Hey Jesscheaux, sorry that
I said Kuwabara was annoying in my other fic. He's cute, but his dub voice
is just weird to me. :P
These Dreams
Part Twenty-One
"No!" Piccolo stared wide-eyed, "Everybody get back! She's transforming!"
Freeza and Vegeta jumped away from the surging power. I just stood there frozen in terror like a deer in headlights. Lightning from Void's power chrysalis tore at the grass around me. Sparks flew. Dirt exploded upwards. I swear I actually forgot how to move, lost all recollection of what ki was and didn't recognize who the three people with me were.
Piccolo cartwheeled over an electrical discharge, did the splits to duck another and handspringed towards me through a shower of sparks. Each move put Olympic gymnasts to shame. He grabbed my arm and hauled me roughly backwards behind a large boulder. Less than a second after we moved, a bolt struck the ground where I stood. It created a crater. I would've been incinerated!
"...no...I can't do this anymore!" I cried out, "This is too much! Get me out!"
"Cyndi."
I was out of it. Panicked. Freaking out. "It's too much for me! I'm scared! I can't do this anymore! Make it stop!"
"CYNDI!" Piccolo shook me hard. "Look at me." When I didn't, he grabbed my chin between thumb and forefinger and turned my face towards him, "LOOK AT ME!" Flashes illuminated his handsome green face from various angles.
I stopped blubbering. Piccolo's face came into focus. "P-Piccolo..."
He spoke calmly, "Don't lose your focus. I know this is frightening to you, but the only way to make it stop is to beat Void."
But I was too scared to really listen to him. God, I am such a coward! When I'm winning, I'm as arrogant as can be. When I'm losing, I cower like a baby and doubt everything about myself. Some hero I turned out ot be.
I struggled to get away from Piccolo. He pinned me against the rock in a manner that might have given the other two a very wrong idea. "Kid, I wouldn't have brought you here if I didn't think you could do this. Come on. It's okay to be afraid, any fighter who doesn't feel fear is a fool."
Vegeta scoffed at that statement.
Piccolo just gave him a glare and returned his attention to me. He showed a reassuring smile, "You've come a long way. Now take some slow, deep breaths and think of something peaceful. Don't focus on it though, or you might change the dreamscape. Just imagine it long enough to calm down. It'll be okay. Breathe like this," He showed me the way he wanted me to breathe. In through the nose, out through the mouth. His warm breath felt nice against my forehead. Until then I didn't realize I was panting with my mouth open.
I didn't need to think of something calm. That calming force was right there in front of me. I lifted myself up a little and pressed my ear against Piccolo's strong chest, listening to his heartbeat.
Poor Freeza, he looked as terrified as I felt. And he didn't have anybody to offer him any comfort. As much as I enjoyed being crushed between Piccolo's sexy body and a hard rock, I got the feeling Freeza needed someone to stand near him.
Piccolo understood my silent need before I spoke it. "Go take care of him. I'll keep Vegeta out of trouble."
"Right..."
Vegeta glared at us. The wind was really whipping his hair around, "I am not some child you can dote over!"
"Then quit acting like it." I snapped at him on my way past.
Freeza was frozen in terror. The armor on his shoulder felt like ice against my palm. "Hey, it's okay."
The pale figure faced me. He looked paler than usual, if such a thing was possible. His red eyes were pinpoints and his whole body trembled like a leaf. Despite this, Freeza somehow kept his flawless face perfectly emotionless. He was better at hiding his fear than I am.
"Hey," I looped an arm around his shoulders and leaned on him a little. I'm not sure if it was fear or something else that made his skin feel like ice. Freeza's flesh had a different texture than Piccolo's. Kind of rubbery and smooth. "We're gonna beat the shit out of Void. If Piccolo says we can do it, I believe him. Even if it scares me to death."
Freeza grasped my hand and closed his eyes. "It's not that I'm afraid of her...it's just..." He looked at me with tears streaming down his face, "While she was gone, she got Cathy and Alexis. Vegeta told me he saw her suck them up like Cell did to people on Earth. So they're in Void now...probably screaming for help...and I can't reach them!"
