Chapter Five:

Videl landed on Korin's tower hard, her feet hitting the tiles with enough force to crack some of them, sending small marble splinters flying into the air. The cat/god was next to her in a flat second.

He was holding a bag of senzu beans up to her in one paw, a sarcastic smile pasted across his face despite the battle going on at this very second. Who knew? Korin might already know what was going to happen.

Videl looked at the bag for a minute before taking it. The senzu were what she had come for in the first place, but it was slightly startling that Korin had known already.

He smirked a bit wider. "They forgot to take these. Guess they were in a bit of a rush."

Videl stood still for another second, then reached out and took the small pouch. No sooner than her hand closed around it, then a huge explosion detonated on the horizon, and Piccolo's ki went out like a candle in a high gale.

"Shit!" she cursed, and blasted off instantly, not bothering to thank Korin for the beans but knowing that he probably didn't care, under the circumstances.

Krillin and Yamucha looked on in horror. There seemed to be no other response possible as they watched the lower half of Piccolo's body, smoke pouring from the bloody stump of the namek's waist, fall slowly to its knees and then flat, the end of the android's arm a smoking eye, the barrel of the energy cannon.

21, eyes completely blank and mouth in an expressionless line, rose up to his feet quickly, hand that was still a hand brushing his silver hair away from the glass window into his head. He raised the cannon and blew the smoke away from the muzzle.

"He…!" Krillin stared down at the scene of brutality, shaking. "He just vaporized Piccolo!"

Yamucha said nothing. He probably couldn't have if he tried.

The android shifted his gaze up to them. His face was still covered, but his eyes looked like he was smiling. "Ready for round two?" he asked.

Obviously 21 expected no response, and gave them no time to give one. In less time than it took to blink, he left the ground and buried his knee in Krillin's stomach.

The former monk screamed, the crunch of broken bones echoing through his head and pain flaring all through his body, radiating from his ribs as they cracked under the android's blow. The pain threatened to overtake his consciousness, but he fought it off with the same determination that had enabled his to kick Frieza in the face with a horn through his chest.

"Yamucha…!" he croaked out, pushing himself away from the android's leg, causing him almost more pain than it was worth. As soon as he was back, Yamucha attacked.

Of course it was an uneven battle to begin with. The android had killed Piccolo, rather effortlessly. That practically guaranteed that by themselves none of the others would stand for long.

The human caught 21 off guard, Krillin having been out of his grip for only a second, and kicked him in the face, hard. While the backlash from the blow had him in check, Yamucha spun around and a knife hand connected solidly with the android's neck.

Yamucha leapt backwards, throwing his guard up and watching 21 for an attack. The android's neck was canted at an unnatural angle, appeared to be broken. But as Yamucha watched, it slowly unbent itself, bringing the android's head, still showing that hateful smirk in its eyes and predator's grin, back to its proper position.

He growled in the back of his throat, frustrated. He hadn't expected to hurt it too badly, but he had expected some effect. Right now it looked like he hadn't even touched the thing, and he had put all of his energy behind those blows. This was bad…

"Kamehameha!!"

The shout came across the air, and just a second later, a wave of blue light exploded behind 21, plowed into him. Krillin floated in the air, steam coming from his palms, behind it.

Yamucha didn't wait for 21 to recover. While he was still reeling forward, Yamucha attacked.

"Wolf Fang Fist!" he yelled, energy surrounding him in a blinding white fury, his blows speeded up and powered up far beyond normal. Blow after blow he slammed into the robot's face, abdomen, and every other space of his body.

..only to be slapped down like a child by a blow that felt like it should have shattered his jaw. It caught him across the mouth, faster than he could see, and sent him careening down to the ground, hitting the rock hard and burying himself in rubble yet again.

21 rotated and moved in a bur, and Krillin threw his arms up in an X instinctively, and a fist hit them, the impact vibrating through his entire body, pain flaring. But, he had felt worse, so he kept his head.

The pressure on his arms vanished instantly, even though the pain didn't. As soon as that happened, he let his aura vanish, dropping instantly down. Just in time, as another punch whizzed less than an inch over his head. He reached up as fast as he could manage, hoping it was fast enough, and grabbed for the android's arm.

