King
Chapter 26: Rage and Ruin
Rayne watched the clouds rapidly close around the gap in the sky she had made- but it had been enough. For a few brief moments, the moon shone through to the ground, unnaturally brilliant. Right before her eyes, a monster was rising. Dark, sibilant fur covered it from head to toe, ending only at a pointed, fanged mouth that could crush a car in its jaw.
She fell back to the ground, not realizing how little energy she had left. Dimly, she noticed a few raindrops were starting to fall from the sky.
Letting her eyelids droop, Rayne fell into a deep sleep.
0o0o0
Krillin had a moment to gape at the beast Kakarot had turned into bellowing towards the skies before Tien rammed into him, knocking him away- and from an energy blast Drum had shot. 'Stay focused!' the Crane fighter yelled, as he brought both of them to a stop.
He couldn't take his eyes off the gigantic monster, much less drown out his deafening roar. 'Tien, what's about to happen with Kakarot and Piccolo-'
'Is none of our concern right now! It doesn't matter what damage they do if we die here! Down!' Tien pushed both of them to the ground, just as the outline of one of Drum's legs swung above them.
In sync, both of them rolled and rose up, slamming their cocked punches into Drum's gut. The Namekian spawn staggered back one step, then was roundhouse kicked away by Tien. In a disturbingly short amount of time, Drum stopped his momentum, smiling.
'This is bad,' Tien muttered, 'he's not even fazed! How are we supposed to beat this guy and Piccolo?'
'No, Tien,' Krillin directed Tien's attention to their left, 'look.'
Across the battlefield, Kakarot was rampaging across the ruined cityscape, chasing after a darting Piccolo. The demon would fly around and blast the beast at long range from different angles, but if these attacks did any damage, it didn't show. Seemingly irritated, Kakarot swiveled his snout and launched from his mouth a golden pillar of energy at Piccolo, blasting the demon to the ground out of a small explosive cloud. The giant beast roared and beat his chest in dominance. Undeterred, Piccolo flew out of his crater and continued launching ki attacks at Kakarot.
'I feel very insignificant at the moment,' Tien admitted, his face pale.
Krillin's face hardened; he swung his attention back towards their immediate enemy, Drum. 'Kakarot turned into a massive monkey, and somehow, he's buying us time. Time for us to put this guy down.'
Drum bent his knees, ready to spring forward at a moment's notice.
'This fight would be going a lot differently if we were at full power,' Tien said morosely.
Krillin continued to stare at their opponent. 'Tien, I know I can end this.' he said, not taking his eyes off Drum. 'I just need you to distract him for a minute…'
Tien looked from Krillin to Drum and back, then nodded. 'One minute. Alright.' Digging his feet into the ground, Tien summoned whatever ki he had left to the surface. Two arms shot out from his back just as before when he was fighting Piccolo. 'Alright,' he yelled at Drum, 'come and get it!'
0o0o0
Piccolo dived in the air below a swatting hand, unintentionally flying into a rising knee that slammed into his body. Everything became horribly blurry as he careened through the air, his body smarting from the strike. Snarling, Piccolo forced his movement to a stop with an aggravated snarl. He brought his hand up to fire again at the massive beast- but Kakarot had turned away from him and was stomping towards the center of West City.
It took a second for Piccolo to realize what was happening. He's… lost interest in me. A vein throbbed on Piccolo's forehead. Being ignored was something he had never, ever, suffered in the centuries he had lived. Fine. It'll be the last thing he does!
Clenching one hand, Piccolo summoned the deepest recesses of his ki, feeling darkened, twisted energy swarm around him. He leveled one hand towards the monster's back, aiming down the length of his arm like a gun. With one simple blast, a crackling surge of pink energy shot out like a pike, spearing into the center of Kakarot's back. The beast froze, feet slamming down to stop its movement. Then, with a single, violent movement, it twisted and threw back with one hand a snaring web of energy, snapping like a net towards Piccolo.
Puffing his chest, Piccolo let loose a mighty howl. It barrelled towards the wave; when the blasts met Piccolo's move sliced out a neat hole in Kakarot's attack that the demon nimbly flew through. Kakarot widely swung his fist at the demon, but Piccolo dodged in mid-air and flew underneath it, ramming a kick into the beast's abdomen. Kakarot roared and twisted his giant form away, swatting Piccolo back a few feet away into the air with his body in the process.