Void took the two greatest loves of Freeza's life away. I boiled with anger while I let Freeza try to control himself. It wasn't hard to tell he was fighting against his tears.
"Then we all have reasons to go after her. She has Father Jim, too, and probably a lot of people I care about. I try not to sense them or I'll get too upset." I squeezed Freeza's shoulder again.
Suddenly a huge electric discharge ripped into the boulder shielding us. The explosion sent debris everywhere. I covered my eyes and hoped everybody else avoided injury. When I took my hands down again, I saw nothing but the energy cocoon surrounding Void. It swirled madly like a tornado. Sometimes a flash of lightning would create silhouettes of Void's changing body. Too brief for me to really pick out details or be sure of anything I saw. All I know is it scared me more!
The whirlwind also made a weird sound...kind of like distant screeching metal mixed with a freight train. Anything that strayed too close got sucked into the vortex. The constant lightning seemed like a protective shield, zapping whatever stood nearby.
Something weird was...
I spun around, my long hair whipping around my body. "Guys! It's growing! We have to move!"
"Don't be foolish! It's not - " Vegeta glanced again at the swirl. It inched closer. He raised a brow at it, "Humph!" and took to the air.
Freeza made himself scarce in a hurry, he wasn't taking any chances. I don't blame the guy either, he's been through Hell because of Void.
"Cyndi, c'mon." Piccolo levitated himself in preparation for a quick getaway. The intense winds blew his antennae flat against his scalp and forced him to narrow his eyes.
The ground split open and half the part I was standing on sank, nearly taking my right foot with it. I cast a last glance towards Void's swirling 'cocoon' and hurried up to join the others. As it turned out, my tiny weight proved a hindrance in the air. I was being dragged towards the tornado! No matter how hard I fought it, I couldn't pull away. I was wasting my energy!
Piccolo dropped and looped a strong arm around my waist. Pulled me up against him and joined Freeza and Vegeta in the air.
"Auntie Em! Auntie Em!" I mock-screamed.
Piccolo glanced at me, "Who?"
"Nevermind...it's from a movie called The Wizard of Oz."
He promptly sweatdropped and turned his gaze back onto the vortex. I did as well, wondering what Void's new form will look like. Morbid curiosity kept me wonder. The other half of me didn't want to know.
Suddenly Freeza's ship scooted forward, elevated and flipped over. It crashed to the ground in a deafening screech of metal and glass. A huge ship half the size of a football stadium - and Void's power tornado flipped it over like a toy! Metal, glass and other debris I can't identify were dragged into the violent swirl.
The massive space vessel slowly broke apart under the fury of the tornado. One piece at a time, it became part of the swirling mass.
And then, all at once, it stopped. All the wind, lightning and earthquakes...it all came to a sudden halt. The black mist shrouding the area sank to the ground and oozed away without a sound. Everybody around me leaned forward. We expected Void would jump out at us in her new form.
Wrong!
Instead, a chrysalis of twisted metal ship-parts, dirt and grass floated like plastic easter egg in a bowl of water. What's going to come out of there? A Borg butterfly?
How much weirder is this gonna get before I go insane?
"She made a cocoon out of the environment." Vegeta commented. He looked over at the rest of us and smirked, cocking an eyebrow, "I wouldn't be surprised if she's too afraid to come out and fight me."
I plucked a dirt clod from my hair and threw it at Vegeta's big head. "Get over yourself!"
The dirt ball missed its mark, instead hitting the Saiyajin's chest and shattering. He didn't even notice the impact.
"Does anybody here have something sharp? Someone needs their ego deflated."
"Cyndi," Piccolo's low tone said 'shut up'. He took his arm away from my waist, letting me float on my own power. "This isn't the time to act childish. You and Vegeta can have it out later, but not here. While you two were bickering I felt a spike in Void's power. She'll appear soon."
