UBER SPOILER! Unless you've seen all the way up through the end of Reload or read all of the Gensomaden manga, do NOT read on! Very important!
Can You See?
'Can you see it, Nataku?'
Kanzeon smiled warmly at the comatose boy sitting beside her, cold and unmoving for centuries. His eyes remained blank, his body limp yet composed looking.
'They got there at last. It's a shame they're journey will be over soon, don't you think? It's been so entertaining,' she grinned, gazing out at her pool of lilies through which she viewed the lower world. 'But then there's always the trip home,' she chuckled. 'Can you see it, Nataku?'
The boy did not respond. Kanzeon lowered herself softly to her knees and gazed at the lily pool from Nataku's shoulder. 'Not very well, I think,' she smiled. 'Perhaps I should have put you higher up so you could see better.' She paused for a moment, looking at him thoughtfully, then smiled, 'Would you like to be closer? Let me show you.'
She slid her arms carefully under the boy, easily supporting his weight, and picked him up from the stone chair he'd been sitting in for almost two years without moving. She held him carefully to her as she padded softly across the stone tiles to the edge of her lily pool.
Kanzeon tilted her head, gazing at Nataku, rested against her shoulder, and smiled. She stepped carefully into the water. It swam up around her legs and just touched the tip of Nataku's toes.
His hand twitched very slightly.
The Bodhisattva's smile broadened.
'Do you see it, Nataku?' she whispered. His eyes were still blank and his body limp. He was unresponsive. 'The Ox King has been resurrected. After all the work you did. After almost giving your life to seal him, he's been brought back. Obviously the Princess Jade has no appreciation for your efforts.
'Do you see your friends, Nataku? Do you see Goku and Konzen and Kenren and Tenpo? They're fighting the battle you once did. They're mortal now, and more powerful than Heaven. Isn't that funny, Nataku?'
Kanzeon gazed out over the water and lilies in silence for a long time, watching the battle. 'That was clever,' she grinned, watching Tenpo's attack. 'Did you see?'
Nataku still stared blankly ahead, curled limply in her arms. 'No?' Kanzeon smiled slowly. 'Then can you feel?' she let herself fall to her knees and then leaned forward, submerging Nataku fully in the lily pool.
888
Goku screamed as he launched himself towards the giant youkai, at first propelled by his cudgel and then shortening it slightly and swinging it around to slam into the side of Gyumaoh's head.
Gyumaoh roared and stumbled, but recovered quickly. Too quickly. He wasn't as fast as a lot of the guys they'd faced, he was really a lot slower than his own son, but he refused to be bashed up or knocked out. He was tough! And big. Don't forget big.
'Goku!' Hakkai warned, sending off a blast of Chi at Gyumaoh as Goku dodged out of the way.
Again the attack hit dead on, and seemed to have almost no effect.
'Shjt...' Goku swore, shaking his head and readying himself to attack again. This was going to take a long time. He really wished Sanzo and Gojyo hadn't run off. But then, Gyumaoh had still been comatose when they'd left.
888
'You said you'd unseal her when Gyumaoh was awakened!' Kougaiji shouted furiously at Gyokumen Koushu, holding her arm as he dragged her along through the halls.
'Get rid of the Sanzo party! Get them out of my castle!' Gyokumen Koushu shrieked.
'This is not your castle!' Kougaiji yelled back. 'You removed me from hounding the Sanzo party long ago! I've kept my end! You keep yours! Bring her back!'
888
'Ukoku Sanzo.'
The human man in a long, white lab coat turned slowly around, grinning broadly and looking maliciously amused behind large, wire-framed glasses. In his right arm he cradled a toy rabbit, reminding Sanzo of Kami's sick obsession with dolls and children's toys.
'I haven't gone by that name in years, Genjo Sanzo,' he smirked infuriatingly. 'But I'm flattered you remember me. You were just a child when we last met.' He dipped a bow, still smirking and completely blithe of the fact that a gun was aimed between his eyes. 'These days they call me Doctor Ni Jien.'
'I don't care what they call you. You're a sick, perverted bastard.'
888
He was getting faster. It was like Gyumaoh was shaking off sleep and getting steadily more powerful. They had to defeat him now before he got even more powerful. Hakkai already felt drained.
He shook his head, glad now that Sanzo and Gojyo were elsewhere, he could only trust Goku to dodge fast enough. Hakkai reached to his ear and cupped his fingers around his power-limiters, hesitating for just a moment, until he watched Gyumaoh slam Goku into another wall.
888
Nataku twitched, jerking slightly in Kanzeon's arms. She kept holding him under the water. It probably looked as though she were trying to drown him.
