Chapter 4
The End and the Beginning
In Original Japanese:
Destroy Son Gohan!?!? Battle for Vengeance!!
(See Chapter 1 for a lengthy explanation of the original Japanese titles.)
I love badgers.
Hello there. Sorry about the last chapter. I can tell the editorial thing didn't go over well, not because I got negative feedback, but because I got no feedback. I think it just really turned people off, so I won't be doing it again. I'd rather immerse people in the world of Dragon Ball, in this case, than inform them of the injustices in our (unfortunately) real world. I do indeed love badgers, and this will become very evident as you read chapter 4. I wonder are any of you impatient for Mushube to arrive? At the most it'll take two chapters before he does. So read this chapter which is, in part, my tribute to badgers, as well as a formal introduction to Genshu and some of her feelings.
Anyway, by the time this chapter is up, chapter 3 should have been edited to have my tragic spiel removed. I've also got changes to make to the physical characteristics of Trunks and Goten in former chapters, as they should be older than I seem to have made them, and I would like to additionally mention that I have become a fan of the original Japanese Dragonball Z since beginning this project, and I'm changing a lot of the names accordingly. The 'Son' family prefix will be used a lot, 'Hyperbolic Time Chamber' will become 'Room of Spirit and Time', and I'm generally removing any service I might have given, in the beginning, to those fuckers at Funimation. Any Dragonball fan who has become entranced by Masako Nozawa's odd, high-pitched portrayal of the men of the Son family will know what I'm changing.
If, by any chance, you are interested in the social, political, and human rights abuses going on in the world, and what you can do to help, email me at or, even better, point your web browser to Amnesty International, the worlds leading human rights organisation, at . I am a Dragonball nerd, but I'm an extremely liberal and socially conscious one. Therefore, this web address and my email will appear on all subsequent chapters. Please, please, don't confine your awareness of the world to your own little corner or your country's private interests.
My email address, by the way, is always open.
I am still not Akira Toriyama.
Tennin's body was enveloped in a white-hot beam. The incredible blast had no point of focus, unlike the Kamehameha, which came from the hands, or the Dodonpa wave, focused on the fingers. What Tennin was doing was releasing a blast of white-hot, low-concentration energy from every part of his body. His arms and legs were splayed out to the sides as Goku sat watching curiously.
Several minutes after he had shown him, Goku had absorbed the basics of forming and using the Tenjin Baku technique, and Tennin had to admit that, despite his eccentricities, he was quite fast on the uptake. Tennin cut off the devastating blast, and dropped to the ground, his clothes in even worse shape. Goku smiled. "So, what do you call that one?"
Tennin smiled right back. "The Furi Shun. Not an easy one."
Goku looked confused. "What do you mean? It seems simple enough."
"Maybe, but in practical terms it's very taxing, albeit productive. But, enough about me, let's see your. . ." Tennin cut off in mid-sentence, for it was at that moment that something dreadful happened on earth.
Genshu wandered in the wilderness, quietly letting it wash over her, feeling culturally enlightened by her experience with the man named Hercule.
Mostly, though, her thoughts were still on the tall man with long white hair. . . or rather, the other tall man with long white hair. . . the sweet, honest one that she had not known her entire life. . .
Genshu shook her head as she realised that this was not very meditative. But still, how could she not think of somebody who so filled her heart? Her ancestors, the other women of her family who had served as the Itton, had warned her about the love attraction, and of its danger.
Her people, who had never been very emotional, had divided all emotions into categories. Ludas, or love, was the most dangerous one, which led to all other negative emotions. Although she knew that wasn't strictly wrong, Genshu had always rejected the idea that mastering her abilities depended upon mastering her emotions. She felt no different now. She didn't want to take control of what she felt and analyse the life from it until she understood it, as she had been taught to do. What she felt like doing right now was everything she had ever been warned against.
She decided that she would allow herself to fall into the danger of the Ludas attraction, if just to see what it would bring her. The bottom line was that she and Tennin talk about it, for it was clear he returned her feelings.
As she thought this, doubt began to gnaw at her. Did he truly feel the same way? He seemed very surprised by her, and taken with her. She was used to this, though, having long ago stopped acting as though she was not beautiful. Still, she had never had any pride about it. She smiled through her doubt, remembering his eyes, how there had been something different in them, something that appreciated her more than that, that made her feel something she had never felt, something terribly irrational. In her long life, she had never seriously had a relationship with anyone.
Maybe she had thought she saw something in his eyes because they were orange?