"I'm so not looking forward to this," muttered Freeza sullenly.
"I don't think any of us are." Piccolo commented, his antennae standing on end. He didn't take his eyes off the odd cocoon. "Except maybe Vegeta."
"Humph!"
I finally piped up, "C'mon, let's all land or something. I doubt there's gonna be any more earthquakes. Besides..."
They all looked at me.
"...uh, I have to pee."
Everybody turned upside-down in a mid-air facevault.
Freeza was the first to recover himself. He scratched his head, looking at me, "Well, now that we think about it...we should all take a break."
"Fine, regroup as soon as you're done." Piccolo added.
"Okay then. I'm going behind the rock over by the water where there's privacy."
Down we went to handle our
business.
An hour went by and the ten-foot-tall cocoon didn't move. Not even to bob up and down in the air. Maybe we did beat Void! Maybe that cocoon was her way of surrendering! Maybe there wouldn't BE a final fight! I bounded over to Piccolo and whispered my thought into his ear. He glared at me with a sneer that said 'get serious!'.
Vegeta gawked at me like I was stupid. He came over with his arms crossed over his chest, "I say we blast the damn thing. We've been standing here forever and has it done anything other than sit there."
Freeza stopped examining a scrape on his tail and looked up, "Maybe we should...I say we give it a go."
Piccolo had no comment. I simply gave them a nod.
"Very well then." Vegeta faced the weird chrysalis and powered up. His black hair wavered, sparkled and turned bright gold. The characteristic Super Saiyajin aura appeared around his short frame.
Freeza's power-up wasn't as fantastic, but I liked it better since it seemed more "sneaky". It took him a while before he showed off a bright white aura that spit occasional bolts of electricity.
I watched Vegeta and Freeza approach Void's protective cocoon, each taking up a position at right angles. Just in case the attacks penetrated. Their combined powers gave my head an unpleasant buzz. I grabbed my ears and tried to ignore the sensation when it reached my teeth.
Beside me, Piccolo shifted uneasily. "I have a bad feeling about this."
I don't like it when Piccolo says he has a bad feeling about something. Because ninety-nine percent of the time he's right.
Vegeta and Freeza were almost ready. They widened their stances. Ki energy crackled fiercely around their bodies. Their muscles bulged.
"Final Flash!"
Vegeta's scream drowned out Freeza's. Next thing I knew the whole area blazed white hot. The shockwave slammed me into Piccolo's legs. He lost his balance and fell onto his butt.
Two explosions lit the area anew, blinding everyone. This was utterly frustrating, I couldn't see ANYTHING!
"Dammit, what the HELL!?"
"The cocoon absorbed their attacks and threw it back at them! With twice the energy!" Piccolo shouted over the noise, "I can't tell if they're still alive or not!"
I glared at him, "We can't just sit here!"
Another shockwave blasted us. Then another. And another. Each one made a deafening sound like a thousand AK-47 rifles shooting in unison. Being pummeled with a battering ram would've been less painful.
I was sliding backwards! Piccolo rolled over to pin me down before the intense wind flung me away. I'm so short that I fit completely underneath him. But having his weight crushing down on my back wasn't very comfortable. And even with him holding me down, the waves still scooted us back an inch each time.
Picking my head up, I tried to look around.
"Keep your head down."
"What?"
"I said KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN!" A large hand shoved my head roughly back down against the dirt. I winced as a pebble dug into my cheek.
Piccolo's heart throbbed like a jackhammer against my shoulderblades. Until then I didn't realize he was probably scared out of his mind, but that cool iron control kept everything hidden. Maybe that fear thing he mentioned earlier is true after all.
"I think it stopped..."
Smoke shrouded everything from view. Vegeta came limping into sight, filthy and clutching his stomach. He was dragging Freeza's unconscious form by the tail like a dead deer he just shot. Freeza looked even worse than Vegeta. I couldn't even begin to count the scrapes, bruises and cuts littering his pale white body.
