Nova walked out of the palace, raising a hand over her eyes to shield them from the morning sun. The night had come and gone without any incidents, aside from the Queen's kidnapping, anyway. Despite the attempts at secrecy the night before word of the event, and the fact that the Queen had nearly freed herself, had already spread through the entire palace. Nova had overheard a group of Sai-jins boasting about it earlier, how their Queen had taken out two warriors more than six hundred times stronger than her.
"Tsunamo." she said, giving him a nod as he approached. He'd resisted leaving her side while she was in the tank, but having gotten out about an hour ago able to defend herself again, he'd relaxed a little and agreed to run a few messages for her. Her elites had been out on the wall the entire night and, while they didn't need to sleep, they did need to relax and rest every so often to stay focused. So she'd sent him out to set up rest periods for them all.
"The first group is on break now." he said. "They've got an hour of down time before they go back, then the second group of three goes on break."
"Good. They need their rest to stay alert. With any luck this wont last much longer." She took one last look around the courtyard, many of the refugees that had stayed outside through the night beginning to stir as the morning light reached them. Then she turned and walked back inside again, Tsunamo trailing after her. Many of the refugees gave them dirty looks, most gave them a wide birth, but there were those who gave her nod of acknowledgement and didn't try to avoid her.
It was... unexpected. Word of her actions in the battle against Gloom had spread through the refugees as quickly as word of Bulma's combat prowess had. Acceptance hadn't spread as quickly, however. While there had been no further attempts to attack her, which she figured was at least in part due to Tsunamo's imposing presence, there was still a palpable level of distrust and dislike.
The pair made their way through the Grand Hall and off into one of the side corridors, heading for the conference room where the others were to gather. Mijima had come to her in medical, just before she'd been released, and told her where and when they'd be gathering again, to discuss plans for the day.
"Morning." Hotaru said as Nova and Tsunamo entered the room. The Changeling Queen gave her a nod and took one of the empty seats at the table. Tsunamo took up position against the wall behind her, arms behind his back. There were no threats that could reach them here, inside the palace like this, with such powerful allies around, but habits were hard to break and Nova let him have this one.
"I'm surprised to see you up already." the Changeling said. "I'd figured you were up most of the night helping with the search."
Hotaru shrugged. "I helped for a while." she said. "But I wasn't able to stay awake very long last night, the day had worn me out too much."
"It wore us all out." said Yamcha, stiffling a yawn. "I only got about three hours myself, helping out with cooridination efforts. After Bulma was kidnapped I took over her data feeds."
"Ah. So it's you I have to thank for the aid on Henka."
Yamcha shrugged. "I just picked up where Bulma left off." he said. "And it was Vegeta who accessed the files they needed."
"Still, I thank-you." said Nova. "I spoke with Hydra earlier and she told me they've managed to organize quite a force now, to protect the civilians." She sighed and shook her head. "That's the worst part of being here. If I were home I could drive off the Demons with ease. But... this war will be won or lost here, with all of you."
"I don't like the fact that Goku and father aren't back yet." said Raditz.
"We don't know how far they have to go," began Pug. "How long it will take them to reach the head of this invasion. They may not have even begun the final battle yet. Or may even now be on their way back."
"No news is good news." said Senator Vegeta. "It's annoying, certainly, but it until we're told they failed we still have hope. We..." He stopped talking as the communicator in the room beeped. He switched it on and Mellona's face filled the screen. "What is it, Mellona?" he asked.
"Lady Bulma asked us to relay any local information to you." she said. "We've gotten an... odd report from out at the arena."
"What sort of report? And who from? I didn't think anyone was left out there at this point."
"Some of my men wanted to try and get into the arena to recover some of the supplies inside. I thought it was worth a try so I've been overseeing the operation. Besides, I wanted eyes on that tear in case anyone came through. Anyway, as for the report, my men are saying that some sort of... blob thing... is starting to grow at the arena. At the location of the tear."
"Blob thing? Did they have anything more specific?"
