blobs face, watching his taffy like skin cave in. With a childish giggle, Buu's cheek popped back out into place, leaving a stammering Piccolo staring at him in shock. "You hit Buu. Now my turn!"
Buu reared back, and whacked Piccolo right underneath the chin. The Namek went flying backwards, whizzing past the Kai and Gohan before creating a large crater in the side of the mountain behind them. "Piccolo!"
"You see what we're up against Gohan?…" Shin grimaced. "My only hope is that Babadi didn't have time to release Buu before he was at full power, but even if he did not Majin Buu is still the most devastating force the universe has ever seen! Our only option is to attack him together. I'm not sure if it will do any good, but we must try something! Maybe at least stall him until Ryo and Vegeta get here… Maybe the five of us will be strong enough collectively to over come him."
"If there's anything left of us when they get here…" Gohan, who had gone super just moments before hand, looked back and watched Piccolo pull himself out of the crater he'd made in the mountain. He tumbled out of the hole, and fell to his knees on the ground below.
"All we can do is try… Now attack!"
Working off the Kai's cue, Gohan and Shin rushed Buu who smiled the entire time like he was a kid visiting the carnival. For whatever reason the monster stood perfectly still and let the Kai and Gohan pummel him until he looked like a chewed up wad of bubble gum. One more forceful blow from Gohan, and Buu was sent sprawling down on his back. The pink blob wiggled his toes and legs for a second, before bouncing back up to his feet. With a cheery shout of his name, Buu summoned up the energy necessary, and all the fist and foot marks around his body popped back into shape.
Shin cringed with fear. "He's just as horrid as ever… We hit him with everything we have, and it's as if he didn't even feel a single blow…"
"Humph! I'm not too sure about that yet," Gohan scoffed. "I'm not giving in yet, or ever!"
"That was fun! Now Buu's turn!" Buu hurled himself like a shot put, splitting a gap between Shin and Gohan as he zipped by them. Gohan turned, and rushed at the creature's backside. Buu's eyes veered to the side slightly, and an even more sickening smirk spread across his pink lips. "You go bye-bye now!"
Buu shot a quick blast out from his hand that struck Gohan flush on the chest. Gohan let out a yell as he was knocked backward, grunting and groaning after he hit the ground and rolled a few feet away from the battlefield.
"Gohan!" Shin yelped, beginning to fear for his own safety, and with good reason. Buu jiggled his way overtop of Shin, and sent him crashing to the ground with a double axe-handle blow to the middle of his back. Shin grunted and spit up dirt as he lifted his face off the ground. Buu pulled his foot back, and kicked Shin right in the ribs, punting him a good fifty feet away near where Piccolo had crashed earlier.
"Gohan no!" Videl cried, after watching Buu zap him. The only thing keeping her from rushing in foolishly to try to help was this new found feeling of helplessness she'd obtained after learning just how much stronger Gohan and his friends were compared to her and her father. That feeling could only suppress her competitive blood for a short time however. When she watched Buu lay the boot to Shin, and then crash land just a few feet away from her, hiding behind a rock just wasn't going to cut it any longer. She was the only person left standing, and if there was no one else to fight it…
"This is fun… Who next?!"
Videl grimaced, and even began to step out from behind her rock, when a loud booming voice rained down from above. "How about the Prince of the Sayians you over grown ball of lint!" Vegeta growled, and swooped down pounding Buu in the face with his fist. Buu rocked backward, and for the first time seemed to be affected by an attack from one of the Z-fighters. If not, then for some reason Buu frowned and stared after Vegeta as the Super Sayian stopped in mid-air and smirked down at the Majin creature.
"What's the matter fat boy? Did I hurt you?"
Before Buu could respond, another annoying gnat fired on him from his blind side. Buu screamed out loud as a purple ball of Ki smashed into him, and sent dozens of mini-explosion's rippling over his body. "That hurt Buu! Who do that?!"
"I did it, and it was supposed to hurt you idiot!" Ryo barked down at him. "What are you going to do about it!"
Ryo gulped when a nasty smile formed over Buu's mouth. Buu launched himself in the air after the boy, but to the monsters surprise his target disappeared before Buu could wrap his arms around him. Buu looked confused as he floated to the ground, churning his pudgy head knowing the boy had just been there a second ago. "Where you go?! You no play nice!"
"Who's playing!" Ryo growled, as he appeared behind Buu, shooting another Ki blast at his blubbery backside. Buu screamed in pain, but if anything Ryo only really succeeded in making the child-like creature angry. Ryo speed upward quickly trying to put some distance between him and the ground that Buu was standing on, when what felt like a taffy like substance grabbed a hold of his leg. It was Buu's hand, and Ryo let out a yelp as it pull him out of the sky and started to swing him around like an Olympic hammer. Half a dozen rotations later, Buu let go of Ryo's leg and watched him go flying.