This quite silly thought entered and left her mind quickly, as something began to whine pitifully at her feet. As she looked down, she saw a small creature, whining raspily, with a fine fur that would someday be an interesting mixture of black and white.
It was a very small, very young badger. This badger's name, although he did not know it, was Uro. This was his story:
Uro had been born, and was rather ugly. Slowly, he had become adorable, as his mother began teaching the ancient badger tradition of springing from the burrow and mauling passing things at random. One day, several months into his life, Uro's mother was showing him how to react, by mauling, to a deer who frolicked to close to the burrow.
Uro, however, being a rowdy little badger, was not paying attention, but rather was practising reacting to, by mauling, a passing grasshopper. Unfortunately, Uro's legs were shorter, his teeth less developed, and claws less sharp than his big, meaninglessly angry mother, and the grasshopper, rather annoyed by the whole thing, leaped away nimbly. This behaviour, of course, inspired the single most powerful instinct of a badger's mind: to maul. Our tiny badger friend raced through the wood as fast as his short legs could carry him, after the aloof grasshopper.
His mother, still busy demonstrating the correct way to react to close-proximity frolicking, did not notice, and in fact assumed he was watching, rapt with attention. He was, however, not far away by normal standards, but miles away by his own.
Although our little friend had lost the grasshopper, he had now come upon the outside world, to discover literally billions of things to leap upon and, following this, maul. Having, however, nothing to leap out of, he made a great departure from tradition, giving the first bit the miss and skipping right on to the mauling.
His physical shortcomings notwithstanding, he did quite a good job. A blade of grass as well as a burnt tree-stump were disfigured for life, and a butterfly, while not hurt by its ordeal, would certainly be sure to avoid badgers from then on. Following this successful bit of mauling, Uro was tired, and so took a nap among all the grass and the trees, far away from the bustling pace of West City. In the morning he would return to his mother, to receive further lessons in a badgers life's work.
But something awoke him in the middle of the night. Immediately jumping up and growling in a way that was, unfortunately for Uro, almost sickeningly adorable, he prepared to maul it severely. It was then he realised that what had awoken him had been the wind in the trees.
Sitting and looking at the stars as the trees shook in the wind, Uro quietly pondered the question of how one might go about the mauling of the wind. The problem, he decided, was touching it. It was quite a big thing to touch, to be certain. It was possible, he thought, he was touching it at the moment, but how could he be sure of that? What precisely about a sensation denoted it as touch? What, for that matter, truly made a sensation a taste, or a smell, or a sound? What is it that makes us feel these things? Was it possible to truly touch anything. . .
His attention span gave out and he mauled a nearby rock quite fiercely.
This, it may be said, was the beginning of Uro's troubles.
The rock, for a start, was, at his underdeveloped point, a good deal harder than any bit of his body could reasonably be expected to be. The other bad thing about mauling a rock is that rocks are sometimes in loose ground; this rock was not an exception.
The rock, in response to the mauling, tumbled, with our friend Uro attached, down the rest of a small hill, followed by a four-foot drop. These things, unfortunately, injured poor Uro. His injuries prevented him moving or, to his total horror, mauling. He simply lay, injured, and emitted what he wished could be a growl, but came out as more of a raspy whine.
After lying there for some time, he fell asleep again, and would probably have been picked clean by scavengers had it not been for the intensely beautiful woman that happened to pass by at the moment. Her arrival awoke him, and waking up, he did what any self-respecting badger would do: growl.
Self-respecting injured badger, that is. It is of course to be assumed that, upon waking, a self-respecting badger, at the height of health and with no problems in sight, would immediately set about mauling whatever was handy.
Genshu, having never seen a badger, had no understanding of the ancient tradition by which they lived, breathed, ate, slept and, above all, mauled. Her compassion at seeing an injured animal, however, was touched, and she thought this injured animal particularly cute, which, although it shouldn't be, is often to the advantage of an injured animal. Kneeling down, a smile on her face, she gently placed her hands over him, a pure white light coming from them.
Uro, overwhelmed by the urge to maul this light, felt a rush of cool air as his wounds healed. Genshu removed her hands slightly as he stood up and growled at her, which was adorable, ready to maul, his front legs down, his back legs up and ready to spring, his incredibly short tail, surely the product of some evolutionary narcotic, waggling adorably. Genshu smiled wider and pet him.
