Blood
Chapter 94: To the Hilt
Halfway up the long, sloping hill wind strong enough to strip grip from tank tracks hit the convoy. Leaning out of the top hatch, their commander teetered with alarm, lost his cap in a whirlwind, and fell back into the tank, crashing onto one of the mechanics.
'S-sir!'
'Get off!' the hoary general yelled, pushing the soldier away. 'Keep—'
A shockwave rocked the tank, nearly throwing him and the crew off their feet.
'Keep—' the general blinked, '-Keep going! Up the hill! We're on the chase!'
'But sir!' the mechanic cried. 'All this wind, I mean, what was—'
'HEY! I said!-'
Another wrench seized the tank. The sighting scope started spinning wildly — which meant the tank was doing the same down the slope.
'HANG BACK!' the general cried, grabbing a radio and shouting at the rest of his unit. 'Hang back… until the wind dies down, at least!' He slammed the receiver down. 'Damn! Did they get their hands on a bomb or something?!'
0o0o0
'...Gohan?' Maron craned her head. 'What's that?'
She wasn't alone; about forty other heads in the village were staring off to the east, eyeing a huge dark streak in the far-off sky. A plume… of something.
With both his hands hooked onto the tower, Gohan could only glance back over his shoulder. '...Nothing good, I think.' He frowned, and then suddenly hoisted himself up and started climbing. 'Come on! We need to get to the top!'
0o0o0
They were nearing the mountains when the carnage reached them from miles off — wind and sour air and bitter tastes in the wind. For a time they held themselves in the air, facing dusked and shining darkness on the horizon, thinking… waiting.
'Let's hurry.' Chi-Chi urged.
0o0o0
Red-rimmed and pain — so, so much pain. His skull throbbed; his flesh curled and split from heat, drying, dying. Such a brief moment — when the world closed and he fell, and fell, on and on, through the smoke and the haze and the flames, to a death. Until it wasn't.
As the column of apocalypse slammed into him, cresting him towards his inevitable end, he felt a flicker, then a flush. Fingers sprung out, energy flashed from his fingers, and with a twist through the air he spun and lobbed his yellow-green energy skyward, blind, nearly mad, probably screaming. And the column broke apart. All at once the pressure relented.
Dust and decay sloped down him, panting, haggard, but very much alive. But Raditz knew now what he could do. He found the energy. He'd live.
And he'll die. This Saiyan will die.
This challenger — this brat, scarred by his cocky stupidity, would suffer for intruding here. He would die.
The wind shifted, flattening the air downward. Awash in golden light Traveler descended, parting what remained of his initial attack… staring at Raditz. Every inch of his body was tense and verging, and yet his face was oddly calm, almost as if detached from the rest of him.
'...You're alive.'
Raditz didn't give him a chance to say anything more. Launching off to the scattering of gravel he appeared behind his opponent, right arm —
Flesh and whole, flesh, and flesh
Air parted and he felt the solid mete of bone. Behind his guard Traveler glared at him, aura gathering into a threatening cloak, and Raditz dove, dashing underneath a sudden swarm of energy. One, two blows stomped down on his back, and twisting, he brought his hands together —
...Do you know who I am?
Energy scattered like so many sparks and Traveler was catapulted upward, caught in a rising plume of pink chaos. In a second Raditz appeared above the plume, and drawing back his arms — his sheened, metal-and-blood-and-bones, sparkling, almost ethereal arms — he pooled energy into his palms, ignoring his senses, ignoring the dull, aching presence in his head, under his skin, within his skull. Still the plume from his earlier attack rose. Fat tendrils of iridescent pink fell out of his palm, sweeping downward, and with a final lurch backward Raditz twisted and hurled the attack down over his shoulder, entire weight and being with it.
'DOUBLE SUNDAY!'
And the plume ceased to be, and collapsed down and in, as a spear of pink energy snatched its center and collided with the earth, breaking apart what was left of the valley, dethroning what was left of proud mountains, incinerating earth into dust and scattering it.
I am Dr. Gero.
He held himself in the air, squinting down. His opponent... somewhere down there. Skull throbbing, Raditz pinched his nose. 'What?...' He closed his eyes. 'Who?...'
Tell me more about Tora.
Raditz blinked — suddenly he was behind a pale green glass, staring through at the muted, warped, decrepit figure before him. So weak. So… paltry.
He knew my father.
Yes?
He fought with him.
Fought for?
They fought for the… for...
He slammed his right hand to his forehead. Metal clanging rang again. Then again.
'Stop it…' Raditz growled, pulling back his first. The skin stretched across his knuckles was pitted, torn, bloody. 'Stop it!'
0o0o0
He wanted to wait for the wind to die down, but as he quickly learned, there would be no end to that anytime soon; the pillar of fire had been dispersed and reconstituted and fallen and risen several times, each iteration bringing down a storm of air with it. Eventually Gero accepted that, at their end, his stringy gray hair would fly in the wind for however long he remained here on the battlefield. Something to accept.
His attention turned back on the two across the rocky and exposed clearing — the Namekian, cloaked in dark blue, and the human on his knees. I will still greet their deaths with open arms.
'19?'
'Yes, 20?'
'Kill them.'
