Fire and Ice
Chapter Three:
The wizard Babidi was by no stretch of the imagination a fool. He had made mistakes in the past, certainly. Underestimating the warriors of earth, and releasing a creature that he should have known was too stupid and too inherently evil to be controlled were his two greatest, and he did not intend to make these same mistakes again.
His magic had grown now beyond his wildest hopes. In killing him, Majin Buu had done him that favor. For years he had prowled the depths of hell, finding great magicians and ancient sages, creatures that populated the strange corners of the afterlife like trapdoor spiders, waiting for someone unsuspecting and helpless to stumble their way.
But he was neither unsuspecting, nor helpless. He had found them, and learned their secrets. Now he wished his father could see him, see what he had grown to be. He had in his power one of the most powerful being the physical world and the afterlife had ever known. Several, in fact, though the creature Shine, the enslaved Elemental, was really his prize.
The room the small wizard stood in was dark, lit only by the faint glow of the crystal ball in front of him. On the Two opposite sides of the ball, two scenes were playing themselves out.
One was Arda and the girl Mia, having just appeared in the vampire's ship. This interested him only in passing, because it was going exactly as he wanted with no additional help from him. It was the other scene he was focussed on, because it was a scene of his making. Goku, Uubu, and Vegeta, speaking with that worthless excuse for a god, the Kaio. Babidi felt far too much contempt for Goku's former teacher to attach the normal suffix of respect.
His plan had worked perfectly so far, and though he had found Uubu to be slightly more resistant to the alien impulses than he had expected, it was nothing that his magic could not handle.
Babidi smiled to himself in a way that contained absolutely no good cheer, and sent the small telepathic impulse out that would summon his Shine from it's sleep. It was time to put his plan, the work of revenge, into action. Get Goku away from the earth, get him with as few of his friends as possible.
Babidi was confident. He had set the board in his favor, and now it was time for checkmate.
When Arda and Mia appeared in the ship, the girl immediately fell against the table, legs like rubber. Her eyes were almost comically wide.
"Holy shit." Her voice was strained.
"Yeah," Arda said distractedly. "Takes a little getting used to."
The room was small, actually the vampire's own, and comfortable. There was a table of a dark colored, smooth wood, with two chairs to match. Next to it, against the wall of the small quarters, was a bed, neatly made and apparently not much used.
"Make yourself comfortable." Arda said, waving to the furniture. "I have a few things to take care of with the ship, and then we have a lot to talk about."
Before she had a chance to reply, he walked through the door and shut it behind him.
When he was on the other side, he leaned against it and heaved a deep sigh. The easygoing, I-don't-have-a-care-in-the-world look melted from his face as he did, replaced by one of deep concern.
Things were very strange. Hearing the name of Son Goku from a total stranger was one thing, but the rest.... this was just crazy. The wizard Babidi, now there was a vile, evil little creature. He had seen the thing once, from far off, but had seen no reason to get any closer. The universe was full of cheap little magicians like that.
But apparently this one had become something more of a threat.
And of course, he still had to worry about the sleeping Osiris, a much less civil vampire and a much stronger one than he. Osiris may have been younger, but he was different. Arda had lasted for three thousand years and more because he was totally at peace with himself, and had learned to be amused and contented with life. Osiris, however, had survived for two thousand years only because constant carnage kept him amused. He hated himself, and everyone else. At least, on the surface.
And so, Arda had to ask himself, what might happen if he woke up from a Long Sleep to find a mortal on his ship?
Well, he was fairly certain that he could keep Osiris from killing her, if it came to that. He really hoped it didn't come to that. He couldn't very well just leave her on this planet, could he? Unlike most vampires who had lived for so long, compassion was not lost on him.
He would have to get her to Goku, or at least Kaio-sama. One of them would know how to proceed.
He had no sooner come to this conclusion when he heard a sound. It sounded as if it came from far, far away, but he recognized it perfectly. And it sent chills deep into his chest.
