"You see?" The voice invaded his thoughts, even as he, himself, was trapped within his own mind, a prisoner in a familiar prison. "You cannot win against me…none of you can. See what your resistance has cost those children?" Laughter echoed throughout the chambers of his mind as Goku, still seething, tried not to listen. He tried to think of a way out of this. There had to be… It almost seemed like he'd found a way…before…
"Oh, do stop trying!" She laughed, her foul essence circling his own, "You'll only hurt yourself! Give up, Goku… Give up your will entirely to me. I all ready own your power and your body! I can make you do anything my little heart desires!"
"You own nothing!" Goku spat, all the hatred, fear and anger he'd ever felt for Frieza rising upwards through his being, "You don't own anything of mine!"
"Now, that's where you're wrong," She said, and he saw a flickering shadowing form near the corner, covered, leaking, darkness, "Behold…" A sweeping gesture with one of her limbs towards the window to the outside. Goku turned in spite of himself, gazing out of his own eyes, "Your son."
"Gohan…no…" As he watched, helpless to intervene, just like he'd been helpless to intervene only moments before as he destroyed the lives of those innocent children, Gohan stood off to the side, gathering energy around him like a tornado. Nature's debris as well as man's circled him, faster and faster, as crackling lightning coursed through his body and flickered around his bulging form. In his son's eyes, Goku saw what only could be described as pure evil. White-hot, piercing and hungry to hurt. "Let him go you monster! You fucking monster!"
"My my! Do you kiss your wife with that mouth?" She asked, mockingly, as she turned back towards Gohan and cocking her head to one side, seemed to speak to someone outside of the saiyan warrior's range of hearing; "Hmm…yes, go ahead. Have fun… not too much though. I still want him intact."
Goku cringed as he watched his son, before his eyes, look around like a zombie, find a target and grin manically. The girl, Tayven, was just gathering her senses and gazing around, confused. A blast flew from his son's fingers, landed in the dirt next to the girl. Screaming, Tayven was pulled away before a second, more accurate ball of energy could strike her.
"Piccolo!" Tayven cried, having been yanked away just in time by the namekian, "Gohan…it's… I can't stand this! Where's Vegeta and Bulma? We have to stop this… we need to…I can't…" She was babbling and Goku felt bad for her. This was a lot of pressure for someone her age, especially after what she'd been through all ready.
He knew she needed to get it together if they were to have any hope of overcoming this. He knew Piccolo would know what to do. He trusted him. It was his son he was worried about now. The boy had suddenly turned his attention towards the other members of the possessed, calling to them with a child's voice, a voice not his own. Goku couldn't quite make out the words as they all seemed to speaking some mangled form of babyish babbling and adult speech.
"It seems my children are getting bored," The creature said to Goku, as though talking over Sunday brunch, "They require…more stimulation…"
A sharp knife twisted in his gut as the words washed across him. So many people…dead all ready… so many buildings ruined. Satan City was utter destroyed. Bodies lay everywhere, the dust was still rising. They wanted more? They wanted more? He knew what that meant. City after city, town after town… people…dying…horrible. "I won't let it happen! You hear me! I won't let you do this!"
"So you've said…" Goku caught the glimpse of the presence a split second before she did, "Who dares…?"
"Hey, bitch!" Goku turned to see Bulma's shimmering, transparent form. Caught off guard, the creature was struck back slightly by Bulma's fist, which landed, solidly enough, smack into her jaw, "That's for what you did to my husband!"
"Bulma!" Goku cried, ignoring his feeling of pride towards the azure-haired woman and her bravery, "Get out of here! She's too strong for you…!"
"What about for me, Kakkarot?" Vegeta's voice was followed by his own spectral body, standing next to his mate, "I don't know about you, but I think it's time to teach this…thing…a lesson."
Goku didn't know how they'd done it, but he was thankful. Taking his place next to Vegeta, Goku nodded, advancing on the woman-like monster that had caused so much suffering so quickly. "You can't win!" She cried, backing a few steps away, "You are foolish to even try…you will only upset me…" As she babbled, clearly trying to bind her time, Goku realized that the other children, the possessed members of his friends and family, had vanished.
They did not so much as disappear as leave. In search of other places to demolish, he had assumed. Gathering their energy, Goku and Vegeta's combined powers flared though the small space that was Goku's head, blazing with fire.
"Y-you can't win!" She cried again, flinching from the brightness. Bulma grasped Vegeta's free hand and squeezed, allowing all the love she felt for him, all the emotions she'd gathered through their years together to rise upwards. Without having to be told twice, Goku snatched up Bulma's other hand and held tightly, focusing.
White-hot light that was nearly tangible began to form, circling the three of them, growing brighter than anything any of them had ever witnessed. "S-Stay back… you cannot win…you cannot…" Cornered, nearly defeated, the entity sunk to her knees, trying to ward them off with a slash of her long-nailed hand. She tried, as Goku knew she would, to assume the forms of various people the three of them had known and loved, trying for a way to weaken the link they'd formed between them.
"Help me!" She screamed, looking wildly around, panic beginning to show in her gleaming eyes, "Your Mistress needs you! Children! To me! To me!"
"Shut up!" Vegeta snapped, "Your little demons won't be coming to help you. They've abandoned you."
"You lie!" She shook her head, still not able to look directly at the three of them, "You lie."
"One of them told me herself," Bulma said, in a somewhat gentle voice, "She'd been growing tired of being connected with you. She's been wanting her freedom for awhile now…"
"N-no…" The Mistress denied, "They wouldn't… They couldn't… Children! I am your Mistress! Your duty is to me! Come to me! Now!"
"They won't listen to you," Goku said, "It's too late. Give up now. Give up and we might decide to go easy on you…"
A side glance at Vegeta told him that the saiyan prince would not agree to that at all. Screaming, the creature faded out and suddenly, like a something popping back into place, Goku found himself upon the ground, his gi filthy and dirt in his mouth. Licking his lips, he swiped the back of one hand across his mouth, spitting out the grime. It took only a moment to realize that he was back in control of his own body. A green hand floated downwards into his field of vision and he lifted his eyes, taking in the arm and shoulder, torso, neck and head of the person that proffered hand belonged to. Grasping it, Goku allowed Piccolo to help him to his feet.
"It's not over, yet," he asked, all ready knowing the answer, "Is it?"
"No," Piccolo sighed, "Though I don't think she'll try to take you over again…at least not for awhile. You, Vegeta and Bulma gave her a pretty good run for her money."
"Where's Gohan and the others?" Goku looked around, feeling with his senses to get a lock on anyone alive…anyone…
"Gohan regained control of his body and mind," Piccolo explained, his dark eyes flickering towards the horizon, where the tips of purple snow-topped mountains could be seen in the distance, "Just long enough to lead the other children away. I thought that it would do some good to separate the Mistress from her charges."
"It did some good all right," Goku said, wiping his hands on his tattered gi pants, "She seemed weaker without them around."
Nodding, the namekian said, "Yes, I was thinking that was the case. She draws her power from them…and they draw it from whomever they possess. The more powerful the being they inhabit, the more powerful they become and in turn…"
"…the more powerful she becomes." Goku finished , "Is there a way we can keep them away from each other forever?"
"Only if we destroy one, the other or both of them," Piccolo said, "Mistress, Children, or all."
"If one more person has to die by my hands," Goku said, "She should be the one."
"She's not a person, Goku," Piccolo said, "And she's all ready dead. She's been dead long before…before all this. What we need to focus on is sending her back to where she belongs. After we do that, I have a feeling we won't hear from those misguided ghostly children any more."