Chapter
40
Complications
Wednesday, June 25
6:00 pm
Mariah wished for about the millionth time that she had had a watch with her. 'Roshi's late. Roshi's never late.' She thought wistfully as she watched workers finish setting up the lights and sound system for the dance. 'If he doesn't get here soon, we won't have time to go eat and Roshi never does anything without eating first.'
Mariah wanted to sit down, but she dared not as she didn't want to get her pearly-blue satin dress dirty. Kit had forced her to get a dress that was far more expensive then she ever would have got on her own, and she wasn't about to damage it. So she slipped of her pumps and stood on the grass waiting.
Mariah didn't believe in premonitions, at least not normally, but the longer she waited the more worried she became. Her feelings of unease rolled in her stomach and as the time slowly passed, she had to work at holding back her tears.
Then suddenly sirens started to sound all over the city. The sirens were the same sirens that sounded when a tropical storm or hurricane was approaching.
Mariah looked out at the Ocean. The fresh sea-breeze was blowing calmly and a few clouds dotted the horizon. There was nothing that indicated a storm was approaching, but just the same, she decided to walk up to the boardwalk and into the beachside mall.
As she walked in to the mall, she saw that people were gathered outside the electronics store watching the news, so she joined them.
"This is breaking news, while the Royal Palace has yet to confirm this report, we have just received a message from the Capsule Corporation. They claim that the Earth is under attack by an alien force." One reporter said to another.
"Yes well we can speculate all we want, but the Mayor of Satan City has declared a State of Emergency. He said and I repeat, 'Our great city is named in honor of a hero. Despite the current problems within their family, I have no doubt that Mr. Satan's descendants remember and respect his name too much for this to be anything but the emergency that Teddy Son-Briefs claims it is'"
Mariah's heart just about stopped. 'No! not now. The aliens Roshi was worried about can't be here now!' She thought as the two commentators went into a discussion over the Mayor's words.
One of the men made a disrespectful comment about Roshi's actions the week before, and Mariah just about shouted at the TV, 'Roshi's a hero you idiots!' She thought to herself while she clenched her fists. Then she looked down at her dress and sighed. "I just wish he didn't have to be everyone's hero."
Mariah dejectedly left the mall and the beachside area to walk home. Kit had dropped her off to wait for Roshi, but had been given explicit warnings not to even think about coming to the gala if she didn't have a date. Which left Mariah without a ride.
As the sirens continued to blare and people rushed by in various states of panic, Mariah broke down. She couldn't contain her emotions any longer. She found a park and slumped down on an bench and cried. "Why did this have to happen now? Why can't Roshi just be normal like he said yesterday? Why?"
Mariah wiped a tear from her face and shook her head. "I have to stop. I'm being irrational. Roshi is who he is because if he was normal he wouldn't be... Roshi."
Mariah got up and forced herself to keep walking. 'This is actually a good thing in a way. Roshi can't... he won't lose. I know he won't. Once this all blows over we can tell each other all the things we always wanted to say, and everything will be ok.' Mariah laughed bitterly to herself. 'Easier thought then done.'
As she thought, she had been walking along a busy street that ran into the center of the city. Mariah was in the middle of a cross walk when a premonition of something terrible hit her. She stopped to reorient herself as first one then another and another building down the street suddenly exploded in flames.
"AHHHH!!!!" Mariah screamed in horror as the shockwave knocked her from her feet and threw her into the traffic of the street she had been walking along.
* * *
Meanwhile,
Teddy wished she could reach through the screen and strangle the Mayor of West City. "What do you mean you won't issue a public emergency! There is a dropship with troops that is about to land in the middle of your city. This isn't a joke. You need to get people off the streets!"
"Mrs. Briefs, you may run Capsule Corp, but you don't run this city and you don't run the world, even though you may think you do. The King hasn't issued a statement and I'll be dammed if I'm going to let you order me around like some puppet on a string! I will not be made a fool of just so you and your Corporation can look like heroes!"
"You stupid arrogant fool! You think this is some Public Relations move? I don't know what's more discussing, the fact that you are so blind, or the fact that you are so willing to put people at risk because of it." Slip glanced at the screen that showed the dropship that had flown towards West City disgorging it's troops. Slip was horribly out numbered and the very thought made her stomach turn.