Vegeta tossed Freeza down in front of us. I scooted out from under Piccolo and caught the little Icejin before his head smashed against a rock. He was still breathing.
While Piccolo discussed what happened with Vegeta, I worked on bringing Freeza around.
"Freeza?" I patted his cheek, "Come on, wake up. Can you hear me? Open your eyes, Freeza. Come on now."
Freeza's eyelids fluttered. He moved his limbs a little. Moaned weakly. Coughed. Tried to push my hand away from his bruised face. Not much of a response, but at least it was something. Waking up instantly alert after a hit like that is something that only happens in the movies anyway.
No time to mess around. I dug my fingers against the bruise Freeza pushed my hand away from. Hoping the sudden pain would rouse him completely.
"Mm, stop it!" He snapped, drowning out Piccolo and Vegeta's mumbling. I finally saw his eyes drift open. They looked watery, but otherwise normal.
"Sorry, I had to do it to wake you up." I held up two fingers and moved my hand back and forth, "How many fingers do you see?"
Freeza's red eyes drifted to my hand, following its motion. "Two."
I patted his metallic shoulder, "Heh, you're okay."
"I have a headache, but I'll live." Freeza offered me a half-smile. He let me help him up into a standing position, where he stood a tantalizing two inches taller than I. "Did I miss anything big?"
I stole a glance over towards Piccolo and Vegeta. Both stood with their arms folded and frowns wrinkling their foreheads. Piccolo's expression was dead serious, his neck inclined forward slightly. Vegeta looked just as intense. When those two talk serious and don't trade insults, it's a baaaaad situation. I didn't hear everything, but I picked up Piccolo's voice saying, "I'll explain it in a way she can understand." Then Vegeta nodded to him and Piccolo left him alone to draw his own conclusions about whatever they discussed.
"It would appear that Void's cocoon is surrounded by an invisible energy barrier," Piccolo began. I didn't look at him, but nodded to show I was listening. He went on, "Except it seems to absorb attacks, add its own energy and release massive shockwaves. Each consecutive wave is weaker...like ripples on a pond. The stronger the attack, the more waves you'll see. So..." I heard him sigh, "We have to play the waiting game. Do you understand?"
Shockwaves. Energy. Reflecting back much stronger. The important parts stuck in my brain. I sat down in the grass and picked a piece of dirt off Piccolo's shoe. His toes flexed under the soft, rawhide material. I smirked and said, "Yeah, I think so. This sucks. Every time we get close to winning, Void pulls something else out of her ass." I looked up. From the ground, Piccolo seemed like a living mountain. "We're the good guys, aren't we supposed to win?"
A deep, rich chuckle rumbled in Piccolo's chest. He gazed waaaaaay down at me, his expression amused, "Tch, yeah. Too bad life doesn't always work out that way, huh?"
"Hm, yeah."
The ground underneath me rumbled. Piccolo noticed my startled expression. I'd just opened my mouth to speak when the dirt right in front of me bulged upwards. Out popped a six-inch long black...thing. It was the same shape as a piece of dough someone rolled between their hands. It slithered forward and immediately attached to my hand like a slimy black booger. I got woozy right away.
"Gah, what the hell is that thing?!" I screamed.
"Don't let it touch you, it's draining your energy!" Piccolo lunged down and swiped the worm away. He had to shake his hand hard to make it let go. A dozen more slithered up through the hole in the ground like a swarm of ants. They didn't seem to have heads, tails, eyes, mouths or legs. How the heck did these things know which way to go?
I got up and floated off the ground. The damn things started jumping like fleas! "I think they're attracted to our ki!"
Piccolo wrinkled his pointed nose. His pointed tongue darted out and swiped across his lips, moistening them. "We can't power down. It would take too much energy to power up again. We need - " he tore off another worm when it attached to his arm. One squeeze made the thing pop and drip silver ooze. "...all the power we can manage." Suddenly he stiffened and yanked his shirt right off, flinging it aside. Another worm crawled out when the discarded garment hit the ground.
