Chapter 3
The Rebels walked up to the mortuary, stopping at the front door. With a deep breath, Jenny knocked on the door.
"Oh well, he's not here," Spinal said immediately. "What a shame. I guess we'll get the hell out of here now."
He turned and started to leave, but Fulgore grabbed him by the headband.
"We're not going anywhere, shorty."
"I still can't believe this," Jade whispered to Jeice. "If the J-Gang has been dead the whole time, do you think the story they told about Mr. Simms is true?"
"I don't know," Jeice replied. "But I wouldn't rule it out. Black Shadow wouldn't assign any old man to be a general. There must be more to Simms than meets the eye."
"Well, I guess you have a point."
Jenny knocked on the door again. "Hello! Anybody home?"
They waited patiently for another moment, but still nothing happened.
"Oh, this is ridiculous," Pico growled. "Let's just barge in and kill that bastard!"
"I have to agree with him," Fulgore said. "We can't just politely knock on the door and say, 'Hey, we're going to kill you.'"
Jenny rolled her eyes and scoffed as she performed the "shave-and-a-haircut" knock. Suddenly, the blinds within the door glass flew up, revealing the face of Mr. Simms with his twisted smile. The Rebels gasped, jumping back with a start.
"I've been waiting for you all," Simms said, as he opened the door and stepped aside. "Won't you come in?"
The Rebels exchanged confused glances as they carefully entered the building. Mr. Simms turned and walked into the main room, down the red aisle carpet with brown oak benches on either side. The Rebels followed cautiously.
"So...you're Mr. Simms, right?" Jenny asked.
"That's right," Simms replied in a low, dry voice. "Did you want something?"
"You're the general here, right? You rule this planet on Black Shadow's behalf?"
Simms smiled. "Why, yes."
Jenny's eyes widened. "Wow..."
"We weren't expecting Black Shadow to choose an old man who only has a
few years of life remaining at best," Yamcha said.
"So how may I help you?" Mr. Simms asked. "Surely you wouldn't visit one of Black Shadow's generals for nothing, would you?"
"He actually wants to help us?" Yamcha whispered to Fulgore.
"Actually...we came here to challenge you," Jenny said.
"Or simply killing you will be good enough." Pico shoved his way through the group. "So die."
Pressing the barrel of his handgun to Simms' forehead, Pico pulled the trigger. The Rebels jumped with a start as the blast pierced their ears. The blood splattered on the wall behind Mr. Simms as his body instantly hit the floor with a thud.
"There, let's move on to the next general." Pico turned and walked through the crowd again.
When Jenny recovered from the shock, she rolled her eyes with an exasperated sigh. "Stupid..."
"You blood-spilling beast!" Hallie scolded as Pico walked by.
The Rebels shrugged as they started to leave as well.
"Heh heh...nice shot," a voice said from behind them.
The Rebels paused upon hearing the voice. Turning around, they saw Mr. Simms on his feet again. The bullet hole in his forehead was still quite visible as the blood trickled down in between his eyes.
"Surprised?" he asked with a grin.
Jenny looked at him sideways. "Not really. We know that Black Shadow's generals couldn't be finished that easily."
"Well then, I accept your challenge. But first I'll bring you...straight to hell!"
Suddenly, flames began to erupt from the corners of the walls and ceiling. When the ceiling made a creaking noise, Jenny looked up.
"Uh...guys?" she called nervously.
Everyone looked up, realizing the same thing. They all raised their arms, blasting the ceiling away with their ki. The walls then fell apart, and the Rebels gasped at the horrifying sight.
The entire mortuary burned up in flames as the Rebels looked around in their new fiery setting. The ground resembled black lava rocks with the red glow illuminating underneath, with flame bursts erupting from random points.
"Is this...hell?" Hallie asked.
"Oh hell..." Yamcha grumbled.
"Hey, where'd Mr. Simms go?" Fulgore asked.
"He ran away, because he was afraid of me," Vegeta growled.
Jenny rolled her eyes. "Not bloody likely..."
"So if Mr. Simms is gone, shouldn't we look for a way out of here?" Hallie asked.
"He's gotta be around here somewhere," Jeice said. "We have to defeat him."
"That's right," Jade added. "We can't leave until he's defeated."
"What's with you two all of a sudden?" Yamcha asked. "You make it sound like a personal obligation."
"Well...maybe it is," Jeice said. "Jenny, please."
Jenny shrugged. "Well, I never had any intention of backing out, so all right. We'll take him out together."
"This time we'll make sure he's dead," Pico said.
"You just love to kill people, don't you?" Fulgore scoffed.
