Chapter Five - Untold Horror
Pan was adjusting her armor as she walked. She hated wearing the ugly white and light brown armor, and the blue body suit always felt like it was going to suffocate her. Unfortunately it was considered impolite for any Master, other than Kakkarotto or Gohan, to appear before another in a formal situation without being dressed formally. Since Pan was here on offical business and would be entering Cooler's throne room it was a formal situation.
After a few moments she stopped outside the large double doors that lead into his throne room and nodded to the guards outside. "Oh, Ms. Pan." one of them said with a bow. "What brings you here?"
"I need to talk to Master Cooler." she said a bit annoyed.
"One moment please." the guard said before dissapearing through a small door in the side of the wall. No doubt a guard station where he could talk to Cooler without entering his throne room. He emerged a moment later as the large double doors began to swing inward. "Master Cooler will see you."
Grinning Pan entered the room and looked about. It wasn't as ornate as Vegeta's was, or Cell's either, but it was impressive. Even if a bit dreary. "Changelings have the worst tastes." she thought before her eye settled on Cooler. Like his brother he was in his fourth form. He'd remain in his fifth but it was as cumbersome for day to day use as the third form. "Hello Master Cooler."
"Mistress Pan." Cooler said with slight intrest. "This is the first I've seen of you since you landed, I hope everything's okay with Master 17..."
"17's fine." Pan said. "I just got bored, thought you might be up for a spar?"
Cooler grinned. "Actually, I could use a good work out. All I've got for sparring partners around here most of the time is the Armored Squadron and they're weaklings. Shall we head outside? I don't want to damage my palace after all." Pan nodded as Cooler stood and led the way out a door behind his throne. They passed through a long hall that twisted, turned, rose, and fell seemingly at random. "This tunnel is a direct route to four locations." Cooler explained. "My chambers, the throne room, the court yard, and outside the palace walls."
The walls were plain for the entire trip, save two doors on the left and one to the right. Eventually though, they emerged into the raging blizzard a good hundred yards beyond the palace walls. The two walked out into the depths of the blizzard and turned to face each other. In the whiteout conditions they needed to follow each other's KI to know where they were.
Suddenly there was a loud cry from a few yards into the storm and the snow was blasted away from the two warriors. Cooler had his head and arms thrown back as power surged through his body. Horns began to grow from his head as his body grew and the spikes on his arms grew. A moment later his transformation into his fifth form was finished and the clouds over head were partially parted. He lowered his head as the face mask closed.
Pan grinned as she clenched her fists and let out a cry. There's a flash as her blue aura flares to life and she throws her head back. The area begins to shake madly as the clouds overhead part even more. Her aura pulses rapidly as energy arcs about her and across the landscape. Her scream builds louder as her hair flaps up into the air and her eyes begin to shimmer. A second later they turn green as her hair begins to shift gold. And then, with one last cry and in a rush of power, her aura shifts color as well and the transformation finishes.
Eyes now green, hair now spiking and golden, and aura golden as well, Pan grinned. She had the clear advantage in power. Of the 'children' she was the only one stronger than Cooler in just the first level, which was good since it was the only transformation she had. Of the children only Trunks could go to level two, not that Vegeta thought much of it since his level two was weaker than Pan's level one.
"You ready Cooler?"
"Sure, I want a full work out from this kid." he said grinning under the face mask. "I have someting I need to try out."
Pan arched an eyebrow but grinned. "Alright, one night in the Regen Tanks it is Cooler." With a flash of gold Pan launched in at Cooler. The Changeling grinned behind his face mask as well. He loved the thrill of battle almost as much as any Sai-jin. In a flash of deep purple Cooler launches across at Pan as well and the two meet halfway. Pan's fist cracks into Cooler's outstretched hand as he catches her fist and his foot cracks into her raised leg blocking the blow.
The two held that position for a long moment as the clouds moved in overhead again and the snow began to fall about them once more. Then, suddenly, they vanished. Flashes of gold and purple lit up the sky dancing over the clouds and reflecting across the icey ground and mountains. The thunderous cracks of the blows echoed across the landscape, shook the mountains, and rattled the castle.
