This chapter is dedicated to all the people (beta readers) who knew this was coming and didn't tell anyone about it.
Chapter 51
For Those You Love
Day One in the Month of Strength, 17:20
Boxers stood over Tee as Conch the Healer knelt to check him over. 'What the hell are Roshi and Ichigo doing over there?' He thought as he looked down the long blade of his sword at Blizzard. 'Ok I know Blizzard just about blew the planet up with that last explosion, but that's really no reason to flee that far away...'
Sudden realization hit him. 'Shit, they were trying to lead the Changelings away from Tee and the city. SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! Why do I always have to be in the wrong place?'
"Your monkey friends have all been blown away. Their gone and they left you and that fallen one for me to kill. They weren't even a challenge and I have seen you fight. Do you really think that little toy is going to stop me? I think I will enjoy ripping you limb from limb and then I think I might even use your own blade to dissect you while your heart still beats." Blizzard said with a rabid grin.
Boxers gave Blizzard his best plastic grin. "Ya know, as great and as much fun as that sounds, I think I am going to have to say... no to that plan." Boxers swung his blade up into a high cross defensive stance and then forced a smirk at Blizzard. "Instead, how about I introduce you to my sword. It has been a long while since it has drank any Changeling blood. It is the sword that killed Frieza and caused Kold's death as well you know."
If there had been a non-menacing part about Blizzard it went away after he heard Boxers brag. 'Ok, Roshi's coming now... come on hurry up.' Boxers thought as he desperately tried to think of something to stall for more time with.
Blizzard glared at him. "You monkeys are all the same. I am not falling for your brag. I have met your Super Saiyan and found it lacking. Why should I fear a sword when it is held by a foolish smelly vermin such as yourself?"
"Fine, you want to fight? Just you and me then? No problem, just keep the two goons back and we can dance all you want."
Blizzard gleamed. "Oh no, what ever gave you the idea that I like a fair fight? I think if that sword is as dangerous as you say, then you might as well fight all of us at once."
'Oh fuck!' Boxers thought as he turned the sword to deflect a ki blast with the haft of the blade before throwing his left hand out past the hand guard and returning fire with his own green blast of ki.
A quick slash with back and down towards his right ankle stopped Ice from kicking him as she pulled up short to avoid being sliced but the slashing up cut Boxers made when he returned the blade to a high left cross guard position to block another of Blizzard's ki blasts.
A quick back flip later and he had jumped over a sweep made by Thunder only to awkwardly on the ice. Boxers slipped and went down hard onto his rear. Had he had a normal tailbone like a true human would have, he would have probably broken it, as it was he only jammed his spine.
No longer on his feet, he could not move fast enough to avoid being hit by the follow through sweep made by Thunder. Thunder kicked him in the small of the back, hooking his foot under Boxers's right armpit and launched him directly into Blizzard.
Blizzard hammer punched him and caught him right above his left temple. Boxers felt his head swim as his vision went red and then black for a few seconds.
"Tisk Tisk, it would appear as though you dropped your sword." Blizzard said when Boxers vision cleared. Blizzard smiled evilly down at him while brandishing his sword and swinging it in wide arcs through the air.
"So you think you've won? Simpleton." Boxers spat as he tried to get back up, only to be forced down again by both Ice and Thunder.
"Not only have I won, but I think I will have fun cutting you apart piece by piece."
"I don't think so." Tee said suddenly as he landed a heel kick into the bridge of Blizzard's nose, and knocked him back.
Blizzard stumbled on the ice and only his long tensile tail kept him from going down. These few moments of surprise were more than enough for Boxers to slam his elbows back and into the unsuspecting stomachs of the Changelings behind him.
"Kaio-ken times twenty!" He screamed suddenly, and he felt the blood boiling heat of the Kaio-ken surge through his body. His muscles bulged and grew painfully taunt as he reached back over his shoulders with both hands to grab the horny heads of the two Changelings who had been holding him down.
Boxers had always been somewhat double jointed. This combined with the surge of need within him allowed him to yank both Thunder and Ice over his back. Without changing his grip he twisted them through the air to slam their heads directly into the pavement before he rolled forward over them. He quickly changed his grip so that he wouldn't snap his arm, and then used his forward rolling momentum to roll back up onto his feet. As he stood back up, he hammer threw both of them into a large granite and marble wall 120 meters away from him.
A resoundingly sickening sucking like popping noise was made by both of his shoulders as he forcibly pulled his arms back into their sockets.
"Teach you."
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye he saw movement. Blizzard spoke as Boxers slowly started to turn in that direction, "foolish of you to forget your real opponent."
Too late Boxers realized Blizzard was brining Trunks's sword down over his head in an overhead slice. Too late, he realized he could do nothing to stop it. Too late, he realized he didn't even have time to get out of the way. Too late, he realized he was about to die.
A brilliant flash of yellow seeped through eyelids Boxers had not realized he was closing.
"Advice you should take yourself Blizzard." Roshi said calmly.
Boxers opened his eyes. Roshi stood beside and a touch in front of him. His right hand was holding the sword still while his left began to charge with blue ki.
Blood welled between Roshi's thumb and the blade of the sword. It trickled down the blade and slowly dripped off of the hand guard. If Roshi noticed that the sword had cut him, he did not give any indication.
'That was too close for comfort.' Boxers sighed with relief. "About time you got back here."
* * *
Roshi did not acknowledge Boxers comment as he glared down into Blizzard's eyes. He tightened his fingers on the blade of the sword heedless of the pain as the blade bit into his palm. "This is where you let go of the sword or it starts to hurt." He said as he thrust his left hand with the arcing blue glow into Blizzards face.
Blizzard let go of the sword. "But how! I killed you! I killed you and that bitch! And that spiky purple haired freak! I felt his neck break! You can't be alive!"
Roshi flipped Boxers's sword back so that he could catch it by the hilt. "You know, this isn't the first time someone told me what I did was impossible." He replied snidely while realizing he had forgotten Blizzard couldn't track ki.
'How was I supposed to lead him away from the city when he thought I was dead? Stupid of me.' Roshi scolded himself as he glared up at Blizzard, "and you know, I doubt this will be the last time either!"
"Yeah!" Tee added, "next time you try to kill someone do it right!"