"Not really. No one wants to get too close."
"You said it's forming at the tear?" asked Piccolo.
"Yeah, apparently. It sounds like it's growing around it or on it or... something."
Piccolo frowned. He didn't like that. He wasn't really sure what it might be, this entire situation was out of the ordinary. But it was better safe than sorry. "Tell your men to stay where they are. I'm going to come investiagte."
"Alright." Mellona said, face vanishing.
"I'll come as well." said Hotaru. "No telling what we'll find out there." Piccolo gave her a nod and the pair left the room.
XXX
Shinkai, Earth, Nearing North City
"Hey, someone wake Autoro." Ward called back. The three of them had rotated shifts flying the cruiser and he was currently on his second one. And now the GPS said they were approaching North City. Not that he needed the piece of technology to tell him that. He could see the city out the windshield, quickly drawing closer. It was... horrible to see how much damage the explosion the day before had caused.
"What's up?" came Autoro's voice as the man moved up to the front and took the passanger seat.
"We're almost there." Ward said. Autoro nodded as he gazed out the windshield. Ward was bringing the cruiser down, heading toward the ground again, aiming directly for the crater.
"Any idea what we're flying into?" asked Gard.
"Last report I heard said that the majority of Demons were actually beyond the city limits at this point." Ward replied. "Including the strongest one. With them gone the EDF has moved back into the area again and is back working evacuations. They've also reported something odd near the center of the crater. Some kind of blobby thing."
Autoro snorted. "Blobby thing?"
Ward shrugged. "That's what the EDF guy said in the report." he replied. "Apparently the same thing's been reported on planet Vegeta and Tanaria, too."
"Well, as good a place to start as any. Set us down near the center of the crater, let's see what this 'blobby thing' is."
They all sat in silence then as they watched the ground approach. A few moments later they were beyond the edge of the crater, only a few dozen feet above the ground. Ahead of them they could see some kind of... misshapen blue and green blob thing. It was rippling and pulsing and jiggling and seemed to be slowly getting larger.
"I'd say blobby thing fits." Jairel said.
"I'm going to set us down behind the perimeter." said Ward, turning the crusier to the right. The EDF in the area had established a circular perimeter around the blobby thing, about forty feet across, that no one seemed interested in crossing. A moment later the cruiser settled onto the ground and the door opened. Everyone got to their feet and climbed out.
"Where are you from?" asked a voice as they stepped out of the cruiser.
Jairel turned and looked and found an alien in EDF armor not far away. He figured the man had recieved the report of the stolen cruiser and had pegged them as the thieves. Which they were. But this was hardly the time for that. Apparently, Autoro agreed, as he ignored the soldier and started straight for the blobby thing.
"Hey!" the alien called, starting after him. Gard stepped between the two and shook his head.
"Not a good idea, man." he said. "He's the strongest person on the planet right now. Just let him do what he wants." The alien didn't seem happy about it but he backed down. Gard turned and watched Autoro walk past the perimeter the EDF had established and continue on to the blobby thing. The closer he got to it the faster it rippled and pulsed and shifted.
Suddenly, the late morning air was filled with a loud, deep, sound that seemed to reverberate through everything. It started low and deep, built and grew louder, shifted in tone to a higher pitch, then dove down again. As it cut off it was followed by another odd sounding wail. The surface of the blob pulsed and rippled in sync with the sounds.
"What... is that?" Jairel Asked. "It sounds kind of like a whale, doesn't it?"
"Yeah. Kind of." agreed Gard. "This is really bizarre."
Autoro came to a stop about eight feet from the blob, looking at the ground directly in front of it. As he watched a small pebble disappered inside it. The thing was defintely getting bigger. Looking up at it he coulnd't tell what it was made of. It kind of looked like blue and green mud, the way it moved and rippled. Half liqud and half solid. And... the closer he looked the more it looked like there were shapes drifting through its surface.