He felt his finger close over 21's arm, and his aura flared back instantly, power pushing to it's maximum, and swung the android over his shoulder, throwing him straight down.

Yamucha wasn't hurt, really. After all the times he had been buried in rubble, that wasn't all that surprising. He shoved a large boulder off and stood up, his legs a bit shaky and a little dizzy, but mostly fine. He was more worried about Krillin right now, and even more worried than that about Tienshinhan.

He looked up to see android 21 flying straight down at him. That cut off any worries, for the moment.

He leapt out of the way at the last second, and lanced a leg out after he did so, hoping to catch the android with a kick before it hit the ground.

Instead it caught his foot, stopping effortlessly in an instant, and swung him around, planting him face-first in the ground. The pain didn't really matter, it was small. But the shock did. This thing was so goddamn fast!

He rolled over, and just managed to move his head before a mechanical fist buried itself in the rock where it had rested a second before. Yamucha reacted instantly, kicking up hard with both legs and hitting the android in the stomach. 21's eyes went wide with momentary surprise before it was thrown upward by the force.

Krillin came down from behind it and hit it hard in the middle of the back, so hard that bolts of ki flared from around the point of impact.

Yamucha leapt up, and spun quickly, kicking the android hard when it flew back down at him, sending it flying to the side and down, where it slammed into the ground and was buried.

Krillin floated down next to his comrade, both of them breathing heavily.

"Do you think we killed it?" he asked between gasps for air.

Yamucha shook his head. "I don't think so. There's no way it would die that easy."

Krillin opened his mouth as if he were going to reply, but then he closed it again, and his eyes focussed on something on the horizon. Yamucha turned to look as well.

Two silver dots of ki, moving fast. No more than five seconds had passed when Yajirobi pulled abruptly to a halt in front of them, and Videl close behind, both with drawn swords.

"What happened? Where's Tien? Piccolo's dead, isn't he?" the two martial artists began to ask, at once.

"It's not 'what happened'," Yamucha said dryly. "It's still happening."

The words had only just left his mouth when an explosion suddenly rocked everything; the power behind it seemed to shake the very air, and it threw them all completely off, and a glowing orb of power on the ground made the sky look dark.

Android 21 shot out of the chaos in a blur. Yamucha realized at the last second, as he saw the android's malicious grin like a shark's, close enough to touch, that he was most likely dead.

He hadn't counted on a samurai.

Yajirobi, fresher than Krillin or Yamucha and faster than Videl, was the only one to react quickly enough. He leapt forward, past the others and at 21. He flipped his weapon in his hand, the blade now pointing down out of a closed fist.

He had a brief glimpse of surprise on the android's face before he plunged his katana directly into it's right eye.

The blade penetrated easily, and exited through the back of the head with a spray of blood. 21 let out a cry of surprise and pain, a totally unguarded sound that was completely unlike the voice he had used when talking to Piccolo. Blood poured from the eye and the exit wound in the back of the head, Yajirobi's sword still stuck through it like a toothpick through some sort of finger food.

Krillin was next to regain his composure, leaping in front of Yajirobi as 21 began to claw wildly at the sword in its eye. He held his hand out at his side, energy gathering and a disk of energy forming his signature attack in an instant.

"Kienzen!" he yelled, and let the disk fly. It traveled perfectly, hitting 21 in the neck, and shearing off the android's head and hand that wasn't an energy cannon like a hot knife cutting into butter. A strange liquid that could have either been very dark blood or reddish oil sprayed out, the disk vaporizing itself after it finished cutting, its job complete.

Android 21 let out one loud yell, and then the body and the head lost all power of flight, falling from the air and to the ground.

For about thirty seconds, no one moved or spoke. Finally, Videl broke the silence.

"..is… is that thing dead?" she asked, her voice only a bit shaky.

"I'm not sure." Yamucha answered. "But it sure looked like it."

Another few seconds passed in silence.

"We have to go see." Krillin said. "We can't just sit up here and wait."

So they all floated slowly downward, and landed next to the bloody mess Android 21 had become.