'Must you open your mouth Tee?' Roshi wondered as he forced himself to not break eye contact with Blizzard.
Blizzard turned to glare at Tee and curled his black lips into a terribly deformed smile. "Big words for someone who hides behind his friends!" He said as he scanned the area.
Roshi could sense Ichigo was having a good fight with Ice and Thunder, the two Changelings were being beaten back, but by working together they were actually holding their own fairly well.
"Tee, go help Ichigo." Roshi said, knowing he needed to keep Tee from saying any more thoughtless comments.
"Yes, go run away little monkey. I don't know how you survived having your neck snapped like a twig, but next time you..." A sudden flash of realization passed through Blizzard's eyes. "It was the Green one!"
Blizzard jumped. Roshi tried to jump with him, but with the weights still on he was too slow. He reached out his hand to block the purple ki blast, but it shot past his out stretched fingers.
"Watch out! MOVE!" Roshi yelled towards the Namekian Healer as he turned in the air, while wishing he had taken the time to get to know them better. He couldn't tell which one this was.
Boxers was darting towards the healer, in an effort to cut off the blast.
The Namekian healer had been watching the battle from near the pile of bodies where he had healed Tee. Realizing his danger, he started to move, but not nearly soon enough.
The purple ki blast hit him.
Roshi gave up any hope for the Namekian to regenerate when the purple energy washed over his body and ripped him apart.
Blizzard was cackling with laughter. "There! Now you cannot be healed. There will be no coming back when I am done with you!"
Roshi turned to glare at him through over the 20-meter distance that now separated them.
"Is that so?" He said sounding far calmer than he was. With a jerk he ripped off his wrist guards. Moments later his boots fell to the ground with a clunk.
"So you were wearing weights? Do you really think dropping a little weight will make... Guhh!"
Blizzard's commentary was cut off by a Ki Punch powered uppercut to the stomach, which was followed in quick succession with a left hook to the side of the jaw. Blizzard's jaw popped, but did not break as he was thrown to the side and crashed into the snow-covered ground.
Roshi didn't give him time to recover as he leapt through the air in an attempt to land on the Changeling.
Blizzard barely rolled out of the way before Roshi landed, and could not escape the kick to the ribs, which sent him careening around the partially destroyed coliseum, like stadium the two now fought in.
Blizzard got up and threw a huge ball of red ki at Roshi. By the time it got to him, it was easily twice as big around as he was tall. He set his feet and slapped it with open hands back at Blizzard. The Changeling tossed a small ki blast at it and it blew up about half way between them. The explosion excavated a large hole into the ground and threw up a large amount of dust.
'He can't see me.' Roshi thought as he darted in an arc to the left and shot out of the cloud of dust to slam into Blizzard's right side. Blizzard was launched through the air only to crash through a granite pillar. The pillar collapsed and a large section of the upper deck of the stadium fell on Blizzard.
Roshi sensed a ki blast moments before it would hit him in the back of the head, so he flipped forward in a complete front flip and soccer kicked the blast into the pile of ruble that had buried Blizzard.
"That's impossible! How could you know that was coming?" Thunder cried when Roshi landed and turned to look up at him.
"Things that are impossible are simply things that are beyond one's understanding. Every time you say that word it only goes to show how feeble and stupid you Changelings truly are."
"How dare you!" Thunder screamed as he suddenly started to rapid-fire ki blasts at Roshi.
Roshi would have liked to have only dealt with Blizzard at the moment, but he realized that Chill was back and in his fourth form. Ichigo, Tee, and Boxers were busy with him and Ice. Which left Thunder and Blizzard to Roshi.
'I hope the other's can handle things themselves.' Roshi thought as he swatted several of the minute yet powerful ki blasts away from him.
* * *
Goshu blocked a ki blast and kicked the warrior who had sent it in the ribs. Several sickening crunching pops and a burst of blood out of the warrior's mouth later, and he had one less warrior to fight.
Slip was braced against a large stone outcropping behind him. Every once in a while he would let someone past, and she would take care of him or her, but for the most part she simply fought to stay conscious as the poison worked to knock her out.
The Chartashan had not shown back up. After inciting the flood of warriors who seemed all too happy to die, he had simply vanished into the crowd.
A female looking warrior with four arms soon joined the pile of dead that was building up at under Goshu. Originally he had been standing, but was now flying above the rapidly growing pile.
The fight disgusted him. Life was precious and it was almost a crime to be killing so many so fast. They had no hope of beating him, yet they threw themselves into battle out of fear. They either had to fight him and die trying, or be killed by Blizzard for running from battle. He knew it was too much to ask for any of them to hope Blizzard would be beaten.
A large ki caught his attention as Nail suddenly landed behind him and set Max down at Slip's feet.
"Looks like you have been busy." Nail said calmly as he floated up beside Goshu.
The appearance of another fighter beside Goshu stopped the crowd of warriors for a moment.
"Nail! I..."
"I know, I saw you help Slip away. Things happened fast. I do not hold anything against you. We all knew the risks."
"Then how?"
"I was helped. Not all of Blizzard's army is here because they want to be. Most are slaves. Some even want to be free."
Goshu looked around. "Well, where are these warriors who helped you then?"
"I sent them to their ships. I saw that Chartashan fleeing towards the North, all that is left are these idiots who fight for no reason." Nail said with a menacing snarl, at the collected group of warriors.
Goshu chuckled grimly, somewhere on this planet there were 200,000 warriors left in Blizzard's army. Only someone like Nail could call that All that is left.
The wall of warriors must have realized this too, as with that, they rushed Goshu and Nail.
Nail sent a makkansappo out to destroy a large number of them, but the tide kept coming.
Kienzians only slowed the flow. Kamehamehas did likewise. The two warriors fought side by side above the ever-growing pile of the dead.
* * *
It had been eighteen days. Eighteen of Saiya's long thirty-six hour days had passed since Ichigo had been forced by her father to flee before the Changelings could land.
Those eighteen days had been the longest in Momo's life. She saw more carnage on the day of the attack than she had thought possible. Because of all the deaths she had suddenly been trust into the unlikely position of Regent. Until her death, Ichigo's return, or the destruction of Saiya, she would hold a position that she never dreamed would be hers. Momo was a teacher, a healer, but mostly, she was not a warrior. The same wave of disease that had eventually lead to her sister Nashi's death had weakened Momo in her twelfth year. She lost her chance at a Trial.
