The Great War

by TrueMusashi

Complete peace has reigned for hundreds of years, and the descendents of the Saiyans have suffered and prospered. Now, they must come together to stop a strange force that has fixed its eyes on Earth's most precious resource: The Dragonballs

4. Chapter IV

*Chapter 4*
The eagle is bitten before catching the snake,
he flies away hoping the poison will subside.

*Repercussions*

"Emperor! Emperor!" a short young commander came running towards the smug-faced emperor.
The emperor was in no mood to be harassed by the admiral, but without a general, he would now have to run the ship as the commander. His arrival had frightened the crew around him, as suddenly the portal on the main bridge opened and he came out, facing towards it still. The smile he had when he saw the hatred in Maxra's eyes was gone, replaced with this frown when he realized how much more difficult the task was going to be without Sancoah to aid him and with Maxra turned to a rogue. He gritted his teeth at the thought.

The thing about the emperor was that he was never caught without a backup plan. When you played 'chess' with the emperor, you might see 100 steps ahead with what you were going to do, but he always saw one more step further. In this case, he had been carefully planning his moves for awhile, and now they weren't being modified, only he had to switch his set of planned attacks.
The only thing, he had not counted on the possibility of happening, was Maxra surviving. He had read the dreams of Maxra, seen his drive, ambition for power, and he felt confident that this would be sufficient to instigate a battle between Maxra and Gojin, long enough for him to escape and leave Sancoah to the wrath of Gojin, who would have slain Maxra quite easily.
But now he had formed exactly three new plans based on this calculation, and for each plan that went wrong there was exactly one alternative route of action that would lead him back to the path. He was cunning, indeed.

The emperor removed the mask from his face, then turned to his right, "What is it!?" he shouted at the commander, gripping his drechen with his right hand crosses to his left waist, eyes glowering.
The commander stopped short and gulped, eyes darting to the sword and then back, "General Maxra is missing, he was last seen on the planet!"
"The general has betrayed us! He is a traitor, a rogue!"
"Sir!?" he stared at the emperor for a while, then spoke again, "Your holiness, I must tell you that the bases on the planet have been half eliminated by the human resistance."
"You mean the Saiyans?" he couldn't believe that, only a few moments before he had just been looking them in the eye.
"No my lord, it's a band of human fighters who wield powerful tactics and can quickly move about with guerilla tactics."
The emperor turned to face the planet again, and then squinted. 'Maxra, you think you are so smart, eh? I have one last trick for you yet, and when I have those Klasfugen, I'll eliminate this entire galaxy!' he thought.
"Admiral, prepare the lenologence for gephon stage 8."
"What!? Are you sure your eminence?" he was wide eyed.
The emperor slowly turned to face him, eyes glowering like hot irons heated in lava.
"You question my judgment?"
"No sir!"
With that the squat admiral ran off to make his orders and the preparations.
The emperor gazing at the earth, stood smiling, feeling much better now with his plan in mind. For a long time he stood, but soon began to concentrate his ki and all his power into one task. Slowly he raised his consciousness until at last an image of a female Smargleoid came into mind. 'Felitria, my dear, can you hear me?'
'Yes, my father,' came an echo back in his mind, a sweet, yet somehow cold voice of a young lady.
'It is time, my daughter, did you do what I told you?'
'Yes father, everything is as prepared.'
'Are you ready for you to do your duty?'
'Yes. For the glory of the empire, for you, father, I would do anything.'
'Are you prepared to kill you husband?'
'He means nothing to me, he will feel the sting of tears, blood, and agony.'
'Good, leave immediately, slay anyone that tries to stop you. Bring me the Klasfugen and the Namek. Leave none alive.'
'Yes, my lord.'
And then he cut short their conversation, and he again focused on the earth, a broad smile donning his dull orange face.

*Forging an Alliance*

"Thud!" a punch landed and a body was sent flying into the air, his shadow flailing dark limbs about, reaching for the ground, blood of green liquid raining down onto the dirt. When he crashed to the ground, it took Maxra a moment to look up and see the face of Gomen who stood in a tough post-uppercut stance, eyes glaring with hatred. He felt quite dizzy, he hadn't expected the shot, which landed, it seemed, as soon as he placed his eyes on the brother.
"What the Hell do you think you're doing!?" he groaned/yelled across the field at the Saiyan descendent in the earth native's language

/While on the planet of Smargle, Son Gojin had made many friends, and because of this quickly learned the language of the people by studying the algorithms of their translator boxes. In similar fashion, but for no particular reason but curiosity, Maxra learned the native tongue of Gojin.
They had a lot in common, and probably that is why this friendship arose as such a strong one. They shared common affinities for several ideals and values, and they both excelled in fighting. They were warriors and scholars as well, spiritual in many respects. Gojin even taught Maxra about ki, and the times they shared together gave each a feeling of brotherhood – that which Gojin had missed for many years and which Maxra never had.
It was Maxra that kept Gojin around so long even when the living conditions were so rough for a human on Smargle. It was Maxra that made it possible and accommodated Gojin so much and made him so influential and powerful. They were symbiotic, charismic, they were friends, but some things never last. In Gojin's and Maxra's case, the thing that didn't last forever was exactly what brought them together so randomly and powerfully: trust./