The body lay in a puddle of mixed blood and oil, the severed head, with Yajirobi's sword still through it, lay a couple of feet away. To all appearances, it was one dead android.

"We did it, guys!" Krillin said, breaking into a huge smile. "We won!"

Yamucha smiled. "Yeah, it looks like we did."

Yajirobi, also grinning, took a few steps forward. The grin vanished momentarily, as he put his foot against the android's head and took hold of the katana's grip. He turned his head with a slight grimace, and pulled the blade out of the wound. He then wiped the bloody steel on the android's pants, and sheathed it.

"Well, that's that." The samurai said. "Let's go find Tien and give him a senzu." He looked at Videl. "You do have them, right?"

She smiled. "Yeah."

They turned, but before the four warriors could walk away, a sound came from the body on the ground.

All four spun back around.

Wires were protruding from the android's neck and wrist, and from the end of the severed head and hand. Long wires, lashing back and forth in the air like snakes, attaching to each other. They began to pull the body back together.

It was at this moment hat Tien regained a sluggish sort of consciousness. His vision was foggy, and he was only half aware of where he was, but he was awake. His body felt as if it had been beaten with a huge hammer, and he was more tired than he could ever remember being in his life. The specifics of his situation were still blurry in his mind, but he knew he was hurt, probably badly, and that he needed a senzu.

He was also aware of the fact that Yajirobi, Videl, Krillin, and Yamucha were nearby. Their kis felt as if they had been fighting a battle, but he could sense no enemy. Did that mean they had won? His thoughts began to fade away again…

Then a ki, Videl's, suddenly landed right next to him.

"You're lucky I saw you, Tienshinhan-san." She said politely, though in a great hurry. "Here, eat this."

Tien felt the best thing in the world, his only saving grace at the moment, a senzu, press against his lips. He forced his mouth to open and accept the bean, and then forced it upon the even more difficult task of chewing.

The second the bean was down his throat, the miraculous healing took place as always. His injuries vanished in a matter of seconds, and as they left his memory returned in a flash, down to every exact detail.

Choutzu is dead.

The thought burst upon his brain like a bomb, and he sat bolt upright, eyes wide, panting for breath.

Above them, Yamucha was fighting with the android, who appeared to be slightly slower and had an ugly mark around it's neck, at a furious pace. He was mostly dodging, landing only a few blows and trying to keep out of the machine's way. As Tien watched, Krillin landed next to him.

"Hey." The former monk said, a smile somehow on his face even now. "How ya feeling, Tien?"

The tri-clops grimaced. "I've been better."

Krillin nodded. "I expected that. So, any ideas?"

Tienshinhan looked up at the android, who was beginning to slowly but surely catch up with Yamucha, landing more blows.

Is it worth it? The question surfaced in his mind, before the thought this question was in reference to was even fully formed. Krillin had asked if he had any ideas. Well, he did. But…

There's no way any of us are strong enough to beat this thing in combat. He thought gravely. We could gang up on him and fight until we're all dead, it won't accomplish anything.

But…

No buts. I can't turn away from this.

Tien didn't look away from the fight. "I can kill it." He said.

"What!?" Krillin's eyes widened, smile replaced by a look of pure disbelief. :What did you just say?"

"I can kill it." Tien said. He closed his eyes. "But… I'll need some time. To prepare."

Krillin looked at him, disbelief replaced by something else. Something like respect. As if he knew what Tien was going to do. But he couldn't.

"How much time?" he asked seriously.

Tien thought. "Two minutes. Maybe three."

Krillin nodded. "Alright. We'll keep him busy."

Krillin blasted off in a flare of power. Videl waited a second longer, looking at the tri-clops with concern. The look in his eyes…

Then she blasted off as well, leaving Tien alone.

He watched the two join the fight, 21 roaring in rage, stepping it up, moving faster and hitting harder.

It's now or never.

He slowly floated upward, not moving fast enough to attract attention. He formed his hands into a triangle in front of his eyes.

Then he changed slightly, the two middle fingers of each hand folding inward, so that he was looking through a smaller hole, a triangle that for some reason put a gun sight into mind.

He began to focus his ki.