In a way Momo had always resented how that chance had been stolen away from her. The fact that it had been a fluke microbe that mutated into harmlessness shortly after only made it more painful. She had always wanted a chance to do more.
When the Changelings attacked and the world changed overnight, she suddenly found herself laughing at her own former ambition. She had panicked. Realizing they could not survive if they continued to fight she gathered those who would help and got as many of the children as she could into the catacombs. There in the deep network of tunnels and vast passageways they had hid like bugs.
She had lost twelve of the remaining warriors on food runs this past week. The situation had gotten desperate. When Sakura had not returned for a full day, Momo had almost broken down. But she couldn't. She had to be strong. She had to carry the weight. Besides, even if she were not a warrior, such a display of emotion would have been unthinkable.
When she had been summoned because a powerful warrior had been detected following Sakura back to one of the more secure gates, Momo had been certain they were going to have to blow the gate. The only powerful warriors left had been Blizzard's.
But Sakura had tapped the all-clear code on the door.
Sakura was leading a warrior who had come to Saiya with Ichigo. Ichigo was still alive! She was still alive!
Momo had to fight back tears of joy as she attempted to question the strangely dressed teenaged warrior.
That he was clearly a teenager worried her slightly, but as long as Ichigo was alive it didn't matter if he was just a teen. It didn't matter if the Vegeta Rebels would replace Blizzard as conquerors of Saiya. As long as Ichigo was alive there was still hope.
Then the youth had basically snubbed her and flown off without telling her anything. Momo watched as the blonde haired youth vanished over the horizon. "Rather ill behaved and rude wouldn't you say?" She asked Sakura.
"Ah, I would say that he feels his duty to his companions supersedes any duty to us." Sakura replied honestly.
Momo narrowed her eyes. "Those with my niece, they were descendants of the Vegeta traitors?"
"That is what she said."
"Can they be trusted? Was she under duress?"
"May I be frank?" Sakura asked cautiously.
"Yes, by all means please do."
"Ichigo... She has been through a lot. But I feel she trusts them. Besides, the one who came here with me, he didn't talk much, but he healed me somehow. We ran into Blizzard, and the one the Princess," Sakura looked up, "I am sorry, it will take some time to get used to calling her Queen. There is one she called a Super Saiyan. He did something and knocked the Changelings back as though they were nothing."
Sakura clenched her fists and her knuckles popped. "I got caught in that attack, and I woke up in a ship with Boxers as he called himself. Boxers gave me food this strange outfit."
The girl moved her hand back through her short spiky hair. Her hair quickly sprung back to its natural right slanting mass of spikes. "I was captured. These brutes... I... I could not do anything to stop them. They were so much stronger than I am. They taunted me and told me with all the glowing details what they were planning to do. They were ripping my armor off. Then the one Ichigo said was a Super Saiyan appeared and diverted their attention and Ichigo killed them with ease. The one that healed me gave me his coat as I spoke with Ichigo. This is kindness I would not expect from my fellow warrior, let alone a Vegeta Rebel."
Sakura shook her head. "These warriors do not dress like Saiyans, they do not act like Saiyans, and they do not fight like any Saiyan I have ever known. They do not even have tails!"
The moment Sakura finished speaking Momo knew she had said something she did not want to. A look of fear mixed with revulsion passed over the young warrior's face.
"How can this be?" A warrior named Kaki yelled aghast at the very thought.
'No Saiyan would ever remove their tails. These cannot possibly be descendants of the Vegeta Saiyans.' Momo realized. 'But if they are not, who are they?'
"Oh no! I am sorry!" Sakura suddenly gasped. "I have forgotten something vital. I talked briefly with your niece and she gave me this. I do not think she wanted the others to see that she had given it to me. It is called a capsule. From what Boxers told me one need only push the button toss it down and stand back. It will then open. As I have no idea how large it is I would suggest doing this outside. Boxers indicated that one could put very large objects such as ships into a capsule."
"Oh really? This aught to be interesting." Momo replied as she looked at the small vial shaped object Sakura had handed over.
"And you did not bring this up right away?"
"I am sorry, I forgot." Sakura replied sounding abashed.
"See to it, you do not in the future." Momo replied as she headed for the door. 'Hopefully this will explain a few things.'
Off in the distance there was a huge explosion. The ground shook and several of the damaged nearby buildings finally collapsed. "How strong would you say this so called Super Saiyan is?" Momo asked pausing at the door.
"I could not say, I did not have a scouter, but he sent the Changelings flying off of him as though they were powerless in comparison."
"And the rest of the warriors? How many did my niece bring back?"
"There were only three others Ma'am"
Momo relaxed. 'Then this is not an invasion force. Not even the Blizzard would attack us with only three warriors. That is good, but at the same time, only three others? Who are these mysterious warriors? I cannot accept that they are actually Saiyans. But what if they are? What would cause them to willingly remove their tails? Or are these outcasts? That could be.'
Momo nodded to herself. 'Yes that makes sense. Ichigo could not get help from the real rebels, so she got it from the outcasts. So what do the Outcasts want? Why are they helping?'
Momo grimaced and walked a good distance from the entrance just incase. 'I never did agree with her father's plan in the first place, that she has survived is not reason to celebrate yet.' She thought as the sounds of distant fighting rumbled off the landscape.
Momo clicked the button on the capsule and threw it. It bounced twice and then landed before exploding with a smoky white cloud. Momo had been on such an edge, that she probably jumped a meter into the air at the explosion.
When the smoke cleared, a hologram of Ichigo stood dressed in her Regal Armor with the blue cape above a small red heart shaped object, which was obviously projecting the image.
"Hello, this message is for my aunt Momo, or whoever may still be in command. I am recording this message in what had formerly been Snow's vessel as we descend to land on Saiya. I know I have been away too long. I know there are very few of you left. But I also know you have survived."
"For this, take pride. However, I have a message and orders that may seem distasteful to many of you. I will not have happen to Saiya what happened to Chartashia! The Changelings removed everything they could and them blew up the planet. I do not doubt Blizzard will try to do the same to Saiya here today when we confront him with a Super Saiyan."
