A/N: Sorry for the delay. Wrote myself into a bit of a... problem. Had to go back and scrap three entire chapters to correct the issues. Fortunately, I've got enough of a lead on written material over posted material that nothing already posted needed replacing. But I'd wanted to wait until those chapters were re-done in a working fashion before I resumed posting. They are, and so now posting shall resume.

Chapter Seventy-seven - The Search Continues

"How are you feeling?" Mijima asked, pulling over a chair taking a seat outside the regen tank. Nova floated in the tank, mask over her face, suspended in green fluid. The Changeling didn't look particularly hurt, but when Mijima had returned to the palace she'd heard about what had happened in the city. When she'd arrived in the room it had been easy to find Nova amid the hundred tanks, hers was the only one with a ten foot tall Changeling standing guard beside it.

"Fine." Nova replied. "The pain killers kicked in about five minutes ago."

"She's lucky." the tall Changeling said.

"It wasn't that bad, Tsunamo."

Tsunamo grunted. "Liar. I saw the damage before they got you into the tank. How many organs were ruptured? Three? Four?"

"Nothing vital." Nova said. "The redundant systems took over. It hurt like hell but I wasn't in any danger."

"So you say. I disagree. That much swelling, the green tinge to the bruising? I'm a warrior, Nova, I know what organ shock looks like. Your body was failing before they got you in there, and you know it."

Nova closed her eyes and sighed. "Sometimes, Tsunamo, I wish you weren't so damned observant."

"Warrior's prerogative." the other Changeling grunted, and Mijima couldn't help but smile a little. She had a distinct impression, listening to these two interacting, that there was something between them.

"So how do things look outside?" Nova asked after a moment, opening her eyes again.

"About the same." Mijima replied, running a hand through her hair as she leaned back in the chair. "Demons everywhere, corpses shambling along the streets, and not damn much we can do about it right now. Senator Vegeta's decided to set-up defensive positions here at the palace for the time being, worried another Gloom might pop up somewhere." She sighed and shook her head. "I've never been good at this waiting stuff, though."

Nova chuckled. "Me either. I hated it when I was still in Cold's palace. Waiting, hiding, looking for an opening. Letting others fight and suffer and die for some greater good in the future that I wasn't even sure would come. Everything I've done, been through, all the power I've gained, and I still end up in here, like this. Against a relative nobody. I saw how quickly Piccolo killed Gloom.

"Anyway, how are my men integrating, do you know? Senator Vegeta said he wanted to use them to strengthen the defenses around the palace but I'm worried how well they'll get along with the Sai-jins out there. And the refugees."

"I'm not really sure." Mijima answered. "I saw them out there, and Vegeta took the ones that came back with me for the wall, but I didn't stick around long. Just checked to see what the plan was and then came here to check on you. Figured you could use the company, hadn't realized you already had some."

"She wouldn't need company," Tsunamo began. "If she'd let the medics give her a tranquilizer."

"Not this again." Nova groaned, closing her eyes. "I'm not taking a tranquilizer. I don't need to be... unconscious... to be healed."

"No, but it would go faster." he said. "And being asleep wouldn't make you any more helpless than you already are."

"No."

"Sometimes, Nova, I wish you weren't so damned stubborn."

"Queen's prerogative."

Mijima grinned as Tsunamo snorted. /Yeah, definitely something between these two./ she thought. Her attention was drawn away from the two Changelings a second later as a commotion started near the door. She looked over and saw people rushing into the room, a few medics along with them. Mijima recognized Cheri and Goten first, then Vadora a second later.

"What happened?" she asked, getting to her feet and walking over to the tank Vadora had just been placed into.

"Mom was attacked." said Cheri. "And they took Bulma."

Tsunamo frowned and moved away from Nova's tank a little, turning to look a the new arrivals. "Bulma?" he repeated. "Do you mean the Sai-jin Queen?"

