Chapter 55
Fleeting Time
Day One in the Month of Strength, 18:20
(Note, this is STILL before Roshi came back from the dead just moments after Goshu when Super Saiyan, sorry for any confusion the split perspective may have caused)
Goshu exploded out from under the pile of warriors in a hail of vaporizing body parts and light. He slowly spun to a stop and took a moment to force himself to focus his mind. 'I'm wasting too much energy... even if I am a Super Saiyan now.' He thought in realization of his situation. "So this is what it feels to be a Super Saiyan... I'd rather have my son back." Goshu said to himself in a moment of self-pity.
Then he saw Nail plummet into the ground to dig a massive furrow through the soil before the Namekian could come to a stop.
Goshu paused for a moment to assess the situation. The warriors he had been fighting were now outclassed by leagues. They simply did not have the power to truly threaten him. The warrior who had hit Nail on the other hand, was not only strong enough to be a challenge, but he was also confusing in a way. Goshu pushed the rest of the fighters out of his mind and focused on whomever it had been who had hit Nail.
'The Chartashan?' Goshu questioned as he started towards the warrior who had knocked Nail into the ground. 'It is the Chartashan, but his ki is radically altered from what it was before.'
Goshu flew up to stop the huge hunter-green warrior from continuing his attack on Nail. His sudden appearance caused the Chartashan to pull up and stop.
The Chartashan grinned evilly showing off his sharp fang like teeth. "I was going to let you wait your turn, but if you insist." He said moments before vanishing.
Stars exploded into Goshu's head as he was suddenly hit in the back of the head.
Goshu rolled into a front flip and then turned to face the green warrior.
His slit nose and sunken red eyes gave the Chartashan a very death's head skull like look to his face. This did not help Goshu's mood as he watched the warrior spread his vestigial wings and began to focus his ki for an attack.
'I don't know where he got this increase in power, but it is as though he has more ki than his body can contain. I will have to watch myself here.'
A ring of green ki formed around the Chartashan. The ring quickly collapsed into the warrior's hands. He continued to charge the now rapidly spinning ball of ki, as rays of green light dance out of his hands and cast ghastly shadows across his face.
"I can feel your fear. You don't understand what is happening. You Saiyans were always pitifully slow at the uptake." The Chartashan sneered before he let loose with his massive pulsating beam of ki.
Goshu dodged to the side and barely avoided the massive burst of ki as it rushed out to sear the air. The shockwave created by the attack buffeted Goshu, pushing him slightly to the side.
Behind him the sky lit up in a blast of green and red light as the beam slammed into the ground sundering the earth and blowing massive chunks of rock into the air.
Goshu noted with much irony that the warriors who had been attempting to swarm Nail and himself just minutes earlier had finally taken his advice to flee, either that, or they had finally found their sense of self-preservation, as the vast majority of them were now attempting to abscond the area.
'His ki dropped considerably. He can't contain the energy he is fighting with. Every second we fight, he becomes weaker.' Goshu realized.
"You are right, I don't understand how you could have obtain such a large amount of ki without transforming, but to call interested speculation fear is wrong. I am not afraid of you." Goshu replied as he focused on calming his mind. Goshu did not like the adrenaline rush like rage he was being gifted with due to the Super Saiyan transformation. He also knew that until he found a way to control his emotions, he would not be able to draw on his full power.
"You aren't afraid of me? Heh, you should be."
"Why are you fighting for Blizzard? It is clear you are not like the rest of the warriors I have fought today." Goshu asked as he circled around the Chartashan.
"Hm, Hm, Hm, who said anything about me fighting for Blizzard? I fight for myself and no one else." The Chartashan replied before flying up to attempt a haymaker slam.
Goshu floated back a few centimeters before he reached out to block the blow, only to have the Chartashan grab onto his hands.
"Hah, I've got you now." The big ugly green warrior shouted triumphantly.
Goshu suddenly felt as though something were pulling at him. It was as though a vacuum had suddenly started to suck on the air around him. Goshu instantly realized that the Chartashan was trying to steal energy from him.
"I'm glad that you are a Super Saiyan! Absorbing your energy will make me invincible!" The Chartashan mocked joyfully.
Goshu calmly looked into the Chartashan's eyes, "on Earth there was once a being named Cell who could steal the life force of others. He was killed believing he was invincible. And from what I have read he was a lot better at stealing energy than you are." Goshu finished as he ripped his hands free of the Chartashan's grasp and quickly pushed his hand into the Green warrior's face.