Our friend froze at this. He did not understand this strange gesture, nor see how it warranted mauling. Didn't everything warrant mauling? He liked it, and so was only able to bite her finger in a way she considered affectionate. The strange woman, as he thought he was, smiled and scratched his neck, causing his head to crane upwards in a particularly defenceless fashion. He enjoyed this, and mauling left his mind. He did not wish to maul her, in the same way he had not wished to maul his mother. Genshu opened her hand for him to step onto. In a trance, he stepped forward, all thought of mauling disappearing in the peace of the deep green eyes.
Genshu pet the creature gently. It came up to her shoulder and rubbed against her hair, cooing softly.
He bashed his head against her, trying to force himself to maul.
She laughed her sparkling laugh. "You should really get back to your mother now," she said.
The words were nothing to him next to this fascinatingly un-maulable object he had found. He had to find out more about it before returning to his mother. He simply collapsed, lying on her shoulder moodily.
"Oh, you want to come with me?" Genshu looked hesitant as the creature snuggled onto her shoulder. "Well, alright." She smiled and scratched his tiny head, smiling at the noise he made. "I could use somebody to talk to,"
As the finger touched his head, our little friend made a noise of lament at his complete lack of the desire to maul.
"I'll call you Uro," said Genshu. "It was my father's name, and it means 'Gracious One'. You are most certainly a sweet one." She laughed again as she said this, further driving the maul instinct from Uro's head.
The beautiful woman and the confused badger walked deeper into the wood, bathed in the sun of a cool October midday, as something horrible happened not far away.
Vegeta and Torren lay in the pockmarked field their battle had created. Both were still bleeding very impressively, each sporting a number of unpleasant gashes destined to become scars that they would one day use to frighten off young children gawking at the grouchy old men.
"Ow," Vegeta said, following his first attempt to speak. Then he forced it out. "You were. . . pretty damn good. . . Torren. . ."
"Heh," said Torren, wincing. "That means a lot coming from you." He winced as a bit of blood seeped from his mouth. "But you. . . certainly weren't bad. Maybe we could do this again sometime."
Not far off, something horrible happened. There was a pause as both felt it.
"Not much we can do about that, is there?" Said Torren.
"I guess not. I think the ability to move is a prerequisite to taking action," Vegeta answered.
They both continued laying prostrate and bleeding. "How are we going to get out of here, by the way?" Torren chanced.
Gohan's body flew along at a casual speed, the unpleasant thing possessing it trying to find the power it sought. "Damn," it thought, "he's not here."
A grim, empty smile spread across it's face as a sprawling, busy city came into view. "But wherever he is, that would certainly draw him," it's mind concluded.
Gohans body rocketed towards the city.
On the surface, a few people saw it as it stopped in the air above, a tiny dot. A portly businessman cleaned his glasses and looked at it again.
The smile on it's face became emptier than before as the index finger of the right hand pointed into the city. At this point Tennin was just finishing the Furishun.
Slowly, a point of yellow light blasted to life on the outstretched fingertip, then left it. To the increasing number of onlookers on the ground, the sphere of brilliant yellow seemed to hover for a moment in the vast space between the body that had loosed it and the target for which it was destined, as if trying to decide what the hell to do.
Then it crashed into the centre of the city, and the yellow flash inscribed the final arc in the story of their lives. The city and its people were immolated in the brilliant explosion, an explosion that caught the attention of every warrior on earth and of two that were far away.
Among them was the one that the spirits within Gohan's body sought.
The body hung suspended in the air, it's finger still extended towards the ground, a smoking crater stretching for several miles, the cold, empty smile still on it's face. Moments after the explosion, two figures, one much taller than the other, appeared in the air several feet away.
Goku started in surprise and shock at the scene before him. He looked at the body of his son cautiously. "Gohan. . .?" After an infinitesimal second, he grew angry. "Who are. . ."
He stopped abruptly as Tennin, his hair above his head, a flaring Super Saiya-jin yellow, lashed across Gohan's face with his fist, ripping out eight very important teeth. Drawing his right leg up, he kicked Gohan's body very hard in the back, sending it rocketing into the crater it had created. It bounced once, emitting an unpleasant cracking noise and then laying still.
"Tennin. . ." Goku said, staring wide-eyed at his enraged brother. He stopped short, turning his head as he felt three powers approaching from the east. One was very faint.
Tennin looked as well, his hair turning white and falling to his shoulders once more.
"It's Goten, Trunks and Piccolo," Goku said. "Piccolo's ki is so weak!"
"They must have been attacked by that," he said, gesturing angrily to Gohan's prostrate body, far below.
Trunks and Goten flew into sight, supporting Piccolo's sagging form between them. "What happened?" Goten asked tentatively.