Mango glanced over at him and hesitated for a second. She'd not been expecting to run into a second form Changeling inside the palace and it threw her. She was with the King and his allies, accepted their decision to host the Changelings and work with them, but to come unexpectedly face to face with a second form Changeling was something else. Even if he shared only a passing resemblance to Cold.

"Yes." she said after a moment. "Some dissidents taking advantage of the chaos."

"Anything we can do to help?"

Mango shook her head. "Appreciate it, but no." she said. "I'm not even sure what all we can do at the moment..."

"Mango." a voice said from the doorway. She turned and saw Vegeta, Pug, Piccolo, and Hotaru entering the room. It had been the Senator who had spoken.

"Sir." she said with a nod as the tank Vadora was in began to fill.

"You think this was Ornja's work?" asked Piccolo.

"According to the kids it is." she replied. "They caught onto the plot and were trying to warn someone when they came across Vadora. Apparently Akemi's trying to track them somehow. I'm not too clear on that."

The Senator frowned and crossed his arms, thinking. "We have no way of tracking her, or the Sai-jins involved?"

"Not that I'm currently aware of." replied Mango. "Bulma didn't have a scouter with her and, as you know, she refused the sub-dermal tracking implant. As for the Sai-jins, it's unlikely they're using any scouters we could track or trace, if they've got any intelligence. I'm sure Tangerie's already checking into that just in case."

"If they do have scouters on them we have to keep our search exteremly quiet." said Pug. "If they know we're hunting them they'll be that much harder to find. I'm not entirely sure how to conduct a search of the palace without them knowing about it."

"It's not possible." Vegeta said. "At least, not possible to do it on a scale that would actually be useful. Small scouting groups might go unnoticed, but a concerted search?"

"What if it doesn't matter if they know we're searching the palace?" asked Hotaru as an idea came to her.

"How so?" asked Vegeta.

"Well, we've got an army's worth of enemies outside the palace." she replied. "We make an announcement to everyone asking the refugees to remain in the large public spaces so we can better guard them as a zombie was discovered inside the building. We can then establish a full sweep of the building looking for more zombies."

"It could work." said Piccolo. "They might be suspicious of the timing, but they wont be certain. Not if we handle it properly."

"Send the entire thing through the proper channels." agreed Pug. "We start with the zombie's discovery. Report it over the network before arranging the search."

"Grandpa!" a voice called suddenly. Everyone turned to look and found Yamcha, Sakura, Akemi, and Trunks entering the room. It was the young prince who had spoken and he ran straight to Vegeta. "Mom's missing!"

"I know." he replied. "Don't worry, we'll find her."

"I couldn't." Akemi said sadly. "I looked and looked but I didn't see any sign of her."

"It's ok, Akemi." Yamcha said, resting a hand on her head. "You did your best."

"Alright, let's get this plan underway." Vegeta said, uncrossing his arms. "The sooner we get moving the sooner we find my daughter-in-law."

XXX

Makai, Limbo, Home of the South Mazoku

Nefaria was sitting on the stone floor of the platform, back against the small structure at its center, splitting her attention between events around her and those in the Mazoku plane. As the Supreme Mazoku of the Mazoku Plane she could track events there, even from Limbo. She couldn't see into the Realm, or hear anything being said, but she could know what was happening and, at the moment, it wasn't much.

Quietus had returned to the palace a while ago and hadn't left since. None of the Demons there had entered the palace or traveled away from the Plane at all. The entire Plane, the entire Realm really, seemed to be taking a break. Holding its breath and waiting to see how things unfolded from here. She wondered why he hadn't rushed off to Shinkai, she'd worried he'd attack and wipe them out before they'd recovered the souls they were after.

Especially since it was taking so long. It had been a couple hours since they'd arrived at the South Mazoku's place. The woman had cast out her line, sat down on the edge of the platform, and then done nothing since then. Dabura had remained standing behind her, arms crossed, staring out into Limbo. She wasn't sure what he might be watching, the Mazoku Plane to observe Quietus, Limbo to help locate the missing Shinkai souls, or something else altogether. But he hadn't moved at all.