"What!" The Chartashan shouted as a bead of blue light formed between his nose and Goshu's hand.
The blue blast of ki wrapped around the Chartashan's face and threw him back and into the ground.
"At least now I understand why all the Saiyans in that bunker are unconscious, you stole their energy!" Goshu shouted down to him as he dug himself out of the clayish ground.
"Oh you figured it out did you? Well, no matter, I am still stronger than you. Even if I cannot take your energy, I will take your life!"
"I doubt that, you may be more powerful at the moment, but for how long?" Goshu replied as he sent a cascade of rapid fired blue Renzoku Energy Dan ki blasts to pepper the giant warrior like hail in a storm.
* * *
"I still say we should just kill it." A woman's voice seemed to echo.
"No, I think we should ask it questions. We have not had contact with anyone for almost two weeks. It might know what has happened to everyone." Replied a man's voice.
"Tee hee! Mommy, it has a fluffy tail!" A young boy cheered.
"Ramon! Stay away from it!" The woman scolded. "What do you expect it to tell us, no doubt it will just gloat about how it helped kill people once the warriors had all fallen."
"Not all the warriors have fallen. You felt that ground quake a few minutes ago. That was caused by a battle, I know it was." The man replied sullenly.
"Ohh, my head" Kit mumbled as she slowly came too. Other then the fact that her head was throbbing with her heartbeat, the first thing she noticed was that her arms and legs were bound together behind her back by something.
"It's waking up!"
"Orenji, shut up! I can see that!" The male voice replied again.
"I really think you should have killed it when you had the chance." The woman repeated.
"Owwww." Kit repeated as she forced her eyes to open despite the throbbing pain in the back of her head, which felt as though it was about to explode.
The room was a bit blurry and seemed to be moving around her, so Kit tried to blink her eyes clear. After a few moments she could clearly see her assailants. A man with very long spiky hair stood gripping a pipe near where she had been bound. Behind him was a small boy who appeared to be about 3 years old and with hair a lot like Roshi's was hiding behind the legs of a pregnant woman who had very short, chopped looking, spiked hair.
All three of them appeared to be wearing short-sleeved joggers outfits.
Their choice of attire did not seem to make any sense until Kit realized that she was in a store that seemed to sell only sporting goods.
"So, how many warriors did Blizzard send here?" The male demanded while he menacingly tightened his grip on the pipe.
"You can put that down. I'm not one of Blizzard's warriors. I came here to help you." Kit replied hopefully.
"Just how stupid do you think we are?" The woman interjected, "Raimu stop wasting time! Kill it before it calls for help."
Kit moved her head around and glared at the woman. "I am not an it. My name is Keiko for your information now please stop calling me it. Besides, isn't it against your code of honor or something to kill a bound and defenseless person?"
"Hmph, when dealing with an honorable challenge that would be the case, but Blizzard and all who grovel at his feet to work his bidding are scum and are awarded no such courtesy," Raimu replied.
"Oh for Pete's sake, and you say it so formally too." Kit rolled her eyes as she replied candidly. "Did you miss the part where I said I wasn't one of Blizzard's warriors? I mean really, look at me, do I look like a warrior?"
"The fact that you are wearing some kind of odd body armor does not hinder the thought." Raimu replied sarcastically. "I do not truly care who you claim to be, the only people on this planet now who are not Saiyans are Blizzard and his goons."
As the gravity suit did actually look quite a lot like Saiyan armor, Kit gave up on that line of reasoning. "Fine, then why don't you let me prove to you I do not mean you any harm? My backpack has food in it, your son looks like he is hungry."
"Food? I hungry mommy," the little boy begged as he started tugging on his mother's pants.
Raimu walked over and flipped Kit over so that he could reach her backpack. "Hey! That hurt you muscle-bound..." Kit trailed off as she realized she truly did not want to eat any more of her foot. 'I hate it when Roshi is right. He's never going... What am I saying? Roshi is dead! Oh, I am such an idiot.' Kit thought as she tried to hold back her tears.
Raimu flipped her back over and held a handful of capsules out in front of her nose. "All that was in your bag were these little grenade things."
"Right... 'Grenades? They look like grenades?' Kit questioned for a moment before she realized what the heck he was talking about. "Oh, those aren't grenades, those are capsules, some of them have food in them."
"And the rest have bombs, or warning beacons to summon your comrades?"