888
'This guy...?' Gojyo growled through clenched teeth, gripping Shakujou with white knuckles. 'You're the bastard that did that to the kid?'
'My old prodigy, you mean?' Ni Jien asked with a still wider grin. 'Don't tell me you're still talking about that. You killed him almost a year ago.'
Sanzo's eyes narrowed and Gojyo shook with fury. 'Leave this one to me, Sanzo,' he gritted.
Sanzo glanced sideways for a moment, considering Gojyo and then nodded and turned, continuing to on to find the one that was orchestrating the resurrection.
'He was your, what - acolyte or something - right?' Gojyo drummed his fingers once, without loosening his grip on Shakujou. 'And you don't even care he's dead now. Or that you set him up to die. Right?'
Ni Jien shrugged, still grinning widely. 'You four are far more amusing toys than he ever was.'
Gojyo grimaced in rage and then flew forward, aiming for the kill.
888
Goku dodged the swing from Gyumaoh, and then the two consecutive Chi blasts, flipping neatly in the air to land at a safe distance. With the explosions and light ahead of him, he didn't notice the wall behind him falling until a large piece of stone hit him in the back.
888
Nataku opened his mouth to scream his friend's name, but only a large group of bubbles resulted. He was then being pulled up, out of cool, blue water, even as he struggled to get back into it, towards the visions of his friend collapsing under a pile of bricks.
'GOKU!' he shouted, fighting the strong arms holding him up.
'He's not in the lily pool, Nataku,' a low, soothing voice said in his ear, making him stop and crane his neck to see who was holding him. 'He's in the lower world. He's on the Earth.'
'K-Kanzeon Bosatsu!' Nataku exclaimed in surprise as she set him back on his feet, thigh-deep in lilies.
'I see you're awake,' the Bodhisattva smiled warmly at him.
'Goku, he's'
'He does have a lot on his plate right now, doesn't he?' Kanzeon laughed. 'And for him, that's a pretty big statement!'
888
'GOKU!' Hakkai shouted as he watched the wall crumple and collapse over his young friend. His blood ran cold.
Gyumaoh laughed darkly and moved toward the pile of rubble. Hakkai quickly charged another blast of Chi to bring the Ox King's attention back on him.
888
'Lord Kougaiji!' Yaone wailed, holding Lirin's arm tightly, terrified by the sounds of destruction below them and the shaking that the castle was about to collapse. They had to get out.
'Kougaiji!' a harsh voice shouted across the room and the youkai prince looked up from shouting at his father's mistress to meet the sight of Genjo Sanzo once again. He did not have time for this. Nor did he have any desire to fight in the room of his mother's imprisonment, where she might be hurt.
888
Gojyo recoiled, staring down at the tiny hole through his stomach. He stumbled slightly, leaning on Shakujou for support, startled and thrown off by the toy bunny having shot him. It now had a thin trail of smoke trickling upward from one of its beady little eyes.
Ni Jien smirked at him.
888
'But I defeated Gyumaoh! He was sealed!' Nataku protested.
'It's been five hundred years down there, Nataku,' Kanzeon shook her head. 'The Ox King's mistress revived him using the holy sutra.'
Nataku looked at her for a while in horror. 'And nobody thought to stop it?' he demanded hotly.
'Of course,' Kanzeon sniffed. 'That's why your little friend's there, and Konzen and the others. I sent them to stop the resurrection.'
Nataku stared at her incredulously for a moment before asking, 'Where's my sword?'
888
'Kill him!' Gyokumen Koushu shrieked, pointing furiously at Sanzo. 'Kill him and then I'll release your mother!'
Kou let her arm go, turning his glare on Sanzo and taking a battle ready stance. Doukugakuji felt sickened. Kou would keep doing everything that b'tch told him to indefinitely. He never stopped trusting her word. He couldn't. And she knew it.
Sanzo leveled his gun at Kou and shot. Kou dodged to the side and only a moment later they realized that Genjo Sanzo had not been aiming for him.
888
Another bullet ricocheted off the wall, coming a little close to hitting him, and by that one would have to mean within one or two meters. Gojyo raised his eyebrows at the sexy brunet in heals and a lab coat. Her hands were shaking slightly as she held the gun out at arms length, aiming roughly at him.
'You've never picked up a gun in your life, have you?' Gojyo leered at her.
'S-shut up!' The woman's voice was shaking as well. 'Th-that was a warning shot!'
'Mhm, a warning of "Watch out, I might accidentally hit you"?'
'Drop your weapon!' she shouted.
