"Revelations, Repercussions and Robots Oh My!" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen
email: rybreen@theberries.ns.ca
Note: I apolagize to all fans of this fanfic for the long wait for these chapters. I have been otherwise occupied since my graduation from university and my looking for a job. Add that to the fact that I didn't want to post anything but my best and you can probably find the wait a bit easier to understand.
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Capsule Corperation, The Brief Home, 8:00p.m
I am *GOOD*! Buffy thought to herself as she sat herself down on the couch in front of the TV with a bag of chips.
It had taken a little longer than she had counted on but eventually over the course of the past four hours she had managed to annoy Vegita to the point where Bulma had to order him to take Trunks to a movie before he started a fight with her that might have destroyed the place. She realized that antagonizing an incredibly powerful Saiyan was not the most intelligent thing to do but since she couldn't beat him with her fists she would beat him in other ways. One of them was innocently antagonizing him and getting away with it by making sure that Bulma or Trunks was in the room to hold the former Prince back. True he had come close several times during the past few hours to firing off an energy blast or turning into a Super Saiyan but she hadn't been to concerned. After all she had been training pretty hard with Faith and Dawn since their last encounter so she was pretty sure that she could handle most of the attacks that he could send her way. That was of course as long as he didn't go super saiyan on her because that would be a bit of problem since the last time he had done it against her it had taken a senzu bean to heal her. Still as long as Bulma, Trunks and the others were around she didn't think that she had all that much to worry about which could only mean more pestering for that pompous Saiyan prince.
Hmmmm, I wonder what I should do to him when he gets back? , Buffy thought to herself as she watched her favorite show, Maybe I should practice some of my more high impact katas and try to keep him awake all night? Nah, been done. Maybe tomorrow I should just get up an hour or two before him and use up all the hot water? Maybe but then everyone else wouldn't have hot water either.
Just then on the TV show she was watching her particular favorite guy lead had just had his shirt set on fire and was frantically trying to get it off before it burned him too badly. This of course only worked in her favor since it would allow her to get a clear view of his abs and pecs which were enough to make her consider a career in acting.
"Oh yeah Kevin, flex those pecs for me!" , she said quietly to herself as the events unfolded on the TV, "Iolus doesn't even come close in the hunk area!"
"Maybe but I prefer my guys to be a little shorter." said a voice from behind Buffy that sounded kinda like Bulma.
Slightly startled that she hadn't detected the other person's approach Buffy was on her feet in an instant and in fighting stance just as quick. This made the reality all the more embarassing as standing before her was not some undetected enemy but a young teen who looked kinda like Bulma but had purple hair like Trunks. There was something about her that she found likable about her even though this was the first time they had met, it was some quality in her demeanor that immediately put her at ease. Relaxing into a more casual position she pushed her power level back down to a more casual level with the hope that if anyone had sensed its increase that they would see its steady decline as a sign that the danger had passed. More than a few times during their patrols together Faith had increased her power level too quickly when she saw something unusual lurking in the shadows of an alleyway. This had caused her to fly to her partner's position with all due speed in case she needed back up but when she had arrived at the scene she was annoyed to find that it had only been a nitcian demon. They were dangerous to your average human but to a pair of warriors as strong as she and Faith were it wasn't any more threatening than a bumblebee. After that they had both agreed to try and wait until they could identify the threat before powering up to anything above the normal Slayer level. They also agreed on a signal that would let the other know if the sudden rise in their power level was an accident so nothing bad would happen. Such was the signal she was putting out now so that none of the fighters in the area would think to come in here and pound this girl senseless.
"Sorry if I startled you, you're Buffy right?" the girl asked as she held out her hand.
"Yeah. Who are you?" Buffy asked even though she had a pretty good idea of the answer.
"My name's Bra, I'm Bulma and Vegita's daughter." Bra replied much to Buffy's chagrin.
Buffy had to fight to hold down the giggles she said "Pleased to meet you Bra. Hope you don't mind me veggin' on the couch like this."
"Nah I was planning on doing the same anyway, this is one of my favorite shows." , Bra replied as she hopped over the back of the couch to land next to where Buffy had been sitting, "I try never to miss an episode but some inconsiderate moron almost ran me into the side of a building on my way home. I was so shook up I just had to stop for a soothing latte."