"NO! The rest have medical supplies in them. I am not here to hurt you people. By the fates! You two are worse than Ichigo and she hardly trusts anyone!"
Raimu suddenly picked Kit up by the front of her grav-suit and glared into her face. "It is not wise to joke about such things! Blizzard's men have been spreading lies that the Princess fled battle and left us to die. Many believe them, but it does not matter, either way the Princess is gone and you could not know her."
"AHHHH!! Put me down! I'm not lying to you! I know Princess Ichigo! She's here right now fighting with Blizzard!"
* * *
Goshu slowly brought his hand up to wipe his lip and was fairly surprised to see a good amount of blood on his hand from a split lip.
The Chartashan didn't hold back any as he tried to take advantage of Goshu's distraction.
Goshu, however, wasn't nearly as distracted as he appeared to be, and easily caught the larger warrior's arm and stopped it.
"So you claim to be fighting for yourself? If that is true then I highly suggest you leave now." Goshu asked as he glared into the large warriors beady red eyes.
The Chartashan brought his knee up in reply. Goshu blocked it with his own knee, but not fast enough. The slightly deflected knee drove deep into Goshu's side, forcing the air out of his lungs and bruising his ribs.
"I'm not leaving until I've killed you for getting in my way!"
The Chartashan head-butted Goshu, and he once again saw stars for a moment.
Goshu landed on his rear in the grass, leaving a fairly large indentation.
Nail helped him to his feet. "Pardon my worries, but shouldn't you be the one beating him?"
"Nail, use your senses not your eyes. He has yet to hurt me, while he is burning up ki every second we fight. Besides, he isn't my main concern." Goshu replied as he brushed himself off.
"Oh really, then what may I ask is?" Nail asked sounding quite unconvinced.
"Right now, my concern is that we are out of time, or can't you sense Ichigo is rapidly losing her fight?"
"Yeah, I feel it." Nail nodded, "how long do you expect before they start this way?"
Goshu grabbed Nail's arm, and jumped out of the way before the Chartashan could land on the two of them.
"I don't expect them to, once Ichigo is dead, they will have no reason to stay here. However, whether they blow up the planet or not is a concern." Goshu looked directly into Nail's eyes. "Get as many of the Saiyans as you can, but get Max, Slip, and Kit and get the hell off this planet now. Ten minutes from now might be too late!"
"What about you?" Nail asked as Goshu pushed him away.
"I'll worry about myself! Now go!"
* * *
"For the last time, I'm here with Ichigo trying to rescue you idiots, but if you won't believe me would you at least let me go? I do not particularly wish to spend the rest of my life imprisoned by people I was trying to help!" Kit yelled back.
The Saiyan woman, Orenji, started laughing.
"What the heck is so funny?" Kit screamed after losing what little patience she had started with.
"If you think we are just going to let you go, so that you can go get more of your compatriots, then you truly are the dumbest person I have ever met." Orenji replied haughtily.
Kit was by this point in time so angry she had started to mumble back to herself. "I could have listened to Roshi. I could have stayed home on Earth like Roshi told me to and hung out with Mariah. Or, I could have stayed up on the dang ship, but Nooooo I had to go play hero for a bunch of paranoid! Untrusting! Saiyans who are probably afraid of their own shadows! I hate it when Roshi is right!"
Raimu bent down to look into Kit's face. "Normally people who are bound have the intelligence not to mock their captors, but then most people would not have been knocked out by the pipe we had above the door."
"YES! See, I'm not a warrior! I'm not! Could you please let me go now?"
"So who is this Roshi person? He your commander?"
'What should I tell them?' Kit thought to herself frantically before she started to talk. "Ah no, Roshi is a Saiyan. He came here with Ichigo to help fight Blizzard."
"Roshi is not a Saiyan name." Orenji said quickly.
"I know that! He was raised on Earth. He is descended from the Vegeta family" Kit started talking faster knowing how that the name Vegeta probably wouldn't be the most accepted one on Saiya. They fought Changelings long ago and were the people who killed Frieza and Cold."
"Who were Frieza and Cold? Those are not any Changelings I have ever heard of." Raimu scoffed.
Kit sighed and wondered if things could get any worse.
* * *
Goshu backhanded the green warrior, knocking the Chartashan back and away from the bunker where Nail, Slip, and Max were desperately trying to evacuate as many people as they could.
Goshu was about to fire off a large Kamehameha when he sensed something that stopped him dead. "What in the hell?"
