Chapter Five:
The confusion that resulted from the two saiyajin, two vampires and one mortal girl appearing out of nowhere back on Kaio-sama's planet was relatively short. They all seemed to realize that they were dealing with a matter of some importance.
"I'll explain everything now." King Kai said as they began to start in with the questions. He had known they would. Mortals (even the vampires he thought of as mortals, short-time creatures who would one day suffer real physical death) were never content to wait for what they wanted.
One by one, they all sat. All except Osiris. He walked off a bit and leaned in the shade of the tree. He stood there, saying nothing and making everyone nervous. None of the others actually trusted him, despite the fact that he had made no hostile move toward any of them since the battle against Morgoth.
The others arranged themselves in a circle around Kaio-sama, and when Mia began to speak to Goku hesitantly, he gently cut her off. "The story of Babidi's first encounter with Goku is an interesting one, but we don't have much time for it right now. You'll get all the answers you need in the course of time."
She seemed to want to contest this, but didn't. Instead she leaned back on her arms and waited for the god to speak. After a moment, he did.
"It all started with a visit about four years ago." King Kai said slowly. The others had never seen him look quite so grave as he did now. "A visit from a being called Gan."
"I can't describe the experience to you. Gan is… I guess some would call Gan The God. It is from he that existence came, and his home is at the top of the Tower."
Kaio-sama sighed. This part was hardest. How was he supposed to convey the sense of being near that being of light, the simple force and aura that came from the creator. Simply being visited by Gan was something he had only heard of in the most distant, whispered legends. And one day Gan had come. First as a great white dragon, then a young man. They had spoken for a long time.
"He talked in riddles." King Kai said. "He did many things. He actually gave me back my planet and restored me to physical life." No one had even noticed before that the Kaio's planet they were now sitting on had been blown up by Cell, and was now back. "His words were vague. He told me that the King had arisen, bodiless but still very dangerous."
"I didn't understand then, but I do now. I wish by all that is that I had understood sooner. I suppose you don't know what I'm talking about." He looked around at the faces focused on his with something like dismay. There was so much that they didn't know. How was he supposed to tell them all of it?
Well, he would have to try.
"You guys have fought to save your planet time and time again." Kaio-sama looked at Goku in particular when he said this. "You fought for your homes, those dear to you. You fought to save your planet, even if it meant dying for your loved ones." His eyes flicked briefly to Vegeta, then back to Goku. "Sometimes you even fought when there was nothing at stake that was dear to you, simply because it was what you knew to be right."
"Well, now I'm going to have to ask you to do it all again. Fight for those things, and much more. This time it's not just earth, not just our galaxy, and not even our universe. This time, everything is at stake. Every world, every universe, every level of the Dark Tower is hanging on you."
"Kaio-sama…." Goku interrupted hesitantly, "what do you mean? And how does this tie in with Babidi, and that creature we fought?"
King Kai heaved another deep and weary sigh. "Look, Goku, this is going to be a very long story, so please bear with me and don't interrupt. I'll tell you everything I know."
The saiyajin nodded silently and subsided.
"Okay. I guess the best example to start with would be Trunks. Not our Trunks, but the one that came from the world destroyed by the androids. The Bulma of that world, his mother, stumbled upon something amazing. Her time machine, as she called it, wasn't as much a time machine as it was like…. A needle. A needle that punched a hole through reality and onto the next level of the Dark Tower."
They said nothing, but Kaio-sama could tell by their faces that they knew nothing of what he was trying to tell them. He rubbed his temples. It was trying, this. He had never had to explain so much about the very framework of existence to mortals. Couldn't, really. It was against the rules. He was breaking them now only in the last stretch. This was where everything would be won or lost.
"Alright, I see I'm going to have to back up. Now, you all have lived with the concept that there is nothing beyond our universe, or at least nothing that can effect us. In that belief you are drastically wrong."
"There are billions upon billions of worlds, each universe complete unto itself. But they, including our universe, afterlife, and hell, are all only one miniscule part of reality. All universes are held to each other, one above the other, spinning together in perfect harmony on the spindle of creation, the home of Gan. This is the Dark Tower. All that you love, all that you hate, all that is, flows from it. It exists in all worlds. In some it is an immortal tiger, in some a rose. In others, it is a great white dragon. In a very few, it actually exists as a great dark tower. But it is what fuels life and power in all worlds, and it is everything, the very groundwork of reality."
King Kai looked around him, and though they comprehended the mechanics of what he was saying, he didn't think they really understood. They didn't see the enormity of world upon worlds. But as long as he tried…
"Now, running parallel to the Tower, through all world, are six beams of energy. These hold all the worlds and bind them to the Tower. They are the last and most powerful true white magic in existence, and they keep all from falling into Din-Tah the great furnace that exists at the Tower's base. There has been great labor for millennia uncounted by many beings to break the beams, and they almost succeeded in destroying all. Many evil, even more misled. Of the six beams that once were, only two now remain. They have been saved by another, for now, at the very brink of the abyss." He paused, took a breath.
"The creature whose madness and evil ambition almost brought the Tower to ruin was called the Crimson King, and it is this thing that will be your true enemy. What he was, when he came into being or from where, none know. He was removed from the physical world by those same who saved the two remaining beams, a party led by a great man named Roland. But taking his body from him was not sufficient to make an end of him. As it turns out, he is now quite as dangerous as ever. He is free from his prison in the Tower, and now he is searching for a body of his own, from the lowest hells to all the mortal planes."
