"Do you feel that?" Gerald asked no one in particular. "That's one huge ki!"

"A bit above a Super Saiyan Six, but not close to your ultimate form Gerald." Vegeta said. "The frequency of the ki is odd. Like it's not all one person or something."

"But it's emanating from one point." Jessica added. "It is one person... or thing."

"Yes, and sense it's the only ki of any kind in this Dende forsaken dimension, that's where we have to go." Vegeta said as he lifted himself off the ground.

"Agreed." Gerald said as he carried Chi-Chi aloft. Chi-Chi was given the one and only snowmobile suit that Bulma had. It covered her toe to head and tied tight. Her face was wrapped with a muffler loosely enough to allow breathing. Everyone else was dressed in parkas with thermal pants, socks, and gloves. The parkas were hooded and covered the entire head except for the eyes. The group looked more like a band of Eskimos than they did a band of warriors.

Even so, it was damned cold. Vegeta looked at the sun and noticed that it was straight overhead. In his native dimension, that meant that it was noon, or whatever equivalent to noon that particular planet used. Here he didn't know, but he did know that he wanted to be out of this dimension, or find adequate shelter before the sunset. If it were this cold during the day, the nights would be murderously cold. Perhaps colder than their foul weather gear could handle. Vegeta wasn't worried too much, they could, after all, use their ki to keep themselves warm, and take turns heating up rocks to keep Chi-Chi warm, but that was a serious drain on their power over the period of a night, and what if this is a pole area of the world where the night lasts far longer than normal? Expending that sort of energy then meeting up with a strong nasty isn't the type of battle formula Vegeta liked.

Bulma flew along side her husband; he didn't seem to be in any hurry. He seemed to be deep in thought. The kind of concentration that Bulma has seen him in several times just before a battle. She decided not to disturb him.

Almost two hours of flight time brought them to a valley floor that opened up onto a plateau and then a mountain. The mountain bore a large cave opening that seemed to drill straight down into the mountain's core. As the team passed over the valley floor, hundreds of objects reflected the sun into their eyes. Flashing like reflectors along the road. Gerald wrote it off as ice, but still he sensed a strange energy all around him.

Jessica suddenly froze. "Oh my Kami!"

"What is it Jesse?" Gerald asked concerned.

"I'm getting cries for help from thousands of trapped and horribly tortured souls." Jessica explained clutching at the sides of her head.

"From where?" Gerald asked.

"Down there, and all around!" Jessica said.

"Let's investigate. Vegeta?" Gerald turned for approval.

Vegeta weighed the options for a few seconds. "Fine."

Gerald and Jessica flew down towards the valley floor followed by Vegeta and Bulma. The sight that greeted them froze their blood in the icy cold.

Scattered throughout the valley and up the slope to the plateau, and beyond into the woods as far as the eye could see in any direction, were hundreds, perhaps thousands of large crystalline rocks. Transparent and glinting in the sun. Within each one was at least one being of one species or another. Most were human or humanoid in appearance.

"They're here!" Jessica said with some effort.

"Who are here?" Gerald gulped.

"These people! Their bodies are dead, but their life force is trapped!" Jessica walked over and placed her hand on one of the structures that housed the body of an eternally young woman dressed in a black dress with a white kerchief on her hair. Under one arm she had a basket with what looked to be fruit or large berries in it.

Jessica withdrew her hand and closed her eyes. "This woman has been her almost 10,000 years!" Jessica looked around at the other crystals. "Some of these people have been here far longer."

Vegeta looked around and saw a mixture of people. Everyone from warriors and soldiers to children caught in the act of catching a ball was represented here. Vegeta dismissed the idea that this was just some culture's way of taking care of their murderers and degenerates.

"What the hell is all this?" Vegeta demanded to know.

"I don't know. I do know that these people are in pain, we have to help them somehow!" Jessica composed herself.

"Okay, our answers probably lie with the one ki we can feel in this dimension, and he's not far away now. I think he's in that mountain someplace." Gerald said.

