Ha... I should really try to update more frequently...
"HRYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Kakarot let out a battle cry as he dashed through the air, swinging his sword and striking down the familiars that tried to stop him on his mission to destroy the demon of the labyrinth. When he felt he was starting to fall from losing too much momentum, he managed to land on a flying desk after performing a front-flip in mid-air. Kakarot couldn't help but grin at the thought of how cool he must've looked at that moment. Shakily he stood up, noting how unstable this desk was. Well, it was floating in mid-air...
The young Saiyan looked around the labyrinth, trying to find any type of weakness or way of attacking the demon. If he wasn't in the middle of a battle, he would actually feel nostalgic at the scenery, he thought. It reminded him of school - all the school desks and chairs that were floating around, the clothes lines with school girl uniforms hanging on them, not to mention the minions and the demon itself... Kakarot actually felt uncomfortable staring at it... The figure was wearing a typical Japanese schoolgirl outfit, but with hands coming out from the skirt instead of legs...
Shaking his head to take away the unpleasant thoughts, the Saiyan gripped his sword and jumped onto the closest clothes' line and started running towards the demon. He summoned another sword in his other hand as soon as he saw new familiars emerging from under the demon's skirt, which appeared to be the lower halves of schoolgirl bodies. Without much trouble, Kakarot spun and swung his swords at the minions, killing them one after the other.
No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get the grin off of his face. He had never had this much fun in his whole entire life! He could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins, giving him more energy than ever before. Honestly, sneaking off to the East district to fight demons by himself was the best decision he'd ever made. He really didn't get why his brother was so against him coming here... Well, he was really weak those couple of weeks ago compared to now...
Kakarot snapped out of his thoughts when he saw one of the demon's hands reaching towards him. He smirked and jumped up, avoiding the grab. Landing on the wrist, he began running up the arm. He felt his face burn bright red when he realized that he was about the go under the skirt. Stopping just the above the elbow – or was this the knee...? – Kakarot began throwing swords towards its... well... the young Saiyan tried not to think about that.
The demon suddenly let out a shriek in pain and began convulsing. For a moment Kakarot thought that he had succeeded, but then he was swarmed with its minions. One of them kicked him off of the limb and the Saiyan began falling. He quickly reoriented himself and landed on a bright yellow circular platform he made. He glared at the demon. It wasn't shaking anymore and seemed to be growing more aggressive. Gripping his sword, Kakarot glanced down. The demon's barrier was up in the sky, he couldn't even see the ground. He gulped. He didn't want to know what would happen to him if he were to fall.
The Saiyan wanted to try and attack the demon again, but the minions had grown more aggressive and he couldn't even get near it anymore. With having to defend himself as well as attack the familiars, not to mention needing to form new platforms every time he tried to get away, Kakarot could feel his magic draining and the adrenaline fading away. He came to the terrifying realization that he was getting tired. Breathing deeply, he gripped his sword and glared at the demon. "Okay...This might've been a bad idea..."
Just as he reached for a grief seed to try again, he saw a flash of pink and white and a bunch of arrows rain down onto the demon. He noticed a girl land on one of the clothes' lines, taking aim at the large figure with her bow, ready to shoot another arrow. He realized she was another Saiyan, but he couldn't shake off the feeling that he'd seen her somewhere before... After shooting another pink arrow at the demon, she glared at the young Saiyan "Kakarot! What are you doing in our territory?!" he blinked in realization – that was Saiya! But... where was her brother...?
"Did Raditz not tell you about all this?" Kakarot jumped and spun around and saw Vegeta standing on one of the floating desks, his hands in his pockets. The young Saiyan couldn't help but notice how... disinterested the other seemed to be. "U-um..." he blushed at his own stuttering. He gulped, trying to calm himself down "H-he did, b-but... I-I wanted t-to try and get better, s-so..." he heard the other sigh. "Never mind, we can talk about this later" Vegeta looked over at the demon, the same bored expression on his face "Leave this to us" and then he disappeared.
Confused, Kakarot blinked and suddenly stumbled forward, a huge, deafening explosion going off behind him. He looked back at the demon and was too confused to even try to join in on the fight. He understood what Saiya was doing – she was using a bow to summon arrows made of magic to attack the demon. But what was Vegeta doing..? Kakarot saw explosions going off and the other Saiyan constantly teleporting from place to place, his hands still in his pockets. What was his magic, exactly...?
