Chapter 4 – Friday the 13th

The small plane was flying over the mountains, farther and farther to the west. Icy mountain peaks slid by, every once in a while some huge dragon passed by the window. Haruka muttered something about the plane having way too small windscreen wipers.

"Your planet has a weird fauna," Hotaru told the others. Goku grinned.

"They're not dangerous. They may be a little annoying when they get lost in some big city and, well, they're clumsy. But they're actually really nice."

"To imagine all the money they could've saved when making the Godzilla movie over here," Michiru said with a smile. Haruka frowned and said over her shoulder:

"Goku, come on here. I think that's the forest... now where?" Goku stepped next to the driver's seat to show Haruka the way.

"A little to the right… yeah, I think it should be somewhere over there… and I'd suggest you to fly a little higher… ooh, there it is! We have to reach the top of that tower over there."

Haruka blinked and tried to spot the top of the tower but it disappeared into the clouds. "How high is it?"

Goku shrugged. "High…"

The girl grinned and pulled the control lever. The plane boosted up vertically.

"It may take a little while before we reach the top," Goku said, "but if the plane won't run out of gas, we'll make it eventually."

"What is this tower?" Michiru asked.

"Well, this one over here is Karin-sama's tower," Goku explained, "and above that tower, miles and miles above, is Dende's palace."

The plane accelerated a bit. In about half an hour they could see a huge colorful hemisphere floating between the clouds. The plane landed in front of the palace which was a lot smaller than the Sailor Soldiers had expected.

"Welcome to Dende's!" Goku announced merrily, jumping out of the plane.

"Yeah, and you're really the right one to welcome us," Vegeta said. "So, anybody home?"

Trunks looked around. "I don't see anyone... ooh, there's Piccolo!" The Namekian was meditating in the shade of a palm tree. Goku sneaked over to him and took a deep breath.

"Heya Piccolo!" he yelled on top of his lungs. Piccolo opened one eye.

"Really funny," he remarked and stood up. "Any specific reason you brought this bunch of tourists here?"

Goku grinned, but then his eyes turned serious. "And there's a very specific reason. Where's Dende? We need to have a little meeting."

"And you're sure that there's nothing you can do about it?" Piccolo asked Hotaru after hearing the story.

Hotaru sighed. „I'm nearly a link between those two worlds; this Universe and the Dead Zone. That thing is too powerful for my mind. Even if I'd train every single day to make my concentration better, that demon's several steps ahead. Several miles, actually."

Dende scratched his head. "Well, these are really bad news, especially when everyone in the Dead Zone will really break out. Over the centuries many strong creatures have been sent there and if they'd all come out..."

"How many beings do you think are there?" Haruka asked.

The Guardian of Earth shrugged. "Twenty thousand, maybe more, maybe less." Everyone stared at him.

"So what can we actually do when they all come out?" Michiru asked. "Pretty much nothing, I'd say."

"Unless..." Hotaru frowned.

Haruka gazed at her. "No Death Reborn Revolution! Besides, as you said, you're not going to survive when it returns." Hotaru blinked, sighed and nodded. They were all quiet for a while.

"We need to train," Vegeta suddenly announced.

Piccolo glanced at him. "And will that help?"

The Saiyan prince frowned. "Well, we have to do something... got better suggestions?"

Three days had passed. Goku's family had moved into the main building of Capsule Corporation although Chichi was loudly protesting against it every single day. But Goku had declared that they had to be ready and there whenever the Dead Zone should open, not laying thousands of miles away in their backyard. Bulma didn't mind having that many people in the house – after all, she had once had all living Namekians under that same roof. Even though Chichi was the only practical help she had; Michiru was in her room painting for most of the time, Hotaru was in her room, reading or watching TV for most of the time, the Saiyans were training all day long and Haruka shared Vegeta's opinion about all the household duties. Although she didn't mind fixing numerous cars and planes that were standing in the garages.

On that morning, Hotaru entered the crowded kitchen with a concerned look on her face and everyone realized that there had been another vision.

"Okay, so what's it this time?" Goku asked.

""Soon,"" Hotaru replied. "I think it's getting stronger."

"Well, duh..." Trunks commented.

Vegeta snorted. "Why does this thing always have to give such pointless clues? Might as well just keep them to itself."

"It's trying to confuse us," Haruka snarled. "I wish it came earlier... I'm sick of waiting."

"I'm sure that it will pick a special day or a special place... or both... to come with a bang," Michiru said slowly. "Remember the last time it came? At midnight, in an old gothic church, when it was full moon."

"And it was Friday the 13th," Goten added. The others looked at him with surprise. „It was?"

"Yeah, I remember it well because I broke a mug that day and Haruka told me that it was because of Friday the 13th," Goten remembered. „All demons are terribly vain, y'know... and they love clichés. Watch TV a little more often and you'll know everything about demons," he added with a grin.

"Well, you won't find a gothic church in this city," Bulma said, "but there is a cemetery…"

Suddenly Haruka jumped up and dashed to the calendar. "I never thought of the fact that on this planet the day and date are different…!" She turned to the others. "On our Earth Friday the 13th comes twice or thrice a year so if that misty buddy likes that date, it should've waited for several months in order to reappear. But we came here…" she pointed at the calendar, "and we came on a bad time. Friday the 13th is tomorrow."

"Man, not another sleepless night…" Trunks moaned. "Can't you fight this one without me? Mom, tell Dad that I'm a little kid and little kids must go to sleep at 8 PM!"

Bulma grinned. "Vegeta, he's a little kid and so on, but you won't care anyway, huh?" The Saiyan prince laughed and nodded.

"Trunks, you're a lot stronger than I was in your age and you're a half-Saiyan… you will fight that thing and that's final. Besides, I'm sure that we'll need Gotenks sooner or later."

Goten snorted. "If I would've known that learning the fusion would end up like that…"

"You know what the real problem is?" Hotaru suddenly asked. "Bulma, you said that the Dragonballs need three weeks in order to regain its powers. Well, we don't have three weeks. The Universe may be destroyed by that time."

"Then we must prevent it," Vegeta smirked. "We know the time… what about the place?"

"NO dusty churches this time!" Trunks and Goten announced.

"It will come wherever it wants… or has to, when it wants to keep its clichés," Michiru said. "Tomorrow, at midnight, and it will come, even if Hotaru would happen to be in the kindergarten at that moment."

"There's an idea," Gohan grinned.

"And when it comes, what will we do? We still haven't thought of that. You all seem to think that we'll attack it as soon as it shows up but hey, we've been through that." Haruka, who was now standing by the window, threw that question to the others.

"We need to distract it," Vegeta replied.

Haruka turned around. "With what, if I may ask?"

"There's someone… that may be able to help us with that," Michiru suddenly said. "If I only knew how to… but yeah, actually, I should've thought of that one long time ago!" She stood up. "Goku, how's your instant translocation doing?"

"I wouldn't risk with that," Goku warned her.

Goten and Trunks hopped up too. "We'll take you to wherever you want… as long as it's on this planet, we'll get there!"

Haruka looked at her friend with great surprise. "Now what are you up to?"

"I just had this funny little idea that might work… let's go boys, we don't have that much time!" The three hurried out, leaving the others confused and stunned.

"Whatever it is, it better be good," Vegeta remarked grimly.

Author's Note: If you're reading this and you really read all the previous chapters through as well, it would be nice if you'd submit a review. Feedback would help me to improve and besides, updating the story turns sorta pointless when I'm not sure if anyone's even reading that thing. Don't expect it to end soon though...