"It's moving now!" Vegeta warned. "It's approaching fast!"

Suddenly the crystalline structures around them began to glow. Before they had the chance of thinking about what that meant, a beam of light hit Gerald, Jessica, and Chi-Chi (still in Gerald's arms) square causing a bright flash of light. When the light faded the trio were encased in crystal.

"Hahahaha! More food for Algress!" A voice from above them called.

Vegeta looked up to see what could only be described as an impossibly old tree, in the shape of a man. Standing around 6 foot, his skin was brown and incredibly wrinkled and hard looking, like the bark of a tree. Small branches with leaves on them sprouted every so often on his body. His ears, if such they could be described, were long and pointed, more like horns than ears. His cackling smile was full of rotted teeth, and his breath filled the area with an odor so incredibly foul, that even Vegeta's iron stomach churned with nausea.

"What have you done! Release them at once!" Vegeta demanded.

"Oh I think not! It has been a long time since I have had fresh food, and these ones are strong! They will feed me for a long, long time! Make me strong!" Algress chortled with glee. "You are next! You are strong too!"

Algress pointed his palm at Vegeta and Bulma to reveal a large crystal embedded in it, the crystal glowed brilliantly.

Algress fired a beam from the crystal.

Inside the newly formed Crystal, Gerald was trying to power up and break out of his cocoon. Being Saiyans, they could hold their breaths far longer than humans could, but even they needed air to survive. Gerald could not gather his ki. It was as if he was generating it, but it was going somewhere else.

"Gerald! Stop!! You're only feeding him!" Jessica said telepathically.

"Feeding him?" Gerald questioned.

"Yes! That's how he has survived for hundreds of thousands of years! These crystals redirect life energy into him! These people are all batteries he uses to stay alive and powerful. If we try to generate more ki, he will just suck it up like a sponge!" Jessica explained.

"What do we do? We will suffocate soon, and Chi-Chi won't last that long in her weakened condition." Gerald said.

"Concentrate! Instead of releasing your ki, suppress it, draw it in! You are fundamentally stronger than he is, if you draw it in like Gohan taught us, you may be able to take control of all the crystals." Jessica suggested. "He will starve!"

"I will try!" Gerald said as he began to concentrate.

Vegeta grabbed Bulma and phased out of sight just as the beam hit the ground. A smaller crystal formed over the snow in the spot where it hit.

"Stop running! I have no use for measly snow!" Algress laughed.

Vegeta moved too fast for Algress to actually see, but Algress's eyes followed him all the same.

"Damned! He can sense my ki!" Vegeta thought as he set Bulma down behind a rock formation. "Stay here, understand?"

Bulma nodded her head. "Be careful!" Vegeta was already gone.

"Alright you asshole! Now you're dealing with the King of the Saiyans!" Vegeta yelled as he went Super Saiyan Five.

Gerald was concentrating hard, and had managed to at least deprive Algress of his, Jessica's, and Chi-Chi's ki, but hadn't been able to stem the flow from the other crystals. To make matters worse, when Vegeta went Super Saiyan Five, that prompted Algress to draw more power from the crystals. The strain was incredible.

"Can you contact Vegeta?" Gerald said.

"Sure, no problem." Jesse said.

"Tell him that he needs to find some way of distracting Algress long enough for me to take control of the Crystals. Blast him or hit him or something." Gerald said as sweat beaded on his brow.

Algress was chasing Vegeta around the Valley floor, trying to get a good shot at him with his crystal beam. Several crystallized patches of snow, bushes, and one or two ice covered trees along the edge of the valley stood in testimony of Vegeta's speed.

Vegeta fired a final flash straight at Algress who merely pointed his palm at the energy and absorbed it.

"Ahhh... Thank-you very much!" The creature sneered.

Vegeta powered up to Super Saiyan Six.

"Vegeta, Gerald says you need to distract him so he can take control of the crystals." Jessica mentally communicated.