It was as if the android had waited for the singular command all its life — without a wasted millisecond dust sputtered into Gero's face as 19's hulking body flashed across the clearing, clashing forearm-to-forearm with the counter-charging Namekian. They pushed against each other, the android's face blank, Piccolo's teeth bared and fangs jutting past his bottom lip, until there was a sudden widening of 19's eyes — and Piccolo was shoved to the ground, back slamming against solid dirt and rock. He blinked. What?
A foot plunged through the rock where he had been. Rolling, Piccolo halted, got his legs behind him, and dashed forward, blue aura wrapping around his left fist. 19 spotted him, and twisting —
He caught Piccolo's fist in his right hand without any effort at all. Piccolo quickly glanced at the other, unclenched hand. No glass. No diode or opening in his palms. So no risk—
It happened so quickly. Piccolo staggered back, gasping, drawing back his left arm. Disbelieving, he glanced between his fist, 19, his fist, 19; he realized his fist was more like a misshapen, purple, bloody ball, with its fingers and skin caught within 19's vised hand.
And yet 19 just stood there, idly examining the flesh stuck between his fingers like it was smeared mud.
Piccolo pushed his shock aside and sliced away what was left of his hand at the wrist — a second later a lighter and pink-smeared replacement shot out. '...'
'Please, maim yourself as much as it is necessary,' Gero goaded from a distance. 'I made sure to make 19 very… durable. So you two can do this all day.'
The Namekian witnessed the emotionless android flick his hand clean. Splatters of purple blood marked the rock at their feet.
'I don't plan on it,' Piccolo replied.
A rush of blue aura shot Piccolo backward, body tensing as he turned; from behind him his right arm roped around and pointed two fingers at 19, yellow coils wrapping around the greater limb. 'RAPID BEAM CANNON!' He roared, as a thinner than usual head of yellow energy shot out from his fingers, acting more like the beam attack Tien used than Piccolo's own slower, more heavy-hitting one. But it did not require much energy. He only needed to confirm something.
He halted himself once his attack landed. Dust and yellow energy exploded into the air around his target. Piccolo smirked. 'I sensed that, you know,' he shouted above a gust of wind. 'My attack detonated. Your toy can't absorb energy like you, can it?'
Even from afar there was no mistaking Gero's manic smile. 'There was no need! Why mess with an already perfect design, improved to its fullest capability!'
Before he could finish 19 surged forward, massive body, arms, legs, charging towards Piccolo like a bull. The Namekian expected this, dodged, but 19 slid underneath him and sprung his knee up, impacting him in the gut towards the sky. Gero's voice grew to a shrilling pitch as 19 pursued his prey. 'I was never the strongest Android, you fool! I am the first in a lineage of perfection!'
0o0o0
As his body plunged into the earth, eviscerating whole sections of rock and land, his golden aura never left him — his green eyes never moved from the prize.
He's strong. But I'm stronger.
A wellspring energy erupted from him, blasting apart what land was left around him and launching him back towards the sky. Raditz, perhaps caught off-guard, was slow to react and tanked the full-body blow with his forearms. Their collision, like two tectonic plates ramming into each other, sounded for miles.
Their dance followed, quick strikes, slides, jabs, feints, fast enough to cease being seen, blurs giving way to the streaks of color that appeared whenever they collided before spinning off again. A series of quick blows to Raidtz's back legs — to metal warped and weaving with taut tan skin — tripped up the Android in mid-air. With a whirl, Raditz caught the one arm, creased into a chop, swinging down towards his head. No limb left to use; Gohan's left fist rammed into Raditz's body, slamming into with enough force to send a cone of his aura past the blow, and yet all he heard was metal sounding, knuckles scraping against cold plating, like a mace being hammered in a forge.
Embrace it. Don't lose it.
Traveler wracked his head back, snarling, pulling on more of his energy, feeling the drumming beat of his heart. Raditz charged back in, whipping his legs against his, hooking, spinning him vertically — and before he could do any more Traveler slammed his right elbow into the Android's face, for the first time feeling flesh, feeling blood and bone. A splash of blood sprayed from Raditz's nose, held in the air, suspended between them.
Then pushed aside. Patterned by his own blood, Raditz corrected his momentum almost instantaneously and slammed head-first into Traveler's chest, bending his ribs, shooting air from his lungs, shocking him.
Use it. Use it!
And Traveler in turn doubled his aura, then tripled it, as he surged back forward and slammed into Raditz, locking hands, fingers clenching hard enough to scrape paint and pierce flesh and metal alike, their wills mixing and marking their skin and finish. Merely half a foot away Raditz, all teeth bared, all remaining muscles in his face clenched, seethed at him. Green-pink energy began to roll off the Android's skin.
'Doesn't — doesn't matter how strong you get!' Raditz roared, voice cutting through the growing storm of energy around them. His and Traveler's were now warring against each other, throwing every drop of force towards their opponents. 'How strong you are! I will crush you like the worm you are!' His hands tightened, stressing the sinews holding the metal to him up and down his arms. 'Weakling! WEAK!'