This only made it harder for Buffy to keep her laughter to herself but she managed as she and her fellow TV watcher tried to watch the show. She didn't know what was more funny, the girl's name or the fact that she actually thought that a latte from some coffee shop would soothe her nerves. I mean the second one was a bit more understandable given the fact that different things worked for different people but the first was almost enought to send her to the floor rolling with laughter. I mean it was one thing to name their son after something that you either put old stuff or something a guy wears to the beach but to name their daughter after a woman's undergarment was ridiculous. There had to be a ludicrously funny story behind how she was named and she was sure to try and find out what that was from Trunks or maybe Bulma the next time that she saw them. One thing that she found odd rather than funny was the fact that Bra's power level was so low so as to be not much above her mother's. She thought that any child of Vegita's would at least have a respectable power level but even Vegita would find his daughter's power rather puny. Still she seemed pretty cool personality-wise so she couldn't be all bad and any differences she may have from her father were a definite plus.
"So have you seen the new Brad Pitt movie?" Bra asked without taking her eyes off the TV screen.
"Yeah but that girl she had co-starring with him was a complete bimbo." Buffy replied with a twist at the end that made her opinion of said female co-star clear.
"Gotta agree with you there! Does she really think that she can fool us into believing those things are real?" Bra asked as she fished her hand into the chip bag.
"Yeah, I bet they'd pop the second someone poked 'em with a needle!" Buffy said in agreement
This was the way it went for the next few hours and during that time the Slayer was almost able to forget about the powers and responsibilities that she had. She was almost able to forget the pain and misery that had accompanied her destiny given job and just sit there like any other normal teen. It wouldn't last though, she knew that, but still for those few hours all of her demons both public and private were silent. How long that would last would be up to the Powers-That-Be and the sisters of Fate.
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The Satan Plaza Hotel, Ten Miles outside Future City, 11:00p.m
What is taking those bottom feeding demon lackeys so *long*!? Glory thought to herself as she paced angrily in her room.
It had been nearly twelve hours since she had ordered Zarfon to tell those lazy slugs downstairs to construct the warriors she would lead against the Slayer to aquire the two dragonballs that the whore had with her at Capsule Corps. She knew that she should have killed a few of those trolls after giving the order, that would have made them work faster, but she had still been in joy-joy land after the feeding so she had felt generous. Next time though she promised to herself that she would use all the powers at her disposal to ensure that she was never kept waiting again. After all she had been forced to wait for untold centuries to find a way to return to her native dimension and break the banishment spell that kept her here on this pathetic backwater plane of existance. She had thought for a moment that all she had to do was find the Key and then she would be able to go back no problem but not only did those monks have the nerve to hide it from her but then the Slayer had gotten involved. From there things had gone from mildly annoying to being a downright pain her omnipotent ass and she was not going to let anything get in her way.
That's it!! I'm going down there and telling those denebian slime devils that unless they finish within the next twelve minutes I'm was going to kill half of them right then and there!! Glory thought to herself as she threw open the door to her room crushing the servant who was caught between it and the wall.
All that was in her mind as she stormed past her other minions was getting things going at a much quicker pace than they were currently going. Anything that delayed her from doing that was going to find out why she had been confused with Shiva the destroyer a few centuries back. Needless to say any of her followers who were in path quickly got out of it as fast as they could and those that didn't make it in time quickly ceased to care about such things as well as everything else that they might have cared about. Her feet were pounding on the ground in a fairly loud way but not quite the earth shaking and thunderous way she would have preferred which made it the first thing she would do once she was restored to godhood. Particularly if it eventually led to her stomping the Slayer and her friends out of existance since she thought that that would be a great way to start of her vengence campaign. That and frying them in boiling oil listening to them scream over the course of a few hours since she would make sure that they couldn't die unless she wanted them to die. Unfortunately that would not happen if she could not get her hands on all the dragonballs and wish herself back to her full goddess greatness. Finally getting to the door that opened into the convention hall that her lowly servants were using to create her army and with one massive kick she shattered it into splinters. Once that was done she stormed in with a murderous gleam in her eyes and a roaring fire of anger in her heart which was not lost on those inside. Zarfon was the first to notice her and immediately began to approach her with the intention of begging for forgiveness and explaining why her soldiers were not ready. Unfortunately he didn't get the chance as within a second of getting within arms reach Glory reached out and ripped his head right off his shoulders.
I never really liked him anyway! she thought to herself as the next of her lowlies tried to approach her and calm her down.