Paparapapa
Then Mia let out a cry, whether of rage or fear he couldn't tell, and didn't care. He spun, wrenched the door open, and bolted back into the room.
It took the three of them together about fifteen minutes to explain to King Kai in detail exactly what had happened to Uubu, and to outline their speculations on what could have been the cause. The whole time they were speaking, the god's face grew more and more grave.
When they were finished, he heaved a deep breath, and looked at each of them in turn.
"I've been watching things." he said in a flat tone, very different from his normal voice. "For the past few months, things have been happening near the wastelands. A spirit. I didn't recognize it."
Goku looked at his teacher shrewdly. "But you know something now."
Kaio-sama nodded. "I think I do. I should have goven you all a warning about this when the Golden Moon appeared. Obviously, not everyone who got out of hell would be dumb enough to just rush out and take you guys head on...."
The god suddenly stopped in mid sentance, and screamed. He clapped his hands to the sides of his head, as if warding off a loud, offensive noise. And all three of the Z fighters felt it, heard a faint echo of a telepathic cry.
"What is it!?" Vegeta jumped to his feet (they had all been sitting). "You old fool, what is it!?"
Kaio-sama straightened, and his face seemed to have gone blank and pale.
"It's Arda." his voice shook. "He's being killed, I think."
When he rushed back into the room, at first he didn't even know what had happened. The small, comfortable sleeping quarters had grown from the size of a camper to the size of a cathedral. His comfortable furnishings were nowhere in sight, and the roof shot up what seemed a hundred feet.
"What the hell..." he muttered, then caught sight of the cause.
On the far side of the huge room floated the wizard, inside a protective magic bubble. Next to him stood the monstrous Shine, the thing in white. It was grinning in a way that was happy and yet utterly mindless. In it's one outstretched hand it held Mia by the throat. She was thrashing madly, kicking at the thing and trying to rip it's fingers from her throat, but it was a losing battle.
Her sword lay on the floor, a few feet beyond her reach.
"We can fix that." Arda said to himself, and with a small telepathic flip, he sent the short sword flying up off the ground.
Whatever else could be said about her, Mia had the reflexes of a warrior. Her hand was around the hilt of her weapon almost before Arda could see it, and in a flash of movement, she grabbed the arm that held her throat and rammed her sword through the wrist.
The Shine monster screamed like a caged animal, and immediately dropped her from his hold. She scrambled back, sword in hand, the thing's blood (it was shiny black, so who knew what it was, really) dripping from her weapon and from it's arm.
Babidi did not seem to be in the least bit worried.
"Long introductions and senseless dramatics are one of the mistakes I don't care to repeat." The wizard said with a smirk. "Shine, if you would be so good as to kill that vampire."
Arda could feel power just baking off of that thing in waves, power, but not ki. It didn't seem to have any ki. So when it lunged at him across the huge room, he knew it was toying with him.
The thing was coming at him, but not at near the speed it was capable of. It was testing him then, playing, most likely on previous orders from it's master. He didn't think this thing was smart enough to strategize on it's own.
Well, he would show it that he was not to be played with.
As it neared him, he leapt nimbly into the air, and landed with one foot on top of it's head. He pushed down, shoving Shine off balance, and using the momentum he had gained, swung around and delivered a hard kick to the neck.
Shine flew directly into the wall, and smashed a hole in it, revealing the framework and outer hull of the ship.
Oh, hell. Arda cursed inwardly. The walls of Osiris' ship had been made of kachim, the strongest known metal in the universe, virtually unbreakable. Whatever Babidi had turned it into, it was not nearly so strong. If they weren't careful, they could all be sucked out into space.
His thought was cut off when Shine's fist hit him in the mouth.
He flew backward, catching himself on his feet before he lost his balance. He hadn't even seen the thing move! How the hell had it gone so fast!?
