"Huh?" Bardock asked, turning to face Goku.
"You never told me you'd gotten stronger than me!" Goku cried.
Bardock raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Not by much." he said. "But I told you the form could be improved further. You didn't want to listen."
"But... I'd already tried." Goku pouted. "I couldn't get it any better than I already had. How'd you...?"
Bardock chuckled. "How about we save this discussion until AFTER the evil monster is dead?"
Goku blinked. "Oh, right." he said, turning his focus back to where Janemba floated with the Supreme Kai. The creature was only a few feet away from her but its eyes were now on the two Sai-jins as it began to scowl.
"Ready, Goku?"
"Ready!"
"Then let's go!" As Bardock's voice rang out the two of them shot in toward Janemba in bursts of brilliant gold. The creature's eyes widened in shock as they neared. His surprise slowed his reaction time and when the two Sai-jins reached him a moment later they each slammed a fist into his face knocking him back and away. The two of them then pulled to a stop to float beside the Supreme Kai.
"This is... incredible." Mikomi said as she gazed at the two of them. "No mortal has ever had this much power."
Bardock grinned as he crossed his arms. "We've still got a ways to go yet before we've even fully tapped the power of this form." he said. "You'd have seen this earlier, after that Maku guy started smacking us around, but you stepped in before we had the chance to transform." His grin then widened as he slipped into a battle stance, Janemba had just pulled to a stop and was scowling at them even more now. "Heh, and we still have a few tricks left up our sleeves. So, what do you say we finish off this freak and get back to business?"
Mikomi looked at the two fighters before her and then nodded and joined them in facing Janemba. "Do you have some sort of plan, then?" she asked.
"How long does it usually take this guy to reform after being blasted apart?" Bardock asked.
"Only a few minutes."
The Sai-jin pursed his lips and glanced over to Goku. His son apparently had the same thought, he could see it in his eyes. A few moments of peace to work on making the Spirit Bomb wasn't much, not for one that needed this much power. Still, neither of them could see much choice. "Well, we'll pound him down and then use those few moments to work on the Spirit Bomb again. And then just repeat the process until we've got enough energy to take him out with."
Mikomi nodded. She knew also that there were some problems with that plan but it was still their best chance. "Just be careful now. Do not forget, you are alive once more. Your bodies are no longer as durable as they were before."
"That's ok, I don't plan on getting beaten up like before." Bardock said with a grin.
Meanwhile Goku was now stretching out his legs and and loosening up his shoulders where he floated beside them. "Haha, this is going to be great!" he cried a moment later as he clenched his hands into fists and grinned.
Across the way Janemba scowled further and then growled, his eyes locking onto Goku. And then in a burst of red he surged in toward the Sai-jin, completely ignoring the other two. Goku slipped around the sword slash, spun, and then slammed his heel into the side of Janemba's head. As the creature faultered, momentarily stunned, Bardock came down from above and slammed a knee into his back driving him toward the ground.
But before Janemba could drop more than a couple feet the Sai-jin reached out and grasped his tail. He then began to spin rapidly, quickly making four dozen rotations and building up considerable momentum before pitching him toward the ground. Janemba was just about to hit when he suddenly disolved, top to bottom, as though he were passing through the ground.
Goku let out a cry of pain and shock an instant later as Janemba, who had just materialized above him, jammed the butt of his sword into the top of the Sai-jins head. The impact knocked him down toward the ground but he recovered quickly and then spun around deflecting the creature's sword slash away from him.
The Sai-jin saw Bardock and Mikomi charge in toward him from behind and then the two reached him a moment later and each slammed a knee into the back of his head knocking him forward. Goku shot up quickly as Janemba recovered and took a swipe at his two new attackers. But Goku reached him and grabbed his arm bringing the sword swing to a hault and allowing the other two to move out of the way of the blade unharmed.
Janemba growled as his tail came up and then slapped Goku in the side of the head. "Annoying!" he called as he wrenched his arm free of the Sai-jin's grasp and then punched him in the face. His tail then whiped out behind him and smacked Bardock in the chest knocking him into the Supreme Kai as the two attempted another back attack.
