Hey, guys! Sorry it's taken me so long to update, but if you think it took a while for this chappie, just wait.
MG: Yeah. Starting Monday, she's gonna be a sophomore, which means she'll have less time to write.
Not that you're complaining, right Go-chan?
MG: Nope, not at all, sweetheart. *smirks*
*rolls eyes* My boyfriend, ladies and gentlemen…anyhoo, on to the feedback. That's a heckuva lot of reviews…O_O
MG: No kidding! You guys are on the brink of overwhelming me with reviews! I can only do so much, you know!
So get on it instead of complaining, baka.
Kakkabrat: Sorry I didn't tell you…I will next time, kay? I'm a little obsessed with the Mirai Timeline as well. Almost all my fics take place in or revolve around it. Looking forward to your next update!
Contrail: Hey, it's been a while since I heard from you! Oi, I think everyone agrees that Vegeta's an ass at this point…well, if you don't hate him now, you will by the end of this fic.
Dragonsong: I'll try. ^^ I'm glad you all think I'm keeping everyone in character. Sometimes it's hard to tell.
Davifflaelan: Uh-huh…
MG: Oo…kay…hm? Nope, sorry, I don't have the dragon radar. There's only one, anyways, so if I did have it, I wouldn't give it to you. Sorry.
MT: ^^;;; *rubs the back of his head, looking very much like Goku* Yeah, I guess that's true…
Trunks, it's times like this when there is no questioning who raised you. *glances at Gohan*
Android 71: Ah, you're close on your guess. Well, one out of two ain't bad, ne?
MG: *very controlled tone* Do I look like a Jinzouningen to you? I know where you pulled the number 22 from, and I don't appreciate it. I was reading over Ani's shoulder when she read 'Remember Me'. *heavy sigh* Fine…you can call me 'Gohannie'…just don't call me '22'…
Chibi Lauryn: I hope the suspense doesn't kill you! Don't worry, I'm getting to it.
Silver Warrior: Nope, but good guess. I think I'll just take your word for it on 'Hamtaro'…are you sure you're alright? And anyways, anarchy equals chaos equals fun!
MG: Only you would think so. You haven't lived through it.
True, but that's okay. There's enough chaos going on between you and Trunks with your prank wars…
Crecy: Yup, LOTS different. Well, sometimes people just need to be poked. It's unexplainable.
Frying Pan of DOOM: Thanks! I'll try!
MG: Doesn't he call everyone brat? He had to have some way of distinguishing me from Chibi. *smirk* It works.
shadowphoenix: Veggie's a pain, but it makes him fun to write.
Zaln: Thanks! Yeah, I've contemplated that, and asked Gohan about it, but he has a good reason. I'll get to that later on.
Chris-Redfield26: Uh…huh…you seem just a tad hyper. Owell! *hugs Chris back* Waitaminit, monkeys? Nani?
MG: O_O;;;;; Um…yeah…whatever…oh, and thanks for the cookies!
Nasiya: Oi, but I have to make Veggie mean! I'm glad you like it. There's a big fight in this chappie, so here ya go!
Ayden: Thanks! Will do!
manda: Yuppers!
Iceman: Thanks, I'm glad you like it. And as I've said, I have to make Vegeta nasty, or it wouldn't be any fun!
Luna's Meow: Will do!
Astrozazel: O_O Whoa. That was one heckuva review. I'm glad you received my e-mail, because there was simply far too much for me to say to put down here. Thanks a lot, and I will try to improve on those points.
MG: You know, FF.N would be a better place if more people would write reviews like that.
LPM: OHMYGOSH, you actually read it! *keels over, then glomps her* Heyo, Juu-chan, how much DP did she have anyways?
MG: Well, it looks like your persistence finally paid off. You got her to read it. LPM, now you see why I don't like this fic! She torments me relentlessly!
Aw, poor baby. *huggles him, pulls out world's smallest violin, then glomps LPM again* Domo Arigatou! *throws confetti as well*
SSH: You're dissapointed? Well, tough. Just wait until we get to the Time chamber…
MG: Kami help me…
That's all the feedback for now…*grins* I don't care what Gohan says, keep 'em coming! I appreciate you guys' support! Lessee…oh yeah. Disclaimer. Now, if I owned DBZ…well, let's just say that certain demi-Saiyans would be in trouble. On with the fic!