"My brother may have forgiven you, but we never will!"
"What do you know?" Maxra stood slowly, shaking in his knees as he spoke, "How would you possibly know anything about the man that saved me?"
"I am his brother! And if there's anyone I know besides my wife and kids, it's him."
The Smargleoid lowered his head, staring at the ground for a while, then got down on his knees. "I am truly sorry for your loss, I did not know."
"The Hell with you!" and Gomen rushed forward at the Smargle, but an arm reached around his chest, a powerful arm.
"Dad," Goken spoke, "Let it go, Gojin knew what he was doing, he had a plan, he chose for Maxra to live for a reason."
The older Saiyan relented his strength and sank to the ground, a tear welling in his right eye, wobbling like jelly. "Gojin…"
Centura, whom had been staring at his comrade, lowered his eyes to the ground and they shook. It was always hard for him to watch Goken embrace his father, it made his heart ache like a terrible earthquake. And now he felt terrible for Gomen, and shameful for his jealousy at this point in time. Most of all he felt anger for the Smargleoids, whom had come to destroy them all, led by the one who knelt in front of them.
"It was you!" he suddenly shouted out at the Smargleoid, "It was you, wasn't it? You hired him," Centura pointed to the decaying burned body of Sancoah, "to get for you the dragonballs!"
"Yes, but I…"
"He killed my uncle, you bastard!" and the youth reared back with hatred swelling, hatred for all of life, "You sent these hoards of demonic fiends here to our home and slaughtered our people! You betrayed Gojin and his friendship! You must die!" and his rage built more and more until it was flaming with great heat. Goken and Gomen's eyes glimmered as they stood watching the angry youth charging up. They had never seen Centura become so aggressive before.
Suddenly the youth went streaming out across the field, arm bent back with veins bursting from his skin all over. His muscles swole with growth from testosterone and adrenaline. His eyes flashed with rage and storming strength. He approached the Smargleoid with great velocity, and Maxra only sat still.
"Thwack!" a hand jutted straight out to the side of Maxra, and the youth, Centura went flying to the side, sweat mixed with blood spraying the air with a fine mist.
The young warrior landed on the ground, and began coughing. Gomen seeing this charged up his power, gritting his teeth. "I'll kill you!" he shouted, slinging aside his son.
"Your brother wanted me to live. You cannot kill me even if you tried, so don't bother. I will do as he intended, and I don't care if you want to help me or not."
Goken, the only cool-minded warrior left, spoke up, "What do you propose?"
"I am going to kill the emperor, and take back the dragonballs."
"You think we'd let you have them, you evil demon!" Gomen yelled out.
"I don't want to keep them, all I ever wanted them for was my revenge, and I see now the error of my ways. I want you to use the dragonballs afterwards to fix what I have done, and to cleanse my soul."
"Liar!" Centura groaned, lifting up a burnt sword that lay at his feet – Sancoah's drechen!
"Whether you believe me or not, won't affect my ambitions. I am going now."
"Wait!" called Goken, "where are you going?"
"My ship is still here, if I take it, I can go back to the base and take the emperor by storm. I know all of the security measures of the bases, all of the codes, and I know the people. I will smoke out the villain from his hole. Then," he made a fist slowly, looking at his hand, "I will strangle the emperor with my bare hands, and watched his eyes roll to the back of his head!"
"If you truly want to avenge my brother, then I must come and help you," Gomen shouted out, "I can't let you do this alone!"
"Although Gojin and I were like brothers, my revenge is for other lost souls. But I welcome your help, it will be no easy task to reach that hellish devil!"
"What do you mean?" asked Goken, stepping forward, "Why will it be difficult, when he fears us so much?"
The general looked up in the sky, his eyes gleaming behind his mask, "Right now, he will be preparing for us, and hatching some other devilish plan. Undoubtedly he has prepared the Lenologence for gephon 7 or even 8."
"What does that mean? What's the Lenologence?" Goken inquired with confusion.
"The Lenologence is my space cruiser. It's primary function is space travel and military coordination, but in the case of emergencies, when the situation is extremely urgent, the Lenologence can be turned into what is basically an indestructible fortress that has only one weapon, a super sized iuqua which can destroy entire solar systems."
"You mean the emperor will point it at the earth, and fire?" Goken asked again.
"Not yet, he'll only set up this defense system and wait until he has what he wants. Then he'll destroy the planet, probably always planned to once he had gotten his wish."
"Let me guess," spoke up Gomen, "he wants eternal life."
"I can't be certain, the emperor is a hard to calculate maniac. He is much to cunning to be guessed upon so easily. But does it really matter? The truth is he must not get those dragonballs!"
"Then we'll hide the remaining three and he'll never find them."
"He will because his primary aim won't be to search, he'll be trying to capture us all and read our minds, only Gojin could resist him. He'll send her…" Maxra squinted, then turned his attention to the powerful Centura.
"Who?"
"My wife, his daughter."
"What!?" Centura shouted.
"He'll send her to come for me, and me she will kill first, and capture the rest of you to read your minds, as he can, and then she will take them back to him."
"Why would she want you dead?"
"Because I stole Gojin from her."
Gasps took form around the three in several forms, but all of them were stunned and looked over to Gojin, who lay in the dirt, dead as that which he lay upon.
"A long time ago," he began, "she was in love with him. I a member of the nobility and his friend, took him with me to all of the parties I went to. He became quite popular, even with a few ladies. But that was mostly out of fetish. But with her, from the moment she met him, she loved him. He was powerful, and strong, and she saw past his appearances to his heart and she loved him so strongly that she even confessed this to him. It was sort of roundabout, I suppose, now recollecting, that the emperor learnt of this love. I suppose I knew, and so he read my mind. But what happened was that he took her and he began to torment her in her dreams, with images of Gojin's death.
"He told her that she saw the future in these dreams, when she asked him what they were (because she didn't know he was making them). It was shortly thereafter that she learned of what I did, my betrayal of Gojin at the emperor's behest. She never spoke to me again."
"How do you know all of this?" Gomen interrupted him suddenly.
"Because she later confessed it to me," he replied, "I was her friend at the time, because I was her age and so close to her father's will."
"So how do you know it is her that will come?" Goken asked then.
"Because when I married her only days ago, she told me she would watch over me, 'Till death do us part.' I knew then that the marriage was a sham, a control mechanism, and that I was being set up," he said.
"How exactly is she going to find us though, and why does she worry you?"
"Shortly after we married she planted a bug on me somewhere, and unfortunately, I can't locate it to destroy it. I simply know she did.
"Secondly, the thing about Felitria is that she met Gojin by nearly beating him in battle."
"Say what?" Gomen asked, jaw dropping.
"Yes, before he had turned into whatever that golden thing is, but still when he was stronger than even I, she and he fought in the nobility tournament championship, and she almost won. She is strong, stronger than I knew, apparently, and now she will come for her revenge. I doubt she even knows that Gojin was here, or that it is really her father who has slain Gojin."
"We can tell her!" Goken said, "and she can read our minds and know the truth!"
"Except for two things," Maxra said, looking at Goken with cold eyes, "First, she may already be under his control completely and do his bidding without regard for this past love, and that is not a risk I am willing to take. Secondly, if she is free to act, she will undoubtedly read our minds, and so she will know where the dragonballs are and in an attempt to get Gojin back will use them to not only for that, but to make him love her or be in her control. This I know for certain, she holds me, with regard no matter what, responsible for her loss of him in the first place. Even if she knew or knows that I was obeying orders, I betrayed both of them, and she hates me with all her soul, she will try to kill me."
"This is complicated…" Centura muttered with disillusionment.
"That it is, Centura," a voice came to them from behind. Suddenly, a band of footsteps were heard landing on the ground. The four turned then to see Master Tsu standing and walking forward.
"Sensei!" the youths and Gomen shouted in unison.
"It sounds to us," Tsu spoke, pointing to the air above in the same direction in which Mr. Popo and Kami left, "that your situation is not peril less, but not hopeless either. You must only overcome your loss of strategic ground and figure out a plan of action. Then you will achieve victory."
"You are quite right," spoke Maxra, "and I know you must have just finished defeating my armies, which without my leadership must have been much behind in strategy. You must be Master Tsu."
"That I am," the old man replied, sunglasses glaring with light.
"Gojin told me all about his training in his past life, but I never dreamed it was here, I apologize," and he bowed his head.
"There are many things we all do wrong, most which we cannot apologize for or change, but one thing is for sure: you can always change what you do in the now, because Ki gives us that choice - its power binds us to life with will and direction. You have lost your way, Maxra, does it not puzzle you that you have not been able to control Ki the same way Gojin showed you ever since you betrayed him?" Tsu spoke.
"Ah… How did you know?" Maxra's eyes widened.
But the question was left unanswered, Tsu only began by outlining their new objectives. In the background, behind the odd alliance, the soldiers worked tirelessly to build a proper stone memorial for the fallen hero, in which his body would be housed from the elements by rock and stone, but not buried. The birds had by the time the sun was setting, started to return to their nests with singing, and meanwhile the world lay smoldering with ashes and death. Just outside the world lay a new terror setting itself with new ambitions of mire and hatred.
In Goken's mind words of not too old came ringing back, 'Life's sure is funny, Goken, isn't it?'
'It sure is,' the last words reverberated into the troubled mind of the youth.

*Jealousy*

"Are you sure this is going to work?" a voice trailed off in the wind.
"No, but there is no other way, we must trust Master Tsu," another voice sounded out, only to be lost in the ruffling of the angry wind.
"What if we fail? What if the emperor gets a hold of the dragonballs, and the world ends?" the other voice sounded.
"Then at least we did what we could, don't worry Centura, everything will be alright," Goken replied, his hair fluttering, smacking him in the cheek as he faced Centura who flew slightly behind him.