As she watched the two of them she noticed the rod in the South Mazoku's hand suddenly twitch. It wasn't much, just a slight flexing of the tip, but the Mazoku suddenly straightened, tightened her grip on the rod. Another small flex came a moment later, then a third. Then the rod bent severely and the line started running out. The Mazoku yanked it back and started turning the reel, pulling the line back in.

"Got one." she said, happily, smiling. "That didn't take long at all."

Nefaria watched as the other woman continued pulling on the line, reeling it in, trying to bring in the soul she'd managed to hook. It took a few moments but eventually she saw a small white wisp off in the distance, darting back and forth, trying to fly away. A few moments later the small Mazoku had managed to reel the soul all the way in. As she did she scrunched up her face in distaste.

"You weren't kidding about these people." she said. "I've never seen a soul this white. Definite Dead Zone material. Deep, deep, deep Dead Zone."

Dabura nodded, curious as to which soul had been caught. The South Mazoku was right, he'd only ever witnessed a handful of souls in Makai this white, this clean. He couldn't believe it belonged to a Sai-jin. They'd clearly changed a lot, even more than he'd previously suspected. It was still hooked on the end of the Mazoku's line, still trying to escape, as he walked up to it and gave it a light tap.

The soul cloud rippled and shifted, the magic he'd just introduced helping to clear its mind so that it could reform into an actual body now. It took a few seconds, the body seemed to be having trouble taking shape at first, but then it started to even out and the whole thing solidified all at once. It was one of the two the Kais had sent, the one that had remained on Malchio's world, been half the merged warrior that had battled Quietus.

"Huh? Wha-where am I?" Goku wondered, looking around in confusion.

"We're at the South Mazoku's home." Dabura said. "You were killed in the battle with Quietus, we came here to recover your soul."

"Oh. Well, thanks!" Goku said, grinning. "But... where are the others?"

"Still need to get them." the South Mazoku said, returning to the edge of the platform. She gave the rod a few flicks and then cast the line out again. "If they're anything like you we need to get them out of Limbo before they start disrupting... everything."

"She'll locate your allies." Dabura said. "It will take a little time, however."

Goku nodded. "Sure. But what about Quietus? The people back home?"

"Quietus is... not doing anything." Nefaria said. "He was so fired up earlier, wanting to end the conflict, but..." she shrugged. "Either the Spirit Bomb or your merger with the other one has made him cautious again."

"So they're safe?"

"For now." said Dabura. "There's no telling how long that will last, but there's nothing you can do on your own."

"Yeah. I hadn't expected Quietus to be so powerful." Suddenly he grinned. "But man, fighting him was great!" he cried.

"And you'll get another chance." Dabura said. "Once we've recovered your two companions we will make another attempt. You can merge again with the tall haired one and..."

"No." Goku said, shaking his head.

"No?" Dabura repeated, cocking an eyebrow.

"That fusion was pretty strong, but it's too close in power to Quietus." he said. "We need more power than that to be sure we can beat him before the fusion runs out."

"Runs out?" asked Dabura.

Goku nodded. "Normally a fusion lasts for an hour, but transformations cut back the length of time you can stay fused. At the second level like that it only lasts for about thirty minutes. After which we automatically separate again. Then we have to wait about three hours before we can properly fuse again."

"What do you propose?" asked Nefaria.

"Instead of Vegeta, I'll fuse with Bardock." Goku said. "The power of that fusion is a lot more than Vegeta and I. If Bardock hadn't already been killed when we got to the battle I'd have fused with him then. Quietus wont stand a chance against that power."

"How much stronger are we talking?" asked Dabura.

Goku grinned. "Way stronger."