Gojyo swung his arm around and used the crescent-blade to knock the gun out of her hands. She squeaked in surprise and only managed to shoot the ceiling.
888
'I demand the use of your sword!' Kanzeon Bosatsu declared, pointing at a startled soldier who stared between her and the former War Prince who was said to be in a coma for two years running now. 'Hurry up! We're on a schedule!' she grabbed him by the shirt and stuck out her chin.
'Y-yes ma'am' he stammered, unbuckling his sword belt and holding it out to the Killer Kid.
888
'You... Kougaiji stared at the fallen form of Gyokumen Koushu sprawled on the floor, a pool of blood quickly gathering around her head. 'You killed her...'
'Shooting someone's brains out tends to have that effect,' Sanzo replied dryly.
Kougaiji shook with rage. 'She was the only chance to bring back my mother!' he shouted furiously, lunging for Sanzo with his claws.
888
Hakkai heard and felt several cracks as he hit the floor and skidded to a bloody halt, the skin sanded off one side of his face and an arm. He winced, trying to push himself back up. He could barely move. He shook, looking up at the giant form of Gyumaoh standing over him, taking up most of the room, and laughing, savoring his victory.
Hakkai couldn't die. He owed it to Sanzo to live, to finish this mission, and Goku still hadn't stirred from under the pile of rock.
'KYUU!' Jeep cried, hovering over him protectively and glaring at Gyumaoh, who only laughed harder.
'TIME OUT!' a deep, feminine voice echoed loudly through the subterranean room and Hakkai gasped, looking for the source and seeing a pillar of bright light. Suddenly the voice and the light brought a memory to the front of his mind.
Just like the first time Goku had been out of control. After Rikudo.
The Bodhisattva, Kanzeon Bosatsu.
He thought he might have whispered the name out loud as he thought it, and just as he'd thought it, the light faded to reveal three people standing where it had touched the floor. The Bodhisattva and her body guard that had been with her before, and a young boy that also looked somehow familiar.
Gyumaoh actually took a step back. Gasping? 'War Prince Nataku,' the giant youkai boomed with a hint of dismay in his voice.
War Prince. That was what Homura had called himself. Hakkai looked more closely and saw that the boy, who looked no more than thirteen, had bright gold eyes. A heretic, like Homura and Goku.
'I will defeat you, Ox King!' the boy declared in a surprisingly resonant voice for someone who looked so small and young. 'Just like five hundred years ago!'
'General,' Kanzeon Bosatsu called, turning in Hakkai's direction. 'Would you like a bigger role in this drama?' she asked with a smile on her lips.
Jeep chirped loudly turning his attention on her, but still stayed next to Hakkai, guarding him. The Bodhisattva smirked and put out her hand in their direction.
888
'Kou! She was using you! She wouldn't have ever let your mother go!' Dokugakuji held Kougaiji restrictively, trying to calm him as Sanzo righted himself, his robes ripped and a bloody gash across his chest, but mostly undamaged. 'She would have just kept using you and Lirin!'
'SHUT UP!' Kougaiji screamed. 'SHUT UP! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!'
888
'Gods are attacking the castle again!' a radio blared over the sound of sirens. There was another loud crash and the building shook.
'Jeez, you guys have the worst luck, don't you?' Gojyo grinned, studying the bunny to detect any further tricks.
'When you hang around with dangerous company, you're bound to attract more,' Ni Jien grinned and then tossed the bunny.
Gojyo swung Shakujou and sliced it in half. Which had the unfortunate effect of making it explode and radiate an itching, blinding smoke.
He could hear the other man running. Fleeing.
'NI! NI YOU BASTARD!' the woman scientist screamed furiously between coughs. 'COME BACK HERE!'
The smoke cleared enough for Gojyo to see and he ran to the doorway that was in the direction he'd heard Ni Jien run. He turned back to wink at the woman. 'I'll see you later, beautiful!' he clicked and then took off chasing after the fled 'doctor'.
888
Gojun exhaled slowly, his eyes closed. He opened them as there was another crash and gazed up at Nataku, the Killer Kid, slamming another blow into Gyumaoh, the Ox King, and drawing blood. His lips curled up into a smile. This time, Nataku would not go home looking like a bad butcher job.
He glanced over his shoulder at Hakkai and smiled in response to his look of total bemusement. 'Good to be able to talk to you again, Tenpo,' he said quietly and then turned again to the fight.
'War Prince Nataku!' he called, bowing his head. 'Please allow me to assist you!'
He looked up to see Nataku smile, paused on the shoulder of Gyumaoh, his replacement sword jammed between two plates of armor. 'I would be honored, General Gojun!' he replied, a little breathless.