Goshu did a double take and whipped his head around to look north; where on the other side of the planet, two new sources of ki could now be felt.
'That feels like Roshi. That can't be Roshi.' Even though his senses confirmed that it truly was Roshi, Goshu had trouble believing it truly was his son back from the dead. He had felt the final burst and release of energy in Roshi's passing. He knew Roshi was dead. Even in a world with Dragonballs and great stories of people and even whole planets coming back to life, it was hart to truly accept that Roshi might actually be back.
Goshu's mind kept focusing back on Roshi. 'It really is Roshi. Roshi is back and he is with... That's Buu! How in the heck did Roshi end up with Buu?'
Any further thoughts were put on hold as Goshu remembered he was fighting the Chartashan and had to keep moving. As it was, he had paused long enough for the Chartashan to dig himself out of the ground.
"You're starting to really piss me off Saiyan!" The Chartashan bellowed as he threw his arm back over his head and began to charge a pulsating green orb of energy.
The orb of ki glimmered as waves of ki blazed around the dark green warrior. "Now you die! Ripcord!" He shouted as he threw the sphere of energy. The attack spread out like a whip or lasso as it raced towards Goshu.
Goshu did not even attempt to block the attack, he hardly had the time to move out of the way as it sliced though the air leaving an acrid stench of ozone in it's wake.
Several of Blizzard's henchmen warriors who had waited around to watch the battle were vaporized when the chord of ki slammed into the ground throwing up a billow of dust and dirt as the very ground was riven in twain.
The Chartashan was breathing heavily and sweating profusely as Goshu launched a Kamehameha back at the warrior.
The Chartashan dodged the beam, but not the follow up Masenko, which drove him back and surrounded him in smoke.
Goshu used the moment of time to fly to where Nail and the two women worked. "Roshi is back, he might have bought us some time, but no more than a few minutes hurry on you task."
* * *
Ichigo watched as Roshi deftly blocked Ice and Chill again before hastily dodging an attack from Blizzard. Their fight danced through the air in a pattern, which was both awe inspiring and nerve wracking to watch. If they were not trying to kill each other, it would have almost beautiful.
Ichigo focused her mind and thought of everything the Changelings had cost her: Her father, her mother's portrait, all her friends, and all the destruction on Saiya. She used those thoughts to fuel her anger as she pooled her energy.
"aaaaAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!" She screamed as she tried in vain to push herself back to the level of a Super Saiyan. Try as she might, however, she just did not have the energy to push herself over the brink. It was as if there was a large impassible precipice to reach the level of Super Saiyan. It was a precipice, which she could not cross.
Even the attempt left her winded. Ichigo looked through the frosty clouds of her own breath and watched Roshi get kicked in the face by Blizzard.
"Roshi needs my help." Ichigo said as though she was realizing it for the very first time. 'Ever since I have known him he has been there for me, and now that he needs my help I am too weak to be there for him.' She thought to herself.
"No! I am still a Saiyan! As long as my heart beats and my blood flows I will fight. No one can take that away from me. Not with anything!" Ichigo said as she launched herself into the battle.
Ichigo knew she had gotten stronger from being a Super Saiyan. Nearly dying had also helped her. Like all Saiyans she had gained from such things. She now guessed her power level was around 750,000 to 800,000. At Kaio-Ken times twenty that was fifteen to sixteen million. It was nothing near the forty million she had decided Roshi now fought at, but it was nothing to scoff at either.
"KAIO-KEN" Ichigo screamed as she flew up before Ice, "Thunder Flash!"
Ice had not even realized Ichigo was there before Ichigo had boxed the Changelings ears and eyes in with the brilliantly bright and loud explosion characteristic of the attack.
Even with the blast pointed away from her, the bright blue-white flash scorched Ichigo's retinas and left her seeing dancing yellow pin pricks of light.
Remembering that first lesson in the Gravity Room of the Capsule Corp well, Ichigo closed her eyes and ignored the false image of the flash. She focused on what her ki senses were telling her and knew that while she had to contend with annoying yellow afterimages, Ice was both blind and deaf for the time being.
Ichigo spun around and out of the way, which allowed Chill to kick Ice in the throat, rather than the back of Ichigo's head.
Unfortunately for Ichigo, Chill just used Ice as a springboard to flip backwards into a spin that drove him directly at Ichigo. She tried to get out of the way, but she just was not fast enough in comparison to the small and spry blue Changeling.
Chill caught her by the shoulders and drove his head into her forehead. Ichigo saw more than just a few dancing after images this time.
