Dragon Ball Next Generation
The Grey Saga
Part 2: The Sacrifice
Chapter 10
The ground erupted underneath me as another stone hand tried to grab me. I flew upwards, avoiding it's grasp, and threw a ball of ki at it. I turned to the castle, which looked as if it was being molded by invisible hands.
I can feel him.
The real Turmeric. He was inside. I would find him, and tear him limb from limb. I flew toward the great wooden doors, and smashed them open.
I took two uneventful steps into the castle. Then, I began to sink. The stone beneath me was sucking me up like quicksand.
With a yell, I smashed the floor with my fists, freeing my feet. I needed to find Turmeric.
I could sense him, deep within the castle. I shot down the corridor, doing my best to avoid the stone.
Suddenly, the hall in front of me began to shrink, stopping my advance. I turned, and saw that my exit was also sealed off. I raised my fists, which were glowing softly with ki. It was a technique Kargo taught me. You basically just mold the ki around your fists to make your punches stronger. It's kind of like brass knuckles.
I began beating at the stone, which broke away easily. I worked my way upward, trying to get out of the castle. I would find Turmeric from above. Soon, the stone surrounded me, and only my aura of ki kept it from crushing me.
"YOU THINK THIS PETTY STONE WILL STOP ME!" I screamed, increasing the fury of my attacks. But, I knew I couldn't keep it up for long, soon I would run out of air. Desperate, I cupped my hands at my side. If the beam didn't go through the stone, I would be caught in the explosion, but I had to try.
"Kamehameha!" I screamed, throwing my arms as far foreword as I could in the stone. The blue beam was incredibly bright in the darkness, and left me blind as soon as I stopped calling ki to my hands. But I could feel the fresh air, I could smell it. Igniting my aura, I flew out the hole I made as fast as I could. With the light my aura gave off, I could see it was already shrinking. I screamed, and bust through the last few feet.
I flew upwards, trying to get out of the castle's reach. When I finally stopped, I saw that the castle was completely different. It had moved outward, creating an open space in the middle of it. I saw only two things in that space: the black and orange glass that was supposed to be the key to releasing Garlic Jr., and Turmeric.
My anger exploded as soon as I caught sight of the demon. Not thinking rationally, I flew back to the castle. I would not just blast him from above. No, That was to good for him. I wanted to tear him apart with my own hands, slowly.
"TURMERIC!" I screamed, alerting the demon to my advance. I wanted to him to see his death coming at him. Coolly, he raised his hands. Immediately, giant stone hands shot towards me. I tore through one, barley slowing my advance. Another grabbed me from behind, which I shattered, only to find three more in it's place. All three grabbed me, molding into one even larger hand. I struggled, but I could not free myself. It's great arm slowly brought me down, until Turmeric was only a few feet in front of me.
"Did you really think you would stop me?" he asked. His eyes, which were so cool and confident, caught mine. He began to mutter in a language I didn't recognize.
I felt an overwhelming pain in my stomach, as if it was about to explode. The pain spread throughout my body, as Turmeric's poison spell took affect. My stomach tried to empty its contents, but my throat closed up, stopping the poison from escaping as well as suffocating me.
Even with the intense pain spreading like fire through my body, I could only concentrate on Turmeric. I only wanted to reach him, wrap my hands around his neck... the fact that I was dieing was secondary.
It's only ki! I thought. It's your will against his! Your stronger then him! He can't kill you!
At that second, the connection Turmeric made between himself and me with his strange ki was almost visible. I just had to break it. Pushing my darkening mind to its limit, I mentally "moved" my ki in front of him, blocking his own.
Turmeric gasped, and fell backwards, as if I had cut a rope he had been pulling. Instantly, the fiery sensation left my body. Not only that, but the stone hand's grip on me seemed weaker. Turmeric had lost his concentration on the stone.
I screamed, and raised my ki as high as it would go as fast as I could. The aura it produced shattered the stone, releasing me from its grasp.
