I do not own Dragonball Z, Justice League, Teen Titans, or Inuyasha
Chapter 05: Lost
It was so long ago it seemed, Caliwone thought to himself as he speed across this bazaar land, that he had been transported here. Was it days now? Months? Years? Caliwone honestly no longer knew. He came to a stop in the air and looked down at the sword in his hand. The Mangetsuken glinted in the light passing through the clouds overhead as the early morning transitioned into afternoon, its vicious looking nature a true representation of its power. Like Caliwone himself, it had the ferocity of any Saiyan.
Caliwone frowned, an idea clicking on in his mind. The sword itself, reacting to his intent and increase in power and menace had transformed into its true form much like how Caliwone transformed into a Super Saiyan. Perhaps, with a calming flow and intent, the sword would return to its normal state. He concentrated, willing the blade to revert but nothing happened. Sighing and relaxing his tense muscles, he stretched out with his mind, trying to find Naraku's energy. There was a sudden flash from the other side of his eye lids and he snapped them open to see the blade returned to its more passive state. He sheathed it, wondering again at the strange turns his life had taken since his time on this planet.
He closed his eyes again and stretched out his mind. Unlike the Earth from which he had awakened from before he had begun to lay siege to it, this planet's population of demons and humans was intoxicating, full of power, many with powers above his own in his weakened state. The weight of Mangetsuken at his side seemed to tug lightly as if to remind Caliwone of the power the weapon itself was lending him.
His mind continued its search until with a subtle prod, Caliwone found what he was looking for. With a flare of fire like that of the exhaust of a shuttle, Caliwone blasted forth. The sense was not too far away and with an explosive crash, Caliwone landed in the middle of a dense forest. The smoke cleared away and Caliwone stood straight, a familiar scowl creasing his face as he searched for Naraku. What he saw was a white haired female child that looked as though she could be no older than ten. She carried a small mirror clutched in her hands but there was no fear on her face from his purposely dramatic entrance. In fact, there was no expression on her face at all.
"Hurry up," Kagome shouted, her voice stuttering slightly as Inuyasha continued to run and leap with her on his back.
"Shaddup," Inuyasha growled, throwing his passenger a dirty look. "We're going as fast as we can here."
"I know," Kagome said, gripping a little harder onto his red cloth. "But I sense jewel shards ahead."
"I can sense Caliwone up a head as well," Miroku said from his position straddling Kirara in her full demon form with a hand around Sango's waist as he uncomplainingly hung on so as to not be thrown.
"And I can smell Naraku," Inuyasha added darkly. "Or at least one of his incarnations. Kanna, I think but from here it's hard to tell."
"If Caliwone is there, then he might not know about Kanna's mirror," Sango said, remembering painfully what that mirror was capable of. "We need to reach him before she kills him."
The five of them burst out of the sparse tree line that surrounded Kaede's village, past the bone eaters well, and into the open expanse of valley. With no more obstacles, Inuyasha and Kirara pushed their speeds to their limits. No matter what, they needed to get to Caliwone before he got himself killed.
Caliwone narrowed his eyes and raised one hand. "Who are you? You are not powerful enough to be Naraku."
"Her name is Kanna," a familiar voice said. From behind one tree, Kagura stepped into the light, her ever present fan gracefully keeping a cool breeze on her face. "Like me, she is an incarnation of Naraku."
Caliwone snarled at Kagura's presence, the distasteful memory of their first encounter suddenly rising in his throat. "You will bring me Naraku now."
"Who do you think you are talking to?" Kagura asked. "Nobody tells Naraku to do anything. Even if you were to fight him, you couldn't kill him." She glanced darkly down at Kanna, as if glaring at her she could somehow wound Naraku. "Besides, you don't even have your powers. You wouldn't even get passed me if tried." She narrowed her eyes, daring him to prove her wrong.
Caliwone dropped his sword to the ground and clapped his hands together. This woman would pay dearly for her transgressions. Raising his hands above his head, he fired. Blue and white lanced out toward the two demons. Kagura smiled tightly to herself as her view of the trees and sky were blotted out by the attack. Kanna took a slight step to the side, in front of Kagura, and lifted her mirror.