The Demon King steadied himself and examined the current state of affairs. We are… stubbornly even. But he was obviously hurt by that last attack- though, myself- Piccolo examined his own body; in the space of a few minutes his clothes had been utterly ruined; streaks of blood poked through his garments and ran down his skin in thin streams. Growling, he waved one hand over himself and regenerated his clothing, in part hiding the damage underneath it. Nothing I can't regenerate. But still…
Kakarot had again lost interest in Piccolo, wandering further into the outskirts of the city where Piccolo had initially attacked. This beast's lack of concentration is proving… useful. Bracing himself, Piccolo flew off after the beast, thrusting a jab into the monster's lower back. Roaring, it swung, but Piccolo learned from the previous row of combat and dodged backward and swung around, slamming a knee into the monster's upper thigh. Kakarot clutched at his leg and let out a primal groan- it was the first time he had shown any real discomfort from Piccolo's attacks.
Piccolo swung away again to fly high above the monster. Raising one braced hand, he leveled it towards Kakarot. 'No one can oppose the Demon King Piccolo!' he yelled down, 'Submit or DIE!' A golden, spiraling blast of energy erupted from Piccolo's braced arm, curling down at Kakarot.
Recognition- or maybe instinct- flickered across Kakarot's animal face; the beast opened its mouth and shot out an answering pink blast.
The two attacks met head-on, detonating and flooding the area with light.
0o0o0
Tien sped at Drum with renewed vigor, surprising the spawn with his increased offensive output. His strikes did as little damage as they did before, but landing two or three hits as opposed to one in the space of a second had a way of helping him gain the advantage. Tien ducked to the side, avoiding a vertical upwards kick, and drove two of his palms into Drum's diaphragm. With the wind knocked out of him, Drum was helpless as Tien used his two extra limbs to uppercut him in the jaw, wrenching the spawn upwards a few feet.
Taking a step back, Tien bent his arms, revealing a dangerous glow consuming his four palms. 'HYAAAH!' The crane fighter rushed forward and slammed all four palms against the outstretched body of Drum simultaneously, centering on the right arm of Drum. The four hits landed- and the arm immediately snapped and drooped, distending to twice its length. Tien hopped back, satisfied as Drum's body vibrated from the synchronized attack. To Tien's surprise, however, Drum didn't react in the slightest once he touched back down the ground. The spawn closed his eyes and in moments his arm straightened, then pulled upwards, as if the flesh and bones were knitting back together.
Tien was too stunned to react. He stood uncomprehending while Drum finished his regenerative process. Noticing his opponent's expression, Drum chuckled and said, 'Are you beginning to understand how hopeless this is? You're going to die here.' Once that last word left his mouth, the spawn charged, leading with his fully healed arm. Tien bent his legs and blocked the arm with his two front limbs. Drum followed up by swinging forward his other limb. The Crane fighter twisted, hoping to catch the second attack with his two back limbs- but the attack was never caught and Drum plowed into Tien, crashing into the human fighter's shoulder and dislocating it. As the human fighter spun head-over-heels through the air and collided with the grassy ground, he realized his extra limbs were gone. I should have known doing that twice in one day was pushing it… damn… Tien propped his head on his chest, unable to do anything else at the moment while fresh waves of pain pulsed from his damaged shoulder. Thankfully, Tien saw Drum was turned away from him- and was looking at Krillin, who was holding what looked like…
...what is that?...
0o0o0
Krillin felt his ki rage before him, spilling out in the tiniest increments along the edge of the flat disc he had created. This thing was going to drain his energy fast- he needed to act quickly. Feeling out the surface of the construct to make sure it would survive being moved, Krillin hesitantly took one step, then two, and started trotting towards Drum.
For his part, Drum held his ground, arms thrown out to his sides, obviously preparing something. Please let it be a ki attack, Krillin mentally begged as he picked up his speed, please…
They closed on each other, the gleaming disc held to Krillin's palm like a massive gear parallel to his body. The edges of it became visibly sharper, licking and spinning like a slow-moving saw. Krillin shifted as he got closer, edging the disc out in front of him like he aimed to push right through Drum. Ten feet, then five-
Drum blurred as his form seemed to disappear from where he was standing, just as Krillin had released the disc from his hand horizontal to the ground. The hulking, massive form of Drum reappeared behind Krillin, menacing, as the spawn raised one massive arm, ready to smash the former monk into the Earth's core-
'GET DOWN!' a cry rang out across the battlefield. Instinctually, Krillin flattened to the ground, letting his slow-moving disc continue to edge forward, rapidly disintegrating-
A pair of legs slammed into Drum's back, knocking the massive body of the spawn a few feet forward, unprepared for an attack from behind-
And Drum passed through the disc. For a moment, Drum continued his forward motion, obscuring whether the disc had actually done anything to him; but then the spawn's body incrementally separated horizontally at the abdomen. Drum's two freshly made halves separated a few inches before his momentum took him over a small ridge, vanishing from sight.