The soliders inside came running out quickly to see what the commotion was as 17 walked out onto the balcony to watch as best he could. His eyes couldn't follow the battle completely but the energy scanners Gero had given him a few years back were able to help a bit. He grinned as he watched the two of them go. He knew to the soldiers down below that this looked like an all out battle but he could tell they were still just warming up, neither was at full power at the moment.
A sudden sucession of cracks and purple flashes tore through the sky ripping the clouds apart and sending a golden comet toward the mountains. Pan impacted with such force she was knocked clear through and out the other side bringing the entire peak down into the valleys below. Just before she smashed into the next mountain, Cooler appeared behind her and kicked her toward the ground.
As she fell she flipped around and slammed feet first into the ground instantly springing back up. She shot straight up at Cooler who vanished seconds before she reached him. With a flash of gold she dodged to the left as he appeared and swung his fist. 17 smirked, their powers were building up now, and Cooler was using the Instant Transmission. The warm-up was over.
Pan shot in at him again and he blocked with one arm before headbutting her and then spinning around and smashing his tail across her face. He moved in quickly and slammed a fist into her stomach before throwing another punch aimed at her jaw. Pan slipped around it missing the hit by inches, the breeze rustling her golden hair. With a smirk and cry she moved up, spun, and smashed her foot into the side of Cooler's head sending him rocketing into the mountain himself. He wasn't knocked through however, merely lodged into the rock face.
Pan charged in at him quickly and smashed a fist into his abdomen with a loud crack and then began to pummel him pushing him through the mountain blow by blow. Half-way through he let out a loud cry and blasted her off of him shattering the mountain and sending debris flying out for miles. The storm clouds had been forced clear of the area for well over a mile now by their powers.
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Shin gulped as he watched the 'spar' on Planet Cooler. Granted, he could defeat either of these two with ease himself, but it was still a sight to witness. He glanced up as another cry came from the Elder Kai as he cheered on the match. "Please, this isn't the time..."
"Oh, you need to relax some. Maybe if we're lucky they'll kill each other." he said watching. "Or at least she'll lose all that cumbersome armor..."
Shin and Kibito's faces went blank at that statement. The Elder Kai had been free of the Z sword going on fifteen years now but... they still weren't used to having their very own perverted old man. Shaking his head Shin looked back down at the battle just as Pan was smashed through the mountain. "I just hope that I am wrong." he said. "If Cooler truely is as close to unlocking the sixth form as I think he is, this spar may be just enough to finish the job."
"Yes, that would go with what he said before the battle." the Elder Kai replied. "But it's not a big deal, the fifth transformation doesn't follow the pattern of the other four."
"Pattern?" Kibito asked.
Shin nodded. "Yes, the first transformation doubles a Changeling's base power, the second triples it, the third is a four fold increase, and the fourth is a five fold increase. In the end the fifth form of a Changeling is one hundred and twenty times stronger than their base form. Their sixth form is only a doubling of power though, two hundred and forty times stronger than base. It's due to the physical limitations of the Changeling's own body."
"So, if Cooler does push through, his power will only go beyond that of Cell's, but no more. It'll upset the balance a little but it's nothing compared to what will happen when Freiza breaks through to the fourth level. That will be soon as well, I can feel it." the Elder Kai said as Pan started pounding Cooler through the mountain.
"This is it..." Shin breathed as the mountain exploded apart. "He's broken through... How do these mortals keep doing this? There powers have grown beyond anything that should be possible..."
The three Kais watched closely as Cooler's body began to transform. Red energy cracked and snapped around his body as it began to glow purple. There was another sudden loud cry from Cooler and the glow about him exploded outward hiding him completely. He became nothing more than an indistinct shadow within a dome of purple enegry. Red energy cracked and snapped around the dome as Cooler's cries continued to ring out.
Then, after a few moments, the energy dome began to shrink and finally turned back to a glowing form of a body. This lasted only a moment longer and then it, too, vanished to reveal the all new Cooler. The two sets of horns on his head were now merged into one plate-like spike on each side of his head that jutted up and back. The blue plate on his head, now red, had extended and grown into a spike of it's own growing up and back between the two plate spikes.