Ichigo stopped talking and stared out as if the hologram could actually see the people who had gathered around it. "Yes, you heard me correctly. The legend of the Super Saiyan is true. Snow came after me. In the battle on Earth, the descendants of the Vegeta Rebels home planet, Son Roshi, heir to the Vegeta line became a Super Saiyan. He was not the first. Over 500 years ago there were several of them and they defeated Kold and his sons."
"While I do not doubt our ability to beat Blizzard, I am hereby ordering a full evacuation of Saiya. The Humans who populate Earth are very technologically advanced. We have brought food, medical supplies but most importantly ships. Once the battle is over and it is safe to return we will. Saiya is our home and we will not abandon it. However at this time the life of our race must be placed above our own personal pride. You have survived the long night. Evacuate now and let me carry the fight."
"The long dark night is over. I have returned and with the aid of those we once banished the new dawn will rise. I know what I have ordered is distasteful to many of you. If you will not do this for me, I ask that you do this in memory of my father who is no doubt dead by now. Use the ships. Evacuate the planet."
The hologram blinked out of existence and the lights, which had been flickering on the heart shaped thing died.
"Ridiculous! Why would we run now?" An elderly warrior named Che yelled from the back of the crowd.
"Did you see! Did you see that travesty? She was a coward to leave us and is a coward in returning. She does not even have her tail any longer! I refuse..."
"Shut your traitorous mouth!" Sakura suddenly screamed above the din of noise that was starting to build. "King Kudamono ordered her to leave. She had no choice. Few of us have had any choice since Blizzard came. I saw the Super Saiyan! She has come back and she deserves our loyalty. I for one am going to do as she says!"
The crowd of people started talking amongst themselves again. It looked like the dissenting voices were far more numerous than those who agreed.
"Why should we follow her? She did not suffer with us. Her father protected her from the brunt of it. We all knew she would never measure up!"
"She is in league with a bunch of traitors! I am not about to forget the blood that is on their hands!"
Momo had had enough. "That is it! Those warriors who are still here are free to make their own choices. However, the children are being evacuated as per her orders. Once the children are safely away you may do what you wish."
Momo knew that evacuating the children would require most of the adults to go with them. There would be few who would be able to choose to stay behind now.
No one moved as Momo walked over to retrieve the heart shaped thing. "You heard me not get a move on! We have children to evacuate!" She screamed before turning the hologram player upside down to read what it said. 'A Love-gram for my precious Pan, May you always cherish our memories. Love always, Ubuu.' Momo frowned. "Oh Ichigo, what kind of people did you find to save us?"
An explosion off to the East suddenly and blindingly lit the sky brighter than the sun. It took the ground nearly half a minute to stop shaking. 'Hold in there Ichigo. Now that you are back, give us time to get the children to safety.'
* * *
Kit could not believe the carnage she was seeing as she flew over the wreckage of the destroyed Lander. The crater the explosions had created was at least ten km across and several hundred meters deep.
"Are you ready for drop?" She asked the two Namekians. The Phoenix's Landers where really just huge aircraft capable of space flight. They had several large compartments, which could be sealed from the rest of the ship. The Namekians after hearing what had happened to the previous ship had requested they be dropped before she landed so that if worse can to worse at least one of them might survive and help.
"Yes" both replied via the intercom.
She thanked the wind, which had blown the dust cloud to the Southwest and over the large build up of warriors that now battled with Goshu and Nail.
The dust would make it far simpler to sneak in. Turning the Lander in a wide arc over the battle she told the computer to open the back hatch.
One of the Namekians jumped out.
She then carefully directed the Lander to the opposite side of the crater, away from where the fighting was happening and near the large Prisons that now held the captured Saiyans. The other Namek got out there.
She then proceeded several more km away to a soft landing in a semi-protected area behind a bluff.
Kit carefully checked the ki radar for anything that might be dangerous in the vicinity and found nothing.
"I don't know why Roshi was so against me coming down here anyway. Everyone is so busy with Goshu and him, I can just sneak right by and release the Saiyans." She said to herself sounding quite smug.
Kit got out of the cockpit and quickly walked down the stairs to the main hold. "Computer normalize air pressure and open the hatch."
Kit's ears popped as the air pressure suddenly increased. 'Aahh, you would think with something as advanced as the Phoenix, the Landers would be a bit slower at normalizing air pressure.' Kit thought to herself as she dug in her right ear with a pinky finger.
"Normalizing gravity to planetary standard." The computer's female voice reported monotonely.
'What the?' Kit suddenly felt the blood start to flow out of her head as she started to become quite a bit heavier than normal.
"Gravity at 2 Gs, 2.1, 2.2... 2.7" The computer continued to count up as the gravity in the ship relentlessly increased.
"This is getting intense." Kit said to herself realizing she was suddenly worried. She could no longer stand after the gravity reached 3.4 and she fell to her knees. "Computer stop!" Kit gasped as the ship started to fade to black. "Stop the gravity!" She cried one last time before slipping and banging her head into the deck plates.
The last thing Kit saw before the world of Saiya went black was the gravity suit hanging in its locker near the hatch.
* * *
The dark black ball of ki shot at Roshi and followed him like a heat seeking missile. After about three full seconds of being followed Roshi looped around and dove at Blizzard.
"You think I'm dumb enough to fall for that? Have another!" Blizzard yelled as he tossed another black orb of ki at Roshi.
Roshi smirked and continued to dive right at the new ki blast. "Ka-Me-Ha-Me-HAAAAA!" Roshi screamed moments before he would have had a head on collision with Blizzard's attack. His Kamehameha propelled him to the side and allowed the two ki blasts to run right into the blue beam.
Purple bolts of energy arced between the two flattening spheres as the Kamehameha ballooned out to encompass the two orbs.
The orbs exploded along the vertical axis of the Kamehameha beam. A double ring of dark purple energy sliced out to carve two deep gashes into the ground as the disks of ki expanded outward.
Roshi just barely moved out of the way as the disk closest to Blizzard nearly sliced his arm off.
As it was, Roshi just completed his spin and stopped facing Blizzard. "No, but you are dumb enough to blow up your own attacks."
"How dare you mock me!?! I am Lord of all Changelings! You will pay for this insolence!"
