Chapter Three:
Vegeta's eyes shot open. He had gone back to meditating for a while, when he sensed it.
The same ki Krillin had sensed, and realized that there was something wrong with it. He could sense it now, too. It was at Goku's house. He had sensed ChiChi's ki go up in fear.
Without a moment's hesitation, he jumped up and ran out the door of the gravity chamber, down the hallway, and out the door of the house, ignoring Bulma's questions of what was wrong or where he was going.
The second he was out the door, his hair blazed gold and he took of into the air. If he had developed nothing else in his time on earth, he had developed loyalty, so while he didn't much like ChiChi, he would protect her because she was Goku's mate.
He flew straight at Goku's house, his aura growing white hot around him.
The three warriors flew through the air in complete silence. There was really nothing to say. Krillin kept feeling that he should try to make conversation, at least talk about what had just happened, but all he could think of was, Here we go again.
They had flying for about five minutes when Gohan turned his head to them slightly and said, "There it is."
Korin's tower loomed up in front of them, a white pillar against the blue sky. They checked their speed slightly out of habit, swinging to face upward, and began the flight to the top, so high up that you could practically see the curvature of the earth. The air soon became so thin that any normal human would have no chance of breathing.
Soon they could see the round bulge at the top that was Korin and Yajirobi's home, and they all began to slow, and then stopped as they drew level with it. They floated over the rail at the rim, and landed.
Goku turned to them. Everyone was gathered around a low table, sitting crosslegged and leaning over to see whatever was placed there. "Hey guys!" Goku said happily, but there was an undertone of anxiety in his voice. "We've been waiting for you."
Gohan saw immediately that his father was worried about something.
"What is it, dad?" he asked, walking over to look his father in the eye.
Goku swallowed nervously. "I'm... worried about your mother. There's a strange ki at the house."
Gohan stared blankly at his father for an instant, and then turned to fly back off the tower, this time back toward the house.
"Stop!" Korin's voice said commandingly, and the white energy that was just surrounding Gohan vanished abruptly as he turned to look at Korin, queations in his eyes.
"She'll be fine. Trust me." The cat god said with a smile.
For a minute Gohan just stared from the cat to his father. Then his muscles loosened and he walked to the table and sat down.
"Okay. I trust you." Gohan said. "So, what is this that you have to show us all?"
Korin gestured to the table, which Gohan could now see held the thick leather book the cat had been carrying when he left. As he watched, Korin reached down with one paw and opened the book to somewhere just past the middle. The pages were yellowed and ragged at the dges, and the book's leather creaked when it was opened.
"This book is older than any of you could possibly comprehend." Korin said. "It holds the information that could either save our lives and this planet, or doom them both."
The page he was gesturing to said, in flowing scirpt, The Golden Moon.
They stared in mute facination.
"I'm going to tell you all the story of creation." Korin said. "It really spans million of years, but I don't have time to tell you the whole tale, so you'll have to settle for the freeze-dried version."
"So long ago that the time can't be mesured in years, there were three gods. Their names probably aren't even pronounceable in any human tounge, so I'll tell you what they were, basically. Evil, Good, and Power."
"The universe then was nothing. One day, Good decided that it wanted to create life, so it made matter. Power saw this, and decided that there should be a force to govern and produce life, so Power created ki. The two went hand in hand for generations."
"But, as I'm sure you can guess, Evil didn't like this. When the gods created life and ki, they became physical beings, subject to physical law. So, to get revenge on Good and Power, Evil, the strongest of the gods, created death."
"Good and Power were outraged, because death would take them eventually, just like it would take their creations. So, to make themselves and every other being with a soul eternal again, they created Other World. Evil was very angry, but he didn't let on. He was a pretty smart guy, even though he was vengeful and, well, evil."
"When Evil was getting ready to die, he put all of his remaining energy and power into one thing. He made the Golden Moon, right here on earth."
"The Golden Moon did a lot of things. Any mortal who came within miles of it's light was made unimaginably strong. It was very high in Brute Waves, the waves that make you saiyajin turn into oozaru. But most of all, it's very center was a gateway between Hell and earth."
"When you came through the gate, you were basically eternally young. You would never grow old, but you could be killed. Evil used it all the time to go between Hell and the living world."