It was coming again. He sidestepped the blow intended for his face again, and tried to kick. But the monster caught his foot deftly in one hand.
Shit.
He was listed and swung, faster than he could see, and then pain exploded over his entire body. The thing hand slammed him into the wall.
Not kachim, he thought. But plenty hard enough, all the same.
This thought had just gone through his head when he was swung again, pulled from the wall by the same grip on his leg. Helpless, he whistled through the air, and this time was slammed into the floor. He couldn't hold back the scream as he felt ribs crack along with the floor itself.
Then the hold on his foot vanished, and he heard the Shine monster scream like a wounded beast. He sat up, ribs screaming their protest, and rolled to his feet just in time to see Mia yank her sword out of the monster's chest and sink it in again.
He laughed out, more a cry of hope than a laugh. That girl had guts!
She pulled her sword from it's body yet again and then leapt back beside him as blood gushed from it's wounds. It didn't look angry, or hurt, however. It was simply looking at them with that same insane grin, as if to tell them it was their turn to roll the dice, so let's not waste time.
"Come on!" Mia said. Right now, any fear she had felt before was gone. The light of battle shone in her eyes like fire. "Come on, if we gang up on it maybe we can beat it!"
Arda looked at her, then at it. He shook his head.
"No, I've got it." he said slowly. The fierce joy he had felt when Mia stabbed the creature had drained from his face, which now looked, so white and hard, like marble. "I'll get this thing. But you might want to stand back."
Mia looked as if she was going to protest, but he didn't give her a chance. On the lapel of his coat, threaded through like any pin, was a silver needle, about three and a half inches long. It was tipped in gold on both ends. He pulled this from the cloth, and held it in his right hand.
Suddenly, it sprang from Three inches to six feet, in the blink of an eye. A needle to a combat staff, slightly taller than it's owner. This was so strange that Mia's words died in her mouth, and she took a step back.
Arda gritted his teeth, and his muscles clenched. He didn't like this technique, it was a horrible drain. But it most definitely did it's job.
"Kaio-ken!!"
Red ki like licking flames suddenly roaared into life around him, throwing the girl back several feet. As it did, he wasted no time. He leapt into the air, toward Shine, ki leaving a burning trail.
The monster seemed to welcome him with it's shark's grin.
As he moved, he gripped the staff low on one end with both hands. He drew back, taking careful aim and mustering every bit of ki at his command.
When he was no more than three feet from the monster, he swung it hard, like a baseball player hitting a home run.
The Shine creature wasn't that smart, as was already proven. It did not have the brainpower to understand that it's opponent had suddenly become much stronger. When it saw the pole swinging at it's face, it tried to catch it.
The staff hit Shine's fingers, and there was a muffled crunch as they all snapped. The blow, however, didn't stop. It continued, Shine's smashed fingers with it, into the thing's face.
There was a sickening crunch like someone taking a sledge hammer to a sack full of china, and the Monster's whole head caved in from the face like a rotten jack-o-lantern. There was a terrific spray of black blood, and the monster flew backward and hit the floor, not moving.
Arda dropped from the air, Kaio-ken aura vanishing as his feet hit the floor. His face was covered in blood-sweat, and he was breathing heavily.
He stared at the creature. It wasn't moving.
Suddenly Mia's arms were flung around his neck, and she was creaming in his ear. His body felt drained, but the girl's happy cries were infectious. He smiled. He had done it.
Then the wizard's laughter cut through theirs like a knife.
"Come come now. You must realize that my monsters are not that easy to get rid of."
And to Arda's horror, made worse by the fatigue, he saw that the thing was indeed moving. It was getting to it's feet! And somehow much more frightening, it's head seemed to be reshaping itself, like a cartoon character who's been run over.
That insane grin was still pasted across it's distorted features.
Arda, feeling helpless, did the only thing he could think to do.
KAIO-SAMA!!! he sccreamed telepathically to the one person who he knew would hear, HELP!!!