"I'm an assassin. It's my job and my nature."
"Sure..."
"Come on, you guys," Jenny said. "Let's look around and see if we can find Simms."
The group nodded and proceeded to walk across the burning ground. As they moved cautiously, the flames continued to burst from the ground at random points.
"Damn, it's hot in here!" Yamcha cried.
"Personally, I don't mind the heat," Pico said.
"You just like to whine, don't you?" Vegeta asked.
"No, I just like to make conversation," Yamcha replied.
Suddenly, a flame burst out from the ground ahead, propelling a man into the air. Completely engulfed by the flames, the man hit the ground screaming. He immediately scrambled to his feet and ran towards the Rebels, who quickly parted for him. The Rebels watched in disbelief as the man ran past them.
"Whatever happened to 'Stop, drop, and roll'?" Yamcha asked.
The Rebels shook their heads.
"That...is that Jack?" Jeice asked.
"It sure looked like him," Jade said.
"Jack!" The siblings began to chase after the flaming man.
"Jeice!" Jenny called after them, then briefly glanced at the other Rebels. "Come on!"
The Rebels continued to chase the flaming man, with Jade and Jeice in the lead.
"Jack, wait up!" Jeice called.
"We want to help you!" Jade cried.
"Ahh!" Jack continued to scream as he ran through a black castle door and into a corridor.
"Do they know this guy?" Yamcha huffed as he sprinted with the rest of the group.
"I...have no idea," Jenny replied in between heavy breaths.
Jade and Jeice followed the flaming man through another door. Before the Rebels could reach it, the heavy steel door suddenly slammed down, and the Rebels crashed into it.
Jade spun around as the door slammed shut behind her. "Jeice, the door!"
"It's a trap!" Jeice realized.
He tried to kick the door, even though it was completely futile. Suddenly, a group of orange glowing rock creatures emerged from the ground, grabbing both siblings. Jade and Jeice both screamed in agony as the grip ate through their skin like molten lava.
"Put him on the table..." a voice ordered.
Jeice gasped. "Simms?"
The rock creatures lifted him up and placed him onto the steel altar, holding him down firmly. Meanwhile, Jade continued to scream as she struggled against the creature restraining her.
Mr. Simms appeared again, standing in between the creatures that restrained Jeice on the altar.
"You..." Jeice growled. "The J-Gang said that you...were dragged to hell by Satan himself. Why!?"
"To obtain supreme power..." Simms replied. "All these years as a mortician, I've always enjoyed scaring people. So I made a pact with the devil."
Jade paused in the monsters' grip, gasping at the story. "Wh...what?"
"You sold your soul to the devil for the sake of scaring people!?" Jeice growled. "That's totally insane!"
---------------
Just outside the room, the other Rebels were looking for a way to open the door. Their actions ranged from examining the door itself to searching for a nearby switch.
"Damn it, there's no way in!" Yamcha said.
Jenny pounded on the door. "There has to be a way!"
"Jade and Jeice are still in there," Arbin said. "We can't leave them."
"Move out of the way, you idiots!" Vegeta growled.
The Rebels looked back at him and gladly moved aside. Vegeta aimed his palm at the door, gathering his blue energy. He then fired a massive energy blast, hitting the door head on. When the door was completely unfazed, Vegeta stopped and growled.
"Nice, Vegeta," Pico said.
"Oh shut up!" Vegeta snapped. "Let's see your guns do any better!"
"Unlike you, I'm smart enough not to waste my ammo like that."
"That's enough, you guys!" Jenny said.
Fulgore looked at the door carefully. "It looks like there's only one way to open this."
Digging his fingers under the door, the cyborg began straining to lift it open. "Ugh...a little help, please?"
"Let me help." Bio Rex joined Fulgore at the door. Together they slowly lifted the door, letting the others squeeze past them.
"Jeice!" Jenny cried out as she spotted the former Ginyu Force member restrained on the table.
"Huh?" Jeice looked up for a brief moment. Then, with a loud scream, he unleashed a surge of power from his body, instantly disinitegrating the lava rock creatures that restrained him. He then sprang his body off the table and cringed in pain. "Argh!"
Jade raised her right arm, ramming her elbow into the creature's head behind her. The creature's head crumbled, and the body fell to the floor, releasing Jade, who then held her elbow in pain.
"Jeice, what happened?" Jenny asked.
Jeice straightened himself, revealing his charred body. "Those creatures...they burn you when they touch you."
"Jeice!" Jade rejoined the group. "Mr. Simms is gone again!"
