Chapter 39
Snowstorm
6:00 pm
Teddy Son-Briefs walked out onto the suspended platform that overlooked the crisis control room at Capsule Corp. The room was abuzz with worried voices and the very air had a charge of tenseness to it.
Teddy hit a button that turned the microphones on before clearing her throat and talking. "524 years ago a being named Cell terrorized Earth. I'm not going to go over the history, or the story, you all know it well. We are now in a similar crisis. What you all are seeing now is satellite surveillance of the alien force that has landed here on earth. Their goal is to destroy us and our way of life. The only thing that can stop them is us."
"This is crunch time. If we do our jobs, no one will be the wiser, if we fail, people will die. I need every one of those alien solders tagged and tracked. I need those two dropships that broke away from the main ship tracked. You are our early warning. If any of them approach the cities it will be your responsibility to direct people to intercept them before people start dieing."
Teddy closed her eyes and tried to calm her heart. 'I wish I could have just used family members for this, but there aren't enough of us. I just hope the legend of Mr. Satan can keep these people from spilling too much too fast.' She thought as she looked over the room of hopefully trustworthy employees.
"What I say now doesn't leave this room. As descendents of Mr. Satan the Son family and the Son-Briefs family have carried on mostly in secret the disciplines and methods he used to beat Cell. The military was useless against Cell. The military would also be useless today. Those people you see labeled in blue are Son Goshu and his students. If they cannot stop these invaders, it will fall to Vice President P.J., my daughter Slip, Dr. Tank, and the CC security force to protect our cities. You are their eyes and ears people. I have alerted the King and most rescue forces to be on alert. But I pray we can avoid the need for paramedics, police, and fire fighters. Dende be with us."
She then turned the CC wide address system on. "All employees can I have your attention please. This is an emergency situation. All employees working on Project Phoenix Resurrection need to listen close. As of this moment we are in condition red. Our launch window is in 26 hrs and counting. I need the food and medical supplies encapsulated and loaded within the next 24 hours. I need the rescue ships on standby alert for launch. To all other employees, the Earth is under attack. I repeat, the Earth is under attack by a renegade alien force who are bent at stopping the humanitarian aid that we were sending with the Rescue ships of Phoenix Resurrection. They mean to conquer or destroy the Earth. Please go home. Spend this time with your families." Teddy said. 'Dende, if there is anything to take joy in it is that this happened during evening shift when we are not fully staffed.'
Teddy took a deep breath and then turned to her control counsel. "Distribute file, Public warning, all stations, all channels, all frequencies. Authorization Teddy Son-Briefs, Executive President and Chief Officer, four-three-two-four-four-five-nine-A-two."
Teddy sat down and looked down at the people working below her before glancing at the GKSS screen. 'It is done. Now all I can do is watch and pray. Dende be with them.'
* * *
Meanwhile,
Roshi watched tensely as the large white and dull gray being Ichigo had identified as Snow laughed. "Look at them, they fight amongst themselves. Kill them, but leave me the bitch. I don't want to waste any more time than I need to."
He jumped back and up into the air so that the first barrage of ki blasts missed him. Within moments he was hidden within the large billowing mass of dust and smoke.
"They aren't all surrounding us. About a third of them are flying off towards various cities." His father said to his left. "Tee, and Boxers, get moving, stop as many of them as you can. If you think Slip and the rest can handle those that slip through then come back as Boxee."
'How can he open his mind that much and still focus on the fight?' Roshi wondered. 'I always lose track of what I'm doing when I try to follow too many things at once.'
"On it." Tee said.
"Mowing the lawn quick then I'm there." Boxers replied while several wet sounding noises and a few screams came from his general direction.
A gust of wind cleared some of the smoke, and Roshi could see Boxers whipping his sword back and fourth as he cleaved groups of the soldiers apart.
"Hah, good idea. Kienzian!" Roshi screamed as he sent several of the spinning disks of ki off towards clumps of the soldiers.
Suddenly, a large green lizard looking man appeared trough the billowing smoke to slam his fist into the side of Roshi's face. Roshi had been focusing on the groups of men he was slicing apart with his Kienzians and was caught unaware.