Vegeta and Freeza also let out little yelps. I looked over. They were swatting, shaking and kicking at a giant swarm of little worms. Finally they took off as well, joining Piccolo and I in the air.
"What in the world is she doing? Is THIS Void's new form?"
I balked, "Shut up, Vegeta, I think she'd make a bigger entrance than this!"
"Look!" Freeza pointed to the swarm below, his eyes huge.
They were...combining? Yes, they were! I watched four of the little bastards congeal like the T-1000 in the second Terminator movie. Pretty soon, three masses of four-foot-long worms twitched on the ground below us.
One bounced up behind Vegeta and snapped shut around him. Pinning his arms to his sides. Vegeta released a surprised, guttural cry. He kicked his legs, but couldn't get free. The worm dragged the snarling Saiyajin prince all the way back to the ground. I saw his aura snap into being. Two other worms squirmed over to siphon off his energy. The aura instantly shrank.
"Vegeta!" I screamed, "Don't power up!"
Piccolo's muscles tensed. Without his shirt I could see the tension ripple through his upper body. I had to swallow so I wouldn't drool. Then he looked at me. Those liquid black eyes, deceivingly calm, bore into mine like dark daggers, "Go at them with brute force only. No ki blasts. Try not to stay in contact for too long." He looked at Freeza, "Same for you. Everybody, watch each others' backs, these things like to sneak up on you."
"Right, I got it."
Freeza dove down, "Let's go!"
Piccolo swooped towards Vegeta. He ripped all three worms right off and helped the Saiyajin prince back to his feet.
Freeza kicked one so hard it exploded - all over me! It was like being doused in silver Jell-O. Wet strings dribbled off my hair and seeped into my clothes. GROSS!
"FREEZA!" I screamed, mortified, "What if this never washes off?!"
"Heh, sorry." He smashed another one with his tail. Didn't even turn around to do it. "Look out behind you!"
I ducked. The worm flew over my back, landing near my feet with a wet splatting sound. I stomped the squirming creature as hard as I could. The darn thing exploded like an oversized ketchup packet.
All over Freeza.
The little Icejin froze, the silver slime oozing down his face and onto his chest. I saw more running off his stomach, dripping down his legs. He wiped a huge glob off his face and opened his eyes. Nasty strings of goo hung off his fingertips. His black lips curled. He looked at me again, "Ew..."
"Revenge sucks, doesn't it?"
He wiped it off on me! "Mmhmm."
"Hey!"
Piccolo snarled, "QUIT PLAYING!"
Another worm appeared from nowhere. Its slimy body wrapped around me like a rubber tire! Sleepiness came over me almost immediately. "EW! GET IT OFF!"
Something large dropped behind me. Powerful hands ripped through the worm the way scissors cut paper. I collapsed to my knees, recovering.
"This is not a time to play." Piccolo scolded me, "Now get up and help us beat these things."
"Right....behind you!" I pointed.
He jerked around right as a large worm wrapped around his leg. I pounced on it, wrenched it from is ankle and flung it away. Piccolo caught one before it could attach to my hair.
Vegeta made himself into a whirlwind of death, using his fists and feet to destroy anything within reach. I only caught glimpses of Freeza jumping around in the fray. It was all chaos! Utter, complete chaos!
And the battle went on like that for quite some time. People getting grabbed, cut loose and grabbed again. Vegeta kept on cussing us out every time somebody splattered silver goo on him. The stupid worms kept coming! We were all dancing around, kicking, punching, elbow-dropping and stomping. Everybody got slimed. It was gross as hell and I never want to go through it ever again.
One hour and a million or so worms later, Piccolo, Vegeta, Freeza and myself collapsed onto the ground. Tired, slimed and grumpy. Stupid worms, they did their job of draining our energy. Nobody wanted to move.
"This isn't good. We're all drained," groaned Piccolo, "We must stay still and wait for our power to recharge. That includes you, Cyndi." He looked my way, "Don't even talk."
