A/N: Unfortunately, Jeff, there will be no more chances for Goku or Bardock's powers to be scouted for the remainder of the saga.
Also, as has been pointed out, yes the Tanarian translator is down. It was lost when Geocities was, and I have no back-up copies of it (that I know of) so... it's likely gone for good.
Chapter Fifty-seven - Gloom and Doom
Hotaru let out a long sigh as she landed, along with Pug, Nova, and Tien, near the SDF recruits who had trapped the Demons. Just the flight here from the palace had winded her greatly. She was beyond exhausted at this point. Her legs felt like jell-o beneath her and she was honestly surprised she was still on her feet. She'd felt stronger back at the palace, but it felt as though all of that strength had been sapped in the flight. She could only assume it was an after effect of using the Genkai Toppa.
"I'm going to have to hang back." she said, shaking her head. "I don't have the power to deal with these Demons, I can sense it. Definitely not without transforming, anyway, and I don't think I've got the strength for that, either."
"That's fine." said Tien. "We can handle this." He turned his gaze from her and toward the SDF Recruit who was approaching them. She was short, maybe three foot even, had purple eyes, pale blue skin, and green hair down to her to her waist. She was very lightly built, skinny arms and legs, and a skinny neck, which made the black and brown armor she wore seem overly large. "You in charge?" he asked her. He noticed her eyes kept flicking toward Nova.
"More or less." she replied in a high silky voice. "I'm Lotus. I'm still a trainee, but I'm the strongest member of the SDF for about two miles."
"Quick thinking, locking them in there." said Pug, tossing a nod toward the store where his scouter said seven powers were located. They were moving around the store, apparently at random, and fluctuating slightly. Clearly agitated as they looked for a means of escape.
"Thank-you, sir." she said, nodding to him. "I can't take credit for it, though. It was... was Dew's idea. She... lured them inside and... and then activated the barrier..."
"While still inside?" asked Nova, turning her own gaze toward the storefront now.
"Yes." the small woman replied quietly. "She... said she would try to hide... but we've not had contact with her in forty minutes."
"Anything?" Hotaru asked Pug. Her senses couldn't find anyone but the seven Demons, but that didn't mean there wasn't a low power somewhere in there that she couldn't pick up.
Pug frowned. "I'm not sure." he said. "I'm only reading the seven Demons, powers ranging from 96,215 to 99,336, but I keep picking up something else and losing it again almost at once. It could be interference from the barrier field. Or the level could be so low, even now that I have the sensitivity set to maximum and the focus range to the tightest setting, that I can't get a solid fix."
"Either way, it sounds like the recruit's still alive in there." said Tien. "So let's try and keep her that way."
"Right." agreed Pug and Nova as the three of them set off for the building. A moment later they'd reached the front display window, the glass of which was laying in shards on the sidewalk.
"Should we break through?" asked Nova, eying up the red light of the barrier field.
"I think we'll have to." said Pug. "This field's just a standard anti-burglar field, only good up to about a hundred thousand. It'll be easy enough for us to punch through it. The trick will be doing so without causing the entire field to fail. We want to get in, not let the Demons out."
"I have an idea." Tien said, raising both arms and pointing his index fingers at the barrier in two separate places. There was a flash of gold and then twin beams of energy lanced out, impacting the barrier at different points. Pug could tell, by the ripple effect in the barrier field, that the attacks were of different levels. Something he found impressive. Modulating the power output of two simultaneous attacks was no simple matter. He also thought he understood what the Human was attempting to do.
The weaker ripples would hit, but not cancel out, the stronger ones, reducing the back wash of energy through the barrier while still allowing it to breech. Sure enough, a moment later, there was crack and flash as part of the barrier snapped and a hole appeared. Even as it formed it began to close and the three of them moved quickly, passing through the opening in the half second it was there.
The three of them then made their way slowly through the first floor of the building, heading toward the stairs. Tien could sense the seven Demons gathered above them, now stationary, and was unsure as to what they were doing. Pug's scouter couldn't get a signal in or out through the barrier, and so was useless inside the store, and Nova couldn't sense powers, so the two of them were relying on the Human's direction to find their targets.
