QUEST FOR POWER 2:

CHALLENGE KINGDOM

By Konrad

PART 4

I hardly know him. But he's helping me so much. Aurora thought as she looked at Gohan. Ah crap, why am I here again? I can't do this!

Gohan and Android 18 meanwhile studied their surroundings. Or rather what little they could see. The trio was engulfed in almost complete blackness. All they could make out around themselves was a solid tiled floor beneath them.

"Hello? Anybody there?" Gohan called out to a deafening silence only to be cut by his own echo. "Hey, are you guys going to ambush us or what?!"

"Really, Gohan!" 18 chided. "If someone wants to ambush us, would they answer that stupid question?"

"Well why not?"

"Because that would defeat the purpose of an ambush, don't you think?!"

"Well, maybe they're nice ambushers?" Gohan responded incredulously. "You know how in cartoons the bad guys surprise the good guys and then they spend a half hour explaining to the good guys their entire plan before they try to actually beat the good guys? It doesn't hurt to call them if that's what they're planning to do, right?"

"You baka! This isn't some stupid anime or a manga, you know!" 18 yelled back, her face flustered.

"Oh, right!" Gohan grinned broadly and put a hand behind his head.

It never ceased to amaze Aurora and 18 how honestly naïve the boy could be.

"Besides, fighting's not why we're here." 18 remarked, scoffing. "It's just for talks, right? Though I wouldn't mind a brawl or two…"

Is she always so pissed off? Aurora wondered. She didn't have more time to ponder that thought when a brusque flash of light blinded them. The trio shielded their eyes while a female voice called out to them.

"Sorry we're late. We had a late arrival." The voice spoke. "On the plus side, it did give us time to study you a bit the whole time you were. And no, we're not going to ambush you."

"Well that's good to know." 18 grunted as her vision recovered from the sudden brightness.

"Oh, you're…?" Aurora inquired as Gohan and her also recovered their sight.

"Yes, it's us."

They could now see that they were standing all along inside of a large arena. It was almost completely empty except for a handful of Kosajin facing them, four to be exact.

Slightly ahead of the others stood the only female. She was tall, with a dark blue body adorned with fine white marking and dots. Pupil-less eyes almost froze the trio if they hadn't recalled their poise and training. The female's three male comrades were only slightly less intimidating. One was astonishingly bulky and coloured brown. Another had an average disposition for a warrior and was coloured light blue. His glare was still menacing however. Finally, the last one didn't seem to look at the trio as negatively as the others. If anything, the turquoise, young and charismatic-looking Kosajin exuded a friendly neutrality.

Wow, he must be as good-looking as Gohan. How old is he? Aurora thought of the turquoise Kosajin. Oh crap, what am I thinking?! Oh shit, he's looking! She blushed deeply and lowered her head slightly.

"Er… umm…" Aurora mumbled.

"Let's introduce ourselves before there's any confusion. As you might've guessed, I am Nautikaa, Princess of the Water Kosajin." The female of the group spoke.

"Blok, the rock-solid foundation of the Ground clan!" boasted the brown one.

"Eh, can't ever miss a chance for silly talk, Blok?" The turquoise one chided amusingly before introducing himself and the remaining Kosajin. "I'm Typhoon and this is Tempest, my cousin. We're from the Wind clan."

"We're missing representatives from the Wood and Lightning clans. But since this meeting's been arranged by Raikou, I assume you at least represent the latter." Tempest spoke. "Only the problematic Fire weren't contacted, but we'll see about that."

"An honour to meet you all!" Gohan beamed politely. "I'm Son Gohan from Earth."

"Android 18. You can call me 18. Same here." 18 responded non-enthusiastically.

"If you don't mind, we'd like to confirm the reason why you're here." Nautikaa spoke. All heads turned to Aurora.

"Erm, I… I…" Aurora started but wilted under all the gazes.

"She's here to help unite your planet and your people!" Gohan mercifully piped up.

"That much we know." Nautikaa replied before turning her gaze again to the young girl. "But we want to know what makes you think you're worthy of ruling all of us."

Aurora swallowed an invisible lump and couldn't help but look down to avoid meeting Nautikaa or anyone else's eyes. Unsure of her ambition, she silently questioned what she could accomplish. If my brother was still here… The discussion carried on around her nonetheless.

"We tried to reunite under your father, King Cold." Blok said. "And he ended up being nothing but trash!"

"She's not like her father. In fact she's not her father!" Gohan protested in defense of the young girl. "She's with Raikou of the Lightning clan and you know her well enough to have allowed us here, right? Look, it doesn't matter who leads the Kosajin, though she does have all the ruling bloodlines. The important thing is for your people to be united in peace, not by making one surrender to the other by force!"

