Chapter Thirty-nine - Massacre
The elder Vegeta scowled as he gazed down at the city streets below him. He stood on the corner of a building at one of the city's numerous intersections. He'd felt a power in the area that he didn't know and had come to check it out. There were a few Zombies and some of the Demons but nothing else. He knew it hadn't been them he'd felt, though. They weren't strong enough.
"So what did I sense and where did it go?" he wondered. Feeling a power nearing him from behind he turned and looked and saw Pug flying toward him. The alien arrived and landed beside him a moment later.
"I thought that was you." Pug said as he fiddled with his scouter. The alien had yet to grasp sensing powers, though as none of his race could yet do it they were beginning to assume that, for some reason, the skill was impossible for them. "At least this thing locked onto you but I can't get it to cooperate on anything else."
Vegeta noticed then that the Rondo was wearing the newest model. Instead of scanning powers themselves they used a planetary satellite network which read the powers and then transmitted the data to the headset. The advantage to that was that it wouldn't overload. The satellite could read powers of extremely high levels, they were as advanced as those in the arena. The drawback was a slight delay in data. All information was bout five seconds old.
The only work the headset did was pin-point objects of interest for the satellites to lock onto. They were still in the early test phase, however. The primary design difference was that they lacked the glass eye piece, instead holographicly projecting information directly into the retina. The Senator still thought they looked odd, like you had a microphone in front of your eye.
"Tracking a power that isn't behaving properly?" Vegeta asked, turning his gaze forward again.
"And then some." Pug replied. "And with the delay I seem to always be five steps behind." Pug paused a moment and then blinked. "Wait, how'd you know it wasn't...."
"Because that's what I'm doing here." he said. "A group of us came into the city to deal with Cold and some forces he brought with him and...."
"COLD!?" Pug cried. "But... isn't he dead?"
"Was." Vegeta replied. He glanced off into the distance. "And will be again soon, Raditz and Nova are just about to him. Anyway, this power is fluctuating a lot. Up and down again. It hasn't settled long enough for me to get any kind of feeling for it. I don't think it's gone over a hundred thousand yet, though. So that's good at least."
"I've not read anything over 40,000." Pug said, still fiddling with the scouter. "It's changing too fast for the data feed to keep up with. The Satellites are getting confused."
"My senses too." Vegeta replied. "I think whoever it is is doing it on purpose. They don't want to be found."
"Just being cautious or...?"
"I don't know but I don't like it." He said. Then he turned quickly. "There!" he cried, blasting off toward the power.
Pug shot after him, still adjusting the scouter, which was now giving him a rapidly increasing number for the power ahead of him. He cursed under his breath when it broke a million.
XXX
Planet Vegeta, Saiya City, Lemon Lane
Yamcha was just about to head back to where Kazuki knelt by his sister when a power suddenly flared up behind him. He turned around and his eyes widened in a mix of shock and fear. "What!?" he cried out, drifting backward.
His yell got Kazuki's attention and boy looked up in time to see a stream of golden energy tear its way through Yamcha's chest and out his back. His eyes moved from the Human, his King, and to the man's attacker. His own eyes widened as Yamcha's had, and then further when he saw the golden ball of energy surging toward him.
Pug and Vegeta landed in the street a minute later. The Sai-jin knelt down and closed Yamcha's eyes while keeping his own averted from the massive hole in the Human. Looking down the street he saw two more bodies badly damaged from an energy attack. Both of them were dead as well. "They're playing cat and mouse with us." he said with a growing scowl.
Pug nodded. "They know a direct attack will get them noticed and get someone stronger than them on them in moments. They're showing more intelligence than the rest of these idiots."
"If we don't find them quickly everyone who came to defend the city will be dead."
XXX
Planet Vegeta, Galactic Games Arena
Slug surged out of the dust cloud created by the exploding energy blasts with an arm pulled back and energy snapping about his fist. Piccolo started dodging to the right as he felt another power flare behind him. An instant later a ball of green energy surged passed him and slammed into Slug head on.
Piccolo glanced back at Eskarga and gave him a nod before charging in at Slug. The power difference was still too much for a direct battle but the energy blast had caught Slug off guard, though it hadn't hurt him. Still, the powerful Namek's defenses were down. This was an opening he couldn't pass up.