"But…. Kaio-sama, if he doesn't have a body, what threat does he pose us?" Goku asked. "If he's only a pure spirit, he can't hurt us."
"Not true. He may not be able to hurt you directly, but spirits have their ways. They can speak to the living, and lend them their powers, if nothing else."
He looked around at the faces assembled near him, and wondered if one of them would stumble upon the answer, or if he would have to tell them.
He was about to do just that when Osiris spoke.
"It's Babidi, isn't it?" he asked. "That little thing has found this Crimson King, and made him his familiar."
Kaio-sama smiled very slightly. "Yes, exactly. I'm not sure of exactly when, but at some point while Babidi wandered after his escape from hell, he was contacted by, or called up, the Crimson King. I'm sure he didn't know what he was doing, but once it began there would be no stopping it. The King's powers have begun to meld with Babidi's, making the wizard even stronger. But if that were the only danger, it wouldn't be so bad. His slaves are new, but he you can beat again."
"Unfortunately, a powerful being like the Crimson King would never be content to work through another. He will slowly overwhelm Babidi, and assimilate him and take over his body. Very likely the process has already begun. And if he regains a physical body, I fear that he may be a foe beyond you all."
There was silence for nearly a full minute. Finally, Uubu, very self-conscious and speaking before his sensei, broke it.
"So, all you really want is for us to kill Babidi before that happens."
"Yes. You must find Babidi and kill him." He looked hard at Goku. "And I do mean that. Nothing but his death will rid us of him and the Crimson King. You have to do it before the King takes over completely. If that happens, I don't know what we will do. The Red King is murderous and totally insane. And if he merges with Babidi, he will be physical again, and his magic will be unstoppable."
Vegeta spoke up gruffly and to the point. "How long do we have before this happens?"
Kaio-sama shrugged. "Hard to say. Since we don't know exactly how long ago this began, or at what pace the King is working, there's no way to tell. Babidi is a very proud and self centered being. He may resist being controlled for a very long time. Or maybe no time at all."
Vegeta looked thoughtful, and spoke again. "If Babidi sees what this Crimson King is up to, if he realizes before it's too late, could he conceivably throw the spirit's influence off? Could he free himself?"
King Kai looked shocked. "Oh, no. if he tries something like that, the King would blow him out like a candle, and then simply take over his body, or try to."
"But then why doesn't he do that now!?" the prince looked baffled.
"Why?" Kaio-sama looked equally dumbfounded. "Why? Because to take Babidi's body by force would likely drive him totally insane and destroy any power he had. The Crimson King wants all the power he can get, and if that means waiting and moving slowly, he will do it."
Something seemed to strike Goku at that instance. "But if he's so strong anyway, what does he need Babidi for? Why is he worried?"
"Well, before he would only have had the reason all evil beings have; he wants more power simply for the sake of having it. He wants all he can get and more. But now, he has an even better reason."
"He has seen you all, through Babidi's eyes." He looked to Goku. "He has seen you, Goku, and recognized you for what you are, I have no doubt. An agent of the White, of good. You, if not these others. He knows in his heart that you will come to put an end to him. He is not above fear."
"There's one thing I don't understand." Arda spoke for the first time. "If he was killed once in his own body, what would the good be of killing Babidi? Won't he just go do the same thing to someone else?"
The barest suggestion of a smile showed on the Kaio's face. "He was not killed in his own body. The story is long, and not relevant at the moment, but suffice to say that he did not die. His body was simply… taken from him."
"Time is short, so let's stick to relevant information. Now, Babidi can't have known what the Crimson King was when their… collaboration began. Does he know now? I don't think so. He just knows that he has a new demon familiar, which is making him incredibly strong. And giving him new abilities, new ways to get slaves. He's been, somehow, pulling people from different levels of the tower and bending them to his will. And he's even created some new fighters."
"Which brings me to that awful monster, that thing. Shine." Mia shifted noticeably, and all seemed to shudder. "Kill it, and Babidi will be within your grasp."
"What is it?" Goku asked. "I mean, I've never seen anything like it. Me and Vegeta were blasting pieces of it off, and it didn't even pause. Actually, it was almost like it liked it." He paused. "If it hadn't gone to help Babidi, I think we'd still be fighting it right now."
Kaio-sama considered where to start. "Okay. Shine, as that thing is called, was once a spirit known as an elemental. Elementals are spirits that were never alive as physical beings. They are not gods, or angels, or demons. They are really hardly sentient in their natural form. When they come into being, many kinds of energy collect around a single particle, and when enough energy is concentrated together, it begins to live. Elementals cause storms, fire, rain. Anything. They are the power of the universe embodied in a spirit form."
"But somehow Babidi has perverted one of these calm, benign beings by entrapping it in flesh. One he had something physical to work on, I'm sure his magic didn't take long. Now he has a mindless killing machine more lethal even than Majin Buu ever was. This thing will never disobey him, and it will never stop."
"How do we kill it?" Vegeta asked.
The Kaio shrugged. "I assume the same way you killed Cell. Get rid of every particle of it, maybe it won't come back. To be honest, I've never seen anything remotely like it before."
"But when the time comes, you'll have to figure out something. Everything is resting on your shoulders now. I wish I didn't have to put this burden on you, only mortals. This is a fight the gods have waged for eternity. But now we have to turn to you, and if you can't do it, no one can."
With those words, the god turned and walked toward his house.
"I'll give you all some time to rest and talk before I send you on your way. Remember, you do have a choice."
He walked into his small house and shut the door behind him, leaving Goku, Vegeta, Uubu, Arda, Mia, and Osiris all staring at each other in shock.