"Well said, young Gohan." Typhoon replied, to the trio's temporary relief. "But still we cannot merely take your word for it just like that, unless the Princess has nothing else to say."

"You don't mind if we perform a challenge to test the Princess?" Nautikaa inquired.

"No, not all!" Gohan chirped.

"Let's get it started then." 18 said with haste. "I hate waiting. What's the challenge?"

Without warning, Blok jumped down from where he was standing into the middle of the arena. As he touched down, his skin turned composition to take a rock-like appearance. Aurora, Gohan and 18 took a step back, startled.

Oh no… Aurora thought. Blok smirked.

"The challenge is me!"

- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

I hardly know him but can he really stay this moody? This is annoying! Raikou thought of the Triclops walking beside her. The cool nighttime temperature in Surge City made for a pleasant walk, if a bit dull. The big town, in whose outskirts Raikou normally lived, was itself almost ready to go to sleep as the streets emptied themselves of the few people still remaining outdoors.

Hmmm, whatever. Time to cheer him up maybe. "Think it was a good idea to leave your friend alone to wander?" She inquired, eliciting a slight growl from her current companion.

"Vegeta's an ally. Not quite the same thing as a friend." Tenshinhan responded cooly. "With his attitude he probably needed some alone time anyways."

"So you think that was wise?" Raikou asked again. But unfortunately, the Triclops completely missed the slight joking tone in her voice.

"I don't know if any decision is wise." Tenshinhan almost whispered softly, his head downcast. "I don't know if we should've let Gohan and 18 go help Aurora. I don't know if we should've even come here in the first place!"

Raikou immediately lost her playful disposition. Well, that's very nice to know! She chided in her head so intensely, she could've almost sworn Tenshinhan heard her. Which she wanted. But the Human seemed completely clueless to any communication.

"Hmmm... Tell me about those guys... Goku and Piccolo, isn't it?" I think I know his problem. Tenshinhan abruptly lifted his head to the dark sky.

"They were the greatest." He responded with a small smile.

"And can you tell me a bit more about them?"

"Besides what I told you before? Well, whenever they were around, it felt like things would be alright." The Triclops started, a modest smile growing on his face as he started to recall past fights. "Goku and Piccolo would be there to push and pull us forward when we were too scared to do anything. Goku had all the strength and he had a determination like no one else to overcome the odds. Piccolo commanded respect, and not simply because we were once afraid of him. When even one of them was there, you could believe that anything was possible. And even when things turned for the worst, you'd never regret fighting alongside them." Tenshinhan raved, bringing back all the memories of battles won and lost.

"I see..." Raikou said more to herself than to Tenshinhan. Bingo, that must be it! "And now that they're both gone...?"

"I don't know what we could do without them." Tenshinhan sighed. "They always kept us together. They led us. None of us now are capable of that. Not me, not Gohan, certainly not Vegeta. It worries me to death. There's simply no one who..."

"Well I think you're wrong." Raikou stated brusquely, surprising the Triclops as much by her tone as by her assertion. "But you're just too busy feeling sorry for yourself and for the others and being afraid of the future to think clearly!"

"Oh, um, sorry…" Tenshinhan sheepishly apologized.

There he goes again! "There you go again!" Raikou yelled, fuming at the human. "Seriously, Tenshinhan, just stop mopping around so much!"

"Oh, ok…" The Triclops replied meekly.

"Maybe we could talk a little while the others are busy." Raikou contemplated, her anger simmering down.

They continued walking in silence, Surge City decidedly down for the night. But the pair would rather clear their heads and idly enjoy the calming quiet. Suddenly, Raikou stiffened as a thought crossed her mind.

Oh no, how could I have forgotten that?! I must be certain! The Kosajin turned to look at Tenshinhan who was obliviously laying his eyes on the surroundings. The distraction was all Raikou needed. She swooped her hand over his head and, before he knew it, poked the Triclops in his third eye.

"WAAAAAHHHH!" Tenshinhan keeled over, his hands protecting his eye. "What the hell?!"

"Oh my…" Raikou muttered, stunned livid.

"OWWWWW! Oh Kami, that freaking hurts!" Tenshinhan screamed at the top of his lungs. "What the hell was that for?!"

"Well I wasn't certain if it was real…" Raikou answered, blushing.

"What do you mean you wasn't certain if it was real?! Of course, it's real! You're crazy, you're a bloody crazy bitch!" Tenshinhan raged.