"If you want your proof, go to a window and look North. Those explosions are from my security force and my daughter trying their best to save your city from your stupidity!"
Teddy was about to say more when an alarm suddenly started sounding. Teddy looked back at her readouts to watch in stunned disbelief as Roshi's name and numbers started to flash red on the readout. Almost as soon as that happened the floor below her erupted in pandemonium as the attacking troops in the Satan City area started to attack and destroy parts of that city.
She turned and glared at the white faced man. "I tried to warn you. I don't have time to waste on you any longer." She said abruptly before closing down the line.
Teddy quickly chewed down some more antacids and then tried in vain to determine what had happened to Roshi. The computer still tracked his nonmoving earpiece, but couldn't find a trace of him.
"The Fusions are unpredictable. Watch Roshi's numbers. If he is doing well, we are doing well. If not... well, best not think of that. Never stop hoping for the best." Goshu had said to her through his earpiece as he and the rest flew into battle.
As Teddy focused on the image of Slip fighting while totally surrounded by the invaders, with more of them less then an hour away, coming from the main ship, hope seemed a very long way away.
* * *
Slip's greatest concern at the moment was actually not the people she was fighting.
'Ok, so Mom thought it would be best if I wasn't seen fighting in West City. That I can agree with.' She thought to herself as she kicked one of the attacking men in the crotch and then broke his neck as he fell forward on her.
'So she thought it would be best if I wore the Great Saiyaman Two costume. No, problem. It really is fairly nice armor.' She thought as she threw one of her Great... one of Vegeta's Galic Gun beams into a cluster of solders killing men and women alike.
'So it just happens that the suit is supposed to be one size fits all. And it just happens that Videl was about exactly my height.' She thought as she blocked an attacking woman's punch and then grabbed the woman's arm and threw her into the ground.
'But it just happens that I'm not nearly as flat as Videl was and this thing is getting damn uncomfortable!' She thought as she finally gave in and reached up to tear open the neck of the suit some.
Slip quickly surveyed the fact that the security force with their ki blasters would be able to mop up most of the remaining troops without a problem.
"There is a small contingent of warriors that broke through and is heading for City Center." One of the operators told her through her headset.
"Ok, I'm on it."
Slip made a silent wish that she had been able to master the Kaioken, as she pushed herself to greater speeds as she rushed towards the center of the city.
As she got there, she saw a large cinnamon colored man with chocolate colored hair fire off two sickly green colored balls of ki at a screaming crowd that was rushing to get out of the streets.
'Crap,' Slip thought as she dove to intercept the blasts.
Slip crashed quite spectacularly into a van that just happened to be parked in the wrong place at the wrong time, but she did manage to knock the two blasts up and away from the crowd.
"That's Saiyaman! Saiyaman just saved us!" a female voice that sounded just a bit too familiar said as Slip crawled out of the compacted van.
"No way! That's a SaiyaGIRL!" Someone else said and Slip suddenly realized where she had heard the voices before. She looked up and her fears were confirmed.
"Niko, Carge what are you doing here! Get out of here, Roshi would kill me if something happened to you two!" Slip said before she remembered that she was in costume.
"How do you..." Carge started to ask, but Slip didn't give him any time as she jumped up to block another set of ki blasts.
"Just go home! EVERYONE GO! GET OUT OF HERE!! GET OUT OF THE CITY!!" Slip shouted before she started to charge a Kamehameha.
At the sight of "Saiyagirl" shooting a brilliant blue white beam of energy and knocking the big hairy flying man back, most of the people decided that they wanted to be someplace else.
Slip didn't have time to notice as the man worked his way off her beam and darted for her like a rocket. She barely registered the leer on his face before he hit her in the jaw.
* * *
Goshi ducked under a sweeping kick and in turn swept Snow's other leg.
Snow threw a ki blast into his face to keep herself from falling over and then followed that up with a punch to his ribs, which he blocked with relative ease.
"You monkeys are stubborn, but I'm glad. I haven't had this much fun in years." Snow taunted before trying to bite Goshi's head off with her elongated jaws.
"Just wait, the fun hasn't even started yet." The reverberating duality of Goshi's voice replied before he hit her in the chest with a Masenko.