Traveler's face didn't budge — he kept staring at the Android, mouth forced into an ugly and malice-filled grin. 'WEAK?' More of his aura came rushing to the surface, strong enough to push the energy coiling around Raditz past the Android. 'You call this WEAK?' He felt the slightest give in Raditz's hands — the start of something beautifully, wonderfully final, he hoped. 'Me, a Saiyan, WEA—'
He didn't finish — his breath was lost as a thin red beam shot from Raditz's artificial left eye and pierced Traveler's chest. Shallow, heavy, broke one of his ribs, rebounded against his left lung. Traveler had no choice and no chance to steady. Raditz's green-pink energy rushed back forward, enveloping his arms, and helped the Android rip out of his grapple with Traveler. One arm smashed into the exact spot where his beam had pierced, stunning Traveler again, and the other seized him by his jaw, wrapped its fingers around his neck, prepared to squeeze.
Like a bug. Like a worm. Like those—
On a planet with a red sky and a distant, pale moon looming above, Raditz knelt and sat back, and wrapped his arms around his legs. Fire and a taste of ash. Flesh — crackling flesh. He wasn't supposed to be here, he knew — he knew better. He never should have been here. It was dumb and stupid and now he saw and he was sniffling because blood kept weeping from his face -
'...Hell.' The speaker tossed whatever they were carrying into the bonfire and came closer. Skittering sparks released from the fire fluttered through the dark air circling them.
He had a scar across his face, and was speaking, but Raditz couldn't understand what he was saying. He was angry, maybe pained, maybe both. No — he wasn't saying anything. He just looked like it. Him and his scar and his face and his… hair...
'Dad?'
Traveler, gasping for breath, slammed his left leg against the side of the Android's lower abdomen — the fleshier side. Whatever had gripped his opponent, it left Raditz unconcerned with the fight as he sped towards the distant ground below.
A sharp hiss escaped Traveler. Holding a hand to his torso, he submerged himself in his aura and proceeded down.
0o0o0
He had blocked two blows — and then 19 disappeared, reappeared far too quickly.
Piccolo was frantically glancing around as two boots slammed into his back, painfully flinging forward first his chest, then the rest of him in a wild spin. The world flipped more times than he could count until he broke his momentum against a boulder, shattering it.
It was a struggle to control his breathing as he reoriented to the ground and stumbled to his feet. Even with his reserves, his capacity to regenerate his wounds wasn't infinite. He couldn't continue deadening the pain racing through his body forever. Let alone last another five minutes.
Normally he would have cursed at himself for feeling so brittle — so weak. But that was the issue, wasn't it? This Android, unlike Gero, was monstrously strong to Piccolo.
But it was far, far worse than that. 19 was fast. For something as sturdy at him… he was frighteningly agile.
Piccolo's thoughts broke as the hiss of air reached his ears. With a mad flash of energy he launched away from the ground, spotting 19 slam into where he had been barely a second prior. And despite his bulk the land barely shook at his landing.
He compensated once I moved. He saw it. Piccolo slowed his ascent. There has to be some weakness… even if it's one that didn't work on Gero. The Namekian scanned the immediate ground below them. Remarkably, he found the stream he had fallen into earlier was still intact, battered but still flowing through a forest made unrecognizable and barren. There.
As soon as 19 disappeared from the ground below, Piccolo acted. Aware of being trailed, he dove with his roiling and darkened blue aura and plunged into the stream. The Android halted fifty feet above, having lost sight of his target. Red eyes lined with rings of black and white slowly studied the stream's surface, searching for any disruption in the stream's flow.
To his left he saw one change in the flow, then a rock popped out of the water. 19 swung his right hand there, firing a quick pink blast. Before it hit the entire stream exploded upward.
A spray of water splashed against 19's front. He frowned, blinked the moisture from his eyes — and saw a green fist spring towards his face.
From the streambed's bottom, a soaked Piccolo gripped his right shoulder and launched a pulse of pure electrical ki through his limb, charged enough to jump and scorch parts of his now fifty-feet long arm. As water still chaotically flew in every direction through the air, Piccolo's right hand latched onto 19's face and released a pulse of pure electric energy, searing his skin and jolting the Android's body. Metal limbs repeatedly clenched and spun, throwing off flaking bits of fabric and paint.
Piccolo gritted his teeth and tugged. 'Haaaaaa!' His arm shrunk back to its normal length with all the sound of a band snapping back into place, yanking both him and the Android towards each other. Right before impact Piccolo let go, flipped, and rammed two heavy, aura-wrapped kicks into 19's body. Pain seared up his legs; it felt like kicking the Earth's core. But knowing the stakes he charged after the 19, who was now zooming back into the air with the force of his blows.
He quickly glanced ahead — judging by his twitching, the Android was still dealing with the aftereffects of his ki attack. Good. Two fingers from Piccolo's right hand landed on his forehead. Stay like that for a second.
In all his training this was something he hadn't practiced — rapidly charging this attack while flying. But battle was battle, and he knew this would be his one shot to create a foothold in his fight.
So he did something dangerous. He drew on his ki immediately, clearing the air around him of his aura, sending so much power to his hand that he momentarily wrenched it away from his head, skin peeling from the already shocked and welting limb. But with unending will he brought those fingers back, touched and burned a spot on his forehead, and shoved his attention forward.
19's flight path hadn't changed in the slightest.