Now that he was inside the barrier Tien thought he could sense an eighth power. It was incredibly weak, so much so that he wasn't entirely sure it was there. And it was so very near the other seven that he couldn't figure out how it hadn't been found yet. It was more for the sake of that power, likely the brave recruit, Dew, mentioned by Lotus outside, that he was being cautious. The power was so small he couldn't pin point it beyond being within ten feet of the other powers, which meant any attempted surprise attack could hit the owner of that power as well.
"Still not moving?" Pug asked as they began the climb up the stairs.
Tien shook his head. "No. They've not moved an inch. I can't figure it out, what are they doing?"
"Maybe they've got the SDF Recruit trapped?" suggested Nova.
"Maybe..." As they neared the fourth floor landing Tien noticed a green and purple glow coming from under the door. "Alright, they're definitely up to something. We'll have to be quick, but careful." Pug and Nova nodded as the Human took hold of the door handle and twisted, pulling it open. All three came to a shocked halt then at what they saw. The Demons had cleared out part of the floor and stood in a circle facing each other, hands together as though praying, and were chanting softly.
In the middle of the circle they formed, floating a few feet off the ground with her head back, and eyes closed, was what could have only been the SDF Recruit who'd managed to lock the Demons in the building. The green light was coming from her, the purple light from the Demons, and wisps of darkness where swirling up from the ground and wrapping around them all. As they watched the darkness grew thicker and thicker and, after a few seconds, had them all hidden from view.
"It's... some sort of magic." said Nova. "I don't think this is anything good."
"Nor do I." agreed Tien. "Let's see if we can dis..." he trailed off as the darkness vanished in a loud crack and a bright flash of red. When the light faded the seven Demons and SDF Recruit were gone. In their place stood a single being. Five foot tall with blood red skin, solid yellow eyes, spiky white hair, lizard like tail, the horns of a goat, and a bat like face. Blue energy crackled around her body as she turned to face the three of them.
"Company." she said in a sultry voice, grinning. "How nice. Have you come to let me kill you?" She ran a tongue over her purple lips and smiled more. "The sweet taste of death, how I love it." Suddenly her eyes began to glow and Tien felt her power climbing rapidly.
XXX
Shinkai, The H.F.I.L.
"That's another group gone." said Appla, frowning at the tear floating about ten feet ahead of her. She and the five warriors from the Grand Kai's planet that she'd brought along with her had routed out a good fifty Demons so far. Though, most of them had fled rather than fight. Something that quite annoyed her Sai-jin nature. Beyond that, they kept fleeing through the tears and there was no way of knowing where a tear lead. Were they escaping back to their own realm or had they simply gone to another plane in Shinkai?
She'd been following the progress of the others, Olibu and Pikkon's groups, and knew they were having the same problem. Though she'd also noticed something else. Not every Demon they chased fled with their groups, or stood and fought as a few had done. Some of them fled away from their groups, away from the tears, and those few were gathering in the same place within the H.F.I.L. for some reason.
"And I want to know why." she said to herself, gazing off toward where eight of these powers were now gathered, with two more quickly approaching them. "They must be up to something." She glanced back at those with her gave her head a jerk in the direction of those Demons, and set off for them. They weren't too far from her current location and as she neared them she saw a mountain rising up in the distance. They seemed to be gathering at its summit.
Drawing closer she noticed an eerie purple and green glow coming from the top of the mountain, and then began to make out chanting voices. She had little experience with magic but had witnessed enough of it over the years to recognize its use when she saw it. These Demons certainly were up to something and whatever it was it wasn't good. Time to put a wrench in their plans. She pulled back an arm, charged a ball of ki, and then hurled it at the mountain top.
The attack never made contact. Still twenty feet away from the gathering, which she could now make out clearly, a bolt of some unknown energy lanced out, pierced the attack, and destroyed it. Frowning, Appla pulled to a stop. She was in Super Sai-jin and none of these... she did a quick count... eleven were strong enough to stop her attack like that. Of course, magic obeyed its own rules. Shifting positions she cupped her hands at her side, blue energy pulsing to life between them.
"Kaaaa meeee haaaa meeee HAAAA!" she cried, thrusting her arms out and firing the attack. Just as it was launched there was a flash of red from the gathering Demons, and they all suddenly blurred and melted into the middle of the circle they'd formed. Then there was a loud crack, another flash of light, this time of green, and a sudden surge of power. An instant later her attack had reached them and was deflected. Lowering her arms she blinked a few times.