Snow fired off several large ki blasts in quick succession, but Goshi dodged or blocked all of them.
"Is that the best you can do? I thought we were fighting not dancing." Goshi taunted as he pirouetted around two ki blasts and kicked one of them back at Snow."
"No one has ever dared to mock me! You good for nothing MONKEY!"
Goshi flew up and kicked her in the bottom of her jaw before darting away from her scissoring arms. "If you think that hurts me Lizard breath then you are even dumber then you look."
Snow screamed in rage as she spread her fingers and shot beam after beam of energy from each fingertip.
Goshi was overwhelmed by the attack and thrown back and into the ground.
Before he could get up Snow landed on him and kicked him in the head.
When she bent over to pick him up, he kicked out jamming his foot into her mouth. For a moment, it looked like a tactical error, then he grabbed the roof of her mouth with his left hand and pried her mouth open. Using his right hand he fired a massive ki blast directly into her mouth.
Unfortunately he did this at the same time as she fired off a breath blast attack.
The explosion knocked the two fighters back like twigs in a hurricane.
* * *
At the Royal Palace the King (who is still a dog) was in discussion with two of his top advisors.
"Sir, I do believe you need to make a public statement. The Earth is under attack. If you don't make a statement the people will think you don't care."
"Yes, I would also send out the Royal troops. The people at Capsule Corp. may claim that they are handling the situation, but not more then a week ago they couldn't handle a much smaller group of attackers and the moon ended up being destroyed. Are you going to trust them to save your Kingdom?"
"Good point, Sire, if you don't act the people might as well install the Capsule Corp. as the ruling government. Your very legitimacy as the King is being challenged here. Can't you see that the Son's are just trying to win back the hero status that they so carelessly squandered these past few weeks?"
"That's enough!" The King said as he ruffled his fur. "I will make a statement. And I will send the troops. Get me a map, we need to figure out where the Capsule Corp has it's people so that when our troops come to reinforce them they can appear to be the tide that turns this battle."
"Yes, excellent idea Sire. We can make it seem that the Son's were trying to hog too much of the glory and risking people because of it. This could work against them even worse then the Moon did." The rat faced advisor smiled before leaving to get the King what he requested.
* * *
Teddy was surprised to find her antacid bottle was miraculously empty again as she upended it and nothing came out.
She watched the King's broadcast one more time and then looked at the world map to confirm that a large group of the Royal guard were headed right for where Snow was fighting Goshi.
The computer finally got through to the Palace, but rather then the face of the King, a mousy looking rat faced human man appeared on the screen. "I'm sorry, but the King is too busy saving the Planet to talk right now. What can I do for you Mrs. Son-Briefs?"
Teddy sighed. 'Why the King has someone like R. A. Tong as one of his advisors is beyond me.' Teddy thought quickly. "Richard this isn't the time! If you don't call back that main attack force loyal men and women are going to die. Right now Goshu and his students are fighting a being much like Cell. You remember what Cell did to the Royal troops back before the Cell games right?"
"Yes, and I also note that we have gained a lot of technology since them. I also note that you've taken it on yourself to make this into a world wide panic. The King knows what he is doing. Why don't you go invent something and stay out of the way?" He replied snidely before ending the connection.
Teddy ripped the monitor off the stand and threw it across the room. 'What the HELL is up with idiots risking people's lives over an ego trip?'
As she turned to tell an aide to get her a new monitor and a new bottle of antacids, Teddy decided that men had way too much macho ego problems to ever truly make the right choices in times of crisis. They all had to play the hero, or failing that they needed to think that they were in control. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid!'
Teddy looked at her map panel again and winced. Slip was single-handedly fighting something that was slightly stronger then she was. She was doing a good job, but the city was getting torn up.
Nail and Piccolo were protecting the East Capitol and North City.
Boxers was trying to stop the Royal Guards from throwing their lives away.
Tee was most of the way to Satan City were his father and Boxer's father were being out fought by several people that were far stronger then they were.
Goshi was fighting at roughly half what he started out at, and Roshi was either knocked out or dead as far as the computer could determine.
The only good news was that the Changeling seemed to be losing energy at the same rate as Goshi, and that Ichigo seemed to have been healed from whatever injuries she had sustained.
'Please Dende, help us through this.'
