Garlic slowly rises with delicate care of the grievous injury. Phantom responses from the missing muscles tell him they are still there. His huge body clumsily returns to its feet.
His teeth clamp together. Blood stains their white surface. The red liquid mixes with saliva and runs down from the corners of his mouth.
"Unreal," says Piccolo. "This guy must be immortal to survive an attack like that."
His eyes look upon the giant with weary desperation. He breathes heavily trying to summon up a second wind for whatever is to come.
Gohan starts to slowly backpedal as Garlic's fierce gaze falls upon him. The bloodshot eyes are hot coals searing his flesh. Their malice weighs heavily on his ki sensing ability he wishes he did not have right now.
"I underestimated how much of a nuisance you could be," says Garlic. "You die first!"
His words are deliberate and evenly spaced with pain stabbing between each one. He takes a step and stops immediately as sharp knives pierce outward from the hole. He takes another and another despite the wailing wound.
Protesting the pain, his hulking body presses on into a trot. Piccolo moves in front of him. Garlic spins like a football player breaking a tackle. His massive left arm sweeps low knocking the foe's legs out from under him. As Garlic completes the maneuver, his right elbow comes around slamming into Piccolo's face before it can hit the ground. The adversary slides off to the side as Garlic straightens from the spin and continues on towards Gohan.
Piccolo rolls to a stop and flails to his feet. He immediately begins to muster the last of his ki reserves from their dormant state. The process takes longer than he can wait, but he needs all of it now. There will not be another chance.
"Run Gohan!" he says.
His command echoes about, but the boy freezes in place. Distracted by the sight, someone places a hand on his shoulder blade without him noticing their approach. Piccolo snaps his head back to find Kami's face squinted in effort.
"What are you—"
"Not now," says Kami. "We don't have time to argue."
Piccolo feels a swell of power flush into his body from Kami's palm. He hates the feeling of it mingling with his own, but he knows his counterpart is right. This is the only way. He returns his attention to Gohan hoping some of his training kicks in.
The Makyan leaps from the ground raising a fist almost as big as Gohan's whole body. He punches it downward to splatter the child across the floor. An orange blur zips through his vision as his knuckles smash into the stone. No satisfying squish accompanies the impact.
Leaning on his clenched hand for support, Garlic looks in the direction the streak of color moved. A short, bald man wearing an orange gi stands a safe distance away with the child cradled in his arms.
Krillin sets Gohan down.
"Sorry I'm so late," he says. "Go to Kami. He'll keep you safe."
Krillin nods towards the man standing behind Piccolo. Gohan shakily makes his way over to the Guardian. The monk watches him go before turning to the menacing monster. His eyebrows press his eyes down into an aggressive angle.
Garlic looks up at the Makyo Star. It has reached near completion of the eclipse. He is moments away from heralding in his army. If he can hold out a bit longer, the day will be his. But he wonders if he can sustain the effort necessary to open the portal between dimensions in his current condition.
Krillin makes a series of bounds towards the beast he barely comes up to the waist of. Each one moves a little faster and in a different direction.
Garlic tries to follow with his eyes, but the fighter's speed makes it difficult. His failing vision from powering through the devastating affliction further hinders him. The two compound leaving him feeling cross-eyed.
When the martial artist closes the distance enough, Garlic swats his arm in a wide arc hoping to take him out. Krillin agilely backflips over the muscular appendage, landing at the opponent's side. He immediately pushes off headbutting the demon below the ribs.
Garlic grabs where he was struck and waves the other hand as if fending off an annoying insect. Krillin retreats back to safety while Garlic staggers about for balance. Upon getting his footing, he roars and stampedes recklessly.
Krillin throws his hands to his side where ki gathers within their cupped sphere. When Garlic is almost on top of him, he fires the Kamehameha down rather than at the towering behemoth. The propulsion lifts him away from the crushing clutches.
Garlic follows him with his reddened eyes. A sucker punch smacks the opening in his torso from behind. An aggravated pain far beyond any so far claws and pulls at his body.