He continued to watch, almost mesmerized, until finally the demon let out a shriek as it was engulfed in flames. Kakarot saw Saiya deliver one final arrow that pierced through its chest, killing it. The young Saiyan lifted his arms in front of his face to try and shield himself from the huge gust of wind. He felt the labyrinth evaporate and found himself standing on top of one of the tallest buildings in the city. Kakarot saw Vegeta pick up the grief seed and Saiya turn to the youngest in the group, visibly annoyed.
Kakarot couldn't help but notice the almost stereotypical pink magical girl outfit Saiya was wearing. She even had pink ribbons in her hair... The only odd thing was the corset that seemed to accentuate her... chest region. Kakarot blushed and looked away from the other Saiyan, feeling somewhat uncomfortable under her glare. He also noted the shield on Vegeta's right arm. "Kakarot!" he jumped slightly at the sudden outburst. Gulping down his fear, said Saiyan look up at the female "Y-yes...?"
"What were you thinking, going off on your own like that?! You could have been killed!" he heard genuine concern in her voice. This made Kakarot calm down a little – at least she wasn't furious with him... She was just worried. The young Saiyan did his best to respond without his voice wavering "B-But I could've handled it! I had a grief seed ready! A-and I know that I could've just run away if I had to..." Saiya let out a sigh. She then tilted her head and put her hand on her chest, giving the other a sad look. Kakarot immediately noticed the pink Soul Gem on her right hand. It seemed to be... Half of the Ying Yang symbol..? Did that mean that Vegeta's Soul Gem was the other part?
"That is not what I meant, Kakarot..." her sad tone snapped him out of his thoughts "Did your brother not tell you about the East? How the Saiyans here are very aggressive?" she frowned "What if someone else found you over here?! The only reason we did not kill you is because we know you!" the young Saiyan felt a cold shiver run down his back "Y-you're kidding..." he let out a forced laugh, trying to calm down "T-there's no way Saiyans kill each other because of something as silly as territories, right..?" his hopes were shattered as soon as he saw Vegeta shake his head.
"That is exactly what would have happened, unfortunately..." he sighed and scratched the back of his head "If someone else, other than Saiya and myself, had found you, they would have killed you right on the spot. Consider yourself lucky that we felt merciful." Kakarot gulped. He couldn't help but notice the strange speech patterns of the twins... Have they not heard of contractions..? "I-I'm sorry..." was all that he managed to say as he looked at the ground. He felt terrible, he really did. He didn't even want to think what Raditz would've done if he had died... "I-I just thought that... since Frieza's gonna arrive soon... I just... I wanted to get stronger, you know...?"
"To be fair, you have grown stronger." Kakarot's head snapped back up as he looked at Vegeta in disbelief. "The rate at which you have improved is impressive, considering how little time you have had." "U-umm... T-thank you...?" the youngest of the group wasn't sure how to respond. He just received a compliment, didn't he...? Vegeta's dry tone threw him off... He realized that the other male still looked disinterested... It was almost frightening how emotionless he seemed to be.
"Anyway, you had better get back home. Raditz must be worried sick." Vegeta looked down at the grief seed in his hand and, after a moment of silence, threw it at the younger Saiyan "Here. You will need as much magic as possible for the battle." Kakarot (luckily) managed to catch it. "U-um... O-okay...?" he couldn't think of anything else to say. In the back of his mind he made a mental not to ask his brother if he knew anything more about these twins... Maybe then he'd feel less uncomfortable around them...
He saw Vegeta grab Saiya's hand as she looked at Kakarot one last time. She smiled and waved slightly "Have a nice night, Kakarot!" said Saiyan only managed to blink before the twins disappeared. Confused, he looked around. He tried to sense if they were anywhere close. Not able to feel any magic around him, he let out a sigh and pocketed the grief seed. Although it was night and he knew few people left their homes at this time of day, especially given the weather this week, he decided he'd better get back home by jumping on rooftops.
He was glad that in his Saiyan form he was much faster – he'd be home in no time. He let out a sigh in relief "At least Onii-chan's asleep..." when Raditz came home and passed out on the couch, Kakarot almost had a panic attack, but when he heard the snoring, he figured the other just passed out from exhaustion. Constantly working and then going off hunting, all while making sure Kakarot had everything he needed... No wonder he was getting tired. He hoped that his brother could rest up for the battle against Frieza. Then again, the weather has been particularly bad lately – the wind was cold, it was almost constantly raining - even now Kakarot could hear thunder and the usual starry sky was blocked by dark clouds. Maybe the restaurant Raditz worked at wouldn't be as busy...
Kakarot sighed "Today's the 21st... and Frieza arrives on the 23rd..." he frowned as he landed near his home. Making sure nobody could see him, he transformed back, shivering uncomfortably as the usual warmth of the Saiyan form left his body. He clung onto his brown jacket. Why was it so cold at the end of June? Maybe it had something to do with Frieza's arrival... He recalled his brother saying something about that... While walking up the steps to the apartment building, he let out a sigh as he glanced at the grief seed he held in his hand "Not that much time left..." he mused.