/At this moment, Goken and Centura flew towards the sanctuary, while in the opposite direction, Gomen, Tsu, Maxra, and the remaining warrior-students traveled towards Maxra's ship on earth. With the boys were two of the remaining dragonballs, and the third was with Gomen.
Most of the time, the two were silent, watching below as the wreckage left behind from the war's ravaging passed by. The stench of death smothered them, often they had to fly with their eyes closed because the ashes still hovered above. They were filthy too, and the feeling of being covered with the remains of thousands of people made them shiver.
On the ground Goken had noted the dirtiness of the other students, how hard they had fought, and how their numbers had dwindled to about half. They were hardy kids, with strong wills, but even though they were trained well, Goken could see it in their eyes: their childhood had been lost that day.
But what worried Goken most of all wasn't the fate of the world, wasn't even the safety of his family and Mei-ling, what worried him most of all was Centura, whom had become so different earlier, so powerful. They were both descendents of the two great heroes, Goku and Prince Vegeta, but one side of the house had always retained certain traits and the other half the other's traits. In Centura, Goken was seeing a rising power, an angry power that had not yet matured, but was still dangerous, perhaps even more dangerous because he was so volatile. He would be a powerful ally, but his unpredictable nature could prove to be a weakness, and so Goken felt it necessary to be more on the watch. Something in the air, besides the death of his species, told him terrible things were about to happen./

"Goken," Centura spoke up after awhile, "Do you think she's alright?"
Goken wasn't sure whom he was talking about.. so he guessed, "you mean Mei-ling?" he winced.
"No, my mother… I feel like I've lost her," a tear, probably not from the wind, formed in his eye.
"I don't know Centura, I think South City was one of the first places to go… don't worry, we can bring her back!" Goken said to him.
Centura stared at the ground for awhile, then gritted his teeth, "That son of a bitch! I'm going to kill him when this is over, Goken, I'm going to tear out his eyeballs!" his childish tantrum was sincere.
Goken assumed he was talking about Maxra, "He's changed, Centura, and your loss won't be permanent, don't let hatred overwhelm you," he advised.
"Do you think my mother won't remember the pain? Do you think my family won't remember the agony of death? Do you think I can forget, or forgive him?"
"I think that the world weaps too much already Centura, and you…"
"I think that he deserves to die!" he interrupted, "he doesn't deserve to have his soul cleansed! He doesn't even deserve to get his revenge! Gomen and us deserve the revenge. Master Tsu deserves revenge, not him!" Centura was crying.
"Centura," Goken slowed down to a stop, descending down to the ground to take a seat, "you have to let it go, you can't do this…"
"I can do whatever I like! What do you know!?" Centura yelled at him.
Around the two boys the waves of the ocean lapped up against the shores of the small island. Goken leaned against a palm tree, relaxed on the outside, but struggling for support inside. Centura paced around, squeezing a stone in his hands. For a long time they sat without speaking, then Centura turned to face him.
"Goken, do you think that your family is alright?" Centura asked, obviously curious about Mei-ling.
"I don't know Centura, but something tells me that they are. That place is a protected place, a sanctuary from the world, I doubt if the spirit of Gohan and Goten and Goku would ever let it come to harm," he elaborated.
"It must be nice…" Centura muttered, sinking to the ground.
"What?" Goken replied, confused.
"It must be nice to have that kind of pride," Centura's elbow rested one propped knee, his other arm supporting his left hand, which drew pictures in the sand, scripts.
"What do you mean, Centura, you come from the two heroes just as I do," Goken protested.
"Yes. But I don't carry His name, I don't even carry Vegeta's name… just his silly hair!" Centura was truly a child in his mind.
"Centura," Goken replied with strength, "Each of us have derived our powers from both sides, and even if you are more like the great Prince, what dignity you should bear!"
"Ha! Do you know what sorts of things he did? Do you know who he was!?"
"Centura…" Goken protested.
"He was just like that general, that traitor! He murdered millions of innocents, and loved it! He was a ruthless Saiyan, a prince of them!" he cried again.
"Centura, you forget that he changed, that Goku helped him change, helped him see the errors of his ways! He gave his life for earth once!"
"Do you think that you can make up for such things!" Centura retorted.
"Yes, I do Centura, and I think that it is up to the person to decide who they want to be. I have his blood as well, but I don't fear it, I don't fear myself as you do…"
"What the Hell is that supposed to mean!?" Centura protested.
"… and I think that what Master Tsu says is right. If you follow the path Ki lays out, the just path, the true path, you will not go astray."
"Are you saying I am going astray!?" Centura stood again, ready to fight.
"Look at you Centura, you are like a wild beast, control yourself!" he commanded.
"Fuck you!" Centura turned facing away from him, starting to power up.
"Centura… wait," Goken said, reaching out, grabbing his friend's arm, "All I am trying to say is that wherever life takes us, if you are true to yourself, then Ki will guide you right. Maxra will get what he deserves, in the afterlife, but for now he has changed, he has let go of his evil. You must let go if you want to stay on the right path to enlightenment too!"
"Stop preaching to me, Goken, you aren't my father you know!" Centura yelled, wrenching his arm fromGoken.
"If you allow your heart to be taken like this, you won't even see your father!" Goken yelled, pleaing to Centura's heart.
Suddenly a fist landed in Goken's mouth, he was sent flying into the waves, where he slowly stood again, the body of Centura looking over him. "I didn't ask you if I would. Keep your lessons to yourself from now on, I am tired of hearing them. Now I will tell you this, before the day is out, Maxra and the Emperor will feel my wrath! I will make them pay tenfold for their belligerence and my vengeance will rain blood upon the fields like spring rain. My father will sing in heaven of my glory! And I don't care if you agree or not, I'm going now to find them!"
"Centura!" and before Goken could say anything, Centura took off in a fury towards the large source of Ki that was Gomen and the others, "Centura, you'll ruin all our plans!" Goken called out, but Centura was long gone.
Walking back, Goken rubbed his jaw, which he had to admit hurt a lot from a rather unexpected attack. But this he did not ponder on, but instead thought, 'What am I going to do now? Now that Centura's gone back, should I continue with the plan? Or should I go back?' Goken went to sit down, 'What's this?'
Reaching down, Goken picked up an empty sack, surveying it: the dragonball was gone. 'Has it fallen into the ocean?' he thought to himself, 'why in the world did Kami ever make these things, anyhow, they only bring more trouble…'
'Tis a question I have pondered everyday,' a voice replied in his mind.
'Kami!' Goken replied, 'Kami, I'm sorry to inquire…'
'No you are right to question. They seem more like a trouble than good. Now look what horror they have brought to earth!'
'Kami, why did you make them?'
'Well, actually Goken, they have been here for a long time, these dragonballs. Even before my time and before Piccolo's time! They are integral to the position of the kami of earth. But in my case, I was forced to make them in hopes to restore peace to the world, and once they are made, they cannot be unmade except with my death.'
'I see,' Goken thought, 'why are they so important to Earth, though?'
'It is the law of the Northern Kaio, from times ancient, that certain planets of certain Ki levels maintain an eternal dragon, because they are wound a certain way to the continuum of the universe and the connection to all of life and Ki. You see, the eternal dragons when not here in present form, give us the power to control Ki and live. In return they need homes to live, and thus certain planets with certain power levels must maintain these dragons. Unfortunately, terrible events, such as the creation of Majin Buu, have led to a terrifying destruction of many key planets. This has led subsequently to an imbalance in the level of dispersion between good and evil. Thus evil forces are constantly able to try and perpetuate their power by seeking out these Ki sources located on planets like Earth. The drive for Ki to disperse the power has led villains in recent times to earth, beginning with Goku.'
'Wow, I didn't know…' Goken blinked.
'Goken, it's time you go now, we've talked long enough,'
'What should I do, Kami? I don't even know where my dragonball went!'
'You should follow your heart, let Ki answer these questions for you,' the voice trailed off.
So Goken began to meditate, trying hard to release his anxieties. It took him a long time, but suddenly it came to him, and he yelled aloud, "Centura took it! He's going to try and collect them all after his revenge and fix things! I," Goken was amazed, "I have to go after him, he's going to get the Universe destroyed!" Goken shouted.
Squatting down to the ground, Goken summoned all his power, concentrating it in his feet. Around him the ash covering his body flutter off, swirling around. His face was powerful, he began to tap into that power of his he held deep, then he released it, and he flew off into the distance. Behind him, the surf lapped up against the sand, and ash descended onto it like snow. A coconut fell, and a crab scurried about.