Raising his sword before him it began to glow red and then he gave a quick slash through the air sending curved blade of energy in Goku's direction. The Sai-jin's eyes widened as he saw it coming and he quickly doged to the left where he found another one charging toward him. He slipped around it and then a third and a forth before letting out a cry of pain as a fifth one cut a deep gash along his right side. And then a sixth sliced down through his foot removing almost half of it.
He pulled back quickly as Bardock shot up in between them grabbing and twisting Janemba's wrist causing him to release and drop the sword. Meanwhile Goku pulled further away from the battle and closed his eyes, focusing. He'd not had to do this in seven years and, having been dead, hadn't really practiced it much since he didn't think he'd need it anymore. So it took a moment before he felt it working.
A glow formed from the wound in his side and from his foot. The glow coming from the end of his foot grew out and then slowly took on the shape of his foot and missing toes. A moment later both glows faded and he was back in one piece, though he still had only a half a shoe on his right foot so he reached down and quickly pulled off both boots before charging back in to the battle.
While he'd been healing Bardock and Mikomi had already moved in to a close range two on one fight against Janemba. Now that his sword was out of the way they were more willing to stick around for more than a few seconds. And with the two of them working together, even with Mikomi's injury, they were managing to land more hits on Janemba than he was on them. And as Goku joined the fray the creature began to scowl as he could no longer keep up with all of the incoming attacks.
He focused more on dodging or blocking Mikomi's blows than those of the Sai-jins as she was the only one stronger than him. As one of Bardock's kicks connected with his back and knocked him foward he suddenly spun and lashed out with his tail smacking both Sai-jins in the chest and sending them sailing away. Before Mikomi could launch another attack of her own he had, once again, disolved.
Righting himself Bardock looked down toward the ground where he could sense Janemba and saw him picking his sword back up again. In a burst of gold he surged down toward him, Goku right behind him. Janemba scowled up at them as they neared and then smirked. He opened his mouth, took a deep breath, and arched his back as he inhaled. They were only a few feet away when he leaned forward and forced the air from his lungs.
The two Sai-jins let out cries of shock and quickly swerved to either side of the surge of fire that had errupted from the creature's mouth. As he dodged Bardock snapped out an arm and fired a blast of golden energy at Janemba's head. The attack hit and exploded causing him to stumble and bringing the stream of flame to an end.
Before he could recover Goku surged in from behind and smashed both of his feet into his back knocking him foward. Mikomi was there waiting and slamed her open palms into his chest with a crack. There was a bright flash of blue an instant later and then a massive explosion that blasted out a crater a hundred yards across and sent Janemba sailing, once more, into a distant rock pillar that then came crashing down on top of him.
Suddenly two arms surged out of the dust cloud toward the three warriors. "Yipes!" Goku cried as the one still holding the sword took a slash at him. He dodged quickly to the left just avoiding the blade and then fired a blast of blue energy toward where Janemba still was within the dust.
"This guy doesn't play fair." he continued as he dodged around another sword swipe, just as his blast reached the dust cloud and exploded. With the dust blasted apart in the explosion Janemba surged into toward them as he retracted his arms, continuing to take swipes at Goku with his sword and jabs at the other two with his fist.
"Then maybe we should stop playing fair too." Bardock said with a grin. He moved around another punch and then shot in directly at Janema, his arms pulled back at his side and energy flared up around his hands. Bright pink and neon green. He was only feet away from the charging, laughing, and grinning creature when he brought his arms forward, slammed the energies together, and cried out. "Sonic Blast!"
There was a defeaning earsplitting crack that reverberated throughout the H.F.I.L. as the energies exploded, and then a loud screeching like nails on a chalk board echoed around them, but not before surging right passed Janemba's ears. Along with the sounds had come a violent explosion of bright white and purple light. Even with the attack directed at Janemba the sheer intensity of it still dazed Goku and Mikomi. But even with the ringing in their ears they could hear the shrill, angry, and agonzied screeches of Janemba who had been hit full force by both the sound and light.
Before either of the others could see again there was a series of rapid impact cracks and then a loud crash as something hit the ground. Goku's eyes began to clear then and he saw his father shooting up into the air over a cloud of rising dust and then pelting the area with blasts of golden energy. But then Janembea disolved into existence above and behind Bardock and lashed out with a sword swipe.
