Chapter 13; Descent
//Alright, I say we should fight them all at once.// Andre made the first suggestion as the guardians planned on which of them should fight which Z-fighter. Of course, Gohan, Piccolo, Goku, and Chi-Chi would not participate. Being from both groups, Chris thought it wasn't fair to make them pick one over the other. Only the "pure" Z-fighters would participate in the bout.
//That might not be the best idea,// Brian remarked. //Remember, the last thing we need are tensions among allies. We should not try to mock them. I suggest four simple rounds of one-on-one.//
//That will take all day! I want to fight now!// Andre was irritated. //These people need to be shown their proper place.//
Personally, all four agreed on that topic. They understood that the power the Z-fighters was unlike any other seen before; who else in the four galaxies could become a super saiyin? The problem resided in the fact that these fighters believed that all their power made them all-powerful. They failed to grasp the fact that they had to sit out of this battle; to them, no force in the world could stop them. This kind of bravado had proved the fall of most of the great universal races, including the saiyins. There was only one productive, yet cruel, method about making the Z-team realize they were not who they believed.
Beat that belief strait into the ground.
//Alright, listen. Brian is right; despite their disrespect, the last thing we need is a quarrel with them.// Danielle made an attempt to alleviate some of the tension set by the conflict. //However, Andre also has a point; we did schedule some training this afternoon, we shouldn't lavish too much time on fighting. How about this; four battles of one-on-one, at the same time?//
Glancing to one another, Andre and Brian shifted their gaze back to her. Pausing for a moment, concurring with one another, they agreed. //Fine.//
//Fine.//
//Fine.//
Meanwhile, Chris rubbed his forehead with his finger, and sweatdropped. //When did they decide to ignore me?//
The rest of the residence in the room stared be mused at the guardians. Throughout their telepathic discussion, the four's expressions continued to flux with no apparent reason. Doubt, consideration, occasionally even anger. Christopher actually seemed crestfallen at one point.
"Umm…Miss Briefs?" They all had forgotten that Naki was still in the room. "Are they alright ma'am?"
Bulma slowly shook her head. "Of course… there's nothing to worry about…" Concerned, she didn't want her assistant in the immediate area when hell broke loose. "Naki, could you please cancel my appointments for today? Simply explain that an extreme personal matter has just arisen."
"Certainly, Miss Briefs." As he left, Bulma didn't even think to correct his formality. The scientist turned to the doorway and watched him leave, almost not noticing when the guardians focused on the fighters.
"We're finished." Bulma jumped at being surprised, the others turning to her. She blushed, as Danielle continued. "We will have four one-on-one matches. Will that be alright?" She smiled as they all silently agreed. However, Vegeta had to make things worse.
"Very well. If that will make the children satisfied, than go right ahead." He hardly noticed the ground quiver below his feet, or the gleaming diamond gem on Brian's head. He tilted his head. "Well? Your order?"
Brian gripped his fist. "Yes… anyway, this is our plan; Danielle will face Eighteen. Andre will fight Yamcha. I will fight Tien, and you, Vegeta, get Chris."
The fire guardian stretched his wings. "That won't be a problem, will it, o' powerful prince?" He smirked.
"Not at all. At least I get to face the strongest of you "guardians." He waved his hand to Chris' fellow guardians. "And while those three face off with the humans, I'll have a real challenge."
Unknown to the fire youth, Vegeta was simply evaluating his opponent; seeing how he reacts to the comment. Watching Chris' body tense, he learned that his comment struck a weakness of his; unknown to him, however, was how it was a blow against all of the guardians in general. In their position as joint care-takers, they considered each other equal; they may have different abilities and places in battle, but they each were as important as themselves. To have the audacity to claim that one guardian was superior or inferior to another, is a direct offence against all four elements; as if insulting the entire planet.
"Don't worry Vegeta," Chris replied. "I'm sure I won't disappoint you." Then, he folded his arms across his chest, and did the same with his wings over his body. At his feet, a flash of red light could be seen under the wings, and then a puff of black. When he unfolded his wings, Chris was back in his traditional guardian attire, his new pants and boots now a pile of ashes on the floor. "Let's step outside. Away from the city."
With a sigh of annoyance, the Saiyin prince followed the guardians as they headed for the door. Gohan, his parents, and the rest of the Z-fighters followed as well. Watching them leave, Naki waved farewell to Bulma as they all left. However, as they passed, he saw the other woman that had arrived run past, yelling:
"Christopher! Those boots and pants were brand new!"
The journey out of the city was much faster and easier than the one coming in. Since Capsule Corp. was located near the edge of West City, the Z/E-teams could fly off that way. Mostly everyone used their own energy to fly; those who couldn't, like Bulma, hitched rides. Even Goku and Piccolo, who hadn't used their own power in a while (under the guardians' training, of course), used this opportunity to feel their own power carry them through the air again.
