Chapter Six:

There was silence, long silence, when Kaio-sama left them and walked into his house. No one said a word, no one seemed to be able to. What they had been told, all that had been explained to them, was sinking in digesting. The concepts that the Kaio had given them were so huge that they demanded this.

It was Goku who spoke first, of course.

"Guys, I don't know if I understand even half of what Kaio-sama told us." He stood, and the others began to slowly get to their feet as he continued. "But I guess that doesn't matter. I think we all know what we have to do."

"Yes, we do." Arda brushed a few errant blades of grass from his clothes. "I don't think Kaio-sama would ever lie to us, and if he's telling the truth, we can't turn away from this. To turn away would be to die ourselves. Besides," he smirked slightly, "This is what I've been doing for centuries, trying to do good. Now I guess I found what it was all for."

Goku looked at Vegeta. "Well?"

The prince rolled his eyes. "Do you even need to ask, Kakarott? I'm not going to let you go play the hero while I sit and wait."

Uubu's face was grim, set in stone, but his nervousness was visible underneath. "I'll go with my sensei."

Mia looked back and forth at the unfamiliar faces around her. In truth, she was hardly sure that this whole experience wasn't a dream. A few hours ago, she had been wandering around a spaceport she had never been to, wondering where she was going to find a meal, much less some sort of shelter for the night. Now she was with great warriors, the kind that she had hoped to be one day. She was standing with them on the pleasant grassy lawn of a god, and talking about saving the universe. No, all universes.

How could she say no?

"I'm in." she said simply. "I mean, I don't have anywhere else to go," she continued in a stammering voice when they all looked at her. "And I don't know… I can't leave now. I'm not sure what it is, but I have a feeling that I'm supposed to be here, that we all are. I don't know what it is, but I wouldn't leave here for the world."

Goku smiled. "I knew I could count on you guys."

"Well, there is one more of us to count on." Arda said, turning. "Hey, Osiris, you…."

He stopped.

Osiris was nowhere to be seen. The vampire was gone.

Enma-sama had never had a situation like this, not in his entire career in the afterlife. There had been scares, sure, and fights aplenty. But there had never been anything even remotely like this blue eyed hell-monster that was now tearing his office apart. And from the feel of the guy's power, this was only the most minute fraction of what he could do, if he felt like it.

Office demons were scattered everywhere, some unconscious, many more dead in pools of their own blood. Enma's huge desk was shattered into chunks in one corner. Enma himself was sitting in the rubble where he had fallen amidst the rubble, eyes wide, totally unsure of what to do. Had this man been dead, controlling him would have been simple. But he was not. He was physically alive, and that meant that it was a matter of simple strength. Minor points like how a living being had gotten here in the first place would have to be worried about later.

The vampire Osiris stood in the middle of the destroyed office, enveloped in a corona of blue ki. He was still for the moment, staring at Enma-sama coolly. That was the most frightening part, actually. He didn't even seem to become excited, not even when he had been in the midst of this wanton destruction. He had been perfectly cold.

"Now, I hope you're ready to be more reasonable." He said, only the slightest edge of irritation in his voice. "I want you to tell me how to get back to the mortal plane, and I want you to tell me now. Unless of course, you want me to continue."

Enma was torn between two decisions. He hadn't been this uncertain of what to do since he had been faced with the problem of sending Vegeta to earth to help against Majin Buu. And this time there was a raging maniac destroying his office, killing his helpers, and threatening to do the same to him.

He could continue to refuse, do his duty by the rules. Of course the man would kill him, probably much more slowly and creatively than he had disposed of the office demons. And who was to say that he wouldn't find his way back eventually, anyway? Of course, if he led this monster to the door, then he would have to live with himself. Live with the fact that he had turned this… thing loose.

As for Osiris himself, he had left quietly shortly before King Kai had disappeared into his house. He had heard enough to let him know what this was. He had helped save the universe once, from Morgoth, but looking back, he thought that that had been as much to save his own skin than anything else. He had known that he would have to fight Morgoth eventually. Now, he had absolutely no interest in saving the world. Let the world fend for itself.

"I… I…" Enma stammered. "I can't tell you that. I don't know how to get back to the mortal realm."

Osiris rolled his eyes. The old fool didn't even have the ability to mask his thoughts, not even a little. The lie might as well have been written on his face.

"You're lying to me. I'll give you one more chance." He glided across the room, and seized Enma by the collar, lifting the huge behemoth off the ground. "Tell me, or you will die like no one has ever died before." His voice was still cold, totally devoid of emotion.