*Love*

In the twilight of the night, only hours after the death of Son Gojin, but far to the north, sat a young woman against a large, old ash tree. She seemed to sit still, asleep almost, but really she just sat in deep meditation. Off in the distance, the lake rippled under the moonlight, glimmering like a thousand, thousand diamonds. Occasionally, the dragonflies would play upon the water and lily pads enough to cause a circular disturbance, and even rarer the fish would leap from the water to nab the insects, as if to say, 'stop it!'
"Sigh…" a whimper burst forth from her chest, her young and perky breasts heaving up once and then descending. Her right hand held a single flower, twisting it around, whilst her eyes stared out into the stars. Her left hand rested on her abdomen, wherein a child yet unwilled sat. The crickets had been chirping around her, singing perhaps to the fireflies that danced the dance of fairies and nymphs, but suddenly they stopped.
"Mei-ling!" called Lila, walking out from the house towards her, "Aren't you going to come in for supper!?"
Mei-ling did not answer, hoping to draw her mother-in-law out to the tree – it worked.
Soft footsteps landed upon the lawn, "Mei-ling, honey, did you hear me? Are you hungry?" she looked the young lady up and down, seeing her legs exposed to the wind and light.
Slowly Mei-ling answered her, "No…"
"Honey, you have to eat, you have a child that is hungry, you know?" she looked at Mei-ling still.
"Lila… where do you think they are?" Mei-ling changed the subject.
Lila looked at her, then out into the stars as well. "I don't know, but I hope they are all alright."
"What would you do if you lost Gomen and Goken?" she asked without turning her head, still twisting the flower in her hand.
"I… I don't know. I suppose I would move on, continue living out here with my two girls and you, and eventually your child. I haven't really thought about it much, though, to tell you the truth."
"Why?" Mei-ling turned now, as if a spring had switched on in her neck, commanded by the whisper of hope.
"I don't know really. I guess I've been so busy looking through old photos and stories, and I haven't spent so much time in the open, walking about. I guess I've kept it out without knowing it…"
"But now that I've asked you, what do you think about it?"
"It makes me sad - proud, but sad – to think about their history. Do you know who used to live her? Why we feel safe here?"
"I think you said something about someone named Goku?"
"Yes, that is one of the great great grandfathers of Goken and Centura. He saved the world, more than once you know."
"But he's gone now…"
"No, not completely. You see his spirit and that of his family's watches over this area and comforts you when you are here. Rest assured that they will be fine, hings will be fine: you'll see."
"I wish they were comforting me right now…" she lowered her head, plucking a petal from the flower.
Lila leaned down beside her and hugged her, huffing out a breath of air afterwards. Then she placed her hand on Mei-ling's abdomen.
"Wow! Did you feel that kick!" she screamed when a pounding nailed her hand.
"Yeah, I felt it. He does that whenever someone else touches the stomach, as if it's already fighting the world."
"It's a boy, then!"
"What? How do you know?"
"Well, when I had Goken, he was the same way, even kicking his old man. But my girls they were silent as a lamb. I hope you like Goken's hair, because this boy's gonna have some wild stuff too!" she started laughing, which made Mei-ling laugh as well.
"I thought he just liked his hair that way, or 'cause of his dad! Is it really like that with these Saiyans?"
"Yeah, they are a strange breed of men." She shook her head, looking then to her left and plucking a flower as well.
Mei-ling looked over to the flower, but she couldn't really see it, it was so dark out. "Watch this," Lila said, "Gomen did this on our honeymoon night, when he brought me here. It was the most magical night I've ever had."
Then she took the flower and laid it in her left palm, and took her right and hovered it overhead, putting her hand into a claw. Mei-ling studied the palm hard, looking at the flower for some sign of magic. Soon, to her surprised the flower began to glow a beautiful gold, and every little vein in it took in this light and it burst through from every pore. The petals started to flutter in this light.
"Wow!" Mei-ling muttered.
"Now watch this," she said, and stood up with the flower and pulled Mei-ling up. Then holding the flower out in front of them, she continued to make it glow until all of the fireflies soon danced around them both like a small ballroom dance of fairies. Mei-ling smiled so cheerily as she looked at each bug swirling about her. Then Lila, giggling as well, tossed the flower into the air, and they watched as the fireflies followed it to its new resting spot and there they continued to hover.
"Come eat, Mei-ling, and then I'll show you how to do it." Lila said.
"But I don't know anything about magic. It takes years of practice I imagine to…"
"No, we all know a little something about Ki, I'll show you. And then,when our husbands return, you can show Goken how much you love him just as Gomen showed me how much he loves me."
Mei-ling, already emotional, was now ready to cry, and she darted forward and hugged her mother hard, tears streaming down her face. "Come on," Lila finally said, and soon led her into the old house – they walked, Lila wrapping her arm around Mei-ling's shoulder.

*Hate*

Off in the far east the warriors were just arriving. One by one the students landed, ahead of them, Master Tsu, Son Gomen, and Maxra stood facing his spaceship. Nothing very unusual about the situation, only that none of them talked nor faced each other, only stood facing the spaceship. For minutes they simply stood, and the students stood too, murmuring to each other with confusion. 'Why aren't they getting aboard?' 'We're wasting time!' 'The emperor's advantage grows by the minute!'
Yet none of them could see the obvious: in front of them, hidden behind her powers of persuasion stood Felitia, staring straight at Maxra, and speaking to him while Kami used Mr. Popo to translate and resend to message to Tsu and Gomen.
'I've been waiting a long time for this, Maxranoma, you traitor!' a wretchedly angry voice rang out in echoes in their heads, the voice was almost intoxicatingly powerful.
'Why not come out where I can see you, Felitia?' Maxra asked her, 'Afriad?'
'Of you, hardly! But that Saiyan there and the old man have strong minds, valorous ones… the Saiyan is His brother… he is strong.'
'That he is, Felitia, but why do we have to fight? Why not settle things peacefully?'
'You think I could live knowing that you still breath air after what things you have done!?' she shrilled, causing Gomen to wince a bit and Tsu to squint his eyes.
'Felitia, you can read my mind, you know it was your father who killed Gojin!'
'You made him! He aimed for you and Gojin, with his wonderful heart, he forgave you and saved your life! You should have died miserably at my father's whim, but instead Gojin gave his for you!'
'Felitia, your father made me send Gojin away!'
'And did you need to obey!? Did you need to do that even though you were his best friend? Even when you knew my feelings!? My father was protecting his reputation and his daughter, he knew not what else to do!'
'You are delusional! Your father had me send him away to take Gojin in without us knowing and exploit his mind!'
'No!'
'Yes! Read our thoughts, read what he told us earlier!'
'It doesn't matter! You took him from me! You were jealous of my love… our love!'
'That's… not true…'
'Liar! And now that you are here, now that Gojin is gone from me, I will repay you kindly for now twice having taken him from me! Prepare for your death, Maxranoma, my dearest, you will cry like a child by the time I finish with you!'
With that, Felitia pulled from her back the drechen she carried and held it in her right hand, while in the left she clutched a pistol-iuqua. A grin from ear to ear lay behind her mask, but none of this could they see for she used a powerful mind trick not even Milanxa knew. Her body, while tall and thin, was quite muscular. Yet her shape, for a Smargleoid was elegant, and if she was not hiding herself the sun would surely make her seem as if on fire, for Smargleoid women were much more radiant than the men.
Across the dirt of the Eastern Desert she raced, in the distance the fires of a large city still burnt, ashes lightly dusting the ground. She let out a thunderous roar, "Rah!" wielding her drechen, leaning back ready to make the final cut.
Quickly tsu stepped ahead of her, and placed his right hand outward, "Shield!" he commanded to Ki, and it was so. Her cut glanced off of the shield and she streaked right between the three warriors, the wind causing them to spin about where a streak of light came forth. Gomen, with the strength of a giant leapt forward and punched the beam, and sent it hurtling through the air till it tumbled to the ground.
"If you want Maxra, honey, you've got to come through me!" Gomen shouted at her, and she allowed the translator on her belt to work.
"I've no business with you Saiyan, I'd hate to send you to your brother's side, but I cannot fail my mission. Those klasfugen will be mine!" the translator repeated the message.
"I've business with your father, and for me to get to him I need Maxra, so if you want him dead, you're going to have to kill me first! Because you aren't getting the dragonballs in my lifetime!" he shouted back, sensing her Ki with his eyes closed. He could see her as a great red ball of hate, and he could feel the heat of her body as she breathed through the mask, "Master, go with Maxra and the students aboard the ship and prepare to take off for the Lenologence! When I finish with her, I'll join you."
Tsu knew there was no helping him out, and that with them there, he would be unable to perform as will. Thus he led Maxra and the others away into the ship. "If you stand in my way, Saiyan, you will not be joining them in that ship, only I will!"
"Bring it on, if you dare."
And so their battle began. She lunged forward to the lone Saiyan warrior, thrusting at him with her drechen and as he dodged it and missed his strike they twirled around and each fired a Ki beam at the other. This only resulted in a draw and soon they broke from it and leapt again at each other where this time her cut did not miss. Yet it was not important, because he merely caught the blade in between his hands. "Grr." She grunted as she tried to push the blade down on him. Yet he only grunted back and in one quick motion rolled around the blade till his back faced her, threw an elbow that made her release her hand, and took the sword. He then disappeared and reappeared across from her.
"Kichin, eh?" he said, tapping the blade which was now visible to him since he held it, "I can see the gun, but this just seems unfair. Don't you know how to fight without a sword?" he asked her cockishly.
"Hmph!" she retorted, "Lay it aside, I don't need it to kill the likes of you! I just didn't want to get your filthy blood on my hands!"
"Filthy!?" he yelled back, "I thought my brother was your lover?"
"You aren't half of what he was! You let him die for that lowlife! Aren't you the older one!? What shame!"
"What do you know, you crazed bitch! I'll show you filthy!" and with that he slung the sword blade first into the earth, where it lodged itself several meters down in the bedrock, waiting for centuries to be unburried.
With this he powered up, becoming fierce, radiant, his blue aura swirling over him like a tiny storm. And she took he stance, shifting her weight to one foot with one hand set to pierce like a snake.