'SPECIAL BEAM CANNON!' Piccolo bellowed, throwing out his arm and firing mid-flight. The spiraling head of his attack blasted out from his fingers, so much power, so quickly, that Piccolo gasped and flung away his arm, cutting the attack short before the rapidly purpling limb burst. Thus it was shorter, more like a pike, less like a drill, and slammed into the Android's chest and exploded, shrouding the world in golden flame and searing noise.
Piccolo let the blast take him back to the ground and clumsily halted halfway there. He took a sharp breath, reared back his head, fighting the pain, body arcing out and forward, stretching —
Until 19 crashed into his center with such force to nearly sever him, and smashed him into the ground far below.
0o0o0
There was a series of crashes in the air above, distant, and Tien futilely stood to get a better view. Too much dust, writhing energy and devastation. He didn't witness Piccolo's body fall to the Earth and crater into the ruined valley — though he did feel it, and hurried to it.
'Piccolo?' Tien called, landing near the impact site. 'Are you?...'
He stopped, staring at the Namekian. The right half of his body was charred and laced with bruises. Incredibly painful, and yet Piccolo met his gaze with clear eyes.
'Are you alright?' Tien asked.
'I've blocked out the pain for a moment,' Piccolo said, voice calm. 'Because once I feel it I'm going to pass out. So listen closely, Tien. The Senzu pouch is inside the waistline of my shirt. Take two out for both of us but don't move the pouch.' His frown regarded past Tien. 'We need to go, now.'
Tien limped forward a few feet, scanning the area. 'Piccolo — you have more than just two Senzus, right? We don't need to run. We can take them down together.'
Piccolo let out a rickety breath. 'No, Tien, that's — that's suicide. We barely beat Gero, and 19 is too strong for us two alone. And I don't know—'
Their conversation was punctuated by a massive explosion in the distance, energy peaking over a mountain range, followed seconds later but a gust nearly strong enough to throw Tien off his feet.
'Right on cue,' Piccolo groused. 'I don't know how Traveler's fight will go. But it's obvious he's not coming to rescue us. So we need to leave, now, on our own terms, without needlessly using what may be our only Senzus for any future fights.'
'And what about Yajirobe?'
Piccolo's nose twitched. '...He's hidden from us, so he's probably hidden from Gero!' he snapped. 'But— he's not important now! What's important is that us two— augh!' His teeth crashed together. 'I… please Tien, a bean, just…'
Gloom and underexpressed anger pushed at the edges of Tien's tired expression. 'Piccolo… they killed Chiaotzu. I can't run. Not now.'
'Tien…'
'If I did—'
'Tien!' Piccolo shouted, pain filling his voice. 'There's… there's someone behind you… someone…' Tien slowly turned, tensed… then relaxed. 'About time…'
0o0o0
Clothed in nothing more than the simple blue-and-white bindings and wrappings she wore beneath her ceramic armor, Chi-Chi in silence landed at the rim of the crater. The wind gripped and tugged at her hair.
'...Hey,' she said slowly, eyeing them. 'Are you both okay?'
Tien groaned as he adjusted his posture, so to face her. 'We're alive,' he muttered. 'And you? Where…' he trailed off, unable to form his question.
Chi-Chi gazed at Tien; her eyes were marbled, blurry, like they were not quite there. She turned. 'These are the Androids?' Her attention zeroed in on the older-looking and thinner one. 'That's Gero?'
'Yes, and yes,' Tien said. His brow bent. 'Um… wait. How?...'
'He's missing one of his hands.'
Tien paused. 'He is.'
'Well.' Chi-Chi laced her fingers above her head and stretched. 'That makes it easier. For the best, too, I'm not that confident in my ability to go it alone.'
Piccolo shifted, consciousness weak. 'Hold on… Chi-Chi, you don't…'
'Piccolo.' Chi-Chi met his gaze. 'Watch before speaking.'
Before he or Tien could go any further, red aura began bleeding into the air around her. The telltale glow of the Kaioken… and something more.
Tien's eyes lit with recognition. 'That technique? Chi-Chi — I don't know how much you know, but they're— they're not human—'
'I know.'
Then the crater compressed further as she blasted into the air, flames trailing off of her like a meteor. 'Gero!' She yelled, muscles building from the Kaioken. 'You should have stayed in hiding! You should have stayed dead!'
Her charge crossed the clearing remarkably quick — and 19 slammed into her halfway to her target, stopping, then pushing her back. Both of them speeding through the air, 19 pulled back a fist, gray metal fingers glowing, turning red.
19 spotted the color change. Abruptly, he broke apart from Chi-Chi — and pulled her entire roaring red aura, now exploding into flame and fire, towards him. Chi-Chi's firestorm wrapped around 19's body and started searing. Clothes ablaze the Android quickly shifted course and sped towards the barely present stream running down the land to their right.
Chi-Chi collected her breath as 19 disappeared into the water. 'Can't be on fire for long...' She turned, spotting an obviously surprised Gero not too far away. Well then. She huffed and shrouded herself in a fresh red aura. This should be quick.
Gero stumbled back once he realized what was about to happen. Without his hands —
'RADITZ!' He screamed. 'RADITZ, COME—'
A shockwave erupted from within the maelstrom of energy hanging over the nearby distant mountains. Dust flattened the area.