"Normally, Good and Power wouldn't have cared, as long as Evil didn't damage their divine plan. But Evil was letting mortals use the Golden Moon as well, and that was messing up the divine plan. But Good and Power couldn't force Evil to stop using it, as I said, he was the strongest. So, they finally tricked him. One day, when he had gone back to Hell to let out more mortal souls, they destroyed the Golden Moon. Evil was trapped in Hell, until his own mortal subjects killed him. When they did this, his sould disappeared, leaving only the residue bahind that pollutes the minds of people like Frieza."
"So..." Goku said after a pause, "this thing's gone then."
Korin shook his head. "Not quite. See, Evil did one last thing before his spirit died. He used the last of his magic to put a curse on the whole universe. He said that, exactly one billion years after his death, the Golden Moon would reappear. He wanted all the evil beings that were locked up in Hell to have nearly forever to build their power, and then, they would be able to get back into the world and destroy it."
"Soon after all this, Power became the first Kaio-shin, and Good diffused itself into a force, rather than a god, and made the other gods whose decendants are still here today."
There was a long silence.
ChiChi's broom broke over the head of the red haired man, and he staggered back into the yard.
"Kami! What is that thing made of!?" he yelled.
ChiChi looked at the broken broom handle in her fist with a frown, and then threw it at the man like a spear.
His hand shot up and caught it. "Please, I didn't mean to scare you. I' just looking for Goku. Is he around?"
ChiChi glared at him. "Why do you want to see Goku?"
The man didn't answer, however. His face suddenly looked wary, and his head snapped to the right.
"I sense a very hostile ki coming this..."
He was cut off when Vegeta hit him like an express train, slamming him off his feet and through several trees before he came to a stop about one hundred yards away in the woods.
"Vegeta?" ChiChi asked in a confused voice. The saiyajin prince's hair glowed in the golden energy of super saiyajin. ChiChi smiled.
"Well, I guess you took care of him!" she grinned. "Thank you, Vegeta. I'm sure Goku will be gtrateful as..."
"Quiet." Vegeta snapped, and ChiChi's mouth snapped shut. "He's not dead."
No sooner had Vegeta said that then the man came barreling out of the trees, a nearly inaudible buzz filling the air at the sound of his ki.
Vegeta threw up his arms in an X, blocking a punch that had been aimed for his face. The punches kept slamming into his arms.
And he realized with some surprise that they hurt!
He roared with power, his ki pushing the unnamed assailant back a few feet. His hair grew a bit longer, and the spiked were sharper. Lightning bolts of ki surrounded him, anpping around his body and singing the grass when they hit it.
"Ready to give up?" he smirked at the man.
"Hardly." The man gave Vegeta a smirk of his own. "Kaio-ken!"
Vegeta's eyes went wide as he recognized the move that only the students of Kaio-sama knew. Burning red energy surronded the man, his hair flying, his eyes burning. He was levitated just a bit off the ground, staring at Vegeta.
His ki had jumped into the stratosphere, greater than Vegeta's in his present state.
Once the saiyajin prince got over his innitial shock, the smirk returned to his face.
"Okay, then. If that's the way you want it."
Vegeta's voice roared out again, and this time, energy so bright that neither ChiChi or the man could look at it steadily surrounded him. Rays of ki seemed to rush in at his body.
Vegeta's ki kept rising as he prepared to go super saiyajin three.
Whoever had said that there was safety in numbers was a blithering idiot as far as Osiris was concerned. His robots had been in numbers, four against three, and they were all scrap.
Right now his ship's computer was busy giving the order for all ninety seven remaining robots to be teleported back immediately, before they, too, ran into these abnormally powerful warriors.
He was snarling with rage, his icy blue eyes narrowed into slits as he stomped around the room, pacing back and forth so hard that his feet left small dents in the nearly indestructible metal of the ship's floor. No one had been able to destroy any of his robots for many long centuries.
He didn't believe in having numerous bodyguards that were all weaker than him. If his robots could clearly not handle the job, or if it was even questionable, he went himself. But the ships computer had picked up no powers that high. Not then, at least. It seemed that the warriors on this planet were gifted enough that they could raise and lower their ki at will. To them, it had become commonplace, but in the rest of the universe, it wasn't so easy.
He knew what he had to do. If he was going to receive the power of the Golden Moon, he wasn't going to have any potential threats sitting around. He had to go down there and destroy them, now. As soon as all of his robots were back.
He didn't use any armor, or pads, or anything else that most of the universe's strongest used. He kept on his plain black clothes. They looked normal, made of some moderately expensive cloth, not too baggy, but not tight. They were marvelously strong, however, and it would take quite a bit to make even the smallest tear.