Reaching the other Namek a moment later he lashed out with an energy encased foot and smashed him on the side of the head, the energy exploding and knocking the Namek staggering. Slug recovered quickly, however, and slammed a fist into Piccolo's stomach doubling him over and then a double handed blow to his back drove the Namek into the ground.
Tien scowled as he watched the battle. Things were not going well for Piccolo and with the two Namek's having fused he was now seriously out powered by Slug. He'd already returned to normal and floated back to join Vadora, Akemi, and a now awake Cheri. "You three should leave." he said. "Go find the others where it's safer."
"What about you, dad?" Cheri asked.
"I'm going to stay, be what help I can be." he replied. He'd watched Eskarga come up around behind Slug again and extend his arms toward the Namek. Apparently planning to absorb more energy from him. Slug, however, noticed him this time and quickly spun, slicing out with an arm and severing both of Eskarga's.
"Help?" Vadora asked. "Tien, don't be crazy, if you stay you'll just get yourself killed!"
By now Piccolo had charged back up into the air again and distracted Slug from Eskarga. The weaker Namek was circling around the battle looking for an opportunity to try and siphon off more energy. Meanwhile Piccolo was lobbing energy blasts doing his best to keep from getting hit himself.
"Don't worry about me." the Human said, resting a hand on Vadora's shoulder. "I've made it through worse situations than this." Vadora didn't move, just stared him right in the eyes. "I promise, I wont die here."
Vadora's shoulders sagged a little and she sighed. "You better keep that promise or I'll come to Otherworld and kill you myself, even if I have to get through the Kais to do it."
Tien smiled a little and nodded. "It's a deal."
Vadora gave him one last look and then turned around taking Akemi and Cheri's hands. "Come on girls, let's go." she said, before flying off and pulling them with her.
With them gone Tien turned his focus back to the battle at hand. He knew a way to stall Slug but he'd need to get Piccolo and Eskarga's attention first, so that they wouldn't get caught in it as well. And then things took a turn for the worse. Eskarga made another bid to grab Slug to drain his energy, having regrown his arms, but Slug was ready for him again. He dodged the grab and then fired a blast of energy back that removed the Namek's head.
XXX
Planet Vegeta, Saiya City, Cabbage Street
Roshi rubbed his head as he leaned against the building. "I didn't even sense them coming." he said.
"Long range energy blast." Tangerie told him. "You're just lucky the one that attacked you was weak. What I want to know is where'd that thing go that Dubibub was fighting? It looked like some sort of mutant Elebor."
"I just wish I'd still been here." Toma said.
"You wouldn't have been much help." Dubibub said as he massaged his sore shoulders. "Those guys were batting me around like a doll."
"It's not safe out here." Sango said as she looked around. She'd felt powers flaring up not more than twenty blocks away but hadn't had time to determine who or what or how strong they were before they vanished. She could still feel two fairly high powers off that way, just about to where the others had been, and she was pretty sure one of them was Senator Vegeta.
The Tanarian turned back to the others. "We should head back to the palace, it's safer there."
"There are still a lot of people in the city though." Chaotzu said from where he floated near Bulma.
Bulma nodded. "He's right, we need to get more people to safety first."
"We'll stay." Toma said. "But you're going back to the palace. And no more royal orders." he added, before Bulma could refuse.
"I'll take her back." Sango offered. "Then come back and...." Her voice trailed off as her eyes opened wide in shock and pain.
The others turned to look at her as she made a gurgling sound and they saw blood running down her chin. "S-Sango?" Bulma started, making a half step toward her. As the Tanarian fell to her knees something knocked Bulma aside and she just caught a glimpse of gold light zip passed her. As she hit the ground Sango collapsed completely, dead.
Bulma looked from the woman to her side to see what had hit her and saw Roshi laying on the ground where she'd been standing, a hole through his head. "Oh... oh...."
"Where's it coming from!?" Dubibub cried as they all looked around for some glimpse of an attacker. Some sign of where the enemy was, who they were. But they saw and sensed nothing. And then suddenly a power spike down the road, a flash of gold, and then a cry from Toma as he was pierced through the heart.
"There!" Tangerie cried as she thrust her arms forward and fired off the strongest blast she could muster. Dubibub did the same using her attack as a guide for where to hit. The blasts hit a building several blocks away at almost the same time and exploded, bringing the structure crashing down.