Chapter Three:
The wizard Babidi was by no stretch of the imagination a fool. He had made mistakes in the past, certainly. Underestimating the warriors of earth, and releasing a creature that he should have known was too stupid and too inherently evil to be controlled were his two greatest, and he did not intend to make these same mistakes again.
His magic had grown now beyond his wildest hopes. In killing him, Majin Buu had done him that favor. For years he had prowled the depths of hell, finding great magicians and ancient sages, creatures that populated the strange corners of the afterlife like trapdoor spiders, waiting for someone unsuspecting and helpless to stumble their way.
But he was neither unsuspecting, nor helpless. He had found them, and learned their secrets. Now he wished his father could see him, see what he had grown to be. He had in his power one of the most powerful being the physical world and the afterlife had ever known. Several, in fact, though the creature Shine, the enslaved Elemental, was really his prize.
The room the small wizard stood in was dark, lit only by the faint glow of the crystal ball in front of him. On the Two opposite sides of the ball, two scenes were playing themselves out.
One was Arda and the girl Mia, having just appeared in the vampire's ship. This interested him only in passing, because it was going exactly as he wanted with no additional help from him. It was the other scene he was focussed on, because it was a scene of his making. Goku, Uubu, and Vegeta, speaking with that worthless excuse for a god, the Kaio. Babidi felt far too much contempt for Goku's former teacher to attach the normal suffix of respect.
His plan had worked perfectly so far, and though he had found Uubu to be slightly more resistant to the alien impulses than he had expected, it was nothing that his magic could not handle.
Babidi smiled to himself in a way that contained absolutely no good cheer, and sent the small telepathic impulse out that would summon his Shine from it's sleep. It was time to put his plan, the work of revenge, into action. Get Goku away from the earth, get him with as few of his friends as possible.
Babidi was confident. He had set the board in his favor, and now it was time for checkmate.
When Arda and Mia appeared in the ship, the girl immediately fell against the table, legs like rubber. Her eyes were almost comically wide.
"Holy shit." Her voice was strained.
"Yeah," Arda said distractedly. "Takes a little getting used to."
The room was small, actually the vampire's own, and comfortable. There was a table of a dark colored, smooth wood, with two chairs to match. Next to it, against the wall of the small quarters, was a bed, neatly made and apparently not much used.
"Make yourself comfortable." Arda said, waving to the furniture. "I have a few things to take care of with the ship, and then we have a lot to talk about."
Before she had a chance to reply, he walked through the door and shut it behind him.
When he was on the other side, he leaned against it and heaved a deep sigh. The easygoing, I-don't-have-a-care-in-the-world look melted from his face as he did, replaced by one of deep concern.
Things were very strange. Hearing the name of Son Goku from a total stranger was one thing, but the rest.... this was just crazy. The wizard Babidi, now there was a vile, evil little creature. He had seen the thing once, from far off, but had seen no reason to get any closer. The universe was full of cheap little magicians like that.
But apparently this one had become something more of a threat.
And of course, he still had to worry about the sleeping Osiris, a much less civil vampire and a much stronger one than he. Osiris may have been younger, but he was different. Arda had lasted for three thousand years and more because he was totally at peace with himself, and had learned to be amused and contented with life. Osiris, however, had survived for two thousand years only because constant carnage kept him amused. He hated himself, and everyone else. At least, on the surface.
And so, Arda had to ask himself, what might happen if he woke up from a Long Sleep to find a mortal on his ship?
Well, he was fairly certain that he could keep Osiris from killing her, if it came to that. He really hoped it didn't come to that. He couldn't very well just leave her on this planet, could he? Unlike most vampires who had lived for so long, compassion was not lost on him.
He would have to get her to Goku, or at least Kaio-sama. One of them would know how to proceed.
He had no sooner come to this conclusion when he heard a sound. It sounded as if it came from far, far away, but he recognized it perfectly. And it sent chills deep into his chest.