Krillin rose hesitantly, then inched over to where the spawn had tumbled over. One glance confirmed what he suspected- the former monk quickly twisted away in queasiness.
'He's dead, then?' a voice called from behind Krillin. Tien walked over, one hand protectively holding his shoulder. Intermittent winces made it clear how much pain he was feeling.
Krillin nodded. 'It worked better than I expected.'
Tien raised an eyebrow. 'Did you expect that attack to almost catastrophically fail?'
'To be honest? I did.'
'Couldn't you have just thrown it?'
'Thrown? Huh. Now, that would have be-'
A blinding flash of light covered the area, followed by the tell-tale sound of an explosion.
0o0o0
The beam clash momentarily obscured everything, unimaginably bright as it was. The excess energy from the attacks lingered in the air, causing a brief patter of rain to fall. The added moisture dropping from the sky made the night even darker than it was before. 'HAAAH!' Piccolo sped through the air, crashing into the beast's body and resuming his darting, diving attack. Kakarot roared and crushed countless pieces of rubble under-foot as he attempted to knock Piccolo out of the sky.
0o0o0
Krillin and Tien's gaze was invariably drawn to the titanic clash nearby. Even from their distance, they could make out the dim glow of ki surrounding King Piccolo as he zig-zagged through the sky, drawing close enough to the massive form of Kakarot to deliver a heavy blow before retreating from a swinging limb. From what they saw, they both looked pretty even.
'Alright,' Tien said through pain and clenched teeth as he popped his shoulder back into place, 'this is our first chance to breathe since we started fighting. What are we going to do,' he gestured to the deathmatch in front of them with his good arm, 'about this?'
Krillin swung his head to scan their surroundings. Not a soul was in sight- it seemed that all of the combat of the past couple hours had driven every sane and living person away. 'We're lucky that everyone is out of the way.'
'Which means?'
'We can bring out our strongest moves. You… you uh, have some stronger moves, right?'
Tien stared at Krillin, his lack of any expression answering for him.
'Okay…' Krillin mumbled, 'so what can we do?'
In the distance Piccolo howled as a foot stomped down on him. As soon as the ape-like leg collided with the ground, however, Kakarot bestially cried and lifted his foot in pain. Piccolo had driven one ki-edged hand into Kakarot's foot like a push pin, stubbing Kakarot's feet.
'I know what we can't do- we're not running,' Tien said gravely, 'we have to end this now, for everyone who gave their lives to get us here. Somehow, we need to take out both of them.'
'They seem to be evenly matched,' Krillin commented, matching Tien's tone, 'but one of them will win out eventually. At that point, we should strike.'
'So then we hold back, figure out-' Tien verbally stuttered, as he saw a harsher glow start to emerge from Kakarot's furred body. 'Krillin, he's pointed-'
'At the city, I know!' Krillin shouted. They both broke into a run towards the battle.
0o0o0
Piccolo swerved to avoid another arm swing and sped upwards, using his entire body to smack into the arm's elbow. He felt a give and slight crunch as the bones scraped against each other. Not enough force to break, but I'm getting there. The tide was turning in Piccolo's favor. Even though outwardly their battle looked much the same, Piccolo felt the monster's attacks slow, accompanied by a gradual drop in defensive resilience. His strikes were, slowly but surely, wearing the beast down. And he felt nearly as strong as he was at the start of the fight. Well, close enough. This ape pushed me farther than I thought possible- but this fight was decided once it became obvious it acted on feral animal instinct. Piccolo hopped off a piece of debris to avoid a stomp and shot a quick blast into the wound he had opened on the beast's back, eliciting a roar of pain. When it's not attacking it's liable to turn around and leave itself exposed.
Jumping upwards, Piccolo flew up the backside of the monster, then with a mighty thrust, smashed his double-fist into the top of Kakarot's skull, dazing him and toppling him to the ground. Piccolo hopped again and landed several paces away from the stunned monster.
The ground rumbled as the monster fell into a sitting position. It briefly shuddered, then climbed to its feet with a different glint in its eyes than before.
Unconcerned, Piccolo charged the monster once again, intending to dart to the left and ram a knee into the side of Kakarot's arm. As he dodged, however, Kakarot followed, gripping the demon with two massive hands and completely entrapping Piccolo from his neck to his toes. The King raged against his bonds before an overwhelming pressure began to consume his body. His face became a desperate depiction of inexpressible pain, as he felt every single part of his body shrink and collapse to fit in half its normal space.