There was a sudden loud crack to Dubibub's left and he turned to find Tangerie falling forward, her head bent back at such an angle her neck was obviously broken. Turning around he thrust an arm out and fired a punch at her attacker but there was no one there. And then a loud crunch as a foot came down from above and slammed into the top of his head. The alien slumped to the ground, dead, an instant later.
"Bu-bu-but... you... you're...." Bulma stammered. The attacker smirked and then fired two more beams of energy before departing the scene.
A few moments later Pug and Vegeta landed in the street. Pug quickly took in the sight around him. Toma with a hole through his chest, Tangerie a broken neck, Dubibub a crushed skull, Sango a large hole in her back, Roshi with a hole in his head, and.... "By the Kais!" he cried, his eyes settling on Chaotzu and Bulma, slumped against the building, eyes wide in terror, a hole through Chaotzu's head and one through Bulma's chest.
XXX
Planet Vegeta, Galactic Games Arena
Tien wasn't sure how long Piccolo would last on his own but he had to act now. Otherwise neither of them would last for long. In a burst of silver and red he transformed and shot to his full power quickly charging toward the Nameks. Piccolo pulled aside in shock at the Human's charge but Slug just smirked and laughed.
Tien grinned as well as he moved his lower arms into the required position and began to charge an attack between his hands. Meanwhile his upper arms came up, his fingers splayed before his face. Piccolo saw this and quickly turned away, closing his eyes, as Tien's voice rang out. "Solar Flare!"
Slug left out a cry of pain as the bright flash of light seared his eyes and blinded him. Instantly Tien arced skyward. /You better prepare something powerful Piccolo./ he thought. /I've got a promise to keep, I can't go all out in this attack./ Reaching a high enough altitude the Human pulled to a stop and then gazed down through his bottom hands, golden energy sparking between them.
Through the tunnel of his fingers he could see Piccolo, arms pulled back, gathering energy as well. Gold and blue around the left, black and red the right. Tien recognized the move from the Cell Games. /Good. I just need to take Slug down a peg or two to make sure Piccolo's attack finishes the job./ he thought as the energy between his hands shifted silver and then red.
Below him Slug was lowering his hands from his eyes, his vision was starting to clear. No matter, his attack was ready. "Alright!" he called out. "Take this! Super Tri-beam!" Red and gold light flashed and flared and then surged down and slammed into Slug with a resounding crack. The blast surged on down and impacted the ground with a loud bang and powerful quake.
It wasn't the strongest Super Tri-beam he could do, he'd hoped to charge it a little further, but he doubted even his strongest would have had much more effect than the one he'd just used. Seven years ago he'd used one about as powerful as the one he'd just done. It had taken longer to charge and it had nearly killed him but he'd done it, and with a much lower power.
But despite that he could tell, from the strain he'd felt doing the one he'd just done, that his maximum limit wasn't much higher than it had been then. He knew why. His actual power had increased greatly in the last seven years starting with his time training for the Cell Games. Too much too quickly, actually. His body was barely able to keep up with his gains.
Back then using an attack a few hundred times stronger than him was painful, draining, and dangerous, but not innately deadly. Only if he pushed too far, as he had against Super 13, was that a risk. But now, now he doubted he could do one even ten times stronger than him without dying from it. Instantly. He just couldn't handle that level of power, his body wasn't able to cope with it.
Sure, he could drop the Kinryoku and the Kaio ken. That'd give him all that leeway. But it wouldn't change the actual outcome of the attack's power. Using his normal form might yield a little extra leeway due to familiarity, but the charge time would increase exponentially to the power increase to the attack.
As he floated there panting and thinking about that, watching Piccolo as he waited for Slug to emerge from the deep crater in the ground, he realized that he was likely reaching his limit. He'd known it would happen eventually. All living beings had limits to their strength. They could be overcome or changed sometimes through various means.
The Kinryoku and Kaio Ken were two of those means, transformations too. Namekian fusion was another likely means of doing so. But, eventually, there would be a barrier that could not be crossed in life. He doubted he'd get there during his lifetime, though. Given the amount of power he was able to channel, strain or not, he had a fairly high limit. One that would take more than his lifetime to reach.