Dabura frowned at the ambiguity but decided not to press. He'd see how much power this 'fusion' had once they confronted Quietus again. "We'll still locate both of the remaining souls." he said, talking more to the South Mazoku than Goku or Nefaria. "Vegeta still needs to be recovered and returned to Shinkai regardless."

The Mazoku nodded but it was Goku that spoke. "Actually, there's one more." he said. "Videl was killed on the Grand Mazoku's world earlier. So she's out there somewhere, too."

The South Mazoku frowned. "A fourth one of you?" she muttered. "Terrific."

XXX

Shinkai, Planet Vegeta, Sai-jin Palace

Mango set her palms against the table and leaned against it as she looked up at the large main screen. Rowan sat in the chair beside her coordinating the search. The screen currently displayed information on their search plans, as well as a detailed map of the palace and tracking markers for their searchers. As each area was searched and cleared it would turn green on the screen. At the moment all the locations were black, with the exception of the courtyard and Grand Hall. There was no way Bulma was being held in either location so they'd already been changed to green.

The plan had been set in motion almost three hours earlier, with the false report of a zombie being discovered inside the palace. The refugees had been unsettled by the information but hadn't panicked. They'd increased guard presence in both common areas to help them relax, but every available soldier had been called in for the search. Only the search leaders knew the truth about what was happening, the Queen's kidnapping had been kept under wraps so far.

Organizing the search was taking longer than she'd hoped, though. She'd wanted them out scouring the palace by now, at least a quarter finished. Instead, they were only just now about to get under way. It was almost eleven o'clock and she wanted this search finished before three in the morning. Everyone needed some rest, the sooner the better.

"Alright, all teams move out." Rowan said from beside her. "Keep to your routes, we don't want to overlook anything."

"Still no ransom demands?" asked Mango. Rowan shook her head no. That was disconcerting. According to Piccolo and Vegeta the group had sent a note before, apparently prior to having even captured Marron. The fact that they hadn't made contact yet was worrying. They'd all expected more demands for Sai-jin control of the Sennari. Not getting any allowed for unpleasant speculations as to what their intentions might be.

Mango looked back behind her at the kids. Cheri had wanted to stay with her mom in medical, and Goten had opted to stay with her, but Trunks had come to the op center along with Sakura and Akemi. Though, Trunks was the only one of the three still awake, staring at the screen that filled the east wall of the Palace Operations command room. Akemi was curled up on her sister's lap, head resting on Sakura's shoulder, both sound asleep.

"Team fourteen, have you found something?" Rowan asked. Mango darted her eyes around the screen until she saw the tracking marker for fourteen. They were in the barracks wing, currently still in level 1 A, searching one of the bunk rooms. The five people in the search team had all stopped moving.

"Not sure." a voice replied through both her and Rowan's scouters. Mango recognized Rapin's voice, he was the leader for team 14. "There's an ear ring laying on the floor, looks like there's blood on the needle. It's still a little gooey, not completely dry yet."

"What kind of ear ring?" asked Mango.

"Golden hoop." Rapin replied.

"Have someone run it to medical." Rowan ordered. "And make your search of the barracks thorough."

Mango felt her muscles tense as she listened. Bulma had been wearing gold hoop ear rings. It seemed a little too much to hope for, to find a clue so quickly. But it also seemed too much a coincidence for it to be anything but her ear ring. If it was, though, why was it laying on the floor and why was their blood on it? She didn't like that.

XXX

Shinkai, Sai-jin Palace, Medical Room

Hearing some faint sounds Tsunamo glanced toward the door and realized it was just the children. The two half Sai-jins, Cheri and Goten. They'd set chairs up near Vadora's tank and settled in to wait, but Cheri had leaned back in her chair and dozed off, and the boy was sprawled out over both chairs, his head in girl's lap, snoring softly. The cyborg, Mijima, had left a few hours ago to help with the search of the palace so it was just the four of them, Vadora, and a few med techs.

"I still find it hard to believe." he said softly, looking at the kids.