Lightning crackled around Kanna as the attack hit her mirror... and was sucked inside.
"What?" Caliwone shouted, his mouth hanging open. Before he could say more, the air around Kanna crackled once more and Caliwone's own attack burst from her mirror. Caliwone had no time to move and no time to think. The blast washed over Caliwone like a tidal wave, eradicating the beautiful vista of forest. Kagura allowed for a feral grin to crease her otherwise beautiful face. Snapping the fan closed, she turned her back the battle and started away.
"TSUKI o SAKUGEN!"
Kagura whirled around, slashing her fan across her body. Hurricane winds sprang from her motion just as a crescent moon shaped blast sliced out of the wave of blue energy at her and Kanna. The wind, powerful though it was, barely managed to deflect the attack. The blast cut through the woods, tearing down even the thickest of trees with not a tug to slow it down. No doubt the attack would have sliced her in two with even less effort.
Caliwone stepped forward as his own reflected attack, splitting around him now, faded to nothing. Caliwone hefted the weapon which pulsed in his grip, eager to battle and taste the blood of its enemy. His own blood-lust in tune with his weapon, Caliwone lurched forward. Kagura swore and conjured up another windstorm. Gravel and chunks of tree filled the air between herself and Caliwone before with another sweep of her fan. "Dance of Blades."
Blades of wind cut through the hurricane of foliage and bore down on Caliwone. With a satisfying sound of pierced flesh, the whirring sounds of her blades vanished. Kagura smiled thinly and took a step forward. Or rather, tried to step forward. Something resisted her movement from behind. She looked down and saw a long thin blade extending from between her breasts right where her heart would have been. She turned her head to look back.
"It's true then," Caliwone said from behind her. "No blood, no pain. You truly are a demon."
Kagura sneered at him. "What of it-?"
Leaving the blade sticking in Kagura, Caliwone's free hand grabbed the back of Kagura's head and slammed her face first into the dirt. Planting a knee solidly on her back next to his blade to keep her pinned, Caliwone ground her face into the dirt and leaned forward to speak directly into her ear. "Now tell me, where is Naraku?" Kagura snarled under his grip, completely caught off guard by his brutality and speed. Not even that wolf demon Koga with his two jewel shards was ever that fast. "Answer the question, woman."
"Now, now, there is no need for that," a darkly cool and amused voice said from somewhere in the shades.
Caliwone head snapped up toward the voice. In an instant, Kagura's hand darted to her hair and grabbed a small feather. With a pop and a cloud of smoke, Kagura and Kanna suddenly were fifty feet high into the sky and soaring away from him on the back of an enlarged version of that same feather leaving Caliwone standing alone. He let them go, having no interest in pawns any longer. That voice, so sinister and cruel could only belong to a higher class demon. That voice could only be Naraku.
Out of the shadows, what had once been a man stepped lightly into the clearing. Long black hair lay across eyes and down his back. A single armored eye protruded from his chest. That same armor also covered his shoulders and forearms that meshed horribly with his blue shaded clothing. Two looping arches of armor exited from his shoulder blades and reentered his body midway down his back, right above his three serpentine tails.
Caliwone sneered in disgust, both at such a grotesquely distorted creation as well as hatred. This man not only deceived and manipulated him, but also was withholding the secret for returning home. He lifted his sword, pointing it directly at Naraku's chest.
"I see that your resolve to do things your own way has returned," Naraku said. "That means your usefulness to me has come to an end. A pity."
"I will not be used by the likes of you," Caliwone countered. "I stand alone."
"Heh. Indeed you do. In this world," Naraku gestured expansively to the area around him, "you are indeed isolated from everyone you know and love. Is that what you want?"
Caliwone forced a grim smile onto his face. "You know very little about me, don't you. I have a tendency to leap without looking." In a puff of smoke, Caliwone vanished. With a mighty swing from above Naraku, intending to catch him off guard by the odd angle of the attack, Caliwone brought his blade crushing down. A barrier erected itself all around Naraku, its purplish hue visibly rippling with the impact but showing no signs of breaking.
Naraku smiled to himself and one of his serpentine tail speared out. Caliwone slapped it aside and flipped away. He turned back around quickly and swing his sword horizontally once, then vertically. Two blue crescent bolts lashed outward Naraku and slammed full tilt into his barrier. The portions that struck the shield shattered like glass, fragmenting into thousands of pieces. What did not hit the barrier continued on, cutting down the thick woodland with not even a tug to slow their passage.
Naraku turned, that insufferable smile still on his face as his right hand morphed and elongated grotesquely, spearing outward. Caliwone shifted his hold on his weapon to his left hand and fired a wide blast that left a blue glowing smoke to cloud him. He burst directly forward, just dodging Naraku's counter and striking Naraku's barrier again.
"It is no use," he said from behind the purple shield. "What you are doing is meaningless. Your attacks cannot break through. "
"But mine can!" Inuyasha came leaping in from one side, his Tessaiga glowing red. "WINDSCAR!"
The ground exploded with the attack as light and power cut across the ground and over Naraku's shield. The barrier flickered and disappeared along with Naraku's confident expression. Caliwone didn't hesitate. Before the barrier had fully collapsed, Caliwone was already inside and with one flash of light, Caliwone cut him in two. Naraku screamed in pain as he started to fall. With one final decisive strike, Caliwone severed his head and the screaming immediately ceased.
Caliwone smiled in the sudden silence. He had almost forgotten the sweat pleasure of killing.
"Caliwone, move it!"
Caliwone glanced over at Inuyasha's retreating back and then back at Naraku's body just in time to see a cloud of poison gas gush from the open wounds. Caliwone covered his mouth and nose as best he could and raised his power. His aura burst into existence, its blue energy temporarily pushing back the miasma long enough for him to escape its range.
"What trick is this?"Caliwone asked as he landed next to Inuyasha.
"Naraku cannot be killed like that," Sango said as she hurled her Hiraikotsu into the cloud. Because of the massive size of the boomerang, its passage helped to dispel the cloud as Miroku and Kirara joined the battle.
In the center of the thinning cloud, Naraku's separate body parts rose into sight, floating unaided in the air. Even as Caliwone watched, Naraku's body recreated itself like clay being smoothed back out into a single whole shape. Even his clothing sewed itself back together and the smirk on his face returned.
"That is correct, Demon Slayer." He lifted a hand and his spearing fingers shot out once more.
Caliwone leaped into the air and struck out once more but the barrier had reconstituted itself once more and his attack fell short. Inuyasha countered with his Windscar. Miroku and Sango dodged to the side to avoid the any possible retaliation. Sango hurled her Hiraikotsu again just as Inuyasha's Windscar connected with his barrier. The barrier was cut down and Hiraikotsu cut through him.
"Inuyasha," Naraku said, completely calm as his body separated, then pulled itself together again. "You still do not possess the ability to kill me. Neither do you, alien. And by the time you realize that on your own, you will not be able to remember your own name."
"What do you mean by that?" Caliwone said as he tried again to break through his barrier. "What do you know?"
"It is simple," Naraku said, paying no attention to Inuyasha as he cleaved off one of his arms and more miasma gushed like blood from the wound. "When I discovered your presence here, I had Kanna look for you. What they say is apparently not true, after all. One can exist in two places at once, though not without drastic consequences."
"What are you talking about?" Caliwone fired his Tsuki o Sakugen at Naraku while Inuyasha's Windscar cut through his shield again.
"Isn't it obvious?" Naraku smirked as he avoided being cut in two again. "You exist here, 500 years from what you would call your present, floating through space in suspended animation. Since then you in space is in the correct time flow, all of your memories are being erased and replaced by those of the space you. Which is currently blank."
"So you are saying that I am slowly being erased by time?" Caliwone said, sticking his sword into the ground and firing a barrage of blasts at Naraku.
"That is correct," Naraku said, his serpentine tails whipping outward and striking Inuyasha and Miroku and throwing them backwards. "The only thing you can accomplish here is waste what little time you have left on this world."
A vision of the future flashed before Caliwone's mind. He, Caliwone, wondering through this land with no memories of who he was, no purpose in his life. He would slowly become nothing more than a redundant demon, spilling blood out of lust, not competition, not pride, and not glory. He would lose everything he held dear.
His mind pulled itself from the vision, only to be greeted by another, only this one of the past. J'onn Jon'zz telling him that his world had been obliterated, that he was the last of the Saiyans; that he had been floating through space in suspended animation for an unknown amount of time.
"We will see about that," Caliwone snarled, raising his sword in a maddening rage of desperation. He spun the blade in his hand like a helicopter rotor with his palm at the center. "I will kill you first!" He regained his grip on the hilt and stabbed it straight into the ground. "Mangetsu No Sutoraiki!"
"Get out of here," Inuyasha yelled. Sango and Miroku grabbed hold of Kirara and she took to the air, moving as fast as her Saber-tooth demon form would carry them. They were just in time. The entire area erupted into flames and roiling energy as if a potent bomb had just been released. The shock wave tore Kirara from the sky and all three were hurled into the woods far from the battle while Inuyasha managed to plant his feet and use his Tessaiga to cut through the shock wave.
"Damn it," Inuyasha swore as he felt himself still being pushed back. "I am going to kill that old man when I see him next. What could he have been thinking, making a weapon like this?"
Naraku's laugh split through the air as the blast fell away. "You still do not understand. I cannot be killed by the likes of you."
"NARAKU!" Inuyasha screamed. He raced back to Caliwone and Naraku. "For what you did to me and Kikyo, you will die here!" He slammed his Tessaiga on the ground once more and large shards of diamond burst forward like missiles. "ADAMANT BARRAGE!"
"I will share a secret with you, Saiyan," Naraku said, taking one shard through his stomach and reforming. "You are already lost."
"What do you mean, vermin?" Caliwone snarled. Mangetsuken slashed again, finally finding purchase in Naraku's flesh.
"What are you fighting for?" Naraku asked.
"What?" Caliwone snarled. He pulled back his sword and drove it down into Naraku's head.
"Is it for your own sense of pride?" Naraku asked, completely ignoring the attack. "Or is it to protect someone? If so, who is this person?"
Caliwone opened his mouth and stopped short. What Naraku had been saying was all true. Vague images brushed across his mind like cobwebs. A man in blue and red, a space station, a flash of hawk like wings, that was all he could remember of his recent life after planet Vegeta. What were they.
"I don't need those memories in order to kill the likes of you," Caliwone answered. "I fight for myself and nothing more. For me, the meaning of life is in battles."
"Heh," Naraku said. "Then you are nothing more than a mindless demon."
"Shut up!" Caliwone dropped his sword to the ground and lowered his right hand. "I don't care who you are, but this will finish you off for good, you twisted excuse for a mortal." Red light flashed around Caliwone's hand and gold tinted his own blue aura. "If I lose my own sense of self, then at the very least you shall die by my hand."
There was a flash of red light and a blast that changed the shape of the ground for miles around. Inuyasha hurried to where he had left Kagome, praying that she was alright. The shock wave hit him and threw him to one side. He crashed through a tree and skidded to a halt.
"Of all the bone headed, stupid moves... Does he want to kill himself?" Inuyasha forced himself to his feet and hurried to Kagome who was running toward the blast. He grabbed her and forced her back, shielding her as best he could against all of the shrapnel and debris from the ravaged woodland.
"We have to get to him, Inuyasha," she pleaded. "He's going to die."
"So what?" Inuyasha retorted. "He is throwing his own life away."
"But he doesn't even know why," she said, stopping her struggles against him and burying her face in his chest. "That is just too sad." In the distance, the sounds of the violent explosion ebbed and slowly faded.
"Inuyasha!" Miroku's voiced called out as he and Sango hurried toward them. "Are you alright?"
"We're fine," Inuyasha said.
"This isn't over," Sango said, her eyes darting around for any signs of Naraku.
"No, it is," Inuyasha said and Miroku nodded. "Assuming that blast hit, Naraku would have been torn to pieces by it."
"But his heart doesn't exist in his body," Sango said sharply. "Unless his heart is destroyed he will just regenerate."
"That is true," Miroku said. "But even he will need time to recover after something like that." He gestured into the air to where black smoke still curdled upward. "No, he has escaped. We will just need to be sure we get him next time."
"Right," Inuyasha said. "What about Caliwone?"
They found him on the ground in a pool of his own blood nearly a mile away from the blast site. Mangetsuken had returned to its less aggressive shape beside him, stuck into the Earth like a gravestone. His clothing had been torn to shreds, barely keeping him decently covered.
"He is still alive," Miroku said, sounding more than a little surprised by it. "Unbelievable."
"Even without his memories, he still has extraordinary will," Sango said. "We could hear Naraku and Caliwone the entire time."
"So could we," Inuyasha said.
"Well, let's not just leave him here," Miroku said. "We need to get him back to Kaede's village."
"Right," Inuyasha said.
Caliwone slowly opened his eyes. Light gleamed through the cracks in the wood roof above him. He turned his head to the side, realizing as he did so that he was laying on the floor with a blanket atop him. Birds tweeted outside the hut but he ignored them as he ignored the pain in his sides.
He closed his eyes and took a mental inventory of his injuries. Judging by the pain in his sides, left leg, right arm and shoulder, he would guess that they were all either broken or the muscles themselves had been torn. In either case, he would heal quickly and be back on his feet in no time.
The door opened and Kagome stepped in. "So you are awake finally. That's good to see. How are you feeling?"
"You are that girl," Caliwone said. Her name was on the tip of his tongue but he couldn't quite grasp it.
Kagome's eyes saddened a bit. "Yes. I am Kagome. You don't remember me at all, do you?"
"Hn." Caliwone closed his eyes and turned his head away. "What would I be doing knowing an alien like yourself?"
"I see." Kagome stepped over to him. "Can you walk? There is something that I absolutely must show you."
"I have nothing to do with the likes of you," Caliwone said. "Leave me be."
"If you cannot walk, I will have Inuyasha carry you."
"Nobody carries me anywhere," Caliwone snarled.
"Then come on," Kagome said. "And don't forget your sword."
It took Caliwone nearly ten minutes to sit up and pull some pants on. His tattered remains where no longer fitting for a Saiyan Elite and followed this woman, being sure to complain the entire way. At the outskirts of the village, he found a small group of people waiting for him. He felt as if he knew them but could not quite place them. The one with the dog ears and long white hair was certainly memorable enough but at the moment, he didn't care enough to bother to find out.
"Come on," Inuyasha said, fighting back a grimace and pulled one of Caliwone's arms over his shoulder to help him walk. "I don't like this anymore than you do but for once in your life just go with it." Miroku and Sango both exchanged a glance, surprised at Inuyasha's sudden generosity.
They finally made it to an old well in the center of a grassy expanse surrounded by woods. It looked to Caliwone to be nothing special, just an old well made of wood and no water in the bottom. Bones so mishappened and strange gave instant recognition to the decayed bodies of demons although the smell had long since lost it potency.
Kagome finally turned to speak to Caliwone. "Despite what you have done in the past," Kagome said. "I have decided to hand you back your future."
"What are you talking about, woman?" Caliwone growled. "My future will never be decided by the likes of you."
"I don't care if you don't understand right now," Kagome continued, holding up a hand to stay Inuyasha's standard retort. "Because you do not belong in this time, the Bone Eaters well should transport you back into the future."
"What do you mean?" Caliwone asked. "The future?"
"Do you truly remember nothing?" Kagome asked. "The Justice League? Superman? Anything?"
A flash of silvery wings, scarlet hair. Shayera.
"How do I get back there?" Caliwone asked suddenly. "What do I have to do?"
Kagome took his hand in hers. "Follow me." Kagome turned a reassuring look back onto her friends even as Caliwone rested a foot onto the top of the well.