Kakarot was practically shaking as he tightened his grip around his jacket "W-why is it so cold?!" his teeth were chattering as he and his brother walked down the streets. He had to shout over the wind for the other to even hear him. He was almost finding it difficult to walk because of it, too... "From what Vegeta's told me, Frieza's arrival causes the weather to act all weird..." Raditz told him after the wind had died down just enough for them to have a normal conversation. Kakarot frowned – how did Vegeta know that...? He was just about to ask his brother that, but then he noticed something... off... "It's snowing?!" he gasped.
He wasn't sure what shocked him more, the snow in late June or how his brother didn't seem surprised at all "Yup... Vegeta mentioned how this demon likes the cold... So, just before its arrival, it begins to snow..." Kakarot frowned at how serious his brother seemed to be... It wasn't like him at all... He let out a sigh "Guess this really is that serious..." The two continued to walk in silence. Well, silence probably wasn't the right word... They weren't talking, sure, but the wind was making a lot of noise, not to mention the distant chanting- wait, chanting?!
Kakarot tore his gaze from the ground, confused, and looked forward. His eyes widened – he saw silhouettes of what seemed to be soldiers, but they weren't human...! He took his hand out of his pocked and was about to summon his soul gem, but his brother placed a hand over his own. "They're just here to announce Frieza's arrival... Until it arrives, they won't attack us" Raditz explained, glaring at the familiars. Kakarot only nodded as he watched the minions march past them "Did Vegeta tell you that too?" "Yeah... Apparently he's been gathering up information about Frieza so we'd have a better chance of killing it..." "Oh..." Kakarot frowned.
"Are we already in its labyrinth, then...?" he asked. Raditz only shook his head as they continued to walk, the monotonous chanting in a language he couldn't understand surrounding them "This demon's so powerful that no labyrinth can contain it..." was all that he said. Kakarot could see the city park in the distance. He knew that Frieza was supposed to appear at that place... "Hey..." the young Saiyan looked at his brother, curious about one little thing... "If we're supposed to keep the world of magic a secret from humans... Shouldn't we be doing something about the familiars, then..?" he saw his brother smile at him slightly "Nah, not in this case. Humans can't see familiars unless they've entered a labyrinth" "Ah..." Suddenly Raditz stopped walking and looked up. Kakarot followed his gaze and quickly realized what his brother had in mind. It was time.
Kakarot placed his hand over his stomach and felt the magic run through him. In a matter of seconds, the two Saiyans were standing, transformed, and ready for battle. He grabbed his brother's outstretched hand and, feeling as light as air, jumped onto the same building the two brothers were looking at just a moment before. Kakarot looked at the usually lively park, which now seemed much more cold and uninviting. He noticed how tightly his brother was holding onto his spear. The younger of the two gently placed his hand over his brother's, giving him a comforting smile. Kakarot's heart felt lighter when his brother smiled back, seemingly calmed down. "Let's go. The others are probably waiting for us" Raditz said and jumped off the roof, dashing towards their destination. Taking a deep breath and tightening the grip around his swords, Kakarot followed suit.
He smiled when he saw Nappa standing on one of the buildings. His brother got there first and after a few moments Kakarot landed next to him. The eldest of the group let out a sigh as he stomped out a cigarette. The young Saiyan frowned. He hated the smell of smoke... "What do you think our chances of winning are...?" Raditz asked, looking at the darkening sky with a frown. "Practically zero..." Nappa let out a bitter chuckle, which made Kakarot frown "Hey! You can't think like that!" he smirked "We can win, I know we can! You just gotta stay positive!" "Kinda hard to 'stay positive' when you're facing against the most powerful demon in existence..." Nappa growled.
Kakarot looked to the ground, disappointed, shifting his weight from one leg to the other. So what if it's the most powerful demon? That's no reason to give up without even trying! His grip on his sword tightened as he gazed up to the air. The clouds were dark and seemed to be forming numerous circles. He could hear thunder and see lightning. The wind was growing stronger and louder every minute. It was making his head spin... "Ah, I see everyone is here. Perfect!" Kakarot heard Saiya's voice behind them. He turned and indeed he saw the twins, ready for battle as well. Vegeta looked up at the sky, a scowl on his face. "Be ready." was all he said before Kakarot's head almost split open from the pain he felt.
