*(Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, or Dragon Ball GT. All characters and places associated with the Dragon Ball series belong to their own respected creators and I have not used them to make any profit in any shape or form.) *
Jason9000: Hey guys, here's another chapter of the Z-gang. I know most of you just went to get back to the villains. But, we need to tie everything up. Otherwise I would just have it be after the siege, but I need to cover all aspects of this story. I want to thank for all the reviews last chapter got. Please review as much as you can since it motivates me to continue and offering insight on what you think helps me plan more chapters. Okay let's get started.*
Once Gohan told his father to go see if Baba was still around, he took off. He couldn't use Instant Transmission, because her magic allowed her home to be shielded from any Ki sensing abilities. He was gone for most of the day which worried most people. It was a one hour flight to her home. They weren't sure if Goku was taken hostage or if Baba was there at all. Goku was gone for almost four hours and as the minutes ticked by the situation didn't get any brighter. Suddenly they felt Goku's energy at the bottom of the tower.
Gohan felt his father's presence in his head and let him in. 'Have your mother bring Bulma's spare ship to carry Baba up. She's hurt and I'm not sure if I should use Instant Transmission or fly at high speeds. That's why it's taken me so long to get back here. I'm not as great at telepathy as the Namekians and I didn't want to risk having a message I sent to be intercepted by someone,' Goku told his eldest son.
Gohan immediately went to seek out his mother to get the ship. He found her at the kitchen and explained the situation. Roshi was standing next to her and when he heard his sister may have been hurt, he demanded to go with them. Chi-Chi went out into the open and took the plane out of the capsule in her pocket. They climbed in and she rocketed down to the bottom as fast as her plane could allow. When they finally reached the bottom, they circled around for a minute looking for Goku till they noticed him in the woods.
He was carrying Baba and she didn't look good. She had a nasty gash on her forehead, her clothes were ripped up, her hat missing, her hair was unkempt, and her she looked like she was bleeding through her clothes.
They put her in the ship and Chi-Chi rocketed back up to the Lookout. Dende came running up with Mr. Popo when he heard what had happened. Goku brought her out and gently laid her down on the ground. Dende gave Mr. Popo her staff and slowly began working on her. The minutes ticked by with the Supreme Kais coming out to see what was going on. After waiting for five minutes Baba looked better. Her wounds were closed up and she would have to bathe and get a new set of clothes to get off the bloodstains and dirt.
"I've done all I can. I was able to heal most of her major wounds, but the rest will have to be done naturally. She should be okay as long as she can rest for a little bit," Dende said getting up.
"Sister, can you hear me? Please Baba get up," Roshi asked slowly shaking her.
Baba stirred for a minute before opening her eyes. Her vision was blurry and she saw a figure in front of her face. It started to clear and she saw Roshi starring at her.
She yelled and kicker her brother out of the way causing him to fly back into one of the pillars holding up the roof to the interior architecture of the Lookout.
"How many times have I told you to stop waking me up with your fat head in my face?!" She asked angrily.
Roshi twitched under on the floor and everyone barely heard him mutter "Not enough considering I keep forgetting after you kick me into the wall."
She slowly stood up and dusted herself off. "I haven't been this sore since we threw that party for mother two hundred years ago," She muttered out loud.
"Baba what happened? When I entered your home it was a wreck. Your life force was weak and it took me a while to locate you. I couldn't even risk flying at high speeds or using Instant Transmission to get you back here. I thought it might kill you," Goku said.
"Then pray tell why didn't you just pick me up, bring me to a safe spot outside of my home, and use your technique to bring Dende over earlier instead of dragging me over here over four hours ?" She asked him with a raised eyebrow.
Goku gave her a blank and everyone could just see the gears in his head turning processing what she said.
He put his hand behind his head and started laughing "Oops must've slipped my mind."
"Good thing Vegeta or Piccolo aren't here at the moment. I could totally see you calling you out on this," Goten quipped.
