VILLAGE OF SHADOWS – PART 1

Two years after King Piccolo's defeat, Yamcha, Bulma and the Crystal Gems have covered a good portion of the Earth during their training-trek. On this particular day, they find themselves in the Spinach Wastes. Why here? After discussing with each other, they decided to collect the Dragon Balls once more. They don't want another Piccolo situation on their hands, so it's best to keep the Dragon Balls safe in case they have yet another emergency.

After a couple of weeks, they've collected five of the starry orbs so far, all kept safe within Peridot's gem. And now they've tracked the sixth one to the Spinach Wastes. Currently, Amethyst is seen chasing the two-star ball, though it isn't easy, especially with the flock of birds everywhere.

Amethyst chases it to a cliff above a lake, and almost catches up to the two-star ball, but it slips out of her hands as she runs a little too fast and ends up falling off the cliff. Thankfully, Peridot floats above the lake and holds her hand up, ready to catch it.

"Peri!" Amethyst calls playfully as she falls through the air. "You better watch out! Here I come!"

"Thanks for the warning, Amethyst," Peridot chuckles. "But I can take it from here."

"Great! See you at the bottom!" Amethyst laughs, continuing her descent to the lake. She never hits the water, as Lapis dives in at the last second and catches the purple Gem, flying back up as the two of them laugh.

Apache, who was inspecting a small cave in the cliffside, sees the two-star ball as it falls past the cave entrance. The monochromatic Gem lights up at the sight of it. "I got it!" she cries out as she jumps after it.

Unfortunately, just as Apache's fingers graze the two-star ball, she ends up colliding with a surprised Peridot, who was too focused on the Dragon Ball to notice her. And as if on cue, several birds suddenly flew up around them, and ended up taking the Dragon Ball with them.

Apache falls into the lake with a splash, and glares at Peridot as soon as she resurfaces. "Happy now?" she huffs. "We've lost the Dragon Ball and it's all your fault!"

"Everything was fine until you showed up!" Peridot snaps back, glaring back at her companion and still hovering in midair, though now she has feathers all over her hair and clothes. "Why don't you go back to whatever rock you crawled out of?"

"No thanks, I can't wait to see what you screw up next," Apache hisses.

Thankfully, their squabble is cut short by Yamcha's yelling. "Hey guys, up here! It landed in a bird's nest!"

Peridot flies back up to the cliff, and Lapis dives down to pick up the soaked Apache. Once all six of the Crystal Gems are back up there, they find Yamcha and Bulma standing amidst hundreds of nests, many of them filled with eggs. "A nest?" Jasper quips. "More like a colony." A couple of insects buzz around her, though she merely swats them away.

With the two-star ball retrieved and placed inside Peridot's gem, they've only got one left. Bulma checks her radar, and sees that the last one is a few hundred miles away. They can head there in the morning.

OoOoOoO

That evening, as twilight is falling and the stars are coming out, the group of nine finds themselves a little further into the Spinach Wastes. They've set up a Capsule house for the night, and are currently outside enjoying some barbequed foods and chatting amongst themselves.

However, as Rose prepares to take another bite of her hot dog, she stops as something catches her eye. She realizes that it's a red flare, shooting up into the sky from several miles away. As soon as she points this out to the others, a second one shoots up.

A flare usually means someone's in trouble. Everyone (sans Okami, who is relaxed on the grass) decide to abandon the barbeque and rush over to the source.

It doesn't take long for them to find what they're looking for: Natade Village. However, it's abandoned and overrun with dark green vines.

The eight of them scatter across the village, trying to find whoever set off the flares. As Lapis searches one of the empty houses, she doesn't notice one of the nearby vines suddenly move. She does, however, notice the vine rapidly wrap itself around her form and squeeze tightly. Lapis starts to scream in surprise, but its cut short by the vine squeezing hard enough to turn her form to smoke.

Lapis' scream catches the others' attention. But before they can do anything, a giant spike of ice suddenly shoots up from the ground at Rose's feet and pierces her in the chest. She can only gasp in shock and pain before turning to smoke as well.

Now the others are starting to panic. What the hell is going on?!

In another nearby house, a pair of scissors suddenly levitates from a table and flies out of window, sending glass shards everywhere just a second before hitting Apache in the back of the head. She screams as she's turned to smoke.