* * *
"AHHH!!!" Mariah screamed as she fell into the path of a hover truck. As she hit the ground, she saw it swerve to miss her and sideswipe a taxi. Then, something hit her on the back of the head, and the world went black.
When she came to, she was pinned under the beam that normally held the street lights up. Mariah tried to wiggle herself free, but throbbing agony shot from her left shoulder.
'I can't move!' She panicked and started to hyperventilate as she struggled to see what was going on around her.
Siren's still wailed. People were shouting and screaming. Acrid smoke of burning metal and fuel cells wafted past. However, the thing that frightened Mariah the most was when she saw the nearby van that had overturned trying to avoid hitting her. There was a small pool of blood forming from where it was dripping slowly from the rents and crumbled mess that had once been the front of the van.
"Roshi will save me." She said to herself in an attempt to stop panicking. "Roshi said he was going to be fighting these people. If they attacked her then he has to come. He has to save me."
"ROSHI!!!" Mariah screamed. "ROSHI HELP ME!!"
In the distance an explosion drowned out her screams.
Mariah screamed and called for help for what seemed like hours. She yelled until her throat was raw and her lungs burned from the smoke. She didn't give up hope as she called for Roshi to save her.
Then the Earthquake hit.
* * *
Slip swallowed more blood as her nose continued to bleed relentlessly. Her entire head throbbed as she dove out of the way of yet another roundhouse blow that would have slammed into her temple.
'All this idiot does is hit me in the head. I need to stop this now or I'm going to have brain damage!'
"Wha ha! Big Buildings!" The man yelled triumphantly as he fired off several quick ki blasts.
Slip turned to follow and block the blasts and gave a squeak of horror as she realized he was attacking Capsule Corp.
One of his early blows had destroyed her headset. And with all the fighting Slip had totally lost track of where she was.
"YA YA YA YA!!" She yelled as she quickly fired off a succession of ki blasts in an attempt to destroy his blasts. Three of the balls of energy intercepted their targets and exploded in brilliant bursts of energy. The last missed and Slip's jaw dropped as the green ball of ki slammed into one of the newer domes and exploded. A large section of the dome collapsed and started to burn.
Slip turned and drilled him six times in the stomach in rapid succession. "THAT'S IT! You're done. That was MY BEDROOM YOU IDIOT!!!"
The cinnamon colored man brought his hands down and jammed them into her neck in an attempt to stun her.
Slip threw her arms up to block and then slammed her knee up into his groin.
'I don't know why Ichigo doesn't use that attack on Roshi all the time. It seems to be the only one that works on him.' She thought absentmindedly as she threw an uppercut into the man's face.
"Pretty girl goin die now." The man replied as he pulled away from her. Slip got the distinct impression that a trained rat would beat this warrior on an IQ test.
"Oh yeah? I'm stronger and faster then you now. What are you going to do to me?"
The man simply laughed as a crease suddenly appeared in the middle of his forehead.
Before Slip could react, his entire body split open and a brilliant orange man ripped his way out of the shed skin. The old skin drifted down to the street looking way too much like a shed snake skin for Slip's liking.
The man's right arm stretched out and grabbed her around the neck. Slip gasped as he pulled her closer to him. Since he had shed his armor with his old skin and was now totally nude, it wasn't hard to tell what his intentions were.
As soon as she was in range, she booted him in the crotch. To her horror the man didn't even flinch.
"Do again, Pain make me happy. You want hurt too??" The man laughed as he slammed his left fist into her chest.
"So you no like that? You no like when me attack buildings too. I think I have fun now." He mocked her as he ran a finger down her face and then reached past her to fire off several ki blasts.
Slip had both hands clenched into the soft side of his elbow trying to get him to release her while she continuously pummeled his crotch with her knees.
"No!!!! MOMMMMMMM!!!" Slip managed to scream. She was out of options. Nothing was working.
'It's now or never.' She thought as she tried to get her mind to focus on the meditations needed to perform the Kaioken.
"KAIOKEN!!!" She coarsely bellowed as he swept her right arm around to chop into his neck.
Slip blinked in surprise as her hand sliced right through the man's neck and out the other side.
His mouth fell open and his eyes rolled back before his head fell off of his shoulders and tumbled to the ground.