With a grin, Gojun drew the sword still hanging at his side where it had been before Kanzeon transformed him into the Jeep and started forward at a run.
888
Ni Jien slammed his hand against a hidden panel, willing the door to open faster. It slid open and he darted through and kept running. At the sound of metal crushing metal he glanced over his shoulder to see a crescent-shaped blade sticking by a neat slice to the edge of the door.
He looked forward again, running faster.
888
'These are the seals of Heaven,' Sanzo said quietly, gazing up at the pillar from which protruded an apparent statue relief of a youkai woman.
Kougaiji had sunk down to his knees and was staring listlessly at the floor, tears slowly running down his face. Lirin clung to his arm, not able to hold back her own tears at the sign of her brother in sorrow.
Sanzo looked more closely at one of the small scrolls, inscribed with words of power. He read them slowly, his mind trailing back to the last time he'd seen heavenly seals. When he'd let Goku out of that cave.
888
Goku worked his fingers around the edge of a heavy stone. He grunted, fairly sure he'd broken a couple of ribs, and heaved it away, using his staff as a lever. He sat up coughing out rock dust and shaking his head, which turned out to be a mistake as it made him dizzy. He brushed some of the powder off his face and looked up to where the battle was still raging.
There were two people he'd never seen before fighting Gyumaoh now. Goku's eyes darted to find Hakkai, who was sitting half-curled on the ground next to a tall lady in a weird, white dress and an old guy who looked like a warrior or something. Goku blinked a few times and then shrugged, turning his attention back to Gyumaoh.
888
Gojyo kept running, his shirt was soaked with blood now from the place the stupid bunny had shot him. Actually, it was right over the place Kami had got him with the beads last year. Gojyo's face darkened and he put on another burst of speed.
'NI JIEN!' he shouted to the still retreating scientist as he came to a set of stairs in an open room and could see the bastard running across the floor below him.
Ni glanced back over his shoulder. His smile was gone. He spun around abruptly, without stopping his retreat and flung something at him. Gojyo was already flying down the stairs, taking them four at a time.
The thing zipped closer and then turned, following Gojyo as he hit the ground and ran. He glanced back at it. A bee? A bee!
'That was you too? Bastard!' he growled and flung out Jakujou behind him, easily slicing the bee-thing in two.
888
There was absolutely no hope. Dokugaku was right. Gyokumen Koushu would never have given his mother back to him, but now he didn't even have false hope to cling to. He sobbed out loud.
'Oi, Kougaiji,' Sanzo's voice called from across the room. Near his unwakeble mother.
'Shut up!' Kougaiji shouted back at him. How dare that punk priest interrupt his mourning?
Yaone made a sound halfway between a gasp and a shriek. That made Kougaiji look up and follow her gaze go where Sanzo was glaring at him, holding up one of the seal charms and looking thoroughly annoyed.
888
Gyumaoh stumbled backwards, roaring in fury and pain. Nataku grinned, landing back on the floor and readying to jump back and try for his throat again. Then there was a loud battle cry, packed full of so much energy it seemed to shake the room in its own right.
Nataku watched, a smile spreading widely across his face as he saw Goku jumping up behind Gyumaoh and slamming an iron cudgel into the back of his neck.
Gyumaoh roared again.
Nataku laughed, feeling giddy relief flowing through him, mixing with the adrenalin and giving him an over all very nice feeling. He sprang forward again, slamming his sword down on Gyumaoh's head, managing to put a crack in his helmet but not penetrate it.
'GOKU!' he shouted in delight, lighting briefly on Gyumaoh's shoulder.
Goku looked up at him from where he'd landed on the floor, looking confused. 'Hi!' he shouted back cheerfully. '... Do I know you?'
'What?' Nataku cried, appalled.
888
'Kougaiji...?'
Kougaiji pulled his mother, who was rather dazed and bewildered, into a crushing hug, sobbing shamelessly. She blinked and gazed around at the other people. A young woman with tears slowly slipping down her cheeks even as she smiled beautifully and with intense joy. A tall man, also beaming with happiness but not quite in tears. A human monk who was looking disinterested and annoyed. And smoking. In her castle? And then just next to her a girl with big, blue eyes and orange hair was gazing at her with hope and fear painted over her features.
'Hello,' she smiled. 'What's your name?' she asked, not sure of what else to say. The girl was obviously desperate to talk to her.
'Lirin,' the girl blinked rapidly, letting a few tears slid down her cheeks over the tracks of older ones. '... Would you be my mom?'
