Part Two: Morgoth the Demon

Chapter One:

With a sense of a snap that was so distinct that it was almost audible, whatever had been clouding over the z warrior's ki sensing ability suddenly gave, opening up like someone whose throat has locked up and suddenly loosened.

And when it did, every one of the z warriors were able to sense something coming out of the gateway, moving slowly and deliberately, almost crawling. Something, but what was just beyond the reach of the mind. Normally, it was easy to tell what sort of being you were sensing. But this was different. Cloudy, somehow. It was only clear that what they were feeling was evil.

Upon sensing this, each of the z fighters had a different reaction. Mostly it was a completely mental one, but in Vegeta's case, he reacted physically.

He glanced at Goku, and fixed him with an 'I told you so' kind of look, as if scolding the other saiyajin for wasting so much time. Then he began to slowly lower himself toward the ground.

"Vegeta!" Goku screamed down at him. "What are you doing?!"

The saiyajin prince looked back up. "Well, we obviously have to go see what that is, don't we? Or are you just going to take that baka vampire's advice and leave the planet?"

Goku started a bit, then his face set itself again. "We at least have to go together."

Vegeta looked as if he were about to answer, but he stopped suddenly. He wasn't sure why, but he felt… something. It felt like something was wrong.

Whatever it was, Goku and Osiris could feel it as well. Their faces had both suddenly Goku alert, more so than before. The vampire sniffed the air lightly, as if testing the wind.

But before either could tell what it was, Vegeta's eyes went wide.

"Behind you, Kakarott!!"

Uubu floated about twenty feet above the ground, staring in his sensei's direction, his normally handsome tanned face creased and twisted with worry.

What was that?

What could feel that evil?

He didn't have the slightest clue, except for a vague thought that maybe this was what Arda had been talking about, the thing that he had been afraid would come out. It must have been, because Uubu knew one thing for sure. Just from sensing whatever it was, he didn't think that there was anything much worse.

But he had other worries right now.

Frieza and Coola were almost on top of him, slowing down even now, simply floating toward him and around him at a leisurely pace. They looked vaguely amused, a smirk playing across Frieza's features, Coola's face a mask of anger with gleefully hateful eyes.

"A human." Frieza stated blandly. "Just another monkey species, I think. So what is it that you want, monkey? Or did you just want to look at us? Or maybe you've lost your nerve now?"

Uubu glanced angrily at the ice-jin. "I don't suppose you can feel it, can you? No, of course not. Goku-sensei told me about how your species can't sense ki without a scouter."

"Sense what?" Frieza half snarled as his grin vanished. He apparently didn't like to be reminded that any 'monkey' species could do something that he couldn't.

Uubu had to smile just slightly, the ice-jin's annoyance was so comical sounding.

"Oh, I wish you could know. There's no way to explain it."

"The ape is simply stalling for time, Frieza." Coola said coldly. "Let's just kill him."

"Yes. Let's."

Uubu jumped backward quickly, away from the two suddenly very threatening aliens, and pushed out his power, letting his aura flare around him and envelope him. His ki surged everywhere from the center of his body all the way out to his fingertips.

"Come on then." He said softly, and waited.

Goku didn't have time to think, much less wonder what Vegeta's warning meant. He simply reacted on instinct, and did what his reflexes told him to do.

He ducked.

And the black, crackling ball of energy that had been aimed for his head went right over it.

Down at Vegeta.

Vegeta had even less time to think than Goku did, and no matter what he claimed otherwise, he wasn't as quick as the only other full blooded saiyajin.

The ball of ki that was the size of a car slammed into him, and exploded, slamming him down into the rock and burying him.

Once he started running completely on reflex, it was hard for Goku to stop himself, as hard as it is to keep from jumping if someone jumps out and grabs you when you're already scared. So he did the first natural thing that came to him when he saw the ball hit Vegeta. He spun around.

And got his first look at Morgoth in the real world.

The monster stood over six feet tall, dwarfing Osiris and absolutely towering over Goku. His hair, or what appeared to be hair, was past shoulder length and stood up in spikes, very saiyajin like. The face was normal looking, slightly pale skin, a little bony. But the eyes were jet black and shiny, like some kind of oil. In the middle of each a point of fire was visible, looking like it was seen from a great depth.

Morgoth's skin except for the face was jet black, but didn't shine like his eyes did. The body was muscular, but not really bulky. Each hand ended in five foot long talons like fingers. Each foot was like Frieza's, but the same black color as the rest of him.

He was smiling, revealing a mouth lined in pointed teeth.

"Hello, Son Goku. We meet for the second time, yes?"

Goku didn't reply. Even if he could have thought of something to say, the sudden surge of anger that he was feeling would have completely blocked it from his mind. No enemy had even just walked up and attacked him when his back was turned.

"Speechless?" the strange creature asked with a grin not unlike the one Goku had seen on Super Buu's face. "That's okay. You're probably thinking what a coward I am for attacking while your back was turned, right?" There was a note of amusement in the demon's voice.

Goku still didn't know what to say.

"The pure of heart are definitely humorous when they're consumed in their righteous anger, aren't they?" he glanced over at Osiris, like a friend having a good laugh at someone else. "What, nothing to say?"

Osiris was staring at the demon with an expression of utter terror. Part of it was the very large and evil ki coming from Morgoth, but part of it also was just plain fear and exasperation at all of the events of the past few hours. He was beginning to wonder exactly how many more ultra powerful warriors were going to just pop out of the woodwork.