*****
A thick haze of dust and smoke filled the air, blurring the outlines of crumbling buildings and reflecting the orange glow of fire from the epicenter of the destruction. Terrified people clambered over and shoved past each other hastily as total pandemonium fell over the remains of the city.
Chibi hugged close to Gohan, the collar of his shirt pulled up over his mouth to shield himself from inhaling too much of the heavy air as they slowly glided over the city, scanning for the one (or ones) that had caused this chaos. While Chibi's expression was one of slight fear and shock at the sight of everything's state, Gohan looked relatively unfazed, as he was more than used to this kind of disaster. It was near impossible to tell from which direction the explosion had begun due to the fact that everyone was running in all directions, unsure of where to go in their panic. Gohan rolled his eyes and dipped down into the street, and Chibi followed.
Gohan grabbed the next person that passed—an older man—by the arm. "What happened?" he asked, his tone a bit rougher than he had intended. The man jerked away and continued running after shooting Gohan a quick look of manic terror. Chibi looked up at him, fairly sure that it wasn't just the fear he was already experiencing that had caused the old man to give Gohan that look. Gohan, after all, did have a very intimidating look about him, especially considering how creepy a Super Saiyan's eyes were to anyone that had never seen them. He tugged on Gohan's shirttail.
"Maybe you should power back down. Your Super Saiyan features aren't exactly giving you a friendly aura," Chibi said quietly. Gohan, though he did not look down or give any other indication he had heard Chibi at all, nodded. As he continued to scan the city, his hair and eyes became dark, but no one except Chibi seemed to notice.
Gohan looked down the street to their right; it seemed to him that that was where most of the stampede was originating. He gestured for Chibi to follow, then began to work his way against the steady flow of people. One woman, a seven-year-old-boy tightly clinging to her arm, paused for half a moment as Gohan and Chibi pushed past. "Hey, are you nuts?! You're going the wrong way!" she yelled, bewildered. "They're madmen! They'll kill you!" Chibi looked up at her, grabbing Gohan's wrist to stop him.
"Who?" he asked. "What do they look like?"
The woman let out a rather exasperated sound. "What does it matter? It's an old guy and a teenage boy. They set off a bomb or something—look, just run!"
Chibi nodded, and Gohan smiled faintly. "Thanks," Gohan yelled back at her over the crowds, then turned and continued fighting his way through the masses, ignoring her as she yelled at them again. They broke free of the crowd and stared at what lay a few blocks in front of them—it did look as though a bomb had gone off; the buildings that had once stood a couple of hundred yards in front of them had been replaced by a huge crater. The surrounding buildings were half-demolished and were spitting red-orange flames into the air, casting and ominous glow over the wreckage.
At the center of the crater were two silhouettes, one quite a bit taller than the other, but the height difference was lessened by the fact that the shorter of the two wore a tall hat. Gohan started forward, but was stopped by a hand placed firmly on his shoulder. He turned his head and looked up to see his former sensei staring intently at the strangers. "I wouldn't if I were you," Piccolo said, his voice slightly lower than normal. "If they can cause this much damage with just one blast, we should be careful." He glanced down at Chibi, then looked Gohan in the eye. /Why did you bring him?/ he asked, his telepathic voice carrying a slightly agitated tone.
/The last time I tried to leave someone behind, it ended up getting him killed./ Gohan explained calmly, then closed the link. Piccolo did not break eye contact for a moment, then he nodded in understanding and looked back up at the two figures, both of whom had started towards them. The shorter one stopped abruptly a few feet in front of the trio, looking each one over in turn. He appeared to be a bearded old man wearing a rather odd outfit with puffy sleeves and pants legs and a tall black hat, which bore the Red Ribbon logo. The other, who was still taller despite the height the old man's hat gave him, looked like a fifteen-year-old boy with a waist-length green ponytail and a red baseball cap turned backwards. He was dressed much closer to normal, wearing a blue-green long-sleeved shirt, baggy blue pants with a red sash at the waist, and yellow boots. His gold medallion, like the old man's hat, had the symbol of the Red Ribbon Army on it. Both wore similar expressions, though the teenager was smirking, and both had unnaturally icy blue eyes, which Gohan immediately recognized as the eyes of the Jinzouningen. What confused and, to a point, scared him, however, was the fact that neither of these faces were familiar to him.
"You are the Namek called Piccolo," said the old man, staring at Piccolo. Piccolo snorted.
"Last time I checked, I was. Who exactly are you?"