When her eyes finally returned to focus, Chill stood over her with his right hand above his head. His fingers were splayed out and taunt as if her were clutching a large unseen ball. Then, small yet brightly glowing points of light appeared at the tip of each of his three fingers and thumb.
"Blizzard wanted to kill you himself, but he is rather busy right now with the real Super Saiyan, so I guess I'll have the honor of killing you wench!"
Chill brought his fingertips to a point and a larger flaming point of ki grew.
Ichigo smirked. "Not this time." She said, as Roshi slammed feet first into Chill's nose. Roshi stood on Chill's head for about a hundred meters as Chill slid, gouged a furrow into, and bounced over the snowy terrain before finally coming to a stop.
Chill's purple-blue death beam lanced out and slammed into Roshi's side just below his armpit. It sliced though his gi like a katana through silk, but dissipated harmlessly against his skin.
Roshi would have pressed his advantage, if it were not for Blizzard who finally caught up with him and forced him away from Chill.
"Plasma Beam!!" Ichigo screamed as she shot the enormous searing hot beam at the still prone Chill. The pink beam vaporized a trail of snow and ice, which turned instantly into steam and then quickly back to frost to coat the nearby trees in white. Chill had just started to get up when the beam slammed into him and forced him back.
A dark royal purple aura grew around Chill as he fought to protect himself from the beam.
Ichigo held the beam as long as possible, but she knew when she released it that it had not been nearly long enough to kill Chill.
'I need to fight harder! I cannot give in now! This is my world. I am fighting for my people. I... I...' Ichigo's thoughts faltered as she caught sight of something glinting through the ice. "My pendant."
* * *
Goshu's thoughts kept drifting off to the North where Roshi and Ichigo fought. 'Buu is now gone, but Ichigo has not returned to the level of a Super Saiyan. Something must be wrong. I may need to go help them.'
The Chartashan was gathering energy for a large attack again. This time the energy was pooling between his clenched hands in an ominous yellow ripple of energy.
Goshu took quick note of his surroundings. 'If I am to be of any help for Roshi, I need to end this now.' He thought as he decided the terrain had already been torn up and he would not be doing too much damage with a Bakuhatsuha.
Seeing that the Chartashan seemed to be about to fire, Goshu gathered some energy and concentrated. He then put his right hand out palm up and flicked two fingers up into his palm as if motioning a come hither.
The Chartashan laughed and started flying forward, right into the effect of the Bakuhatsuha. Ground exploded in all directions of Goshu and a huge plume of dust was blown into the air. Caught within the dust cloud, neither Goshu nor the Chartashan could see each other. This, however, was not a problem for Goshu.
Goshu silently charged a Kamehameha.
* * *
Ichigo had stopped moving. This worried Roshi quite a bit. People who do not move on a battlefield tend to attract attention.
Roshi jerked to the right and twisted over a pink Death Ray. Even if they could not cut into him as they were intended, the beams still hurt.
'Well as long as Blizzard is worried about me, he won't be bothering Ichigo.' Roshi thought as he spun through the air to launch a Kienzian at Blizzard.
Ichigo was kneeling now. Her energy was building, but Roshi could feel her strain just to push it as high as it was. She would not make it to Super Saiyan in this attempt.
Roshi ducked under a poorly aimed blow and saw Ice fly up to kick Ichigo in the side. Ichigo fell hard onto her right arm and slid to a stop against a nearby tree.
Roshi could feel Ice gather energy for an attack. Ichigo just wasn't getting up fast enough.
"Damn it! Ichigo move!" Roshi yelled as Blizzard came up behind him. Blizzard was starting a roundhouse punch, but he had gotten too close to Roshi. "Damn it I don't have time for this!" Roshi yelled as he glanced over his back.
Roshi shot his left arm back and spurred his fingertips into Blizzard's larynx. He then in one smooth motion grabbed Blizzard by the base of his jaw and heaved the Changeling over his back and brought Blizzard's face down onto his knee, which he had charged with ki energy much like Ichigo's Ki Punch.
The armor plate that covered Blizzard's nose and mouth shattered and Roshi felt the warmth of blood flow onto his knee, but at the moment it did not matter. Blizzard was left stunned, to fall face first into the snow as Roshi flew down to block Ice's attack.
Ice launched a dazzlingly bright red spear of ki at Ichigo.
'I'm too late.' Roshi thought, as Ichigo trust her arm out at the beam.