Amethyst hurriedly tries to summon her whip, which was difficult due to her nerves, but she barely grasps the handle before another nearby vine wraps around her and squeezes harshly. Amethyst can barely yelp in surprise before the vine squeezes hard enough and her form bursts into smoke.

Jasper immediately runs towards the person closest to her, which happens to be Peridot, in hopes of protecting her. But just before she reaches her, the Peridot in front of her suddenly flickers and vanished. Jasper skids to a halt in confusion, then hears Peridot—the real Peridot—call her name.

As soon as Jasper turns to face an equally-confused Peridot, a large plume of fire suddenly bursts from the dirt, enveloping Jasper's entire being. She screams in agony as she's burned; she struggles to fight it off and escape, but just like with her friends, her form explodes into smoke.

Peridot, Yamcha and Bulma rapidly look around in horror. Why is this happening? What is this?! Who could—?!

The dirt and several nearby rocks suddenly morph into two gigantic hands and grab both Yamcha and Bulma, lifting them up in the air. Though terrified, Peridot prepares to fire a crackling green blast at the dirt hands. But before she can do so…

"Now, now…"

Peridot whips around and aims the blast at whoever spoke. Standing several feet away from her is a very tall man with long black hair, long clothes covering his being, and a mask hiding his face.

"Let's not be too hasty," the man says in a deathly calm voice. All around them, a few more dirt hands form and grab Lapis, Rose, Apache, Amethyst and Jasper's gemstones. "You wouldn't want anything to happen to them, would you?"

Peridot's eyes widen and she reluctantly lowers her Limb Enhancer. "What do you want?" she asks bitterly, never taking her eyes off of the man.

"Give me the Dragon Balls," he says simply.

"What?" Peridot gasps. Just how many people know about these damn orbs? And how the hell does he know she even has them? "No!"

The man shrugs. "Suit yourself," he says.

Yamcha and Bulma, who were struggling to break free from the hands, both suddenly start screaming as the hands tighten their grip on them, threatening to crush their bodies. Peridot spins around in horror. "No! Stop it! Stop, you're hurting them!" she screams frantically.

"The Dragon Balls," the man demands. "Or you'll lose everything."

No, not again. She can't be forced to do this. First Daimao, and now…

With tears brimming in her eyes, Peridot turns back to the man and yells out, "Okay, I'll do it!"

Instantly, the hands relax their grip on Yamcha and Bulma, who pant heavily in relief, but don't let them go. "Peridot, no!" Yamcha cries out.

Peridot reluctantly pulls out all six Dragon Balls from her gem and hands them to the man, who gladly walks over and take them in his arms. "Only six," he says, sounding disappointed as he steps back. "It's a shame you couldn't work faster. Oh well."

The man shifts the Dragon Balls into one arm, and raises his other hand up to snap his fingers. One of the rocks from the dirt hands is sent flying. It hits Peridot's stomach hard enough to go straight through her; she makes a strangled noise of surprise and pain just before turning to smoke, her gem and Limb Enhancers falling to the ground.

"Hey, jackass!" Bulma snaps, glaring darkly at the masked man. "Who the hell do you think you are?!"

The man calmly turns to look up at them, remaining silent the whole time. The hand holding Bulma suddenly slams her into the ground, hard enough to form a crater and knock her unconscious.

Yamcha can barely yell out her name before it feels like something cold suddenly pinches the back of his neck. Immediately, a numbing sensation spreads throughout his body, and he's flung into a nearby house, destroying it instantly and hitting his head. And just as his vision darkens, he hears the man say one last thing.

"Those mindless freakshows are gonna love you."

OoOoOoO

Yamcha isn't sure how much time passes before he wakes up with a pounding headache. The first thing he notices is how cold and dark it is. Shivering, he tries to focus his chi, which he's been practicing for the past year, and thankfully forms a bit of chi in his hand for a light source.

He's revealed to be in some kind of jail cell, in what looks like…a dungeon? The walls, floor and ceiling are covered in ice and snow, and the cell door looks to be frozen shut. Oddly enough, a single, tiny insect flies up to his cell for a moment, but then flies away before he can do anything.

Where the heck is he? And what about Bulma and the Gems?

Before he can even think of an answer, a shriek of static suddenly fills the air. Yamcha jumps in surprise, and turns to find a single handheld radio sitting on a barrel in the corner. Unprompted, a male voice speaks through the radio.