0o0o0
It was like the world bent with his passage. Fire and ash and blinding energy warped into a cone, shrouded him, and flung past as he came to a stop. His eyes discerned the broken remains of a valley; his ears, the sound of a cry falling away.
He dissipated and appeared before him. 'Doctor?'
Through streaking embers and dust Gero stumbled back at his creation's sudden appearance. They were shrouded in debris and detritus choking the air. He couldn't believe it — Raditz had brought the entire miasma of his battle with him. 'I… you are quick.'
His tongue was dry. Far quicker than I would have predicted. 'Nevermind,' Gero said, stiffening. 'We're leaving. My hands…' With disgust he lifted his arms. One gone, one nearly. '...Make it necessary.'
'As you wish.' Assent flowed easily from Raditz's lips. That was as it should have been, right? He had been created by Gero. There was no else — black, banding red and light, anger, breath, so much breath, running across cold flesh — than him.
'Yes.' Gero peered at him. 'Let's go, now.'
A wind brushed past them — they both turned, saw Chi-Chi charging her aura around her through a cone of clear air opened towards them.
'Whenever you're ready, Doctor.'
Chi-Chi was about to shout when both vanished— all she caught was a gust of wind that folded backward, passing over the dim outlines of the valley's ragged edges. She realized then: the androids had no ki.
'...So they're getting away,' Chi-Chi muttered. If she couldn't find their ki —
Movement to her right; rock shifted and a drenched 19 rose out of a stream and lumbered onto land. His eyes were cold, soulless and calculating, met hers, and yet turned away a second later in favor of the direction of that last gust of wind.
'Hey!' Chi-Chi shouted, dashing forward with red energy blaring off of her. Flames lurched in front of her like great arms. 'I didn't say—'
19 lifted a hand and shot a ki blast — weak enough that it exploded harmlessly against her aura, scattering her accumulated flames from her body. Smoke and dust suddenly rushed back into the area around her, obscuring her vision. Within an instant she called on her ki again and sent out a slap of wind to clear the air.
Too late. 19 was nowhere in sight.
'...Damn it.' She growled, cooling her aura. 'Damn it!… If they...'
She remembered where she was, and who she was with. With another burst of speed she turned and reappeared near Piccolo and Tien, both sitting, both winded, but both still alive. Her eyes scanned the area. 'You're both alright?'
'All things considered, yes,' Tien muttered. He tracked the air start to clear 'No sight of those Androids, though… which means…'
'They got away…' Piccolo growled. His fingernails scraped against rock. 'Damn it.'
'...' Chi-Chi at last let go of her aura. 'Perhaps… that's for the best.'
0o0o0
Traveler burst to a stop, aura whipping with him, as his eyes frantically scanned the ground. Three kis — no other movement. They got away. One quick, dirty blow from Raditz, and that was that. No doubt retreating to one of their other hideouts. His heart was beating madly in his chest. Just delaying the inevitable, then. Raditz isn't stronger than me. He isn't! I'll find them, and once they're all dead and I have what I need, then—
'Hey.'
His attention snapped down — he spotted… her, with Piccolo and Tien. Chi-Chi. When did she get here?
What had been pure energy now felt tainted, dirty. He became aware of his breath, of its speed and shallowness as he started descending. As much as he wanted to now, for all the sweating and beating and fear-suffused memories flashing through his forehead, he couldn't let go of his golden energy — too dangerous, too risky. He would just have to be calm. Collected.
He halted a good ways away from them in the air, brimming with energy. Green eyes roving, then slowing.
'...Chi-Chi.'
'Traveler.' Chi-Chi stared at him. He hadn't changed; certainly not his prominent mottled forehead scar, and certainly not his power. He was terrifying when golden, even this close up and this restrained.
She realized she wasn't afraid. 'It's been a few months.'
'And so I've returned.'
'Why are you here?'
Just as the wind was dying down, Piccolo and Tien detected another element in the air, present but unnoticed since the moment Chi-Chi arrived; tension. They exchanged a look; Tien pulled Piccolo out from his crater and carried them both to the side of an upturned rock.
All the while there was no hint of unease in Traveler's subtly rippling aura. 'I'm here to help.'
'You didn't tell us this, on that day in the desert,' Chi-Chi pointed out. 'You didn't tell us about West City and who they were — that it was Gero.'
'There wouldn't have been a point if I did.' His gaze skipped from her. 'If you knew and hadn't prepared —'
'You wouldn't have been able to take Raditz for yourself, I know.'
A cold wind blew past them, silhouetting them in flowing fabric. Tien and Piccolo both had sat. Tien and Piccolo both stared.
Traveler's aura flared like a lake swallowing a thrown pebble. 'What?' He said, unadorned of any thought or feeling, gaze still on the horizon.
'You're going to claim Raditz for yourself. I don't know how, or why — but I know that's what you're doing, because I know you gave Raditz's body to Gero, and I know that's who you were fighting just now, leaving Piccolo and Tien to do your dirty work for you.'
'Chi-Chi,' Tien called weakly, sitting up from the rock. 'I don't—'
Piccolo pressed a hard hand to his shoulder, forcing him back to the rock. 'No — quiet. Listen.'