Roshi heard and felt bones in the man's hand break while he himself didn't even flinch.
'That could have hurt. I need to keep a sense on my surroundings.' Roshi thought to himself as he looked at the man who had hit him. He realized that the now whimpering warrior wasn't wearing a scouter. Roshi glanced around and saw that of those warriors that he could see through the smoke, none of them had scouters.
Roshi turned to the warrior who had hit him. "You have a power level of about 15,000? You have got to be kidding me."
"Ava waahhhaaa ahaa maaaahhh" The man whimpered.
Roshi knocked him out without killing him. 'I bet most of these warriors have no choice but to fight. Snow is the only one of these that seems to have a scouter. She's giving them a choice of die or die. Not a fair choice if you ask me.'
Roshi was again surrounded in smoke as a small ki blast he didn't care to block exploded against his hip.
As it cleared, he looked around and opened his mind. At least a thousand of the original number of soldiers were now down or dead. "Such a waste." Roshi said as he batted a foot away from his face and knocked out two more warriors before thinking better of that action and killing them. "Welcome to chaos incarnate. I don't want to fight these men, but I can't let them live either because I can't trust them not to cause problems later." He said to himself utterly disgusted by the way his hand was being forced.
Then he heard Ichigo screaming and realized she was fighting Snow one on one. From the sound and feel of it, she wasn't winning.
* * *
"Look at them, they fight amongst themselves. Kill them, but leave me the bitch. I don't want to waste any more time than I need to." Snow laughed.
'Well, if she wants me, she can have me. She isn't nearly strong enough to beat me right now. If I can kill her before she transforms, who cares about the cannon fodder she brought with her.' Ichigo thought as she jumped over and past the barrage of incoming ki blasts. She sped towards Snow while she focused her mind and brought herself up to Kaioken times ten.
"Kiiiiiii Punch!!!" She yelled as she drove a right cross directly into Snow's left cheek. The charged ki exploded into her face and Snow was thrown several hundred meters to the side.
Snow reached out with her left hand and caught herself. She flipped into a rolling summersault and then landed. "That was the first time anyone has hit me in over a century. This may be more fun than I had thought." She spat at Ichigo with a ferial grin before launching herself at the Saiyan Princess.
Ichigo waited until the towering Changeling was about to slam into her before she jumped backwards and flipped her knee up into Snow's stomach.
Snow started to fold into two around Ichigo's knee, but still managed to connect with one of her huge fists to Ichigo's right side. The punch pushed her arm and shoulder forward and slammed most of the brunt of the blow into Ichigo's ribs.
Ichigo gasped as several of her ribs flexed and the joints along her back popped from the strain.
The massive blow sent Ichigo reeling as she was thrown over fifty meters before she slammed into and shattered one of the landing struts to Snow's space ship.
Ichigo forced herself to breath. 'She's a monster. I can't close with her, she'll eat me alive.' She thought as she realized just how much of an advantage Snow's size gave her in raw strength.
'Well, she might not expect this.' Ichigo thought. "Kaiooo-Ken times Twelve!" She yelled as her body was engulfed in a red ki flare. "Ka-Mee-Haah-Mee-Haaaaa!!" Ichigo yelled before firing off her own unique spinning version of the Kamehameha.
Snow laughed and stuck out her right hand. She pointed her index finger at Ichigo and fired of a single small purple sliver of energy.
The two beams met and the spinning Kamehameha seemed to slow for a moment or two before it enveloped the much smaller purple beam and continued on its way towards Snow.
Snow scowled and fired a more massive black and red beam from the palm of her left hand.
The black beam struck the Kamehameha and the two beams flattened for a few seconds before the Kamehameha drilled through the black beam and harmlessly dissipated Snow's energy to the sides.
At the last moment, Snow threw both hands up and tried to block Ichigo's beam. The spinning Kamehameha slammed into her hands and threw her back.
'I can't keep this up too much longer,' Ichigo thought as her entire body was aching from the use of the Kaioken. The fact that she knew she had at least a few fractures in her ribs didn't help any either.
Ichigo leapt into the air and rose into a high crescent arc before diving back down towards the gully Snow had dug herself.