The eleven Demons she'd come after were gone. Now only one remained, one far stronger than they had been. He stood seven feet tall, had hairy bull like legs, a muscular red scaled torso with a barrel of a chest, the head of golden maned lion, green eyes, boar's tusks, dear antlers, and a lizard like tail that Appla realized, a moment later, was an actual snake. Complete with head and fangs.
The Demon flexed its taloned hands and smirked up at her. "So close, but unfortunately for you, too late." he said in a deep rasp of a voice. "The spell of Dark Ascension is complete. Surrender or be destroyed."
Appla snorted. "Sai-jins don't surrender. Let's see what you've got."
"As you wish!" he cried, launching up at her.
Appla's eyes widened in shock as the Demon's power climbed even higher. With a yell she powered up a Super Kaioken and surged in at him, but suddenly he vanished. There was a thunderous crack an instant later and her eyes and mouth snapped open wide in pain as he re-appeared, knee buried in her stomach. She wavered for a moment, and then her aura faded, her hair turned black once more, her eyes closed, and she plummeted to the ground below.
XXX
Shinkai, Mortal Plane, Planet Vegeta, Outside the Store
Hotaru frowned as she watched the opening close. She'd never have been able to move fast enough to get through, and she really was in no shape to fight anyone, but she still felt like she should be in there helping. Sitting on the side-lines had never been a strong point of hers. If it had, she'd never have rushed off to help Earth against Zarbon in the first place.
"Excuse me." said the short woman, looking up at Hotaru. "You... you're the Tanarian Queen, right?"
"I am." she answered.
The small woman licked her lips and fidgeted a bit, clearly nervous about something. "Why..." she started after a moment, but trailed off. "I don't get..." she tried again, but then trailed off once more and frowned a little, apparently unsure how to voice what was on her mind. Hotaru thought she had an idea, though.
"You're wondering why Queen Nova's here?" she asked. The small woman nodded causing Hotaru to sigh. "I understand your worries, believe me. My people were nearly wiped out by the Ginyu Force shortly before I was born."
"So then, why...?"
"Because it was the Ginyu Force, Frieza, who attacked my world. Not Nova or the entire Changeling race. Every race has its bad apples. The Changelings were just unfortunate enough that their bad apples were stronger than everyone else and became the face of their race." Hotaru could tell the other woman wasn't entirely convinced. "You don't hate the Nameks, do you?"
"Huh?"
"The Nameks, like Piccolo. You don't feel the same about them as you do the Changelings, do you?"
"No..." she replied, obviously not sure what Hotaru was getting at.
"Well, they had their bad apples too." said Hotaru. "Slug and his son, both on par with the likes of Frieza, both just as evil. If they hadn't been roaming the galaxy wiping out planets to steal their resources for the last few hundred years they could have built an Empire from planet Namek to rival that of the Changelings. Probably could have taken out the Changelings, for that matter, since Slug killed Frigid in the first place, leaving his son Cold, who was weaker than him, to head their Empire.
"So if things had gone differently you might never have even heard of the Changeling race, and instead it would be the Nameks you hated, all because of two of them who were bad. But nobody here has any problem with Piccolo because very few people alive now ever ran into Slug or his son. What I'm getting at is that it's not the Changelings that are evil or dangerous, it was just Cold and his sons. The rest of the race aren't like them. Are all of your people like you?"
"Wha... Well, no..."
"Well, there you go. No matter what the natural innate mentality of a race is there are always those that differ from the norm. Cold and his sons were just drunk with their power and high on their own arrogance. If it weren't for Nova we'd have had no warning about Kuriiza and his people could have killed a lot of spectators at the tournament before being cau..." Hotaru trailed off as a power spike slammed into her senses, and then a sudden explosion blew out all the windows on the fourth floor of the store and the barrier field buckled and failed all around.
Hotaru shielded her eyes and moved back across the street out of the way of the falling debris, as did the SDF recruits. "What's going on?" she wondered. She couldn't sense any of the seven Demons they'd been after, or Pug and Nova. She could, however, sense Tien and one other power, slightly higher than his. There was a loud crack a second later and Tien, four armed and with a red aura pulsing around him, came surging out of the dust into the street, pulling to a stop a few feet short of hitting another building.