Turmeric looked at me with a mixture of shock and fear. He raised his hands to summon more stone. No! I won't let you!
I zanzokened in front of him, grasping his arms. My motions hadn't even registered in Turmeric's brain before I twisted my hands, snapping Turmeric's arms like twigs. Eyes wide in pain, he let out a high shriek of agony. It was possibly the sweetest thing I had ever heard.
He sunk to his knees, whimpering in pain, his useless arms hanging at his sides.
"Mer... mercy..." He quivered. He looked up at me with a visage filled with pain. "In the name of Kami, please... show me mercy." At that instant, I didn't see the pathetic demon. In his place, I saw the robber, the one who killed Ann. I saw him raising his hands to fend off my blows, begging with a broken jaw for mercy.
They're the same... I thought, as past and present blurred. They're both demons, in ever sense of the word.
"You... BASTARD!" I screamed, grabbing Turmeric's neck and lifting him bodily into the air. "YOU THINK YOU DESERVE MERCY! AFTER WHAT YOU DID TO JACK! AFTER WHAT YOU DID TO. Ann..." Turmeric's face once again took the form of the murder. Screaming in fury and sorrow, I threw Turmeric as hard as I could. He bounced, again, again, unable to stop himself with broken arms.
I screamed, and flew after Turmeric. I hovered above him for a moment, as I let him realize what was about to happen to him. I excepted fear, but he grinned instead. I flew away, landing about ten feet from him. He began to rise up slowly, still grinning. I let him get up; he was too weak now to be a threat.
"Your too late." He said.
"What the hell does that mean!" I yelled.
"I was lucky." He said, his grin ever widening. "Kami sent a fool to try to stop me. All those fights, they served a dual purpose. Not only did you rid me of anyone who might compete with me for Garlic's right hand, but they were also a delaying measure."
Slowly, what he said sunk in. What did he want to delay? His own death? No... he's still talking about Garlic... the entire reason why I was there, which had been forgotten in my anger, came back to me.
"NO!" I screamed, turning toward the stone podium where the key was held. But, nothing was happening. Now, I began to smile.
"Your timing's off, Turmeric." I said, ki dancing in my palm. I heard a gasp of horror from the demon.
Lighting filled the sky, and in that moment, three things happened. I threw the ball of ki, Turmeric ran for the podium, and the orange and black glass began to glow. The ball of ki was barely a foot from the key, when Turmeric's body appeared between the two.
"MASTER!" He screamed as the ball of ki hit him. He flew backwards, clearing the podium. His charred body landed with a dull thud almost ten feet from the podium.
Stunned, I didn't move for a moment. Did Turmeric actually sacrifice himself? Is he really dead?
The orange and black glass caught my attention. It was levitating! I threw another ball of ki, which exploded on the glass.
It's over. A smile slowly formed on my check.
The glass shot upwards, out of the cloud of dust my attack created. Before my brain registered what happened, my instincts kick in, and I flew up after it. I threw ball after ball of ki, but the key's ascent was not hindered by my attacks. It actually gained speed. I flew upwards after it, nearing the storm clouds. I reached out with my hand, making an attempt to grab it.
Almost...
Lightning burst from the cloud above me, striking the key. I screamed as electricity filled the air, burning my flesh. The glass was going so fast I could barely see it. It reached the clouds, which parted before it. Then, it seemed to disappear, as if it had become one with the sky.
For a moment, I wondered if Turmeric had done something wrong. Perhaps the lightning had screwed it up.
I realized that the rain had stopped. It hadn't just tapered off, as storms do, but had just stopped. Completely. Something was wrong.
I heard something. It sounded like someone had just stepped on thin ice, and the ice was cracking, only on a much bigger scale. I scanned the ground, but I saw nothing but the now deformed castle below me. The sound grew louder... above me. I looked up, and screamed.
The sky! The sky was cracking! How could this happen!
The cracks grew larger, steadily moving toward the horizon. Then, it stopped. With a crash, the sky shattered.