This one however fared about as well as the rest as Glory immediately slammed her hand into his chest and ripped out his heart. This of course forestalled any of the others attempting to get close to her and instead they looked to maintain a repsectful distance away from their most glorious mistress. Unfortunatly that would be poor defense against her as before one of them knew it Glory had crossed the distance between them in the space of a second and decapitated him. With this done there were only three lowlies left and they were all quivering with fear next to the curtain that divided the room in two. Believing that words would not convince their mistress to show mercy two of them grabbed the curtain and as fast as they could tried to open it to show what was on the other side. The one who stayed still however was not so fortunate as without warning Glory stretched out her right arm and fired an crismson blast of energy at him that incinerated him on the spot. That however bought the other two the time they needed to fully pull back the curtain and reveal what lay behind it to their goddess. This stopped the great Glorificus in her tracks and caused a madness filled gleam to enter her eyes and a maniacal smile to spread across her face.
There in front of her were fifty armored stone warriors, they filled up almost the entire remaining portion of the convention hall and looked really dangerous. They were about ten feet tall each and had inch thick armor covering the joints and torso with various bladed weapons in their hands. However that is where the similarity between them and living warriors ended since they had no eyes, no mouth, no real sign that they were anything other than statues. That only made them more scary than before and the size of their weapons made it look like they were a building demolition crew rather than a band of solidiers for the great Glorificus. Still the fact that they were there and ready was enough for Glory, now she could finally go to claim the two dragonballs that were at the place were that bitch slayer was staying. She let a sound of feral anticipation escape her lips before turning to the two surviving lowlies who had been put in charge of constructing her army. They had clearly outdone themselves and exceeded her expectations but she sure as hell wasn't going to tell them that otherwise they might get a swelled head about it. So she put her best 'You better do a better job next time or I'm going to boil your heads in oil' look and stalked towards them like a jungle cat creeping closer to her prey. This caused the fear in their eyes to increase by a noticable degree and that only made it that much more enjoyable for her at the moment.
"I guess that since I'll probably be needing more of these golems when I return to my realm so that means you two get to live." , Glory said as she turned away from them towards the door, "However, take this long to prepare a small army for me again and I won't be as quick with your deaths as I was with Zarfon and the others. Understand?"
"Yes oh mighty one!! It will never happen again!! We will work ourselves unto death to create an army for you much faster than our incompetant past efforts!!" the two lowlies immediatly blurted out in a panic while they bowed in reverence to their goddess.
"Good! Now I think it is time we payed that bitch Slayer a visit and get those two dragonballs." , Glory said as a broad grin covered her face, "After all once I have those two all I'll need is one more before all my wishes will come true!"
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Artificial Gravity Room, Capsule Corporation, Midnight
Man! At it for two hours straight and still not tired out! Buffy thought to herself as she continued to dodge the laser blasts that the hover unit sent her way.
It had been a little over two hours since Bra had gotten tired and gone to bed but that didn't mean that it was bedtime for her yet. Being the Slayer she had her internal alarm clock set different from most people and that led to her staying up to almost four in the morning before going to bed. While it was true that the jet lag from the plane was noticable she didn't feel one bit like hitting the sack. Rather she was so wired she felt like going out for a night of slaying but unfortunately she wasn't likely to find much thanks to the midget of a Saiyan prince whose home she was staying at for the next few days. Thanks to him and his constant bouts of 'I need to kill something' any demons that had once taken up residence in this area of the world had long since been killed and the rest of the demon community knew enough to give this entire continent a wide berth. Thus with no demons available she was forced to compromise and try to get a decent work out and fortunately Bulma's dad had mentioned this little room earlier in the day. Apparently when Vegita had originally decided to live here he had demanded that a strong enhanced gravity room be built so he could continue with his training. So with him asleep upstairs with Bulma in bed she decided to see just how tough it could be training under enhanced gravity, if only for the chance to show Vegita that she was capable of getting stronger as well. After all as far as he was concerned she would be nothing but a weakling and it would be quite a challange to prove him wrong.
A challange that I am eager to meet! Buffy thought to herself as she decided that it was time to up the ante a little bit.
She had trained under enchanced gravity somewhat when Piccolo had taken her up to Kami's lookout but the room of spirit and time didn't allow for precise control of the gravity. It just caused the gravity to rise in response to her emotions or thoughts and given that most of her attention had been occupied with blocking and in most cases recieving her teacher's blows she had no time for that. Now though she was going to know precisely where she stood in comparison with Vegita, Goku and Piccolo. Hopefully she was good enough to be considered impressive by Piccolo's standards even though she didn't know what they were both now and when they were training. The green skinned Namek was never good at expressing his emotions and was not known for giving praise except when it was so obviously earned. After they had emerged from the room of spirit and time before that whole Garlic senior incident all he had said about what she had accomplished was that it had been worth his time. That was it. No glowing report, no tips on how she could improve on her skills, not even a respectful grin followed by a nod of the head before he whisked her back to Sunnydale. That fact had been bothering her ever since then and while she had been able to put it out of her mind for the most part it came right back to the front of her mind whenever she fought or trained. That had resulted in more than one training session when she had gone overboard and almost seriously hurt Dawn or Faith when they went to the nearbye moutain range to spar with each other. Fortunately thanks to the training the other two young ladies had recieved at either Goku or Piccolo's hands they had been able to deal with whatever she threw their way. There were always close calls but the most it ever amounted to was a shredded outfit and a slight case of nakedness which usually brought a swift end to the sparring. Now that she had a training room that would more drastically put her to the test physically she was determined to make the most of it.
