Dragon Ball Z: Dynasty – The Season of Dragon Ramen

Written by: Feraligreater328

Overseen by: StevenBodner and SparkerLightning

Chapter 5: A Loyal Hound

In the wilderness...

Chi-Chi sighed in relief as the painful gashes on her cheek sealed up. She reached over to her bag, pulling out a towel, and wiped the steadily drying blood from her face. Next to her, Chika had calmed down quite a bit from the previous vicious attack. She was giggling and playing a game with Chiaotzu in the dirt. Tien leaned against a tree. "There have been more and more of them recently..."

Chi-Chi glanced up. "Huh?"

Tien looked toward her. "Demons. Vicious ones at that. Chiaotzu and I were making our way through this area, looking for pupils to join the New Crane School, and all we've found are destroyed villages begging for help. They said it's getting to be a certain type of season..."

Chi-Chi nodded. "Yeah. The Red Dragon Season. All the demons inhabiting the mortal realm are stirring for an eventual party on Dragon Rock."

Tien studied Chi-Chi's face carefully. She looked almost could make out the shape of...something...beneath her headscarf but was much too bashful to mention it out loud. Why did Chi-Chi suddenly start wearing a scarf around her head anyway...?

Chiaotzu cried out. "OH NO!"

Both the warrior and the wife turned in shock, only to see Chiaotzu taking a massive pratfall. Chika was laughing like crazy. "Yay! Mama, look, I beat Mr. Chiaotzu in tic-tac-toe!"

Chi-Chi breathed a sigh of relief. "That's...great dear. I'm happy for you..."

Tien smiled. Then he looked toward Chi-Chi again. "So, why are the two of you all the way out here anyway?"

Chi-Chi looked over at him. "With Red Dragon season comes the Season of Dragon Ramen. Goku really wants me to make it and that requires me to make my way to Dragon Rock in order to get a certain type of mushroom. This is just the first time that I've had someone accompany me."

Chi-Chi thought of the yatagarasu about to stab its beak through her daughter's back and shuddered. Tien nodded. "I see. I assumed as much, at least in regard to the attack you were fending off. That bird wouldn't have stood a chance against a focused you."

Chi-Chi adopted a modest smirk. "You really think so?"

Tien nodded. "No doubt. You're one of the strongest people living on this planet, Chi-Chi. I never allow myself to forget that."

He chuckled. "I remember the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament fondly..."

Chi-Chi took a deep breath and let it out slow. "Me too. But, as much as I'd love to hang around and reminisce, we have a schedule to keep."

She stood up, cracked her back, and motioned to Chika. "We need to be off if we're going to get that mushroom."

Chiaotzu spoke up. "We could go with you, ya know. We don't have much better to do with our time."

Chi-Chi felt every muscle in her body tighten. Tien nodded in agreement. "For sure. We wouldn't want you getting ambushed by yourselves again. Please, allow us the honor of escorting you on your voyage going forward."

Chi-Chi wanted to grind her teeth. Her hands shuddered so subtly that one wouldn't notice unless they were holding them. And Chika certainly did notice. "Mama? What's wrong...?"

Chi-Chi thought back to that moment so long ago. The arrow through her mother's chest. The look of dumb shock on her face as a dribble of blood spilled from the corner of her mouth. Chi-Chi's own clothes become wet and warm and sticky as crimson poured down and...

...Chika nearly being stabbed through by a massive, three-eyed crow...

...Chi-Chi swallowed the massive lump in her throat, swallowed her pride and her lament, and then turned toward these two loyal friends to her husband and their family. "I would very much appreciate that."

Farther down the road, later that day...

Chi-Chi kept her eyes forward as she, her daughter, and their two new bodyguards marched onward. In the distance, a massive sheer mountain rose up in a draconic display of stone and rock. The eponymous Dragon Rock was just as intimidating as it always had been.

Getting closer to it was having a serious effect on Chi-Chi. She felt her blood boiling beneath her skin. She felt the genes she had inherited from her mother writhe and roar their silent roar. Dragon Rock was a gateway, a split in reality. It was a place where the mortal world was flayed open, festering and fuming, and where entrance to the world on the other side was possible.