Jeice looked again to see that the mortician was nowhere in sight. "Damn it!"
Jenny let out an exasperated sigh. "Come on..."
The Rebels walked through the back door, out onto another bed of hard, glowing lava rocks. Only not, it felt hotter than before, tne the Rebels could feel their feet burning from the rocks.
"Oh damn..." Yamcha groaned. "It's so hot in here, I can hardly breathe!"
"My feet are starting to burn, sis," Hallie said.
"Mine, too," Jenny responded. "We can't survive in here too long. We'd better defeat Simms before this heat kills us."
"This place is awful," Arbin said. "I feel like I'm going to spontaneously combust."
"Look, there he is again!" Jade cried, pointing at where Mr. Simms stood straight ahead.
"You're not getting away!" Jeice yelled.
The Rebels began charging at the mortician, but before they could reach him, another band of the lava creatures emerged from the ground. The Rebels brought themselves to a screeching halt.
Without warning, the creatures moved in to attack. Jenny stepped back as one of the creatures lashed at her with a punching combo, its fists flaming with each punch. Moving quickly to dodge the attacks, Jenny avoided her first instinct to block. However, a wide hook from the monster forced Jenny to block the attack. She screamed as the contact burned her arm. Bearing the pain, Jenny thrust her palm into the monster's chest, sending it flying backwards.
"Ow!" she cried out, looking at her burned palm.
"Sis, what happened?" Hallie asked.
"Jeice wasn't kidding," Jenny told her. "Those things will burn you if you touch them."
"Then let's blast 'em!"
"Ah, good idea."
Two more creatures appeared on either side of them. Moving back to back, the sisters fired their energy blasts from their palms, blasting the creatures to pieces.
The other Rebels began to follow suit, blasting the lava monsters with their ki. As a cyborg, Fulgore was immune to the burns, so he continued to fight up close. Pico resorted to using his shotgun to strike the creatures, while Spinal used his sword and shield.
"Jade!" Jeice motioned for his sister to follow him as he began to hover into the air.
Jade hovered in front of her brother. "What is it, Jeice?"
"When I was in the Ginyu Force, Burter and I used to combine our powers for a move that we called the Purple Spiral Flash Attack."
Jade nodded. "Okay."
"I want to try performing the move with you," Jeice added.
"Okay, how do we do it?"
"We fly in circles at a blazing speed, blasting the enemies."
"Hmm...I'm not sure I understand, but let's try it."
The siblings flew in fast circles, creating a glowing purple spiral between them. However, nothing came out from the spiral. Jeice suddenly came to a screeching halt, and Jade crashed into him. The impact had them both falling from the air, crashing onto the ground. Vegeta walked over to them, standing over them condescendingly.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked.
Jeice looked up. "Uh...the Purple Spiral Flash Attack?"
"Don't be absurd! That move never worked for anything!"
Jeice stood up. "Oh shut up! We'll make it work!"
Jade picked herself up as well. "Jeice, what happened? The attack didn't work! Why?"
"It's been a long time since I've done it," Jeice said. "There's something missing. It'll come back to me, but I need some time to think."
"Well, you'd better think fast! We don't know how much longer we can last in here!"
The Rebels each fired one more energy shot, destroying the remaining lava creatures. Then they regrouped to face Mr. Simms.
"Well, still alive, I see," he said, seemingly amused. "That's all right...for the longer you live, the longer you suffer."
In the middle of the heat, Jenny felt a cold chill rushing through her spine upon hearing that statement. She clenched her fists as she felt her heart beating faster.
"Hey, are you gonna fight or not!?" Hallie called.
"Very well!" Mr. Simms screamed. "Prepare to feel the wrath of my eternal flames!"
The snake tongue flicked out betwee his front teeth once again. Suddenly, his body grew three times its normal size, ripping his clothes. Instead of a human body, it revealed a slimy, scaly body. Finally, the wings sprouted from the mortician's back, and a pair of large horns protruded from his head.
The Rebels gasped at the demon form.
"They didn't say anything about this!?" Jade cried.
"No, they didn't," Jeice agreed in a flat tone.
Jenny continued to stare blankly, apparently unaware of the large demon ahead. The longer you live, the longer you suffer...
"Hey sis..." Hallie said. "We're waiting for your cue."
"Hmm?" Jenny snapped out of her trance, looking back at the other Rebels. She then faced the large demon, narrowing her eyes as she assumed her basic fighting stance. "Well, Mr. Simms...I would say 'Go to hell,' but it looks like we're already there. Let's go, guys!"
The Rebels squared themselves, preparing for battle.