Goku put on a bored expression and raised an eyebrow. "Really Goku? It wouldn't have killed you to come and get Dende," Goku said in a deep voice imitating Piccolo.
"Kakarot, you fool! Why don't you ever stop think with your brain and not your stomach when NOT in a battle?" Gohan said imitating Vegeta in a raspy voice.
Everybody laughed around the two and even Baba despite her condition chuckled a bit at the joke.
"All jokes aside. I think it is important for Baba to tell us what happened," Dende said.
Baba nodded at the Namek and took a deep breath. "To be honest it came as a great surprise to me. I had sent my five fighters to the Grand Kai's planet to participate in one of their tournaments. They had begged me to go for a while and I allowed them to go. I was just reading a book in my room when I heard a crashing sound. At first I thought Spike the Devil Man returned and was trying to sneak up on me. I was dead wrong…" She trailed off closing her eyes for a moment.
She paused in her story and her face contorted as she concentrated on trying to remember what had happened. She was silent for a minute before continuing.
"To be honest I'm not exactly sure what happened. I went out to seek who made the disturbance, but I couldn't find them. Suddenly my alarms I placed in my home went off signaling that someone unfamiliar had snuck in. I created them a long time ago when bandits used to try and raid my home in search for treasure. Anyway, I went to check out the disturbance when I saw that it was a bunch of Demons. They weren't related to Spike, since he always seeks out permission to bring them into my home first. I was startled since it could only mean something had happened to King Yemma. I was about to leave immediately, but I was spotted and attacked. I only remember being rushed at and choked being asked how if there was anyone else around. I answered no and that's it…I guess they must've attacked me more in their unconscious state, before wrecking the place," Baba said.
"This is very serious…if they knew how to get to Baba's home they be watching every road into Otherworld," Dende said.
"What are you talking about? Did something bad happen in Otherworld? I haven't been there for the past couple of days since my services weren't required," Baba asked.
Dende then proceeded to tell her everything that happened since he went to go and make sure everything was okay at the Check-In Station. Once he finished the Supreme Kais told her their story as well. When they finished her head was down with her eyes closed shaking her head.
"I warned Yemma that something like this could happen. Once I learned of Dabura being sent up to Heaven…I had a feeling that the Demons down in Hell would try something. I tried looking into the future, but it's been clouded ever since Vegeta first landed," Baba said.
She turned her gaze to Goku. "If I were to haphazard a guess…I would say that you sought me out if I knew a secret way into Otherworld correct?" She asked him.
"That's pretty much it. We've tried almost everything we can think of. I can't sense anyone so I can't use Instant Transmission, Dende can't, because he got lucky once and we can't risk him getting hurt again, and not even the Kibito Kai can. My guess is that the two wizards Bibidi and Babidi did something to lock them out with their magic," Goku said.
Baba's eyes widened in shock at Goku when he finished telling her his story. "Now hold on…when you mean Babidi do you mean that wizard that released Majin Buu…and his father?" She asked him.
"The one and same. Does this present a problem ma'am?" Kibito Kai asked gently.
Baba took a deep breath. "I've heard stories of them…they're some of the most powerful wizard's to ever exist. I'm not sure I can override their power. I can give it a try, but it'll take hours to see before I'm sure," She said.
"No problem, Vegeta and the others still need to finish their day in the time chamber. You still have some time," Goten said.
Baba nodded and dusted herself off. "I'm going to need a quiet place to think and try probing their defenses," She told Dende.
The young Namek nodded and went leading her inside the chamber.
Everyone else slowly left except for Tien and Yamcha.
"This looks grim. If Baba can't get them into the Otherworld…what are we supposed to do? We've got no Dragon Balls and no way of knowing what's going on," Tien told his friend.
"I'm confident that we'll figure something out Tien. We always do. And hey at least we may get the chance to see some action this time. It's been a little dull since the Saiyans tend to handle everything," Yamcha remarked.
"That is, if anyone is sent here. If I were Daimaō, I'd have my forces more focused on trying to take over Otherworld first; before focusing on the Earth. Then again, we don't know the size of his forces and army." Tien told him.