The voice of the masked man.

"Looks like you're all finally awake." His voice is calm, albeit amused. "Now, our game can finally begin." Yamcha gives the radio a baffled stare. Game?

"The rules are simple," the man continues. "Explore the castle, find clues, solve puzzles, and see if you can defeat the Bio-Droids. And maybe then, you'll get the Dragon Balls back, or even make it out alive. Who knows? Oh, and one more rule: Beware the vines." He pauses to laugh. "Good luck." The radio crackles to silence as soon as he's done speaking.

Castle? Clues and puzzles? Bio-Droids? Vines?

Just…What?

That's when Yamcha realizes that he doesn't have his sword. Must have dropped it when that hand grabbed him. Despite his annoyance, he starts searching the cell for any 'clues'. Nothing.

Seeing that the door is frozen shut, Yamcha resorts to kicking it open as hard as he can, causing it to crash into the opposite wall. He explores the dungeon area for a while, most of it coated in snow and ice. He sees the occasional vine slithered around the corners, but tries to steer clear of them. 'Beware the vines'…Whatever it is, it can't be good.

After a while, he eventually comes across a storage room…and halts in shock. There's a dead body in the room. A young woman wearing traditional clothing, which are stained with blood and half-covering an infected wound on her stomach. It looks like she hasn't been dead for very long.

Yamcha resists the urge to vomit. Who could've…?

He quickly leaves the storage room and continues looking for clues, mostly to distract himself from what he just saw. Right now, all he wants is to find the others and leave this place.

…Unbeknownst to him, the moment he's out of sight and earshot, one of the vines slithers into the room and wraps itself around the body, dragging her off into the darkness…

Several minutes later, in the third or fourth cell, Yamcha finds something. It's a leather book, miraculously clean and brand new, with a single red ribbon acting as a bookmark. Curious, Yamcha takes it out of the cell and opens it up…only to see that the pages are empty. He looks through it in confusion for a minute, before finally finding something in the very middle, written in fresh ink.

'The Alchemist's Laboratory:

The gold in the elder's palm, concealing the future in his grasp, is exchanged for the philosopher's fluid.'

He…has no idea what that means. But something tells him it'll be useful later on. Yamcha tears the page out of the book and places it in his pants pocket, abandoning the book after double-checking it.

…And as he does so, a single 'insect' can be seen on the ceiling, watching him ever so intently…

The moment he steps out of the cell, a clicking sound can be heard nearby. The sound leads Yamcha to a previously locked door, which opens up to reveal a long, downward staircase. Unsure of where else to go, Yamcha heads down.

Just like the dungeon, the stairwell is covered in snow and ice, forcing him to be slow and careful, even though there aren't many stairs. Once he's at the bottom, he's greeted by another door. And opening this one leads him to a large, almost cavernous room. A room filled with decayed and rusted medieval-era torture devices, all under a layer of frost.

And the moment he opens the door and walks inside, he hears gasp echo across the room. The source is a familiar one, standing on the far-left side of the room. A pink light is projecting from the gem on her navel, essentially acting as a flashlight.

"Rose!" Yamcha exclaims, his voice echoing as he rushed towards the pink-haired Gem.

"Yamcha!" Rose says at the same time, her voice also bouncing around as she runs over. They embrace, and that's when Yamcha notices that Rose is wearing a completely different outfit from the last time he saw her.

The two of them talk and try to figure out what's happening, their voices continuing to echo around the room. Neither of them has any idea what's going on, but they both found a 'clue' in their respective areas. Yamcha shows Rose the paper, and she shows him a book she found: 'A Tale of Birds Without a Voice'. It looks like a children's book, but doesn't have any words; only text printed on otherwise blank pages.

'The greedy duck is first to take flight, in desperate pursuit of the prize, flapping away its wings of white.

The snooty pelican is next in stride, sailing far beyond the greedy duck, snobbishly beaming with a look of pride.

The high-flying swallow is third in tow, rising high above the snooty pelican, laughing gaily and dancing to-and-fro.

The slow sailor seagull is next in the race, flapping and flying with all of its might, leaving the duck behind in last place.

Last but not least is the big lazy crow, choosing to nap over flying and singing, relaxing and yawning as great as a bellow.