"Ki Wall!" Ichigo yelled as a shimmering plane of ki suddenly grew out of her left hand.
Ice's beam slammed into the wall and shattered harmlessly.
Ichigo rolled over and thrust her right arm out. "Blaze!"
Roshi winced as Ice was enveloped in the searing hot flames created by that attack. It wasn't enough to kill the Changeling, but she was definitely not going to like it.
Roshi landed and punted Ice in the stomach. The air was thrust from her lungs as she was sent at least one hundred meters away.
"You ok?" Roshi asked as he pulled Ichigo to her feet.
Ichigo shook her head. "Yes, but no." Ichigo sighed. "Roshi, I tried. I just cannot find the strength to go Super Saiyan again."
Roshi spread his senses out and realized that the three Changelings were now grouped together in a discussion. This worried him, but not nearly as much as the forlorn look on Ichigo's face.
"Ichigo, I know you can. You were a Super Saiyan. I know it is hard, but your father believed in you, I believe in you, your friend... ah Sakura believes in you. Forget everything I ever told you about controlling your temper. Let yourself get angry. You have it in you."
"But I did. I tried. I cannot. Not alone at least. I realized I never in all this time ever asked you once for help. I demanded it, I expected it, but I never once asked for it. Please Roshi, help me."
* * *
The three Saiyans had walked to the far end of the aisle to discus something. Which left Kit alone to glare at them.
'Stupid, arrogant, bigoted, idiots, their pride blinds them from accepting anything but what they already know or want to be true.'
Raimu lead them back to where they had tied Kit up and just stood there for a minute before Kit finally broke down and asked him what was on her mind. "Well, have you realized I'm not trying to kill you yet?"
"As long as you remain bound as you are, you will be no threat, so we are going to leave you like that." Orenji replied sullenly.
"Oh you have got to be joking!" Kit exclaimed in udder disgust before she shook her head in defeat. "I'm going to die here." She said to herself sullenly.
As if agreeing with her, her suit suddenly beeped. "Warning, battery low. Five minutes of power remaining. Warning, battery low."
"What is that? Why are you beeping?" Raimu asked looking defensive.
Kit sighed, "It means I'm dead in five minutes, that's what it means." Kit closed her eyes and grimaced. 'Fate, you're supposed to smile down on people every once in a while you heinous bitch.'
* * *
Ichigo did not like the forlorn deadpan that had come over Roshi's face.
Roshi shook his head. "Why now? Why of all the things you could ask for you have do ask me for something I can't give you?"
Ichigo controlled her impulse to hit him. 'Why is it that he is the most aggravating person in existence?' She asked herself as she glared at him. "But you have to know something! You were able to go Super Saiyan again, why am I unable?"
Roshi shook his head and opened his mouth as if to say something, only to shut it again. He looked like he was mentally debating with himself over what to say. "Because you do not believe you can. Your greatest weakness has always been your doubt, and if you cannot overcome it then you will make everything Blizzard ever said to you to be true."
Roshi suddenly moved forward and grabbed Ichigo's hands. Until the warmth of his aura hit her, she had not realized how cold her hands had gotten. Roshi pried open her right hand and plucked the crushed and broken fragment of her mother's pendant from her hands. "This pendant was important to you because it was a symbol of your people. Well, you are a symbol too. I thought Saiyans never gave up. I thought they didn't know how to quit. If you need help finding something that can only be found by you within your own soul, then this is about as valuable as Blizzard says it is." Roshi finished as he chucked the piece of the pendant over his shoulder.
Ichigo didn't even pause to think. She just hit him in the middle of his fat lying mouth.
Roshi spat blood. "Fuck! I think you broke my tooth! Oh and congrats on making it back to Super Saiyan."
Ichigo stopped her ki charged fist about a centimeter from Roshi's left eye. She blinked. 'I am a Super Saiyan... but how? I did not even feel the change.' Ichigo watched as Roshi flew back and picked up the piece of the pendant he had thrown. 'Damn it I hate how he can manipulate me so easily.'
Roshi spit another mouthful of blood into the snow. "You have a nice right cross. Would have been better used on Blizzard though."
"You stupid jerk, what did you expect me to do after you said stuff like that?"
"Ah well, I sorta expected I would be able to block you."
"Brilliant plan, now give me my pendant back."
Roshi handed it over and then spit in the snow again. Ichigo could see that she had not in-fact broken any of his teeth, which she almost wished she had, but had split his lip and caused him to bite his tongue.