The elemental guardians, in the opinions of the "pure" Z-fighters, didn't seem to have much efficiency in their means of transportation. Chris used a combination of his wings and a constant release of hot air to propel himself forward. Brian and Andre, in opposition, seemed to have no means of flight, relying on their companions for help in the way Bulma and Oolong did with the others. The only one that left the Z-team impressed was Danielle; she moved through the air while standing perfectly strait. Even though the wind blew her hair backward, she appeared to catch no wind resistance; unknown to all there except her friends/students, she force all the wind around her to move in the opposite direction. In short, she was riding a moving sidewalk.
Many of the Z-fighters had somewhat startled opinions to Gohan, who had chosen to use his elemental aura, like Chris did. The fact that he had decided to use that over his own power made the others wonder. The question that arose became one that would most likely bring new conflict between the two groups; did Gohan truly regard the guardians over themselves? The ones he had fought beside for so long?
"This will do fine." Chris and Danielle made a mid-air halt, causing the Z-fighters to follow. Brian was holding onto Chris, he carrying the earth guardian by his hand like a dead weight. Andre simply stood next to Danielle with his hand on her shoulder; her own power suspended him as well. "The battles will begin after Gohan and Goku give the signal. Let's all spread out, so as not to get in one another's way." With that, Andre let go of Danielle, and Brian let go of Chris. The wind guardian rose upward, and the other three descended. After landing via wings/safety bubble/just landing, they split off into three different directions. Confused, the four competitors followed.
About one quarter-mile away from the spectators, Vegeta set foot. Before him, the guardian of fire stretched his body for the upcoming match. He removed the orange sash from his waist, and tied it around his head like a bandana. Then, he moved his shoulders and one wing back, sliding his red robe off of them. With the other wing, he tossed the robe aside, it landing with a loud thud behind him. "One moment, please. I need to make one last adjustment."
The prince raised his hand, signaling to proceed; Meanwhile, he started to stretch himself; Why not; it may be a good warm-up.
Nodding, Chris spread his wings wide to his sides. At first, nothing seemed to occur. But then, the lining of his feathers started to fade; they carried the appearance that they were melting. Vegeta stopped stretching, dumfounded as Chris' wings began to slick over and shine. Soon, his two bird-like wings became-
"Cell's wings… that freakish android's wings!" Vegeta cursed. The wings resembled those of Cell in his perfect form, glistening gold. With a sharp flap, he lifted from the ground, and hung an inch from the ground in midair.
"What do you think Vegeta? I like to assume this form during these types of matches." Despite his former surprise, the saiyin only huffed. Chris smiled. I think I'm getting into 'his' head this time.
Remembering what Chris had said to them, Gohan and Goku prepared for their part. Gohan pointed his finger to his forehead, and then strait out in front of him. A single red light shot from his fingertip. As the light faded off, it started to move upward. When it started to curve back to the group. Then, Goku raised his hand over his head and fired a small stone. The stone climbed upward, and the red light headed for it-
A flash of red light filled the sky.
"NOW!!"
"Soul Chortet, come to me!"
The spaceship "Jargal" was in full swing as the fleet reached the planet Earth. Simple cloaking devices kept all of the ships from Earth's radars, and most of them hid behind the planet's moon. Only Mori's personal cruiser and a few drop-ships were moving in for now. It was time to drop the first wave of soldiers, to secure a planet-bound base of operations. Mori called his generals to send them off.
Jara was adorned in her traditional dark purple armor. Kain's was fashioned in a forest green; the helmet coming to a point near his eyes had two yellow gems on each side, resembling the head of a dragon. Stary brought her hair into a long braid, falling behind her; she covered the tips of her hair with sharp metal tips, a favorite weapon of hers. Like Jara, Stary wore a set of dark purple body armor. These three stood before the powerful god, the forth missing from their group.
Mori turned away from the three, gazing up at the planet of white, blue, brown, and green. "My dears, today we begin our assault on the planet Earth. This planet will mark the completion of my grand army, with you three leading my ranks! This is our most important planet." Then, a laser image of a globe appeared before him. "We will set up base in these locations." Several blips appeared on different spots on the globe. "Any questions?" Kain and Stary shook their heads, but-
"Actually, sir?" Jara stepped forward. "Something has been bothering us for quite a while; this Eltori person? Well, we simply wish to understand a little more about the significance of this person to our mission."