Just when the pressure became unbearable, Piccolo shot two parallel beams from his eyes into the eyes of Kakarot. The monster howled and immediately released Piccolo.
Stunned, Piccolo crashed into the ground, panting from the unimaginable pain of all his internal organs instantaneously moving back to their usual positions. Through blurred vision, he looked up- and saw a glow start to emerge from the monster. What's this!?
The wind kicked up as the great ape was enveloped by a rippling pink outline. Piccolo only had a moment to get to his feet before a massive blast of energy erupted from the beast. A pink wave shot out from Kakarot in every direction, forming an expanding cone of energy around him.
Krillin and Tien stopped at the edge of the blast radius, blown back by jagged blasts of wind.
When the chaos cleared, Piccolo was cratered into a nearby collapsed building, unmoving.
'KRILLIN!' The monk turned in response to Tien's shout- a massive leg was rushing down to crush him. Barrelling out of the way, Krillin tumbled to the side.
'He's weakened but he'll still flatten us like pancakes!' Krillin yelled as he hopped out of the way of a series of angry stomps. 'How are we going to stop him?'
'Do you know anything about his transformation?' Tien belted across the battlefield as he flew to the left to avoid a grasping ape-hand. 'How to turn him back to normal, maybe?'
'No idea!' Krillin ran between Kakarot's legs, sprinting out of a pair of chasing hands. 'Plan B then- wail on him!'
Tien gave a fast nod and brought his arms to his side. 'I've got one more trick! MULTI-FORM!' A poof of smoke surrounded Tien; when it cleared there were two of him. 'I'll distract the ape- charge your attack from before!' They said in unison before blasting off the ground to fly around Kakarot.
The monster whirled and swiped through the air unsuccessfully, unaware that Tien was purposely keeping his distance. On the ground, Krillin started to recall the familiar sense of power from before. Charge it into a point- push it out in front of me- then-
'Krillin! Behind you!'
The Turtle student didn't even have enough time to look over his shoulder before he was backhanded away by an angry looking Piccolo. Injuries shone in Piccolo's every movement- there was no denying now that the King had been seriously injured. One of Tien's copies sped towards Piccolo to help Krillin. but he was intercepted and smacked away by Kakarot. When that copy landed, it disappeared from existence.
Livid, Piccolo lifted into the air, eyeing Kakarot. The beast had its back turned to Piccolo, consumed with chasing the one remaining Tien that desperately zoomed away from a frenzied series of attacks. 'THIS IS OVER!' Piccolo announced, momentarily drawing Tien's attention before the Crane Student braced his arms for a full-on punch from Kakarot. Tien's body slingshotted to the ground, throwing up dirt as it did. 'YOUR ENEMY IS RIGHT HERE, APE!' Satisfied with knocking the human to the ground, the beast turned towards Piccolo, unleashing a savage roar of bloodlust. Energy flummoxed within Piccolo- two golden balls formed in his hands. 'I AM RULER OF THIS PLANET-' he shifted, then flew high into the air- 'AND I WILL NOT BE DENIED!'
Kakarot beat his chest and jumped into the air when Piccolo launched one of his blasts at the monster's feet. The Demon King had intended this, however; with Kakarot off the ground, Piccolo was able to put on a burst of speed and fly underneath and behind Kakarot. Once there, he throttled both hands towards the backside of the beast. 'HAAAAAH!' A golden lance of energy shot out, shaped like a spear. When the blast hit Kakarot's back, however, the blast splintered in a number of small, sharpened blasts, radiating out in a circle from the impact. These blasts raked and dug into Kakarot's flesh- a bestial cry of pain filled the city- before one of the blasts, on chance, skimmed across where Kakarot's massive tail was connected to his body. It cut through the tail like butter and dispersed, launching the appendage tail spinning away from the monster.
Immediately something began to happen. Kakarot's bestial cry cut off abruptly; then his body started to shrink before Piccolo's eyes. The severed tail shrank to its normal size in an instant, losing all its weight and floating peacefully back to the ground. Fur, fangs, and snouts receded; in a startlingly short amount of time, the terrible ravager of West City had been reduced to a naked child. That child crashed into the ground, unconscious.
Panting, Piccolo rose even higher in the sky, triumph momentarily distracting him from his utter exhaustion. As it… he breathed harshly… should be. None can withstand me. He glanced around him- no one rose to meet him. Then… I should have enough power to erase this entire blasted day… Raising one hand, he aimed his palm towards the center of the battlefield, charging a destructive blast in his hand. In the darkness of night, his form was illuminating, like a beacon of hatred for all to see. The brief, earlier rainfall had ceased- all was quiet save for the steady wind threading through the rubble.