Yamcha nodded and looked down onto the Earth below. "Let's just hope we can stop this before it gets any worse. I've died twice…I'd hate to die three times and then be tortured at some Demon's pleasure for the rest of eternity," Yamcha said.
Mirai was staring out into the horizon thinking. He had traveled deeper into the time chamber by himself to train and think. He could feel his 'twin' and father fighting each other. Buu hadn't been seen since they got in here. He had just wandered farther than anyone and only came back to gorge himself every month or so. They couldn't even feel his energy so no one had any idea what he's doing.
Here he was hoping that he could return to the past with Android 16 and not have something catastrophic happen. All he wanted was to return here and escape the stress and pain of his future for a while. The Androids may have been gone, but reconstructing an entire world was a pain. Having to stop newly formed countries from trying to backstab each other for scarce resources, playing peacemaker as if he was some adult amongst children, helping plan the building of cities, and the list just went on and on.
For the most part his mother was the reason he kept going without snapping. She was his anchor into reality. Sure he was hailed as a hero, but just having to be hundreds of places at the same time took its toll on him. It was great when he discovered Android 16 in the bowels of Dr. Gero's lab and that his personality was similar to the one he met earlier. He had someone to help him, train with him, and he was the wisest person he met. His advice helped him in numerous situations and he always saw the good in humanity even when the new countries were able to kill each other.
Mirai sighed in his thoughts thinking about the mother from his timeline. It didn't make sense. She was perfectly healthy for someone her age. Why did she just die? He heard that some people 'let go' in a sense and die, but that was considered rare. From what she once told him, few people at the end of their life accepted they were ready to move on and just died with no explanation. It didn't make sense, why would she abandon him without saying anything. It was the worst feeling Mirai ever felt. Gohan was bad, but his mother dying? He never once really considered it. She seemed invincible in her own right. Nothing dragged her down not the Androids, him and Gohan training all the time and passing out, or even when they were having a hard time looking for food.
After the funeral he went into a foul mood and was just always angry. Angry at his mother for dying, at himself for not trying to help her, and just angry at the world. It's a good thing Sixteen was patient with him. No matter what he said or did, his friend was always there. In fact it was the Android that discovered a message in his mother's office next to the chair that she passed away in. Mirai hadn't seen it since he was so focused on the fact she was dead. It just said 'Go and take as much time as you need in the past'. Next to the note was a capsule. Trunks recognized it as the time machine. He propped it open and saw that it was fitted to seat four people. Or two people since Android Sixteen was so large. He saw that it was refueled and he had more than enough energy to travel to the past and back. So two days later after he informed people that he was taking a 'vacation' in a sense he went back in time with Android Sixteen. They arrived and he had a long conversation with his mother before going to seek out his father.
He got up and stretched for a minute. He took a deep breath and relaxed himself. He was going to do it sooner or later. He could feel it…soon he would achieve his goal. He did all he could for the first part of it. Now he was going to focus his remaining time on the last bit of it. Hopefully the time he had left in here would pay off. Mirai also made a mental note to check up on the Androids when he left the Hyperbolic Time Chamber if his mother hadn't finished with the upgrades just yet. Either way…it would make Dr. Gero quite jealous of what Bulma would do to his so called "legacy".
*Jason9000: I know it's a bit shorter than what I normally dish out lately, but I need to focus on the last of my school work and I wanted to update this at least once this month. So Baba's injured and the Z-gang may still not be able to get into Otherworld. Got some Tien and Yamcha thoughts on the situation since I haven't had them speak. Also got some insight on Mirai. I wanted to touch on how his mother's death affected him a bit. I only had him mention it to his family and Goku's and not tell them how it happened. This'll be brought up again later. He hasn't fully come to terms with it and I want to delve into more. Now I don't know if they'll be an update in December with finals coming up. For us Americans I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. If you don't celebrate it, I hope you have a great weekend anyway. *