He turns to find Piccolo smirking. Before he can respond, Krillin drops in with a double axe handle grip to the top of his skull. His teeth crunch down into his tongue as his shoulders bend with the impact.
Piccolo shoves a palm into his chin forcing his neck to reverse directions for instant whiplash. He and Krillin wind up for another series of blows.
Garlic sticks out his elbows with his fists over his pectorals and twists in place several times. He knocks Krillin away and bounces off like a spinning top. He strikes Piccolo before coming to a stop. Finally with a little breathing room, he prepares to counterattack but twin lasers cut into his chest.
They work their way towards the hole in his abdomen causing more pain the closer they get. He looks at Kami who is providing the cover fire. One of his massive forearms covers the wound, so the lasers move back to the center of his chest. They burn and slice at his skin until they finally relent. Piccolo and Krillin regain their feet during the lapse. They ready themselves for more.
###
"Way to go guys!" says Goku.
His voice rings in King Kai's ear.
"That attack from Piccolo really turned things around. I've never seen anything like it. That must have been the one he was talking about. Makes me kind of nervous to fight him again."
"Don't get ahead of yourself Goku. I fear this battle isn't over yet."
"Ah come on King Kai. Krillin and Piccolo look awesome out there. Really makes me hate being on the sidelines like this. You can teach me something as cool as Piccolo's new technique can't you?"
"Hmm…"
###
They're too strong as a group, Garlic thinks. There's only one way I can overpower them all at once. It's too soon, but I have no choice.
Garlic curls his fingers against his palms and twists them to the sky. He raises the fists level with his shoulders. The motion flexes his biceps into bulging spheres.
His feet step apart just beyond the imposing width of his shoulders. He lowers into a squat. A growling exhalation like he is lifting a tremendous weight escapes his throat.
Steam begins to rise from his entire body. It ignites into a yellow flame. The aura flicks off behind him following a building breeze.
Piccolo and Krillin dig in their heels at the growing ki. Their clothes begin to whip harder and harder as they are drawn towards the enemy on an increasing wind. Rubble and stone begin to take flight moving towards Garlic and into the sky beyond him.
The grandiose ceiling above their head starts to pull apart. But rather than fall, it crumbles into smaller pieces and flies skyward. Their destination is a vortex of swirling clouds bathed in the reds and yellows of a setting sun.
The abnormal weather formation grows as more clouds draw to its center. Barely visible behind the bending streams of crimson and amber, a cavernous doorway ravenously swallows everything.
Its upright rectangular shape is lined with stalagmites and stalactites. The maw widens to devour even more clouds and stone debris. After the roof completely deteriorates, the walls follow next. The tallest spire rips free like an arrow heading for a bullseye.
"You fools are finished now," says Garlic.
A fit of laughter follows.
"I've opened a portal between our dimensions to the lifeless void we call the Dead Zone. After all of you have been sucked into its suffocating freeze, I will connect our worlds during the full eclipse and bring my legions through to conquer Earth!"
"Are you mad, Garlic?" says Kami, having to shout over the howling gale. "Your father never dared weaponize the Dead Zone. You'll pull all of us in."
"I can withstand its might unlike you weaklings! What's this? I see our first victims."
His head tilts to cast a gaze on the limp bodies of Tien and Chiaotzu lifting from the ground.
"No!" says Kami.
He wraps an arm around Gohan and takes flight towards the duo. He passes Piccolo and tosses the child to him.
"Take care of the boy. I'm counting on you," the Guardian says.
Piccolo catches Gohan and presses him to his shoulder. He glowers at being put on babysitting duty.
Kami hurries higher into the air to catch up with his two helpless pupils he is not even certain are alive. He reaches out his hand emitting a psychic pulse. The bodies stop moving. The Guardian struggles to land against the air currents while reeling in the pair.
"Hey, that was pretty good Kami," Garlic says. "But what about those three over there."
He nods his head again the opposite way. Bulma and Puar grip tightly to an unconscious Yamcha while also digging their nails into crevices in the floor.