Snow was just getting up as Ichigo finished her arc and landed on Snow's shoulders. Snow was driven into the ground as the earth fractured around her.
Ichigo jumped off and started to charge a Plasma Beam at Kaioken times twelve when the ground exploded as a large green mass of ki broke free from the hole Snow was in. The green ki ball shredded landscape for over a hundred meters and threw massive chunks of earth and rock into the air.
"RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Snow bellowed. Shards of her armor were cracking as the ground shook around her. Suddenly two new horns grew out of her head and the existing ones grew much much longer. Her tail shrunk some, but was now tipped with an ugly bony spear. Snow screamed in agony before her musculature and frame bulged to even more massive proportions. She finally cracked her neck by rolling her head from side to side while glaring up at Ichigo before jumping out of the hole. She was almost totally white. Only a section of natural armor over her heart and one on her head had any color and this was a very dull black.
Ichigo felt herself tense up. 'So much for the before she transforms. This is bad. Very bad.'
Her blood red eyes locked on Ichigo. "You got lucky with those first few attacks you stupid insignificant monkey. Do you know who I am monkey? Do you have any idea what I'm going to do to you now?" Snow finished as she wiped some of her pinkish blood from her own cheek and licked if off of her hand.
"Luck? You talk big, but you don't scare me." Ichigo said as she braced herself to push her Kaioken to new heights. 'Snow is around 5 or 6 million. I can beat that. I just need to concentrate.'
"Kaiooooookeeeeenn ttiiimmmmesss twelve... thirteen... foooouurrteeenn."
Ichigo's lungs burned and her ribs felt numb. As she pushed herself she could feel her muscles bunching and felt her body straining so she dared not push herself further... yet.
Snow must have tired of waiting because she attacked and soon she and Ichigo were circling in the air as they traded blow for blow, kick for kick, and block for block.
Ichigo slammed the heel of her hand into Snow's chin, which snapped Snow's head back and forced her away.
Snow countered and Ichigo blocked the punch, but Snow grabbed her fist. Soon Snow had forced Ichigo down to the ground and the two of them had their hands locked as they fought to push the other back.
Suddenly Snow's tail shot between her legs and drove towards Ichigo's chest.
Ichigo barely had time to react, but managed to push herself down and away from the spearing tail. Snow's tail still caught her along the cheek and ripped a chunk out of her ear, but didn't do any real damage.
It did however overbalance her and since Snow still had her in a hand lock gave Snow a huge advantage. Snow forced Ichigo down onto her back and drove her knee deep into Ichigo's stomach.
The force of the blow caused Ichigo to throw up what she had eaten not overly long before the fight.
'I'm not going to die here!' Ichigo thought as she gagged on her own vomit and attempted to roll out from under Snow's massive form.
A quick burst of Kaioken broke Snow's grip on her right hand and she slammed it directly into the Changeling's nose.
Snow's grip loosened and Ichigo grabbed hold of one of her horns and used it to pull herself free.
Ichigo shot away before spinning around and launching off a superheated Blaze attack.
Snow was too slow to get out of the way and half of her face and most of the right side of her upper body and right arm was caught in the blast.
When the smoke cleared, the armored skin that had been caught in the blast was no longer a brilliant white, but rather a bright pinkish, as bright purple-pink blood oozed out through boils and cracks.
"That really hurts you little bitch! I'm going to make you suffer now. I was just going to kill you, but now you're going to pay!" Snow yelled as she jumped at Ichigo.
Ichigo blocked a few punches and then managed to drive her knee into Snow's right side.
Snow bellowed and stumbled to the side as skin broke and bled faster.
Ichigo was about to follow that up with a kick when Snow just continued her stumble and turned it into a flip. The Changeling flipped and her tail came snaking out to wrap itself around Ichigo's waist.
It constricted and Ichigo screamed in pain before Snow clamped her hands around Ichigo's neck.
"My father wants me to take you home with me so he can kill you while your father watches, but I am of half the mind to just strangle you here and now. Just twist your ugly head off and take it home as a trophy! I would but for the fact that that would be way to nice to you. You need to suffer!"