/The battle ensued for several minutes. Each threw a series of combos on the other, and for the most part they continued to block on a regular basis. Punch punch, kick, kick. Each fought with what seemed to Tsu to be perfect poetry. They were the yin and the yang for that instant in time.
Yet it soon became obvious that it was Felitia whom had the advantage in martial arts ability. Tsu could only reckon that this might be because she knew the style that Gojin implemented and she could even read his mind from time to time. Tsu wasn't sure how much longer Gomen could handle her on his own. Her began to prepare himself by giving the students specific orders, but was stopped by Maxra./

"Look! It's that boy!" Maxra yelled, looking onto a monitor and pointing it out to Tsu.
"Centura!" yelled out Tsu, "That boy! What is he doing here!? I gave him specific orders! Where is Goken?"
Sure enough, Centura soon arrived on the scene, where he landed in a hurry, for in front of him a strange battle ensued. He could see no enemy! Yet for sure Gomen was fighting, and hard. Blood trailed down him face, mingled with sweat as he pushed the style of the turtle hermit to the limits of his ability.
Soon a loud flash of light was seen and an explosion sent Gomen flying backwards into the air, then landing on the ground. He was slow to move. But Centura, seeing the source of this light, made a mad charge for it, screaming forth with fist pulled back. "Rarr! Demon be gone!" and he made a grotesquely miscalculated swing, during which he was tripped. On his tumbled down however, a strong Kichin chain wrapped thus around his neck and he was twirled about to face the sky. "Oof!" he moaned as suddenly a foot slammed into his stomach and he was pinned to the ground. He wished to move, but before he could think it, he felt a cold round metal circle rest upon his eyeball, preventing it from opening.
Across the plain Gomen was rising from the ground, shaking his head with disgust. "You cheated, woman!" he shouted and then he stopped, "Centura! What are you doing here!?" he yelled out with frustration as he both sensed the both and heard the boy's groans coming from underneath the foot.
"You are to bring Maxra to me, Saiyan, or your child here gets it!" she yelled out, assuming wildly.
But her demand was powerful, Gomen must comply for he could not let Centura die so easily.
"Alright, Felitia, I'll bring him to you. Just let the boy go!" Gomen yelled at her.
"Don't be a fool, I will watch you kill Maxra first, and then you will give me the klasfugen before he is released!"
"Damn it all! Centura you idiot!"
"I'm sorry, Gomen!" the boy yelled, his confidence in himself destroyed now.
"Go now! Maxra, you cowardly bastard! Get your ass out here and prepare to face your destiny!"
Several moments passed and she began to become impatient, but soon he emerged. "What do you want, Felitia, do you want him to bring him back? Is that it?" Maxra yelled.
"Yes!" she replied, angrily.
"Then let me have the other klasfugen and Gomen will certainly wish for him back. You don't have to do this!"
"Do you think a simple wish can erase all that memory and pain? Even if it did, could it erase the fact that I lived with it for all this time?" she cried tears of hydroxide, which fell and burned on Centura, who still dare not move: he could feel the powerful Ki in her weapon.
"Felitia, he was never yours to begin with. Why spend your life devoted to hating me so much over such a little thing?"
"It was not a little thing to me, Maxra! I loved him, and you stole him from me! Stole my dreams, and left me as prey for my father's malice! Now I've nothing left. No hopes, no dreams, now will! I am a slave to eternal love and eternal hate. I have nothing to offer him but a cold heart if he were to return. He had not fallen in love with me then, what makes you think he could love me now!? I hate you, Maxra, you have sent me to Hell already! You will pay, you coward! You TRAITOR!" she cried out, as tears streamed from her eyes burning Centura more.
"OWW!" Centura cried out and she looked down to see his shirt aflame with her hot tears, and it surprised her.
"Gojin…" she whimpered, as she looked into the boy's face.
"Now Gomen!" cried Tsu into the warriors mind.
"Solar Flare!" the Saiyan yelled out, and a terribly bright light burst forth from Gomen, blinding the world, and Felitia.
"Ahh!" she yelled rearing back a bit, and suddenly Gomen rammed his shoulder into her, sending her tumbling away.
Centura, wiping his blinded eyes, came to his knees where he found a pair of familiar shes. "Goken!"
Across the distance only a bit, Felitia tumbled and tumbled until she came to rest on her knees. Once there she groaned, wiping on her eyes. Upon clearing the pain from them, she stood, where she stood face to face with Gomen. She jumped a bit, only she was grabbed on both arms by him. "Game's up, sweetheart," he said to her, still using his Ki to find her presence.
At first she only stared into his eyes, as if staring into those of Gojin. She began to read his thoughts, searching the mind of Gomen, seeing the history and past of earth, of Gojin and he. She read his thoughts and felt the love in Gomen for Lila, and soon she began to cry… "Gojin…" she whimpered, and Gomen released his grip a bit when he heard her tone.
"Gojin, why won't you love me?" she cried, and she looked back into Gomen's eyes… the translator had stopped working something during the fight. "Gojin, why?" she was clearly becoming more insane staring at Gomen.
"Gojin! Answer me!" she cried, only Gomen could not, because he did not know what she said.
"Why do you hate me, Gojin!? Why do you spite me!?" she began to cry. The others around them stood perplexed.
"Why can't you love me? Why won't you love me!?" she demanded to know, only Gomen did not reply, only listened to her tone.
Around them the ground began to vibrate some, and soon a dark light of red formed around the two, and Goken began to sweat: he didn't know whom was doing what. "Father…" he whispered to himself.
"Gojin! Gojin I love you! I want to be with you! Take me with you! Take me! Don't leave me Gojin, don't leave me here again! Gojin!" and the more intense she cired the brighter the lights became, and yet some force compelled Gomen to remain. He could only stare into her desperate eyes with fear and wonder - deer lost in the head lights. Yet he was unaware of the sudden force that gripped the tow of them, shaking the ground. And suddenly she streaked forward and rammed her hand into his chest and gripped his heart. She pulled him to her and hugged him tight, blood poured from his mouth and eyes, and his organs burned and melted her skin.
"Oh God!" she yelled and she looked into his bloody eyes, "What have I done!?" she yelled out and then she screamed a violent scream.
All the people around fell to their knees, covering their ears with their hands. The ground shook tremulously and light began to burn the air around the two. Their hair caught flame and the skin on both turned as if to stone. He screamed louder than she, his eyes quivering, and in them a vision of his wife, his family. He could see the future, and he was horrified.
They died.
Goken sank to his knees. Tears streamed from his face. He did not need anyone to tell him the truth, he knew it through and through, bones to bones. He could feel the Ki of his father slip away like a fallen vase shattering upon the rusty floor of oblivion. He simply stared.
"Gomen!!" Centura shouted, and dashed forward from where he had been blown away.
Tsu himself came out of the ship, a frown smeared across his face. 'This war has been far too costly…' he thought, looking back into the window of the ship where his students stood glazed over as they looked upon the battlefield.
Slowly Centura pried Gomen's hands off of Felitia, letting her fall to the ground like a rock, but gently lowering him downwards. "Gomen!" he shouted, "Gomen!" again and again.