"Wow, ah, that was... easy." Slip said before turning around to look at what he had done to the Capsule Corp.
Slips shoulders dropped. "Mom's going to kill me!"
As Slip stared in shock, the Power Dome burned, mocking her. In the middle of a tragedy, the Capsule Corp. was without power.
* * *
The building shook once and then the power went out.
"Main generator destroyed. Backup power coming online in three, two, one." The computer faithfully reported as red emergency lights blinked on and off throughout the room.
The lights flickered on for a moment, before plunging the room into total darkness.
"Backup generators offline. Switching to city grid in five, four, three, two, one."
Nothing happened.
Teddy put her head in her hands and trembled. The primary computer ran on a backup power cell that was good for over a year, but it couldn't run anything else.
"CALM DOWN! Everyone please just calm down. This was an unforeseen complication, but it changes nothing. Those of you with technical expertise meet me at junction 32a by the hanger. I'm going to try to splice power in from one of the warp ships."
Teddy quickly rushed out of the room and headed for the hangers. At the hangers, she ran into Max, who was helping to load the rescue ships with food.
"Max, good. You can fight some right? I mean you spent sometime training with Goshu right?"
Max looked down from the window she was staring out of and realized who was talking to her. "Oh yeah, but..."
"Good, before we lost power, Satan City was getting beat on and Goshi called everyone who could fuse back to the Changeling fight. If Slip is still alive, I need you to find her and send her to Satan City. Seems, Saiyaman has to save Satan City again."
"Teddy I'm no better then you are at fighting!"
"I know, but I can't send myself I need to get power back. Please go. We need all the help we can get. Besides, don't you want someone to save your restaurant?"
Max looked down for a moment and then looked up again. "I'll go. You want me to stay here and help guard this city while Slip goes to Satan City right?"
"Yes. Slip wiped out almost everyone who threatens us here, but Dr. Tank, and P.J. can't hold back the forces that are at Satan City."
Max nodded and flew out the door. "Wish me luck."
"I wish for you a lot more then just luck." Teddy replied to herself.
* * *
P.J. winced and quickly glanced down at his left arm. 'Nope, the ulna is definitely not supposed to be sticking out of my arm like that.' He thought as his tattered arm twisted in the air as he dodged a large ki blast.
P.J. turned back and glared at the little blue turtle shelled alien that had broken his arm and devastated much of the city. "Oh don't you dare smile at me like that you little shit! I still have one good arm and two good legs to beat your shell in with!" He yelled as he threw a couple of ki blasts at the little shelled alien.
The turtle thingy just pulled its arms, legs, and head in and let the ki blasts bounce off of its shell.
P.J. heard the alien laughing at him from inside its shell. "Why you little!" He yelled before punting the alien into the upper atmosphere.
"KAMEHAMEHA!!!" He yelled. "Breathe vacuum you little shit!" He yelled as he shot a one handed blast that would have made Gohan proud. The Kamehameha pushed it up to the edge of space.
"DAMN!" He yelled as the little alien fired several ki blasts and then dove down through the atmosphere towards the fight.
"Hey, if you're not to busy playing with your guy, I could use some help!" Tank yelled from where he was fighting two identical tiger looking warriors.
Tank was Boxer's father and while being one of the best scientific minds in the world, was not a very apt fighter. His primary tactic was "fly faster" where he made people dizzy by flying away from them at top speed.
Unfortunately for him, the two warriors were not letting him get away from them. In fact, they seemed to be having great fun tossing him around like a rag doll.
'Ugh, why did I never take the time to get Goshu or his father to train me?' T.J. thought as he winced from the pain in his arm while trying to block one of the two tiger looking warriors so Tank could deal with the other.
The warrior he tried to block lashed out with both arms and then kicked him. Unable to block everything because of his broken arm, P.J. was kicked through a nearby building and ended up with several I-beams wrapped around him.
"This is really starting to get bad. If we don't get help soon, there won't be much of Satan City worth saving." He said to himself as he pulled himself out of the mangled beams and strewn wreckage.
* * *
Ichigo pulled her hand away from Roshi's face. It was cold and clammy. "What's wrong with him? I thought you said you healed him." Ichigo asked accusingly to Dende.