The longer he looked over the battlefield, the more Piccolo noted the many interlopers lying unconscious on the ground. That tailed-boy. The tall bald one. Those two girls in a useless pile. Exhaustion consumed every part of him. Yes… everyone will die here- he set his hand in a claw, his taloned fingers gripping the blast- now-
A whoosh of energy abruptly filtered through to his brain. Spinning, he turned in mid-air, sighting the shorter bald one- him! I forgot him!- being held in the air by the taller bald one- but I saw him- no-
Blue light filled his vision- before he knew it, a massive wave of energy rammed into his body, stinging like hellfire itself.
0o0o0
Tien and Krillin both watched Piccolo's body be carried away by Krillin's Kamehameha, crashing into a ruined skyscraper on the periphery of the battlefield. Already weakened by the series of earlier attacks and shockwaves, the building lost all structural stability and collapsed, throwing up a storm of dust and debris into the city air. Krillin and Tien landed soon after. As soon as they were back on the ground, another Tien emerged from the dust storm and merged with the first. Not wasting a moment, the two fighters exchanged hard looks and crept into the storm.
It took a few minutes of blind wandering before they were able to find him.
The self-proclaimed King of the World was laid upon a flat section of concrete, his limbs splayed out to his sides. In addition to his numerous injuries, the center of his body was dominated by a giant black mark, scorched, charred skin that seemed to reach feet into him. A few rattling breaths wheezed from the demon; Piccolo was dying.
Krillin and Tien looked to each other, each unsure what to do. 'You've won,' the demon weakly interrupted their silent conversation, 'is that, huaahk, what you want to hear? Do you want-' the demon broke into a series of bloody, ragged coughs, looking like for a moment he would die right there and then. He eventually stopped, however, and resumed. 'Do want to kill me? For all that I've done? For everyone I've killed?'
Grimacing, Tien stepped forward, leveling a finger at Piccolo's chest. 'You- you killed Chiaotzu!'
Piccolo stared blankly at Tien. 'Yes... I did.' Blood loss was making thinking hard; Piccolo could barely remember the beginning of today. 'I started… but… someone else will finish…'
Tears ran down Tien's face- 'HAAH!' A golden beam shot out of his finger, skewering Piccolo in the chest. The Demon King inhaled, and breathed his last.
Krillin clambered over and placed his hand on Piccolo's body. He felt no pulse, no energy. A sigh escaped from him, laden with heavy relief.
'It's done.'
0o0o0
Dr. Gero whistled, leaning back in his chair as his instruments before him slowly whirred back down to their zero states. He had been worried for a few moments there that they would explode from the massive amount of energy being emitted half-way across the planet. Ki, as he had come to know it, was much less mystical than he first surmised. It was like any other phenomenon in the natural world; it could be discovered, studied, and measured, much like the amount of pollution in the air or the dinosaur populations in the southern islands. Lastly, like with any domain of science, once enough information was collected on ki, that data could be used to build complex projections and algorithms, depending on the intent of the designer. It was, after all, no coincidence that he had decided to upgrade the maximum capacity of his ki measuring instruments just a few months ago.
The last 24 hours had left Dr. Gero months, maybe even years, of compelling data to analyze, intrigued as he was by both the expected readings from the World Tournament and the unexpected readings from West City. Even now he awaited his prototype drone to return to the lab, disguised as a small, common bug, to provide him the much needed visual context for his collected data. Yes, he had much to parse through… although…
While he was still fully committed to eliminating the original four infiltrators that had set into motion the collapse of the Red Ribbon Army, he was becoming more and more intrigued by the fifth one who had destroyed Muscle Tower by himself. Though his creations were left in pieces at that ruined base, he had snippets of what they had recorded before their untimely expiration. Further analysis of their last moments had proved… intriguing.
Through painstaking work he had distinguished the fifth's ki as… qualitatively different, in some way, from the four other interlopers. This difference manifested in an easily observable way; This fifth could use ki attacks possessing a distinctly pink hue, something the other four had never done. This fact coupled with the fifth's tail- something indisputably abnormal- had led to many hours of speculation on the origin of such a difference. Dr. Gero suspected that the video logs he would soon receive would help to unravel this mystery.
Alone in his lab, the good doctor chuckled, souring the tranquil air. Wondrous. My work is never done...
0o0o0
Initially, Krillin and Tien were unsure of what to do with Piccolo's body, but they eventually decided that even a deprived would-be ruler of Earth didn't deserve to rot away exposed to the elements. They dug a quick hole and dumped the demon in it.