Enma was actually shaking. This thing could read his mind, and he now saw what it was. Skin as white and translucent as alabaster, eyes that burned, psychic powers, superhuman power. There was a vampire here, a very ancient vampire. And it was going to kill him, and would probably just take the information it wanted from his mind beforehand. Why it was even bothering to ask him was a mystery. Perhaps was feeling emotion, after all. Perhaps amusement.

Enma, voice quivering, told him. "Go down the path about three miles. There is a door standing in the middle of nothing. Just say the name of where you want to go, and it will take you there. As long as it's on the mortal plane."

Osiris smiled. He could feel that the old demon was telling him the truth, and he hadn't even had to dig in his mind.

"Thank you. You've been of great service, and for that, you will not suffer a painful death."

Before Enma even had time to wonder what he meant, the irises of the vampire's eyes began to spin. Enma felt the heat in an instant, and then all went black as he burned.

Tienshinhan was a very unique human being, and the third eye in the exact center of his forehead was probably the least important reason. He was very calm and collected, for one thing. He was methodical and thought about his actions before he performed them. He seemed always silent, because he didn't speak unless he had something of importance to say. And his silence, his habit of watching and listening more than speaking, made him remarkably perceptive.

Of course, having a powerful psychic for a best friend didn't hurt matters, either.

Right now the man in question was standing at the edge of a very high cliff. Snow blew below, above, and all around him. He wore a heavy fur lined blue cloak against the cold, though he could have easily kept himself warm with his ki. But after the strange things he had been felling, he and Choutzu both lately, he had been taking extra precautions, and that included keeping his ki lowered to nearly undetectable levels. Silly, perhaps, but he didn't think so.

Choutzu floated next to him, his small, changeless companion, like a small china doll in appearance. He was protected by a small bubble of ki, just enough to keep the snow and the worst of the wind from his skin.

This place was a wild, harsh vantage point, totally open to the elements. The two of them often came here, together or apart, if vexed by a serious problem that needed long thought. It was a good place to think, the weather totally closing them off from the outside world. No distractions, no worries, just the view of the white wastes below them and the raging winds that almost never stopped, even in what passed for summer this far north.

"Something's going to happen." Tien turned toward his friend. "Earth is in danger. I can feel it, and if I can, you must."

Choutzu reluctantly nodded, looking childlike and afraid despite the fact that he was as old as Tien himself. "I've been feeling it for a while now. Stronger and stronger." He gulped. "Danger. Not just for us, either."

Tienshinhan nodded, as if this was what he had expected. "Danger for everything. Something huge." He paused, turned to his companion, his face glancing from the wastes below. "Something much bigger than us, or Goku, or earth. Choutzu, I'm worried."

Choutzu looked at his friend, startled. He had never heard Tien actually state that he was afraid before, not even in such a hazy way. The tri-clops was a stone pillar, always there, never wavering. If he was admitting to fear, something was wrong. That, even more than his own huge psychic powers, convinced Choutzu that these were not just vapors he was starting at. Something bad was going to happen, and they had to try to warn the others.

These feelings passed between them easier than speaking. Sometimes with them it was just that way. Both being telepaths, they could at times communicate only through feelings of the mind. This time, they both knew what they needed to do. The Z fighters were scattered all over the globe, and gathering them together without the aid of Goku's instant transmission would be long work. Therefore, Capsule Corp. would be the best place to start.

Because as far as either could tell, Goku and Vegeta were gone from the planet earth. They didn't know why, or for how long, and waiting was quickly becoming less and less of an option. If there was something coming (and they were both sure there was), waiting was the last thing they should do.

Tien sighed. "Okay. Let's go. If we can't do anything else, we can find Trunks and Goten. Gohan and Pan."

It still irked him slightly, knowing that almost all the others on the planet who could make a difference were saiyajin. He had worked his entire life, harder than any legendary masters he had ever heard tell of. But now, when he was at his peak, strong enough to destroy planets with little effort, he was still playing second fiddle to a bunch of people who thought of fighting once a week and were given their power at birth. If he knew as little about combat as they did, he would have been long in his grave.

Of course, he reflected bitterly, with as little as Goten and Trunks trained these days, he was probably stronger than they were. The thought held no joy for him at the moment.

Author's Note: Yeah, yeah, I know this chapter is rather short. I just don't want to start what's next until the next one, because it'll be rather long. Anyway, ciao.

Rev.