The old man ignored him entirely and looked down at Chibi. "And you are Son Gohan, son of Son Goku." Chibi said nothing, but glared up at the old man, who looked up at Gohan and stared at him a minute. "I have no records on you." He took a step back. "I am Jinzouningen Nijugou, and this," he waved a hand at the teenager, "Is Jinzouningen Nijuichi." The teenage boy smirked and unfolded his arms, then stepped forward and bent to look Chibi in the eye.
"Son Gohan, eh? I wasn't expecting to have to kill a baby, but whatever. If you're as tough as your dad was supposed to be, I guess it'll be a good workout." He straightened up and walked back over to Nijugou. "Hey, Doc, shall we fight them now or do you want to head back?" He looked at Chibi over his shoulder, a sadistic smile stretching across his face. "I vote to take him now."
"Do as you please, Nijuichi. I will not interfere unless it becomes necessary."
Nijuichi turned and curled his fists up at his sides, a terrible look of grim pleasure on his face. "I was hoping you'd say that." He looked Chibi in the eye. "Alright, kid, what's say we have at it? Just judging by the look on your face, you're more than ready to pay me back for all this damage. Well?"
Chibi crouched into a defensive position. "Okay. I'm ready." Piccolo looked down at Chibi, contemplating stopping him, then decided that it might be more trouble than it was worth. More likely than not, and attack by Piccolo would cause Nijugou to spring into action, and that was the last thing they needed.
Nijuichi shot forward without warning, and Piccolo and Gohan both jumped back in opposite directions to avoid getting caught in the attack. Chibi ducked, causing Nijuichi's foot to slam into a light post instead of his young adversary. He kicked off of the now-bent post and dove back at Chibi. Chibi raised his hands to his forehead, one palm overlapping the other, and unleashed a large yellow blast as he quickly yelled "Masenko-ha!" Nijuichi caught the blast with the side of his hand and deflected it into the sky. Chibi took this split-second distraction as an opportunity to attack, and he thrust his fist forward, slamming his knuckles into the Jinzouningen's nose. Nijuichi's hand flew up to his face as he stumbled back a step in surprise. He just stood there a moment with his eyes closed, then glared at Chibi.
"Well, well, it seems I miscalculated. You're a better fighter than I'd expected, kid, and I must say I'm impressed. But kid, I've got news for you—" He snatched Chibi by the collar, his movement so fast that no one quite realized what had happened. "All the fancy moves in the world aren't gonna be enough to save you from me." He held one finger up a few inches from Chibi's face, and Chibi's efforts to struggle free doubled as a small green orb formed just above Nijuichi's fingertip. "Too bad you weren't just a little better. I hate to end this so quickly, but what the hell." That sadistic smirk crossed his face again as Chibi stopped trying to wriggle loose and his eyes widened in fear.
Piccolo decided that however much trouble it brought on, attacking was the best option at this point. He yanked off his turban and cape, threw them down, then charged at his young friend's captor.
A flicker of motion out of the corner of his eye caught Gohan's attention, and he turned to see Nijugou hover off the ground and fly at Piccolo, his hands raised. Gohan looked closer to see a red disc on each of the older Jinzouningen's palms, but had no time to contemplate their function. "Piccolo-san!" he heard a voice yell, then realized it was his own. Piccolo glanced at him, then whipped around to see Nijugou less than a foot away. He crossed his arms over his face in a block; then Nijugou did something unexpected. Instead of trying to attack from a more vulnerable angle, he simply wrapped his hands tightly around Piccolo's right arm. Piccolo stared at him in confusion a moment before his entire body went slack.
Gohan's mind was racing to figure out the reasoning behind this tactic, and how Piccolo's ki was being depleted so quickly. Then he remembered the red discs. "Oh no—he's absorbing his energy!" Gohan said to himself. No sooner had it hit him did he notice that Piccolo's arm was slowly shriveling like a dying plant under the Jinzouningen's grasp. He started forward, then glanced at Chibi. He knew that they were both in a fair amount of danger, but making a decision was out of the question. There was no time to choose. Yellow-white fire shot up through his hair and his eyes turned to green ice as he charged forward, his sights locked on the teenager.
Nijuichi barely had time to look around before Gohan plowed into him, and in the shock he dropped Chibi, who let out a half-startled yelp. Both Nijuichi and Gohan smashed into the side of a crumbling office building with such force that any normal person in the Jinzouningen's position would have been completely crushed between Gohan's weight and the brick wall. Gohan sprang back and rushed towards the old man.