"Behind you!" Goku yelled as he surged up toward them. He'd tried, right before yelling, to teleport up there, but had been unable to do so.
Bardock heard his son's cry and brought his assault to an end. He turned quickly and started to dodge but Janemba's blade caught his left arm, just below the shoulder, and sliced it off. The creature went to thrust the blade into his chest next but Goku reached them and slammed a knee into his side, hitting the sword first and shattering it.
"You ok?" Goku asked, glancing at the stump of his arm. It wasn't bleeding anymore, the Sai-jin had already used his ki to seal it off.
"I'll be fine." Bardock said. "I'm not as good as you at creating new limbs, though. I'm out of the fight for a bit while I work on this."
Goku gave him a nod and turned to Mikomi who had floated up to join them. "Looks like it's just you and me for a few minutes."
"Right." she said, before turning her gaze to the elder Sai-jin's missing limb. "Though, I did not know that Sai-jins could regenerate."
Bardock smirked and laughed slightly as his arm stump began to glow a little. "We can't, not naturally. It's a little skill Goku picked up on another planet."
"Yeah, speaking of those, I can't Relocate." Goku said as he looked toward where Janemba was floating and staring at his broken weapon. "I tried to do it to get up here faster to help you but nothing happened. It felt like something held me back."
"It would be the distortions." Mikomi said as Janemba tossed away the useless sword and Bardock's glowing arm reached elbow length. "The same reason I was unable to transport us directly to the entrance to Hell."
"But he can still do it." Goku said, gesturing toward Janemba who was now scowling at them.
"He's at the center of this, though." Bardock said, motioning toward the transformed H.F.I.L. all around them. "He fits in here, this is his home fiel..." he trailed off, not even finishing the word, as a thought occured to him. "We need to get him out of here."
"Huh?"
"Janemba, we need to get him out of this distorted area and into the normal H.F.I.L. and fight him there."
"But why?"
Bardock looked down at his arm and flexed his new ki fingers. So far so good. But the next step was the hardest. "Because here he's got the advantage. This world is suited to him. I think, maybe, it's a part of him. That's how he's able to do everything he's done so far. The arm stretching, the teleporting, throwing that jellybean."
Mikomi nodded. "It's possible."
However, further discussion ended there as Janemba grew tired of waiting again and charged them. Mikomi and Goku saw him coming and then shot in to meet him. The Kai lashed out with a kick for his head while the Sai-jin aimed a punch at his abdomen. Both blows were blocked, the kick by Janemba's forarm and the punch by the hand of that same arm. The still free arm then lashed out and backhanded both of them.
As they were knocked back by that blow the creature spun around and slammed its tail into Goku's stomach, doubling him over, and then jammed his elbow down into the back of his head knocking him down into the ground with a thunderous crash. With a shake of his head to clear it he started climbing back to his feet again. He'd only gotten as far as his hands and knees when he suddenly pushed off with all his might and did a side flip onto his feet.
Janembea's feet impacted the ground where he'd been laying an instant later. The glass like surface exploded in a shower of debris as the creature plunged knee deep into it. With a growl of frustration he released a burst of red ki that blew apart the rock around him and then he surged in at the Sai-jin again. But Mikomi came charging in just then and slammed a foot into the side of his head.
Slipping around in front of him she then planted an elbow uppercut into his jaw and knocked him skyward. "Stay back a moment." she said, glancing back at Goku. "I am going to buy us a little time." And with that she shot after Janemba in a burst of blue white light. Goku glanced away and had to shield his eyes with his arms for a moment and when he looked back she'd almost reached Janemba already, a blue-white glow pulsing around her as though she were a neon light.
The creature had pulled to a stop and was waiting for her as she charged. But, just before she reached him, she suddenly shimmered and vanished, his yellow eyes widening in shock. She hadn't teleported, simply given a burst of sudden speed even greater than what she'd already been doing. Then she suddenly reappeared right in front of him, her arm already shooting forward, and then there was a loud crack as an open right palm slammed into his abdomen and doubled him over.
She shimmered and vanished again, only to appear behind him and drive her leg into the back of his neck. And then again she was gone. Goku watched on in amazement as she zipped around him delivering powerful blows everywhere she could. Abdomen, chest, back, head, neck, legs, and side. Anywhere an opening appeared as he recoiled from the previous hit.