His face mask was now gone again and his entire face covered in his natural white armor like his brother's fourth form. The protuding shoulder 'straps' had now turned into three spikes each, one set pointing up and forward, one set straight up, and one set up and backward. The armor on his body now extended down over his abdomen as well as up over his neck and connecting to the armor on his head and a red plate now sat in the center of his chest.
The white armor around his wrists now covered his hands too, the blue plates now red as well. Small red plates were also on the tops of his hands. His tail cracked down into the ground, a bit longer and thiner than before. The armor spike that had formed on his tail in his fifth form was now bigger and had a few smaller spikes jutting out of it at random. The ankle armor covered his feet now and the blue plates here were now also red.
His muscles actually appeared to have shrunk back down to their size in his fourth form, his height as well. His purple aura danced about him, red lightning like bolts of energy around it. He opened his pure red eyes and grinned. "Well now, not as powerful as I'd expected it to be... but I knew there was a sixth form!" Cooler declared triumphantly, his voice as deep now as it had been in the previous form.
The three Kais glanced at each other. At least it was only Cooler who'd attatined the sixth and final form of the Changelings. He was the weakest of his family, either of the others... Frieza's power would be surpassed then only by Gohan and Kakkarotto. And Cold! Cold's fifth form alone would surpass all the others, even the Sai-jins! His sixth... the thought made Shin nauseous.
And it wasn't just the Changelings that were pushing the boundaries of their powers either. Kakkarotto had been right earlier, the Kais knew that. He was close to attaining his own fourth transformation, the fourth level of Super Sai-jin. Gohan was partly wrong about the fourth form. There would be no increase in energy strain with the fourth form, only a power increase of equal level to that of the third, a fifty percent increase.
Suddenly Shin paled. Something was wrong... something was very wrong. He didn't know what it was but it had just caused a sinking feeling in his heart. A feeling far worse than what he'd felt all these years watching the universe spiral out of control. This was something major, something important, something dangerous, something truly evil.
As he watched Cooler launch in to resume his spar with Pan he swallowed again. This dark feeling, this black dread that filled him. He knew now, though he knew not how the knowledge came to him, it did. The untold horror of an era long since passed. From the dark fears of his mind the cause of this weight in his heart came to him and he whispered it softly, fearfully. "Majin Buu..."
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Frieza sighed as he sat down in his chair. The trip to Earth to destroy it would be dull and boring. He knew that, space travel was always dull and boring. He had half a mind to fly to Earth under his own power, he didn't need to breathe after all. And he was faster than his fastest ship anyway. He could make the journey himself in just over twenty four hours. His ship would take almost seven days.
"Any signs of Tao or Nail yet?" Frieza hissed. He was already annoyed with the Human and Namek beyond reason, and he was getting rather pissed at Zarban and Ginyu as well since neither of them could find the two runaways.
"Not yet Master Frieza." Zarban replied calmly.
"You had better have them by the time I return or I'm throwing the both of you into the holding cells! Understood!"
"Yes Master Frieza." Zarban said quickly.
Frieza shut off the scouter and tossed it aside. "Worthless morons, why do I even keep them around." he muttered. There was a slight jerk as his ship launched and began it's journey through space for the planet Earth. "I've got seven damn days until I get there..." he muttered. "Time to stew... damn it. I don't know if just blowing it up will be enough now... Maybe I should go down there and kill a few of the Humans in person first."
"Master Frieza..." a voice asked from behind.
The Changeling turned and scowled at the soldier behind him. "What is it Pandora?" he demanded agitated.
"Sorry to bother you sir." she said calmly. "But your father is on the line..."
Frieza sighed and nodded before looking toward the monitor again. A second later Cold's face filled the screen. "What is it now father?"
"Well, I've got some good news and some interesting news." Cold said. "First of all, Inferna is now a Master. I saw the Eternal Youth spell kick in just a moment ago. That's the good news by the way. The interesting news is... well, feel for yourself. Your brother's world."
Frieza arched an eyebrow curious and searched out the powers. As strong as his brother was it would be fairly easy to... "He's transformed?! But why would he be in his fifth... wait, who's the other power?" "He's fighting someone..."
"Pan most likely." Cold replied. "She's the only other Master on the planet with a power level like that."
"I fail to see what's so interesting about him sparring with Pan."
Cold grinned. "It's not that he's sparring with her, it's why he's sparring with her."