'But this talk about Raditz? West City? That was years ago, unless they're talking about something else, but I don't — it's— it's crazy—'
A sharp glare from Piccolo silenced him. It wasn't the time or place, he realized. Not while things were still… unresolved. Chi-Chi's eyes hadn't budged from Traveler… and now his, slowly but surely, were turning on her.
'And,' he said word-by-word, 'how would you know that?'
That, they realized, was a cue. A blurry zip went past them and stopped beside Chi-Chi — a tanned, sturdy person, with pitch-black and vertical hair.
'He's… he's dressed…' Tien stared at the man's gi. 'He's dressed… like… who?…' But… I'm certain I've never seen him before...
'Who?' Traveler uttered, attention fixing on the newcomer as his aura burgeoned. 'Who are you?'
'For our purposes it's Rush,' he replied. 'As for you, I saw you fight Raditz — and I know you're working with the PTO. There's no other explanation for everything you've done — the gross manipulation of this timeline and everyone else for your own goals.'
'...' Traveler's gaze bore into Rush. 'The PTO?' He repeated. 'You're serious?'
Rush crossed his arms.
'I don't know who you are,' Traveler said.
'I'm Rush.'
'No—' Traveler took a deep breath, face twisting and contorting to the pulse of his aura. 'I don't know you. So I'll ask again. Who are you?'
'Do you deny it?' Chi-Chi demanded. 'That you're working with the PTO? Because you haven't.'
Traveler spared the slightest glance for her. 'You're talking nonsense. How does that make sense? You think the PTO made my time machine?'
Chi-Chi closed her eyes. 'No. I think Bulma did.'
Four pairs of eyes landed on her. 'She's working with the PTO, isn't she?' She continued. 'Because that's what you told us — in your time, she left with the Saiyans into space. They all joined together, didn't they?'
Traveler was silent and still as death. 'That's nonsense.'
'Then what happened to Bulma?' Chi-Chi asked. Her voice began rising. 'Where is she, in your time?'
'I don't know.'
'And the Saiyans?'
'I said—'
'And Raditz!' Chi-Chi suddenly shouted. 'He died — he was supposed to die! Because we died to do that! Krillin, Piccolo!' Her gaze swung to him, then back to Traveler. 'Raditz died — I know that, because Yamcha told me he left Raditz to bleed out from his wounds, and Bulma told me that when she took his body from the ruins of West City, he was dead! So — why is he alive? Because he was dead when Bulma lost him — when you stole him! And now he's alive!'
Traveler, same as his expression, refused to budge.
'Do you have nothing to say?' Chi-Chi asked, furious. 'Any defense? Any explanation? No comment about us fighting Wheelo on our own and Chiaotzu dying while you did nothing?'
To the side adrenaline surged through Tien's features. 'Piccolo…'
'Really? Nothing at all?' Chi-Chi made an exasperated sound. 'Nothing to say? For everything you've fu—'
Golden light exploded in the sky, casting palls across the entire landscape like a second sun. 'ENOUGH!' Traveler roared. 'This— this is all ridiculous! You accusing me, when I'm trying to save you? I—' In the midst of a storm of ki of his own making his voice faltered for a second, almost broke. 'I— I could kill you,' he said, words abruptly thick with grief, 'but you shouldn't—'
'You're a fraud!' Chi-Chi shouted. 'Manipulating us! I know—' Her words were weighed with something, and catching her breath, she leaned and pulled Rush closer to her. 'And if Rush hadn't come from the future, then I'd never—'
'What?' Traveler's voice reemerged.
'What?'
'He's from the future too?' Traveler asked, eyes constricting. 'I…' a parade of emotions, from confusion, to panic, to revulsion passed across his face. 'I see,' he muttered. Energy began building around him. 'Lies. You've fed her lies. This was a risk. You were always a risk.' Like a blade slicing through air, Traveler titled towards them. 'What I've done… to cause a large enough disturbance to time's natural flow, to create... you.'
'Nevermind.' Traveler's golden aura intensified, pouring out wind and light. 'You're an easy mistake to fix.'
Rush grabbed Chi-Chi by her shoulder. 'You shouldn't have said that.' He breathed. 'You shouldn't have— okay — close your eyes and drop to the ground, now!'
There was another screech of noise and heat, and before Chi-Chi could move she was shoved, and then, nothing.
0o0o0
'Hey. You're safe.'
Her senses rejoined her mid-flight — she was passing over a large, verdant forest, carried in Rush's arms. She shifted slightly, looking at the land below. Nothing recognizable.
'We're safe,' Rush repeated, 'and far away from Traveler.'
'In that case, you can let me fly.'
They stopped and Chi-Chi moved into the air under her own power. Rush motioned for her attention. 'Take this, too,' he said, handing over a pouch.'
She felt the contents of the leather. 'Hm? This… these are Senzus,' she corrected herself, opening the pouch. She counted them. 'I can't believe… this is more than a few. Where did you get these?'
'They were on Piccolo and Tien.'
'You took this from them?'