Roshi glanced over his left shoulder. 'What the hell is that yellow one doing?' He thought as he saw Thunder was still in his third form and he was still just standing there watching him fight Blizzard.
The fact that one of the Changelings was just standing back and not doing anything was unnerving. It suggested that they knew something more than he did.
"I mock you because you are evil." Roshi said as delivered a perfect spin kick to Blizzard's left cheek.
"I mock you because you have no heart." Roshi screamed as he slammed the base of his left palm into Blizzard's sternum and drove him back.
"I mock you because you revel in your own wickedness and feast on the pain of others!" Roshi yelled as he threw two Masenkoes at Blizzard's feet.
"I mock you because you are nothing compared to me!" He taunted as he landed on Blizzard's head and drove him face forward into the frozen ground.
"I mock you because in this day you will meet your downfall!" Roshi stated as he reached down and grabbed Blizzard's tail.
"I mock you because I am not afraid of you!" Roshi punctuated the last statement by swinging Blizzard into the ground several times before throwing him into the air.
"KA-ME-HA-ME-HAAA!!!" Roshi screamed sending a huge blue white beam up at where he had thrown Blizzard before clenching his right hand and holding it to his chest.
He missed.
Blizzard had simply vanished into thin air.
Roshi forced himself to control his breathing and reach out with his ki. He glanced right and then left before realizing Thunder was no longer watching the fight.
"Where the heck is Blizzard? He can't even sense ki. How can he possibly hide it?"
Something like a lightning bolt through his brain suddenly warned him that Blizzard was behind him. Roshi forward rolled out of the way and popped back up to spin around and...
Blizzard was huge!
Five shinning black spines shot from triceratops like crown on his head. Huge hooked barbs grew out of his fore arms and massive spines shot off to the side from each of the armor plates above his shoulders. His tail was even longer and was tipped with a sharp bony spike.
'Shit, a fifth stage!' Roshi gaped.
Blizzard put one enormous red foot in front of the other before bowing with his arms to his sides. "You like my forth transformation?" Blizzard laughed in a deeply menacing timber. "I do too. I do believe ripping you apart will be fun."
"Oh, nothing good can come of this."
* * *
"Plasma Beam!" Ichigo screamed as her aura flared a brilliant red, fueled by the power of a Kaio-ken times fifteen.
The enormous pinkish beam shot out and slammed into the brilliant green beam he had sent out moments before.
'Ok, not to long or I'll hurt myself,' Ichigo warned herself before she concentrated and pushed the Kaio-ken to times twenty.
The sudden bulge in her beam shot out from her hands and engulfed the smaller green beam.
The blazing hot beam rolled over Chill and forced him back.
'Should have used the Kamehameha. It is better for a show down.' Ichigo realized as she tried to catch her breath in the frigid air.
A multitude of tiny blue-green beams shot from the smoke that was surrounding Chill and slammed into the ground where Ichigo had been standing.
Ichigo moved around to the side and launched a huge Star Ripper directly at where Chill floated.
The smoke cleared moments before the jagged ball of ki blades hit Chill. He saw it but not soon enough as the turquoise blades of ki bit into him.
Lacerations now covered Chill's body. Purple-red blood oozed from the plethora of cuts while his formerly pure white and blue armor glowed a pinkish color from the burns sustained in the Plasma Beam.
"You pathetic little wench!" Chill screamed at her before sending several rapid-fire Death beams at her out of his eyes.
Ichigo blocked them with the back of her hands, slapping them away to blow up on the ground beside her. 'Ack, those are stronger than I thought. I singed my hand!' She was surprised to realize as the sent of slightly burned skin whaffed up to her nose.
Chill grimaced and then glared at her. "You may think you are doing well, but you are nothing compared to me. Let me assure you that while you are starting to breathe hard from your exertion, I have barely tapped my potential."
Ichigo glared at him but knew he spoke the truth. Even with all the damage he had sustained, Chill's power level was not going down at all, where as she could not keep using the high level Kaio-ken's indefinitely. 'How can he stand the cold?' She wondered as she carefully dodged another death beam.
'I need to end this now, before he gets any stronger.' She thought as she glanced in Boxers and Tee's directions. The two were doing well tag teaming Ice.
* * *
"Dang it we need to be stronger!" Boxers yelled when Ice climbed out of the pile of rubble she had been thrown into. "We have enough to knock her about, but not enough to take her down."
"Yeah, we need to do the Fusion man." Tee said quickly after tossing several ki blasts towards Chill. "That and we need to help Ichigo as much as possible. I'm just glad I'm not Roshi. He's taking on two of them at once."
Boxers pushed Tee out of the way and then leaped over the blood red half-sphere of ki Ice had lobbed at them.
"Yeah, but we need to make time for it before we can." He said as he started to charge a Masenko.
Over to the south the old stadium where Roshi was fighting suddenly blew apart in a huge mushroom cloud.
"Holy shit!" Tee yelled as he dogged a flying chunk of debris. "I hope Roshi is ok!"
* * *
Blizzard was laughing again. It seemed he would laugh every time he even came close to hitting Roshi. The large blast that had devastated the stadium had not gotten close to hitting Roshi, but it was still closer than he would have liked to have been to a blast of that size.
'He is really getting on my nerves.' Roshi thought while he waited for the dust cloud to clear. 'I really aught to be kicking his ass right now since he can't detect me in all this smoke and dust, but that is a lot easier said than done.'
Roshi's right hand was throbbing. The cut he had gotten from Boxers sword was deeper than he had originally thought. It had right across the muscles in the middle of his palm. Not only did this make his grip in his right hand weaker, but it also affected how he could channel his ki in that hand.
The cut muscles and blood veins were combining to slowly make his fingers go numb. Roshi wiggled his fingers and opened and closed his hand a few times. "I don't like this. I don't like this at all. Blizzard is stronger and faster now. And to make matters worse, I am not at my best."
Roshi was right handed and it was putting him at quite the disadvantage to suddenly be forced to channel most of his ki for ki blasts through his left arm. He wasn't used to doing it, and therefore, it was less efficient than normal.
Several ki blasts whizzed past Roshi on all sides. 'Impatient are we?' Roshi silently asked Blizzard as he dove through the air to drive both feet into Blizzard's face.
Blizzard was knocked back, but he managed to reach up and grab Roshi's left foot.