Trunks looked to where Gohan and his teeth lay. "Who did that?" He asked with surprise.
"I did," Tennin said. "I got a little carried away, but I was angry."
"I don't mind," Trunks said. "It's exactly what I would have done."
"So what happened to you guys?" Tennin asked.
"Well," Trunks began, and stopped short, looking at the ground.
Gohan's body was standing up. It stood fully, blood pouring from it's mouth, which nevertheless smiled. Rocketing off the ground, the body stopped level with Tennin, about thirty feet away from him. It smiled widely at him, which made Tennin shudder. "I bet you thought you'd put me out for longer than this, didn't you?"
Tennin smiled at Gohan in a friendly way, "No problem, I can just do it again."
"Gohan!" Goku said, angrily. "Why did you kill all these people!?"
Gohan's body laughed. The sound of it's voice was like Gohan's, yet subtly different. "I am not your kinsman," it said. "I am a demon inhabiting his body." The eyes shifted to Tennin. "That means that no matter how extensive or agonising the pain you inflict upon me, I will not feel it. In fact, I welcome you to kill me, so I can force you to put to death all of these insignificant flies, one by one."
"What are you talking about?" Tennin said.
"Well, if you destroy this body, then I will move to another. If you don't kill them, I will simply cause more and more death."
"Why don't you move to my body?" Tennin said, smiling.
"Tennin, are you crazy!?" Goten whispered fiercely.
"I'm no fool," spoke the demon within Gohan. "You are a Kai. You could easily put an end to me if I entered your consciousness." Gohan's eyes looked at Tennin, filled with grim mirth. "Your options are quite limited, eh?" It laughed as Tennin stared at it, nervously.
The two girls who had been sleeping at Kami-Sama's Lookout suddenly sat up simultaneously, fully awake, their pure blue eyes focusing on nothing in particular.
The long-haired one looked at her sister. "Ilyar, we seem to be causing undue pain to the people of this world."
"Hopefully they realise it is not our intention anymore, Fenyar" said the other.
"In any case, we must stop it," Fenyar said again.
Ilyar's lovely blue eyes were downcast. "I would not have imagined there was enough malice in us to create a demon of such evil."
"Come," said her sister, slipping off of the bed.
Both walked out of the small room they had been in, to see Dende, God of Earth, and Mr. Popo standing at the edge of the lookout, both looking nervous.
"Excuse us," said Ilyar.
Mr. Popo and Dende turned and leapt into the air in fear and surprise. "Uh. . . hi," Dende said to the girls.
Both smiled and bowed politely. "They're definitely not the same," Mr. Popo said.
"Yes," said Ilyar. "We expelled the evil within us, so as you know we must go quickly,"
"but we wanted to thank you for helping us when Tennin-San brought us here," Fenyar finished her sentence.
"Thank you," they both said together. Then, simultaneously, they flew off.
"They're so. . . polite." Dende noted as they disappeared into the distance.
Tennin faced the possessed Gohan, staring worriedly at his indeed limited options.
"What're we gonna do?" Asked Goku, hovering beside his brother. Trunks and Goten, still supporting Piccolo, were behind them.
"I don't know," said Tennin, desperately.
Gohan's body laughed once again. "I'll give you a few minutes to decide."
"We might have to kill him," Tennin whispered.
"What!?" Goku said, far too loudly. He was immediately shushed from three directions. "There must be a better way."
"It's the only way I can think of," Tennin said. "It'll get him to transmigrate. I'm far from certain, but it's possible that I can capture the demons essence while it's in the process of moving from one body to another."
"That's crazy!" Goku said.
"Can you think of a better plan?"
"Dad," said Goten from behind. "I think Tennin's right. It's our only shot."
"Yeah," Trunks chimed in. "Besides, we can bring everyone back with the Dragon Balls. We don't have a lot of time to spend on this. We need to be training."
"Son of a bitch. . ." Piccolo said, coming to.
Goku looked at him, smiling. "Hey, Piccolo, you alright?"
Piccolo looked up at Goku, smiling groggily. "Yeah. I think I feel a rib he didn't break," he said as he shook free of the two teenagers, hovering on his own power.
"Alright, Goku, you make the shot," said Tennin. "I'll be waiting."
Gohan's body chuckled. "Aren't you ready yet? Well, that's just. . . just. . ."
He was staring over the heads of his enemies, wide-eyed.
"What's he staring at?" Goku asked Tennin.