Paparapapa
Then Mia let out a cry, whether of rage or fear he couldn't tell, and didn't care. He spun, wrenched the door open, and bolted back into the room.
It took the three of them together about fifteen minutes to explain to King Kai in detail exactly what had happened to Uubu, and to outline their speculations on what could have been the cause. The whole time they were speaking, the god's face grew more and more grave.
When they were finished, he heaved a deep breath, and looked at each of them in turn.
"I've been watching things." he said in a flat tone, very different from his normal voice. "For the past few months, things have been happening near the wastelands. A spirit. I didn't recognize it."
Goku looked at his teacher shrewdly. "But you know something now."
Kaio-sama nodded. "I think I do. I should have goven you all a warning about this when the Golden Moon appeared. Obviously, not everyone who got out of hell would be dumb enough to just rush out and take you guys head on...."
The god suddenly stopped in mid sentance, and screamed. He clapped his hands to the sides of his head, as if warding off a loud, offensive noise. And all three of the Z fighters felt it, heard a faint echo of a telepathic cry.
"What is it!?" Vegeta jumped to his feet (they had all been sitting). "You old fool, what is it!?"
Kaio-sama straightened, and his face seemed to have gone blank and pale.
"It's Arda." his voice shook. "He's being killed, I think."
When he rushed back into the room, at first he didn't even know what had happened. The small, comfortable sleeping quarters had grown from the size of a camper to the size of a cathedral. His comfortable furnishings were nowhere in sight, and the roof shot up what seemed a hundred feet.
"What the hell..." he muttered, then caught sight of the cause.
On the far side of the huge room floated the wizard, inside a protective magic bubble. Next to him stood the monstrous Shine, the thing in white. It was grinning in a way that was happy and yet utterly mindless. In it's one outstretched hand it held Mia by the throat. She was thrashing madly, kicking at the thing and trying to rip it's fingers from her throat, but it was a losing battle.
Her sword lay on the floor, a few feet beyond her reach.
"We can fix that." Arda said to himself, and with a small telepathic flip, he sent the short sword flying up off the ground.
Whatever else could be said about her, Mia had the reflexes of a warrior. Her hand was around the hilt of her weapon almost before Arda could see it, and in a flash of movement, she grabbed the arm that held her throat and rammed her sword through the wrist.
The Shine monster screamed like a caged animal, and immediately dropped her from his hold. She scrambled back, sword in hand, the thing's blood (it was shiny black, so who knew what it was, really) dripping from her weapon and from it's arm.
Babidi did not seem to be in the least bit worried.
"Long introductions and senseless dramatics are one of the mistakes I don't care to repeat." The wizard said with a smirk. "Shine, if you would be so good as to kill that vampire."
Arda could feel power just baking off of that thing in waves, power, but not ki. It didn't seem to have any ki. So when it lunged at him across the huge room, he knew it was toying with him.
The thing was coming at him, but not at near the speed it was capable of. It was testing him then, playing, most likely on previous orders from it's master. He didn't think this thing was smart enough to strategize on it's own.
Well, he would show it that he was not to be played with.
As it neared him, he leapt nimbly into the air, and landed with one foot on top of it's head. He pushed down, shoving Shine off balance, and using the momentum he had gained, swung around and delivered a hard kick to the neck.
Shine flew directly into the wall, and smashed a hole in it, revealing the framework and outer hull of the ship.
Oh, hell. Arda cursed inwardly. The walls of Osiris' ship had been made of kachim, the strongest known metal in the universe, virtually unbreakable. Whatever Babidi had turned it into, it was not nearly so strong. If they weren't careful, they could all be sucked out into space.
His thought was cut off when Shine's fist hit him in the mouth.
He flew backward, catching himself on his feet before he lost his balance. He hadn't even seen the thing move! How the hell had it gone so fast!?