Okay, the gravity machine is currently at twenty times earth's normal gravity. , Buffy thought to herself as she looked at the display above the keypad, Let's kick it up to thirty times earth's normal gravity and see where that takes me.
Typing in the number and pressing the enter key she waited for the significant downforce that she had learned about when she had first raised the gravity. A few seconds later it showed up right on schedule as she found herself being pulled to the ground by some unseen force and she responded in kind by willing herself to remain upright. She held this simple bracing position until she was sure that the machine had completed its increase of the room's gravity and then began to move about the room to get her limbs used to the new difficulty level. From her experience it would probably take a good half hour before she could safely begin to go through her warm up exercises and then her katas. She was making good progress from when she started at ten times earth's normal gravity and guessed that her Slayer body was helping her along by adapting and becoming stronger. She doubted she would be able to continue at this pace though since it was only a matter of time before she lost steam and figured she could get to fifty times earth's natural gravity before she hit the proverbial wall. Still that wouldn't be too bad since according to Gohan it had taken his dad almost three days of constant training to get used to that level of gravity. If she were completely naive that would make her achievement something to be curious about but she brushed it off since at that time Goku had just recovered from nearly gettin killed by Vegita when they had first fought. He no doubt had to work a lot harder to get back into fighting trim after that so she was sure that had he been at his best when he had begun training under enhanced gravity he would already be at seventy by now.
I guess you shouldn't expect anything less than a miracle when Goku is involved. , Buffy thought to herself as she continue to put one foot in front of another, According to all his friends he's got a knack for pulling off the impossible.
She was just finishing her preliminary laps around the room when suddenly the entire room shook violently causing her to lose her balance and crash to the ground on her butt. Wincing slightly at the thought of the bruise that such a fall was going to leave thanks to the increased gravity she wondered what had happened. Had something in the city exploded? Had an asteroid crashed into the nearbye mountains? Or had Vegita simply found out that she was using his training room and blown the roof clear off the dome house? She grinned at the possibility that she might have ticked off the almight Saiyan prince without intending it but it was then that her power sense picked up numerous civilian power readings winking out one by one a few blocks away. That and a tremendous malevolant power slowly advancing towards the Capsule corps building. Deciding that training and relishing in Vegita's annoyance would have to wait she switched off the enhanced gravity machine and raced to the window closest to the direction the evil power was coming from. When she arrived though she immediately realised that she would be getting a workout alright, just not in the form that it usually came in. Coming right towards Capsule Corps was what looked to be an army of stone warriors that looked like giant cave man statues. With their exagerrated brows, square jaws and impossibly huge bodies. Basically like something out of a comic book that Xander would have at home in some box in his basement apartment. For a moment she considered calling for the others but then a feeling came over her that changed that idea into one of taking on the entire army of stone warriors herself.
Heh, who needs the others! These pebble brains don't look too dangerous and besides with the kinda power I'm packing they'll be so much gravel in no time! she thought to herself with a wicked grin.
Not even considering what she was wearing at the time, sweat pants and a tank top shirt, Buffy ran out the nearest door and took to the air immediately. Rising in the air until she was up past even the tallest of the buildings in Future City she looked down to get a grasp of the situation. What she found was a mixture of comforting, horrifying and in one way downright insulting to her and she suspected to Vegita and Trunks once they woke up and took a look for themseleves. From what she could tell there was about fifty of these stone warriors marching down the street in two columns of twenty five and at the center of it all was Glory who seemed to be enjoying herself immensly. That only made her angrier as she remembered all the times when they had fought in the past and the blonde goddess had treated it as though it were some game. Part of her knew that was mostly because the she-devil as insane but a small part of her believed that the real reason was that Glory didn't consider her a threat. As if she were some annoying fly that kept buzzing around the hell goddess' face and could be swatted away at any time Glorificus wanted.
Well lets see you swat this!! , Buffy thought to herself as she brought her hands above her head, "MASENKO-HAAAA!!!!"
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Turtle Island, 12:15a.m.