Ichigo wrapped her hands around Snow's wrists and tried to pry her fingernails into them. Anything to get Snow to relive pressure so she could breath.
"I think I'll make your death slow and painful." Snow said as she pulled one of her arms free from Ichigo's grip and held it up in front of her eyes.
A bright redish-purple point of light began to glow.
"Fuck you! You slimy stupid beast!" Ichigo gasped defiantly.
Snow just laughed as she uncoiled her tail and used it to slash open the side of Ichigo's gi. Ichigo tried to kick back, but Snow just wrenched her neck to the side painfully and clenched down even tighter. Snow's eyes half closed before she jammed her finger into Ichigo's side.
A searing pain shot through Ichigo's left side as Snow fired off her piercing energy beam before constricting her tail around Ichigo again.
Ichigo gasped in pain as her stomach clenched and bloody bile forced it's way up her throat.
"Do you know how long it takes to die from a stomach wound?" Snow mocked. Your pathetic friends are no match for my troops, so I think I'll just squeeze the life's blood from you as you scream in pain."
* * *
Teddy up ended the bottle of antacids before shoving the final remaining ten pills in her mouth. The screen on the wall didn't report power levels of Earth's fighters to the workers, but Teddy's own panel did.
Teddy couldn't help staring at one line.
Changeling, 2nd stage, power level = 6,000,000
Teddy looked at another panel and brought up Gohan and Krillan's accounts of the fight with Frieza. 'Frieza had four stages. Frieza only claimed to be slightly more powerful then 1 million when he was in his second stage. Frieza was around 12 million in his fourth stage. If this Changeling increases at the same rate as Frieza did... 6 times 12 is 72 million. 72 million! We're dead.' She thought as she grabbed the antacid bottle and upended it before realizing it was empty.
Teddy looked at the rest of the power level chart and felt sick.
Ichigo, Current = 3,256,000(Kaioken), Max
Kaioken = 6,300,000, Max Normal = 450,000.
Roshi, Current = 100,000+ ??? Max Kaioken = ??? Max Normal = 590,000.
Goshu, Current = 200,000, Max Kaioken = ??? Max Normal = 390,000.
Yoshi, Current = 320,000, Max Kaioken = ??? Max Normal = 375,000.
Piccolo, Current = 100,000 Max Kaioken
= ??? Max Normal = 400,000.
Nail, Current = 120,000 Max Kaioken = ??? Max Normal = 390,000.
Tee, Current = 2,200,000( Kaioken),
Max Kaioken = 2,750,000, Max normal = 275,000.
Boxers, Current, 2,240,000(Kaioken), Max Kaioken = 2,800,000, Max Normal =
280,000
Slip, Current = 15, Max Kaioken =
??? Max Normal = 175,000.
Teddy felt sick. She ordered up another bottle of antacids from the Medlab, and didn't even look at the rest of the noted power levels on the list.
Goshu, Roshi, and the rest of them fluctuated so much that their power levels were ever changing list of numbers. Ichigo's had peaked, but it was now dropping rapidly.
'Worried sick... Yes, that would be me.' Teddy thought as she saw Roshi's power level spike to over 8,000,000 as he rushed over towards were the Changeling and Ichigo were fighting.
* * *
"Kaioken times fifteen!!!" Roshi yelled as he brought his boot down onto the Changelings head.
Ichigo screamed in pain as the Changelings hands ripped free of her neck, but was not released from its tail as the two of them skidded across the landscape and through a small boulder.
'Ouch, that sucked.' Roshi thought as he flew forward while charging a Kamehameha.
"I wouldn't if I were you." Snow taunted as she stood up and held a dazed Ichigo out in front of her, like a shield, with her tail. "you might hit the bitch."
Roshi continued to charge his Kamehameha while he grimaced at Snow. "Oh trust me, I'll hit the right bitch."
Ichigo's eyes cleared and she glared daggers at him while still seeming to be in a daze.
"You know, if you weren't such a coward, you would just fight me straight out. You wouldn't need a to use her as a shield. But I guess you need to use defenseless people like her against me cause you know I would kick your ass otherwise. Tell me, what does that scouter say about my power level?" Roshi said as he winked at Ichigo and made a subtle motion towards his hands.