The vampire began to slowly float down and away.

Morgoth crossed his arms over his chest and frowned. "Are you running away?"

Osiris replied with only a slight waver to his cold voice. "When one is confronted with certain death, it's usually wisest to retreat and live to fight another day."

Goku could scarcely believe what he was hearing. "You coward! I thought we had an agreement!?" he screamed down, finally finding his voice.

Osiris shook his head and Morgoth laughed softly.

"We did, Goku." Osiris said, his voice now beginning to quiver noticeably. "But I believe that I'm going to have to back out. Maybe our paths will cross again…" he glanced up at the grinning hellion above them both. "But I somehow doubt it."

And in a flash, he was flying at top speed, away, blindly.

Goku pushed the rage down inside him, trying to channel it into useful energy. He couldn't be preoccupied with Osiris' cowardice right now. He turned slowly to look Morgoth full in the face.

"You tried to attack me from behind."

"Do you have a problem with that?"

Goku growled in the back of his throat. "You coward."

Now the demon's smile changed to a sneer of contempt. "You value honor above the simplest way to win a battle? My, how very human."

He floated lower and forward, coming within feet of Goku.

"Yes." Goku said coolly. "I value honor. And loyalty. And bravery. Things that people seem to have forgotten anymore."

"Well…," the demon's smile was back, and it was quite horrible looking close up. "You can talk about honor, because in this universe there is honor, and it's okay for those who value it. You can talk about loyalty, because there is loyalty, and even though it is quite a foolish idea, it works for some people."

Morgoth's eyes narrowed just slightly, turning the expression of a mean playground bully to a look of gleeful malice.

"You can talk about bravery, or honesty, or trust, or even love, the most foolish of all, because those things exist and they serve their purpose."

There was a sudden flash of movement, too fast for Goku to block or even react. One of Morgoth's hands (claws?) rose, one talon extended, pointing accusingly. And in a flash it looked like an optical illusion, because Morgoth's talons were about a foot long, but this one seemed longer. Or maybe it was getting longer…

Then Goku felt a searing pain pierce the flesh high on his chest, within bare inches of his heart and lungs. He realized that the claw had gotten longer, in some bizarre technique like Piccolo's arm extension, it had lengthened and hit him.

Blood squirted as it exited through Goku's shoulder, the red liquid bubbling as it hit his energy charged hair and skin.

"Yes, you can talk about all those things." Morgoth's smile widened. "But I talk about doom, Goku. Because in the end, doom is all that really matters."

Vegeta's head pounded.

-I feel like I've had a mountain dropped on me.- he thought to himself, then realized that technically he had. He was buried in rock.

Using his ki to blast out of the rubble wouldn't be wise in this situation, mainly because he didn't know the situation. All he knew was that a ki ball the size of a car and very, very powerful had hit him. He wasn't hurt that badly, but he wasn't going to give whoever had hit him get the chance to do what the first ball had been unable to do.

So that meant he had to dig his way out.

He muttered some very colorful language to himself, and began to push his way through the rocks. He was still in super saiyajin three form, so he couldn't have been out for more than a minute, and that was a good thing. But the ki level of super three was not good. It meant that if anyone cared to look for him, he was a very easy target to spot.

Not that it mattered, really. He was already almost out of the rubble.

As he pushed the last rock away, he was just in time to see Morgoth's talon go right through Goku's chest.

Neither Goku nor Morgoth heard the voice until it was right on top of them. And of the two, Goku was the only one who recognized it.

"I hate people who attack me when my BACK IS TURNED!!!" Vegeta screamed, and slammed one super charged punch as hard as he could into one wet looking black eye.

Morgoth didn't cry out in pain or surprise, but he was thrown away from Goku and Vegeta.

Satisfied that he had at least a couple seconds, Vegeta turned and looked at Goku to asses the situation. In other words, to see how badly the other saiyajin was hurt.

Except for a couple very small patches on the shoulders, Goku's entire gi top had gone from blue to a dark, sickly wet purple. But he was conscious despite the blood that was still almost spraying from both wounds.

"Kakarott!" Vegeta yelled, and was at the other saiyajin's side in a second. "How bad is it?"

Goku tried to force a smile, his eyes looking a bit clouded. "I don't think he hit any of the vitals, but if this doesn't stop bleeding in a minute I think I may pass out."

Vegeta sighed. "Is that all? Okay, hold still, because this will hurt…" the saiyajin prince flared a small sized ball of ki on the end of his finger, and without waiting for Goku to realize what he meant to do, he thrust it onto the hole in Goku's chest, effectively burning it shut.

"KAMI!!!" Goku yelled, but it was already done.

"Turn." Vegeta said flatly, but he simply spun Goku around without waiting for the other saiyajin to comply himself. And with another quick yell from Goku, the wound on his back was sealed as well.

"Can you fight?" Vegeta asked after a second had passed.

Goku nodded. His whole left upper body ached and throbbed like a rotten tooth, but he had been able to fight with both his legs broken before, so he figured he could deal with this, at least for now.

A harsh laugh brought them both back to their senses. They had done the stupidest thing possible in a fight; They had completely ignored their enemy.

They both snapped their heads up, and there was Morgoth, floating apparently for some time about thirty feet up, laughing at them.

"Are you finished yet?" he called down. "Because I think it's about time we continue."