He opened a panel in the wall by pressing a button on the computer control board. When the panel of metal slid back, it revealed a silver tube of about one foot long, with a red button on one side. He picked it up and looked it over, inspecting it for any damage. It had been ages since he had used the thing.
After a second of looking it over, he pressed the button on the side, and felt the familiar tingle as a bit of his ki was pulled into the device, and came out as a compact ki blade, about one inch around and about four feet long. All in all, it looked a bit like a star wars light saber.
"Still works." he smiled a bit, revealing for a second two sharp, pearly canines that stuck close to half an inch lower than the rest of his teeth. "It's been a long time."
He felt a vague but pleasant sense of looking forward, knowing that something big was about to happen, as it hadn't in centuries. He was going to fight.
"Computer." he said in a more pleasant voice than he had used in quite a while, "Prepare the teleportation tube. I will beam down to earth just as soon as my robots are safely back."
Vegeta's ki rose and rose. His body grew to bright to see, nearly blinding ChiChi and the man in front of Vegeta.
His voice began to sound more like an inhuman roar than a voice, and it was just barely visible when his hair began to grow longer. All the light around them seemed to grow dark, except for the smaller red aura of the strange man, and the huge gold of Vegeta.
Then, his voice rose to a huge volume, and the energy that had been building up inside him came rushing out. Only later would he realize that he had destroyed Goku's house entirely, and knocked ChiChi off of her feet and close to fifty feet through the air.
The smoke and dust finally disappeared, showing a much changed Vegeta.
His hair was more laid back, the point going out past his shoulders and a little lower than normal. The rest fell down his back, all the way to his waist in golden glowing spikes. His eyebrows were gone, and his eyes had gone from light blue to a deep green.
His breathing was a bit heavy, and he reached up to wipe away the droplets of sweat that had collected on his forehead, but his power had gone through the roof, nearly doubling.
The man with the red hair stood gaping at him with eyes that looked as big as dinner plates.
"This," Vegeta said with a smirk, "is known as fighting for your life."
"Do you guys feel that?" Goku asked nervously. "Whoever owns that strange ki took a huge jump... and Vegeta's powered up to level three."
The others all nodded nervously. If Vegeta had needed to go to super saiyajin three to beat whoever he was fighting, it was very serious.
"Come on!" Gohan yelled. "Turn on the burners, guys! We've got to help!"
Goku, Trunks, and Goten's hair all flashed gold, and Gohan and Uubu's auras burst to life around them. Without a word, they all took off of Korin's tower, towards Goku's house.
"Those children." Korin shook his head with a cynical smile. "Didn't I tell them that there was no need for that?"
The man was staring at Vegeta in mute, open-mouthed shock. His law seemed to have come unhinged, and his eyes were huge.
"You're a saiyajin." he said in quiet disbelief. "A super saiyajin."
Vegeta growled. "Obviously. Now, are you going to run, or fight like a man?"
The man's eyes narrowed just a bit. "If you're a saiyajin, you must know Son Goku." he said, ignoring Vegeta's last remark.
Now it was Vegeta's turn to look surprised. "Kakarott? What do you want with him?"
The man smirked a bit. "So, you do know him."
"Of course I know him." Vegeta snarled. "I asked what you wanted with him."
The man didn't say anything.
"Not saying? Well, I can always beat it out of you." Vegeta smirked.
The man's eyes widened in surprise for a second, then narrowed again.
"Double Kaio-ken!" he shouted out, and the red aura intensified, sending his ki up another jump.
Vegeta didn't wait for him to get back into position. His feet left the ground and he flashed forward, slamming his fist at the man.
Vegeta was a bit shocked when the man was able to block his punch. It hadn't been his hardest, but still, the man's ki....
His thoughts were cut off when a fist belted across his face, causing his head to snap around. Another fist connected to his gut, and he felt a bit of wind spray out of his mouth. Then, his face twisted from a look of pain into a look of rage. Rage that the man had actually been able to hit him.
He leapt back. "Okay then. You no slouch, I see. But I can sense ki as well as I ever could, and you're not strong enough to beat me."
The man's face twisted into a look of defiance, and he crouched into a defensive stance.
That was when Vegeta noticed, the 'man' wasn't even that. He looked like he couldn't be any older than fifteen. The boy's skin and eyes had thrown him off at first, because they both seemed so pale-bright that they almost glowed. But it was almost a child that he was fighting.