It was coming again. He sidestepped the blow intended for his face again, and tried to kick. But the monster caught his foot deftly in one hand.
Shit.
He was listed and swung, faster than he could see, and then pain exploded over his entire body. The thing hand slammed him into the wall.
Not kachim, he thought. But plenty hard enough, all the same.
This thought had just gone through his head when he was swung again, pulled from the wall by the same grip on his leg. Helpless, he whistled through the air, and this time was slammed into the floor. He couldn't hold back the scream as he felt ribs crack along with the floor itself.
Then the hold on his foot vanished, and he heard the Shine monster scream like a wounded beast. He sat up, ribs screaming their protest, and rolled to his feet just in time to see Mia yank her sword out of the monster's chest and sink it in again.
He laughed out, more a cry of hope than a laugh. That girl had guts!
She pulled her sword from it's body yet again and then leapt back beside him as blood gushed from it's wounds. It didn't look angry, or hurt, however. It was simply looking at them with that same insane grin, as if to tell them it was their turn to roll the dice, so let's not waste time.
"Come on!" Mia said. Right now, any fear she had felt before was gone. The light of battle shone in her eyes like fire. "Come on, if we gang up on it maybe we can beat it!"
Arda looked at her, then at it. He shook his head.
"No, I've got it." he said slowly. The fierce joy he had felt when Mia stabbed the creature had drained from his face, which now looked, so white and hard, like marble. "I'll get this thing. But you might want to stand back."
Mia looked as if she was going to protest, but he didn't give her a chance. On the lapel of his coat, threaded through like any pin, was a silver needle, about three and a half inches long. It was tipped in gold on both ends. He pulled this from the cloth, and held it in his right hand.
Suddenly, it sprang from Three inches to six feet, in the blink of an eye. A needle to a combat staff, slightly taller than it's owner. This was so strange that Mia's words died in her mouth, and she took a step back.
Arda gritted his teeth, and his muscles clenched. He didn't like this technique, it was a horrible drain. But it most definitely did it's job.
"Kaio-ken!!"
Red ki like licking flames suddenly roaared into life around him, throwing the girl back several feet. As it did, he wasted no time. He leapt into the air, toward Shine, ki leaving a burning trail.
The monster seemed to welcome him with it's shark's grin.
As he moved, he gripped the staff low on one end with both hands. He drew back, taking careful aim and mustering every bit of ki at his command.
When he was no more than three feet from the monster, he swung it hard, like a baseball player hitting a home run.
The Shine creature wasn't that smart, as was already proven. It did not have the brainpower to understand that it's opponent had suddenly become much stronger. When it saw the pole swinging at it's face, it tried to catch it.
The staff hit Shine's fingers, and there was a muffled crunch as they all snapped. The blow, however, didn't stop. It continued, Shine's smashed fingers with it, into the thing's face.
There was a sickening crunch like someone taking a sledge hammer to a sack full of china, and the Monster's whole head caved in from the face like a rotten jack-o-lantern. There was a terrific spray of black blood, and the monster flew backward and hit the floor, not moving.
Arda dropped from the air, Kaio-ken aura vanishing as his feet hit the floor. His face was covered in blood-sweat, and he was breathing heavily.
He stared at the creature. It wasn't moving.
Suddenly Mia's arms were flung around his neck, and she was creaming in his ear. His body felt drained, but the girl's happy cries were infectious. He smiled. He had done it.
Then the wizard's laughter cut through theirs like a knife.
"Come come now. You must realize that my monsters are not that easy to get rid of."
And to Arda's horror, made worse by the fatigue, he saw that the thing was indeed moving. It was getting to it's feet! And somehow much more frightening, it's head seemed to be reshaping itself, like a cartoon character who's been run over.
That insane grin was still pasted across it's distorted features.
Arda, feeling helpless, did the only thing he could think to do.
KAIO-SAMA!!! he sccreamed telepathically to the one person who he knew would hear, HELP!!!