Dende winced as the ground shook from a near by explosion. "I did. But it seems much like you when you were unconscious in the Room of Spirit and Time, Roshi has looked past death's door. I can't do anything more for him. He will just have to wake on his own."
Ichigo grabbed the elderly Namek by the scruff of his collar. "Just what do you mean by that? I saw him go down. He didn't do anything like what I did in that wretched room."
Dende sighed. "No he did not. I still don't fully understand how or what you did in there."
Ichigo threw him down. "Then what do you mean about looking past death's door?"
"Dear child it is an expression used to describe people who are near death. When you were in your coma I was afraid your mind and soul had departed. You were in a dreamless sleep. From what you said you didn't even feel yourself pass out. Roshi, however was aware. He may be even worse off then you because as you can see, he is not in a dreamless sleep. He saw the wounds he had received and had enough time to realize what they meant. Even now that his body has been healed, his mind still thinks him dead."
"So he's just dreaming?" Ichigo asked before bending over and slapping Roshi hard in the face.
Dende ineptly attempted to bring his staff down on her head. "Leave him be!"
Ichigo blocked the knotted staff and wrenched it from Dende's hands. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't turn you into a pile of green goop for that!"
Dende looked past her and winced as Snow threw Goshi into the ground and then followed that up with a shower of ki blasts.
"Patience child. Roshi will wake on his own time. If you force him to wake before he finishes whatever dreams keep him on the pathways between life and death, part of him may stay there!"
Ichigo growled in frustration and stalked away. "Some god you are!"
* * *
Slip practically flew into Max as she flew out of the hanger. "Maxine! What are you doing?"
Max stopped and grabbed Slip, "you need to get to Satan City. P.J. and Tank can't hold on much longer and no one else can relive them."
Slip got an odd gleam in her eyes. "When this is over will you help me get Roshi back for all this?"
Max just looked at her. "When? You don't have time to think about when Slip. This is now. People are dieing. Get moving, I'll stand guard here."
Slip's jaw snapped shut. "You're right. But don't ever even hint there won't be a when. We're not going to lose. Roshi isn't that lucky." She yelled as she flew away.
Max, who knew almost all the family gossip that could be told, had to laugh. "That's the spirit."
* * *
When the earthquake hit the pole that had Mariah pinned to the ground shifted suddenly and fell on her ankle crushing the joint. Mariah had passed out from the jolt of pain.
When she woke up, someone was patting her cheek softly. "Mariah, are you awake? Can you hear me? How bad are you hurt?" Someone asked her franticly.
Her head was swimming, and she couldn't seem to focus on who was talking to her. "Roshi? Is that you?"
"Thank Dende, you're awake." The male voice exasperated. "I've been trying to wake you up for like five minutes. You're bleeding all over a really nice dress."
Mariah's leg was numb, and her right side throbbed. "Roshi is that you?" She asked as her eyes finally started to focus.
John Kind looked down at her with a dirty face locked in a look of worry. "No, I'm sorry, it's me John. Were you going to the Gala with Roshi? Is he someplace in this rubble?"
"No, I mean yes, I... Roshi never made it to the dance. I tried to walk home after the emergency was called, but I..."
"Mariah, it's ok. I'm sure Roshi is fine He lives out in the middle of nowhere. I bet whoever these aliens are won't even bother him." John said with a reassuring smile. "Now let's get you to a Hospital before you get infected. That ankle looks terrible."
He helped Mariah stand up and she looked him over. He was covered in small scrapes and bruises. Grease and dirt stained his pants and he was missing one shoe. "You don't understand. Roshi's a fighter. He is someplace fighting right now. I know he is."
John frowned as he bent over to feel for a pulse on an arm that was sticking out of a somewhat crushed car. After a few moments he gave up. "Such a waste. I am sure you are right. Roshi is descended from Mr. Satan, but not even Mr. Satan could have saved us from this."
'And Roshi knew it was coming. Why weren't they better prepared? How could this happen?' She thought to herself as she grabbed John's shoulder for support. "How did you find me?"
John blushed. "Um, well to be honest. It was your dress. I was in the taxi the van that almost hit you hit when it swerved to miss you. I um, saw you from several blocks off and didn't recognize you. I mean you looked... look well ah, stunning to be honest. Anyway I was watching you and then the whole world just kind of exploded around me."
