Won the Battle, Losing the War

Disclaimers: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or any of the characters. If I did Great Sayaman wouldn't exist. Yes. ~bows to her applauses~

Author's Note: I know it's been awhile and I don't have any real excuses for you this time. So I guess you can get mad at me…but if you want another chapter soon…

Vegeta and Gohan both cringed as Goku went into another round of singing the Fritos song. The annoying tune was the only thing that was keeping Goku from passing out from his agonizing hunger, but Gohan found his ears now hurt more than his stomach.

                "Aye, aye, aye, aye. Yes, I am the Frito Bandito!"

                "Could you desist, Kakarot?!" Vegeta shrieked fighting against the bonds that held him back.

                "But I'm hungry, Vegeta." Goku said miserably, "And…I really need something to keep my mind off my stomach."

Gohan closed his eyes holding for sleep to paste them shut for at least the brief hours they were given to rest. Morning was beginning to crease the horizon, and without food or rest, this fight would be rather difficult.

                "What is that song anyway?" Gohan asked mildly interested as he attempted sleep.

                "It was a commercial." Goku smirked, "But they took it off air cause it offended the Mexicans."

                "Actually think it was just because they were afraid it might give Kakarot here some ideas." Vegeta snarled to himself causing Goku to cock his head.

                "What ideas?"

Mirai Trunks leaned against the panel watching the morning suns rise in the horizon. There was still no trace of the party they had sent out hours before. He let out a sigh of discomfort and went back to rewiring the section he was on again. Chibi Trunks was being kept extremely busy with maintaining Chichi and Videl. Mirai Trunks frequently heard small explosions at the back of the ship that indicated that Trunks was still doing his job. He almost felt sorry for his past self having to deal with the girls. But then again, Mirai Trunks thought with a smirk as he flipped upside down beneath the large engine, he could use the discipline. Trunks held the wrench his mouth as he worked on the wires carefully with his hands occasionally wiping the sweat off his brow. With one last rewiring the radio spurted on picking up an earth radio station playing 'No Such Thing'.  Trunks released his grip on the engine and dropped down from his perch flipping gracefully onto his feet. Wiping the oil onto his pants, he rested against the wall of the ship listening to the sounds of his other self screaming at the two girls as they discovered the food stores. Mirai Trunks snickered to himself and picked up the water bottle next to him. He unscrew the cap an raised it up to his brow,

"Cheers to you, Gohan." He said softly, "I wish you could be here to see how far I've come."

He took a swing of the sweet drink and then fell into a peaceful dreaming.

"Finally," Vegeta croaked as one of the masked children came to take them to their sacrifice location, "I think any longer and I might have killed myself."

The child ignored Vegeta's comment even if he did understand it. He quick cut the binds with his sharp spear doing Goku last. Goku landed on the ground giving his arm tightly.

"He hurt my arm!" Goku cried showing Gohan the huge gash on his arm that the spear had harmed, "But…how?"

Gohan shook his head and pushed his father lightly ahead of him. If Goku was that vulnerable to their weapons then there might be a problem with keeping him safe against the dragon later. Another masked child with a green frog face, wrapped strong bonds about the wrists making poor Goku groan in pain. Gohan could only send him a sympathetic look. Goku was quite miserable now. Gohan was sure the only reason he wasn't really frustrated was because Gohan was there, and because a exciting battle was ahead that he wouldn't miss for the world.

The three suns slowly made their forlorn way into the bright sky as the fighters walked up the sandy mountain side towards a nearing shrine. As they drew closer to their destination, more and more warriors dropped off, returning home quickly, leaving only one guard left as they came to a gaping cave opening.

The masked child turned to the fighters and removed his mask. He bowed slightly revealing his truffle of red hair.

"I leave you here with the spirit guards…May your deaths be short."

And with those final words he cut them free of their binds and left them alone at the entrance of a dark cave. Vegeta smirked sinisterly and twisted about to face a confused Gohan.

"Their idiots! They leave us with no bindings, and no guards?! They're just asking for us to escape!"

Gohan scratched his head and looked down the mountain to where the village lay masked in the shadows,

                "They must have a good reason to do so."

                "They're religious nuts!" Vegeta cackled, "Spirits. Ha! If I wasn't so set on becoming my normal self again I would just fly away."

And as if to prove his point, Vegeta took to the skies just to crash back down upon poor Goku.

                "Hey!" Goku cried, "Just because you can fly and I can't, does not mean you have to squish me!"

               "Something pushed me down" Vegeta snarled heaving himself up to his feet again.

                "Spirits?" Goku groaned as he rubbed his head.

                "Don't be ridiculous." Vegeta snapped.

A sudden shouting caused both Vegeta and Goku to turn. Gohan was suddenly pressing an enormous blast against the sky but still the invisible force wouldn't falter. Dust began to pick up around them as Gohan put more force into the energy. Both Vegeta and Goku covered their face with their arms as the dust and light became overbearing.

                "Gohan!" Vegeta shouted over the wind, "You're going to kill us if you continue this!!!"

Gohan bit his lip and tossed the beam to the side only for it to fly a little ways till it detonated. Gohan threw himself over his father and Vegeta to protect them from the extreme energy he had wasted. Once the storm had ended, Vegeta pushed Gohan off of him causing Gohan to land sharply on his butt,

                "I didn't need your saving, brat."

                "Quit kidding yourself, Vegeta." Goku snapped defending his son, "You know very well that you would have been ki-"

                "Shut your trap, Kakarot." Vegeta growled, "Your excessive yapping is starting to get to me."

Gohan rose to his feet and stared down into the dark cave that laid in front of them. His eyes narrowed slightly at the sight,

                "I see something moving in there."

At those words, both of the fighters froze and looked to were Gohan had indicated. Before Goku could stop him, Gohan walked slowly into the cavern. All around them was darkness except the center of the room where a glowing tile rested on the floor. Vegeta glanced at Gohan suspiciously as Gohan knelt down next to the tile.

                Gohan fingered the strange writing with his finger and smiled slightly,

                "Beware of Dragon."

To Be Continued…

Please R + R!

I hope all of you enjoyed that chapter. Next is the fight scene against the dragon.