Damn jet lag!! , Xander thought to himself as he flipped through the various TV channels, It's midnight here but my body thinks its morning!
Once he and Anya had settled in, which thanks to Master Roshi took longer for Anya, they had pretty much went to sleep to take care of their jet lag problems. After all the sooner they managed to get themselves onto local time in terms of their sleeping habits the smoother things should go in dealing with Glory. Unfortunately by sleeping earlier he was now wide awake and forced to watch the most pathetic TV programs in Japan that could only get air time this late. Needless to say that unless something interesting came along soon he was going to either die of boredom or he was going to toss in one of the movies that were lined up beneath the television set. He would of course have to be careful since he had no doubt that some of them belonged to Master Roshi so there was no telling what was on them. The absolute last thing he needed was for his wife-to-be Anya to come down the stairs and see some adult film playing on the screen with him mere feet from the television. She was quite insecure about that sort of thing and gave her ideas that he wasn't as interested in her as he should be or that she wasn't that good in bed. That would lead to hours of arguing and debate that would no doubt get them thrown off this little island in the middle of nowhere just so that they could get a quiet night's sleep.
Just then the picture on the TV screen disappeared as what looked like the logo for a news program came on the screen and said something about interrupting the regularly scheduled program for an important news bulletin. At first Xander didn't pay it much attention because for him the news was just another pointless attempt on the part of the various institutions and the government to fill his head with knowledge that he didn't want or believe he needed. Therefore whenever they interrupted his normal television viewing time he usually just turned to a different channel for a few minutes until whatever the news people wanted to say had been finished. However when he saw in the corner portion of the screen a shot of what appeared to be Future City and explosions occuring behind the field reporter he found his attention fused to the TV set. After all if something big was happening in the city than he would bet his meager allowance that Buffy was in the middle of things kicking ass and taking names.
"Once again the citizens of Future City are forced to endure a night of horror and destruction as an as yet unidentified army of stone like soldiers continued to destroy everything and everyone in their path." , said the reporter as she tried to stay safe and cover the story at the same time, "The attack began only fifteen minutes ago as the creatures reached the south entrance to the city and has continued non-stop since that time."
The screen shifted for a second to focus on what Harris assumed was the stone soldiers that they were talking about and immediately got a familiar feeling in his stomach. It was familiar in the sense that it never failed to appear when some big-bad prophecy was found by the G-Man or when some badass vampire came to cause trouble. It usually meant that a lot of pain was on the way and that he would sooner or later find out what the inside of a Future City hospital looked like, especially the ICU.
"Local law enforcement officers have mobilized in an attempt to counter the invading forces but have proven to be ill-equiped to deal with so unusual a force." , the reporter continued as she suddenly ducked behind a wall when an explosion tore up the street nearbye, "The only people who seem to be having any luck against these hostile beings are three unidentified warriors, two of which were said to have participated in the last World Martial Arts Tournament and one unidentified teenage girl."
The camera than shifted its angle to focus on three airborne figures firing blasts of energy at the ground below where the invading force was presumed to be located. Xander was immediately able to pick out Vegita and Buffy from their unique hairstyles and he assumed that the smaller figure next to them was Trunks since it wasn't the right size for Dawn. He was slightly puzzled at why the Dawnster was missing out on the fireworks but assumed that Buffy had said something to keep her on the ground. Whatever the case the sense of fear that had existed in his stomach had faded somewhat since he was confident that between the three energy tossing warriors it would be a matter of minutes before the stone warriors were dusted. After all he had seen Vegita blow an entire mountain into gravel back in Sunnydale and that was without changing into a Super Saiyan. Given that kind of firepower there was no way that Glory's goon squad could win.
"However any progress that the trio appear to be making is apparently short-lived as the stone warriors seem capable of reforming themselves at will. Only those invaders who have been completely obliterated have remained down and those are few as the three defenders of the city seem to be trying to control the intensity of their blasts so as not to harm the surrounding buildings." , the reporter said with a grim look on her face, "That is a good choice considering that many of the citizens of Future City have taken refuge in those buildings as they had no time to seek shelter farther away."
You just had to ruin my happy moment didn't you!? Xander thought angrily as he got up from in front of the TV and raced upstairs to get Krillin.