/For Centura, Gomen had been the natural choice for a second father. He barely remembered Gojin, but did not know him and Odysean was a worthless hermit who had once loved his mother. Because of his closeness to Goken, he easily could feel closer to Gomen and this made him able to bear life a little more. Gomen had given Centura a lot of advice and support, and had often gone out on a limb for him. This loss would prove to be unbearable for not just Goken, but for Centura as well./

Slowly Goken rose and walked over to where Centura held Gomen, cradling him. He couldn't even look at him, all he could do was close his eyes and turn his head. And he cried, sorrow filling his heart as if it were a sack. Centura cried as well, and only looked on at Gomen.
"We're alone, now, Goken…" Centura spoke to him, "We're all that's left… your father and mine, gone…"
"Father…" Goken whispered, 'Mother, I'm so sorry I couldn't save him…' he clenched his eyes tight, his stomach turning over and over, his throat becoming clamped.
"I… I… I fell it slipping Goken." Centura said suddenly, staring off into the distance, but at nothing as well, "I see my life and all my past and my cares and I feel it slipping, and I am starting to lose my mind…"
Goken's eyes opened, he could feel Centura's pain. He could feel the Ki in them turning black, and he saw their losses: the losses of mankind.
Tsu watched on with a heavy heart, but he knew not what else to do. Maxra too looked on, his anger seething as he thought only of killing the emperor. Yet Tsu had no anger, only depressed remorse, and he stood without words, without advice, and he looked on. He listened, too, to the Ki of the two boys, and he felt the void of the earth, the great chasm opening up in one.
"Goken, I have lived for years without knowing my purpose and without seeing the path, and now I begin to see I have none. I am seeing now that I am a lost soul. My flesh burns to murder and I cannot see anything but that. I am slipping, Goken…"
Yet now, of all times that Centura ever needed Goken, the friend could do nothing to help Centura. He could only watch on.
Tsu felt this, and Kami too, 'Tsu, you must delay it. It cannot be avoided, but it must be delayed. The earth still depends upon the Smargleoid. Take the boys aboard the ship and fly away fast. Leave Gomen to Mr. Popo's care, we'll come for him,' the voice commanded.
Tsu stirred into action and came walking up to the two boys. "It's time to go, Mr. Popo will come for Gomen, but we must go now," he said sternly.
The two looked up to him, the man hiding his watery eyes behind sunglasses, and then they rose up. They felt to Tsu like two soulless children, drones, machines. They were on the brink of devastation.

*Counterstrike!*

Aboard the ship the warriors prepared themselves, anger growing in all of them, as well as a sense of purpose. Centura and Goken stared at each other for a long time, reading each other's thoughts and ideas. Tsu looked on with amazement, studying the two who seemed to communicate with an ancient form of body language, perhaps a Saiyan instinct. They thought the same way: Kill!
"Maxra, how long till we reach the moon base?" Tsu yelled out.
"Only ten earth minutes," he remembered Gojin's system of time, "When we reach the base, I'll have to use my security clearance to gain access to Lenologence's main docking station."

/What Maxra was not aware of, however, was the emperor's realization of not only the events, but of the general's most likely plan of counter attack. He was quite irritated, when watching the events of the battle between his daughter and Gomen, that he had not predicted the outcome correctly, but he had already figured that into his plans. He had already changed the security codes to the entire Smargleoid defense network. Not only that, but he had set up a special ambush for the general on the moon base. The Lenologence had been prepared for the assault on the earth, and now the emperor felt he might be forced to do it. Only something kept him from it: the feeling he couldn't help but get that the three dragonballs, whether by design or accident, had made their way onto the general's ship and were on their way to him! Indeed he was right./