I swung my arms up to protect my self from the shards of the sky. But, there were none. They had disappeared. Now, instead of sky, was a huge vortex, filled with huge orange and black clouds. The Dead Zone.
I realized that the "key" had actually been a small window into the dimension I was facing now. Turmeric had placed a spell upon it, which allowed it opened the portal.
I hung in the air for a moment, gaping at the enormous vortex. Slowly, then gaining speed, the clouds inside the Dead Zone began to spiral outwards. Immediately, I was hit by an incredible wind. It threw me to the ground, and pinned me there. The castle began to crumble around me, and I threw my hands over my head to protect it from the incoming stone. Slowly, I crawled behind one of the few walls left, taking cover there.
Then, I felt it. The fierce wind was pushed out of my mind completely.
This... it's... not possible...
What I felt was the ki of another being. The amount of ki it was emitting was not great, barely stronger then the other demons I fought. But, it was so completely different then anything I had felt before. I looked upwards, toward the Dead Zone.
There was a being emerging from the portal. It might have been an optical illusion, but it seemed like the being's small frame was growing. It was coming closer.
But, what was happening to it barely mattered. The ki it was emitting... it made what I had experienced in the castle seem like nothing. Its ki was so full of malice, of cruelty, of the pure intent to spill blood.
This must be what Hell is like.
It can never be killed.
But, you can...
I'm not ready...
Abruptly, the great wind stopped. The huge portal slowly faded, revealing the night sky, now completely devoid of clouds, which was glistening with starlight.
Finally, the being known as Garlic Jr. fully emerged from what had been his prison for over 300 years. He was enormous! He stood well over nine feet tall. Thick muscle was wrapped around his body. His face was that of a demon's, with fangs and pointed ears. But his eyes, his eyes represented everything I felt from his ki. It was like looking into the eyes of Death its self.
The massive monster before me slowly stretched his massive limbs, and caught sight of Turmeric's charred body, which the wind had cruelly twisted around the stone he had once possessed.
"Did you kill him?" Garlic asked. I winced at the sound of his voice. There was no sympathy in it for his disciple.
I was so terrified; I hardly even registered what he had said to me. If I fought this thing, I would not live.
Then run. Said a voice. The same one that had made me kill the former Champion, the one that tried to make me go back to Satan City.
I tried to make my legs move, but they didn't respond. My mind screamed, RUN! RUN! But I made no move. The monster's eyes met mine, I felt my heart quicken, my breathing becoming shallow and quick. Now, with adrenalin pumping threw me, I regained slight control of my limbs. With some effort, I wrenched my eyes from his own terrible ones. Instead, I focused my vision on a star, just above his ear. My legs would still not move.
Then, in an instant, the star blinked out of existence.
The spell was broken. Garlic approached me, and I turned and ran. I forgot about my ki, that I could fly, I just ran. Half stumbling, half jumping over the rubble over the castle, I glanced over my shoulder, and saw that Garlic didn't seem to be chasing me.
Now's your chance! Hide! The voice said.
I looked around, and saw that the stone pillars that used to mark the courtyard were still standing. I dove behind the first one I came to, slumping behind it.
Don't let him find me, don't let him find me, don't let him find me...
Garlic's enormous hand burst through the stone. With a scream, I leapt up, but the hand caught my neck and slammed me against the stone. A huge arm wrapped around the pillar, pinning me to it. The hand around my neck slowly withdrew into the hole it had made, brining my neck with it. Gasping, I clawed fruitlessly at the hand. Garlic was chocking me and breaking my neck at the same time. I could hear Garlic laughing behind me. The pain in my neck intensified, and my vision became hazy.
I'm not ready!
"NOOOO!" I screamed. With a power born form the sheer will to live, I let my aura explode around me. The stone that I was pinned against shattered. I heard Garlic grunt in surprise/pain as he let go, and was thrown several feet away.