A blast slammed hard into the small of Gohan's back, and he hit the ground and tumbled. He dug his fingers into the ground to slow the slide down, then jumped up and wiped his bleeding hand on this shirt as he faced Nijuichi again.
The teenage Jinzouningen walked slowly towards him, his eyes narrowed and his clothes slightly tattered. Though he did look scuffed, he was not bleeding at all. This bothered Gohan even more—the Jinzouningen he knew at least bled when he injured them. Nijuichi tightened his fists and glared daggers at Gohan. "My mission is to kill Son Gohan," he stated calmly. "I've got no problem with anyone else unless they interfere with that mission, and you just got on my bad side, you lop-sided freak."
Gohan's jaw twitched as he returned the glacial glare. "You're supposed to kill Son Gohan? Well, buddy, you're looking at him."
A look of slight confusion crossed Nijuichi's face, but quickly disappeared. "Yeah right. According to my data, Son Gohan was born May 18, 757 A.D, which would make him about ten years old. I'm guessing that you're in your twenties, right?"
"I'm 26. But your data apparently doesn't account for the possibility of time travel."
Nijuichi's eyes narrowed again. "What?"
For a split second, Gohan's eyes darted over to Chibi, who was back on his feet and going to Piccolo's aid. The corner of his mouth turned up slightly, as Nijuichi was too distracted to notice his target getting away. "You heard me, time travel. I'm from seventeen years in the future. Funny thing is, you don't exist in my timeline." Gohan dropped slightly and thrust his fist into Nijuichi's stomach, then brought his knee up hard against the Jinzouningen's jaw as Nijuichi doubled over.
Nijuichi stumbled backwards, tripped, and sprawled flat on his back. His eyes flickered as he stared blankly at the sky, his face suddenly void of all emotion.
Gohan, deciding that his job was finished for the moment, turned to help Chibi with Nijugou. Piccolo's ki still hadn't restored itself, and because energy attacks were useless, Chibi wasn't faring well. For having the appearance of an old man, Nijugou fought as well as any of the Z Senshi. Gohan looked over at Piccolo, who nodded. He nodded back, then walked on towards the battle.
Nijugou paused a moment and stared at Gohan, then put one hand up to halt Chibi. Chibi, though confused, drew back and looked back and forth between the two. Nijugou's eyes widened slightly. "That's not possible! Your power level is over three times that of Son Goku's!"
"Oh really?" Gohan said, smirking slightly. "Then I'm either a lot more powerful than I thought or your information is outdated. Either way, you don't stand much of a chance, right?"
Nijugou's expression returned to normal. "No matter," he said, almost as if he hadn't heard Gohan. "Once I awaken Juunanagou and Juhachigou, it won't make any difference how strong you are."
Gohan froze. 'If they haven't been freed yet, then this is just the first wave! That's why the attack was in the wrong place at the wrong time…' He narrowed his eyes into a lethal glare and fixed it on the Jinzouningen. "You won't live to release them. Not if I have anything to say about it!" He charged forward, his fury temporarily causing his to forget that this one could absorb energy. He threw a huge ki wave at Nijugou, who simply smiled maliciously and held his hand up in front. The blast hit the red disc on his palm and spiraled into it, disappearing and surging into his body. Gohan mentally kicked himself for being so stupid and made a note not to try that again as Nijugou lowered his hand.
"Why, thank you for the bust of energy," he said. "Allow me to repay you." He charged up a blast almost as large as the one that Gohan had just released and flung it at the demi-Saiyan. Gohan knocked the blast away with the outside of his wrist and charged Nijugou, his fist drawn back. He thrust the punch forward and Nijugou ducked, causing Gohan to knock his hat off, which revealed a human brain suspended in a blue liquid inside Nijugou's head. Gohan chose to ignore this gruesome detail and brought his shin into hard contact with the Jinzouningen's jaw. Nijugou's head snapped to one side with a loud, sickening pop. He staggered sideways and fell, his eyes wide as he looked back up at the Super Saiyan glaring back down at him. Gohan crouched next to Nijugou and smirked as he placed his palm a half-inch form Nijugou's chest.
"Absorb this," he said as he sent a beam of yellow ki straight through the Jinzouningen. He stood back up and looked over at Chibi and Piccolo. "Are you two okay?" Chibi just nodded and looked down at Piccolo.