"Oh?""Cooler believes he's close to transforming yet again. A sixth form! He says he's felt it before but could never get through. I think he's using the challenge of fighting Pan as leverage to break through."
Frieza snorted. "That's all we need. He'll gloat nonstop if that happens. But really, a sixth form... isn't that getting a bit... much?"
Cold shrugged. "The Foujixians have one hundred transformations. Granted, each one only adds on another 500 to their powers, but still, six forms, in comparison, isn't that much."
"True. I suppose you ha..." Frieza's eyes widened. Cooler's power just began to spike. "I don't believe it!"
Cold nodded, he could feel it too. A moment later it stablized. "Well, not bad. It's weaker than I'd expected, his power only doubled..."
"Thank the Kais." Frieza said. "If it had followed the trend of the other forms..." he shuddered. "That kind of power would go to Cooler's head."
Cold laughed. "Indeed it would, indeed it would."
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"What the hell is this?" Pan cried as Cooler charged at her.
"The new me! Meet my sixth form!" Cooler called grinning. Before the girl had a chance to react to the charging powerhouse his fist was slammed into her stomach. She hung there on his fist for a moment, her eyes wide in pain and shock. "Impressive, isn't it? Still not on power with the likes of your father or grandfather's first forms but I could get a good work out from Master Vegeta's first form like this."
"There's... no way..." Pan managed spitting up blood as she drifted backward.
"Perhaps we should call an end to our spar Mistress Pan."
She closed her eyes and shook her head a few times to clear it. "How..."
"I could feel it in there, stirring inside of me, clawing to get free. But I just couldn't manage to unlock it." Cooler smirked. "I had the feeling that a battle against someone stronger would do it and I was right."
Pan growled. This was seriously screwing up her plans. Now that cold was stronger than her she'd be the one in the Regen Tank tonight, not him. And she'd miss out on her promised day of fun. "Oh, that does it!" she cried. "First we have to come out here for some dumb meetings and completely miss Bra's sixteenth birthday party, not to mention screwing up my sparring schedule, but now he's gone and screwed up the one thing that was finally going right!" She glared at Cooler and growled, the sound coming from deep down in her stomach.
Cooler arched an eyebrow. He'd not heard a sound like that from a Sai-jin since... well, it hadn't turned out so well for Vegeta. If Kakkarotto hadn't been there Gohan would have turned Vegeta into dust. "What do I know about Sai-jins? Granted, they don't like being weaker than other people but that wouldn't elicit such a reaction from her... So what else?" he remembered a saying his Father had first heard from Vegeta's father. "Never get between a Sai-jin and his food, his fight, or his mate... Oh, so that's it?" Cooler thought grinning.
"I'm going to wipe that grin off your face Cooler!" Pan shouted surging in at at him, her aura flaring out about her. With a cry of anger and frustration she launched a fist at his head but Cooler blocked it with relative ease. She growled and began to assault him with a flurry of punches and kicks but he dodged nimbly around them or blocked them. "Damn... you... Cooler!" she shouted smashing her foot into his face to little effect.
Cooler smirked and then spun around smashing his tail into her face again. The spikes dug into her face and her blood splattered across the snow covered ground. He watched as she tried to hold herself in the air but then fell down into the snow, landing on her hands and knees, and reverting to normal. Panting and spitting up more blood she put a hand to the side of her face. "Owww! Shit! He cracked my cheek and jaw bones! That bastard!" "Cooler!" she cried as best she could, wincing at the pain of moving her jaw.
"Relax Pan." Cooler said landing into the snow beside her as a few flecks of snow drifted down past his face, the clouds overhead beginning to return. "Now that I've finally reached a new level of power... I feel like basking in it for a while." he said with a grin. She looked up at him, blood running down her chin and dripping into the snow. "You should get to a Regen Tank, get those injuries fixed. Wouldn't do you any good to have a broken jaw and be sore from our spar all week, not when 17 has the whole week off."
"Wh-what?"