"What's that?" asked Nova. It was the first either had spoken in a while and her mind had been elsewhere.

"The powers you reported, especially from the children. The boy over there, he's the one you said was almost thirty million, right?"

"Goten, yeah. He's the strongest of the children." she replied. She went quiet for a moment before continuing. "It's still rather hard to believe. Not just the kids but all the powers here, even what I've gained."

Tsunamo nodded slowly. Nova had told him about the battle with Kuriiza, and the fruit she'd eaten. Their new allies were not certain but believed the power she'd gained from it was permanent, and so far it hadn't dropped any. Apparently that had put her power over seventy-five million with her Invalesco. Just around fifteen million without it.

That was almost as powerful as Frieza, with her boosted power being well beyond anything the Cold family had ever reached. Cold may have gotten there if he'd ever gotten past the second form, but that had never happened. It was all mind boggling enough itself, but to think of kids being as strong or stronger than the Cold family? Not to mention the powers in the high hundreds of millions that had been reported for the likes of the Tanarian Queen, the Sai-jin King, and the boy Gohan.

"The universe is changing." Tsunamo said. "Always is. Always will be."

"Feels like it's changing faster now, though. How long did Cold rule unopposed? How long did the stalemate between our people and the Sai-jins last? And now look at where the galaxy is."

Tsunamo nodded in agreement. Cold had taken over the Empire after his father's death a little over five hundred years ago. No one even came close to his power, or Frieza's, until they met the Sai-jins. Within thirty-four years of that meeting the Cold family was all dead.

Now, just nine years later, the Sai-jins were the indisputable masters of the galaxy, looking to dissolve their own Empire and establish a unified, democratic, order. The Sai-jins had become so powerful in that time that a six year old child had more power than Cold had ever possessed. The Oozarus had been one thing, but Super Sai-jin? It was...

He opened his eyes and looked toward Vadora's tank as it issued a series of sharp beeps. The sound woke the two kids, Cheri quickly jumping to her feet and knocking Goten to the floor. She rushed over to the tank and looked inside, worried. A med tech joined her a moment later.

"What's wrong?" Cheri asked him, looking up.

"Nothing." the man replied, going over the controls and pushing a few buttons. "It's saying the recovery is complete. The gas and its effects have all been neutralized. It'll take a moment for the tranquilizer to wear off, then she'll wake up."

Cheri turned back to the tank and saw that it was starting to drain now. "Really?" she asked. "She's ok now?"

The man nodded. "Perfectly fine." he replied. "She was never in any actual danger, Xiethal isn't fatal in gas form."

"That's great, Cheri!" Goten cheered, rubbing his head, having landed on it when he fell. Cheri just nodded as she waited. The tank finished draining, the door clicked as the lock disengaged, then it hissed open. Vadora lay in the bottom of the tank for a few seconds before she began to stir. A second later her eyes opened and she pushed herself up as she pulled the mask off her face.

"Mom!" Cheri cried happily, diving into the tank and wrapping her arms around Vadora's neck.

"Huh? Cheri? What... what's going on? Why am I here?"

"You don't remember?" asked Goten, as Cheri pulled back.

"No..."

"We found you unconscious." Cheri said. "You were gassed and... and some people kidnapped the Queen."

"W-what?" Vadora asked, eyes widening. She climbed out of the tank grabbing the towel hanging on the side and started drying her hair. "What's being done? Do they know who did it?"

"We know who." said Goten. "And Trunks's grandpa, Piccolo, and Sakura's mom are doing a search for her."

"Where from?" Vadora asked, tossing her towel aside. "I need to get there."

"Are you sure, mom?" Cheri asked. "Shouldn't you get some rest?"

Vadora shook her head. "I just had a rest. Now I have to work. She was taken on my watch, that is NOT ok." she said, jaw clenched.

"They're in palace ops." Cheri said. Vadora just nodded and walked off.

"Wow, Cheri." Goten said, watching the woman leave. "Your mom can be scary."