Chapter Eight:

The roar of ki finally died down, even though it seemed to the energy-shielded Goten that it went on forever. How could one being generate that much power? How could any number of beings generate that much power!? The amount of ki that was only now dying down had been more than all the z warriors combined, if the young demi-saiyajin could still estimate strength.

He lowered his ki and let the shield dissipate, a huge relief after the exhaustion of the past few hours. He didn't even know if he could get back up to super saiyajin now if he tried, he was so tired. He ha been electrocuted, had blood sucked from him almost to the point of death, and been knocked out and beat on by the goons that they had destroyed only minutes before the wall of ki had come rushing at them. If he had had any more energy, it would have been remarkable.

Looking around, he saw the others who were still around. Tien and Choutzu were on the ground, the smaller of the pair standing very near to the larger's leg. Tien was uncrossing his arms and standing erect. Apparently, he had shielded the both of them, and it had taken quite a bit of effort. That, at least, Goten could be sure of.

Yamucha was standing nearby, leaning slightly over with a hand on his leg, breathing heavily. He was like Goten, more interested in the other things life had to offer besides training, so he was having to put forth more effort than the others. But he looked like he was fine. His long black hair wasn't even messed up much.

Trunks, the last of them, was directly below Goten in the air, his hair still in the long spikes of super saiyajin two. He was alert already, scanning around them with the three humans on the ground, looking for the possible source of the huge wall of ki that had destroyed everything. But all they could see was bare rock.

"I can't sense anyone."

Tien's voice startled Goten, making him jump.

"What?" he asked. "what do you mean, you can't sense anyone?"

"I mean I can't sense anyone on earth but us and our friends. Everyone's dead. Everyone on the entire planet is dead." There was a very slight shake in the tri-clops' voice.

Goten's eyes widened, and then he abruptly closed them, concentrating. Looking for any normal human ki signature…

"That's crazy!" Yamucha almost yelled. "To kill everyone, that blast would have had to cover the entire earth!"

Tien glanced at him and crossed his arms. "It might have."

"It's just like Buu." Trunks said, not able to really articulate what he meant. "Buu all over again."

For the two boys, Buu had been like a childhood villain come to life. And there was nothing quite as creepy as sensing nothing on a planet where before there had always been an abundance of life. The entire planet suddenly seemed like a graveyard.

"What could have done that?" Goten asked no one in particular. He began to drop down, and Trunks followed, landing next to him as his hair fell from gold back to lavender. Yamucha walked over and stood next to the two demi-saiyajin and the two earthlings.

"Whatever Goku was fighting, would be my guess." Tien said. "Whatever it is."

"I say we go help him." Trunks said, glancing at the others. "I mean, if that's what we're dealing with, we need all the power in the world."

"I guess that's what we have to do." Yamucha sighed. "But I don't like it."

"Me either. But we have to." Goten said.

One by one, they blasted off into the air with small flares of ki that, after the wave they had just experienced, seemed unbelievably small and unimportant.

Uubu stood amidst the ruined waste that had been a forest a few hours ago and at least a semi-interesting landscape a few seconds ago. Now it was just bare rock. The huge onrush of ki had completely destroyed everything, leaving only cracked rock.

What could have done this?

"Only one thing I can think of." Uubu answered himself. "Whatever Goku-sensei is fighting, it's really heating up. I may be able to help."

He surged his ki, feeling the increase that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere after he drank Osiris' blood. It still paled in comparison to Morgoth's power, but it was a substantial increase.

He blasted off toward where he had last sensed the battle.

Goku opened his eyes and stared into Osiris' icy blue ones, suddenly awake. His entire body hurt, and he wasn't sure how well he would be able to fight, but the sight of an enemy in his face so unexpectedly surged adrenaline into his blood and he immediately jumped backward out of the way, landing in a shaky defensive crouch about ten feet away.