"Hey, what'd you expect me to say?! 'Hey mister, is that a real eye? Can I touch it?' I never saw someone with a third eye before, you know!" Raikou scoffed, she putting her hands on her hips.

"Well you don't see me going around yanking at your tail to see if it reals, now do you?!" Tenshinhan replied, causing the Kosajin to protectively wrap her appendage around herself.

"If you even think about that, I'll put you in so much pain…" She threatened, eyes narrowed.

"Oh yeah, like you didn't do enough of that…" Tenshinhan countered as he angrily stormed ahead of Raikou, all the while muttering infinite obscenities about how he was going to catch her tail one day, heaven help her.

"A real eye…" Raikou wondered out loud. "Wow, I never would've imagined!"

- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"Gah, what am I doing? Come on, I can do this!" Sulfus said to himself, standing in front the meeting place, the 'Wet Salamander'.

Swallowing a small lump, Sulfus pushed the bar's door open, barrelling his way in, to reveal a bustling crowd. He blinked twice until he remembered that he no longer was in deep space. Spaceport bars, serving as waypoints between on nearly infinity long routes, were a quiet, almost depressing experience. There were exceptions, like when a really big ship came in but that was more or less the extent of the atmosphere. Sulfus never got into the habit of visiting many planets, save when it was time for a conquest. Here though, on a particularly rich, inhabited world, you probably couldn't hear a hurricane outside the door.

From one wall to the other, the patrons squeezed as well as anyone could within reason. Kosajin of mostly the Fire Clan made up the biggest amount of people, which was to be expected in Burning City. In this relatively calm period in Clan warfare though, many others congregated here, even from officially hostile Clans. A good number of aliens of all stripes were also mixing in easily with the chitter chatter of the crowds. And to the barmaids, balancing drinks and glasses while collecting tips, weaving through a mass of flesh and dodging lecherous hands was no longer just a skill; it was an art. Sulfus found a spot free at the bar, though it was next to a barely conscious lout who promptly hailed the Fire wielder as 'my bestest best friend ever!'

"I hardly know you, guy." Sulfus said dismissively.

Eyes furrowed, the Kosajin downed a couple of mugs while glancing around for the reason he came here. He sighed and his tail swished almost non-chalantly behind him. Unexpectedly however, his eyes stopped at the back of someone else's head. That person, probably a man, seemed to indulge alone in a pitcher of beer. More curiously, a set of jet-black, spiky hair pointed skyward. This time, Sulfus' tail twitched and he wondered what could cause this reaction in himself.

"Mr Sulfus! Sorry to keep you waiting." someone hollered.

At the sound of his name, the Fire Kosajin turned to see another Kosajin man approach him. Given the crowd, the call had to be loud so it could be heard.

"Ah! Ummm, no problem." Sulfus greeted the new arrival, while sending a distracted glance to the spiky-haired man.

The man's head and back had risen, even stiffened visibly and Sulfus wondered if that was the result of hearing his name. Why do I feel like there's something familiar? Nah, lots of noise here and people talking. Must be a coincidence. Brushing aside all those thoughts, Sulfus concentrated on his current meeting, which was more important.

Since they had already done a formal interview that went well, the man wanted this informal meeting to quickly go over Sulfus' past and qualifications.

"Now, from the first interview, I remember you said you never involved in any military operation, government or mercenary or otherwise." The interviewer stated as he studied Sulfus' files.

"That's absolutely correct." Sulfus grinned.

"And you piloted the ship 'Skylight' with over 200 crew…"

"Indeed." Sulfus stifled an even wider grin, contenting himself with a courteous smile this time.

"I knew you were perfect!" The interviewer crowed. "Now like I said, the assignment is on the space station Orion for the Fire Clan government. You'll start mid-rank of course since you're new but with your credentials, I'm sure you can move quickly."

"That's very well by me!"

"Great, I'll take you there immediately so you can get a feel for it. But first, a small toast!"

After a few celebratory drinks, the two men left the bar, with none more pleased than Sulfus. Adjusting to a civilian life sent a chill down his spine, yet he glowed at the prospect of a more normal life after all the mercenary work. The thought immediately brought up Cerion to the fore of his mind. Goddess or not, Sulfus wondered about sharing the good news and more with her.

Maybe… she could stay… Alright, I must not get ahead of myself! He steeled himself inside but still beamed about seeing her after his first stint on the Orion. At least she'd boast about her counterfeiting skills and their role in his landing a job.

Meanwhile, Sulfus didn't notice that the spiky-haired man from earlier had also left the bar quietly.

END OF PART FOUR