He dropped his sword and grabbed his head, groaning in pain. He couldn't hear anything except the ringing in his ears. Starting to tear up, Kakarot looked up and his eyes widened in fear. The clouds parted as a demon descended. He suddenly felt a huge gust of energy and almost collapsed there on the spot. The power of that thing... was overwhelming! Suddenly the structure beneath him gave way. It took him too long to realize that the buildings closest to the demon were beginning to crumble. His first instinct was to create a platform to keep himself from falling, but the splitting headache was distracting him. Just as he felt the cold fingers of fear around him, his brother grabbed his arm "Kakarot! Platform! NOW!" he screamed. Kakarot quickly shook his head to try and shake away the nausea. Grabbing onto Raditz to keep himself from panicking, the young Saiyan formed a large golden platform under their feet as the building they were standing on just moments ago crumbled.
The only thing he could hear was the laughter of the floating demon. Kakarot was shaking in fear – he now understood why the others were so pessimistic... There was just no way they could beat something so powerful! They were gonna die, there's no other way! "KAKAROT!" he flinched at his brother's yelling. He looked up at him only to see that the other's eyes were also glistening with tears and he even noticed blood trickling from his ears. Raditz seemed... concerned... "Listen, if this is too much for you to handle..." he looked away. Kakarot barely managed to make out what he was saying over the wind and ringing in his ears. "You can go back home and leave this to us. We'll handle it..." this part, however, he heard perfectly.
"No way!" Kakarot screamed, offended so much so that he pushed the elder away "I'm not leaving you here! I-I can still fight! I'm a Saiyan too, you know!" he felt determined to at least try to contribute to the battle against the demon. Really, the only reason he lost control of his magic for a second was because he was startled! He didn't expect the demon to make his eardrums burst... Or give him such a terrible headache and make his eyes tear up... But that wasn't a problem – his magic was already healing him, so he knew he could still fight! To prove his point, Kakarot summoned two swords in his hands, glaring up at the elder. There was no way he was going home!
"Are you two done yet?!" he heard Nappa yelling at them. Kakarot saw his hand over his ear, probably trying to heal himself quicker. He already had a shotgun in his hand, ready to attack the demon. Raditz sighed and glared at the demon, avoiding eye contact with his younger brother as his grip on his spear visibly tightened "Yeah... Let's just get this over with..." with that the elder dashed off the platform to fight the familiars down below. Kakarot closed his eyes and took a deep breath, calming himself down. "This is just a regular fight... Only difference is that it's really strong... But other than that, everything's exactly the same! You can kill demons! You can do this!" a smirk on his face, he opened his eyes again. He was about to jump down, but he noticed something else...
Before he had any chance to react, he was punched in the gut by one of the familiars. Kakarot could only hear the constant chanting and laughing as the grip on his swords loosened, he coughed up blood and started falling towards the debris below. He continued coughing, the copper taste in his mouth familiar, but uncomfortable and not welcomed. The Saiyan managed to save himself from falling by landing on a new platform. He quickly got back on his feet, wiped the blood off his chin and glared up at the minions of the demon. He saw a few more charging towards him on the ground. Kakarot smirked, conjuring a new sword in his right hand. Without a second thought, he dashed towards the familiars.
When he was close enough, he swung the sword, slicing through the familiar effortlessly. His smirk vanished instantly and he stumbled back when he saw blood spewing out and heard its inhuman screech of pain. That never happened before... Sure, Kakarot would hear the familiars chanting and they would ooze strangely colored liquids... But this?! Wait... These familiars... They look almost... Human..?! They had silhouettes that resembled them, but the weapons they were holding... "A-are these... Saiyans...?" his knees began to tremble. This wasn't right...
Another silhouette charged at him. Acting on pure instinct, Kakarot dodged and swung his sword, effortlessly slicing through it. The Saiyan watched in horror as the two pieces of the other fall to the ground, melting into a pile of purple, dark blue and red mush. He didn't have any time to recover from the possible murder when he was attacked again. "They're just familiars... They're just minions of that demon...! I-I'm supposed to kill them...! T-They're not real people!" he tried to reassure himself as he continued to slice and dice and occasionally block and dodge the attacks.
These weren't at all like the other familiars he'd fought before... Not only were they wielding actual weapons like swords, knives and spears, they were almost sentient...! He felt as if he was in an actual battle against a group of other Saiyans. He was using two swords – one to attack and one to defend – but even then he was having a lot of trouble. Only a few minutes had passed since the demon appeared, but Kakarot was already covered in blood and cuts. Of course, his magic was hard at work healing him. He was making progress, at least... As in he could see he was getting closer to the demon itself...