Quickly the ship moved through the silent night that is space. The boys stood at the windows, gaping out at the billions of stars, amazed as never before. For a time forgotten was their losses and woes, they were instead transfixed with boyish magic. And in the cold steel they stood, rested a host of war-wary men and one ambitious Smargleoid.
Maxra was the object most fixed upon by Tsu as of that moment. He sat alone in his corner studying the ex-general, searching out his ki. It had changed, he found, and he thus felt compelled to speak with Kami, 'Kami, what do you make of him?'
'He is a dangerous ally, my friend, whose life has been filled with treachery. But this is not unlike the very Ki of prince Vegeta. And he turned out to be a most powerful instrument of justice. This Smargleoid's Ki is on the same wave-pattern. It feels exactly as Vegeta's did the day he sacrificed himself for the Earth when fighting Buu. From what I can tell he is no longer a sinister threat. I feel, however a growing disturbance in the continuum and I haven't yet determined it's source. But do not let this trouble your mind, I think it is important to focus on the impending battle. The will of the emperor is strong, and your battle will take heavy tolls. Prepare yourself, Tsu,' the wise old Namek cautioned.
Tsu did not reply, he only let the connection fade. He then turned to his crew and eyed them. They were weak, and there hadn't been any time to get them all Senzu, the four he had were cut up. But he was confident things would suffice. Or at least he hoped.
By the window the boys looked out into the abyss, each floating in the nothingness as if helpless or in denial. It was indeed an escape. But while in one the escape was blissful, allowing him to go to a place of paradise, a fields of beauty and visions and happiness mounted upon joys, the other sunk.
While Goken saw his wife dancing among the orchids and lilies, her long dress fluttering wildly and her hair lifted ever-so slightly in the air, Centura saw the fires of Hell raging in the darkness.
His eyes fluttered too fast to catch, but in the reflection on the glass Tsu saw the craziness in them. His ki was rapidly turning towards the darkness. Tsu closed his eyes and tuned to his sixth sense, stretching out with his mind's eye. There he saw, or rather felt the evil intent, the maliciousness growing in Centura. His power grew as well as more and more he convinced himself of his justice, his cause.
Tsu shuddered, he had never seen a student of his become so desperate before, but he was well aware of what blood ran through Centura now.
"One minute! We are approaching the blockade defense barrier! We may take some hits, but this ship can put a wrecking on the Lenologence's defenses. Besides, I'm the one who designed the bastard!" he smiled as he saw ten ships approach.
Suddenly the group felt an acceleration, rather than a slowing down, and the whole ship seemed to morph.
"Blam, Blam, Blam!" the guns rang inside the ship as large iuqua blasts fired through the space effortlessly and plowed through the ships like run-away trains. The rumbling started the boys out of their meditation and caused them to get into stance.
"All clear!" Maxra yelled out, "hold on to something, we're going to do a fairly fast crash-landing procedure! We'll only have ten seconds to unload before the Lenologence's hull performs a majrin (self-defense mechanism in which the hull destroys anything outside of the Lenologence)! We have to go down the air hatch into the ship! Get your masks on!"
They all grabbed onto something and quickly tried to pull on their masks, when suddenly the ship crashed into the hull of the Lenologence.
"Come on!" Maxra shouted as he rose from the pilot's seat and ran to the central hatch on the flooring, "We have to get this open!!!"
"There's no time!" shouted Centura and he stuck out his arm and shouted, "Hiyaa!" and a ki blast penetrated the metal and busted out the hulls of both ships.
Quickly the warriors leapt into the hole, and they nearly all made it, but when Tsu looked back up he saw the ship suddenly melt and the people left inside turned to ashes instantly.
"Hurry!" shouted Maxra as above them the haloc system came on and froze the melting ship above them, resealing the molten hull.
"We made it," stammered Goken when suddenly three ki blasts were seen ripping through the air, mowing down three young earthen warriors, splaying their bodies instantly.
Quickly the group went into offensive mode and following behind Maxra charge the guards on the far end. They were imperial marksmen. One by one they fell to the Saiyan's and master's blasts.
"This way!" Maxra shouted at them, motioning them down another hall towards the main tower.
The warriors ran hard now, panting, sweat rolling from their brows in streams. Around them the hum of light was interrupted only in flickering and mostly their footsteps was what was heard.
"The emperor will try to send robots after us, prepare to meet them head on, but they are easy to slaughter. Keep you wits up, if you see their eyes turn orange at all get down, because that's the indicator for self-destruct mode! The emperor will try to escape, so I'll run ahead to the tower to head him off," he commanded and pulled out his iuqua.
Behind him, Centura's eyes glowered, and he felt an arm grab his shoulder as they ran. He looked left, and there saw Tsu's face nodding to him, 'trust him, trust me,' but the Saiyan only returned his attention forward.
"Look out!!" someone shouted as they passed through one of the large cargo bays and suddenly a hundred iuquas seemed to go off at once. Around them the doors slammed shut and hundreds of robots, and cyborg Smargleoids appeared from behind cargo and craft.
Quickly the group spread out and the two Saiyans in a furious speed began to utterly destroy the attackers. Ahead of the group ran Maxra, guarded by Tsu as they approached the door.
"It's sealed tight, and it's iuqua-proof. It'll take some time to break the code!" Maxra shouted over the noise as Tsu listend whilst firing beams out at approaching victims.
"Here, switch me!" Tsu commanded and turned to the door as Maxra turned around and began firing his iuqua and using his drechen to lop off heads of closer enemies.
Tsu got down into a horse stance, summoning his energy and breathing differently. Around his body, the muscles bulged like ripe melons and his veins pumped hard. Suddenly he twisted his body back to the right and brought forth, in a springing motion, one palm.
"Whomp!" a metallic blast rocked the room as the blast-proof door snapped in six and was sent flying in pieces through the corridor, plowing overtop of hundreds of approaching guards.
"Switch!" Maxra shouted and Tus turned back, returning immediately to fight-mode. He began to decimate the robots once again while Maxra turned about and sprang into action, immediately killing guards with a breath and a swipe.
Meanwhile in the hall Goken and Centura were fighting head to head with some large mechanical droids built using kichin. They blasted and blasted, and kicked and kicked, but merely found that the machines were just too tough for the blasts and strikes.
Around them only two earthen warriors remained besides Tsu, the others having been pounded by multiple enemies or blasted by the powerful guns on the two mechs.
"Centura, let's stop trying to break them. Let's try tripping them!" Goken shouted.
And making like he was going to punch the robot, tricking the Smargleoid into thrwing his own, Goken went suddenly low and swept the off-balance mech. "Crash!" the robot went down, cratering the floor as the round machine pounded the metal.
Beside him, Centura was gripping the foot of the other mech, lifting it up and twisting it over his head then slamming the robot into the flooring, plowing him straight through the steel. "I think mine's knocked out!" Centura gloated.
But as he did the mech of Goken's started to get up and began firing automatic rounds across the floor, obviously dazed. Instantly the remaining two humans were mowed down, their bodies plowed through and through by ceaseless ki.
"No!" Goken shouted, and gritting his teeth he raised up his palm and formed a red-hot kienzen disk, "Destructo Disk!!!" he shouted and lunged the sharp blade of ki at the mech.
The blade struck and nearly broke and ricocheted, but Goken held it there and pushed. Behind him Centura moved up and pushed too, putting both their energies together. The light around them grew super-red and the kichin below became hot until at last it melted and the blade ran through the enemy and exploded.
Tsu ran out to the fallen warriors and Goken and Centura flew to them too. "My god," Tsu said as he gripped the one's hand that was still joined to his body.
Goken cried to see him lying there and he knelt down beside him. "Master, I'm so sorry!" he shouted, "Hanu, I'm sorry!"
Hanu, laying there with blood pouring from his wounds only opened his eyes and looked at Goken and he smiled. "I am complete…" he whispered and his eyes closed shut and he fell dead then and there.
Tsu laid the boy back down and looked to the hallway wherein hundreds of guards lay dead too. "This nightmare knows no boundaries, I fear all of us are going to go to Hell before this is over…" he over-dramatized, "Hanu, my son, rest now, your father will soon be with you!" Tsu shouted and rose up, "Come on!"
And quickly he leaned forward and glided across the ground like a ghost, arms backwards as he rushed through the corridors, the boys following him.
Through the halls they rushed not heeding guards nor gore, simply following the trail of destruction straight to the main tower.
And just as they rounded the corner they came to an opening where in they saw Maxra kneeling before the emperor. They stopped suddenly and the universe seemed to freeze.

/The events prior to their arrival are as follows:
After Maxra went through the doorway employing his skills as a martial artist to slay the guards, he made his way to the bridge. Once there he forced from the admiral the new codes and he set the Lenologence for both self-destruction and moved it to face Mars. He sense the emperor making his way to the bridge and thus took a small hirakinu (chip that detects death) and swallowed it. When the emperor entered he warned him that killing him would destroy both of the Smargleoid strongholds.
The emperor, angry with rage, flung himself at Maxra and while distracting him with a blurred image of his father and mother pinned down the general and ripped out his tongue, causing blood to pour forth.
The emperor, while keeping the general in this dream state led him over to the gateway portal, which he set to coordinate with his escape ship. He made the general kneel down before him and he pulled out his iuqua and awaited the arrival of his guests./