888
'EVIL BASTARD!' Gojyo screamed, swinging Jakujou out in an ark, aiming the crescent blade and then jerking back slightly to spin it around.
The chain twined perfectly around the neck of Ni Jien - Ukoku Sanzo - Evil Child-Abusing Bastard - whatever his name really was - and he swung round in an ark, pulling the man off his feet.
Ni Jien was still.
Gojyo tilted his head and grinned, reeling the chain back in hand over hand. When Ni Jien rested at his feet, his eyes were staring straight ahead, unfocused and glazed, and his head was tilted at an angle that an unbroken neck would never have been able to manage.
Gojyo tapped out a cigarette.
888
'What do you mean, "Who am I"?' the boy demanded, jumping down to the floor and landing in front of him. 'You forgot me?' he was glaring, looking hurt and angry. 'I stabbed myself for you, damn it!'
Goku stared at him, puzzled. 'You... look a little familiar...' Goku scratched his head.
'Hey!' the boy exclaimed suddenly, looking even more shocked and offended. 'Since when are you taller than me?'
'Oi, children,' the strange woman shouted across the room. 'You can get reacquainted later. Don't make General Gojun do all the work.'
'Oh! Right!' Goku turned back to the fight and shouted at his cudgel 'EXTEND!'
He slammed it down on Gyumaoh's helmet, making it break in two at the crack the younger boy had already put in it. At this point he heard his name being called yet again. Distractions distractions. Didn't they know he was trying to save the world here?
Goku glanced to his side, seeing Kougaiji and company stepping out of the elevator. They were short of Lirin but Sanzo was with them. Was that a good sign?
'Hold him!' Kougaiji shouted up to him and Goku grinned.
'Un!' he nodded and twirled his cudgel around like a baton before plunging it through Gyumaoh's leg. The Ox King howled and then turned a glare on his only son, who was chanting a summoning spell.
With the last syllables, a giant fire demon burst out of Kougaiji's hands and screamed towards Gyumaoh, engulfing him just as Goku drew back his cudgel and jumped out of the way.
Gyumaoh shrieked in agony and began to fall, burning, to the ground. The boy that insisted Goku knew him charged forward, crying out as he went, leapt through the flames and disappeared into them. Abruptly Gyumaoh's screaming stopped.
The flames died away and revealed a slightly singed boy standing atop a giant, blackened corps, sword stuck through what formerly would have been an eye. The boy coughed and shook his head, pulling out his sword.
Then he rounded on Goku, 'What the hell do you mean, "You look kind of familiar"? You jerk! Do you know how worried I was?'
'Oi, monkey, you didn't leave any for me?' Gojyo slumped out of the elevator, leaning heavily on Shakujou. His shirt was muddy red from blood and he looked exhausted but was grinning broadly and looked very pleased with himself.
'Nah, this kid finished him off,' Goku shrugged, nodding towards the younger boy.
'"This kid"?' the boy glared, looking quite thoroughly hurt and angry and shaking slightly, tears starting to form at the edge of his eyes. Goku's eyebrows went up in surprise, realizing that the boy's eyes were gold like his. He also had a Chakra, which made Goku think of Homura.
'His memories of Heaven have been sealed, Nataku,' the strange woman said in a low, amused voice as she strode up at a leisurely pace. 'He's in exile.'
Everyone turned to look at her. Goku tilted his head, feeling another flash of recognition, but still was unable to make sense of it. But this woman knew what had happened to him, what he'd done, why he'd been put in the Mountain of the Five Elements.
'Who are you?' he asked, trying desperately to remember her face.
She smiled warmly at him, in a way that seemed very comforting, how Goku imagined a mother would smile. The warrior guy at her side spoke instead.
'This noble being is Kanzeon Bosatsu! The Great Bodhisattva of Mercy and Love!' he declared loudly. 'She is the one who's mission you have just completed, Sanzo Party!'
888
Genjo Sanzo might have had a little more patience, but it was difficult to tell when he unloaded his gun at team mates and screamed at them for silence.
Cho Hakkai smiled, chuckling at the antics and lightly stroking the once again transformed General Gojun's scales as the General happily munched on a spring roll.
Gojyo was still behind the learning curve in figuring out that if he picked on one of the kids, they were both going to take a side and gang up on him.
Son Goku still couldn't remember the first time he'd met his best friend, but found him to be one of the funniest people who ever lived. Particularly when he wrote 'DORK' across Gojyo's forehead while he was asleep.
Somewhere in Heaven, a Bodhisattva of Mercy and Love smiled, pleased that the trip home looked like it would be every bit as entertaining as the outward journey. Perhaps more so.
888