At least, in actual power. But when it comes to channeling power for attacks it could prove a problem. /I'll need to find some way around that./ he thought as he reverted back to his normal form and started to drift toward the ground, too tired to stay in the air. His feet had just touched the ground when Slug emerged from hole created by the Tri-beam. His clothing was torn and tattered and he had a few bruises but he didn't seem too heavily damaged.
But his power had dipped. Not exceptionally so. He was still stronger than Piccolo's full power and Piccolo's power had dropped during the battle too. But the Namek wasn't worried. Tien had bought him time to pump enough power into the attack he was sure it'd get the job done. He smirked as he watched Slug turn to glare at Tien. /Never take your eyes off me./ he thought. /I thought Zildar taught you that during your spars. Well, time to teach you again!/
With a grunt he spun around in a clockwise circle and thrust out his left arm. "Heaven's Gate!" he cried as the golden and blue energy around his hand swelled to eight feet in diameter and surged toward the other Namek. Slug turned at the sound of the other's voice and his eyes widened as he saw the energy coming. His shock froze him in place long enough the sphere reached and engulfed him before he could react.
Piccolo quickly spun back the other way and thrust out his right arm firing the second ball of energy. "Hell's Gate!" he cried. It shot toward Slug and slammed into the other energy a second later. Then the energy sphere flashed as the four colors swirled around each other. Piccolo held his arms out, palms open, as his voice rang out. "Good-bye, Slug! Judgment!" And then his hands closed.
The rocks below the attack began to lift into the air as a strong wind rushed in toward the energy. And then the energy flashed brightly and the pull switched suddenly into an outward rush of force. A thunderous roar sounded, the planet shook, and then it all reversed again, for an instant, and then it was gone as though it had never been. The only sign of its passage being the lack of Slug and the rounded twenty foot deep crater carved into the ground.
XXX
Planet Vegeta, Saiya City, Onion Avenue
"It's Akira." Pug said as he knelt over another dead body. He'd only met the Tanarian twice, when he'd accompanied Hotaru during meetings related to Sennari business, but he still recognized him. Standing back up he turned to face the general direction they were going. His scouter still wasn't picking anything up.
Vegeta gazed off into the distance as well. "That's thirteen now." he said, remembering coming across Aiko and Kavar a few blocks ago.
"Who's left?" Pug asked.
"That I came into the city with? Krillin, Raditz, and Nova." he replied. "Raditz and Nova are heading for Krillin's location now, and I believe Mango is there too."
"So Cold is dead?"
Vegeta nodded. "Though it seems Raditz and Nova have picked up some other high powers, likely her elites are flying along with them." Vegeta lifted up into the air as his purple aura burst to life around him. "Come, we must hurry, one of those two groups is likely the next target. Krillin and Mango are the closest but... I grow tired of being one step behind whoever this is. We'll head for Raditz and Nova's group."
Pug nodded and lifted into the air shooting after the Sai-jin as fast as he could move.
XXX
Earth, South City, corner of 2nd Avenue and 23rd Street
"Holy fuck!" Jairel cried as he skidded to a stop, turned around, and ran back around the corner. He left out a grunt a second later as he ran into Autoro.
"I said down 23rd street." Autoro said. "Not back the way we came."
"There's like, a thousand Zombies that way, though." Jairel replied.
"Yeah, and there's about eight thousand behind us!" Ward called as he came running up too.
"Bah, move aside." Autoro growled, pushing Jairel out of the way and then stepping around the corner. According the systems in his helmet none of the Zombies were anything major for him. Nothing over a thousand. He snorted. "Piece of cake!" he said thrusting an arm forward and sending a wave of energy into their midst incinerating hundreds of them.
As he lowered his arm he heard a sound behind him and turned to look. There was a large group of Zombies there, too, but they were facing away from him. And... some were being knocked into the air and out of sight? "What the hell...?" He tilted his head a little and listened closer as he realized that whatever was knocking the Zombies into the air was coming closer.
"!"
Suddenly a kid emerged from the throngs of Zombies, arms held out at her sides, and running along the road smiling. She zipped right by a stunned Autoro and charged toward the next group of Zombies. "Arale kick!" she cried jumping up and kicking a Zombie into a building. "Hehe, this is fun!" And then he lost sight of her in the crowds of undead.
"Uh...." Ward began from beside him. "What was that?"
"What was what?" asked Gard. "I didn't see any kid fighting Zombies."
"Right, me either." agreed Jairel.