Great. I couldn't think because it would mess with the dream. I couldn't talk. I couldn't move. Argh! Sitting still is torture to me, I just can't do it for long. I stared up at the sky, concentrating on the sounds of breathing around me.
Something didn't feel right. Ignoring it didn't work, my mind kept retreating right back to it. Once my mind zeroes in on a problem, I can't think about anything else.
Scooting over next to Piccolo, I closed my eyes and concentrated, Piccolo...Void's cocoon moved. It's not in the same spot and I don't know where it went.
I know, kid. It moved while we were dealing with the worms. Look at the mountain behind your head.
I did as Piccolo said, twisting my head around to look. The unnatural chrysalis protruded from the mountainside like an abstract sculpture. Sunlight glinted off the metallic parts. It seemed alive, menacing and aware of our presence. I got the ugliest feeling that it knew what we were thinking and planning. I didn't like it.
That's not good. It makes me feel...uneasy. I settled down behind Piccolo and placed my tiny hands on the base of his thick neck. The tense muscles under his burning skin felt like bricks. I started kneading them like dough.
Piccolo startled at the sudden presence of my hands. He hissed through his teeth, emitted a half-grunted sigh and sat up straighter. When I saw his face I knew the harsh sounds indicated pleasure. He let me give him a full backrub. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy rubbing my hands all over his leathery, textured Namekian flesh. Piccolo kept making little noises in the back of his throat that sounded a lot like when he... I shook my head to remove it from the gutter.
Cool hands placed themselves on my shoulders and went to work. I blinked and looked over my shoulder. Freeza's calm gaze met mine. He smirked, "You look like you need one too, and I am King when it comes to rubbing peoples' backs."
I giggled and went right back to rubbing Piccolo's back while Freeza rubbed mine. How funny we must've looked, all three of us massaging each other. Vegeta eyed us like we were insane. His forehead wrinkled. He huffed rudely, turned away and glared at the cocoon jutting from the mountain.
"Hey Vegeta, want me to rub your back?" I called.
"No. Keep your grubby hands off me!" He flexed his right bicep and glanced over his shoulder with a grin. "Unlike you weaklings, my muscles never cramp." I almost expected Vegeta to kiss his own bicep like Big Papa Pump from the WWE. But he didn't. He just faced forward again and resumed his cold stare at Void's chrysalis.
Piccolo jerked his head up, antennae standing on end. The same type of motion my cats make when they hear something. He shrugged my hands off his shoulders and stood, his fists clenched. Freeza quit massaging my shoulders. He was on his feet in a heartbeat. I frowned, it was just starting to feel good, too!
Vegeta was up as well, bristling. He looked very tense.
I felt the ground rumble and instantly scrambled up to my un-menacing five-one height. My head was level with the top of Piccolo's belt. Well it would be if my Saiyajin hair didn't make me look two inches taller. "W-what's going on?"
The tall Namek beside me hissed, "Shut up, I'm trying to listen!"
"I don't hear anything."
Piccolo glared at me. His stony eyes had the same effect as a slap. Shutting up was definitely a good option.
Suddenly the unnatural cocoon cracked straight down the middle. It split open slowly as if on hinges. A huge column of white light exploded through the opening, blinding everyone with its stabbing brilliance.
"I see her!" Vegeta shouted. How could he spot anything in all that light?
"Oh, shhhhit!" Freeza's eyes opened wide. His chest heaved faster and his irises shrank to pinpricks. He bared his teeth, a terrified deer in headlights.
Even Piccolo went rigid. When Piccolo looks scared, it's bad. It's very bad.
I opened my eyes. Squinted at the brightness.
The shadows shifted around. Pinchers opened and closed, I heard them snap together...they sounded like small trees being broken in half. Her tail was different from before. That's all I made out. Each movement Void made created dark patterns in the white beam shining on us. The patterns moved over everyone, almost like the shadow itself was capable of causing harm.
The light faded.
And I got my first glimpse at what nightmares are made of.