"What's happened?" Hotaru called up.
"I'm not sure, the Demons did some kind of spell and then..." he trailed off as the female Demon he was fighting floated out of the dust to face him.
"They used the spell of Dark Ascension." she said. "They destroyed themselves and used their souls to transcend their existence as Demons and forge a new being out of the pathetic mortal they had captured. They created me. I am Gloom, evil made flesh." She grinned again, once more running her tongue over her lips. "I will make you bleed, make you scream, and feast on your death!" A dark purple aura flared to life around her and she surged in at Tien once more.
XXX
Shinkai, The H.F.I.L.
Pikkon pulled to a sudden stop and turned away from the Demons he'd been in pursuit of. A large power had just blossomed into existence somewhere behind him, and it was still growing. An instant later he felt Appla's power shoot up as well, but the other quickly matched and then surpassed it and Appla's dropped away. /Looks like there's still someone other than these weaklings left after all./ he thought.
"Everyone, head back up to the Grand Kai's world!" Pikkon ordered. "This one is too much for all of you, I'll go handle it." They all nodded and he watched them fly up out of the H.F.I.L. for a moment before shooting off toward the new power at top speed. As he flew he sensed Olibu's power spike up and start toward the new Demon as well. /What's he doing?/ he wondered. /He's not that much stronger than Appla's maximum, he doesn't stand a chance against this one. It's nearly as powerful as I am. Only one thing for it./
"Hyper Flash Attack!" he called, as he suddenly glowed blue. An instant later he'd vanished from where he had been, and re-appeared with a loud crack a few feet behind where the antlered Demon had just been floating. Said Demon was now surging down toward the ground in quite a bit of shock. Pikkon turned his attention from it to Olibu, who'd also just arrived. "I've got this one." he said. "Take Appla and head back up to the Grand Kai's world for now."
Olibu nodded. "Alright." he said, before flying down to where Appla lay, face down, on the rocks below. He figured it was a good thing she was already dead or the blow she'd taken would have probably killed her, instead of just knocking her out. Dead bodies took quite a bit more to destroy than living ones did. Scooping her up he arced up into the sky and flew off toward the Grand Kai's world again.
Pikkon, meanwhile, had turned his focus back toward his opponent, who had stopped themselves from hitting the ground and was now floating back up to join him in the air. /Definitely one of the odder looking Demons I've seen./ Pikkon thought as he pulled off his hat and cape, tossing the weighted garments aside. It had been a while since he'd fought seriously against someone so close to his own power, he was rather looking forward to it.
"You should have stayed in Makai, Demon." he said, moving into a fighting stance.
The other smirked. "Demon? No, I'm no Demon. I am Death itself, evil incarnate. I am Doom and I will bathe this land in your blood."
"Unlikely, but you are welcome to try."
XXX
Makai, Limbo, The Path Between Planes
The flight through the Dead Zone had been boring, even with their on going conversations. All of the relevant topics had been covered fairly quickly. Even Raven and the issues she and her mate had been creating. Dabura had been interested in what they knew of her and her actions, and Gohan could understand why seeing as she arranged for their current problems. The Mazoku King had never heard of anyone giving orders to their soldiers to carry out after death before, and he'd been around quite a while.
That topic had carried them most of the way through the Dead Zone and about half the way through the path between planes. They had flown in silence since then and now they were nearing the end of the path between the Dead Zone and Purgatory. Unlike the path between the H.F.I.L. and Hell back in Shinkai, this one was not a snake like tunnel. Rather, the entrance had been the mouth of a black skull and the tunnel felt like flying through a giant spine. It was just as straight as one, as well, and so they spotted the light marking the exit some time before they reached it.
Emerging from the tunnel Dabura pulled to a stop. Purgatory was much different than the H.F.I.L. in appearance. The "Black Skull Path" they had just traversed exited onto a small planet slightly larger than King Kai's, but not by much. Looking around them Goku and the others could see hundreds other similar planets, some quite small and others very large, all just floating around in what seemed to be a blue sky.
"Weird." said Goku, gazing off to his right at someone who was standing on the bottom of one of the near-by planets, and thus appeared to be upside down.