"That was some kick…" Shin groaned, as he struggled to his feet. The Kai barely had time for his eyes to widen before Ryo came crashing into him. They smashed back into the mountain Shin had already been kicked into, and slowly crumbled back to the ground after slumping out of the small impression Shin's back made into the rock, Shin stacking sideways on the top of Ryo's stomach. "Nice to see you and Vegeta made it Ryo…"
"It's great to be here," Ryo groaned, little stars circling around his head.
"Let's see how you handle this!" Vegeta roared, and planted his fist in the monsters gut. Buu appeared to wince slightly, but all Vegeta saw was a smile when Buu's eyes met his. The monster snickered, and Vegeta was alarmed to find his hand was stuck in the monsters grotesque belly. "What is this?… Let go of my hand you ugly blob!"
"Buu no ugly! You ugly!" Buu reached up his arm, and slapped Vegeta around at least a dozen times. Buu shoved Vegeta back, releasing Vegeta's hand in the process, and gave the Super Sayian a nice clean punch to the face.
"Vegeta!" Gohan shouted, as he watched the Prince fly past him only to crash to the ground, and roll a few times stopping a few feet away from where Gohan had been kneeling. "Damn, he's slapping us away like we're flies or something!"
"Are you guys okay?" Videl asked as she ran up to Shin and Ryo. Piccolo stumbled into the picture from the other side a second later. She would've ran to Gohan earlier if it hadn't been for one little obstacle… The fat pink tub of lard doing his little dance, effectively blocking the path in between them. She was brave, but she wasn't stupid. After watching the others get bounced around like volleyballs, she wasn't about to get anywhere near that thing.
"I think we've been better…" Ryo grunted as he stood up. Shin was still down on his knees as he spoke up.
"It's just as I feared… Buu's as strong as he ever was… I don't mean to sound like a doomed animal, but things aren't looking well here my friends…"
"I wish I could do something to help…" Videl grimaced, with a clench of her fist. "But I'm practically useless here… All I can do is stand back and watch…"
"Speaking of which, that's not really such a good idea," Shin told her. "You're liable to get hurt, and not to mention there's a chance Buu may try to single you out if we ever mange to turn the tide of the battle. It may be best if you get yourself to safety."
"But I can't just leave! I mean I want to stay here but…" Videl paused, thinking over the logic of that statement. "Where the heck would I go anyway?!"
"Hold on a second!" Ryo said excitedly, his expression highlighted like a storm was raging inside of his head. "I think I might have an idea… You said you want to help don't you Videl? Because I think I might know a way you can."
"Yeah, I want to help, but what can I do?"
"I'll explain on the way, let's go!" Ryo was about to take off, when Piccolo touched him on the shoulder.
"Hold on a moment Ryo. I think I know what you have in mind, so let me take her. You'd be more help here than I would be."
Ryo smiled and shook his head. "I doubt that, but it's got to be me to do this Piccolo. I know what you're thinking, but I might have something else in mind. I doubt it'll do us much good, but it's better than nothing. You guys just try to stay alive until then okay?"
Shin grimaced, as he watched Ryo fly off, Videl following closely behind him. "That's going to be a lot easier said than done…"
"I just hope he knows what he's doing…" Piccolo grunted.
"Huh, where is he going?" Gohan asked himself, but his question answered itself when he saw Videl with him. "Oh I see… Well, that's good, at least he's getting Videl to safety… Though I'm not sure how much longer any of us are going to be safe…"
"Damn that fat…" Vegeta grumbled, and wiped some blood off of his lip where Buu had punched him. "I refuse to acknowledge that blob of hog fat's strength! There's no way that thing can be this strong…"
"Well, I hate to admit it, but he's not going to be a pushover," Gohan groaned, and stared down a smiling prancing Majin Buu. "But I don't care how strong he is! One way or another, we have to find a way to take him down!"
End.
-Not much of a surprise here. I decided to leave Buu in the storyline, but I'm using him as more of an obstacle for the Z-gang before reaching the main objective. I almost chucked my entire outline for the next four chapters, but by doing that realized I'd be cutting some of the stories best plot twists that didn't quite pan out as well if I cut straight to the pirate ship. Thus, here's Buu! I haven't quite decided on exactly where Ryo's taking Videl just yet. I'm still stuck on two options one which is fairly obvious, and I'm sure most of you have probably thought about already. The other option is something I cooked up recently that I'm not sure I want to do now, because I'd be committing to certain rumors I'm not so sure I want to commit to yet if at all. You can only push your luck so far before you fall off the cliff. Until next time thanks for reading!
No preview this time since I still have a lot of holes I need to fill for the next chapter. Basically the Z-fighters getting knocked around by Buu, and the substantial side story focused mostly on Videl.