A short time later- dawn was finally rising on a new day- they had wakened their still living friends and explained to them what had happened. They all sat in a circle from exhaustion, the darkened, deserted rubble around them their only accompaniment.
'So Kakarot ended up saving the day, huh?' Launch was rubbing her legs, trying to return some feeling to them after they were trapped under her own unconscious body for a few hours. 'Wow.'
'You're serious about what you said earlier?' Chi-Chi asked, 'about him turning into a giant ape? That seems a- well a bit-'
'Unbelievable?' Krillin finished.
'Yea.'
'I wouldn't believe it either if I hadn't seen it,' Krillin said, stretching forward briefly before leaning back on his hands, 'but, well, I saw it. Once transformed, he was able to face Piccolo all on his own. Though... he seemed pretty mindless throughout the whole thing. Kakarot only retaliated against Piccolo when he was attacked- otherwise, he was rampaging through the ruins of West City, destroying everything in sight.' Though, at the end… he did seem more focused… hmm…
'How come we've never seen this before now,' Chi-Chi questioned, 'considering how often we've run into Kakarot in the past?'
Krillin shrugged. 'Beats me.'
'It's the full moon,' Rayne cut in uncharacteristically monotone, as if her mind was focused on something else, 'he transforms when he sees the full moon. That was one of the things Yamcha and I learned about Kakarot in the time leading up to the tournament.'
'That would make sense,' Chi-Chi thought out loud, alternating between scratching her jaw and darting her eyes up towards the sky, 'we never kept detailed tabs on him- and we never encountered him at night, let alone during a full moon. Super easy for us to miss something like that.' Internally, Chi-Chi debated whether to share what she knew of the tailed boy with everyone; but something held her back. She felt sick from being so secretive with her closest friends, but still, her instincts cried out for her to wait. She resolved to listen to them, if only for a little bit longer.
'Mm.'
A moment passed. 'We're lucky to be alive,' Tien broke in, his eyes downcast. 'If it weren't for Kakarot weakening Piccolo, then we would have lost.'
'That seems a bit dramatic,' Launch joked, 'I'm sure that we would have-'
'No,' Tien interrupted, staring straight into Launch's eyes, 'you weren't fighting with us at the end. You don't comprehend just how far above us Kakarot and Piccolo were. Krillin and I were barely able to defeat one of Piccolo's minions, even when we were fighting together. If it weren't for that transformation…' Tien shook his head, then said, 'I'll be honest- we owe Kakarot our lives.'
Krillin didn't rebut what Tien said, implicitly agreeing. Everyone was quiet for a few moments, letting Tien's blunt assessment sink in. The idea of owing anything good to Kakarot was disquieting.
Throughout this pause and the preceding conversation, Rayne was, for the most part, silent. Abruptly, she rose, ignoring her own unsteady footing, and began to walk away from the group.
'Uhh, Rayne?' Chi-Chi asked, 'Where are you going?'
She stumbled forward a step.'Going to kill Kakarot.'
The sitting circle frantically broke apart, as everyone rose from the ground at different speeds depending on their injuries. As it was, Tien ended up reaching Rayne first, restraining her. 'Slow down! We need to talk about this!'
Rayne thrashed in his grip. 'What's there to talk about!? With Piccolo dead he's the biggest threat to this planet! You remember what he was like at the tournament! He sent Retu into a coma! And if it wasn't for him crippling Yamcha, he never would have died!'
'Rayne,' Krillin said, choosing his words carefully, 'we don't know how things might have played out. As it is, we should happy any of us are alive…'
'You really think that Yamcha wouldn't have run away or defended himself long enough for us to help if he hadn't been injured? You really think that?' Rayne succeeded in slipping out of Tien's grip- but she didn't advance any further towards Kakarot's unconscious body just a few yards away.
Krillin frowned. 'What you say might be true, but we can fix-' he gestured to the ruined landscape around him, '-we can fix all of this. We just need to use the dragonballs Bulma gathered together-'
'No!' she snapped, tears spilling from the corners of her eyes, 'we can't! The dragonballs were destroyed by Piccolo! Everyone who died is dead- for good!'
Rayne's words obliterated whatever relief everyone was feeling- instead, a creeping dread descended on them, confirming the deepest, most damaging fears they had shunned.
Tien realized he would never see Chiaotzu again, his one and only tether to his past, denying him a chance to express to him how much their friendship had meant to him.
Krillin remembered the sad, broken moments he had shared with an injured Yamcha, and realized that would be the last memory of his dear friend.
