I do not own Dragon Ball Z Or Shaman King
Jordan walked aimlessly through burnt-out streets littered with bodies. His mind was numb, not thinking at all, he felt cold all over as he observed the absolute carnage unleashed by the metallic invaders.
Bodies were everywhere, people had been cut down where they stood, some fleeing, some fighting, some just too shocked to move. No effort had been made to bury them and they rotted in piles, letting lose an evil stench.
He wandered aimlessly, not caring where he ended as his mind tried to deal with the death around him.
Suddenly, it was all too much! He burst into a run, what seemed like hundreds of thoughts swimming through his head, he felt like he was having trouble breathing, the stink was getting to him!
He pelted through street after street, all containing bodies of the slain.
Then he saw it, up ahead, a church, but what really caught his attention, no bodies, it was clear, he rushed towards it.
If Jordan had been thinking clearly, he might have wondered why this was, certainly it was not due to divine intervention of any sort. Why would this building be left intact, un-pillaged
when all around it the others had not? But Jordan wasn't thinking straight.
He burst through the door, breathing in the sweet air.
He could feel his head starting to clear.
Then, there came a nose, a terrible crashed and thumping. Jordan looked around warily, Someone or something was in here.
Clashes resounded, but he could pinpoint the direction they came from.
He called out, " Who are you? Show yourself!"
another series of clanks and thumps.
Then, a metal fist slammed into Jordan's back!
He screamed, slamming into the far wall, feeling bones bend and brake, agony tore through his body!
His vision was tinged with red and rapidly fading, above him, loomed a robot, it extended its laser. The green blast shot outwards, coming closer and closer.
Jordan closed his eyes waiting the end. It didn't come.
Instead a new figure stood between them.
Jordan saw that she was tall, wearing dark clothes, but what caught his eye, the pair of bat-like wings extending from her back.
Am I seeing things? Wondered.
The mystery warrior was holding back the green attack with a shield of Ki!
But the beam was slowly tearing through her defences.
She fell to her knees, teeth clenched.
Then, her shield shattered and she dived out of the way in time.
She glared at the robot, " Not bad, I didn't think Cooler's lackeys would be that tough. But I wont lose to you."
She brought her hands together, but the robot struck first! Its laser retracted, restructuring itself into a rapid fire version, then it let loose!
Hundreds of small charges slammed into the warrior! She let loose a cry as her body was burned away.
An explosion shock the area, the robot turned back to Jordan.
But then, a voice was heard, " have you forgotten about me?"
The robot turned back to where the smoke was clearing.
The warrior was unharmed! Protected beneath the wings of a huge bird, fire red.
Then, it flashed, taking on a new form, a black wolf.
The warrior raised her hand into the sky, " Kaori, Oversoul!"
The wolf changed again, becoming a small orb and fused with the warrior!
She leapt forward, the robot raised its guard but Selea grinned and struck at it with hands that seemed to have sprouted talons.
The robot exploded and Selea landed easily.
She turned to find Jordan stirring at her, she shrugged, " You never seen a shaman before?"
Jordan blacked out.
Goldva looked around him sadly, all the surviving Tenth Oracle had gathered here, in this dark building. They were meant to be finding ways to win this war, but Goldva,along with almost all of the God-Class Shamans knew this war was lost. If Yoh had not intervened the last battle would have been the end of them. While it was true they still had some troops left, the last battle had broken moral, many were fleeing to their homes, others leaving to defend their friends or loved ones and as a result of this, the Tenth Oracle found themselves at the head of an army no larger then two hundred shamen. Two hundred against millions.
His fellow Oracles saw this as well. Their faces showed different grades of hopelessness, from Renim's fallen features to Talim's defiant face.
Goldva spoke, " My friends, the truth is known to us all, next time they attack, we will be crushed like insects."
Silva growled, eyes cast to the ground, his was experiencing strange emotions, anger and rage, the desire to hurt...
Kalim cried out: " Surely there is a way for us to survive this war?"
Goldva shook his head sadly, " We have one option, if we retreat to the Plants then we could possibly hold them there, where our strength is at its greatest."
Silva put his finger right on the problem, " To do that we would need to abandon everyone here to their death."
Goldva nodded, " Only A member of the Patch Tribe or a Tenth Oracle can enter one of the Plants."
Someone spoke up, Goldva recognised a Oracle called Namari. " What fools have you become?"