"I've been better," Piccolo said as he stood up. "Thanks, kid. That could've been a lot worse." He glanced down at his right arm, which now hung shriveled and useless at his side, then casually reached up and pulled it off. Gohan flinched involuntarily, then watched as Piccolo gathered his energy and regenerated his arm.
"That must be a nice ability to have," Gohan said, smirking darkly. Piccolo flexed his arm and shrugged.
"It's come in handy on more than one occasion. Hey, that was pretty impressive fighting, but you got a little cocky."
Gohan smiled and powered back down to normal. Chibi walked over to Nijuichi and nudged him with the toe of his shoe. "Are they dead?" Chibi asked softly, partially to himself. Gohan looked up at him, then ran over and grabbed him by the arm.
"Be careful, bro! Gero's dead, but that one sure as hell isn't." He led Chibi back over to Piccolo rather roughly.
"Gero? What are you talking about?" Chibi asked, staring at Nijugou.
"That old man is Dr. Gero, I'm almost sure of it. I've seen him before—well, pictures, at least. The guy really was insane. Not only did he apparently create a small army of artificial humans, but he made himself into one. They all stood still and silent a moment, then Gohan abruptly turned and started away. Piccolo hesitated a minute and followed.
"What's up, kid?"
"Nothing. I'm going back to the house." He stopped and looked back around. "Hey, Chibi? Are you—" He froze in mid-sentence as he spotted Chibi fighting to break Nijuichi's grip. The teenage Jinzouningen had one hand clamped over Chibi's mouth and was pinning the young boy's arms to his sides.
"Freeze," said Nijuichi as Piccolo and Gohan prepared to attack. "One move and I kill the kid right now. Deal?" Neither did anything. "Good." He looked down at Chibi. "Now, I know I was supposed to kill you, but now that the doc's dead…" He looked back up at Piccolo, then at Gohan, and smirked. "It looks like I've got a new playmate. You want him back, you've gotta catch me first." He tightened his hold on Chibi, then disappeared.
Gohan shot forward, a split second too late. "Dammit," he muttered, then launched into the air.
"GOHAN!" Piccolo yelled. The demi-Saiyan stopped, but did not look back. "Just where do you think you're going?! We have no idea which way he went! We're going back up to the lookout—we can track him from there!"
"You can go back to the lookout. I'm going after Chibi."
"Not now, you're not. That Jinzouningen is going back to Gero's lab, and I don't want you accidentally running into those others Gero mentioned!"
Gohan snapped into Super, then glared at Piccolo. "How do you know that's where he's going? Anyways, I've dealt with Juunanagou and Juhachigou almost all my life." His voice temporarily dropped in volume. "I've already lost someone not much older than him to the Jinzouningen. It'll be a cold day in hell before I let it happen again!" he yelled, then shot out of Piccolo's sight, leaving nothing but a fading golden ki trail.
"GOHAN!!" Piccolo started after him, but decided he could find Chibi and Nijuichi faster by sticking to his original plan. With any luck, he could track them down before Gohan and completely avoid the mess they were all about to be in. He lifted into the sky, turned west, and flew off towards the lookout.
*****
Well, whaddya think? I'm trying my hand at writing a cliffy. Even as much as I hate them, they are fun to write. Oh yeah—minna, I have a favor to ask. If you review this chappie, tell me one point I can improve upon and one thing you would really like to see happen before the end of this fic.
MG: Great. Whenever you ask them for help, it's never good for me.
Yeah, well…you know I love you. ^^; I seem to recall telling you all somewhere around chapter four that we were not going out and would never be, but…things happen over the summer, you know? (LPM, SSH, you two shut up. I know.) Oh, and for more experienced FF.N members, I have a question: if you use the 'replace chapter' feature, will it delete the reviews for the chapter you replace? Just wondering, because all of my spelling errors that spell check didn't catch are reeeeeally starting to bug me.
MG: Perfectionist.
So? Ah well. If anyone wants to see what Nijuichi looks like, tell me in your review or e-mail me, and I'll send you a picture, 'kay? I'm also gonna try and update my site sometime this week, but I may not get around to it. Well, I must go prepare for the horror that is high school, which starts tomorrow, so ja ne. *shuffles off*
MG: You know, I almost feel sorry for her…almost. I'm glad I never actually had to go to school. I gotta go comfort her and make sure she doesn't forget anything, so ja ne!