Cooler shrugged as the armor on his body began to crack, light seeping through the cracks as they snaked along his body. Pan turned her head away as his body suddenly flashed. When she looked back up Cooler was in his fourth form again. "Not as bulky but those damned horns and spikes are annoying." He shook his head. "Anyway, I feel like a party, and knowing my staff they'll need at least a week to come to their senses again afterwards." he lifted into the air then. "Later, Mistress Pan." he said before flying off toward the palace.
She just stared after him until she heard the faint crunch of someone landing in the snow. With a glance up, still fighting the tears of pain from her damanged face, she saw 17 bending down to help her up. "What the hell was that?" he asked, the snow now falling around them as fiercely as ever.
"Cooler..." she started, wincing from the pain.
17 put a finger over her lips to silence her. "Later, after your healed." he said. She managed a weak smile as he lifted her into the air and flew towards the palace again.
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Marron lay in 18's bed resting and staring at the ceiling. Her arrival on Saiya hadn't exactly been the kind of 'homecoming' she'd pictured after learning she'd been adopted. Then again, she'd never imagined her mother would be one of the Masters either. Granted, she'd had friends that had told she looked a lot like 18 but that had always just been a celebrity look-a-like kind of thing. Turning her head she looked at the computer screen again displaying the picture of her father and all the information the empire had on him.
"This has been an unusal day." she thought. She sighed as she read part of the file again. It was odd. Her mother a Master, her Father a rebel, and all she'd ever wanted to do was important cure research. Oh, how that seemed so trivial to her now! Talking to 18 she'd learned the woman wasn't nearly as cold as she appeared during public appearances. She'd saved hundreds of people who'd passed through the palace. And her father... he was fighting to save everyone. It made her life seem rather meaningless in comparison. "Twenty-five years and I still haven't even made the smallest of differences." she thought sadly.
"Hey." 18 said walking into the room again. "I have some... bad news." she said.
Marron sat up instantly and looked at her. She could see the worry and pain in her eyes. "What is it? What's up?"
"It's Frieza. He's... going to Earth, to destroy it."
"Wh-what? Why?"
"Vegeta has decided that any free Humans are dangerous. He's worried about more Hybrids."
Marron stared at her for a moment before she could manage to ask her question. "Is... is he still there?"
18 nodded. "And as far as I know, he has no way off world."
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"What do we do?" Kibito asked. "Should we step in?"
"And do what?" the Elder Kai demanded, more than asked. "We could stop Frieza, yes, kill him easily. But what's to stop one of the others from destroying the Earth anyway?"
Shin sighed. "He's right Kibito. And besides, we cannot interfere with the natural progression of the universe, not directly."
"But Majin Buu is unnatual." Kibito said.
"His existance is, yes." the Elder Kai said. "He was not born but created. Majin Buu is not the only of his kind though. Cell is the same. But they were both created by mortals and so they are a mortal problem. It is the way of things Kibito."
"As much as I do not like it the Elder Kai is correct." Shin said. "Had Buu been created by Dabura or been some sort of supernatural accident then we could step in. But a mortal made him and so the the mortals must face him. However, there is something that we can do."
"What do you have in mind?" asked Kibito.
"The Humans. They have an escape plan to get off of Earth. At the last possible moment they will summon Shenron and wish themselves to a world they have chosen. When that happens I plan to interced slightly."
"You can't." the Elder Kai said. "It's against the rules."
"Not what I have planned. The Dragonballs may have been created by a mortal but Shenron has always been, he was not created by them. Therefore I can interfere with what he does. I'll simply request he redirects Tien, Yamcha, Krillin, Enzeru, and Mitsuki to our world."
"What!?" the Elder Kai cried. "Mortals on the world of the Kais!?"
"We have no choice." Shin said standing. "I should prepare for their arrival."
"Where are you going?" Kibito asked.
"To the Grand Kai's world to recruit some warriors to aid in training our five champions."
The Elder Kai snorted. "Champions! You know as well as I do that they stand almost no chance against the Masters, even less after Majin Buu is free! And the girls are dangerous! Besides, there are other warriors down there closer to surpassing the Masters than the Humans."
"And those others are as evil as the Master and those girls may be our best hope." Shin said. "I will have Shenron bring them here and then inform them of their options. They shall make the choice themselves, this is all by the book. If it were not then it would not work.""You're right." the Elder Kai sighed in defeat. "The natural order will prevent you from going too far on it's own."