"Distract him? I can't even make a dent in him!" Vegeta said as he delivered a double fisted hammer blow to the top of Algress's head. The creature barely blinked an eye and slapped Vegeta backhanded across the valley floor. Vegeta back flipped and tumbled out of the way just in time to avoid being encased in crystal.

Jessica thought of one other alternative. Quickly throwing her senses out, she addressed the poor souls encased in crystal.

"Please! Can you hear me?" Jessica cried out.

"Hear you? What is this? Who are you?" Thousands of voices answered almost simultaneously.

"Please, just listen. A desperate battle is being fought against the one that has imprisoned you! We need your help!" Jessica said.

"Imprisoned? I am imprisoned? I was asleep until you woke me." The voices said.

Jessica was starting to suffer from the lack of air.

"You've all been asleep for thousands of years! Please don't ask any more questions, we don't have time! Just focus your thoughts and energy towards me!"

The voices stopped. Jessica didn't know whether she had been successful or not when energy started flowing into her at a rapid rate.

"This must be what it feels like when Goku collects energy for a spirit bomb." Jessica thought. She was amazed. Not only was energy pouring into her from the crystal prisoners on this world, but also just about every world in this dimension was populated with prisoners of this energy vampire. The power was immense! Jessica could feel them all.

Jessica channeled the energy to Gerald.

Vegeta hadn't been beaten this badly since his fight with Kid Buu. He had managed to keep from being imprisoned as a Saiyan battery, but just barely. Algress decided to beat him into submission first. Vegeta dropped out of Super Saiyan Six, he suspected that the Kami be damned creature was draining his energy every time he got close.

"So, are you ready to be food now?" Algress said.

Vegeta knew that he couldn't move fast enough now to avoid it. "Never! I'll blow myself and this whole world up before I let that happen!"

Vegeta started spiking his power up for a terminal attack.

"You won't get that chance!" Algress grinned as he pointed the crystal at Vegeta once again. The crystal began to glow.

Out of nowhere, a ki blast hit Algress in the side of the head. "YOU LEAVE MY HUSBAND ALONE!"

The blast wasn't powerful enough to hurt Algress, but it was powerful enough to knock his aim off as he encased a large s rock over Vegeta's shoulder in crystal.

Vegeta's head snapped around to see a very angry, very Super Saiyan mate, radiating energy like the sun. "Bulma no! Run damned it!"

"Ah! So you have come to join Algress little family have you? Well good, more power for Algress!" Algress said as he turned his palm towards Bulma.

Just as Algress was prepared to fire, the crystal in his palm went out like a light. In fact, Algress energy diminished to nothing. Algress fell to his knees on the ground.

"What??! What has happened to me?" Algress complained in anguish. "What has happened to my precious food!"

Suddenly the entire planet violently shook knocking everyone off his or her feet except Bulma who was hovering above the ground.

"What is this?" Algress said confused.

The crystalline structure that Gerald, Jessica, and Chi-Chi were entombed in exploded, lighting up the entire planet.

Algress turned toward his newly liberated food.

Gerald stood in his Double Mystic Ultimate Super Saiyan form, but was vastly more powerful than even that, he turned and handed Chi-Chi to Jessica.

Gerald spoke, his voice ringing throughout the valley and beyond with the power and timbre of millions of voices.

"You have imprisoned us! You have used us like cattle! You took our lives and our souls away from us! You are evil beyond all definition! We will not forgive you!" Gerald said.

Jessica put her cheek close to Chi-Chi's face. "Whew! She's breathing!" Jessica thought relieved.

Gerald pointed his hand at the repulsive creature and vaporized him without further comment.

Vegeta caught Bulma as she fell out of Super Saiyan and fell toward the ground. As Vegeta held her, her eyes fluttered open. "What happened?"

Vegeta was both proud and angry at the same time. "You went Super Saiyan!"

"I did? Really?" Bulma asked.

"You sure did." Vegeta decided to let his pride for Bulma's accomplishment override the anger for her not staying behind the boulder. After all, she did go Super Saiyan the first time because he was in trouble.

Vegeta turned to see Gerald had walked up to them. Jessica now held Chi-Chi.