"Uh. . . I guess he's trying to trick us. I don't sense any. . ." as he spoke, Ilyar and Fenyar floated down in front of him. "You two?" He said curiously. "But I didn't sense anything."
Both looked back at him, smiling sweetly. Their smiles made Tennin smile in his own disarming way.
"We suppressed our ki so they would not run, Tennin-San." Ilyar informed him.
Tennin chuckled and blushed slightly. "Tennin-San? You guys are gonna embarrass me. Just call me Tennin." He cleared his throat. "What do you mean they. . .? Oh, yeah! Of course there would be two demons. But why did they both choose to inhabit one body?"
"We don't know," Fenyar said. "But we should deal with them. Please excuse us."
"This should be interesting," said Goku as they turned.
"Yeah. . . Tennin-San," Goten said.
Tennin flushed as if he had a button for it.
Fenyar spoke forcefully to Gohan's body. "Come out of that man immediately!"
"Yes!" Said her sister. "You have no right to visit your anger on these people."
"My anger!?" Gohan spoke, incensed. "It is your duty, I suppose you've forgotten!"
But the girls were no longer listening. Both had their right arms outstretched toward Gohan, focusing.
Gohan's mouth opened, and a black sludge spilled from it, which resolved into two forms, both of whom resembled the girls in almost every way, except that their eyes were the black on yellow as Ilyar and Fenyar's had once been. They regarded their twins angrily.
Gohan's body immediately fell towards the ground, as Goku phased in and caught it. The girls continued to remain as they were, staring at each other
"Lord Mushube. . ." said the demon version of Ilyar,
"will kill you for this. . ." Fenyar's twin said.
Both demons charged their counterparts simultaneously.
Fenyar blocked a vicious left kick from her counterpart, but cried out as she took a left kick in the side.
Ilyar entered into a frenzied exchange with her counterpart, in which she was pummelled with crushing blows.
Tennin looked on curiously. "The demons seem stronger, don't you think?" He asked his brother.
"Yeah," Goku said. "That sucks."
Ilyar rocketed away from her own battle, kicking her sisters twin in the face, grabbing her left leg with both hands, and throwing her hard into her own demonic counterpart.
"We might need to help them. I'll do it, Goku, you just look after Gohan."
Goku nodded, and then stared at the good versions of the twins, who were side by side in the air, gathering energy. Even though they were children, their movements and postures were very elegant. Each was surrounded by their own aura of purple ki.
Fenyar, on the right, drew her left arm up as her sister did the same with her right. They both spoke together. "Shisoya. . ."
They extended their hands, side by side. "Ha!" they both yelled, releasing a dense, powerful beam of bright purple ki towards their demon counterparts. The evil twins, smiling, drew back and blasted a similar technique, although much stronger. The beams met with an electrical crackling of ki.
The warring energies met between the two pairs of sisters, crackling and hissing electrically. Tennin's long hair blew back in the hot wind as he looked on, focusing intensely, waiting for the right moment.
Effortlessly, the evil sisters poured ki into their blast, driving back their counterparts. There was a brilliant explosion. The bright light waxed quickly and then faded.
The evil sisters looked on mockingly to where their counterparts had been. "At least we achieved our vengeance," the demon Fenyar said.
"Yes. The traitors are dead." The other affirmed.
"They are?" Tennin spoke from below them.
Both evil sisters looked to him simultaneously. They also frowned simultaneously.
Tennin stood, unmoved, where he had been before. In each arm he held one of the twins, who looked as surprised as their counterparts. They looked up at him. "Tennin-San!" They said together.
Tennin smiled down at them as he released both sisters. "You guys did good," he said to both of them. "You tried your best. Personally I thought you'd win."
"We wanted to destroy the evil within us on our own," said Fenyar.
"but we weren't strong enough. . ." Ilyar finished.
"Don't worry about it!" Goku chimed in exuberantly. "You tried your best, and that's all you can do."
"Yeah," said Tennin, looking up. "But who's gonna deal with them now? I don't want to kill children."
"Too bad my dad isn't here," Trunks said with sarcasm.
The demons looked on hatefully, knowing there was nothing more they could do. "We have no choice," Tennin said grimly. Goku seemed to agree, handing Gohan to Goten.
"Wait!" the demon Fenyar said, her voice full of tears.
"We're sorry!" Said her sister.
"Please don't hurt us!" The other said, sniffling. "We won't do bad stuff anymore."
Tennin arched an eyebrow. "You guys are really desperate, aren't you?" He shook his head. "That's just sad."
But Goku looked on them mercifully. "If. . . if they promise not to hurt anyone again, maybe we should let them go. . ." he said.