Normally, the split was so small that barely a yatagarasu could squeeze its way out. But now, during the Red Dragon Season, it was large enough that all sorts of foul creatures could make their way out and cause trouble for those immigrants of the Demon Realm that simply wanted a more peaceful existence.

Chi-Chi's eyes turned red. She could feel them change color, oddly enough. She snuffled and shook her head, forcing her normal eye color to return. She couldn't allow that to happen here. Not in front of Tien and Chiaotzu and certainly not in front of Chika. She refused to scare her little girl like that.

Chi-Chi's horns were throbbing. Aching, almost. Her head felt heavier and heavier the closer they got.

Furtively, she glanced at the bit of her hair that she could see out of the corner of her eye to make sure that it wasn't changing color too. She wasn't entirely sure that she could stop that if it started.

This one moment of distraction was enough that Chi-Chi didn't notice the axe blade slicing through the air and right toward her face.

Tien moved rapidly, stepping between the blade and Chi-Chi and blocking the swing with his arm. The axe blade chipped and Tien came away with a small cut for his trouble. But he had successfully defended the unaware Chi-Chi. She stumbled and defensively scooped up Chika. "What the-"

Tien scowled as the demon beast in front of him bellowed. "Hyahahahaha! Does your arm hurt, human filth? Does it sting after its kiss from the blade of Byakko the White Tiger?!"

Tien took a defensive stance. Chiaotzu followed suit. Chi-Chi wedged Chika between her back and her backpack and took on a stance of her own. Byakko wasn't alone. The white tiger man stood to their west. To their east was a hissing, blue snake man with a chain sickle. To their north was a black turtle man with a stone hammer. And to their south, a yellow bird man with a katana.

Byakko cackled. "Cower in fear, humans! We are the Four Auspicious Beasts! Byakko, skilled in the axe!"

The dragon hissed. "Seiryuu, skilled in the chain and sickle!"

The turtle bellowed. "Genbu, skilled in the hammer!"

The bird squawked. "Suzaku, skilled in the blade!"

All four of them chanted. "AND WE ARE-"

"Severely outmatched."

Byakko turned. "Who the hell dares-"

And then a Special Beam Cannon smashed into his face and drilled a gorey hole right through the back of his skull. Suzaku squawked. "Byakko!"

Tien gave no quarter, rushing forth and smashing his elbow into Suzaku's chest. Chiaotzu fired a Dodon Ray through Seiryuu's heart and Chi-Chi shot forward, smashing a knee into Genbu's shell. The four demons' bodies fell to the ground, and they all burst into clouds of evil smoke.

Chika wormed her way out from beneath Chi-Chi's backpack and ran forward with a loving sparkle in her eyes. "MR. PICCOLO!"

Tien gripped his bleeding arm and smirked as he walked forward. "Hey Piccolo. What's up?"

Chiaotzu floated forward. "Why are you here?"

The Namekian had already picked Chika up off the ground, holding her like a loving uncle and shrugging. "I felt Chika's ki signature begin to weaken earlier, so I started rushing over here. Once I felt it go back to normal, I slowed down a bit. So, what are all of you doing out here anyway?"

Chika smiled and happily started to explain the situation. As she did, Chi-Chi stayed back from the rest. In her heart, Piccolo showing up made her feel very happy and very grateful. Her precious children had nothing to fear so long as Piccolo, ever the loyal guard dog, was there to rush to their aid. She had detested Piccolo for the longest time, but she could no more deny that he was a member of the family than she could deny that Tien and Chiaotzu were.

In some way, she loved him just as she did all of the others.

And yet...

...the arrow piercing her mother's heart...

...the hatred against demon-kind because of that monster King Piccolo...

...Chi-Chi looked at these three loyal friends. All of them doting on her daughter and her daughter doting right back and she felt her skin crawl. She loved the three of them so much.

But she also hated the three of them quite a bit too.