While he wasn't saying that Buffy, Vegita and Trunks were wimps it was clear that they could use some help. After all if Glory was there than they would need all the help they could get to bring her down for good since he doubted that even Mr.Super-Saiyan-Vegita could beat Glory in a straight fight. Skidding to a halt in front of Krillin and Android 18's room he knocked as politely yet urgently as possible in the hopes that he wouldn't get a blunt object thrown at him through the door for waking them up. A few moments later the door opened up to reveal Krillin in a pair of boxers with a look that made it clear that Xander had best have a good reason for waking him up. Over the short guy's shoulder he could see that he had woken up her as well but that she had decided to remain in bed unless it was absolutely necessary to get up. Turning his attention back to Krillin he tried to sum up what he had seen on the TV screen in as brief an explanation as possible. It had to grasp the gravity of the situation while stating that things had not quite reached the 'oh-my-god-we're-all-doomed' stage that frequented most moments of his adventures as a member of the Scooby gang. Finally he came up with an explanation that he felt summed up all that was important about what was happening in Future City.
"We've got trouble, Big Time!" Xander said with all seriousness in his voice.
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Goku's Home, 12:30a.m
What the bloody hell is it now!? Giles thought to himself as he rose from his uncomfortable sleeping arrangements on the floor of Goten's room.
His stay thus far at the home of the world's strongest warrior had been mixed with moments both good and bad though no necessarily in equal portions. The supper that Chi-Chi had served was quite good and he had attempted to have a second helping only to find that Goten and Goku had finished the majority of the extra food that Chi-Chi had prepared. The woman soon after gave them a tongue lashing that sent them sprawling since both of them could have easily beat her in a contest of physical strength. In a battle of wills however neither her husband nor her son could even come close to matching her indomitable will. Supper had been followed by an impromptu sparring session between Goten and Faith who was looking to work off some of what she had eaten and satisfy the young teenager's interest in fighting her. For the most part they seemed even but then Goten got a bit carried away and transformed into a Super Saiyan and from there things went down hill. Faith had done her best against the young warrior but it was clear that she could not match him in terms of speed and strength. However that meant that he was faced with a bit of trouble following their movements around the area as they continued their battle. So it was no surprise that a few minutes after he had lost them he suddenly found an energy blast heading straight for him with power that he was ill equiped to deal with. Thus he had chosen to try and dodge the blast while putting some distance between himself and the point of impact. He had only gotten about ten yards before the explosion knocked him into the air as high as twenty feet before gravity took hold and began to drag him back to terra firma. Fortunately Goku had been there to catch him and set him gently on his feet because otherwise he would most likely landed in a tree or bush and that would have been most unpleasant.
With that little incident in mind it was only logical that he get out of the line of fire for the foreseeable future. He had decided to go inside and catch up on some research that he had been meaning to do concerning the dragonballs as well as the few vague references to Glory that existed. He had hoped that such things would keep him occupied until supper time and that if anyone else were to come into the living room they would see him working and have the decencey to leave him alone. That had worked for a while but he should have known from the start that it wouldn't last all that long, not with curious people like Goku and Goten moving about the house. Before he knew it Goten was looking through some of the other books that lay on the floor producing one look of incomprehension after another. Needless to say that did not stop the half-Saiyan from examining every book that he had other than the ones he was obviously reading at the moment. This of course got his librarian's ire up as he had placed those books in a specific order of importance to help him cross reference certain facts quicker. At first he had tried simply tried to speak to the teen and tell him not to touch the books at all but that only worked for about ten minutes before Goten was at it again. For his next attempt to safeguard his ancient volumes he tried to suggest various other activities that the young man could engage himself in to pass the time. Unfortnately it had soon become apparent that he was behind in the times as far as what teenagers thought was 'cool' or 'awesome' since virtually nothing he suggested seemed to pique the boy's interest. Fortunately though by this time Chi-Chi had finished preparing supper which caused the dusty old books to be completely forgotten as far as Goten was concerned.
For the rest of the evening thankfully Chi-Chi saved him from further frustration by insisting that Goten go to his room and catch up on his studies. The miniture Goku whined about it as all teenagers did when confronted with text books and homework assignments but Chi-Chi made it clear that he was going to study even if she had to bolt him to the chair in front of his desk. It never ceased to amaze him how one woman could inspire such fear and obediance in warriors who could quite concievably destroy this entire world without trying.
If only I could inspire the same sort of obedience in Buffy and the others. Giles thought wistfully as he picked up his glasses from their resting spot and put them on as he got to his feet.