'Asshole deserves every bit of it too. I hate how he always knows just what to say and how to say it.' She thought as Roshi bent to pick up several more pieces of the pendant.
He stood up and handed them all over to her. "You will want to keep these. After we kick Blizzard's ass you will want the pendant reforged."
Ichigo did not say anything in reply.
Roshi put both of his hands on her shoulders and looked down into her eyes. "Ichigo, I'm sorry I said those things. I didn't for a second believe any of that. But I... I'm sorry I had to hurt you."
Ichigo knew he was telling the truth now. Pure worried compassion flooded his eyes. Ichigo shook her head and looked away. She found it unbearable to look into his eyes when he looked like he did now.
"Whatever, Blizzard is mine."
Roshi caught her arm as she started to fly towards the conversing Changelings. "Ichigo, use your speed. You do not have to over power them. Whatever you do, though, don't use the Kaio-Ken again, it will kill you."
Ichigo rolled her eyes. "I know. I won't this time. I knew it would last time too, only last time I didn't care."
* * *
The Chartashan proved to be more gifted than he had seemed, as he dodged out of the dust storm and away from the Kamehameha.
"Stupid Saiyan, I can sense ki too. I am not blind and dumb like Blizzard. You will have to try much harder than that to do me in." He taunted as he lobbed several more green blasts in Goshu's direction.
Goshu dodged to the right, up and away from the comets of energy, but they swerved to follow him.
"Fly Saiyan, they will follow you!"
"So will mine!" Goshu sneered as he shot two green Tsuihikidan blasts at the Chartashan. The Tsuihikidan was an attack developed by the original Piccolo and was every bit as dangerous as a Masenko. The only real difference was the Tsuihikidan took longer to charge and would follow it's target until it hit something and exploded.
Having seen homing attacks be used to home in on the person who sent them many times before, Goshu was not surprised to see the Chartashan take off directly at him.
Goshu smirked. 'Good, just what I wanted.'
While Gotenks went down in history as being a highly ineffective fighter, a few of his attacks had been improved on. One of them was the Ghost Image. Based on the Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack, it had been perfected by Trunk's Grandson Vegeta Jr.
Goshu split in two. Both looked real. Both felt real to anyone who could sense ki. One of them was real; the other was a ki bomb.
Goshu spun off to the right and dropped his ki down to nearly nothing while continuing to fly nearly directly at the Chartashan.
As expected, the Chartashan thought he was a decoy or fake and flew at the Ghost Image.
The Explosion of the Ghost Image followed by the Chartashan's attacks and the Tsuihikidans was quite spectacular.
* * *
Ichigo slammed her knee into Blizzard's face three times in a row, only to flip over his right arm as it groped for a target and missed her. Ichigo heel kicked him on the top of his head, directly behind his crown of spikes and then slid behind him to drive her fists into his kidneys.
"And here I thought a Changeling would be more difficult to beat than this." She said into his ear as she leapt over his tail to knee him in the stomach.
"I'll kill you yet you annoying fly! How dare you mock me!" Blizzard roared as he charged his hands with ki and started peppering the air around him with small blasts.
Several of them hit Ichigo, but they were only glancing blows, and they did no real damage beyond dirtying her gi. "That seems highly unlikely. But if you insist." She said moments before she lobbed off several Star Rippers at him. Two of the incredibly fragile ki blasts were caught and destroyed by Blizzard's shotgun fire of blasts, but one got through to slam into Blizzard's right side. Hundreds of tiny lacerations appeared on his right arm and side. They scuffed the brilliant polish off of his blood red armor and cut into his purple-pink flesh. Pink blood began to seep out of his side as Blizzard screamed in agony.
"You abound in cruelty and pain. It is only justice that some is given back to you. Roshi warned you to leave. Now I will kill you bit by bit until you have suffered and wish for your death. That was for sending Banana after me."
Ichigo twisted her index and middle fingers and shot off a Drill Beam. The red and white beam struck Blizzard in the left side of his chest and gouged out a chunk of flesh. Two more took chunks out of his thigh and back. "Those were for Snow and the damage she did to Roshi's home."
Ichigo started to charge a Plasma Beam, but Roshi flew up and kicked Blizzard hard in the side. The kick sent him cartwheeling into the frozen ground, but also pushed him out of the way of the attack, which Ichigo held as to not hit Roshi.
"I said Blizzard was mine!" Ichigo yelled at him.