"We want to thank you. We can now know peace." Gerald said. A second later he returned to normal and fainted to the ground. His body once again that of a ten year old Saiyan child.

"They're gone." Jessica announced.

Bulma regained her composure and Vegeta set her down. "Well, I don't see that we are going to be making any more progress today." Bulma removed two capsules from her case and tossed them out in different places, an instant later, two capsule houses sprang into view.

"You know you could have saved me a whole lot of worrying if you would have told me about those sooner!" Vegeta grimaced.

"You didn't ask!" Bulma smiled.

Vegeta grumbled something about kooky women as he picked up Gerald and headed toward a house. Bulma took Chi-Chi and headed towards the other house.

"Coming Jessica?" Bulma called behind her.

Jessica's attention had been caught by something shiny. She picked up the crystal that had been embedded in Algress's palm. It was just a crystal now, an inert crystal.

"Yeah, I'm right behind you." Jessica said.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Halt! Identify yourself! An ornately dressed soldier ordered of Piccolo and company.

Piccolo decided to take the honest, direct approach. "My name is Piccolo, this is Goku, Majin Buu, Uub, and Hercule Satan. We have come in peace and mean neither you nor your people any harm. We are lost travelers."

"Hi." Goku said weakly.

"Hey there!" Mr. Satan waved from behind Buu cheerfully.

"This is all very irregular. I've never seen the likes of any of you before. Who gave you permission to travel?"

"Where we are from, we don't need permission to walk someplace. I hope we haven't broken any of your laws or customs." Piccolo tried to remain pleasant and upbeat.

"Where are you from, another planet? I've never heard of not needing travel papers!" The soldier said.

"Well, actually we are from another dimension." Piccolo said.

"Another dimension? Another dimension? Are you serious? That's the funniest thing I've heard all day! Hey Zambros! Get a load of this guy! He says he's from another dimension!" The guard scoffed.

"Xsanay, did you say another dimension? Hahahahaa! How come all the kooks come through the South Gate?" Zambros said.

"Yeah, look at me! I'm a big green freak travelling through dimensions!" Zambros laughed.

"Hey look!" Piccolo said trying to retain his patience. "Could we see your mayor, or town elder, or whatever passes for leadership in this town?"

"Oh no! Now he wants to be taken to our leader! Hahahahahaha!" Xsanay busted out laughing as well. Both men were now leaning on each other for support laughing.

Piccolo's eyes made contact with Goku's and Uub's for a brief second.

"Okay, you guys have had your fun, now can we talk to your town leader?" Piccolo said.

"No..." Xsanay said, "but you can go to our jail. No one is allowed to travel without papers!"

The guards removed handcuffs from their belts and came towards the team. Piccolo fell into a defensive posture.

"Piccolo. Just let them take us for now. They can't hurt us and they are taking us where we want to go anyway." Goku whispered. "We can always break out when we need to."

"Okay, sure. But if we have to fight these guys later, I want to blast these two first!" Piccolo smirked.

"I promise." Goku smiled wanly.

The two guards called over some more guards who handcuffed everyone except Buu. The guard assigned to Buu found the big man's arms were too large for the cuffs. Seeing this, Buu changed the shape of his arms to accommodate the cuffs. Once the cuffs were on, Buu removed one arm long enough to scratch his nose and returned his arm to the cuff.

The deputy removed the cuffs and gave up. "Just come with me!"

Buu looked at Hercule who had overheard Goku's plan and nodded his head.

"Okay!" Buu said cheerfully thinking this must be some new game.

The group was lead into the town, and through the town square to a squat round building labeled simply enough, "JAIL" There each one was placed in separate cells. In the outer office, Xsanay and Zambros talked.

"Did you get a load of those guys? I've never seen anything like that before! Only two of them even look remotely normal. There's one with a monkey tail, a green man, and what the hell is that big pink thing?" Xsanay looked perplexed.

"Come on, those have to be costumes or something. Nobody looks like that!" Zambros returned.