He had gotten to sleep about 11:00p.m and so his current cranky mood was understandable considering he had only manged an hour of sleep. Opening the door to the bedroom he soon realized that there was a flurry of activity going on in this house and that if he didn't watch it he was going to get run over. Faith was just finishing putting her leather jacket on and once finished went straight down to finish putting on her Doc Martin boots. Goku was suprisingly already finished and stood waiting impatiently for the rest of them to get done as proven by the cracks forming in the door frame under his tapping foot. Goten was at the moment pleading with his mother to let him go and fight but Chi-Chi was acting not unlike the immovable object making it clear that he was to stay put. Normally he would have stayed silent during the argument but he was deeply concerned as to what the boy would do if he were forced to stay here against his will. After all it was bad enough when the boy was merely energetic but Giles shuddered to think what the boy might do with his books if he were both frustrated *and* energetic. He could just picture the teenager treating his one of a kind volumes like they were the Saturday morning funnies and turning the pages with reckless abandon with no concern for the book's value.
Rather than see that happen he decided to intercede on the boy's behalf.
"Chi-Chi while I share your concern for Goten's welfare I am afraid that I am going to need a lift to the battle ground to aide in the efforts to protect the dragonballs." , Giles said in as sincere a voice as possible, "I promise you I will do my very best to keep him safe once we arrive at the Capsule Corps building."
"Why can't Goku or Faith give you a lift?" Chi-Chi argued with a look in her eye that made it clear that she was going to win this debate.
"They will most likely be targetted first and I would much rather not be blown into oblivion while in mid-ar." , Giles replied as the gears began to turn in his mind, "Besides Goku and Faith are not the most patient sort and might drop me a little to far from the ground in their haste to get into the middle of the battle. I know that Goten, well-mannered young man that he is, will at least have the decency to put me solidly on the ground as well as obey me when I tell him not to fight."
For a moment it looked as though his last argument wasn't going to work as Chi-Chi looked more adamant than ever that she was not going to let Goten go anywheres near Future City. More than likely she found it hard to believe that Goten would obey him in matters of whether or not to get involved in the fighting when she had probably tried everything in the book long before he had ever set foot in this house. Frankly Giles couldn't blame the woman since he had experienced trouble in coming up with a credible excuse for allowing Goten to come along and she undoubtably noticed. So for the next few moments they both stood facing each other, neither willing to give in but neither entirely sure of the strength of their arguments. Eventually though Giles saw the resolve in Chi-Chi's face falter and he silently sighed as he recognised that as the sign of victory in this matter.
"Alright but if I find out that Goten was fighting you're the one whose going to need the protection Mr. Giles." Chi-Chi stated in a tone that brook no argument and was like unto a commandment from God as far as he was concerned.
"Yes! Thanks mom! I promise I'll do exactly what Mr. Giles tells me to do!" Goten said with a smile as he grabbed Giles' hand and ran towards the door.
Within minutes all four of them were airborne with Faith and Goku in the lead and Goten taking up the rear with Rupert hanging on for dear life on the teenager's back. Giles found it somewhat strange that Goten had agreed to abide by the arrangement so readily given the general rebelliousness that was common to most teenagers. Granted he was sure that Chi-Chi had quite a few ideas for dealing with that and getting young men to do as they were told but he expected that even they failed occasionally. Fortunately his puzzled state didn't last long as a few moments later Goten made his position perfectly clear.
"You do know that I just said all those things so I could come along, don't you Mr. Giles?" , Goten asked with a sly grin, "There's no way that I am gonna miss out on a fight like this!"
Oh dear! Giles thought to himself with dread as he wished he could spare a hand to cover his eyes.
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Future City, Three Blocks South of Capsule Corps, 1:00a.m
This is *SO* not fun! Willow thought to herself as she strained to maintain her bubble like protection spell.
It hadn't taken either her or Tara too long to figure out that Glory was making her big play when explosions started to rock the city. Figuring that Buffy would soon be in the middle of things both of them quickly got dressed and were at the front doors almost as fast as Videl, Gohan and Pan. Once there they had been forced to endure a short argument with Gohan who thought it might be better if they stayed behind while the rest of them did the actual fighting. This however did not last very long as she made it clear that she and Tara were going whether he liked it or not and that the only choice that he has was whether they would be going with him or finding their own way to the battlefield. It didn't take the son of Goku long to realize that leaving them to make their way through a city that they didn't know all alone would only mean trouble for him if anything went wrong. With that settled the two non-flyers buddied up with those who could fly under their own power and half an hour later they arrived. What they saw was more than a little intimidating as Buffy, Vegita and Trunks were raining energy blasts down on what looked like armored Golem creatures. The next thing she saw was Glory lounging on some sort of luxury stretcher smiling and laughing at the carnage that was being wrought around her by her creations.