A flock of voiceless birds unsettled, causing great fuss over one special medal.

Who will win the glistening prize, a medal of silver so shiny and bright?'

Just like with the single page earlier, neither of them has any idea what it means. But hopefully, they can use it to find the others and get the heck out of here…wherever 'here' is.

…And once again, the 'insect' is on the ceiling…

OoOoOoO

Elsewhere, the masked man can be seen sitting in front of several TV screens. Each one lit up and displaying live footage to him.

Footage of Yamcha and Rose conversing in the torture chamber.

Footage of Lapis and Jasper (both in new outfits as well) in the great hall, which is a mess and has broken materials scattered about, with the latter pulling a soot-covered box out of the fireplace and opening it up. Both of them stare in shock when they see that it's a detached statue hand tightly clutching something golden. All the while, Lapis holds a paper she found earlier.

Footage of Peridot (looking comically small without her Limb Enhancer) and Amethyst (both also in new outfits) in the kitchen. There are a few burn marks here and there in the room. Peridot looks over the piece of paper Amethyst gave her, clearly struggling to find some kind of meaning.

Footage of Apache Tears (her outfit also new) in the ballroom. She's looking around and clutching her deactivated weapon, clearly unsure of where to go next.

And no matter where you looked, vines were everywhere. Snaked around corners, wrapped around pillars, climbing the walls…There was just no escaping them.

Perfect.

"Let me out of here, you asshole!" The shrill yell can be heard behind the masked man. It's revealed that, on the opposite end of the room, is a single holding cell, lit by a single dim lightbulb. Bulma is inside, looking furious yet terrified; bits of machinery, most of which being her destroyed BLOOMA Suit, and various tools surround her; and her hands are cut up and bleeding. The bars of the cell are surrounded by barbed wire, something that Bulma learned a little too late when she tried to force the door open earlier.

When she woke up, she found a single piece of paper that simply said: 'Dragon Radar'. The one in her Suit had been destroyed during the scuffle in Natade Village; this man clearly wanted a new one, and she refused to do so.

Instead of answering her, the man stands up from his chair and glances over at Bulma. Even though she can't see his face, she flinches away in surprise nonetheless. He stares at her for several long seconds, making Bulma uncomfortably shrink away and sit down on the cell's single bed. Then, he turns away and walks to the right side of the room. There's a large glass window, and he slowly taps on it two times.

OoOoOoO

All across the castle, the vines suddenly move.

Back in the torture chamber, Yamcha and Rose both whip around in surprise when a metal portcullis on the other end of the room, completely iced-over, suddenly has several vines loop themselves through the openings and brake it into several pieces. The pieces are dropped, and the vines slither into the darkness of the new hallway.

Yamcha and Rose (placing the book in the pocket of her new apron) are both unsure for a minute, then reluctantly decide to head into the hallway, still using their chi and gemstone light sources respectively. They're barely a few feet into the hall before several more vines suddenly burst out of the ground in front of the doorway and crisscross in front of it, essentially blocking the way out and startling the duo.

With no choice but to keep moving, Rose and Yamcha continue down the long hall. Though one detail doesn't escape them: aside from the ones at the entrance, there isn't a single vine in this area.

After a few minutes of walking, they can see lights flickering around a corner as they draw closer to the end of the hall. And it's accompanied by the sound of human voices. They can both feel hope rising within them, and extinguish their light sources.

But as they get closer, it becomes clear that the human voices sound distressed…A thud and a squelching snap hit their ears, just as one of the voices is cut off…The other voice stops, though clattering can be heard…All the while, the lights continue flickering.

They finally turn the corner, which exits out into an enormous room that's almost completely iced over and covered in several inches of snow. Wind is swirling and snowflakes continue falling, as if there's a blizzard happening indoors. There are several lights above, which go out every few seconds. And during a few seconds of light, Yamcha and Rose are greeted with a horrifying sight.

That…What the hell is that?!

It's vaguely humanoid, yet at the same time almost looks like a Gem. But it isn't like any human or Gem they've ever seen, corrupted or otherwise. It's very tall and has a rather feminine appearance, has limbs that are long and spindly, is slightly hunched over, is an uneven mishmash of purple, black and white splotches, has an unkempt mess of lilac hair that vaguely resembles a star, has fingers sharpened like long claws that look like they're covered in ice and red liquids, and is wearing a ripped-up cocktail dress stained with blood.