I jumped up, and began to run again. Instantly, Garlic was behind me, quickly closing the gap. He was enjoying it, playing with me like a cat plays with a mouse. I ducked as Garlic leapt at me, rolling sideways to avoid his massive body landing on me. My back hit another stone pillar.
With a yell, I kicked it with all my might. It fell, and I rolled out of the way. Garlic didn't have time. He screamed as the stone fell on his back, with cracked on impact.
He wasn't finished, though. His horrible ki was as strong as ever. But, I had bought myself sometime. I turned around, and fled.
My mind was a bit more rational now. I realized that if I flew, he would be able to find me easily. But, if I stayed on the ground, and kept my ki low, I might be able to escape him.
I sprinted away from the ruins of the castle. Slowly, I could feel Garlic's ki become farther and farther away. I'm doing it! I'm going to live!
For over a year, my life had been filled with anxiety and fear. First of the Greys, then of Garlic. Now, for the first time in over a year, I felt happy, truly happy. I was going to live.
Then I sensed something else. A ki far greater then Garlic's, and almost as horrible. Then Kargo's ki appeared. He was fighting it. I realized I was sensing the Dark Army; that it was actually thousands of smaller kis I was sensing. I could sense all four points were the army appeared, and I could feel each of my friend's ki beside it.
If I run, I'll be the only one alive after tonight.
NO! the voice in my head "yelled". The others are far stronger then you. They'll survive, and then take care of Garlic.
I have to finish this.
You'll be killed!
So will the others, if I don't do anything. I'm a coward. I'm a disgrace. At least I can try to rectify that a little before I die.
Suddenly, felt John's ki take a plunge. They're dieing!
NO! You can run, live, fight when your stronger...
"SHUT UP!" I screamed. The voice in my head was quieted instantly.
"I'm not going to listen to you any more! I won't run any more!"
With the most enormous effort I had put into an action that night, I turned around. I won't die. He's not immortal, that's impossible. I'll find a way to kill him. I won't die.
In my heart, I knew I was lying to myself.
The Grey Saga
Part 2: The Sacrifice
Chapter 10
The ground erupted underneath me as another stone hand tried to grab me. I flew upwards, avoiding it's grasp, and threw a ball of ki at it. I turned to the castle, which looked as if it was being molded by invisible hands.
I can feel him.
The real Turmeric. He was inside. I would find him, and tear him limb from limb. I flew toward the great wooden doors, and smashed them open.
I took two uneventful steps into the castle. Then, I began to sink. The stone beneath me was sucking me up like quicksand.
With a yell, I smashed the floor with my fists, freeing my feet. I needed to find Turmeric.
I could sense him, deep within the castle. I shot down the corridor, doing my best to avoid the stone.
Suddenly, the hall in front of me began to shrink, stopping my advance. I turned, and saw that my exit was also sealed off. I raised my fists, which were glowing softly with ki. It was a technique Kargo taught me. You basically just mold the ki around your fists to make your punches stronger. It's kind of like brass knuckles.
I began beating at the stone, which broke away easily. I worked my way upward, trying to get out of the castle. I would find Turmeric from above. Soon, the stone surrounded me, and only my aura of ki kept it from crushing me.
"YOU THINK THIS PETTY STONE WILL STOP ME!" I screamed, increasing the fury of my attacks. But, I knew I couldn't keep it up for long, soon I would run out of air. Desperate, I cupped my hands at my side. If the beam didn't go through the stone, I would be caught in the explosion, but I had to try.
"Kamehameha!" I screamed, throwing my arms as far foreword as I could in the stone. The blue beam was incredibly bright in the darkness, and left me blind as soon as I stopped calling ki to my hands. But I could feel the fresh air, I could smell it. Igniting my aura, I flew out the hole I made as fast as I could. With the light my aura gave off, I could see it was already shrinking. I screamed, and bust through the last few feet.