If looks could kill, Roshi was sure he would be a pile of smoking ash as both Ichigo and Snow glared at him. For a moment, Roshi wasn't sure which to be more concerned with.
But Ichigo obviously understood what he was doing as her eyes slowly tracked to his hands. Roshi twisted his hands around so that his left hand became the top hand as he held both out in front of himself and flattened the ki ball into a disk.
Roshi saw a spark of recognition in her eyes as she suddenly twisted in Snow's tail's grip. "Kienzian!"
Shwunk
Ichigo's Kienzian sliced right through Snow's tail and Ichigo jumped away dragging half of Snow's tail with her as Roshi threw his Kamehameha charged Kienzian.
The disk of ki hit Snow in the middle of her chest and gouged a bloody gash out of her natural armor plates before it exploded and knocked her back.
Roshi rushed over and helped Ichigo get out of the coil of tail that had clenched up after being cut off of Snow. The wound in her side was pulsing blood and it had soaked her gi turning the formerly gray-blue shirt and pants a dirty brownish crimson. Her face was crusted with blood and a gash in her ear still bled droplets every few moments. Roshi looked her in the eyes and saw that they were dilated from blood loss.
"Let me help you get to Dende." He said as he reached out to grab her hand.
"Leave me alone you jerk" Ichigo spat before she broke down and started coughing blood.
"No, you need help." Roshi said as he glanced over at Snow and saw that she was having a bit of trouble balancing which he took to be a good sign.
Ichigo scoffed and ended up coughing again. "Oh how heroic, I get hurt and suddenly you care. I don't need you help and I certainly don't need your pity you ass!"
"Look this isn't the time!" Roshi said as he watched Snow start to fly towards the two of them again.
Roshi took a quick glance at Ichigo to see how she was and was surprised to find her digging in her shirt.
"What are you doing?"
"Gahh, ahhh, I'm getting that last Senzu been I got from you. Now if you don't mind would you watch her and not me you stupid pervert!"
"Right" Roshi said as he absentmindedly blocked several purple ki blasts. "You still have a Senzu bean? What did you do hide it in your bra?" Ichigo's glare could have melted titanium carbide. "Um, ah, can you sense Dende? Go have him heal you. Don't waste a senzu." Roshi said looking away before he focused on fighting Snow.
Roshi was sure he heard her say, "pervert," before she flew off towards were Dende was watching the fight several kilometers away. Roshi watched her go with regret. 'I hope she can make it that far alone.' He thought to himself.
Roshi knocked a few more of the purple ki blasts away before he started walking towards Snow.
You want to play machine guns? Ok I can do that. YADAyadayadayadayadayadayadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadada!" Roshi screamed as he sent off a barrage of Renzoku Energy Dans across the sky at Snow.
"Roshi stop that you're wasting your energy!" Goshu shouted as he landed near Roshi. She's still playing with you. Don't waste your energy needlessly!"
Both Roshi and his father jumped back as Snow sent out a lash of ki that incinerated a line of earth several meters wide by many kilometers long.
Roshi looked down into the gash and then quickly stepped back as lava started to ooze out of the ground.
"We need to end this now, or we may not get a chance." Piccolo said as he landed near by.
"Ahhh, did I hurt the poor planet. I'm sorry. You shouldn't have gotten out of the way!" Snow cackled from were she was floating.
Roshi turned to his father and the rest, "dad, she looks like the pictures of the second stage Changelings we have. I think we definitely have to stop her before she transforms again."
Goshu nodded. "Go, you can stop her now since she doesn't seem to be in any hurry to transform. Use her arrogance and take her by surprise."
"I'll try. Somebody make sure Ichigo gets to Dende, she's hurt bad."
Roshi calmed himself and took a deep breath before he slowly walked out of the huddle and towards Snow who had decided to wait leaning against a tree on the opposite side of the lava flow from Roshi.
"Ah, are you the best they can do? I was hoping to get to kill all of you at once. But I guess one at a time is more fun."
Roshi floated over the lava and watched her. 'damn she's huge. She has to be taller then 3 meters. This plan might not work... but best I have now.'