He let out a sigh that turned into a half growl. He had no wish to kill a kid.
"No kid, Vegeta. Don't get that idea into your head." the boy said haltingly.
"What the hell!?" Vegeta spit out.
But he had no time for an explanation, because the boy launched at him again.
Vegeta easily blocked a punch that was aimed for his face, and then with a bit more difficulty, a kick aimed for his mid-section. The boy fell to the ground gracefully and sent a leg whipping around to trip him so fast that Vegeta was just able to jump over it. Once he was in the air, he spun and slammed a foot into the boy's head, sending him flying.
The boy stopped and righted himself, wiping the trickle of blood from his mouth as his feet lightly touched the ground. But his hand stopped in mid-wipe and his eyes narrowed, turning to the right slightly.
"Friends of yours?" he said sarcastically, and Vegeta turned to see what he was looking at. Seven points of light along with six large ki signatures were coming this way. He recognized them immediately as Goku, Gohan, Goten, Trunks, Uubu, Krillin, and Juuhachi-gou. But the boy had no such information, and apparently thought this was going to turn into a seven on one fight.
"Another time, saiyajin." the boy smirked and, to Vegeta's surprise, he put two fingers to his forehead and vanished.
When the seven warriors landed, ChiChi had gotten back with only a few bruises, and was busy arguing with Vegeta about her destroyed house.
"You baka! You destroyed my house so you could beat up a kid!"
"Listen, I need no demon spawn mate of Kakarott to tell me my mistakes. Just keep that black hole in your face shut!"
"Uh.... guys?" Goku said hesitantly, dropping out of super saiyajin.
"Oh, demon spawn? Look who's talking, mister walking troll doll."
"Troll doll? Well, you're not even a doll, just a troll."
"Guys?" Goku said again, a little louder.
"A troll? Well, at least I'm average height!"
"I'll have you know that I am five feet six inches, and that is average on this Kami-forsaken mud ball you call a planet."
"GUYS!!!!!" Goku bellowed out, causing everyone to jump.
"Oh, it's you, Kakarott. Will you make yourself useful and shut up your mate?"
"Why don't you shut up, you..."
"ChiChi, be quiet." Goku said absently. "Listen, Vegeta. Who was it that you were fighting, and where did they go?"
Vegeta sighed, and his hair first shortened, then changed back to black. "Actually, it was some kid looking for you."
Goku's eyes widened. "A kid generated that much power?"
Vegeta nodded. "And that's not the half of it, Kakarott. He knew the Kaio-ken, and the instant transmission. And I'm fairly sure that he read my mind at least once."
Goku's eyes widened even more. "He used the Kaio-ken!?"
Vegeta nodded.
Goku put a hand on his chin thoughtfully. "If he knew the Kaio-ken, I'm sure I could ask King Kai about him. Could you come with me to describe him, Vegeta?"
The saiyajin prince nodded blandly. "I suppose. But we can't stay for long. I do not want to have to listen to any of that idiot's stupid jokes."
Goku nodded, and turned to the rest of the warriors, who were standing behind him listening.
"Uubu, Trunks, and Goten, you go back to Korin's and wait for us there."
The three teens nodded, and they took off into the air without another word.
"Well, I'm going to check on Videl and Pan. They'll start to worry if I'm gone for too long." Gohan said.
"We'll go with you." Juuhachi-gou said. "But would you come to get Marron with us, too? If someone as powerful as what we sensed is running around, we need to stick together."
Gohan nodded.
"We'll meet you guys at Korin's in.." Krillin glanced down at his watch, which had not been destroyed by some miracle, "three hours. Is that enough time?"
"Sure. If it takes any longer, King Kai'll contact you for us telepathically."
Krillin nodded, and he, Juuhachi-gou, and Gohan took off into the air.
Goku looked at Vegeta. "Ready to go?"
Vegeta nodded, but they were interrupted by ChiChi.
"What about me? Where am I supposed to go? Our house is gone!"
Goku glanced at Vegeta.
Vegeta sighed heavily. "I'll have the woman get you a new capsule house out here in no time. Until then, take her to Korin's. At least it will be safe there."
Goku nodded, motioning to ChiChi. She came over and put her arm around Goku's shoulders, and gave Vegeta a black look. Then the two vanished.
Vegeta sighed. "That woman.... is very evil." he said to himself.