I flew upwards, trying to get out of the castle's reach. When I finally stopped, I saw that the castle was completely different. It had moved outward, creating an open space in the middle of it. I saw only two things in that space: the black and orange glass that was supposed to be the key to releasing Garlic Jr., and Turmeric.
My anger exploded as soon as I caught sight of the demon. Not thinking rationally, I flew back to the castle. I would not just blast him from above. No, That was to good for him. I wanted to tear him apart with my own hands, slowly.
"TURMERIC!" I screamed, alerting the demon to my advance. I wanted to him to see his death coming at him. Coolly, he raised his hands. Immediately, giant stone hands shot towards me. I tore through one, barley slowing my advance. Another grabbed me from behind, which I shattered, only to find three more in it's place. All three grabbed me, molding into one even larger hand. I struggled, but I could not free myself. It's great arm slowly brought me down, until Turmeric was only a few feet in front of me.
"Did you really think you would stop me?" he asked. His eyes, which were so cool and confident, caught mine. He began to mutter in a language I didn't recognize.
I felt an overwhelming pain in my stomach, as if it was about to explode. The pain spread throughout my body, as Turmeric's poison spell took affect. My stomach tried to empty its contents, but my throat closed up, stopping the poison from escaping as well as suffocating me.
Even with the intense pain spreading like fire through my body, I could only concentrate on Turmeric. I only wanted to reach him, wrap my hands around his neck... the fact that I was dieing was secondary.
It's only ki! I thought. It's your will against his! Your stronger then him! He can't kill you!
At that second, the connection Turmeric made between himself and me with his strange ki was almost visible. I just had to break it. Pushing my darkening mind to its limit, I mentally "moved" my ki in front of him, blocking his own.
Turmeric gasped, and fell backwards, as if I had cut a rope he had been pulling. Instantly, the fiery sensation left my body. Not only that, but the stone hand's grip on me seemed weaker. Turmeric had lost his concentration on the stone.
I screamed, and raised my ki as high as it would go as fast as I could. The aura it produced shattered the stone, releasing me from its grasp.
Turmeric looked at me with a mixture of shock and fear. He raised his hands to summon more stone. No! I won't let you!
I zanzokened in front of him, grasping his arms. My motions hadn't even registered in Turmeric's brain before I twisted my hands, snapping Turmeric's arms like twigs. Eyes wide in pain, he let out a high shriek of agony. It was possibly the sweetest thing I had ever heard.
He sunk to his knees, whimpering in pain, his useless arms hanging at his sides.
"Mer... mercy..." He quivered. He looked up at me with a visage filled with pain. "In the name of Kami, please... show me mercy." At that instant, I didn't see the pathetic demon. In his place, I saw the robber, the one who killed Ann. I saw him raising his hands to fend off my blows, begging with a broken jaw for mercy.
They're the same... I thought, as past and present blurred. They're both demons, in ever sense of the word.
"You... BASTARD!" I screamed, grabbing Turmeric's neck and lifting him bodily into the air. "YOU THINK YOU DESERVE MERCY! AFTER WHAT YOU DID TO JACK! AFTER WHAT YOU DID TO. Ann..." Turmeric's face once again took the form of the murder. Screaming in fury and sorrow, I threw Turmeric as hard as I could. He bounced, again, again, unable to stop himself with broken arms.
I screamed, and flew after Turmeric. I hovered above him for a moment, as I let him realize what was about to happen to him. I excepted fear, but he grinned instead. I flew away, landing about ten feet from him. He began to rise up slowly, still grinning. I let him get up; he was too weak now to be a threat.
"Your too late." He said.
"What the hell does that mean!" I yelled.
"I was lucky." He said, his grin ever widening. "Kami sent a fool to try to stop me. All those fights, they served a dual purpose. Not only did you rid me of anyone who might compete with me for Garlic's right hand, but they were also a delaying measure."
Slowly, what he said sunk in. What did he want to delay? His own death? No... he's still talking about Garlic... the entire reason why I was there, which had been forgotten in my anger, came back to me.