"Hang on you guys," says Krillin.
Though the void drags him off his intended course, he manages to reach his friends. Kneeling between Bulma and Yamcha, he holds them down on their stomachs with a hand on their backs. Puar clings to his chest which faces away from the portal.
"Uh oh, looks like it's just you and me now Piccolo," says Garlic.
The two face off ten yards apart. Piccolo can feel his feet slipping as he slides closer to the giant. He cannot risk an attack for fear of being overtaken by the Dead Zone.
"You seem to be struggling," says Garlic. "I hope you don't mind if I open the portal even more."
His aura grows brighter and wider. The suction pulls even harder at the Dragon Team as they fight the stream.
"What's going on?" asks Bulma, barely audible over the extreme winds.
Her arms cover her head to protect it from chunks of rock.
"I don't know!" says Krillin.
His feet are pulled out from under him. He pushes back against his friends with outstretched arms. He flies in place barely balancing his acceleration against the drag.
"He said he opened up a portal between dimensions to an empty void."
"You mean like to the vacuum of space?" says Bulma.
"I don't know. I guess?" Krillin says through gritted teeth.
"So this is basically just decompression of a spacecraft with a hole in it except on a planetary scale. That's just great!"
A large section of stairs crashes and breaks against Piccolo's back. He bends over from the impact allowing his arms to dangle freely before him. Gohan sails away as his mentor's feet come off the ground.
Piccolo stomps both of them down again and searches for the child. Spotting him, he stretches his right hand out on an ever elongating arm until he catches the boy's ankle. The appendage whips back and forth as the abyss tries to wrest his pupil from him. Piccolo sets his teeth and grabs the shoulder with his other hand. His arm is at its absolute longest length and still being stretched further.
"Heh, neat trick," says Garlic. "I can only open it a little bit farther, I swear."
He crouches lower and shoves his hands forward, fingers spread wide. His sight dims as everything more than a few feet away darkens into a blur.
I just need to hold it open a little longer. Then I'll redirect it to the Makyo Star for my minions to come through.
Krillin presses even harder into his friends trying to fly against the massive wind tunnel.
"Kril … lin," says Bulma. "Can't … breathe."
Krillin stops pushing and spins in place. He flips Puar onto his back and reaches for Bulma and Yamcha's arms as they rise upward. He gets his feet on the floor but is immediately pulled off of it when he grabs hold of their wrists.
He flies backward almost like a swimmer doing a backstroke. Bulma feels her shoulder socket begin to separate. She may have just traded a difficult time breathing for a dislocated joint.
Kami fairs no better. Tien and Chiaotzu continue to slip further away, weakening the telekinetic hold over them.
Piccolo's arm wrenches at the shoulder. The unnatural length elongates and thins even more. His feet slide along the ground. The heels lift up leaving him barely touching the floor.
###
"You have to let me talk to them now," says Goku. "They're going to die if you don't."
"No Goku. I … I can't do that," says King Kai. "If these are to be the natural course of actions the universe takes, then we must let them play out."
He cannot face his student as he says these words. The hand on his shoulder grips tightly. Fingernails dig into his skin.
"Please, I'm begging you. At least let me speak to my son."
"Ermmm," says King Kai turning his head further from Goku.
###
"Mr. Piccolo!"
Gohan screams as he gets pulled farther from the castle and closer to the void. Grains of debris constantly pelt his face. Rock sized pieces batter his body. He screams relentlessly but no one comes to his aid.
"Gohan, it's okay."
His father's voice enters his head.
"I'm here with you now. Try to calm down. You won't be able to control your ki if you don't."
"But daddy, he's too strong."
"Not for you he isn't. You've been training hard. Your mom and I are so proud of you."
"But I'm scared."
"I know you are. But you can do this."
"Okay. I'll try."
Gohan attempts to quiet his mind. He tells himself the pain does not matter and the motion should not make him feel sick.
"I can't do it!" he says.