There's a corpse at its feet. A fresh one. Though they can't tell if it's male or female, as the head is completely smashed and the body is covered in lacerations and bloodstains.

There's another person in the room—a young man wearing traditional clothing. He's staring at the creature with wide, terrified eyes and has both hands over his mouth; the creature is standing as still as a statue, and is just a few feet away. Before either Yamcha or Rose can think of anything to do, the lights go out again, and they can see the man turn and run away.

Seconds later, the lights turn back on. The man's made it several feet, and he abruptly stumbles to a stop. The creature snaps its head up as he stumbles, and quicker than they can comprehend, it barrels towards the man and deeply slashes his back. The man falls to the ground with a scream that echoes across the room, and the creature smashes his head in with its hand, immediately silencing him.

Neither Yamcha nor Rose can even move for a minute. As soon as the man is dead, the creature goes back to standing like a statue. Then, a feeling of nausea overwhelms Yamcha and he runs back into the hallway to vomit. He hits the wall with a thud as he does so, and the creature whips around to stare in the direction of the noise. Rose finds herself unable to move, staring back at the creature, waiting for it to do something. After several seconds, the creature slowly turns away and goes back to its statue act.

Rose blinks and shudders. By now, Yamcha's finished emptying his stomach and walks back to Rose's side. The moment she notices him, Rose turns and places a finger over her lips as she glances over at the creature, clearly telling him to be quiet. If her suspicions are correct…

Yamcha silently nods. Then, Rose gingerly takes a step forward, watching the creature as she does so. The snow softly crunches beneath her feet, but the creature doesn't move this time. It seems that the howling winds drowned it out.

An idea strikes Rose. She turns back to Yamcha and lifts him into her arms, carry him bridal style. Normally he'd protest, but he trusts her judgment. She jumps into the air and soars over to another part of the room, then gently floats down and lands on her toes, the snow softly shifting beneath her feet.

Rose looks back at the creature, which they're a little closer to now, but still behind it. That's when another idea strikes her. She looks around for a second, then carefully places Yamcha back on his feet before tiptoeing a couple of steps. She picks up a rock and chucks it to the right corner of the room, causing it to collide with the wall with an echoing thud.

Immediately, the creature rushes over to the noise. Rose smiles and looks over at Yamcha, who's surprised but smiles as well once he meets her gaze. While the creature investigates the noise, Yamcha and Rose quietly tiptoe a few steps forward.

During the few seconds the lights are on, the duo manages to spot something on the other end of the room, several yards away. It's a giant wall of ice, thick but surprisingly translucent…and it looks like there's something behind it…

With a new goal simultaneously popping up in their minds, Yamcha and Rose slowly but surely inch towards the wall of ice. Occasionally, they'll use a rock, something on one of the few shelves in the room, or anything on the ground that isn't completely iced over. So far, it's working, with the creature following the noise and growling each time.

But luck eventually runs out.

With each distraction, it's clear that the creature is becoming more and more agitated. Its icy claws start to glow with pinkish-purple energy, ruthlessly claws as the areas it heard the noises, and as it grows more annoyed, ice spikes start rapidly growing in random places and the wind occasionally picks up speed. But so far, the duo is making good progress.

Now, they just need to find a way to get past the ice wall.

Eventually, they approach another shelf, and Rose starts to walk towards it…but learns too late that there's a sheet of ice beneath the snow. She slips and falls forward in surprise. Yamcha catches and pulls her back before she can hit the ground…but not before she collides with the shelf, causing it to fall and loudly hit the floor, the items on it crashing to the snow as well.

The creature immediately rushes towards the noise. Yamcha and Rose jump away as it attacks, but not quick enough. It strikes, and Yamcha suddenly finds himself yelling as white-hot pain pulsates through his face. It isn't until he hits the snow that he realizes the creature had slashed over his right eye; it's too painful for him to open now.

Hiding is no longer an option. From now on, they have no choice but to fight back. But now that they know about the creature's response to sound and movement, and not being able to see in the dark, they try to exploit this as much as possible. Yelling and then standing still so the other can move, Rose throwing her shield at some of the lights to destroy them, counting the seconds between the darkness and light to know exactly when to stop…It isn't easy, and the creature manages to hit them with a few more scratches and ice spikes, but they're eventually able to make it to the ice wall.