Chi-Chi felt a whole section of her life fall away- the training, questing and scrambling she had done with Yamcha, Master Roshi, and all the others just a few years ago would now be stained with unresolvable grief.
Launch understood that she would never get to mess with Master Roshi again. This… hit her much harder than she thought it would.
'We can't fix everything,' Rayne's voice cut through their silence, her words heavy, bordering on despondent, 'which is why we need to take steps to protect what we have left. If we let Kakarot live now…' she trailed off, genuinely unsure if she should say any more. I take no joy in this. But someone needs to speak truthfully. Rayne resumed her walk towards Kakarot, shambling without any energy. No one moved to stop her. Thank you, she thought, feeling a strange sense of relief, thank-
'Wait!' Chi-Chi cried out, startling everyone with her outburst. Rayne turned, confusion apparent on her face. Chi-Chi looked embarrassed, then frightened, but then took a deep breath to calm herself. 'You- everyone- needs to know what I know. About Kakarot.' Chi-Chi glanced around, gauging their reactions. Okay. No anger so far…
'A few months before the World Martial Arts Tournament, I… basically tracked down Kakarot. I followed him to the north- from what I gathered, he was hunting down a high-ranking Red Ribbon officer.'
'So that was why you never met up with us at West City before we attacked Red Ribbon HQ, then.' Rayne stated, inflectionless. 'And why Muscle Tower was mysteriously destroyed. It was Kakarot.'
To the side, Tien and Launch hung back, feeling a tension rise into the air.
Chi-Chi nodded. 'He decimated the base. In an hour it was a pile of rubble.'
'Did you intervene?' Rayne spoke a bit sharper this time, 'is that why your arm is in a sling? Did you try to fight Kakarot by yourself?'
'No- No, I…' Chi-Chi verbally danced around something, then said, 'I saved his life.'
Just like before, silence enveloped them. A dark look was in Rayne's eyes. Even Krillin looked disturbed by this news.
'It wasn't an easy thing to do,' Chi-Chi went on, 'but Kakarot was going to be killed by…' Chi-Chi shuddered. 'Killed by an incredibly evil man. Kakarot was essentially being tortured as he fought to survive. The way his opponent fought screamed cold-hearted assassin.'
'Wait…' Tien muttered. 'Pink surcoat, ponytail?'
'That's what he looked like, yea.'
'You're talking about Tao, then. He's- he was- the brother of my former master, Shen. Together they comprised the leadership of the Crane school. If you hadn't stopped Tao, and he had fulfilled his contract…' Tien's eyes widened, 'then Chiaotzu and I would have never gone to the World Tournament to hunt down Kakarot- or at least, it wouldn't have been as likely. You saving Kakarot put all this into motion…' he trailed off, shocked by how consequential Chi-Chi had been to all the events of the past day. I can't believe it…
Rayne was decidedly uninterested in Tien's revelation. 'Why!... Why would you let Kakarot live? Why wouldn't you tell us that you tracked him down!'' Rayne felt her face redden from anger. 'You were saving Kakarot's life while we were fighting for our lives against the Red Ribbon Army?!'
The accusation of betrayal was clear enough- Chi-Chi felt her cheeks burn from shame. 'Please try to understand! I didn't know any of this would happen beforehand! Things just… happened! Before I knew it, I was able to capture him. I had to know why he was doing what he was doing- why he was randomly killing and destroying!'
Krillin blinked, a mixture of surprise and profound hurt on his face 'I can't believe you would do this,' he murmured, his eyes never leaving Chi-Chi. 'You don't trust us.'
'No! It's not that! I- I just needed privacy for this. To question him on my terms. I can't describe it… but I felt the need to talk with him one-on-one, to get my own understanding of why he did such inhumane things. I… learned that-'
'I don't care what you learned!' Rayne yelled, throwing out her arm to the side, 'doing any of what you just said without asking us first isn't okay, Chi-Chi! You can't make these unilateral decisions on your own!' Rayne missed the harsh glance from Krillin in response to her last sentence.
Something in Rayne's tone and Krillin's look began to bug Chi-Chi- for the first time in this conversation, she felt the need to defend herself. 'Who says I can't? You?' Rayne glared at Chi-Chi, but she continued regardless. 'At the end of the day, I have to make decisions that I can live with. I think I'm starting to understand that now.' Chi-Chi raised a finger accusingly at Krillin and Rayne- 'You two don't care about the why- to you two, I bet Kakarot looks like a black-and-white monster, totally and indisputably evil! But he's not! If you even once stopped trying to kill him you would see that he's a horribly conflicted person. He fights and thinks in ways he himself doesn't even understand…'
'What exactly do you mean?' Launch probed.