Several people gasped, to show such disrespect to an elder!
Namari was well known to have been one of Hao's most loyal supporters, and while he was also a Tenth Oracle he had never been really trusted.
" If you wont abandon those weaklings to their deaths, and you want to save the village, the answer is simple, you must use the Song."
Most of the others looked confused, Goldva shook his head sadly, he had expected someone to bring that up. The legendary Patch Song was one of the most powerful shamanic Techniques known.. Not for what is did to the enemy but for what it could do to you.. It was incredibly dangerous but it could turn the battle in their favour.
" No." Goldva answered immediately, it was true that it could save them but the price was too great. For if they did win, and if they failed to resist the Song's deadly call... what would emerge could easily be a thousand times worse then the robots. The last person to have used the song was Hao.
Silva asked, " What is this song?"
Goldva answered, " An ancient technique, by eliminating certain emotions it can increase a shaman's Furiouku by more then a thousand times. However, while it does wipe out some emotions, it strengthens others, the result is an unstable being, most of the time the strengthened emotions are anger, rage pride and hatred. A shaman will become stronger.. but the chances are they will no longer care about this village."
Silva looked passive on the outside, but inside he was full of conflicting emotions. First and foremost, anger at the elders for keeping this Song from him, secondly an utter sense of failure, for no matter how hard he had fought the robots had pressed onwards, towards the village. Third, he felt useless, where he and an army had failed, Yoh alone had succeeded.
The final thought, the one he tried with all his might to force back into the lower depths of his mind was: How powerful would I be with this Song?
Silva was acutely aware that he was starting to think like the late Hao Asakura and perhaps it was not so strange. Silva was Hao's descendent and though he was loath to admit it, he had inherited a good portion of his power from the Fire Shaman.
Silva struggled to fight for good, to deny his evil urges, yet he could not help but wonder, did Hao do the same? He knew that Hao fought for a Shaman only world because he felt that humans would destroy the Earth, from Hao's point of view, Yoh was evil and Hao was good.
Was Silva becoming more and more like Hao? This was his greatest fear. The only other person who might be able to understand was Yoh, who was himself once part of Hao, but Yoh never sowed any signs of fear, not when the odds were against him, not ever.
His turbulent thoughts turned to Yoh. The young shaman was still asleep, the shock to his system had been great, one of his greatest friends cut down in cold blood, Silva had no idea what the carefree Yoh Asakura would make of the death of Manta.
One on the Tenth Oracles interrupted his thoughts, " So, what will we do? If we stay, we will die. If we go, everyone else will die."
Goldva growled, " Without the X Laws we have little choice. They are some of the most powerful shamen we have. Now, it depends on how long it will take the robots to mount another attack. If we have a day or two, we can perhaps begin to evacuate but I doubt they will wait that long, we have perhaps a few hours."
Kalim spoke, " Then our path is clear, we will spearhead a final assault upon the robot's lines. If we brake through perhaps the civilians can escape."
Namari responded, " That might work... If we didn't mind dyeing in the process I for one will not sacrifice myself for a bunch of weak-willed shamen most of whom can't even form a Double-Medium. Why should any of us do something so stupid?"
Silva growled, " Because it is our duty."
Namari shot back " It is our duty to see to the safety of Spirit King, but he is not here is he? Why should we not retreat to the Plants and save ourselves?"
Silva wanted to argue, but knew that he could not. The only real duty imposed upon the Tenth Oracle was to guard Spirit King, and with the Great Spirit's mysterious disappearance, the Oracles had no reason to stay.
In in that dank, dark building, the fate of two worlds was decided.
Yamcha shot through the streets, paying no heed to the decaying forms of fallen people, he had seen far worse.
Jordan's energy level was low, far too low, even if he were sleeping his Ki should be far higher then this. He was injured, badly. Luckily enough, Jordan's Ki was still high enough for him to trace and as a result, Yamcha burst through the doors of the church and saw a scene right out of his nightmares!
Selea stood before an injured Jordan, Yamcha's mind leapt and he fired off a barrage of Ki blasts!
She dodged them contemptuously.
Yamcha growled, knowing his chances of defeating her were zero. She had been able to go toe to toe with Clare, who had easily been far stronger then Yamcha.
Still, he wasn't going to let Jordan die!
Selea hovered in the air, wings outstretched, " Yamcha, you know you don't stand a chance against me, right? So, why are you attacking me?"