"From here I can transport us directly to the Mazoku Plane." said Dabura. "Gather around and..." His voice trailed off, his eyes narrowed, and he turned his gaze skyward. Goku and the others looked up as well, wondering what he was looking for. Above them, beyond the reach of several dozen more worlds, they could just faintly make out some sort of shimmering blue surface.
"What's that?" Gohan asked Nefaria.
"The underside of the Ocean of Limbo." she replied. "It works as a barrier between Limbo and Purgatory."
"Like the clouds back home?" asked Goku, lowering his eyes to look at her.
"Exactly."
"Huh, that's diff..." and then Goku trailed off as well, his gaze going back up to the clouds. "Hey... Bardock, isn't that...?"
"I... think so." Bardock said slowly. "But it... feels weird."
"And it's bigger than before." said Gohan. "And still growing."
"We should check it out." said Goku, placing two fingers against his forehead. "Grab on to me guys, I can get us there."
XXX
Makai, Limbo, The Grand Mazoku's World, Malchio's Palace
"What the...!" Malus cried, taking a step back. The purple and black energy that had been flowing into the Shinkai Mortal from Malchio's hands had suddenly flashed a bright and blinding red as a shock wave issued forth, blasting Malchio back a dozen feet into the wall. The three Demons were spared similar occurrences merely because they had been at a greater distance. The red light flared up and engulfed the Mortal in a dome of energy that was growing larger and larger by the second, a ferocious and hate filled roar resounding from within.
"I vote we leave!" cried Akuhei, as the room began to tremble. Malchio had already climbed to his feet, a look of shock and disbelief on his face, before fleeing himself. The three Demons turned and quickly did likewise, leaving behind the Mazoku's throne room only seconds before the surging energy field engulfed the entire thing and smashed through the walls. Once back outside they stood with the Grand Mazoku and watched on in awe as red light flooded out from within the palace and the cries of anger grew louder.
"Do... do you feel that?" asked Paine, taking a few steps back from the Palace as the entire planet began to tremble. Suddenly a beam of black and purple energy blasted out of the palace, ripping a massive hole in its side, and surged into the sky. Another beam followed, lancing off in another direction, then a third and forth, and still the red light flooded out from within, the dome of energy growing large and larger.
"His power is... it's increasing rapidly." said Akuhei. "This is... at this rate he's going to nearly match the Supreme Mazoku!" Suddenly there was a blinding flash of gold and a thunderous explosion that shook the planet. As the glare faded away it revealed a massive hole blasted out of the front of the Grand Mazoku's palace, and a figure floating several dozen feet in the air.
The blue clothes and white boots, and the spiky hair, said that it was the Shinkai Mortal, though his appearance had now changed. His hair was now pure white, a red line ran down from his bottom lip over his chin while two more ran up, one each, from each of his eye brows and then hooked off to the sides of his head. His eyes were green and he had a purple aura with golden lightning snapping around it.
"He... he's nearly as powerful as Nefaria." Malus said in slow surprise. "How is..." but he trailed off there as the man floated down to land a few feet in front of them, aura fading away, smirking.
"You are impressive indeed." Malchio said, recovering from his own shock. He had not expected the man's power to increase nearly this much. All the transformation into a Demon did was bring a person up to their current maximum potential of power, to draw out all of their latent and untapped energy. And, of course, to bind their wills to his. For a Mortal, let alone a living Mortal, to have a capacity this great... He had never witnessed the like.
"You will make a fine addition to Lord Quietus's forces." he said after moment. He then reached out a hand and placed it on the Mortal's arm. "Come, we must report to the Mazoku plane at once. I am sure he will have use for you."
"Let go of me, little man." he said, narrowing his eyes and scowling. "I have plans of my own."
Malchio blinked, then frowned. "You have nothing of your own, now. You serve me, and through me you serve Lord Quietus."
The man's eyes narrowed further, the hand of his free arm reaching up and grabbing the Mazoku's. "The King of all Sai-jins serves no one but himself, little man." he said softly, darkly, as he squeezed the other's hand. There was a series of loud cracks as the bones in his hand began to snap under the pressure. The Mazoku cried out and stumbled back, jerking his hand free of the other's relaxed grip. However, all attention was suddenly drawn away from the the Grand Mazoku and the Mortal toward a spot several yards to their right. Five new, and very high, powers had just appeared out of nowhere.
"V-Vegeta!"
"Ah, Kakkarotto. Just the man I was looking for."