Despite the pain, Yamcha gets an idea and quickly whispers to Rose as the creature tries to find them again. "Destroy the ice. I'll distract that thing."

Rose makes a noise of affirmation, and Yamcha holds his right hand up as his left grabs the wrist. A vivid glow builds up in his palm, forming into an orb of chi that floats above his hand, something he's been perfecting for the past two years. With a motion of his hand, he plunges the orb—his Sokidan—into the ground. Then, with another motion, the Sokidan suddenly flies out of the ground in front of the creature and slams into its chin, causing it to shriek and stumble back.

Yamcha rushes to another part of the room as the creature struggles to regain itself, and Rose summons her shield. They quickly create a system. Rose slams her shield into the ice wall, cracking it each time; and at the exact same moment, Yamcha hits the creature with the Sokidan so it won't attack her.

Rose is about halfway through when the creature suddenly screams loud enough to shake the room and make both of them clutch their heads in pain. A few ice spikes break from the ceiling and shatter to the ground, forcing Yamcha and Rose to move out of the way. And before Rose can regain her balance, the creature suddenly appears right in front of her. She quickly summons her shield, but the creature hits her side before it fully materializes, sending her flying to another part of the room with a shout of pain.

The creature looks ready to lunge again, only for the Sokidan to hit it in the head again. As it shrieks and stumbles, Yamcha runs over to Rose and helps her up.

They've got to try again. Yamcha continues to distract the creature, this time using the Sokidan to knock some ice spikes from the ceiling, giving Rose another chance to break the ice. The entire time, Yamcha can feel his heart pounding in his chest, and is sweating despite the gelid temperatures. His gem occasionally glows as his emotions heighten, but so far, nothing's happened…

Blood mixes in with the snow and all three of the room's occupants. After another minute that seems to drag on, Yamcha moves his hand again to knock more ice spikes down. But the creature recovers from the latest attack faster than he anticipated and rushes towards him, clawing at his back before he can fully jump out of the way.

Yamcha yells in pain and falls to the snow. The creature's about to attack again, but a pink blur zooms past it and grabs Yamcha just before it can, causing the creature to only hit the snow instead. Yamcha and Rose tumble for a moment, and in the rush of adrenaline and panic, their gemstone glow and surround their bodies…

The creature rushes towards the light, only to be unexpectedly hit by something. It slams into a nearby wall, shrieking again and causing the room to shake, a few more ice spikes falling.

If one were to look, they'd see that Yamcha and Rose are gone. And in their place stands a new being. He stands as tall as the creature; a lavender shield surrounded by a blue glow in one hand, and a crackling bluish-white whip in the other. His right eye is closed and bloody, but his left eye is like fire as he glares at the creature.

He is the fusion between Yamcha and Rose Quartz: Lavender Quartz.

The tides have changed. The creature continues its merciless attacks, but Lavender Quartz proves to much stronger and faster than it can keep up with. The only thing Lavender Quartz has trouble with is the Electric Whip, internally cursing the fact that Yamcha had neglected to properly train with it. Nevertheless, he manages to hit the creature with it a few times…and besides drawing blood, it seems to shock the creature as well, if its shrieks and jerking motions are any indication…

The fight goes on for what feel like hours, with constant back and forth from both sides. Finally, Lavender Quartz ends it by making both the shield and whip vanish, then placing both hands in front of his face. "Solar Flare!" he yells, and a burst of bright light fills the room. The creature shrieks and jerks back, momentarily blinded.

And Lavender Quartz takes the opportunity to summon his shield again, glowing blue with Yamcha's chi, and flings it at the creature. The shield hits the creature dead-on in its stomach, severing it in half.

Both halves of the creature fall to the now red snow. The shield disappears, and Lavender Quartz relaxes for a moment, breathing heavily from the fight. The creature, however, is still alive, based on the pained yet angry noises it makes. Lavender Quartz is ready to fight again…but then he looks at the creature's upper half, and gasps.

The dress had been ripped in half as well, allowing Lavender Quartz to see something on its back…

Lavender Quartz is quickly split in two, surprising Yamcha as Rose rushes over, her eyes wide and both hands over her mouth. Yamcha heads over to see what it is. The thing on the creature's back…it looks like two gemstones—one black with a jagged white spot pattern, another with a rainbow glimmer in the light—or more accurately, the broken fragments of two gemstones fused together.

