Chapter Two

How had he ended up here?

The boy's eyes were full of tears. He'd just survived one battle, a battle that had left heavy scars on his heart. He still heard his father's final words, "You've made me proud, son." He remembered the look in his father's eyes. But mostly he remembered the heartbreak when he'd learned that this time, death could not be cheated. He'd been given those last few moments hearing his father's voice giving his last farewell.

Now he was flung into another battle. This enemy was completely different than any other enemy he'd ever faced but his ki was both familiar to the enemies of his home world and completely different. He'd been created for world destruction as had most of their other enemies but his ki indicated a different planet of origin. As for the land, he knew this world's ki. It was the same earth but…not as old, younger.

Buu eyed this new opponent. When compared to the ones he had just sent flying, this was a master. Despite his young age and appearance, he had a great power lying within him. He'd felt similar power in those young girls but this power was different. This boy was completely able to draw it out, to manipulate it at will. He could fly, a trait very few, even those who practiced ki manipulation could achieve namely because most believed in the logic that gravity was a law unable to be broken by any thing less than technology.

Logic was a crutch and an ally in some instances. The child was well aware of this himself. His power came out the strongest when he was full of anger. He was full of sadness right now. True, he wanted to protect these young girls and he was shocked and in a way proud of their bravery but more than anything else, he had the sadness of his father's death still clouding his mind and thoughts.

He didn't even remember how he'd come to be here. He remembered that he had been visiting his father's gravesite, or rather the last place they'd seen him. There was no body to cremate so he had made the last spot his father had been seen a secret memorial. He had been going there religiously, every night after his mother thought he was asleep. Usually he would sit there, simply talking, hoping his father's soul was listening in the Other World. Most often, he would collapse in tears until his body could relinquish no more liquid.

That was the last thing he remembered.

Then he'd woken up in deep snow here.

The eleven-year old focused on this Buu.

"You've got some nerve, attacking people that can't even fight back." He spat, indicating those laying dead on the street.

"Buu have fun."

"Fun, you call murdering innocent people fun?"

"It what Buu do." An evil smirk. "One must have hobby, after all."

The boy narrowed his eyes, anger practically smoldering off his body. His spiky black hair rose in pure rage and started to flutter although there was no wind to move it. His dark raven eyes turned a light grey for a moment and then continued to shift color until they burned a dark aqua shade. His hair rose and stiffened as if it turned to stone then it bleached a bright golden. Stone cracked and flew up in dust around his feet, making a crater around his body about two feet deep and probably five feet across. His hair fluttered in the uprising of power but he didn't raise it any higher although it was quite obvious that he could have, should he have chosen to.

"Well, my hobby involves stopping people like you." He took to the air, as swift as a bird and charged. His mind was completely focused now, entirely focused on bringing whatever this Buu was down. It didn't look like anything he'd ever seen before. He didn't really care what he was. He wanted to defeat it so he could get home and…

Actually, he didn't really want to go home. But he wasn't about to leave these poor people to its reign of terror. His father had raised him better than that and he was not about to shame his father's name. He found himself secretly admiring the girls he'd seen first for even attempting to stand up to this thing. Not many had the guts for that. He hoped the senzus would do their job.

Fist connected with the creature's face, turning it black as his strength left several dents in the puffy face. He slammed his legs against the creature's legs and stomach, leaving a handful of punches. The creature stumbled backward a little but the grin never left his face. As soon as the boy's stamina wore off, the creature gave him a firm backhand. The force broke his jaw upon contact and he winced, his head and upper torso cutting through the glass and concrete of nearby buildings.

The whistling descent made Madelyn look up. Seeing the windows and concrete give way to slivers and chips was enough to make her pop the bean into her mouth. It tasted…actually, it had almost no taste. It wasn't bitter like some medicine was nor was it sweet, salty or sour. It was like an American rice cake, almost like she was eating air.

Swallowing, she about fell on her backside again.

From shock.

Her bruises and cuts healed up on their own as if her mother had been there healing them but they were healing with almost instantaneous speed. Skin covered wounds as cells multiplied and sealed open sores. Broken veins and vessels repaired themselves, as the skin reabsorbed the spilled blood, vanishing any bruises from sight.

More than the mere healing though, a feeling of strength flooded through her body, through her very spirit, a strength she had never felt in her life. It was as if someone had poured molten lead on her usually weak muscles. Her bones, usually feeling like they were made of paper, suddenly felt like they were full and heavy, full of probable strength.

Holding her hands a good ways away from her, she stared at them as if they weren't hers. Open and close, open and close. She repeated this several times over. She couldn't believe this. They were strong, firm. Oh, not overly strong or stiff like Aunt Haruka or Aunt Makoto but…

Healthy.

Hearing the shift of metal and concrete brought her back to the present.

"Oh! That poor boy!"

She ran towards what remained of several buildings and then froze.

Emerging from the rubble with scarcely a scratch was her savior. His hair was now a dark color, dotted with dust and grime. His arms had a few cuts on them but aside from that, nothing disturbed how he'd looked before. She backed up, pressing into the shadows as he strode past as full of confidence as Aunt Serenity looked when addressing the city.

Dark green eyes sparkled as they met hers and he spoke, coldly.

"Your friends will not heal on their own."

"Oh…right!"

Taking off a decent jog, she fought the tears.

Her body didn't reject once to her sprint.