Rush grimaced. 'I don't think you understand what's going on… Mom. They arrived there with Traveler — we don't know how much they can be trusted, and even if they could, I didn't have enough arms to take them with us. And we — everyone at Fire Mountain — can use these senzus.' He closed her hands around the pouch. 'You can use them.'
'But Piccolo and Tien were injured—'
'I left them half a bean,' Rush said, holding up a half of his own. 'They'll be fine — just not fine enough to fight at full strength any time soon.'
She frowned at the pouch, weighed in her hand, and then strapped it to her waist under a sash.. '...I wish it didn't have to be like this.'
'There's not much we can do. I'm confident now — there's no way Traveler could have gotten here without help from someone. Our Earth was dead. Gero was defeated. So only the PTO could have helped him build the machine. Only them.'
'I know…' Chi-Chi murmured. 'I mean, it's likely considering what we know from Bulma, but… do you then think the PTO built your time machine?'
Rush's mouth sagged. '...I haven't thought of that. Maybe. But mine was in such a bad state that, if the PTO had made it, they had abandoned it long before I found it.'
'...' Chi-Chi's tired gaze moved from him to the horizon. They were moving west when she awoke, towards the others. Towards Yamcha. 'This is all so… tenuous, Rush. We know Gero is out. We can't trust Piccolo or Tien. Krillin and Rayne are missing. And Launch and her crew are still in space… last we heard of them from weeks ago. I'm…' She turned to him. 'I'm tired of all this uncertainty. It's killing me, Rush. Ever since Traveler appeared months ago, I've felt like everything's been slipping through my hands… with no way to stop it.'
She closed her eyes, suppressed something from rising to her face, and faced his gaze. 'I'm tired. I want to trust you, and I want to end Gero for good… and contain Traveler, somehow. I'm not sure defeating him is possible… but we have to do something about him. At the very least — we have to prevent him from getting what he wants. We have to kill Raditz.'
'... I understand,' Rush murmured. 'I… I admit I've spent too much time waiting around these past few months too, instead of acting. Gero… may have gone somewhere I don't know about, but we're going to find him and end him and Raditz. That I promise you. To make up for my… fear that paralyzed me when I came here.' He found it possible to face her. 'I have you and Yamcha to thank for helping me move past that.'
Chi-Chi nodded and squeezed his shoulder. 'I'm… glad. We'll do this, one thing at a time. We'll win. Alright?'
'Alright.'
'Good.' She found it within her to smile. 'Now, if we're going to take down Gero, let alone Traveler… we'll need everyone's help. With everyone at Fire Mountain… we'll have a shot.' She gripped the senzu pouch and squeezed it. A real shot.
0o0o0
Fury. Enough to last the rest of his life, boiling under his skin like magma, spilling from his aura like deathly light, all the while he was blind and spitting and coughing as his sense realigned from the intense flash. An attack he'd never seen performed, disabling him? The strongest being to ever exist in this time? It was unbelievable — no, it was impossible. He had simply been surprised. New techniques would do that. Yes, that was it. Just once. One time…
He grasped that needed ounce of self-control once presented. The cone of ki raging around him, ballooning to the size of a cataclysmic meteor, shrank inward into him. One breath, two breaths, three… and he could see the world without seeing blinding white. Reluctant, his golden energy flushed away and his eyes reverted to their normal brown.
A quick scan of the area confirmed what he suspected — he and Chi-Chi gone, and Piccolo and Tien still laid up against a rock on the ground. So he had to make a quick decision. Every second he spent here was a second Gero got away, another second Raditz slipped from his grasp, or a second where this… Rush escaped. This… time traveler. Unknown goals, unknown power, though considering he had fled, it was likely he was weaker than him. And his accusations...
Traveler glanced again towards Piccolo and Tien. He hadn't defended himself well.
What was there to defend?
Would they believe him? More importantly — would they trust him enough to again fight alongside him?'
It was easy to sense their flickering kis, spot their wounds and bruises and witness their fatigue. They could barely move. Before they were allies in battle. Now they were only burdens — burdens to be carried, but burdens nonetheless.
And it was relevant that the two threats on this planet as of now — Gero and his Androids, and this time traveler, had run from here.
That was it. He picked a direction and started flying. That was all there was and ever will be to it. If they couldn't help him now, they would help him later. Spending time to explain would slow him down — and needlessly, horribly complicate. It didn't matter what he'd done, who'd he worked with, or even why he was here...
Gero… I'm going to kill Gero, and take Raditz for myself. I… I have to. My time… I need to save them… any of them...
0o0o0
By the time they could finally see again, the battlefield was empty. They were left alone, both with their backs to a boulder, both unable to move.
Piccolo knew he didn't have long. He had barely enough energy to heal his body's center to something living over the past several minutes. Certainly nothing left to block him from feeling what agony was left. A wracking pain surged through him, grinding his teeth, passed...
'The solar flare…' Tien said softly from his left, near muttering. 'All of this… it doesn't make sense.'
With whatever energy he could muster Piccolo reached into his clothing; he sighed through his nose, face bending into a worthless shape, as he leaned back against the rock. He'd felt as much.
'He took the senzus. Rush,' Piccolo announced.
'...' Tien glared at the rocky ground in front of him.
'Rush. I've never seen him before.'
'Neither have I.'