"Feeling better?" Osiris made no move to advance, and he looked vaguely troubled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Goku growled. "What happened? Why aren't I dead?" he winced as he talked, feeling the pain in his chest and decided that at least a few of his ribs were broken. But he knew he should have been hurt far worse than this. So what had happened?

"I healed you. Just as I did your student." Osiris said, standing with his arms crossed and just staring at Goku.

"I would appreciate it if you stayed out of my head." The saiyajin growled. Then he paused. "Wait, did you say you healed Uubu? How? What happened to him?"

"Simply expended far too much ki in a battle." Osiris said. "I did the same for him as I did for you. I gave him my blood."

Goku looked alarmed.

"Don't be so shocked." The vampire smiled. "Vampire blood has some very interesting properties. But as I haven't fed in a long while and have already lost a great amount, I didn't have enough to heal you completely. I did, however, save your life."

"You could have killed me." Goku said after a pause. "Why didn't you?"

At first Osiris didn't answer. He looked slightly agitated and unusually thoughtful.

"I don't know." He said finally. Then he chuckled. "Maybe it was fate?"

Goku shook his head. "I don't buy it."

"Too bad." Osiris frowned. "I could still kill you, you know."

"You won't do it. Not if you didn't before."

"Don't be so sure." The vampire now looked angry.

Goku shook his head and stood up straight, holding his ribs. "What happened to Morgoth?"

"Well, I assume it was him who just killed every living thing on the planet. Who else would have done it?"

Goku's head snapped up and he looked Osiris directly in the eye. "What did you say?"

"I hate repeating myself." The vampire frowned. "I believe you heard me the first time."

Goku shook his head, then shut his eyes and concentrated. Tried to sense anything other than himself and Osiris. He felt the other z warriors easily enough, and he could feel Arda with Krillin and Piccolo, and Uubu by himself, moving toward the others.

But there was nothing else.

"Kami, what did he do?" Goku muttered. "There's nothing…"

"How very observant." Osiris said dryly as Goku opened his eyes. "And what good has all your effort done? The planet you wanted to protect has been laid to waste, and you would have died had I not intervened. You can't possibly beat a power like Morgoth, and the only thing you can hope for is to die trying. What is there left to do?"

Goku looked sharply into the vampire's eyes, but didn't see any real malice behind the words. Only a sort of tiredness.

"We do whatever we can." Goku sighed, but the sigh turned into a growl. "You, ironically, said it perfectly. If all we can hope for is to die trying, then we die trying."

Osiris looked surprised.

"Will you help me now?" Goku asked. "You know that Morgoth will kill you eventually, even if you run. At least you can die with honor instead of running."

"Honor means nothing to me." Osiris said with a sigh. "But…"

Goku didn't know what it meant to drink someone's blood, or to have someone drink his in the way only a vampire could experience it. He didn't know that as the exchange took place, the experience was a glimpse into another's heart, mind, and soul. He had seen quite a bit in the few seconds while he gave Goku blood and simultaneously shielded them both from the ki blast. And he was still mulling it over.

No one could look into Son Goku's soul and go completely unchanged.

He sighed.

"Fine. I'll do it."

Goku smiled. "Good. Come on, we're going to fight. It's now or never."

He walked over and placed a hand on Osiris' shoulder. Then they vanished.

In the other world, there was absolute chaos.

Gohan was standing next to King Kai, arms at his sides, fists clenched, knees slightly bent, brow furrowed in frustration, trying to get the hang of the god's technique. Then all of a sudden, there were voices coming from the still open doorway that he and Juuhachi-gou had come through. Many voices, shouting.

Curious, Gohan stood up straight, eyes widening slightly. "What's going on down there?"

No one answered.

King Kai waited for a second, but the voices only got louder. So he walked over to the doorway and looked down.

"Oh my…."

"What is it, King Kai? Did someone else die?" Gohan asked, concerned, and walked over next to King Kai, followed closely by Juuhachi-gou.

They looked down.

"Shit." The cyborg looked down wide-eyed.

In the vast blackness was the entire population of earth.