But Chi-Chi seemed spent by her last outburst. 'None of you understand… You can't kill him…'
Krillin looked at Chi-Chi for a long time before turning around to face their topic of conversation. Kakarot was in the same position as before; naked, unconscious, face-down in the dirt. The thought of killing someone like that…
'Tien,' Krillin asked, 'how strong do you think Kakarot was when he transformed? Around the same level as Piccolo?'
The Crane fighter narrowed his eyes in thought. 'More or less.'
'And how strong do you think he was before he transformed?'
'A bit stronger than he was against Master Roshi in the tournament- but easily beaten if we both took him on.'
Krillin seemed to mull over that last statement from Tien. 'I think,' Krillin said, 'we do as Chi-Chi says. Not that I agree with anything she's saying-' he glared once more at her- 'but because, as it is, Kakarot isn't a threat.'
'How is he not a threat?' Rayne rebutted. 'He can transform into a giant, hulking ape that's as strong as Piccolo, if you and Tien are to be believed!'
Krillin stared at Rayne. 'I don't think Kakarot can transform as long as he doesn't have a tail. Both Tien and I saw him revert to his current state when Piccolo unintentionally severed his tail from his body. Look,' Krillin directed everyone's attention briefly to Kakarot, 'he's tailless and normal. I think it was the key to his transformation. It might explain why it was such a weakness a few years back- it's the source of his power, but because of that, it's vulnerable.'
Rayne rolled her eyes. 'Even if I did believe you, he's still Kakarot.'
'Meaning?'
'What if he rampages through another town, killing everyone?'
'Then we kill him.' Krillin said the words with such finality that he startled even himself. Chi-Chi scowled at him.
Rayne chose to squint at him. 'Seriously? You're going to gamble with human lives that easily?'
Krillin held her gaze. 'I'm not going to kill someone who can't defend themselves. I spent a long time doubting myself over choosing this stance towards Kakarot after that first battle, way back when. At a certain point, I have to accept who I am. I don't think Kakarot will change- but I won't kill him like this.'
'Master Roshi was decisive,' Rayne spat, 'he would have done what needed to be done.'
'Master Roshi was considerate,' Krillin replied, 'and he would have chosen both the smart and moral option.'
'You're both wrong.' Rayne and Krillin swung their heads to Chi-Chi, who exuded disappointment. 'Above all else, Master Roshi was kind. He would have helped someone who had lost their way.'
The three of them exchanged looks with each other for a few more moments; all the while, Tien and Launch stood to the side, white as sheets.
'So it looks like we disagree, then,' Rayne commented.
'Seems like it,' Krillin said mirthlessly.
After a few moments of posturing, Chi-Chi stepped over to Kakarot's body and hauled him onto one shoulder. The pain coursing through her body made her wince- her battle injuries were still way too fresh- but she had committed to her statement. She broadly looked once more at the group, and then began a slow walk away from them. Half a minute later she swung around a corner of a partially collapsed building and disappeared from sight. At no point during this did anyone move to stop her.
Rayne had her fists balled- but her eyes betrayed her. They showcased her internal anguish for the world to see. Regardless, she shook her head, and after throwing one more nasty look at Krillin, walked away as well, fading into the urban wasteland.
Tien and Launch were turned in opposite directions, each one facing a different path one of their friends had left by. Krillin stood alone, his eyes running over the nascent shadows forming underneath the early morning sun. He seemed to examine every crack, crater, and pile that had come about due to their fight with Piccolo.
'This can't be how it ends,' Krillin said suddenly, resolve surging into his voice.
'How what ends? The fight?' Launch asked, trying to clarify. 'Because as things go, that went pretty well…'
'No, I- I know what I need to do.' Krillin took in a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs, 'NIMBUUUS!' In a matter of seconds, the yellow cloud of that namesake appeared, coming to a stop before Krillin. He hastily climbed on.
'I don't understand,' Tien said bewildered, 'what are you doing? And what is that thing?'
'We'll talk very soon! I promise!' With that, Krillin twisted forward on the cloud- it responded immediately, zooming up and away from the blasted ground beneath it.
I won't accept this! I won't!
A/N: We're closing in on the end of this shorter-than-normal arc. Next week wraps up King. See you then.
Reviews:
LWexe: Ah, but things turned out well in the end, right? Right?...
Guest: I'm not sure what you were trying to accomplish by leaving that review, but if it makes you feel any better your comment inspired me to write.
Malak18: Thank you! I plan on it :')
Luke: You were right on the money. Piccolo, quite literally, got squashed. And if your comment was hinting that you were suspecting some conflict- well done.