Mariah blushed at his complements. "Thank you. I'm glad someone got to like my dress. Roshi never even got to see it. At least not when it looked nice." She said while glancing down at the various rips and tares and blood stains that covered the once pristine dress.
John looked away. "So... you two are dating then? It is true, not just rumors. I don't tend to read the tabloids but with all the stuff going on lately..." he trailed off when Mariah burst into tears.
"Yes, but no, but yes... I don't really know. Roshi has so much going on I don't know if he has time to be official and I..."
John stopped and looked down at her. "Mariah, I know this isn't my place, and I know I shouldn't say this, but I have to. He isn't worth it. If he is too busy for you, then he doesn't deserve you."
"But he does and... Oh it's so complicated and I can't tell you why. Roshi isn't too busy because he wants to be it's because he has to be. He hates it."
John was silent for a long time as they hobbled down the block avoiding small fires and rubble from cars and collapsed buildings. "No on can choose who they are, but anyone can choose what they do with who they are." He finally said softly.
Mariah didn't have an answer for him. So she stoically remained silent.
"I'm sorry. That wasn't a very nice thing to say. I... I don't really know Roshi, so I shouldn't judge him. I just, I don't know he seems so distant all the time. Not like he is better then everyone, just distant."
"I don't want to talk about Roshi. You would be distant too if you were him. I don't know how he can be as normal as he is with all those vicious reporters and everyone picking on everything he does!"
John stopped and looked at Mariah. "I know, I know, I'm sorry. What I've said was uncalled for. Please forgive me."
Mariah winced and then smiled. "You pulled me out from under a light pole. I guess I can forgive you. Apology accepted. There, now we are even."
John rolled his eyes. "So much for the Knight in Shining armor idea. You know, rescue the fair maiden and be her hero for life. I was really going for the whole hero thing."
Mariah shuddered as an explosion sounded in the far distance. "I am sure there are many maidens far more fair then I that need rescuing today. I'm one of the lucky ones."
The two teens were suddenly flung to the side as a blue shelled creature crashed into the middle of the street ripping asphalt apart like tissue paper and heaving chunks of debris all about.
* * *
Roshi had never believed in near death experiences. He had heard all the stories about being pulled toward the light and dismissed them. So when the darkness took him and the pain slowly went away, Roshi panicked.
He was now locked in a nightmare of his own making. He saw himself fall. He had failed. Snow laughed viciously mocking him and then started to fight Goshi.
"No!!!!" He screamed impotently. No one seemed to hear him. Snow transformed again and the fusions were no longer stronger then she was. Roshi watched as Snow ripped Boxers's sword away from Boxee and killed Tee and Boxers with it. Ichigo was vaporized by a ki blast that destroyed a huge section of the planet. Dende, Piccolo, and Nail were ripped apart into so many pieces that they couldn't re-grow.
Snow then threw a huge ball of ki down on Goshi. Goshi couldn't stop it and it exploded spreading fire and death throughout the planet. The land burned under a wave of fire. The fire washed over the Earth until nothing but ash and cinders remained.
Roshi couldn't take it. He had failed. He had failed Ichigo, and his family, and Mariah, and Kit, and Carge and Niko, and all the rest of his friends. He had let them all die.
Roshi screamed in rage and terror as if by force of will time reset itself. Time flowed backwards to when he was fighting Snow again. And Roshi watched powerless to stop himself from falling again.
* * *
Kit for her part was furious at her parents. "I can't believe we're just going to leave like a bunch of rats jumping off a sinking ship!"
As head of Capsule Corp's terraforming project for Planet Vulpe, Kit's father had his own space ship, which Kit's mother was hastily packing with luggage.
"Keiko Nny! This is the last time I'm warning you. We're doing this for you. One would think you would be more gracious.
"Doing this for me? This isn't about me! We're running away while people are dieing! After everything these people have done for us how can you just leave?!?"
Kit's mother sighed and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Kieko dear, you have to understand."
"What's to understand? When Vulpe was hit by that comet, Roshi's Great-Grandfather didn't have to stop and help. No one had to come to our rescue, but they did. And now we're just going to run away and not help anyone?"
"Keiko, they're fighting a Changeling for Kami's sake!"