Tennin looked at his brother. "Are you out of your mind? These are first-order demons! They aren't susceptible to change. Maybe a lesser one, like Piccolo, but not them."
Goku shook his head. "You're right! I can't let them trick me."
The demons growled angrily.
Tennin went from staring at his brother to smiling. Such a pure heart, he thought. I can't conceive of that kind of innocence. He was shaken from his thoughts by the small fist that ripped by his face with a force that would smash rock. Moving around several lightning-fast blows from the desperate demon attacking him, he finally struck. Pivoting to his left, he smashed across the face of the demon-girl, his own expression grim, watching as her unconscious form flew away from him. Righting himself and stretching out his left arm, he looked to his brother as he prepared to release the ball of energy that would end the demon's life. He saw his brother phase in behind the other, knocking it to the ground with a two-fisted blow.
Goku extended his arm towards the demon he had knocked to the ground, staring at her. Setting his face, a ball of energy flared into life on his palm. He floated there for a moment, arm outstretched, before lowering it. "I. . . I'm sorry, Tennin. I can't kill a child."
"Don't kill them," Ilyar said before either could launch their coup de grace. Tennin and Goku looked at her.
"We have to stop them somehow," Tennin said, "or they'll kill more innocent people."
Fenyar smiled in a self-satisfied way. "They won't do anything while you're around, Tennin-San," she said, as Ilyar nodded sweetly.
"..." was Tennin's embarrassed response.
"So what do you want us to do?" Asked Goku, looking at them with his 'I'm confused' face.
Ilyar spoke. "Let them go. It shames us that we cannot destroy the evil within us."
"And so we will grow stronger over time, and then defeat them. They are no threat to anyone while Tennin-San is around," Fenyar, characteristically, finished.
"If, that is," Ilyar spoke, "we are not incorrect in thinking that your extrasensory abilities are far beyond those of any other being on this world."
"I guess so..." Tennin said, unable to speak in the face of the immense respect he was being shown.
Goku smiled. "Well, I understand that! Fine, we'll let them go." He looked at the demon girls sternly. "You're free to go. But if you cause any trouble, we'll be there faster than you can blink!"
"Yes," Tennin chimed in, recovering himself. "Go in peace for now."
Both demon girls smiled. "This is a dire mistake on your part," demon Ilyar spoke.
"But we won't try to dissuade you from it." Her sister finished.
"Go," Fenyar said to the evil twins. "But expect to be seeing us soon!"
The demon girls flew off to the North.
Tennin and Goku, chuckling slightly, ascended to where the Saiya-jins, the girls, and the Namekian were. Both girls bowed politely. "Thank you again, Tennin-San!" They said, making Tennin blush again. "Is he alright?" Fenyar said, gesturing to Gohan, held by Goten.
"Yeah, thanks to you," Goku said.
"Hey, do you guys have names?" Tennin asked.
"We did, long ago," Ilyar said. "Mine was Ilyar."
"And I am Fenyar," said, predictably, Fenyar.
"Long ago?" Tennin said curiously. "How old are you?"
"We don't really know," said Fenyar. "But we had fought alongside Mushube for many ages before we came here."
Ilyar took up the thought, as both sisters avoided Tennin's eyes. "We did many evil deeds in that time."
Tennin smiled in the reassuring way that he smiled. "Don't worry about that! You guys were under his control. That doesn't count."
"That makes me feel better, Tennin-San," Ilyar said happily.
"It's still embarrassing when you call me Tennin-San..."
Piccolo awoke, chuckling. "Son of a bitch! Can we do this later? I feel like shit."
"You look quite like shit," said Tennin.
"Thanks," Piccolo responded.
"I'm just glad that little scare is over," Goku said. "Now let's get Piccolo and Gohan home so they can rest."
Tennin nodded, turned, and looked at Ilyar and Fenyar. "Are you guys coming?"
Both beamed at him. "We will go wherever you do, Tennin-San."
The group flew off, amidst significant snickering.
Vegeta and Torren, an hour or so later, were just beginning to gain the strength to move, when Tennin landed.
He stood over them, arms folded, looking upon them bemusedly. "You two seem to have a lot of trouble gauging yourselves," he said.
Vegeta barred his teeth, trying vainly to look menacing. "Gauge ourselves!? Aren't you concerned in the least about what might be coming!?"
Tennin shrugged. "Of course I am." Opening his arms, he gestured to his raggedy garments. "Son and I did some pretty hard training, as you can see, and I fully intend to spend every day involved in similar pursuits. But we know when to stop."