Roshi concentrated on spiking his ki only when he needed to, and he smiled to see her left eye focusing on her scouter's lens rather then on him.
"That won't help you. Here, why don't I break it for you so it won't distract you." He said moments before he jumped into the air and darted in to slam his fist into her left eye. The scouter shattered under the blow. One of the shards cut a ragged gash in the softer skin right above her eye. Purplish-pink blood flowed freely into her eye and down her cheek.
The next moment Roshi felt his ribs pop as Snow connected with first her left fist, and then her right.
Roshi gasped for air and fell backward.
Snow stopped on his stomach and forced him into the ground as she dug her three toes into his abdominal muscles.
"GAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!" Roshi screamed.
Snow glared down at him. "Of all the races I have encountered I have never once met one such as yours. Pity you seem to think the worthless monkeys are worth dieing for. Your kind would have made for wonderful slaves."
"Stupid Bitch, I am a SAIYAN!" Roshi screamed as he drove his right fist into the side of Snow's ankle.
She lifted her foot, which was all Roshi needed to dart free and fly up to deliver an uppercut to her chin.
Snow fell backwards, but as she fell she slashed her right arm past and nailed Roshi with a huge ball of ki.
Roshi suddenly found himself pinned against a huge red ball of ki that was burring his skin while it pushed him. He couldn't pull away, so he sent ki into it and blew the ball up.
Even before the smoke began to clear, Roshi found her and dove at Snow.
He pummeled her in the stomach for several seconds and then tried for her face before she blocked one of his right hooks.
Moments later she grabbed his left wrist and they began pushing against each other in a match of pure physical strength.
"AAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAA" Roshi grunted as he felt his left arm suddenly break free of her grip.
SNAP!!! WHAM Roshi drove the heel of his hand into her nose and was happy to hear it crunch beneath the blow.
Then he caught a glance at his arm.
"You broke my watch! That watch was over 500 years old. That was Gohan's watch. Ohhh now you're going to pay!" He yelled before he kicked her in the neck.
Snow tried to grab him with both hands in a bear hug, but Roshi managed to jump up and out of the way. He grabbed Snow's huge horns and yanked down on them driving her head into his knee.
Snow staggered back and held her head for a moment. Roshi saw a chance and flipped over before he quickly grabbed her left arm with his right hand and her right arm with his left hand.
He then jumped over her back and twisted in air so that her arms crossed over her chest and then were pulled tight as he drove his knees into her back.
She tried to knock him off with her tail, but the stumped end of it was too tender and she couldn't get it wrapped around him. So it just kept slamming into his back without much effect.
"I can't hold her forever! Somebody fuse and kill her!!!" Roshi yelled as he strained to keep her from pulling her hands free.
Snow turned her head as far as she could to the side and glared at him with her right eye. "Truer words were never spoken monkey slime!"
Roshi felt her muscles tense as she bent forward and started to scream. A sickly red and black aura started to build up around them as the ground started shaking.
"OH SHIT!!! Hurry up, she's transforming!!!!"
Roshi watched in horror as the armored plates of her back suddenly split and long black spikes started to grow towards him. He was about to let go and jump away when she suddenly flipped onto her back and drove him into the ground.
Roshi felt two of the spikes shatter a few of his ribs and his shoulder blades before punching their way out his back. Another pierced him through the left thigh. And another shattered his right shin.
Snow stood back up and Roshi felt himself slide off of the spikes that had pieced him.
Snow turned around to look at him and Roshi saw that her jaw's had become elongated to look much like an alligator's. Spines, spikes, and other sharp protrusions covered her body.
"How does it feel Monkey, to die knowing the power of a Changeling?"
Blood gurgled from Roshi's mouth as the world started to go fuzzy.
'Two punctured lungs. I can't breath. I really am going to die here.' He thought as the world slowly faded to black.
The last thing he saw was Goshi kicking Snow away from him.
As darkness took his sight he thought of how he had planned to spend the night dancing with Mariah. He formed a mental image of her and tried to hold it. In the end however, the only thing on his mind was the look of determination Ichigo had had even with the wounds she had taken. As even the pain numbed to nothingness, Roshi found himself jealous of her.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * *
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