"I know, but I am not about to watch you sink to his level!" Roshi spat back. Beat him, kill him if you can, but don't sink to his level!"
Ichigo seethed, 'this is my world, how dare he tell me what I can and cannot do. Of all the arrogant condescending things he can do.' She glared at Roshi and wished not for the first time that he would just shut the hell up. "I'm not sinking to his level. He deserves ever bit of what I am doing to him now. He tortured my father and my friends! This is justice!"
"That isn't justice, it is vengeance. In the end it will only gnaw on your soul. Don't lessen yourself to his level." Roshi yelled back pleadingly.
"I don't care! I want him to suffer! I want him to rue the day he chose to come here!" Ichigo looked away. Ice and Chill were just starting to dig themselves out of the holes Roshi had knocked them into. They were not even a threat any longer. None of them really were. It was almost sad that the Changelings had been brought down so quickly.
Ichigo looked back at Roshi, who was looking at her in a way that seemed to look right into her soul. 'Who asked you to be my conscience? Why do you care how I kill him? He needs to die. He needs to die painfully.'
"I will not be beaten by Monkeys!" Blizzard screamed from the ground where he stood. He opened his mouth and fired off a huge puissant purple blast of ki. It shot out in a cone that almost caught Ichigo.
Ichigo flipped away from the oncoming blast, only to watch as Roshi was caught by it.
The cone of purple energy bulged even further where it hit Roshi. Soon the bulge grew to a swelled protuberance of moving ki, which shot down towards Blizzard's mouth. When it reached Blizzard's gaping mouth, and explosion of yellow burst forth as Roshi exploded out of the wake of the blast to slam his fist into the point of Blizzard's jaw.
The blast ended instantly as Blizzard arched through the air to bounce off of a tree and fall onto his knees.
"Face it Blizzard, you've been beaten. Your energy is dropping so much now that you are not even a challenge."
"Nooo!" Blizzard screamed in rage as he took to the air. "I won't be killed by Monkeys!"
Blizzard trust his right arm into the air and started to gather energy. A huge pearlescent red ball of ki soon started to grow.
"That won't work Blizzard. You can't blow up the planet. Ichigo or I will just catch the blast." Roshi replied.
"Oh really? Catch this!" Chill yelled as he threw a blue ball of ki directly at the planet below him.
Ichigo spurred herself to even greater than normal speed and caught the ball before Roshi was even halfway too it.
The sphere of Ki was massive, Ichigo guessed it was at least 50 meters across, and it had a lot of momentum. It slammed her into the ground and forced her through the frozen soil.
'Just like Roshi and Snow on Earth. This is just like Roshi and Snow on Earth. I can stop this. I have to stop this. I will stop this.'
With that final thought, Ichigo felt herself stop moving backward and start to push the Ki blast back.
* * *
Roshi felt Ichigo struggling. He knew he could help her, but he also knew that she could do it herself, more, that she needed to do it herself. He turned and smirked at Blizzard when the blast started to move back away from the ground.
"Leave, you have been beaten. Just leave. Don't disgrace yourself further."
Blizzard continued to build his ki blast. "Is that so little Monkey? Only one of us has to be successful for the planet to die. I am gathering more energy every second we talk. I do admit you are strong, but are you strong enough? Can you stop my Planetbuster? I highly doubt it. Oh, and even if you could. There are only two of you, and three of us. I want to see you block three Attacks at once."
Roshi looked to see Ice building a huge white blast, and Chill starting to build another blue one.
"Oh fuck." Roshi replied dejectedly just as a flare of ki grew into his awareness.
"Hey, what did we miss, we'da been here sooner but you idiots moved the fight a long way from the city." The dual voice of Boxee said as the fusion looked around. "Oh, looks like the Changelings are getting desperate. Ok, time to pull out all the stops."
There was a yellow explosion and Boxee went Super Saiyan.
'Why did I know they were going to do something like that?' Roshi glared at him. "How long?"
"Since on the trip here, but only when we are fused." Boxee smirked as though he had just told the best joke in the history of mankind.
Ichigo flew up, looked at Boxee and then looked up at Blizzard. "It looks like the odds have just evened out a bit. Throw the blasts or not, either way you three are going to die here."
'Note to self, never trust a Fusion.' Roshi thought to himself as he looked from Ichigo to Boxee to the three Changelings. 'I hate standoffs.'
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
:)
Well I am sorry it took so long... School is a pain... And Girlfriends are highly distracting.