The Sai-jin knew she was moving incredibly fast, faster than she should have been able to under normal conditions at her level. He could barely even sense her sudden shifts in direction as she darted around her opponent and Janemba had barely began to react to a blow before she was landing the next. And then she appeared behind him and jamed both of her open palms into his back launching him forward.
Vanishing in another burst of high speed she darted around in front of him, appearing several feet from where he was at the moment, crouched her body down slightly, leaning forward, and pulling her arms back as she readied for something, though the Sai-jin wasn't sure what. The blue glow around her began to grow bright and shift into more of a sparking electricity like aura, then it seemed to draw into her body and vanish.
And then he was within striking distance and she lashed out with a flurry of swings. Her arms were moving faster than Goku could see, he couldn't even note the blurs of her arms. It looked as though they stopped only inches from her shoulders. But the effects of her attacks were clearly visible. Each time her open hands slammed into Janebma there was a loud crack and a bright flash of blue which told Goku that each hit was accompanied by a low level, point blank, ki blast.
He lost track of the hit count quickly, he'd counted twenty but knew he'd missed several already and stopped trying. The creature jerked left and right and was being driven back as the blows rained down on him one after another. And then she shifted slightly, twisted in the air where she floated, and suddenly she was on her left side, feet towards Janemba and her right leg snapping back so her heel slammed into the side of his head.
Meanwhile her left foot snapped forward and she caught him in the neck with her leg. She pulled back from him, twisted again, and kicked him in the jaw with both feet as she back fliped away and came down facing him again, both arms pulled back behind her and blue lightning like energy snapping around her arms and gathering before her palms. And then there was a bright flash of light from the gathering energy and she thrust her arms foward, palms pointed at her opponent.
"Kibou Taihou!" she cried, the energy balls merging and then swelling and exploding into a massive wave of blue white energy that quickly engulfed Janemba. There was a shriek from Janemba, a bright red light built up inside the stream of blue white, and then there was a loud crack and a flash of darkness that seemed to drown out all the light for a moment, and then nothing. Mikomi had lowered her arms and ended her attack and there was no sign left of Janemba.
"What... was that?" Goku asked as he floated over to join her. She had bent over and put her hands on her knees as she panted, she seemed barely able to keep steady in the air. Bardock was still floating where they'd left him earlier, working on restoring his arm. "That speed you had earlier, and the attack just now..."
"The speed, as well as a power increase that came with it, was from the Shitennoken, an ancient technique created by the first four Supreme Kais to ever exist." Mikomi explained slowly as she continued to try and catch her breath. "It is highly taxing but quite effective, especially in conjunction with Tenkaiken, the fighting style we Supreme Kai's use. As for the attack, that was my Kibou Taihou, a move I created after Janemba's first appearance specifically for use against such threats."
"Well, it certainly did the trick." Goku said, blinking as he looked around, still seeing no trace of Janemba.
She shook her head. "He will be back." she said, straightening up as some of her strength began to return. "The nature of the attack, it draws upon my life force which is like poison or acid to a being such as Janemba, caused his body to be destroyed. But the evil that he is made from is more tightly bound than I can break and so remains intact, and so he will return. But I have bought us at least a few minutes."
"Well, that's good to know." Bardock said as he floated to join them. Most of his arm was still glowing which meant he'd not finished creating a new one yet. "This is taking longer than I expected. It's a lot harder to make a new arm than it is to fix cuts or broken bones. So, any thoughts for getting him out of this area when he comes back?"
"Well, we do not know how far we'd have to go to get out of this area, except for in that direction." said Mikomi, pointing the way they'd originally come from. "So if we are going to get him out into a normal area that is the direction we need to move in. It's not too far, which works to our advantage."
"The question is, how do we get him to go that way?" Goku wondered as he scrunched his face up in thought. "Do you think he'd just follow us?"
"Possibly," Mikomi began. "But assuming that Bardock is right and getting him beyond the distorted area will give us an advantage he may know this himself and realize what we are doing if we try to just lead him out."
"She's right. We can't just make him chase us." said Bardock. "We have to force him out. We'll need to work together and keep him occupied with fighting us and physically drive him to the edge of the area and outside of it."