'And that was the solar flare?' Piccolo asked. 'You're sure he used it?'
'I'm sure.'
'...' Piccolo adjusted his posture so that he'd pass out in a more natural pose. He grimaced due to another wave of pain. 'We lost.'
'...We're alive. Chi-Chi — she mentioned Chiaotzu earlier, and some person named Wheelo…'
'Another name that means nothing to me,' Piccolo bemoaned. He waited to see if Tien would say anything to that. He didn't. 'And…' Piccolo breathed through his nose. 'Traveler ran off.'
'Probably for the best. He looked ready to kill someone.'
'Who?'
Piccolo didn't have an answer for him; thinking was becoming very hard. Not to mention a rumbling — the broken landscape was suddenly filled with the sound of metal stomping against the ground and a moving column of smoke rising through the air. Not too long after that they spotted them.
'The World Government, looks like,' Tien said.
'...I don't know.'
'What?'
Piccolo coughed — he was slipping under. 'I don't know who to trust between Rush and Traveler. We both know Traveler was hiding something… but was that it?'
'... I don't know,' Tien said, shaking his head.
'...Tien…' Piccolo's voice weakened. 'Just…'
'Just what?' Tien asked, eyeing the approaching tanks.
'Just make sure we live,' Piccolo whispered. 'That's… augh... that's all that matters...' he slumped and fell, and barely made a sound when he came to a stop.
And so Tien, body arching and barely able to move a muscle, held a hand over his chest as a tank separated slightly from the group and a man stood out from its turret.
'Surrender!' he yelled, 'or we'll—'
Tien raised his right palm. Every inch of it shook. 'We surrender,' he breathed. 'We surrender.'
The general gaped. 'H— ya mean—' Soldiers' faces turned to him, each full of shock, then relief… then cheer. Still he needed another second to realize what was happening.
'Y— you're damn right you two surrender!' the general said, laughing.'Men! Hip hip!'
'Hip hip!'
'Hip hip!'
'Hoorah!'
He settled back into the tank as soldiers climbed out of their tanks and streamed forward, each one eager to get a hand on some of the most wanted people ever known to the world. Even if they were only two from the group — they were giving up without a fight. Hell, the green one wasn't even conscious.
He breathed deep, filling his lungs with bitter air. Something in the wind. But it didn't matter. Could have been sewer fumes and it still would have smelt like victory. The King's gonna make me the goddamn Supreme Commander of the World!
0o0o0
In the broken valley where water no longer flowed and the mountains were nothing but the exposed and bleached bones of the earth laid for all to pick at, the sun passed once, twice, three times over the land, shining down on jagged rock and splintered wood and torn leaves all churned and painted and mashed together like a wound on the planet. Tracks from tanks softened with a rain and washed down a slope, back the way they were born, converging on a shallow, almost nonexistent stream — but a newly born stream still. That little rainfall had given the slightest push to a new flow in an old and changed place. What remained as definite proof of the battle laid on its very shores.
On the fourth day, blue and orange-laced boots dipped into the water, careful not to disturb its flow, and bent at the sides as their owner crouched to the ground and pressed a hand to the riverbed. The slightest remain of a tank track gave way to a print of his own.
Pulling back Krillin rose from the stream, looking back at the two who had landed with him. Them and this stream were all there was in this soot-covered and ruined place of rock.
'They were here,' he announced, 'the Androids, Piccolo and Tien… and even him. Rush.'
Rayne flicked her hair over her shoulder as she turned her gaze afield. 'We'll find him soon. He'll pay.'
'I understand you two have a grudge against the guy,' the third said, speaking away from them. 'But please.' Launch turned, showing off her most brazen smile. 'Don't be greedy.'
A/N: Awahoo! Lots of important stuff going on in this chapter! I'm also very sorry for the long gap between this chapter and last. Got distracted by a great many things. But this concludes Blood. Next time, we're going to get a very special "special" chapter, the first of Time and Space… so, that's going to be very, very fun.
Also, as a quick complaint, for whatever reason, this website has been a little broken for me this past month. My traffic pages for my stories are utterly busted and nothing displays properly in the general fandoms I browse. But I persist!
Reviews:
Perfect Carnage: Noted! Thanks for the input.
Anonymous: Glad you enjoyed the little detailing I put into the fights! None in this story would be complete without them :). As for ki sensing — no, Gero did not develop that. He can't use ki naturally, after all xp.
Eighter can speak, but he still doesn't say much. Not much of a trash talker.
Thanks for the review and suggestions! I may or may not have worked some of them in…
KagariAsuha: Really wondering what you're thinking after this chapter. Thanks for the review!
Cityracer: Your theory as to Rush and Traveler relating in power is holding up pretty well so far.
He is made of metal! Though, as you can see from this chapter, he sacrificed durability for more flexibility and ability in combat, in opposition to 19's brunt force.
Yajirobe was a great help with Gero! Here, he stayed the hell away… or whatever seemed to have happened to him… hm…
I'll keep in your thoughts on chapter lengths in the future. I'm still tinkering with my writing habits for this fic… haven't quite established a rhythm recently…
the1andonlyLucian: 19 looks like Eighter, and so does not look like a fat clown! Thank you for the review!