OoOoOoO

The masked man watches all of this go down. And the moment the creature is cut in half, he picks a journal up from the floor and calmly flips to a certain page. He stops on a page with a picture of the creature, right above a few detailed paragraphs and right underneath the named 'TIFFANY', and crossed out the page with a red pen.

"Ha! You see that? They can take out anything you throw at them!" Bulma smugly yells, feeling confident despite still being trapped.

The masked man closes the journal and stands up, turning to face Bulma. "I still expect a radar from you," he says simply.

The periwinkle-haired woman huffs and smirks at him, both hands on her hips. "Yeah, right," she says. "You really think I'm gonna make it for you?" She laughs at the thought.

The masked man doesn't give her a verbal response. Instead, he places the journal on his chair and walks back over to the glass window. He slowly taps on the glass four times.

OoOoOoO

Rose is horrified. Yamcha opens his mouth to ask what's wrong, but he's cut off by two vines slithering through the entrance. The creature whips its head in the direction of the movement. But instead of attacking, it shrieks again. Not out of pain or fury. Out of terror.

Yamcha and Rose both jump away as the creature claws through the snow, trying to get away from the vines. One of the vines wraps itself around the creature's lower half…and the moment the vine makes contact, the skin turns black and rapidly spreads across the flesh as the lower half is dragged back through the entrance.

Rose and Yamcha can only stare in shock as the second vine grabs the creature's upper half despite its efforts to get away, shrieking one final time as its flesh begins to darken and decay, quickly getting dragged off. And then, silence.

The winds die down into nothing, and the ice and snow begin to melt bit-by-bit. "What…What just…?" Yamcha says quietly. He turns to Rose, who is still wide-eyed and has her hands near her mouth.

"Snowflake…" she whispered, her voice crackling with fear and what sounds like grief. "Angel…"

"Rose?" Yamcha speaks up. "What's wrong?"

His voice brings her back to reality, and as soon as she turns to him, she gasps and starts fretting over the wound on his face. He lets her look it over and determines that, while it's pretty deep, it thankfully didn't touch his right eye.

Rose quiets for a moment, glancing over at the entrance for a moment. Then, she shakes her head and walks over to the ice wall, summoning her shield again and completely breaking a section of the ice big enough for both of them to fit through.

"Let's go," she says, her voice sterner than usual. There's a dark look in her eyes now. Yamcha's surprised by her sudden change in attitude, and can't help but wonder if those fused gem shards had anything to do with it…

Regardless, Yamcha follows Rose through the hole. It's revealed that the thing behind the ice wall is a large door, opening to a staircase heading upwards. And, with nowhere else to go, the duo heads up.

OoOoOoO

The upper half of the creature—Tiffany—is dragged into the room by one of the vines, shrieking and crying as its body rapidly rots away, struggling to escape the vine's grasp. Bulma watches in horror, while the masked man merely watches from several feet away.

"Isn't it fascinating?" The man asks casually. "These vines have no effect on a Gem's form, but they have a very interesting reaction to organic material."

The man taps the glass window once, and the vine releases its grip on Tiffany. The creature's rotting upper half falls to the ground with another shriek of pain. The man walks over, and just as Tiffany struggles to look up at him, he grabs the jagged amalgamation of gem shards on its back and yanks it out, drawing a little more blood in the process. Tiffany makes a strangled noise before going completely limp, and the same vine from before drags it out of the room.

And then, to Bulma's shock, from the man's palm forms a splotchy white and black bubble, encasing the gem shards.

The man turns to Bulma, still gaping at him. "I'll say it again," the man tells her, his voice calm as ever. "I expect a radar from you."

Bulma snaps out of her shock, glaring at him intensely. "Are you insane?!" she yells. "After what you just did to that thing?! In your dreams, pal!"

The man quietly walks over to the glass window again, tapping on it three times. Except nothing happens after it. The man turns to face the glass, then taps it again three times. Again, nothing.

Wordlessly, the man holds up his free hand towards the glass. Seconds later, the sounds of pained, distorted screaming reach Bulma's ears. It feels like a stone is dropped in her stomach. What…What's going on? What's he doing, and what's on the other side of the glass?!