Roshi felt himself being lurched through the air and thrown through a mass of fallen marble.
Roshi forced his way free of the rubble and searched for his options. 'Well, I didn't know how to do the Kaio-ken either, so who knows.' He shrugged as he thought to himself before raising his left hand and opening the palm to face directly at the on rushing Blizzard.
"BIG BANG!!!!" Roshi screamed after concentrating a large amount of his ki into the palm of his hand. By flaring his ki as much as he could he focused the natural yellow energy that was a bi-product of being a Super Saiyan into his hand. The resulting loose beam of energy slammed into Blizzard and knocked him back.
'Yes! It worked! I can't sustain that like I can a Kamehameha, but it is possibly more powerful for short bursts!' Roshi took whatever joy he could as he watched Blizzard pick himself off of the ground after being knocked from the sky by Roshi's attack.
Roshi jumped off of a fallen column of marble and almost slipped on a severed and frozen arm as Blizzard finally came at him again.
Roshi had to stretch his arm out in an attempt to regain his balance, which gave Blizzard an opening.
Blizzard reached in with both hands and grabbed Roshi about the neck.
"I tire of this battle. I think I'll make you suffer while you fight for breath." He replied before driving his knee deep into Roshi's stomach.
Roshi suddenly found himself with the wind knocked out of him and Blizzard's huge hands clamping down on his neck. He couldn't breath, but more importantly, Blizzard had him in a choking sleeper hold.
Roshi reached up and tried to break Blizzard's grip with his hands, but with the cut across his right hand, he didn't have the strength to pull Blizzard off of him.
'Thunderflash!' Roshi thought, 'I have to try the Thunderflash! Roshi started to build up the oppositely charged energy needed for the attack, but he soon found that with the cut in his hand he could not build a large enough charge to be effective. The more he tried, the more energy just bled back into him wasted.
Roshi's lungs were burning and he the world was starting to loose focus and spin.
Roshi forced his head forward and his hands up. "Taiyoken!" He screamed as the brilliant solar flare lit up the sky mere centimeters from Blizzard's eyes.
On reflex, Blizzard let go of Roshi and covered his eyes. Roshi kicked off and away from the Changeling so that he could catch his breath. He was just about to throw another close range Big Bang attack at Blizzard while he was blinded but a sudden sense of foreboding brought his senses into keen awareness of the other fight.
"Ichigo is in pain!" He said with stark realization of the source of his foreboding.
Roshi gave a second look at the still blinded Blizzard and then shot out of the crater that had once been a Stadium to rush towards Ichigo.
Roshi shot over Tee, who was lying unconscious but seemingly not badly hurt. Boxers was busy fighting Ice single handedly.
Which left Ichigo alone to fight both Chill and Thunder. 'I hadn't even realized he had left!' Roshi noted with regret.
Ichigo was being held in a one-man rack body lock. Chill had his legs wrapped around hers keeping her from being able to block while a full nelson type lock held her arms at bay.
While Chill held her immobile, Thunder was beating her with everything he had. He was hitting her in the face, chest, stomach, ribs, and basically wherever his fists might land.
Neither Changeling saw him coming. Thunder pulled back his left arm to put his whole body into another blow.
At the extreme back end of his swing, Roshi caught Thunder's wrist in his left hand.
"Leave her alone." He said calmly to the bright yellow Changeling as he twisted his entire body to the right, jamming Thunders arm back and locking his shoulder. Roshi slammed his left knee up into Thunder's armpit and a sickening crunch sounded as the Changeling's arm popped free of it's socket.
Roshi squeezed as hard as he could and managed to crush Thunder's wrist.
The Changeling screamed in pain and fell to his knees, unable to fight back.
Roshi didn't care as he stepped over Thunder's arm with his right foot and stomped down as he yanked up with his left arm.
Two more pops and Thunder's elbow had twisted back on itself and shattered.
Roshi yanked savagely on Thunder's left arm and threw him back towards where the stadium had once stood.
The entire confrontation had only lasted a few moments, but it had been plenty long enough for Chill to loosen his hold on Ichigo's arms while he stared at Roshi in shock.
Roshi looked up at Chill just as Ichigo drove both of her elbows into him and knocked him off of her.
"Are you ok?"
Ichigo coughed and felt her side. "I think he might have cracked a rib, but otherwise I just hurt." Ichigo looked at him curiously, "And Blizzard?"
"Is coming here now." Roshi said nonchalantly as he jumped into the air and lobbed a Big Bang in Blizzard's direction.
* * *
Momo didn't know what to think of the Green men who had identified themselves as Namekians. Sakura had gone to get them so that they could heal the wounded. It was quite obvious that her earlier nondisclosure of how she had been healed was to keep uproar from happening.
It was almost sad how the few surviving warriors seemed to avoid even looking at the green men.
'They are blinded by their pride, and made stupid by their shame over what we are doing.' She thought to herself as she watched Che step past a kneeling Namekian without even looking at the green man.
Momo, on the other hand was fascinated by the way the Namekian was actually healing people. The small girl he kneeled over had gangrene developing on her leg yet had been too stubborn to let anyone remove it. Now right before Momo's eyes the gangrene left and new healthy tissue grew in it's place in moments.
'I would have never thought such healing would be possible. Had one of these men been here fourteen years ago I would never have missed my Trial, and Nashi would not have spent three long years growing weaker.'
"How are you healing her?"
The Namekian looked up. "With my ki, and with her own. All I am truly doing is speeding her body's own healing process."
"Can you teach others how to do this?"
The two little antennas on the Namekian's forehead wiggled. "I would not know. On Namek one is born either with the ability to heal, or the ability to become a great warrior. I know of know one who is both."
Momo felt her sprits sink. "So this is a natural ability? You are born with it? You didn't learn how to do this?"
"There, you are healed" The green man said to the young girl. She carefully poked at her leg for a moment before thanking him and running off to find a friend.
Finally the Namekian looked back at Momo. "I have been a healer all my life. I always knew how to do it. I would not even know where to begin to teach you how I heal."
"Oh."
"Now if you will excuse me, there are many more sick and wounded who need my help here."
"Yes, of course." Momo said before he walked off to find the next person to heal.