Vegeta snorted as Torren beside him grinned. "I'm almost able to move again, you know."
"I'm utterly petrified," Tennin said. With a final chuckle, he shook his head. "Come on," he said, bending and helping them both up in turn.
"Ah. . . that's a bit better," Torren said, loosening up.
"Can you guys fly?" Tennin asked.
"Can you stick it up your ass!?" Vegeta yelled.
"I really don't know how Buruma handles you," Tennin said, shaking his head. "If you can fly, follow me. Goku and Chi-Chi are having another get-together at their house." After this, Tennin flew off to the East.
"I don't like him," Vegeta said.
"You don't seem like the kind who likes people," Torren offered.
"Given," Vegeta admitted. "But him I particularly don't. He's been here less than two days and he's already criticising my relationship."
"I might be jumping on that boat soon myself," Torren remarked sarcastically as he flew off.
Vegeta, snorting derisively, followed.
Muten Roshi, like many of us, saw every social function which he attended as an excuse to consume large amounts of alcohol. This had the effect of transforming him from an elderly martial artist afflicted by an acute and, many would say, unhealthy obsession with women's undergarments, into a rambunctious, loud, and, usually, shirtless, party-goer.
This particular social function, a gathering of Goku's family and friends, was no exception. Chi-Chi was cooking the flesh of several unfortunate mountain animals in an open pit outside their home, as Muten Roshi roamed around, shirtless, screaming about sake and asking people if they had seen his turtle.
Attendance here was not as robust as it had been when Tennin had first arrived. Piccolo sat in the air menacingly, being as personable as he could, a posture which would have frightened away loads of small children. Tennin and Goku were both slightly tipsy, standing somewhere off to the left with their arms around each others shoulders, trying to figure out a song they both knew so they could sing it together loudly. Videl was by the cooking pit, talking to Chi-Chi, with her daughter Pan, who was striking up a conversation with Ilyar and Fenyar, who, she was finding, were very different from other girls her age. Kuririn was, for some reason, there, with 18 and Yamucha. They were sitting around not doing much, which seemed to have become their job description. Goten was with his father trying to make his blonde, large-breasted date laugh so that people would look at her. Trunks was there too, helping Goten play with the slightly tipsy sensibilities of Goku and Tennin. Muten Roshi had managed to drag Oolong along for the ride, and Puar was floating nonsensically near Yamucha, who had long ago been forbidden to bring dates to these kinds of things, and who was consequently a little pissed.
Vegeta was inside the house with Torren, being disdainful of everyone outside, as his wife sat against the Son family house, her knees drawn to her chest, staring at Tennin and Goku pensively. It was unusual for Buruma to behave this way, particularly when there was alcohol around.
Gohan, whose luck had not been good lately, was unconscious in his bed.
The stars were coming out, as several people who could have immolated entire planets with a flick of their wrist became extremely intoxicated. Tennin held himself back slightly, wanting to get some time alone with the lovely Genshu, who had showed up late with a badger and a smile.
During the song speculation with his brother he had lost sight of her, but, of course, knew where she was. Ilyar had been on the nose about Tennin's extrasensory abilities. Tennin's sensitivity to spiritual, physical, psychic, and emotional vibrations was unheard of, even among the kai. He made the oldest of the Gods of the Universe look like amateurs with his ability to see and feel everything. Tennin almost always knew what people were thinking and feeling, as well as any physical ailments they might possess. As a warrior, it almost negated the need to see. When he was younger, his powers had been maddening until he learned to control them, as the entire universe unfolded in his minds eye.
He had at last managed to break away from the arm of his brother and the vain attempt to find a song they both knew. He saw her sitting on a grassy out-thrusting of sandy stone not far from Goku's house.
She looked at him as he approached her, still wearing the clothes he had started the day in, which were, by any standards, in bad shape. He had discarded his golden Saibot sash, which had been torn beyond recognition. There were no clothes in Goku's house for someone of his size, and he, unlike many other divine beings, had never learned the trick of conjuring garments. So he still wore his ragged shirt and almost entirely destroyed pants. Genshu wore a pure white robe with a kimono underneath. "Hi," she said over her shoulder, as Uro, not far away, mauled something ferociously. It was a leaf.
Tennin's eyes shifted to the bits of leaf flying in the air. "So who's the badger?" He asked as if it was a common question.
Genshu smiled. "Uro is my new friend."
"Uh. . . I see." He sighed slightly and sat next to her. She sat beside him, the thoughts of each dwelling on the other.