After several long seconds, the man lowers his hand, and the screaming quiets down. Then, a few seconds later, a vine appears and slowly slithers towards Bulma's cell. The periwinkle-haired woman tries to be brave and call the man's bluff, but soon enough, the vine is inches away from her flesh. And as tears of fear brim her eyes, she yells out, "Okay! Okay! I'll do it!"

The masked man taps the glass once, and the vine quickly retreats back out of the room. He lets the black and white bubble float up a couple of feet, then sits back down in his chair. Bulma wipes away her tears and reluctantly starts working with the machinery and tools around her. As she does so, the man flips through the journal again, looking through three more profiles.

'LONDON'

'WAVELL'

'CANDY'

Similar to the last couple of arcs, I had to split this into three parts; it was originally going to be two, but I had to divide it up again because of how much there is. But rest assured, after the third part, we'll be heading into the Piccolo Jr. Arc!

Yeah, I decided to include the village and the first scenes from "Broly: Second Coming"…It was funny in my head, and I couldn't resist lol

We finally get Yamcha's signature scars! And until Toriyama actually shows us how he got them, it's free real estate!

For anyone wondering, Tiffany's name comes from the Tiffany Stone (or Opal Fluorite or Bertrandite), London's comes from Londonite, Wavell's comes from Wavellite, and Candy comes from Candy Jade

This mini story-arc was inspired by a few games: Resident Evil (particularly 4, 7 and 8), Poppy Playtime, Bloodborne, Dark Souls, Hunt: Showdown, Left 4 Dead (one of my all-time favorite games!), Silent Hill, and Until Dawn

Thank you so much for reading this! God bless you and have a wonderful day/night/whenever you read this!

A quick description of the Crystal Gems' new outfits!

Peridot – strapless jumpsuit with a heart-shaped neckline, cadmium-green top with a golden six-point star on the chest, and high-waisted pants that's half dark green (left) and half parakeet-green (right). Pale chartreuse-yellow belt around her waist. And her visor.

Jasper – sleeveless, reddish-orange sundress with a flowing skirt that ends at her knees. Chocolate-brown, sleeveless cropped jacket. Knee-high, dark reddish-orange boots. Elbow-high, caramel-brown fingerless gloves, with darker trimming, and a white six-point star on the back of her hands.

Lapis Lazuli – white tank top with a golden six-point star on the front. Baby-blue transparent capelet. Indigo high-waisted denim shorts. Cobalt-blue ballet slippers. Two golden bows on either side of her head.

Rose Quartz – lemonade-pink shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. Long punch-pink skirt that ends at her shins, and has white frilly trimming. Taffy-pink cooking apron with a white six-point star on the chest. Pastel-red ribbon tied around her waist. Barefoot. White and pink hibiscus flower in her hair.

Apache Tears – retro, summer French-style black cheongsam with short white sleeves, white trimming leading from the shoulders and curving down to the midsection, a white six-point star on the back, ends at her knees, frilly white trimming at the bottom, and gray blossom-shaped pins on the dress (three on the chest, and two on the front right above the small slit). White sash around her waist. Gray uwabaki shoes. The same white bow on the back of her head.

Amethyst – short-sleeved, off-shoulder Rebecca-purple shirt, with the words 'CAPSULE CORP.' on the front in white lettering, underneath a matching Capsule Corp. logo. Grape-colored bra straps resting on her shoulders. Ripped, deep periwinkle-colored jeans with black leggings underneath, and six-point star cutouts on the knees. White boots.

(And yes, Rose's outfit is based on Julieta Madrigal's from 'Encanto', and I got the idea to give Jasper a dress from Luisa Madrigal. Muscular women in dresses/skirts FTW!)

Lavender Quartz

(He/Him)

Gems: Yamcha/Holly Blue Agate and Rose Quartz

Appearance: 20 feet tall. Strong and stocky build. Light mauve complexion. Dark raspberry-pink hair that's messy and curly and ends at his chest. Raspberry-pink goatee. Black eyes. A blend of Yamcha and Rose's features. Lavender gemstones.

Clothing: Dark violet pants. Yamcha/Holly's jacket; open, shirtless underneath. Medium-purple bandana tied around his neck. Eggplant-purple short fingerless gloves. Barefoot.

Voice Actor: Robbie Daymond (sounds like Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon)