Well…we KINDA find out who the enemy is in this chapter, I'm sure you guys are happy about that X3 thank you all for your kind and considerate reviews for the last chapter! They really made my day, seeing some of your reactions was pretty funny, along with reactions for chapter 11 too X3
And one of you lovely reviewers guessed why Gohan was having nightmares...and for the most part, you are correct. Yes, Zuchiku, this is for you. Thank you for reading and reviewing, and, well, guess you're lucky, cuz I'm updating now! Didn't have to wait long for the update, huh? ;D
Not much else to say here I guess X3 so onto the story! :D
Disclaimer: …*crickets chirping*
Krillin soon caught up with the teenagers, his features set in a grim look as he began to fly alongside them, his eyes fixed on the spot where he was feeling the energy coming from. The seriousness on the faces of the two males made Videl slightly worried—at first, she'd been utterly confident in Gohan's strength to beat whatever was coming, but seeing the somber expressions on their faces made her second-guess her quickly-made belief. As she left a voicemail on Erasa's phone—she was probably having too much fun screaming her head off on a ride right now to hear her phone going off—stating that she and Gohan wouldn't be able to make it to dinner, she heard the two men talking. She closed the phone after she finished the message and listened, watching them.
"Where's Eighteen?" Gohan asked, sparing the former monk a glance.
"She's taking Marron home," Krillin answered. "She's probably going to stay with her there, too, just in case—Dende forbid—something really bad happens and I'm not able to make it back. If we really need her, she'll know; she'll sense our energy spiking or fading away." Much to Videl's unease, there was no trace of joking within his tone, not one smidgen of the cheerfulness and slight mischief that seemed to be omnipresent in his voice.
"Why are you both so…tense?" Videl asked them, looking at them oddly. "I mean, honestly, whatever this is, it can't be any worse than Majin Buu, right?"
When she didn't gain a reply, the slight sickening feeling in her gut increased. Her boyfriend met her gaze; his onyx eyes were now deadly serious, not even a sign of a smile on his solemn features.
"Videl, we barely pulled through the Majin Buu incident," Gohan replied seriously. "And the people's memories of it still haven't been erased. Most of them are still extremely vulnerable after that incident; another catastrophe like that could have drastic effects on them."
"Also, from experience…we've learned that things from space are often not so good," Krillin added, sending a quick glance Videl's way before he reset his gaze to that fixed spot in the distance. "I mean, almost every time an alien came from space…something bad happened."
Gohan nodded grimly in agreement. "And you feel that weird energy behind those two, right?"
Krillin nodded as well. "It's another energy, all right…but it feels weird. Like it's…just pure destruction. And doesn't one of the first energies feel…I dunno, a bit familiar to you?"
"Yeah, I thought so, too," Gohan agreed. "I thought it was just me, though."
After a few moments of tense silence, in which Videl's anxiety only grew, Gohan's dark eyes suddenly snapped forward once more, honing in on the familiar energies that he felt.
"They're waiting for us," he announced to no one in particular. If he squinted slightly, he was actually already able to make out the familiar figures in the distance, speeding up slightly and unconsciously in response. Krillin nodded in silent reply to his statement, no one speaking any more as they got closer to the rest of the group. There was no talking; tension filled the air, so thick that it seemed to be able to be cut with a knife.
Almost unconsciously, the hands of the young black-haired couple found each other's, fingers entwining. A silent sign of reassurance, of comfort, one that Gohan was very grateful for at the moment as he squeezed her hand lightly in return. She made eye-contact with him once more for a few brief seconds, her azure eyes meeting his onyx gaze, and she saw the slight anxiety in his eyes, and also the fire behind them that burned brightly and showed that he would do whatever it took to protect those he cared about. It was a silent promise that he'd keep her safe.
Not that she needed protection, but…it was nice knowing that Gohan would protect her if things got ugly. Since he was half super-freaking-powerful-alien and had the ability to catch bullets and skin tough enough that those exact same bullets would bounce harmlessly off his body if they made contact with him. It was always nice to know that he had her back, that he wouldn't let anything harm her while he had anything to say about it.
They reached the group of other warriors, where they were all gathered around, waiting for…whatever it was that was coming. The moment that the three newcomers landed on the ground, a familiar little bundle of energy assaulted Gohan, jumping up to him and hugging him tightly.
Gohan chuckled lightly, his hand gently disconnecting with Videl's as he returned his little brother's embrace. "Hey there, squirt," he greeted calmly.
Goten pulled away from their hug, looking up at his big brother with slightly worried dark eyes. "Gohan, do you feel that?" he asked in a hushed whisper, almost as if he was afraid that the odd energies would overhear him. "After the two normal-y ones…there's a weird one that's angry. Why? What is it?"
"I dunno, little bro," Gohan replied honestly, lightly ruffling the boy's black hair. "But whatever it is, I'm sure we'll be able to beat it."
Goten nodded, still seeming slightly nervous. He hopped out of Gohan's arms before going back over to their father, who turned to greet Gohan. His features were serious, but he managed a small grin at his eldest son, his black eyes still solemn as he returned his gaze back to the sky after that quick exchange with the half-Saiyan teen. It was no surprise that Goku and Goten were dressed in their orange gi's like they normally were, actually prepared for the upcoming battle.
Just about everyone was here, Gohan noted as he looked around. Piccolo was standing in solitude, eyes closed in what was probably meditation, wearing his traditional turban and white cape, which was currently fluttering a bit in the light breeze. He only opened his eyes to exchange a serious glance with Gohan, nodding a bit in acknowledgement, before he closed his eyes once more, returning to his meditating.
A little ways from him was Vegeta, standing with his arms folded in their traditional posture against his chest. His hardened features stared pensively into the sky, his obsidian eyes serious. He was currently clad in his blue one-piece spandex suit along with his Saiyan armor, the set that Bulma had made for him. His strong jaw was clenched slightly, but his face betrayed no other emotion besides seriousness. Next to him was Trunks, and the young boy's expression matched his father's perfectly, except for the fact that his blue eyes also held the slightest glint of fear at the unknown. He was wearing the green gi that he had worn for the Tournament, and had his hands clenched in fists at his sides as he, too, looked into the sky, awaiting the arrival of whatever was coming.
"You think anyone else is coming over to check out whatever this is?" Trunks asked quietly, looking over at the three newcomers for a second, before turning his gaze back to the beautifully blue sky.
"I doubt it," Gohan replied after a moment of thought. "Tien and Chiaotzu may or may not come, it depends. And Eighteen is taking care of Marron."
"What about Yamcha?" Krillin suggested.
At that point, Vegeta snorted pompously, turning his haughty black gaze towards the shorter man. "That pathetic weakling?" he scoffed. "He'd sooner piss his pants than even try to fight anything. Hell, the brat's female is stronger than he is; she'd probably put up more of a fight than that scar-faced moron." Bitterness was in his tone, showing how much he disliked the former bandit as he returned his glare back to the clouds.
Videl huffed, crossing her arms indignantly as she heard the way that she was being addressed, muttering under her breath that her name was Videl and that she liked to be referred that way. However, she remembered what Gohan told her about Vegeta—do not piss him off unless you have some death wish. He also told her about the prince's refusal to call anyone by their true name, only in very rare cases using their actual names and not the nicknames that he'd given all the people in the group of misfits.
"Hey, Dad," Trunks whispered after a few moments of silence, his eyes widening in slight realization as he lightly tugged on the eldest Saiyan's spandex pants. It was almost as if he was afraid that he'd be overheard by the two mysterious powers, just as Goten had been when he had spoken to Gohan in such hushed tones At this, Vegeta looked down at his son in silent acknowledgement, and the little lavender-haired boy continued with what he was saying.
"One of those first two powers…it feels a bit…like you," he said quietly. "Why?"
Gohan instinctively reached out to feel that oddly slightly familiar ki signature in the distance, and instantly compared it with the slight one that was radiating off of Vegeta now as the prince concealed his power. It was true; that was who it had been similar to. It was why one of them felt familiar; it felt like Vegeta. But…how? And why?
Vegeta shrugged, almost carelessly, but Gohan knew better, having been around the Saiyan prince for far too long. He saw the slight widening of the man's eyes, saw the barely-even-noticeable tensing of his muscles, the tighter clenching of his jaw as something must have hit him. What was it?
Vegeta, do you have an idea of what it might be? Gohan sent, trying to make it inconspicuous. No one else had noticed the reaction of them man, and he was sure that Vegeta didn't want others to know that the words of his son had stuck a chord within him, something that seemed to surprise him.
In reply, Vegeta averted his gaze from the sky once more to glare daggers at Gohan, his teeth lightly bared in a snarl. It's none of your damn business, brat, what I think. I just remembered something; it's none of your damned concern. With that, he abruptly shut the communication between their rapport, the mental equivalent of slamming a door right in Gohan's face.
"Whatever it is…the first two don't feel too bad, right?" Goten piped up hopefully. "I mean, I think we're all a lot stronger than those two combined. But the weird ones after that…" He trailed off at that.
"We don't even know if the first two are OK," Trunks said to his best friend, turning to him. "For all we know, they know how to control their power levels, too, and are hiding their true ones from us."
Goten's face fell at that. "Oh," he said quietly.
"Enough chit-chat," Piccolo said abruptly, his eyes once again focusing on the sky. "They're here, whoever they are."
At those words, everyone's gazes whipped towards the fluffy clouds once more that seemed to be completely undisturbed. And if he squinted…Gohan was actually able to make out the faint outlines of two spherical shapes heading towards them at rapid speeds.
After a few moments of waiting on their part, the two spheres landed in front of the whole group. Slightly startled by the sudden collision of the objects, Goten lightly jumped and hid slightly behind his father's leg; Goku reassuringly patted the little boy on the head in return. However, most of them recognized the two objects, and weren't too startled—they were space pods, the same ones that the Saiyans had used when they came to Earth and when the Ginyu Force had come to Namek.
It seemed that they were all holding their breath, none of them making a noise as they stared intently at the pods. And both of the doors slowly opened.
What they revealed was a rather odd duo, each of them exiting from their own pod. One of the creatures was extremely short, and had a very large head compared to its body, skin a very, very pale pastel green color. Two black eyes, two small holes for what was probably a nose, and a mouth were all that were seen on the face, and the mouth was open in a slight smile. The figure was wearing a pink dress, which inclined everyone to think it was a female, along with gloves and boots at the ends of its thin arms and legs.
The other figure was drastically different. Humanoid, with lightly tanned skin and surprisingly familiar facial features, clad in a blue spandex suit and Saiyan armor, the shoulder pads a tan color. He was lightly muscular, and had a blue scouter over his left eye, his arms crossed against his chest. His short black hair was spiky, only a single piece of his bangs falling in front of his face, over his angular dark eyes. But the thing that was most prominent about this particular individual was the brown tail that had uncurled itself from around his waist.
"Gohan…" Videl whispered quietly, suddenly realizing that she hadn't spoken for quite a while. Hearing his name, Gohan slightly inclined his head downward towards her, showing that she was listening as he also kept his gaze pinned on the newcomers, watching them with a guarded expression.
"Is he…is he a Saiyan?" she asked softly, looking at the tail.
He nodded. "He has to be," he replied. "I have no idea about the other one, though."
A low growl suddenly emitted from Vegeta's throat, and Gohan looked at him to see that the man was glaring fiercely at the new Saiyan, distrust and slight…disbelief?...in his gaze. At the sound, the unknown Saiyan turned to face the stoic prince, and his features suddenly lit up in what Gohan guessed was recognition and realization.
"Vegeta? Is it truly you?" the newcomer asked quietly, his voice soft as he looked at the rather intimidating man with awe in his gaze.
At this, Vegeta growled lightly in reply. "Yes, it's me," he snapped back. "What the hell are you doing here, Tarble?"
Shock was probably the main emotion of everyone in the group as they all turned to Vegeta, hearing how he'd spoken, how he'd addressed the new Saiyan by a name. They had all seemed to have lost control of their vocal chords, simply watching the events unfold.
"How?" the new Saiyan asked, not answering Vegeta's question. "Reports were that you had died on Namek…"
Vegeta lightly bared his canines at him. "Well, I suppose that I'm a bit stronger than you thought." He scoffed then, giving the Saiyan a disapproving look. "And you're still as pathetically weak as you were when you were born. I thought you would be killed when Father sent you to that outlying planet."
"I was fortunate; that planet that Father sent me to was peaceful," the newcomer replied with a small smile, turning towards the other alien who had come with him. It (she?) smiled in return.
"Vegeta," Piccolo stated abruptly, causing the stoic man to whip his head in the Namekian's direction, his dark eyes impatient. Piccolo didn't waste any time before asking him a direct, blunt question. "How do you know this person? I thought you said that the entire Saiyan race was extinct."
"He's the one exception to that statement, even though it's a rather pathetic one at that," Vegeta answered gruffly. "This is Tarble, who was sent off our planet when he was a young brat because of his pitiful strength. I thought he was as good as dead." He paused for a second, and then continued, with slight reluctance, as he mumbled out, "He's also my younger brother."
What the hell? That was the statement that seemed to be the only thing everyone else could think at that sudden piece of information. They all looked at the little Saiyan, Tarble, who smiled back at them a bit.
"Now that the matter is cleared up…why are you here, Tarble?" Vegeta repeated, looking at his younger brother (oh, Dende, he had a younger brother. Would wonders ever cease?) sternly.
At that, little Tarble's gaze darkened the slightest bit. "I came here seeking help, brother," he said quietly. "A terrible duo of two brothers, named Abo and Cado, has been chasing me for a while, for about five years, maybe more. We've been on the run ever since…and we've been seeking help, traveling from planet to planet in hopes of escaping them."
"Why are they chasing you?" Piccolo asked gruffly, having been the one to recover fastest from the information that Vegeta had a long-lost sibling.
"I…I don't know," Tarble replied truthfully, looking down to the ground. "They suddenly just started chasing us…they've actually fought us a few times, but they've held back and let me go free, though I don't understand why…"
"How strong are these guys?" Goku wanted to know, causing the rather small Saiyan to turn towards him.
"Well…I'm not exactly sure how truly powerful they are," Tarble admitted. "I knew that they were holding back when they fought me those few times. But the rumors are that they're much, much stronger than Frieza, in his final form, too. They've been training for a long time."
"Do they have an allegiance with anyone?" Krillin wondered.
"I can't say that, either," the little Saiyan replied. "I truly don't know too much about them; what I do know is that they are chasing us, but I have no idea what their motives are or why they actually let us go quite a few times in the past."
"How did you actually find this planet? Were you looking for me? Or was it a stroke of random luck?" Vegeta demanded of his brother.
"I have been looking for a few strong powers that could possibly help me defeat these two beings," Tarble answered. "Recently, my scouter picked up massive power surges from this planet, and I figured that maybe those people would help me; it's by sheer luck that I found you here. Were you all the cause of those power surges, by any chance?"
"Probably," Gohan answered for the group. There had been many spiking powers—Majin Buu's, and his own, and most of the warriors as they fought against the pink blob and gave it their all.
"Could you help me?" Tarble asked quietly, looking down at the ground. "We've been chased for so long, and we just want it to stop. We don't even know why they're so intent on following me, but they are. I don't know how close they are behind me, but I know that they are very close."
Suddenly, Vegeta let out another low growl. "And, without even thinking about the other life on this planet, you just led them here?" he hissed. "What if these two don't land here, and they land in a densely populated area? The natives of this planet have completely laughable powers, save for a few exceptions. Their weapons are pathetically weak—they would never stand a chance against anything from the outside."
Piccolo snickered. "Since when have you cared about any other humans, Vegeta?" he taunted lightly. "What's the real reason for your…'concern'?"
Vegeta glared spitefully at him. "Just so you know, green bean, I enjoy not hearing a keening in my ears for weeks. Do you know how loudly that woman shrieks—when she's pissed?"
Beside him, Trunks winced slightly as he remembered. "Yeah," he piped up, turning towards Piccolo. "You know how loudly Mom screams at us when she's kinda frustrated with us. Multiply that by, like, a hundred, and that's how loud she screams when she's really angry with us. And if we let any humans die and we're able to save them…well, to put it lightly, our ears would probably begin bleeding, I'd be grounded for the rest of my life, and she'd make Dad sleep on the couch."
At that last comment, Goku let out a slight chuckle, causing the Saiyan prince's dark glare to shift to him. If looks could kill, the younger man would be very dead at the moment, but he couldn't wipe the grin off his face. Still rather pissed, Vegeta turned his piercing eyes back towards his younger brother, still waiting for a reply from the little Saiyan.
Tarble looked down at the ground, seeming slightly ashamed. "It…didn't particularly cross my mind that these inhabitants were weak, and that they couldn't properly defend themselves," he admitted.
"Oh, I'm sure it'll be fine, Vegeta," Goku said, ever the optimist as he smiled at his comrade. The eldest Saiyan bared his teeth at him in reply, while Goku simply shrugged it off, turning towards Tarble. "We'll fight these guys, and we'll get them before they're able to kill anyone, I know it."
"So…these brothers, Abo and Cado. They are the powers of destruction that are steadily getting nearer, correct?" Piccolo asked, fixing his gaze into the sky once more.
"I…well, I suppose so," Tarble replied, looking at the Namekian oddly. "Destruction, though? How are you even able to tell that they're coming without a scouter to read their power levels?"
"Well, we're able to sense energy by ourselves," Krillin spoke up. "Without scouters. It's really easy once you get the hang of it, it just takes a little practice. It's how we were able to tell you were coming, too."
Tarble seemed awed by that. "I had no idea such a thing was possible," he said, surprised. There was a few more moments of silence, before Tarble made eye-contact with everyone in the group. "Thank you all for agreeing to battle this menace for me…it means a lot to us."
It was then that the odd-looking creature behind him spoke, opening its tiny mouth. "Yes, thank you very, very much!" it said. The voice was rather high-pitched, making one believe that it was a female, but it was very hard to tell if it was a girl or if it was a man who just happened to like the color pink and liked wearing dresses.
As the other unidentified alien spoke, everyone's heads whipped towards it. Their faces all read the same, silent question, but the one to voice their unanimous inquiry was Vegeta.
"Tarble…who—or what—the hell is that?" Vegeta bluntly asked, pointing to the small creature behind him.
At this, Tarble smiled once more, his face bright. "Oh, I forgot to tell you!" he exclaimed, grabbing one of the alien's hands as he brought the unknown person to stand next to him. He smiled down at the creature, and she (it?) smiled back in reply, before he spoke once more, addressing everyone once more happily. "This is Gure; she's my wife."
Vegeta's eyes widened in shock, his gaze darting from each of the aliens, while the rest of the group tried to process the information. Even Piccolo's eyes had widened in shock and surprise. Krillin had sighed and shook his head, deciding not to ask anything because he'd been exposed to far too much weirdness hanging around their little group of misfits. Goten and Trunks both exchanged very confused looks, the little lavender-haired boy trying to understand the fact that he had an estranged uncle and that this creature was somehow his aunt. Goku just continued to look back and forth between the two, the Saiyan and the whatever-the-hell thing that his wife, Gure, was. Gohan, like Krillin, sighed and shook his head after a few moments of shock, deciding not to comment; Videl just honestly didn't know what to say, seeming to be unable to speak in shock.
"All things considered," Gohan muttered quietly in Videl's ear, "this information isn't all that weird."
She sent him an odd look, doubling back once more. "OK, then, what does qualify as weird for you guys? Just so I know for sure," she whispered back, slight sarcasm in her tone.
"Well, for me, weird is…" He let out a slight sigh, shaking his head. "I can't tell you in the limited time we have. Those guys, Abo and Cado, are almost here, and I'd need a lot of time to tell you exactly everything in the story."
"I wasn't actually being serious…but, hey, if you'll actually tell me the story, that would be pretty cool," she admitted, smiling a bit. "I'd like to know your idea of weird."
Gohan managed a small chuckle. "Well, right after we beat these guys, I promise I'll tell you all about it."
"Kid, I hate to be the one to break up your sweet conversation," Piccolo interrupted (the smirk on his face and the tone with which he had spoken showed that he hadn't been sorry in the least), "but I think you might want to pay attention. They're here."
Right as he spoke, the two dots of the two new enemies' space pods began to come into view. Unlike the calm ones of Tarble and Gure, who had come in two perfectly straight lines, these two were spiraling around chaotically around each other. The feeling of pure destruction grew closer.
Maybe they were that surge of anger that he'd felt before, Gohan mused. It would make sense…but he had learned not to believe thins too quickly in the past, and to get the full story before jumping to conclusions.
The warriors prepared themselves for battle unconsciously as the two pods drew closer and closer. Everyone raised their powers the slightest bit, getting ready to fight. Trunks and Goten both sank into light battle stances, determination covering the slight fear that was in their eyes. Piccolo uncrossed his arms and clenched his fists; Vegeta still had his arms against his chest, but, once again, his muscles went taught, coiled, like he was an animal just waiting to pounce, to strike; Goku simply had his arms at his sides, yet he was also ready to fight, eyes turning serious once more. Videl also began to get into a fighting stance, even though she knew in the back of her mind that she wouldn't truly be able to do anything, if these guys were stronger than Frieza, who Gohan had told her about. On instinct, Gohan took a slightly protective stance in front of his girlfriend, shielding her partially, but not too much so that she felt that she was being undermined, that she was being deemed as weak.
"I won't be much help, will I?" she said quietly, more of a statement than a question to the young man slightly in front of her. "If each of these guys are as strong as Frieza, and Frieza was out of my league…"
"Hey, don't say that," Gohan told her gently in reply. "I'm sure you would've held your own against Frieza for a decent amount of time." He was serious…partially. He thought that she'd be able to take on a first transformation, non-powered-up Frieza for a rather acceptable amount of time, considering that she was only a human…but a full-power Frieza…and there were two of them…
"We'll be fine," he opted to say, managing a smile at her. Then, his eyes darkened slightly. "But…if things get bad—which they shouldn't be, but if they do—will you promise me that you'll leave as fast as you can? If you can, make the boys come with you—"
"Gohan, don't say that," she suddenly whispered harshly. "Nothing bad is gonna happen. So don't even think that it will. You guys defeated Frieza before, right? And you've gotten so many times stronger than that. Everything will be fine."
Gohan decided not to go on with the subject, and simply nodded, gently grasping her hand. She returned the gesture as she instinctively interlaced their fingers together, their gazes trained on the twin pods in the sky.
Unlike the impact of Tarble and Gure's pods, the pods of the two new enemies slammed right into the solid earth, almost drilling right through it from the force of their impact. Great clouds of dust and debris were brought up from the force of their hit, and there was dead silence for a few moments as everyone watched the pods with guarded eyes.
Then, the doors opened, revealing their new enemies. And if they hadn't heard that they were, apparently, each stronger than Frieza in his final form, they probably would have all burst out in laughter.
Both of them were fat, round like melons as they exited their pods. One of them was colored a deep-ish blue, a few shades darker than the sky, and the other was red and had oddly fat, pink/peach lips. The blue one had a single, small blue spike on his head, while the red one had two resting on top of his own skull; both of them wore purple scouters over their left eyes, their pointy left ears covered by them. They also wore the armor that had become characteristic of the Cold Empire over time, but was truly Saiyan armor, having been…"borrowed" by the tyrants for its unique design. Even though their appearance was rather ridiculous and laughable, they'd learned with past enemies that they could look ridiculous or weak but be extremely strong—like Frieza himself, or Majin Buu and Kid Buu.
The two newcomers looked at the assembled group. Their gazes immediately landed on Tarble and Gure—the tiny alien whimpered the slightest bit as she his behind her husband's leg, and the small Saiyan shielded her with his body instantly. However, their gazes quickly went away from him, and traveled to the others assembled there, namely settling on Vegeta and Goku and Gohan. They turned to look at each other, wearing identical smirks on their faces.
"Well, looks like we've been expected," the blue one commented, snickering slightly.
"At least we finally got the results we wanted," the red one returned, his gaze once again roving over the warriors, namely settling Vegeta and Goku. "Won't our lord be pleased?"
"I'm sure he will, now that we've found what we're looking for," the blue one chuckled back, smirking. "Thank you, Tarble, for your help."
At that, everyone's gazes instantly turned towards the little Saiyan, whose eyes were wide with shock. At Vegeta's low, distrustful growl at his younger brother, Tarble instantly spoke up, defending himself. "I-I don't know what they're talking about!" he stammered, his eyes wider as he looked at the two brothers, who were snickering to themselves.
"Oh, Tarble, you honestly didn't think that we were following you, did you?" the red one snickered. "Oh, that's priceless. Abo, you heard that? I suppose the lord was right about Saiyans and their thick-headedness."
The blue one—Abo—snickered some more. "It would seem to be that way, Cado," he replied.
"We weren't actually following you, Tarble," the red one, Cado, explained, somehow managing to cross his short little arms across his large, round body. "I mean, we were…but you weren't the object on our agenda."
"No, we had something much bigger in our sights," Abo continued. "Our lord had requested of us to bring back the last surviving Saiyans—for he knew that there were some that hadn't died along with planet Vegeta. There were definitely more than you, Tarble, we knew that."
"We simply followed you, hoping that you would somehow find the Saiyans for us," Cado went on. "We figured that you would be looking for the last of your people, and we simply followed you wherever you went in hopes of finding them. And it seems that we've finally reached our true goal. Now, we can do as our lord requested, and completely dispose of the Saiyan monkeys for good."
Abo snickered, while Tarble's gaze looked horrified. "I…I didn't know that was why they were following me!" he said desperately to the group of people around him. "Honest! I had no idea they were looking for the last Saiyans…if I had…I'm sorry." He cast his eyes towards the ground in shame.
Abo laughed loudly—the sound was oddly distorted, hideous. "It never crossed your mind that we weren't really chasing you?" he snickered. "Sure, we fought you…because we were bored. We could've killed you so easily, but…it would make our job of finding the last remaining Saiyans so much harder. You've made our lives easier…we should be thanking you, really. How does it feel to know that you've brought upon the complete eradication of your own race?"
Cado also joined in the maniacal laughter at the look on Tarble's face, before he inspected the others, a smirk still lingering on his features. "Well…he's probably a Saiyan," he said, pointing towards Goku. "He looks like one of the Saiyans that had revolted against Frieza. Bardock, was his name?"
Abo nodded. "And those two, the little boy clinging to his leg and that young man back there, in front of the pretty girl," he added (at that, Videl huffed angrily and crossed her arms. She did not want this creep calling her pretty). "They look like him. My guess is that they're Saiyan as well."
"And, if my memory serves me correctly…you're Prince Vegeta, aren't you?" Cado asked curiously, quickly bringing his eyes to Vegeta's. "But reports were that you died back during the whole skirmish on Namek."
The Saiyan prince bared his teeth at him in a fierce snarl, taking a slight step forward. This action served two purposes: the first was to show his aggression, to show that he was completely unafraid of this new enemy. The second reason was for the slight shielding of his son in protection; Trunks was now hidden partially behind his father's leg.
"And…oh, no. The Prince Vegeta had a child?" Abo suddenly asked, taking notice of the small lavender-haired boy standing behind the eldest Saiyan prince. If there was any doubt at all that the little boy was related to him, it was erased the moment they looked at Trunks' expression. His facial features were an exact carbon copy's of his father, even though the coloring was completely different; however, the identical scowls that they wore cemented the fact that they were related.
"Yeah, I'm his kid; what's that to you?" Trunks snipped. "You have a problem with me or something?"
Abo and Cado both snickered at the little boy, causing the lavender-haired prince's cheeks to flare slightly in his growing anger. "Insolent little brat," Cado commented. "I suppose it must be a trait from his father."
Another low growl escaped from Vegeta's clenched teeth, and Trunks glared fiercely at the two from behind his father's strong form. "All right, I've had enough of all this bullshit," the man hissed. "We understand your point—to eradicate the Saiyan race. Which two bumbling buffoons like you have no chance of doing, in case you haven't noticed."
The two brothers glared at Vegeta suddenly. "What did you call us, you filthy monkey?" Abo demanded with a glare.
Vegeta snarled as he was called "filthy monkey"; Frieza had always called him that to spite him, and these fools had no right whatsoever to call him such a derogatory title. "I believe I called you two bumbling buffoons, if I'm not mistaken," he quirked back. "What? Now you have hearing problems as well, along with being unable to correctly gauge the strength of your own opponents and having to rely on those pathetic scouters?"
It was easy to tell that Vegeta was pissing them off. Goku—always the peacemaker—suddenly stepped forward, in an attempt to talk. "Look, Abo and Cado…this is a battle that you won't be able to win. I promise you that you will be able to leave this planet peacefully, without any of us trying to get you on the way out, if you leave and never mention this encounter to anyone."
Vegeta scoffed with an eye-roll. "Speak for yourself, Kakarot," he muttered. "I have no problem with killing these idiots, even if you let them go."
Abo and Cado both laughed harshly once again. "As if you Saiyans can beat us," Cado said haughtily. "Even though one of you may have killed Frieza, we're both much stronger than a final-form, full-powered Frieza, each."
"Oh, amazing," Vegeta said dryly. "We surpassed Frieza's power long ago. Come back ten years in the past; then we would probably be a bit unprepared for you two."
They seemed to find the Saiyan's statement funny, and chuckled once more. Of course, this only served to piss Vegeta off even more, and his power spiked a bit more in his anger as he glared at the two. However, the two neglected to notice the sudden, tiny spike that their scouters had picked up.
"I think that's enough pleasantries," Abo snickered maliciously. "Time for the Saiyan scum to finally be cleansed from the universe, just as our lord wishes."
"Who is this 'lord' you keep on referring to?" Piccolo suddenly asked, butting into the conversation, watching the two round aliens skeptically with his own black eyes. "You constantly refer to him; who is he?"
"You think we would just tell you that?" Cado laughed harshly. "He wishes to remain unknown. Also, our master has more important things to do than dirty his hands with the blood of a few insignificant monkeys, and has sent us to do that job for him."
Vegeta's hackles raised, his blue aura suddenly exploding around him. For a millisecond, the aura turned golden, his hair flashing blonde and his eyes turning turquoise for a mere moment, before he regained control of his anger once again, still snarling like an animal. "How dare you refer to Saiyans that way, you fat tub of lard," he hissed venomously.
Cado obviously didn't seem to like this comment, and his face turned into a fierce scowl as he glared at the eldest prince. "Enough," he growled angrily. "Abo, I've had enough of their insolence. Have you had your fun interrogating them? Because I want to kill them now."
"Might as well," Abo smirked, nodding. Unlike his twin brother, he was the one that enjoyed speaking to his prey before they were killed. In a way, it was sort of funny to hear what they had to say before they were annihilated. Cado, however, simply had fun in the bloodthirsty part of the killing, not enjoying the mind games that Abo so enjoyed to play with their victims, and believed in the motto "kill first, ask questions later."
The moment Cado heard the words from his twin's mouth, his smirk turned sadistic. "I think I'll start with the impudent little brat," he said, almost conversationally, before he suddenly launched himself at the person who he had just mentioned—Trunks.
Instantly, the eight-year-old prince blocked the fierce barrage of punches and kicks that Cado suddenly sent his way, showing that he'd been ready for his attacks. However, it seemed that he'd underestimated the red alien's power—he let out a sharp hiss of pain as one of the punches hit him hard in the gut. Cado took this as a good sign that he was already wearing his opponent down, and smirked as he continued to punch and kick the little boy.
As Cado engaged Trunks in battle, Abo slowly allowed his eyes to roam over everyone else as he decided who his first victim would be, or if he should just annihilate them all on the spot. Then, would he give his opponent a slow, brutal, painful death? Or would he grant them a quick, still painful one, albeit in a disgusting way, such as through beheading, or through a ki blast? And then, who would he take next, if he didn't take them all at once? Would he even bother with the Namekian and the humans, or would he let them go if he felt so inclined? Oh, so many decisions…but so little time to actually make them.
"Well…I hope at least one of you proves to be interesting," he finally said, once again checking his scouter, which showed that they all had rather pathetic power levels. He shook his head with a smirk, once again inspecting all of the tense warriors. He then shrugged, and without warning, lunged for Goten.
After a surprised yelp, having not expected to be the one attacked, Goten quickly regained his focus. Like his best friend, he began to parry the blue alien's attacks as quickly as he could, not using too much of his energy, lest he need to summon it later. Gohan looked like he wanted to intervene, taking an involuntary step forward towards his little brother; however, he caught his father's gaze, and Goku shook his head slightly at his son. It was Goten's battle, and he should only help him when he desperately needed the help.
Feeling a low, annoyed growl rumbling in his chest, Gohan simply closed his eyes and nodded. He didn't like the idea of just watching Goten fight another enemy, not one bit. It was in his instinct to jump forward and protect him, to take the blows himself, to fight off the monster. But, then again, Goten seemed to be holding his own just fine…Gohan would wait and see. If things got too bad for his liking, then he would jump into the battle, no matter what his father said.
"Shouldn't you help them?" Videl asked quietly, watching the two boys going head-to-head with the two villains, while the rest of the group looked on, watching it almost as if it was a damned T.V. show, detached and merely spectators to the scene, not in any way involved.
Gohan sighed, shaking his head. "Videl, I know what you're thinking. But Trunks and Goten are both extremely powerful, and I'm sure they can handle themselves," he murmured back. "But, if they need help, you can bet that I'll be one of the first ones to help them out. Even though I don't want them going against them, not since what happened with Majin Buu…but…" He shook his head once more, anxiously watching the fights with a slight sigh. "If I think they need help, I'm helping, no matter what anyone else says. Even if they themselves don't want help."
Videl nodded, knowing that the reason that no one was helping probably had something to do with the fact that the kids were Saiyans. Gohan had said that the Saiyans were a warrior race, so they probably wanted to fight the battle themselves, without help or interference.
"How can you even follow the fight?" she suddenly asked, noticing how his eyes kept on darting back and forth between the two fights. She was barely able to see anything; only small flashes of color every now and then. Over to her right, there was occasionally a flash of lavender hair and red skin clashing as the two paused for a moment before they disappeared again; to her left, it was a blur of black and orange colliding with blue. Very rarely was she able to make out the actual movements that they were making.
"They're fighting at an extremely fast pace, and we're feeling their energy," he explained quietly. "And they're doing pretty well."
The other warriors could tell that the boys were slowly gaining the upper hand as well. The pace of the fight was slowing down, and it was because both Abo and Cado were tiring. Trunks and Goten, too, were growing a bit weaker, but they had plenty of reserves of power still to rely on.
Suddenly, the twin aliens stopped fighting simultaneously, drawing back from their single opponents. Both of them were panting slightly, shock written all over their features from their disbelief. Trunks and Goten both were panting slightly as well, taking a breather, exchanging a triumphant look. They both knew that they had done well, and even if they weren't powerful enough single-handedly, they could each become Super Saiyans, or fuse into Gotenks. They were sure that they had this in the bag, and grinned at each other.
"Huh," Cado muttered, looking at the boys closely. "Not bad for a couple of tykes."
"Can't say the same for you, you repugnant, repulsive wads of blubber," Trunks instantly sassed back, inadvertently using rather large vocabulary considering his age. Well, he did have a genius for a mother and a rather eloquent prince (if he so wished to be) for a father, after all.
Upon hearing his son's snarky statement, Vegeta couldn't help but smirk in pride at the little prince. That's my boy, he thought smugly, sending his smirk his son's way. Trunks saw his father's face, and smirked right back at him.
"You imprudent little—" Abo cut himself off, glaring fiercely at the little boy. "You'll regret that. Greatly."
"But he's true," Goten piped up, being truthful. "I mean, we just went up against a really strong bad guy, and I'm pretty sure that he was a lot stronger than you guys are…so it's not like you two are too much of a challenge to us. And we've got lots of backup power, so…"
This was, clearly, the wrong thing to say, and the glares of Abo and Cado turned absolutely murderous. Unsure if he should step in, Gohan began to take yet another involuntary step towards his little brother, wanting to somehow take the receiving end of that glare, wanting to be the one hated, the one whose demise was being planned within their heads. He didn't want either Trunks or Goten to go through it, but he couldn't intervene. Not yet. Nothing had happened.
Abo and Cado exchanged glances. "We have to," Abo said curtly. Cado nodded in reply to whatever they had just decided…which no one had any freaking clue of.
The two took off their scouters, throwing them down on the pretty green grass, before standing back-to-back with each other. They then each took a step in the opposite direction, their hands going from straight to their sides to palms facing out. And then, they both shouted "Merge!" at the same time, and just as suddenly as they said that, they were encompassed within a cloud of dust and surprising brightness. Everyone inadvertently shielded their eyes from the light, but, once the scenery became bearable once more, they all opened their eyes to a rather odd sight.
Neither Abo nor Cado was there anymore. They had been replaced by a huge giant, probably about nine to ten feet tall, colored purple. The body shape of this new person was still round, but significantly less drastic in appearance. Their armor had changes from a white base to a black base, and the arms were far more muscular than they had been before, with quite a few short, blunt spikes on the shoulder, and a thick ring of skin over the wrist, where thick fingers were curled into fists. The head was shaped like a pear, with the chin being extremely large and the top of the head being a bit smaller; on the chin of the purple creature, there were also numerous spikes, like the ones on its shoulders. There was a single long horn that was more like an antenna, but not in any way thin, on the top of his head. There was a pair of pointed ears, and a pair of fat, peach lips, and the sadistic grin that he wore revealed his sharper canines, his beady red eyes glaring at all of them with sadistic glee.
"Now you're all in trouble," the new monster said, smirking at them all. His voice was very, very deep, and slightly grating. "Very rarely do Abo and Cado use this technique, but when they do…well, no one stands a chance."
"Oh, this is great," Krillin muttered under his breath peevishly, upon feeling the power that the new creature was giving off. It was rather high, all things considered, and he knew that he was definitely still holding back as well.
"So now what are you? Are you…Abocado?" Goku wondered curiously, laughing a bit at the word. At the pure conversational tone in his voice, Gohan looked at his father in shock, as did Goten. Who cared what he was called now?
The newly fused version of Abo and Cado looked at Goku oddly as well. "You're a strange Saiyan," he muttered under his breath. "But Abocado is not my name. My name is Aka."
"Hmph," Trunks muttered, analyzing his new opponent. "He seems a lot stronger…but that's nothing we can't handle, right, Goten?" he asked, turning towards his best friend, with a grin on his face. "I think that we can even beat them without going Super or becoming Gotenks!"
"Yeah!" Goten agreed eagerly, a light smirk settling on his features, a thing that was rather rare for the little boy to do.
Aka chuckled, looking down at the boys. "You little tykes think you actually have a chance against me?" he asked, amused.
"More than a chance," Trunks replied confidently; the smirk that was on his already handsome features was an exact replica of his father's. "I am completely positive of the fact that we can kick your ass from here to next Tuesday."
Aka growled once more, his previously rather sadistically amused gaze now glaring at the little lavender-haired prince. "I have had just about enough of your smart mouth, you little brat," he hissed.
"So what, you want me to be dumb like you?" Trunks quirked back. The wise-cracks that he was giving the enemy left no question as to who his parents were, much to the amusement of some of the warriors in the group. Krillin couldn't help but shake his head; the kid was only eight, and yet he had the smart mouth of both of his parents; the same went for Goku, who actually chuckled at the scene.
While Vegeta smirked at his son again, Aka growled furiously once more. "You must really have a death wish, you puny little ingrate," he hissed. "But you won't be laughing for long." And, with that, he launched himself at the two little boys.
At first, it seemed that both Trunks and Goten would do fine; it was, after all, two against one, in all technicality. However, they had greatly misjudged the speed of the fused alien, and were unable to dodge as his hands suddenly shot out and grabbed both of them at the same time, his thick fingers clamping around the two boys' forms, purloining their arms to their sides. With them in his grasp, he just as quickly shot to the sky, laughing at their struggles to break free from his grasp, before he flew down to the ground and extended his fists, so that the boys landed straight in the earth.
Trunks and Goten both let out surprised cries of pain, struggling to break free from the monster's surprisingly strong grip. Aka continued to mercilessly ram them into the ground, dragging them along the earth so that they each created two small trenches from the impact. Once he finished mopping the floor with them, he lifted them out of the freshly made trenches, and threw them with great force at the closest mountain, where the two boys landed with a large thud! Aka smirked triumphantly, and, as Trunks and Goten tried to get up again, struggling to recover from being thrown into the rock, he leapt forward and grabbed them both again in each of his hands.
And then, he began to squeeze them slowly with his hands, making sure that their arms remained unable to move in his fat fingers. His long fingernails that were almost like claws dug into their skin. The boys' grit their teeth, trying not to cry out in pain as they struggled. However, his grip on them only got tighter, refusing to let go; they each tried to gather their energy to make the ascension to Super Saiyan, but the agony that they were feeling was a detriment to that as they let out cries of agony as they were crushed, the air being squeezed out of them.
Hearing his little brother's screams, Gohan instinctively started forward, going to save his little brother. Seeing his face contorted in pain, in agony, caused something to twist deep within his gut. Every fiber of his being screamed at him to go save him, to take Goten's pain away, to be the person receiving it instead of his younger brother, and he started to move forward on impulse.
"Gohan, wait," Goku said sternly, looking at his eldest soon, seeing that the half-Saiyan teen was having a hard time controlling his anger. His body was poised to spring, his hair flashing blonde and eyes turning turquoise for a millisecond, and he turned his now black eyes towards his father, glaring. "Goten can take care of himself," Goku continued. "I know he—"
"No, you don't," Gohan suddenly snapped, whirling on his father. "You don't know if he'll be OK, because you only just met him a week ago. You don't know him like I do. You don't know what his favorite color is, what his favorite video game is; you don't know what he's scared of; you don't know him."
Hearing his son's furious tirade, Goku looked at the normally collected teen in shock. "Wh…Gohan, what's going on?" he asked, confused.
Gohan let out a snarl, sounding so animalistic that Videl backed up for a moment. His eyes were glazed with anger, Goten's screams only making it all the worse as his power spiked, his golden aura appearing around his form once more before it flickered away. The other people in the group awkwardly looked away from the exchange that was happening towards the father and son; Krillin pretended to be very interested in the scenery around him, while Piccolo simply closed his eyes, his sensitive ears picking up everything. Vegeta wasn't even really paying attention—his attention was focused on his son, who continued to scream as Aka continued to squeeze the life out of them, before dropping the boys on the floor.
However, Aka didn't give them time to catch their breath or even attempt to power up, and grabbed them again and flew into the sky. And rammed them into the ground again. Repeating the process. Not giving them a chance to even retaliate. Dark eyes watching his son in pain, Vegeta couldn't help but step forward almost instinctually. He promised himself that, if things got too bad for his taste, he would intervene. Feeling the odd emotion of anxiety welling up within him, he never took his eyes off of his son, getting himself ready to jump into the battle if need be.
Meanwhile, Gohan furiously seethed through his teeth. "Stop pretending that everything will be all right," Gohan growled out, furiously. "He's only seven. Right now, he should be at home, playing video games with Trunks. Not fighting for his life. You don't know him. Because you weren't there!"
"Gohan, I…I don't understand," Goku said quietly. "Did I—"
"Just because Goten is a Saiyan, it doesn't mean that he has to do this on his own. He never wanted to fight for his life, he just fights for the fun of it. Right now, he doesn't want to be on the receiving end of the pain; he wants help," Gohan hissed, his emotions from before boiling over. Things had been different when his father had returned, the night of his return to the world. There had been happiness, joy. Almost everything from before was pushed to the back of his head. But it all came back with surprising clarity; his father telling him to calm down as he saw Videl being tortured by Spopovich…and now, the way that he seemed so indifferent towards his own flesh and blood.