"Do you believe. . ." he began. "That two souls who are meant to find one another will ultimately do so, even if entire realities lie between them, and it seems as though no force could bring them together?"
Genshu smiled to herself, letting the emotions she felt wash over her. "Do you?" She asked. As she spoke, she knew that giving in to what she felt could be a mistake, but trying to deny it would have been one too.
Tennin looked at her when she asked him this. "Well. . . yes." Looking at the ground and then at the emerging stars, where, Tennin noticed, his eyes seemed to dwell more than most others did, he said: "I mean. . . I've never seen it happen. Although I think it would be foolish to believe otherwise. My mother was definitely not meant for my father."
Looking at him deeply, Genshu spoke, quietly. "Do you think you will ever find your soul?"
Looking into her eyes nervously, Tennin debated as to whether he should speak what was in his mind. Instead of doing that, he just said: "I have absolute faith that I will."
Genshu smiled in a way that Tennin hadn't seen her do yet. This was interesting, as what she had done since she got here was, mostly, smile. "I do too," she said, which Tennin thought was very good. "What about these people?" She said, looking away from him. "Has their search succeeded?"
Tennin smiled as he remembered Chi-Chi's prodigious temper and how Buruma just didn't seem to belong with Vegeta had screamed at Goten. "Well, I don't know that I can say. They don't really seem to belong together, but. . ."
"Will of the universe," Genshu said.
"Will of the universe, right. . ." agreed Tennin. The conversation took a breather. "But of course," Tennin said, opening it again. "If the universe put Buruma, for instance, with Vegeta. . . then I have some questions for management." Genshu smiled. "Hey!" Tennin said, a brilliant idea occurring to him. It suddenly fizzled out as he remembered something. Embarrassed, he simply failed to follow up his exclamation.
Genshu waited, politely, for a moment. "Hey what?" She said, after growing impatient.
"Oh uh. . ." Tennin spit out nervously. "Forget it. I had an idea I thought was great, but it was based on a really rude assumption that I realised was wrong and, therefore, rude."
Genshu blinked at him. "Tell me what it was."
"Oh, well. . . you can fly, can't you?" She sighed in a frustrated way, which made Tennin think she was angry with him. "I told you. . ."
"No," she interrupted. "The thing is, I can't fly."
An image of Genshu flying in Tennin's mind clearly contradicted this statement. "But I saw you. . . this morning."
"I know. . ." she said a bit poutily.
"So you can fly then?"
"No."
"Then what. . ." Tennin said, beginning to be confused.
"I fell." She said quickly.
Tennin paused thoughtfully. "What do you mean?" He chanced.
"I mean I was flying, and I just fell. Right outside the city."
"You just. . . fell?"
"Yes. It was like I sort of. . . stopped working. I haven't been able to fly since then."
Tennin blinked several times, although it didn't help. "Maybe there's some fundamental difference here that keeps you from functioning as you did on. . . Mikkon, was it?"
She nodded, hugging her knees to herself and resting her chin on them. "I can't think what, though. As far as the physical environment is concerned, the worlds are very similar." She looked over at him thoughtfully. "The only thing that's really different is that you're here."
To this, Tennin smiled, as the conversation was finally going where he wanted it to. "Well, yeah, I'm pretty great, but I seriously doubt I effect the laws of physics."
"No," She said, "I mean that I can't stop thinking about you."
"Same here," he affirmed quietly. "Although it hasn't stopped me from flying."
"Lucky," she said. Sighing, she continued. "So, now that you know your assumption was correct, what was your idea?" She asked although she thought, or rather hoped, she knew what it was.
"Well," he said, moving closer to her, which she was totally unable to mind him doing. "I was thinking that we could fly for a while. Maybe I could try to teach you."
"What about your friends and family? I think they're about to start singing." She said, smiling again in that way he hadn't seen her smile.
"Well," he said, "I might have come here for them, but I like what I've found better."
"So do I," she said. "Let's go."
Her arms around his neck, they flew off into the glistening sky.
A shirtless Muten-Roshi ran along beneath, screaming at them to give him his turtle.
Far away and to the north, the evil versions of Ilyar and Fenyar were lounging in the mountains, watching the stars come out. Their anger had, at least temporarily, deserted them, and they were watching the stars in fascination.
"Perhaps there are good things about this planet," Ilyar said.
"Like what?"
"Like... the sky."
Both demons fell into a peaceful sleep, which they had not done in their memory, dreaming of how far away they were from Mushube.