'I wonder if he is being honest or if he guards his abilities as thoroughly as we guard our own ability to fight?' Momo shook her head. 'It does not matter. I am thankful they are helping us. I fear the price we will pay for this help, but we do need the help.'
Momo sighed and then looked over to Che who had just come into the room. "The first ship is ready to launch. The children will need protection. I volunteer."
"Good, go." Momo said before turning to follow Che outside.
* * *
Goshu was surprised when a Namekian healer named Aspersa suddenly snuck around the outcropping they had been pushed back against and started to heal Slip.
"Aspersa? How did you get here? I thought we left you on the ship." Goshu asked and stated while not taking his eyes off the seemingly never-ending hoard of warriors that was attacking them.
"You did, but the Vulpine girl Kitsune, saw what had happened to your ships so she brought myself and Limax came down with her when she brought a new group of capsule ships."
For the first time Goshu thought that it might not be a good thing that the ships block ki so reliably when under power. He had not even sensed them. Now when he was actively looking for them, he could sense Kit in the ship yet, about 35 km away, and Limax near the holding pens.
Slip suddenly moved up beside him. "Thank Dende for Kit! I was certain I was going to die. How can I help?" She said as she knocked several incoming fighters down with a relatively weak Kamehameha.
Goshu narrowed his eyes. Kit wasn't moving. In fact, her ki seemed to be getting weaker.
"Go find out what is wrong with Kit, and then start evacuating the refugees."
A stray ki blast hit him in the stomach and burned off the last layer of his body suit. 'Please let Roshi be having better luck than this.'
* * *
The Sun broke through the clouds and nearly blinded Ichigo for a moment. Then her eyes adjusted to the light allowing her to see Roshi kick Chill in the face before dancing back out of the way of Blizzard's Finger Blast beams.
'He is incredible.' Ichigo thought to herself once again resenting how useless she was. Blizzard had ordered Thunder away. Boxers was still taking care of Ice with little problems, and Roshi was now fighting both Blizzard and Chill, which of course left her to stand there and recover from being too weak to do anything without Roshi's help. Had Thunder not knocked Tee out with a lucky shot when he suddenly showed up, Ichigo would have felt even less useful.
A distant whine of something mechanical drew Ichigo's attention as a large egg shaped ship suddenly started to lift off from near the ruined Palace. The sight of the ship fleeing chilled Ichigo's heart while at the same time lifting her spirits. As long as the people survived they could rebuild. The evacuation was a necessary evil. Yet even knowing that could not remove the guilt that plagued her when she saw the ship running.
'We have been reduced to cowards and unneeded warriors.' This is a terrible day for Saiya.
"Do you really think I am going to let them get away?" Blizzard screamed before throwing a huge energy blast in the direction of the ship.
"NO!" Ichigo screamed as she shot into motion.
* * *
Roshi watched with udder dread as the ki blast left Blizzard's hand. 'I can't stop it!' He realized as he moved to stop the blast Chill sent after the ship moments later. "Damn it no!" Roshi yelled as he started to charge a small fast ki blast to chase it down.
Then he saw Ichigo racing towards the blast. "No Ichigo don't, you'll kill yourself!"
The moment he said it he new his cry had been futile. The people on those ships were her responsibility. To her, it was better she die than for any one of them to come to harm.
A blinding flash and he felt Ichigo get knocked from the sky.
Blizzard was laughing again.
"You bloody, despicable, coward!" Roshi yelled moments before he threw a roundhouse Ki Punch into the side of Blizzard's face.
Blizzard careened into the ground and created small crater that soon collapsed on him.
"Ice! Forget that one! If we don't stop this one we will all die!" Chill screamed from behind Roshi. Roshi spun and knocked the ki blasts back before launching a Masenko at Ice.
'Ichigo's still alive.' Roshi realized with joy. "This fight isn't over yet, you stupid lizards!" He bellowed before charging at Blizzard who had just shot out of his hole.
* * *
Momo watched the first ship lift off. It was carrying 221 survivors on it. It was the first but it would not be the last.
A sudden flash lit the sky to the east. Momo winced. She didn't know why, but she was certain Ichigo had been caught in that blast. She tried to put it behind her, but a deep sense of loss seemed to plague her.
"Kosho, take over for me, I am going over to see what is going on in that fight. I will be back shortly."
Kosho, an older warrior who had been forced to retire nodded gravely and then started to give orders for people to hurry up.
Momo did not want to be spotted so she stayed on the ground and slowly snuck up on the fight. Soon she had reached what had once been the Administration Citadel for the Academy or Military Discipline. It had once been one of the most impressive buildings on all of Saiya. Now however, it was a hollow burned out shell.
Momo walked through it and reached a window that overlooked the old military coliseum, which had sat a kilometer and a half away. The Coliseum was gone, replaced by a large crater.
"Oh my word!" Momo gasped as she realized the yellow glowing figure in the distance must be the Super Saiyan.
She realized he was fighting three Changelings at once and did not seem to be doing too badly. Momo closed her eyes. She could almost imagine sensing him move even without being able to see him move. "Incredible!"
'But where is Ichigo?' Momo thought with a panic as she started to scan the area for any sign of her niece.
* * *
Blizzard wrenched Roshi's arm around and threw him into the ground. He bounced twice and landed near Tee, who was just starting to wake back up.
"Help... please" Roshi gasped as he spat blood before he quickly rolled out of the way before Chill could land on him.
He rolled into a front flip and then summer-salted in the air to land facing Chill.
"Dance while you still can Monkey! It is only a matter of time." Chill leered.
Roshi replied to the leer by kicking him in the face. Chill bounced through several buildings and finally landed in a clump at the base of what had once been a large fountain.
Roshi sensed Blizzard coming so he spun to a stop and then turned to direct another Big Bang at him.
The yellow blast hit him in the center of the chest and knocked him back some.
"Why won't you die you miserable MONKEY!?!" Blizzard screamed as he fell back and his back spines became stuck in a fallen metal statue.
Roshi jumped at him with a Ki Punch charged right foot. The blue energy transformed his foot into a blue comet streaking for Blizzard.
At the last second Blizzard moved and Roshi crashed into and destroyed the monument.
Blizzard in turn cuffed Roshi as he passed with the side of his arm and ripped a gaping hole in the side of Roshi's gi.