"You don't get it," Gohan growled out. "He's probably wondering why his big brother or his daddy isn't helping him out because it hurts so much. If your plan is to make sure that he gets angry and his power explodes and he beats this guy, well, that's a sucky plan. Like when I was fighting Cell. They're both hurting too much to honestly care about using their power, they just want it to stop. They're only seven and eight, Dad, and they're in pain. And I'm going to help my little brother, no matter what you say. You can not care about your own son, but I'm not just standing here while Goten gets hurt, and while I can possibly stop it."
And, with that final word, he, too, lunged for Aka, determined to stop his brother's pain.
Coming up behind the purple monstrosity, Gohan swiftly gave him a fierce chop on the neck. Aka let out a roar of pain in reaction, instinctively dropping Trunks and Goten, who he had once again picked up and begun to squeeze the life out of once more.
"Th…thanks, Gohan," Goten whispered hoarsely, still struggling for breath, managing to look up at his brother, who had moved protectively in front of the two boys. Gohan nodded at him in return, before glaring at Aka, who had recovered from the sudden attack.
"You…you little…" Aka began, still gasping from his pain as he glared right back at Gohan. "You infuriating pests…like insects, there's no end to you…"
"Oh, an insect, am I?" Gohan questioned, voice dark. Right after he spoke, he instantly socked the large alien in the stomach, causing Aka to let out a sudden wheeze as all the air whooshed out of his lungs. "Would an insect be able to do that to you?"
"Insolent…little…Saiyan…scum," Aka gasped out, now enraged beyond belief, beginning to gather up a large ball of green energy in his hand as he gasped. Gohan got prepared to block it, the little boys behind him still regaining their breath. "You…you will regret thi—"
However, Aka's words were suddenly cut off and turned into an odd gurgling sound, as the beam of yellow light passed right through his body. Blood that was colored blue began to spurt from the middle of his body, and also from his mouth, coating his peach lips as he fell to the ground with a large crash.
Behind him stood Vegeta, wearing a bored look on his face, his palm still extended outwards in the position that it had been in when he fired the blast. He lowered his arm, looking bored, indifferently staring at the prone form on the ground that was gasping desperately for air.
"I was getting rather tired of his drivel about Saiyans," he simply said, shrugging.
"H-how…?" Aka gasped out, struggling to stay alive. "I…"
"Well, Saiyans are a lot stronger than you thought," Vegeta offered, holding back his annoyance and anger under a dangerously detached mask. "Tch, we didn't even have to go Super Saiyan to defeat you. Pathetic."
"He…he will never forgive you…for this…" Aka coughed, glaring venomously at each of them. "Our lord…never…forgets anything…and always…holds on…to grudges…"
"He's got some issues, then," Krillin mumbled under his breath. "Seriously, that guy needs a new hobby other than holding on to eternal grudges." However, he made sure that he didn't speak loud enough to actually be heard by Aka, mind you.
"We're absolutely terrified," Vegeta said to the dying alien sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"You should be…he hates…the Saiyans…" Aka choked on his blue blood, but wore a slight smirk on his face. "He'll come here…personally…and then, he'll…extract his…revenge…"
And, with that, Aka's breaths stopped, eyes glazing over as his soul departed from his body. Abo and Cado were dead.
"Well, that's over," Vegeta said with a shrug, not caring about the hideous corpse that was now on the floor. Behind Gohan, Trunks and Goten had stood up again, and looked at Aka's body with contempt.
"I can't believe we couldn't beat him," Trunks muttered, furious at himself. "We let ourselves underestimate his power."
"As long as you never do that again with an enemy, then it's fine," Vegeta said gruffly, going over to his son and standing next to Gohan. "We were all slightly thrown off with that, because he wasn't showing nearly as much power as he managed to exert."
"I…I can't believe…how powerful…" Tarble trailed off, in shock at the whole battle, unable to fathom how much power that they had exerted before.
"You get used to it after a while," Krillin said offhandedly, before turning to the rest of the group. "So, what now? Do you think he was bluffing about the master thing?"
"I don't know," Piccolo spoke up. "There might be a legitimacy to it. We should keep on our guard, just in case."
"Sounds like a plan," Krillin said with a nod, before he called his farewells to the group and began to fly back to his wife and daughter. Piccolo, ever the social butterfly, simply took off after exchanging a quick nod with his former pupil.
Trunks went up to his father, and Goten clung to Gohan's hand for a moment, before he went over to his father. Gohan avoided the man, still slightly pissed off at Goku, and went over to Videl instead.
"There's never a dull moment with your group of friends, huh?" she asked quietly once he got in close enough proximity to her. At that, he managed a small grin and let out a chuckle as he shook his head.
"Nope," he agreed. "Never. Hey, you want me to take you home?"
Videl smiled. "I'd like that, thanks," she replied, entwining their fingers. Gohan looked down at their now joined hands with a smile on his face, before he gently kissed her forehead.
It was then, however, that it happened again.
Once more, a flash of pure, undulating hatred was felt; the pure, raw emotion of anger, hatred fury, overwhelming and overpowering and undeterred for a quick millisecond, even more powerful than the one that Gohan had felt not too long ago. It was so overwhelming that Gohan had to struggle to maintain his composure in front of Videl, having felt like the air was knocked out of his lungs from the pure intensity of the emotion.
So…that angry energy hadn't been Abo and Cado? Then…who was it? Could it be their master? Or was it a worse enemy?
Gohan exchanged a glance with Vegeta, whose dark eyes had instinctively gone over to the teenager. Trunks was saying goodbye to Goten before the little prince flew back home with his father and estranged relatives, and, as such, Trunks didn't see the small nod that Vegeta exchanged with Gohan. He'd felt it, too. They needed to be ready for whatever it was. They had no idea who, or what, it was coming from.
Gohan felt that one thing was for certain, though. There was probably something worse coming.
This was only the beginning.
Whew! That took a while to write :D see, I told ya that you KINDA find out about the villain, but not completely. So yeah :D
Anyways, what'd ya think? And sorry for not updating in a while, it's just that schoolwork came and messed me up. I had a thousand million plus one projects to do, and so much homework, and tests to study for…the teachers wanna make up for the week we lost in Hurricane Sandy. Damn X( but oh well. I had a lot of free time on my hands today and, as such, wrote most of this chapter today (well, yesterday. It's like 2 in the morning now X3)
So, hope you guys liked the chapter! Thank you so much for reading, and please, please review!