He yelled, " Shut up!"
He let lose another blast, Selea easily forced it aside, she sighed, " I see I'm going to have to force you to listen."
He leapt at her with a barrage of fists, Selea easily dodged and blocked but seemed reluctant to fight him back.
" Why are you attacking me?"
Yamcha landed a kick to her gut and she backed away a couple of paces.
Yamcha gasped, sweat dotting his forehead, " Because you betrayed us! And joined Hao, killed some of us even!"
Selea growled, " I was never with you to begin with!"
With a flash she phased away!
Yamcha spun around but too late, she appeared before him, hand outstretched ready to deliver a fatal blow.
" Now will you listen to me?"
" Listen to a traitor? Never!"
She growled, " Look, we don't have much time before those robots come here. Now you can come with me and I can get you out of here or you can die trying to escape yourself."
" Trust you? Never!"
She snapped, " what does it take to get you to believe me?"
He replied " Nothing!"
A fierce wind of Ki forced her back, ripping the church apart!
With a resounding series of crashes, the walls collapse, the falling rubble bounced against the invisible Ki shield that the warriors had erected around themselves.
Yamcha floated into the air, hand behind his back, he said, " Though I'm not as strong as you, I can still win."
She smirked, " And how to you plan on doing that?"
He replied, " You'll see."
She stood, arms crossed, " Give me your best shot."
He said, " Oh, I will."
He held up his hand, the one that had been behind his back. Now it glowed with an unearthly white light.
" If you recall, Goku had an attack called the Spirit Bomb, after he fell, I got King Kai to teach it to me... Though I'm not pure enough to actually use it."
Selea retorted, " Is this going somewhere?"
Yamcha smiled, " Yeah, you see I can't receive energy from trees plants or animals. But, I refined the attack and changed it. Now, taste my Static Spirit Ball!"
He threw the attack! As it travelled, it picked up energy from nearby electrical sources until it had doubled its size!
Selea dodged out of the way but Yamcha smirked and the attack doubled back!
Selea cursed and dodged again, this time it was far closer as the orb was still growing.
She went into a series of frenzied dives and dodges that it was impossible for the eye to keep track of her, but the attack did. It easily pursued her, ignoring her frantic attempts to shake it off.
She turned with a roar and met it with a fist! The ball was sent flying but Selea's energy fell dramatically!
Yamcha smirked, " It also steals Ki energy, so if it touches you you will lose any shield you happen to be forming."
The orb had swelled to twice its size now, and was coming straight at her!
She cursed, no time to avoid it, can't block it , looks like we'll have to take it head on!
She held out a hand, " Kaori, Oversoul Double Medium!"
A wicked curved sword appeared in he hand, infused with the power of her spirit she slashed at the oncoming attack!
The orb put up fierce resistance, she could feel it draining her strength as it slowly pushed her back, her Furiouku faltered and the brightness increased within the orb!
She screamed, feeling her skin start to blister and burn, wounds were torn open all over her, she could feel her blood draining away.
Then, a voice in her head, Kaori " Are you a shaman are not? Fight back!"
" I can't, this Ki is too strong... I can't hold it!"
" You WILL hold it!"
" He's too strong.."
" No he's not!"
" He IS!"
" So you've reached your limits?"
" YES!"
" What would Miki say about that?"
" M-Miki?"
" He would say that once you've reached your limit, what's left is your potential."
" My potential? No... you're right, if I just give up now then I wont be worthy... You are right."
Her sword exploded, fire running through it! The struggle continued, Selea was slowly forced back as her strength faded, but with all her will power focused upon that one thing,the orb had been considerably slowed.
Yamcha watched, mouth open.
Selea cried out, " This isn't the end! Kaori, Final Slash!"
She slashed downwards, the blade cleanly splitting the orb in two. The two halves exploded in a shower of sparks.
Yamcha moved fast but Selea was faster, he felt the tip of the sword bite into his neck, not enough to kill but enough to draw blood.
Yamcha's arms dangled limply by his side, in a state of shock he said, " You blocked it."
Selea nodded, " I had help."
It was later, Selea and Yamcha sat around a camp-fire several miles from the edge of the town. They would have travelled farther, but Jordan's condition was worsening and Selea wasn't sure he would survive the move.
Yamcha still didn't trust her but he had admitted that she could have killed them both and hadn't and he also knew that she was very powerful so by travelling with them she was giving them extra protection.