"NO!" I screamed, turning toward the stone podium where the key was held. But, nothing was happening. Now, I began to smile.
"Your timing's off, Turmeric." I said, ki dancing in my palm. I heard a gasp of horror from the demon.
Lighting filled the sky, and in that moment, three things happened. I threw the ball of ki, Turmeric ran for the podium, and the orange and black glass began to glow. The ball of ki was barely a foot from the key, when Turmeric's body appeared between the two.
"MASTER!" He screamed as the ball of ki hit him. He flew backwards, clearing the podium. His charred body landed with a dull thud almost ten feet from the podium.
Stunned, I didn't move for a moment. Did Turmeric actually sacrifice himself? Is he really dead?
The orange and black glass caught my attention. It was levitating! I threw another ball of ki, which exploded on the glass.
It's over. A smile slowly formed on my check.
The glass shot upwards, out of the cloud of dust my attack created. Before my brain registered what happened, my instincts kick in, and I flew up after it. I threw ball after ball of ki, but the key's ascent was not hindered by my attacks. It actually gained speed. I flew upwards after it, nearing the storm clouds. I reached out with my hand, making an attempt to grab it.
Almost...
Lightning burst from the cloud above me, striking the key. I screamed as electricity filled the air, burning my flesh. The glass was going so fast I could barely see it. It reached the clouds, which parted before it. Then, it seemed to disappear, as if it had become one with the sky.
For a moment, I wondered if Turmeric had done something wrong. Perhaps the lightning had screwed it up.
I realized that the rain had stopped. It hadn't just tapered off, as storms do, but had just stopped. Completely. Something was wrong.
I heard something. It sounded like someone had just stepped on thin ice, and the ice was cracking, only on a much bigger scale. I scanned the ground, but I saw nothing but the now deformed castle below me. The sound grew louder... above me. I looked up, and screamed.
The sky! The sky was cracking! How could this happen!
The cracks grew larger, steadily moving toward the horizon. Then, it stopped. With a crash, the sky shattered.
I swung my arms up to protect my self from the shards of the sky. But, there were none. They had disappeared. Now, instead of sky, was a huge vortex, filled with huge orange and black clouds. The Dead Zone.
I realized that the "key" had actually been a small window into the dimension I was facing now. Turmeric had placed a spell upon it, which allowed it opened the portal.
I hung in the air for a moment, gaping at the enormous vortex. Slowly, then gaining speed, the clouds inside the Dead Zone began to spiral outwards. Immediately, I was hit by an incredible wind. It threw me to the ground, and pinned me there. The castle began to crumble around me, and I threw my hands over my head to protect it from the incoming stone. Slowly, I crawled behind one of the few walls left, taking cover there.
Then, I felt it. The fierce wind was pushed out of my mind completely.
This... it's... not possible...
What I felt was the ki of another being. The amount of ki it was emitting was not great, barely stronger then the other demons I fought. But, it was so completely different then anything I had felt before. I looked upwards, toward the Dead Zone.
There was a being emerging from the portal. It might have been an optical illusion, but it seemed like the being's small frame was growing. It was coming closer.
But, what was happening to it barely mattered. The ki it was emitting... it made what I had experienced in the castle seem like nothing. Its ki was so full of malice, of cruelty, of the pure intent to spill blood.
This must be what Hell is like.
It can never be killed.
But, you can...
I'm not ready...
Abruptly, the great wind stopped. The huge portal slowly faded, revealing the night sky, now completely devoid of clouds, which was glistening with starlight.
Finally, the being known as Garlic Jr. fully emerged from what had been his prison for over 300 years. He was enormous! He stood well over nine feet tall. Thick muscle was wrapped around his body. His face was that of a demon's, with fangs and pointed ears. But his eyes, his eyes represented everything I felt from his ki. It was like looking into the eyes of Death its self.
The massive monster before me slowly stretched his massive limbs, and caught sight of Turmeric's charred body, which the wind had cruelly twisted around the stone he had once possessed.