"So! Changelings have attacked this planet before and failed. They aren't going to lose!"
"You don't know that, no get in so we can go."
"No. I'm not running away again. I'm not starting over again. Roshi and his family won't lose. And even if they did and the Changeling kills everyone, I would rather die here with my friends the escape and have to live with their deaths the rest of my life!" Kit yelled before turning around and running out of the hanger complex.
* * *
"John wake up! Oh come on Dende please let him wake up!" Mariah cried as she slapped John lightly on the face.
A chunk of asphalt had struck John in the forehead. A large gash still wept blood as Mariah frantically tried to wake him up.
Suddenly a screaming feminine voice was heard over the din of the chaos. "Oh you think you're funny you little shelled beast! When I'm done with you there won't be enough of you left to make turtle stew!"
The screaming was followed by a rapid succession of explosions and Mariah shuddered as a building down the street suddenly collapsed.
"John wake up! We need to get out of here! Come one wake up!"
Mariah gave up trying to wake him up and grabbed his right arm. Since her ankle was crushed, she couldn't put any pressure on it, but still managed to very slowly drag him towards the entry for the Subway. With everything that was happening, the Subway tunnels had to be safer then being up on the street.
As she approached the stairs, a man who's face was blistered from burns appeared from a side street and saw her.
"Miss, is he alive?"
"Yes. I'm trying to get to the subway to get out of the attack."
"Then he's one of the lucky ones. Here you shouldn't be struggling in the shape you are in. Let me carry him." The man said before grabbing John and walking quickly for the Subway.
"My name is Nakamo Jube." The man introduced himself after they were down into the Subway.
Mariah introduced herself and gawked at the crowd of people in the room. It seemed like anyone who could fit had crammed into the terminal to escape the destruction of the city.
A mass of screams went up as the ground shook and the lights flickered and went out.
'Roshi make it stop. Please make it stop.' Mariah cringed as the ground continued to shake and the lights didn't come back on.
'Why couldn't you be here Roshi? Why couldn't you save me? Why?'
* * *
Slip yanked her hand out of the blue shell. "YOUCH!! You bit me you stupid turtle!
"Hei HEI HEI," the blue alien laughed at her snickering in glee.
"Oh that's it! Look what you did to this city! You're going to pay! Ka-Me-Ha-Me..."
The alien clamped it's shell closed like usual when Slip or anyone else charged a ki attack.
Seeing this, Slip glared and flew up to clamp the thing between her knees. 'lets see you get out of this one,' she thought, "HAAA!!!" She screamed placing her hands directly over the tiny opening in the shell were the alien's head normally would go.
Slip cringed in pain as her own blast bubbled over and flowed past her legs burning the armor off and singeing off the tiny stubble of hairs she hadn't shaved off that morning.
The shell finally slipped free of her hold and shot down towards the ground pushed by the beam.
"Awe Crap!" Slip dove for the ground and knocked it back into the air before it could create yet another crater in the middle of the city. At least that is what she had meant to do. By the time she caught up with the turtle shell, her Kamehameha had so consumed it, that when she kicked it, the shell just broke apart like an overly fragile egg.
The last remnants of her Kamehameha slammed into her and knocked her into the ground.
"I didn't sign up for this." Slip mumbled to herself as she crawled out of the small impact crater she had made.
"At least I've gotten rid of all the guys attacking the Cities. Now it's up to Roshi and the gang." Slip said before letting the concussion she had been fighting since West City pull her into unconsciousness.
* * *
Ichigo couldn't take it any longer. Goshi had just been knocked through a granite bluff and wasn't looking so good anymore.
'I can't let these people die because of me. I can't let them fight for me. This is my fault I need to do something about it.' She told herself.
Ichigo glanced at Roshi, and then at were Tee and Boxers had fallen when Snow had knocked out Boxee with one punch. 'They suffer because I wasn't good enough. This isn't their fight. This shouldn't be happening.
"Kaioken times Tweeennty!" She screamed as a huge flair of blood red ki exploded around her. As the burning pain shot threw her she knew she would probably die, but she didn't care. There were worse things in life then death.
* * *
Hi, I am really sorry this took so long to post. I hope to get 41 up this week yet, but no promises.
Please Review.
The Smooster