Ice was trying to sneak up behind him, but Roshi sensed her coming. He back-flipped over her and kicked Ice into Blizzard. Blizzard knocked her away from him and charged at Roshi.
Roshi started to fly into the air when several ki blasts cut him off.
"You will pay for what you did to my arm!" Thunder screamed to announce his arrival, while he charged a ki blast in his right arm. His broken left arm hung shriveled and useless even after the transformation. It hung there limply, but it didn't decrease the thread Thunder imposed.
"Oh, no!" Roshi gasped as he realized Thunder was now in the fourth stage, like Chill. Two in the fourth stage, and Blizzard in the fifth.
"Nothing good can come of this!"
Roshi ducked down to kick Ice again and Thunder's ki blast shot right over him.
"You know you have to hit me before you can make me pay!" Roshi sneered; glad he could still come back with something.
"I wasn't trying to hit you Monkey!" Thunder mocked before he started laughing.
'Oh Dende no!' Roshi thought as he spun just in time to see the ki blast slam into Boxers in the exact moment he and Tee finished their fusion dance.
There was a light poof of steam and then Boxee appeared. Fat Boxee appeared.
"Oh no!" Roshi gasped. He realized he sounded defeated.
* * *
Ichigo came to with a splitting head ache. She had slammed into Blizzard's blast nailing it on her left side. All the armor right down to the skin was gone over her right shoulder. Her skin was raw and chapped, but she was alive and otherwise unhurt.
She slowly stood up. Her cape was hanging by only one chain off of her right shoulder. She quickly unfastened it and let the tattered fabric fall to the ground. She gingerly felt her mother's... Her pendant and found it to be in perfect shape yet, though much of the armor around it was cracked or pitted.
"I actually wish I was in my gi." She said aloud to confirm to herself that that was actually how she felt. The gi was surprisingly more resilient than her Saiyan Armor.
Boxee suddenly bounced over a pile of rubble in the distance and rolled down the opposite side. Ichigo blinked several times thinking she was seeing something before she realized what she was seeing was the Fat Boxer that sometimes happened when the Fusion went wrong.
Ichigo watched in horror as Ice topped the hill of rubble and then deciding Boxer was no threat transformed into the next level and reduced the hill to slag.
Ichigo's head was still throbbing, but she had to move. Roshi was now fighting four Changelings at once.
Ichigo took to the air and raced towards the battle.
Roshi knocked Chill back, but was then grabbed by Ice. She threw him into Blizzard who grabbed him and pile drove him into the ground.
"No!!! Roshi!! No!!" Ichigo screamed as Blizzard rose into the air and then threw a huge beam brilliant purple energy down into the ground.
Nearly a 1/4 of a kilometer radius worth of ground was instantly destroyed as the purple beam hit and shredded the very planet itself. A huge plume of ash and smoke rose into the air.
As she got closer she could hear Blizzard laughing. "Nothing could live through that! Nothing!" He was shouting.
Ichigo knew better, Roshi was alive. He was down, but not out. She wanted to shout it, but knew it would only betray him if she did. So she simply drove herself into Ice as fast as she could go. Her Ki Punch charged hands wrapped the Changeling around them and nearly bent her in half.
Ice screamed in pain and fell most of the way to the ground before she regained control of her fall.
Ice started laughing. "You will have to do better than that you fitly monkey whore!"
Ichigo was about to press the attack when Blizzard toe kicked full in the stomach.
The next thing she knew she was crashing though a marble wall and what was left of the Citadel was falling in on her.
There was a scream that was not hers. Ichigo's senses suddenly went into high gear. She knew that voice. She knew that ki.
"Momo!" Ichigo screamed. "Momo where are you!?!"
This couldn't be happening. It was her fault. If only she had killed Thunder when she had had the chance. He never would have transformed. They could have killed Ice and Chill easily then. And Roshi could have taken on Blizzard. Everything would have been so simple. 'Why? Why?' Her mind raged as she realized Momo was trapped under a fairly large pile of rubble.
Momo was all the family Ichigo had left. She would never be able to live with herself if she let her die under a few tons of rubble.
"Momo I'm going to get you out of there!"
* * *
Roshi came to under a very large pile of dust. He was choking in it. Awareness shot through him like a bullet through a gun and he sat up in an instant. The dust fell off of him and he could breath again.
Something was wrong. Something was terribly horribly wrong. He didn't know what it was but he knew something was wrong.
The Changelings weren't moving. 'Why weren't the Changelings moving? All four of them with the exception of Thunder were still at their full power. So why weren't they moving.'
"Ichigo!" Ichigo wasn't moving.
"Ichigo move your ass!!" Roshi screamed as he shot out of the crater he had been buried in.
* * *
Ichigo felt the Changelings gathering behind her. She knew she was running out of time. She had to move faster. She had to save Momo. She had to. What good was saving anyone if you couldn't save your own family? She threw blocks aside and rushed to grab lower ones.
Finally! She reached Momo. The way the building had fallen, Momo had been pinned between two large slabs of Marble. Ichigo scanned the slabs. She would have to move several other slabs to get the one she needed to move to more.
"Leave me!" Momo practically hissed through short breaths. "I was a fool to come here. Don't die for me! Move! Leave me!"
"I can't! I won't!" Ichigo screamed back as she heaved one of the largest blocks away.
Behind her she felt the Changelings release their attacks. All four at once, as one were attacking her.
There! She had it! Momo was free! She grabbed her aunt, but there just was not enough time. The ki blasts were on her. She could not move fast enough.
And then... and then something grabbed her by the armpits and threw her forcefully clear of the fallen building.
Ichigo hit the ground and rolled. She absorbed the shock and managed to toss Momo behind a large fallen column of marble near a no-longer sealed entrance to the catacombs.
Ichigo rolled upright at that moment and looked back. The force of throwing her free had pushed Roshi down to his knees. She saw Blizzards black Kienzian hit him in the back a moment before the other beams and balls of ki struck and enveloped him in a wash of pure energy.
* * * * * * * * *
For those of you who do not get fireworks on the Fourth of July, this chapter will have to suffice. To the rest of you, Happy Fourth!
Chapter 52 will be up sometime next week.
Please review.
Oh, and thanks to Mahonuts my website listed in my profile is actually working. Go check it out.
Thanks,
The Smooster.