"Did you kill him?" Garlic asked. I winced at the sound of his voice. There was no sympathy in it for his disciple.
I was so terrified; I hardly even registered what he had said to me. If I fought this thing, I would not live.
Then run. Said a voice. The same one that had made me kill the former Champion, the one that tried to make me go back to Satan City.
I tried to make my legs move, but they didn't respond. My mind screamed, RUN! RUN! But I made no move. The monster's eyes met mine, I felt my heart quicken, my breathing becoming shallow and quick. Now, with adrenalin pumping threw me, I regained slight control of my limbs. With some effort, I wrenched my eyes from his own terrible ones. Instead, I focused my vision on a star, just above his ear. My legs would still not move.
Then, in an instant, the star blinked out of existence.
The spell was broken. Garlic approached me, and I turned and ran. I forgot about my ki, that I could fly, I just ran. Half stumbling, half jumping over the rubble over the castle, I glanced over my shoulder, and saw that Garlic didn't seem to be chasing me.
Now's your chance! Hide! The voice said.
I looked around, and saw that the stone pillars that used to mark the courtyard were still standing. I dove behind the first one I came to, slumping behind it.
Don't let him find me, don't let him find me, don't let him find me...
Garlic's enormous hand burst through the stone. With a scream, I leapt up, but the hand caught my neck and slammed me against the stone. A huge arm wrapped around the pillar, pinning me to it. The hand around my neck slowly withdrew into the hole it had made, brining my neck with it. Gasping, I clawed fruitlessly at the hand. Garlic was chocking me and breaking my neck at the same time. I could hear Garlic laughing behind me. The pain in my neck intensified, and my vision became hazy.
I'm not ready!
"NOOOO!" I screamed. With a power born form the sheer will to live, I let my aura explode around me. The stone that I was pinned against shattered. I heard Garlic grunt in surprise/pain as he let go, and was thrown several feet away.
I jumped up, and began to run again. Instantly, Garlic was behind me, quickly closing the gap. He was enjoying it, playing with me like a cat plays with a mouse. I ducked as Garlic leapt at me, rolling sideways to avoid his massive body landing on me. My back hit another stone pillar.
With a yell, I kicked it with all my might. It fell, and I rolled out of the way. Garlic didn't have time. He screamed as the stone fell on his back, with cracked on impact.
He wasn't finished, though. His horrible ki was as strong as ever. But, I had bought myself sometime. I turned around, and fled.
My mind was a bit more rational now. I realized that if I flew, he would be able to find me easily. But, if I stayed on the ground, and kept my ki low, I might be able to escape him.
I sprinted away from the ruins of the castle. Slowly, I could feel Garlic's ki become farther and farther away. I'm doing it! I'm going to live!
For over a year, my life had been filled with anxiety and fear. First of the Greys, then of Garlic. Now, for the first time in over a year, I felt happy, truly happy. I was going to live.
Then I sensed something else. A ki far greater then Garlic's, and almost as horrible. Then Kargo's ki appeared. He was fighting it. I realized I was sensing the Dark Army; that it was actually thousands of smaller kis I was sensing. I could sense all four points were the army appeared, and I could feel each of my friend's ki beside it.
If I run, I'll be the only one alive after tonight.
NO! the voice in my head "yelled". The others are far stronger then you. They'll survive, and then take care of Garlic.
I have to finish this.
You'll be killed!
So will the others, if I don't do anything. I'm a coward. I'm a disgrace. At least I can try to rectify that a little before I die.
Suddenly, felt John's ki take a plunge. They're dieing!
NO! You can run, live, fight when your stronger...
"SHUT UP!" I screamed. The voice in my head was quieted instantly.
"I'm not going to listen to you any more! I won't run any more!"
With the most enormous effort I had put into an action that night, I turned around. I won't die. He's not immortal, that's impossible. I'll find a way to kill him. I won't die.
In my heart, I knew I was lying to myself.