He could hear it laughing constantly. It made him both annoyed and sick – the sound was resonating non-stop in his head... Kakarot also took note that the ground had basically turned to ice. "A storm and a blizzard... Yeah, typical summer weather..." he thought bitterly as he continued to make his way towards the demon. He was glad his scarf kept him warm... He noticed this a while ago – this soft article of clothing actually did have a purpose, since it kept his body temperature stable. The young Saiyan tried his best to ignore the blood on him, he tried to convince himself that it wasn't even blood. Unfortunately it didn't work as well as he'd hope.
He fought back the urge to vomit. The enormous amount of magic coming from the demon was making the Saiyan's head spin, but he persevered. He sighed in relief when he managed to use a grief seed – he didn't even realize his Soul Gem was that clouded already... Just a quick glance at the black item in his hand told him that he couldn't use it anymore. He gulped and dashed forward, killing the familiars slowly but surely. He was constantly glancing at the demon, waiting for any sort of opening. It was strange how the horned demon, which was also mostly white with a bit of purple, wasn't moving and only sitting in that weird floating throne...
He couldn't beat it, he knew that. It wasn't hard to accept that fact, but that didn't mean Kakarot was going to give up. If he couldn't beat Frieza, he could at least weaken it somewhat. He took a deep breath – it was now or never, he decided. He couldn't risk his Soul Gem darkening too much, especially since he was out of grief seeds... Well, he had more at home, but he forgot to bring them... He only realized that when he was halfway to the park, but he couldn't bear telling his brother that...
Without much hesitation, the young Saiyan used his magic to form platforms which acted like stairs so he could start running up towards the demon. Kakarot continued to kill the familiars that crossed his path. His plan was to get high enough so he could try and throw as many swords as he could at its head. It was the most common weakness of the demons, so why not give it a shot? He let out a quick sigh of relief when he reached his destination. Immediately he threw a sword at the head. While summoning a new one, he threw the one he was holding in his other hand. Summon. Throw. Summon Throw. He smiled slightly to himself when he saw the demon begin to shake. At least he was doing some damage!
He suddenly remembered Nappa mentioning something about his powers... Apparently the younger should be able to break down his sword to make it much bigger. "Well, no time like the present...!" he breathed. While throwing the swords he still had to defend himself from the familiars attacking him, which often included him jumping off the current platform and making a new one. Combined with his magic healing him constantly, he felt his magic draining fast. He needed to try and attack now. After that he'd try to quickly meet up with his brother to maybe borrow some grief seeds. His stomach was hurting... Breathing heavily, Kakarot quickly jumped back and bounced off a platform, his sword pointed at the demon. "Just deconstruct it and-!"
He didn't even manage to finish his thoughts when he was hit by a large gust of magic. He was immediately sent flying back. His mind couldn't register anything but the pain he felt as he smashed though buildings. The hard concrete broke his bones and the glass pierced his skin. The Saiyan didn't even manage to let out a scream in pain when he finally collided with the ground. When he opened his eyes, he only saw dust and the occasional snowflake. He tried to stand up, but quickly collapsed. He couldn't feel anything but pain. Wait... Why was it going black...? Was that his brother calling out for him..?
"Ugh..." Kakarot groaned and opened his eyes. His head was pounding. Pain. The only thing he felt at that moment was pain. The only thing he saw was red. Wait... Red..? Wasn't it grey before...? Ah, he heard fire crackling. No wonder it was so hot... Ugh, smoke... Disgusting. The Saiyan closed his eyes tightly and tried his best to stand up. He screamed in pain and quickly collapsed. He was sure almost every bone in his body was broken... Why didn't his magic heal him..? Ah... His Soul Gem was black... That explained the pain in his stomach.
Kakarot felt cold tears streaming down his cheeks. He smiled sadly to himself. "H-Hahah... Guess this is what I get for being so stupid, huh...?" he wondered aloud. "I-If only I-I didn't forget about those damned grief seeds..." he sobbed. The pain was unbearable. It reminded him of when he made the contract... "I-If only I-I'd listened to y-you... W-why... Why was I so stupid..?! I-I should've never made that contract...!" Through his tears he thought he saw something in the distance. A black shape... It was growing larger...
Ah. It was a building. The demon was using its magic to throw a whole building at the Saiyan. With what little strength he had left, Kakarot lifted his right hand to touch the now black circular Soul Gem on his stomach. His gloves were torn and his fingertips grazed the cracks. He let out a sad chuckle as he watched the shape grow, accepting his inevitable death. "H-heh... S-sorry, Nii-chan... I-I guess... I really wasn't strong enough..."
His Soul Gem shattered. The only thing Kakarot felt was grief.
Bad End.