She asked him " So, what's been happening in your world while I was away? It seems that all the troubles of the other worlds come from yours."
Yamcha sighed to himself, not even sure that he wanted to tell her this, but then again, she would find out anyway. Better he tell her now then she have to find out on her own.
" Its terrible, sometimes I wonder would it be better if Frieza or Cell had just blown up or planet. At least that would have been quick... but this, this is dyeing slowly, ever so slowly."
" It started when Cooler returned to the Earth, somehow he survived his encounter with Arkh and Vit and became even stronger! Millions of robots rained down from the skies, at first we fought them but the human military was quickly wiped out, along with most of the major cities. Then Cooler met several other evil doers, Cell somehow still alive joined him along with Boris and Magna. But some mystery warrior was the real power behind them.. his strength was amazing! He tossed most of us aside as if we were nothing. Then he fled, but Goku, Vegeta and Gohan chased after him. They cornered him in the mountains and there was a fierce battle, the Saiyan was equal to Goku at full strength! Then, the robots sprung a trap! Goku and Vegeta were cut down before they could even turn!"
tears ran down his face as he relived the memory of his greatest friends' passings. " Only Gohan escaped, he was so badly wounded that even a Senzu couldn't help him... He died in agony... Goten and Trunks became our leaders, and together we fought for our planet. But even with Strike and David on our side, we were pushed back, losing city after city. At last they attacked the Lookout. All the surviving Z Fighters gathered in a final attempt to save our world. The robots had been upgraded, to put it simply they crushed us like insects, Piccolo, Tien, Popo, Krillen. All died defending the Lookout to their last breath. Chi-Chi was killed as well, it drove Goten to the brink of madness... But unlocked his hidden powers! He's so great... So much like Goku... but Dende died so no Dragon balls... the few surviving humans were led by the Z fighters into hiding. We have a city but we know that one day they will find us, and we can't fight them off."
Selea was quiet for several minutes, absorbing everything that Yamcha had said.
It seemed impossible that the Z fighters, so strong and powerful, could be shattered like this!
Goku and Vegeta, she had thought of them as the heart of that team. Goku to insure that they always did the right thing and Vegeta to relentlessly drive himself, and by extension Goku, towards the single goal of being the best. If Goku and Vegeta were the heart then Piccolo and Arkh were the brain, they always seemed able to come up with the right plan at the right time, if Piccolo had died as well... But the worse thing was the loss of the Dragon Balls, they always had been the soul of the Z fighters. Helping to inspire hope in the knowledge that no matter what went wrong, it could always be fixed.
She could only guess at the hopelessness and despair that they were going through, Goku had seemed to be invincible. No matter what happened to him he could rise above it, no matter the hardship he could endure it. When everything was going from bad to worse, you could always count on Goku being by your side to help you through your trouble, be it a galaxy-destroying tyrant or a broken car. He was just, always there.
Except of course, now he wasn't. The very thought left her cold, Goku had always been solid and dependable and the thought that he might have been killed sent a shiver of fear through her. She hadn't known him as well as most of the others but she still grieved.
" I don't know what to say."
Kaori chose this minute to appear in his wolf form. Yamcha was somewhat annoyed by this. He,as he had recently discovered and seemingly to his great regret, possessed more Furiouku then your average human. While not enough to allow him to see Spirits it was enough to allow him to hear them. So to him Kaori's voice could come from absolutely everywhere, he has twice had near heart attacks when Kaori had said something and turned out to be much closer then Yamcha expected.
The one thousand year old spirit was a member of an elite class of beings known as Higher Spirits, ghosts that have spent more then five hundred years upon the earth. Once a spirit has spent so long in this world, and if they have nothing to hold them back, they can evolve into a higher form, gaining many abilities that they never would otherwise have had. Kaori had gained shape-changing powers as well as a heightened intelligence.
Selea had rapidly become close to the spirit.
" What do we do?" He asked, causing Yamcha to jump yet again.
Yamcha shook his head, " We have no idea, I guess we'll have to head home and see if we can help them. I was sent here for a mission but its failed now... Cooler has the item."
Selea was interested, " what item? Something as powerful as the Dragon Balls?"
Yamcha said nothing as the darkness seemed to close in on them.
An: Some facts, the Patch Song is real and was mentioned in the final chapter of the Shaman King Manga, all the facts about the Sk Universe are real, including the Plants which will be making a big appearance.