"Unless you buy that cockamamie story about being from another dimension." Zambros chuckled.

"Well, I don't know. Did you see what happened when we tried to put the cuffs on pinkie in there? Have you ever seen anything like that?" Xsanay said.

"You are so gullible! He's got on a rubber suit or something." Zambros chided. "Come on! I'm going to show you!"

Zambros headed for the cellblock with Xsanay close behind.

Piccolo was meditating in his cell on a plan of action. They needed to talk to someone that knew what was going on, but none of the people they encountered so far seemed very bright. " If this was the caliber of the locals, the politicians must be stupid indeed." Piccolo thought sardonically. Still, they had to find someone. Maybe that other Ki outside of town would have their answers.

A horrible racket from around the corner disrupted Piccolo's thoughts. He could not see into Buu's cell, but it sounded like something or someone was attacking him.

"Take off that mask I tell ya!" Piccolo could hear one of the guards yelling.

"Buu no have mask! Leave Buu alone!" Buu's voice sounded angry.

"I can't find no zipper here Zambros!" Xsanay said.

Zambros had grabbed Buu's antennae and was trying to pull his head off. "Damned! This is stuck on tight!"

Uub's cell was right across from Buu's. "You know, I wouldn't do that if I were you." Uub warned.

Uub quickly scanned their ki levels. They were at a respectable 310,000 fighting level. Strong, but certainly no match what for Buu.

"Well, don't say I didn't warn you." Uub said turning to Buu. "Don't kill them Buu."

"Buu promise Satan Buu never kill again." Buu said.

A few moments later Xsanay and Zambros were out cold lying on the floor of Buu's locked cell. Buu was on the outside twirling a set of keys on the end of his finger.

"Buu no like this place!" Buu said as he let Uub out of his cell. Apparently he missed the significance of the keys because he just ripped the door off its hinges.

"Ummm... Thanks Buu." Uub said. Uub took the keys and opened up the rest of the Cells. Hercule Satan and Goku were both sound a sleep.

"Let them sleep for a while." Piccolo said. "I really don't have much of a plan and I don't want to walk around and draw attention to ourselves yet."

Piccolo, Uub, and Buu walked out to the door of the office area. Piccolo peeked around the corner. There were what looked to be the head sheriff, or constable, and five or so police officers within sight. Whatever Piccolo was going to do, he'd have to do it soon, it was just a matter of time before one or more of these guys came back to check on them.

Piccolo suddenly thought of what had been nagging at him. All these people with such high kis and he hadn't seen a single one of them fly, none of the townies he had passed were flying, none of the soldiers or police, no one had been flying at all. Piccolo wondered if they even knew how. He filed that information away and the three of them went back to their cellblock. Hercule and Goku were still asleep. Zambros and Xsanay were still out like a light. It wouldn't be long before they were up and yelling for help or one of the others came in here looking for them.

"Okay, we can't stay here. Go and wake Mr. Satan." Uub went to do so.

Piccolo entered Goku's cell, also without benefit of keys. "Goku wake up!"

"What is it Piccolo? I'm beat." Goku said groggily.

"We're getting out of here. Can you fly." Goku sat up on the edge of the bed and forced his way to his feet. He concentrated, but didn't budge off the ground even slightly. Goku strained with the effort, sweat forming on his forehead.

"No, I'm sorry. I can't generate enough energy." Goku said.

"Okay, in that case I'm afraid I'm going to ask you to swallow some of that Saiyan Pride." Piccolo smirked and held out an arm.

Goku looked for a minute. "Well, if there is no other way." Goku wrapped his arm around Piccolo's shoulders and Piccolo held Goku around the waist.

"Uub, look after Mr. Satan." Piccolo said. "All hell will probably break loose in a minute."

"I got him Piccolo. Buu will protect him as well." Uub said.

"Me protect!" Buu smiled.

Piccolo looked up as twin eye beams punched a hole through the roof. "Everyone out!" Piccolo called.

Mr. Satan flanked by Uub and Buu flew through the hole followed closely by Goku and Piccolo.