"Hang on," Inuyasha said, stepping forward. Caliwone turned his hand gripping slightly harder onto his sheathed sword. "I know that we had our differences in the beginning, but I just wanted to thank you for helping to defeat Naraku."
Miroku opened his mouth, probably to correct Inuyasha that Naraku hadn't been destroyed but Sango dug an elbow into his side. "Yes, indeed," Miroku said instead, recovering nicely. "Because of your help, you have saved countless lives. I thank you."
Caliwone looked back at all of them, suspicion in his eyes but nodded even if he did not understand what they were hiding. Together, they both fell into the well. And all of Caliwone's memories came flooding back to him. Metropolis, the Justice League, the Teen Titans, Slade, Earth, the destruction of Planet Vegeta.
"Thank you, Kagome," Caliwone said softly.
Kagome seemed to relax in relief. "Your memories-"
"Yes, they have all returned." He picked her up gently and flew them both up to the top of the well. Instead of an open field, he found himself in a cellar with a single double door that closed off this place with the rest of the world. He set her down lightly on her feet. "Tell me, what of Naraku? The truth."
Kagome hesitated.
"I see," Caliwone said and laughed softly. "So all of my efforts were in vain, after all. No matter. He is clearly not my enemy to defeat. I understand that." He turned to look Kagome square in the eyes. "No matter what, the next time you meet him in battle, win."
She nodded silently, relieved that he was not going to go charging back through the well. "What about you?"
"I will continue to fight and train to become the strongest, nothing has changed there. But for now, I have my own demons to fight." Caliwone walking up to the double doors and opening them wide. "Kagome, never forget what you are fighting for." And he was gone.
Kagome looked after him and slowly, a smile spread across her face. "Go get them!" she shouted after him. She waited a second more, then turned back to the well.
Caliwone soared through the skies of the world he knew. Who would have ever guessed that he would have missed this world so much. His blue tinted aura exploded into gold around him and Caliwone allowed for a laugh of pure pleasure. His power's were back, his memories were back, and despite his broken bones and injured body, he had never felt better.
Metropolis slowly came into view as he passed over ocean and back over land. In the distance, he could barely see Kal-El and others from the League battling Father Time on the roof of yet another building. For an instant, Caliwone thought that perhaps the battle was still going on, that no time had passed in the real world but the scene was different this time. There were different members involved, the sun was in the eastern side of the of the sky instead of the western. No, time had continued normally in this plain of existence.
Caliwone winced slightly as his ribs gave a twinge. He glanced down as he approached the battle and pulled Mangetsuken from its sheath. The blade transformed as he willed it to and with all the willpower he could summon through the pain, he slashed the sword once. The blue crescent lanced outward toward Father Time.
Kal-El and the others saw the bolt and moved to avoid it but Father Time, not gifted with either experience nor flight, could not dodge the attack. His shield was crushed by the blow and he was thrown clear from the building. Kal-El caught the unconscious man before he could land on the street below.
"You have come back," Superman said, a look of astonishment across his face as he took in the strange clothing and the sudden appearance of the sword in Caliwone's hand. "But how."
"It is a long story, Kal-El," Caliwone said, and smiled. "Perhaps I will tell you someday."
Caliwone entered his room aboard the Watch Tower, the feelings of kindness and relief at returning to the time he belonged in slowly fading. He still despised this room with all of its creature comforts. The bed still remained untouched and never slept in and he could see the small patch on the floor in the center of the living room was still slightly worn from where he had preferred to sleep when in this confined area. The last doubts that he had had about this time where brushed away.
He turned to look back at the doorway and on impulse, removed two screws from the small table in the living room, and placed them into the small gap between the top of the door frame and the ceiling and then mounting the Mangetsuken on them. Perhaps, in the future, the sword would again be necessary but now that all of his powers had returned to him, he preferred his own strength over that of a sword. But he would never forget what that sword had done for him. Nor would he ever forget the value of progress for progress was measured only by time.
The End
I hope you all enjoyed this little short. Thanks for all of your support through these fun little projects.