Once both she and Tara had been safely deposite on the ground Gohan, Videl and Pan immediately took off for the Golem army leaving the two wicca to find their own way to cover. That was a good idea considering they probably wouldn't be much help against those stone warriors but before they could rush inside the Capsule Corps building Tara spotted a group of civilians trying to sneak past the Golems and get away from the battle. Unfortunately the group's chances were dwindling as the combination of energy blasts and fierce blows being delivered by both sides of the fight were causing the buildings to become highly fragile. Just as she had been about to warn the people to run for it a balcony that had been attached five floors up on an apartment building broke loose and fell like a rock towards the unsuspecting pedestrians. Not needing to say anything she and Tara linked hands and used their magic to redirect the stone balcony towards a few Golems crushing them and saving the innocent civilians. It was then that both wicca knew what their role was going to be for the duration of the fight, rescue trapped civilians and get them to safety. Which of course brings her to the present where she is trying to keep a group of freaked out people together inside a protective magical bubble while she leads them to a safe place. They had been keeping in touch with Dawn who was back at Capsule Corps because she was the only one who could tell them where the civilians were located and how many were left.
I hope there aren't that many more left. , Willow thought as her bubble wavered for a moment before she willed it back into place, Maintaining this sheild isn't as easy as it looks.
Both she and Tara had been resucing people non-stop for the past thirty minutes and it was beginning to take their toll on both of them. They were powerful wiccas but they were still rather new to the more powerful spells and still hadn't learned how to make their energy last longer. After reaching the five block radius that Bulma's dad thought would be safe enough perimeter she let the magic sheild dissipate and steadied herself against a darkened lamp post as a slight dizzy spell came over her. None of the people she had just saved came over to see if she was alright, they just looked back at the way they came for a moment before running away screaming at the top of their lungs. For a moment she debated using the last of her magic to send an illusion of some big scary monster after them so at least they would have a reason for being scared inconsiderate idiots but decided against it. Reaching up with her right hand she switched the electronic headgear that Bulma had given them from scan to transmit and decided to report in for her next assignment.
"This is Willow the group of people that were hiding out in the clothing store are safely away." , Willow said as she looked distractedly at the devastation around her, "Any more people need saving or can I finally take a break?"
"Looks like that was the last bunch Willow." , came Dawn's voice from the headgear, "I can't sense anyone else near the battle and nothing is coming up on Bulma's scouter equipment either. Try your scouter and then come on in."
"Roger that, over and out." Willow replied as she ended the transmission and switched the headgear to scanning mode.
She and Tara had been given these devices by Bulma a little while after she and Tara saved the first group of civilians and were told that it would help them find people. She knew roughly what the devices were from her emails and online chats with Bulma over the past couple of months but to actually use them was something else. According to what Bulma had told her these devices were originally alien in origin, used by Vegita and other aliens in the conquering of other worlds. They measured the electro-magnetic bio-field that a person's body gave off and translated that into a rough estimate of their strength and abilities. Once it had become clear that none of the other fighters were going to need the scouters anymore Bulma had decided to develop her own version of the devices for search and rescue operations. After all the only changes that would have to be made would be to make the scouter more sensitive to different types of power readings as well as display a more exact location of the person being sought. Bulma had only recently finished the prototypes a few weeks ago and was just waiting for the oppourtunity to test them out in appropriate field conditions.
Well I guess now seemed about as good a time as ever. , Willow thought as she activated the scouter's search and locate function, Now let's see if there are any other ungrateful people I can save from being squashed or blasted to tiny bits.
Slowly and carefully she panned scouter in the direction of the battle so as to help it in finding its chosen targets, waited for something to light up on the eye-piece's HUD. She knew that it wasn't necessary for her to move at all for the scouter to do its job but she was finding it increasingly difficult to stay still like that. Even through the fatigue she could feel the energies being unleashed by Buffy and the others as they attempted to deal with Glory and her forces. It was almost hard to believe that Buffy was the same person whom she had met a little over four years ago. Sure she had super powers back then as well but now she could blast an entire mountain into rubble and fly faster than most small aircraft. It just seemed all so incredibly different from the old days of master vampires and icky end of the world death cults and she wasn't sure if she could deal with it all just yet. After all ever since Buffy had come back all powerful and everything the demon population in Sunnydale had taken a drastic nose dive and only the strongest(or stupidest) demons dared come into town anymore. While that may mean that there would be view evils to fight every week it also meant that the demons that did come would just keep getting more and more powerful as Buffy continued to beat them. After all some of them were so testosterone driven that they wanted to fight nothing but the strongest and Buffy was quickly proving herself to be in that catagory.
Well at least if we need any help we can call on Goku and the others. Willow thought as the scouter's search came up empty.
Shutting the device off she began to lightly run towards the Capsule Corps building, hoping that nothing bad had happened since her last transmission to Dawn.
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