Mori smiled. He walked up to the now nervous Jara, and ideally stroked her hair. "Now now, Jara. You will all soon find out; you just need to be patient. After all, good things come to those who wait." Gently, almost fatherly, he placed a kiss on her forehead. "I suppose I have been keeping an awful lot from you. But don't worry; I think you'll find the wait worth it." He raised his voice to ring out through the control room. "Very well then! Let us all descend; it's time for the harvest."
The crowd found the four matches to be quite exciting; in reality, they were all quite an even match. To the elemental side, they an edge by surprise; not only did they know the skills of the Z-fighters, but they also caught the others off guard with their own unique abilities. To the Z-fighters side, they had the advantage of their speed; with the ability to move at the speed of sound and beyond, they clearly outdid the guardians there. So, needless to say, the two groups had underestimated the other in ability. However, with their greater experience of the battlefield, each match slowly began to turn in favor of the guardians.
With their naturally composed behavior, hardly a single taunt or threat was thrown between Eighteen and Danielle. Though the guardians did have the ability to sense ki, she was unable to pinpoint the android at times, with no ki to track. Eighteen would simply charge past Danielle, enough to catch her in a knee blow or a clothes-line before speeding off, preventing a counterattack. It wasn't until Danielle lost her sandals/scrunchie that a plan struck her. Halfway into the battle, she went into meditation. The idea was if she couldn't sense Eighteen, she'd predict the android's point of attack by the disruption of air around her; if the wind shifted unnaturally to her left, that's where she was. Then, the wind guardian would move to attack in that direction, but first sent a gust of wind to her from that direction; Eighteen would be thrown off guard, and be unable to stop herself from being thrown into the attack. If she tried to keep her distance, Danielle would conjure a quick (and rather small) cyclone to form at Eighteen's feet; just enough to disorientate her so Danielle could go back on the offensive.
Andre/Yamcha's match was hardly as thought-out. After a little basic hand-to hand-combat, Andre decided to have a little fun; he filled the air where they were fighting in basket-ball size, dark blue bubbles. The way it worked, realized by the bystander Piccolo, was similar to that trick which he himself used in his match with Android Seventeen. If Yamcha came into contact with any of them, they would explode, knocking him forward, and into a heap of trouble at times. In his battle, the desert bandit was constantly on thin ice. Well, more so than a fighter already is in a spar.
The pairing of Brian and Tien proved to be the most classical; a good-ol'-fashion brawl. Fists flying, grapples, swipes at the feet, the whole nine yards. Of course, Tien learned rather quickly to stick to the skies; Brian couldn't fly, so then he'd have to work far-range. This was better for Tien than Brian, but if Tien landed, big trouble. Brian would materialize huge hands from the rock below to trap one of his feet, leaving him pinned while the two ducked it out on the ground. In a way, this aggravated Tien, but not in the normal fashion; he knew Brian could have restrained his whole body. Even now, the earth guardian went easy on him.
An hour passed before three of the four matches ended. Result: victory to all three guardians, but not without getting a massive scuffling. The entire Z-fighters were devastated; the fact that their famous team of defenders was defeated by four (seemingly) kids, who just came out of the blue, was embarrassing. Tien returned with his head down, and Yamcha/Eighteen with a peeved attitude.
"It was only a simple match," Danielle tried to reassure them. "It doesn't really matter anyway; we're all working on the same side." Even though she was trying to be nice, though, the three guardians were secretly all thinking the same thing:
The humans had learned to respect them, and their place.
"Say Brian, what exactly happened to Chris? He looks different than before." Goku was observing the remaining battle; Vegeta and Chris. The two continued to fight, leaving flashes of color, and surges of heat. Goku, as well as Gohan and some of the others, noticed that Chris bared a slightly different appearance than before
Andre looked to see. "Oh, that is a form Chris assumes for close-range combat. He sheds his robe to improve his body's range of movement. When he slicks over his wings, he can't fly as well, but it improves his agility; he uses them to improve his cornering and movement when in a tight spot." Their students were fascinated; even Chi-Chi, who Goku had showed a while ago to see from their distance.
Bulma was getting aggravated. "Well, I can't see a thing," The scientist huffed. She kicked at a rock near her feet, behind where the others were watching the fight. "That Vegeta…He always has to drag these out, make sure he's the bes-"
However, Bulma was cut off by the hand that muffed her mouth.
A/N: I am very sorry to all of my readers. I know it's been three months since I last posted. I've had many things keeping me from posting. I hope I don't sound to whiny, making excuses, but I did try to work when I could. I had a school musical for two months, a bad time in math, and a great deal of stress from my other classes. Despite these, I will try to be much more tenacious in writing. Also, an apology to Chrystian and Travis for making you guys wait.
This chapter was a little difficult, and I had a few problems with it. Please review, and give any advice you could; I'm planning to revise, and it would be a big help.