Yamucha saw that the android had been slowed down at least some, either that or it was still not back up to 100% after having its head lobbed off and a sword stuck through it's eye. Either way, it was still too damn fast.

At first he had held his own, none of the android's blows even landing, the few he cautiously threw hitting hard and right where they were supposed to.

But then the android had begun to get faster. It was slowly gaining the upper hand.

Yajirobi floated nearby. He was waiting for some sort of opening, but none was coming. The android just moved so fast…

Krillin and Videl charged upward into the fight, and 21 seemed to sense them coming before they got there. His face twisted into a growl, and he suddenly moved very fast indeed, and belted Yamucha solidly across the face, knocking him backward through the air.

Krillin and Videl charged into the fight. 21 was waiting for them, smiling now again like a shark, death in his eyes.

Tienshinhan had been an assassin all his life. His earliest memory was of his own parents being savagely murdered. Over the years, he had seen a whole lot of death. Much of it had been dealt by him.

It had been his job, for years, to kill people. His dream had been to be the best in the world at it.

So he had come to accept the idea of his own death long ago. To not do so would have meant madness. He knew that eventually, he would be gone from the earth for good. No being wished back, no reincarnation. Gone, a ghost forever. The idea had long ago been introduced to his brain, and he had come to accept it.

So why did he feel afraid?

He focussed his ki, concentrating on the task of putting his life force into the attack, enough to do the job, but not too much, or it would kill him where he stood.

This was going to kill him. He knew that; there was no way around it. When he had invented this attack, he knew it would be lethal. But there was no other way. Always, it seemed, people clung to false hopes until they were doomed. He wouldn't, couldn't, do that. This was the only way to win, and he was going to take it before it was too late.

If saving his comrades and the planet meant his own demise, so be it.

His muscles were beginning to ache. It was coming down to it now, as his life began to drain, forced by his will into the power of his attack.

It was time. Time to turn it up to the highest notch.

He braced himself.

"Kaio-ken!"

Krillin had just taken a blast full in the face from the energy cannon on 21's arm, and he was struggling to remain awake. They were taking a beating, and that was an understatement.

Videl hung back, sword held in her left hand. The right arm hung at her side, broken and useless. Yamucha was moving faster and hitting harder than he had thought was possible. But it wasn't enough.

21 finally caught him. Wicked grin blazing, he dealt the desert bandit a blow across the top of his skull, hard. Hard enough that Yamucha's head actually dented in on the side, the skull cracking.

"Yamucha!!" Videl screamed.

Yajirobi dived forward, his sword swinging. 21 turned as gracefully as a dancer and hit him with a fist to the face, the brittle crunch of breaking bone as the samurai's nose and cheekbone crushed.

We can't keep this up. Krillin thought to himself.

And, almost as if in answer, a shout came from above.

"Kaio-ken!!"

no one had to be told what that meant. They scattered, the three who were still up. Yamucha was on the ground, and they would just have to hope he was out of the line of fire, because there was no time to get him.

21 began to turn. He would not finish his rotation.

Everything took on a soft, beautiful glow. The red energy of the Kaio-ken threatened to rip his body apart, the life energy all focussed into one point and unable to counteract the power of the god's technique. But Tien held together, somehow.

This is for my friends, and especially Choutzu, you bastard. He thought. A smile crossed his features.

Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. 21 was beginning to turn, but his face was not yet even visible.

Tien turned his hands to the aide. Now his palms faced downward, toward the android. His index fingers and thumbs touched at the tips, and the last finger of each hand stuck outward. Ki crackled in the triangle between his hands.

"Take this!" he screamed. His third eye suddenly lit up in gold, showing through the blood red of his aura. 21's eyes widened in surprise or fear, but Tien couldn't see the android's face.

"SOUL CANNON!"

A beam of gold, white and red. It left the third eye in the middle of Tien's forehead, and passed through the triangle of his hands. It grew, spiraling down, into a raging tornado of ki. It was beautiful in a savage, destructive way. Tien's life drained form his body into the blast, multiplying it a thousand times over.

The beam connected solidly with android 21's back, and the world was eclipsed in savage white light.