"Give to me the klasfugen if you want your friend to live!" he demanded at the three, through a translator box, not knowing what to expect.
"What!?" Tsu shouted.
"One of the Saiyans has with him the Klasfugen! Give them to me or Maxranoma dies!"
Tsu turned to Centura and Goken, "You have them on you?"
Goken looked into Tsu's eyes and his heart sank, "We forgot…"
"It doesn't matter anyhow! Go ahead and kill him, see if we care!!" Centura shouted at the emperor.
The emperor was thus forced to use his trump card.
"If I kill Maxranoma here, you all die because he has set the two planets to destruct if he dies!"
"What!? Impossible!" Goken shouted in reply.
"Damn it!" Centura shouted.
"Bring them to me, now!" the emperor demanded.
Tsu turned to the boys and stretched out his hands, "Give them to me."
The boys handed him the remaining dragonballs. Then the warrior turned to the emperor, "Here they are," he said.
"Bring them to me!" the emperor commanded, behind him the swirling blackness of the portal stood.
Tsu started to approach, when suddenly the emperor grew wary, "No, instead, throw them into the portal!"
Tsu's mouth twitched, he knew the emperor was reading his mind. He threw in the first one, letting it go through the portal. Then he squinted his eyes.
It was at this precise moment that Tsu felt a sudden power rush through him and he suddenly saw the truth of the emperor's powers. He smiled and cut off the source of power. "Thank you, Gojin" he whispered, while the face of the emperor went blank.
"Ha!" the old man launched the other ball with lightening fast power, striking the emperor dead in the chest, sending him flying into the portal.
But just as the emperor fell backward into the wormhole generator he pulled his trigger, almost instinctively and a short blast issued from the weapon. It struck Maxra in the chest and went on through, striking the electrical circuits, turning off the portal and cutting off the arm and legs of the emperor. The ball had, though, barely gone through.
Suddenly the general awoke from his dream world and looked down to his chest. In it he could see his beating heart and he did then stare, as if staring into his own soul, his essence. His eyes shut and he fell backwards to the floor.
His falling body was caught by Goken, who held him up.
Slowly the other two approached and Tsu opened the general's mouth. "Just as I thought, he's tongueless," and he reached down to Maxra and touched him with his index finger. Suddenly the two of them were standing in a field, around them the light shimmered and together they looked on.
"I remember," a voice suddenly echoed to Tsu, and he turned to look at Maxra, "when my father and mother died, that I made a promise. I made a promise to fight back and right the wrongs of the world. I went from there forth searching for the perpetrator of the crimes I witnessed. And for a time I was on the right path. But when I betrayed Gojin, I lost that path, and I didn't regain it till it was too late. Now I am going to die a foul and pathetic death, and my father and mother will be lost to me forever. Because my greed and selfishness blinded my judgment."
"We all make mistakes, Maxra," Tsu spoke to him, "The only question is do we owe up to them. Your mistakes are grave, but not complete. One day, in the far future when you have served your time and proven to the guardians you are worthy, they will reward you with what you deserve. You have tried your best and I don't think your father will be disappointed in your actions as you act now."
"Does the emperor have the last of the dragonballs?"
"Yes."
"Then you have to go after him! Go to earth! This ship and the fourth planet will be destroyed when I die, but the emperor has fled to his dropship which will take him to earth. You must go quickly to the other emergency ship located in my quarters. You will find the way. When you get to the emergency room, tell the computer that the password is "Judgment Day".
Go now, I am going to watch my father die one last time, and when I at last hear him speak, your time will be up. Go fast, I see a small child and a couple approaching…"
Tsu turned to the distance and there indeed walked two older Smargleoids and one child, playing in the fields.
"Good-bye, Maxra," Tsu said.
"Tell Gojin I am sorry," Maxra said.
"He already knows," Tsu said.
And suddenly he returned to consciousness.
"Come on!" he shouted to the two boys who stood gaping at him.
Together they fled, passing through corridors like mad phantoms. Around them the ship buzzed with warnings and lights flashed like crazy.
And soon they plowed through a doorway into the living quarters of Maxra. "There!" Tsu shouted after locating the red doorway, "Judgment day!" he shouted and the doors flung open as the three rushed in.
Soon they were off and on their way to earth, quickly getting away from the defensive barrage of the Lenologence, using Ki as their guide.

A child laughed, turning over the watch in his hands, and he fingered the inscription on its back, the words issuing from his lips. His eyes shimmered like morning raindrops in the dawn. Outside his body, Maxra was fingering the watch too, which before he left, Goken had laid on top of Maxra and whispered, 'Rest in Peace'.
"Ahhh!" a shout was heard across the field and the boy resting on the tree looked out suddenly as his mother fell down next to his father.
The echo of the gunfire rang out across the knolls. Quickly the boy jumped from tree and ran to his father.
Soon the shadow of an older Maxra, a modern Maxra, loomed over his father, and he knelt down to see him.
"I don't deserve this…" his father whispered.
Maxra then lay down beside his father and clutched the watch, "I do," he replied.

Suddenly a light filled his eyes, and the day soon turned to white night.

*The Spear of Destiny*

On board his ship, the emperor had his injuries repaired as he watched the explosion outside. "Quickly, to the surface!!" he shouted and told the slave-droids to make haste to a random spot, "Bring me the Klasfugen!" he shouted and forward to him was brought all the rest of the dragonballs.
He oogled them all with his eyes as he laughed inwardly. He thought then about what his wishes were going to be. 'I'll fix everything those fools wrecked! I will be God!' he thought.
All of a sudden his ship rocked and he was flung onto the floor. "What the…!?" he shouted and he ran to the cockpit. On the screen he saw a ship approaching from starboard bow. "Damn them! They survived!" he shouted angrily ,"Hurry to the surface, prepare to land!" he yelled at the droid pilots.
The ship accelerated and the emperor went to the back and collected the seven balls and placed them into a sack.
"Kaboom!" another explosion rocked the ship.

/Soon they entered the atmosphere, and flames swallowed the two ships. Aboard the escape ship sat the three warriors who were making chase on the emperor. They had discovered the weapons and were firing powerful cannons at him. But the defense-shield of the emperor's ship was strong.
The flames of the re-entry were powerful , but soon the ships approached the surface and prepared to land. At the last moment however, Tsu took his chance to take the emperor by surprise and fired a double-powered shot at the ship, sending it twirling though the air and crashing into to dirt. The warriors themselves flew out of an open-hatch into the air and watched as both ships tumbled to the earth, crashing among the wrecked carnage of South City. The warriors followed and landed close to the battlefield./

The three stared out across the ash and dirt and wreckage of a fallen city. A fire raged there in front of them, the twisted metal of skyscrapers and military and fallen ship scattered about with decaying bodies, skeletons, and burnt trees.
"The world is like one big graveyard," Goken said aloud.
The wind whipped them in the face, ashes and smoke swirling around the tattered clothes of the three of them.
"Smash!" a metal sound rang out across the distance.
Suddenly a lone body leapt from the hole in the hull and with him was a sack slung over his shoulder.
"You stupid little Saiyans! You bastards are going to pay dearly for this!" the emperor shouted angrily across the rubble.
Slowly the three approached him until they stood twenty meters from the emperor.
"You're wrong, it's you who is going to pay dearly for this," Goken waved his warms around to show the destruction and wreckage.
"You are going to burn in Hell my friend," spoke up Centura, "in an especially hot part, for the death of my mother. This was her home!"
"How sad, it's too bad you didn't die with her," the emperor rebuked.
"I was waiting, to escort you to Hell myself you fucker!" and suddenly Centura streaked forward across the distance, the hand of Tsu barely missing grasping him.
The emperor, thinking quick, summoned his powers to blind Centura, and he pulled from his back his drechen, ready to strike. But greater powers prevailed and a guided beam of divine light shot directly into the mind of the emperor, causing him to freeze and listen to the whispers…
Suddenly an arm went plowing forth through the emperor, like a spear of destiny. And all time seemed to stop as the warriors ceased their movement. And Centura pulled his head back and looked into the eyes of the Smargleoid. "Now you burn!" he yelled and concentrating he caught the both of them on fire, and together they burned. They shouted together, they danced together, their hearts bled. And in Centura's mind the darkness fluttered away like a raven fleeing the farmer's shovel and his eyes flashed blue.
The blood that stained and burned his arm dissipated and his hair stood on end. The prince was reborn and for a brief moment he retained his visions or glory. He saw his father and his uncle and his mother.
Then he passed out.
They fell to the ground.