"Yes you can Gohan. Just try again."
But Goku only hears crying from his son.
Garlic grunts. The veins on his head and chest inflate above his skin. His stomach drops as his feet push through the brick floor he stands on. It crumbles to a sandy dust and blows by him. His toes drag along the disintegrating dirt below until his heels grab hold.
"You pests really know how to linger," he says.
He throws out his right arm. A tiny yellow ki orb forms within his huge fingers. It zooms off followed by several more as he takes potshots at Kami.
One finds its mark in the Guardian's side just below the armpit of his outstretched limb. Kami gasps and exhales a sharp wheeze. Piccolo hacks up blood which runs over his bottom lip. His heart turns cold as their linked life force shares the assault on their vitality.
The bodies of Tien and Chiaotzu lurch towards the all consuming rift. They bend harshly at the waist. Kami tucks in his arm to his injured side and reaches out the other to ensnare his pupils once again with his telekinesis. Blood soaks his white robes. The stain slowly spreads eating up all the fabric before it.
The tissue fibers of Piccolo's arm start to snap one after another. Painful pulses jolt him each time. A series of derogatory phrases escape his mouth and get lost in the hurricane gale.
Piccolo rolls his shoulder in every direction but nothing retracts the overextended arm. It whips erratically back and forth ripping the muscles even further. He feels a cool liquid run down it from the middle of his forearm. Then a rending agony splits the appendage apart as it finally relents under the stress.
The boy along with his hand and elastic wrist slingshot into the sky. The arm slithers back spewing mucus haphazardly in every direction. The child flips end over end towards an impending doom.
"Gohan!"
Goku screams his son's name on the telepathic frequency. A terrified rage spills up his arm to his heart and pumps adrenaline through his body. He tries to call out again, but the raw emotion grips his throat.
"That's one down," says Garlic.
He watches Piccolo nurse the shortened arm, the stub still bleeding profusely. A meteoric aura crashes down between them. The ground craters with chunks of stone rising up in deformed spires around its center. A bright light and shockwave overflows from the indent and slaps across the Makyan. He raises his hands to guard his face from the blinding display. He peeks between his fingers as an unexplainable anxiety settles deep in his stomach.
Gohan stands before him, his entire body seething a wrath Garlic never experienced from even his fiercest enemy. A reddish gold aura surrounds the child while the now featureless white eyes glare upon him.
"What, what are you?" says Garlic. "How could a kid have such animosity? No, not a kid. He's a monster!"
"Gohan!"
Piccolo yells from behind. The boy's ki lashes against his green skin with burning waves. He tries to pull back from it, but the dimensional gate drags him closer to the heat. All he can do is watch as his student raises his hands above his head.
"MASENKO!"
Gohan thrusts his palms and a beam of energy as wide as he is tall explodes forth. The Makyan shoves his own palms forward to catch it.
The yellow plasma slams against the joints of his wrists and rams him backward. His elbows bend and his knees buckle. He manages to slow himself down but cannot stop entirely.
Garlic leans into the ki blast. Vibrations from the concussive waves pounding his hands shake his maimed abdomen. Each tremble drums up an agony worse than the last. The crescendoing suffering forces his arms to sag and his legs to bow. The howling portal tugs at his body.
The beam presses harder and heavier as his muscles tire. Fatigue blazes beneath his skin. He drops to one knee, then the other. His arms falter, and the ki charges into him.
Garlic bounces off the wave, smacks once on what used to be his castle, and gets sucked up along with the rest of its remains. A cycle of endless nauseating flips sets in. Glimpses of the roaring gullet fly by one after another, each one bigger than the last.
He imagines his people waiting for him in their assigned location. Any moment, the portal should open to their new home. The eager expressions on their faces slowly fade to confusion and then despair as the appointed time passes.
What will they think of me? Will they think I abandoned them to take this world for myself? Will they think I used them and left them to die? What will become of them without my leadership and protection? I've truly lost my kingdom now.
He closes his eyes, and the Dead Zone swallows him.