XXX
Shinkai, Planet Vegeta, Galactic Games Arena
Piccolo and Hotaru landed about two dozen feet from the blob that had been forming at the arena, beside the Sai-jins that had reported it. It was... odd. A blue and green mass of some sort, not really liquid, not really solid. Neither of them had ever seen anything like it.
"What do you think, Piccolo?" the Tanarian asked.
Piccolo shook his head. "I'm not sure." he said. "But I'm sensing some kind of... odd energy from it."
"Energy? I don't feel anything."
"It's not ki. It's... something else." The Namek started walking forward for a better look and Hotaru followed after him. As they got closer it started to move and pulse more quickly, and then sound washed out from the mass. Low pitched at first, then higher. Deep and resonating, rumbling the walls of the building. The noise made Hotaru shudder, it sounded so sad.
The two of them walked right up to it, stopping only a couple of feet away from it. This close to it Hotaru could see some kind of shapes, or at least the impression of shapes, sliding along its surface. As the two of them stood there, examining it, listening to the sounds it made, trying to figure out what it was, the surface suddenly rippled and shifted, reshaped itself, and Hotaru gasped.
Staring back at them were two faces. Their own faces. The thing had imiated them, grown her and Piccolo's faces right on its surface. The faces weren't imitating their expressions, though. The mouths were wide open in silent screams of despair. The faces lasted only a few seconds before shrinking and disolving back into the main mass.
"What is this thing?" Hotaru wondered, reaching a hand out toward it.
"Wait!" Piccolo barked, quickly grabbing her arm before she could make contact. "I don't think that's wise. I'm not sure how but... this seems to be a... mass of souls."
"Mass of souls?" Hotaru asked, lowering her arm as Piccolo released it.
The Namek nodded. "All those zombies that stopped moving, the souls that had been animating them must have fled. Must have all come here."
"But.. why? And how can we see it?"
Piccolo furrowed his brow in thought. "I think the answer to both of those questions is the same." he said after a moment. "This thing seems to be centered around the tear. The souls are trying to return to Otherworld the only way they can."
The wailing coming from the blob suddenly changed in pitch and intensity, as though it was responding to what Piccolo had said. The blob continued to pulse and ripple and shift, the faint shapes floating along its surface. Though now, Hotaru thought they looked kind of like faces and bodies.
"The energy from the tear must be making them manifest like this. Why they can't get through and return to Otherworld, I'm not sure. But something seems to be blocking them, despite their efforts to cross over."
"Is there... anything we can do?" Hotaru asked. The blob was slowly growing in size, it had reduced the distance between them by almost half already. If it continued to grow like this it would eventually cover the entire stadium, and who knew how much further it might go? How many souls were being drawn to this location? Could the blob eventually swallow the entire planet?
"Maybe..." Piccolo said thoughtfully. He thought that, maybe, the reason the souls couldn't cross over was because the tear wasn't opening for them. It wasn't responding to their pressence the way it had for those living who'd wanted to pass through from this side. If that was the case then opening the tear would let them through, clear out the mass. He thought, maybe, he could use what remained of his connection with Otherworld to open the tear.
"Stand back, Hotaru. I'm going to try something."
Hotaru nodded and moved away. Piccolo, too, took a few steps back. Then he clasped his hands together in front of him, an odd blue-white energy forming around his hands. Then he pulled them apart and, with a cry, thrust them toward the blob. There was a bright flash and the blob rippled and wailed. And then it began to swirl and shrink, like water going down a drain.
And then it was gone. The tear remained, standing wide open, and before it closed Hotaru saw something on the other side she didn't like. She looked up at Piccolo and, from his expression, knew he'd seen it as well. She turned back to Mellona's men, the only ones present with scouters.
"Contact the palace." she said. "Tell them we need all of our allies out here, right now." The men hesitated for a moment, not sure what was happening, but placed the call. Then she turned back to look at Piccolo, his jaw set, his gaze hard. He was staring at the closed tear but she knew he was still seeing that glimpse of what was on the other side. "What do you think of our chances?" she asked.
The Namek shook his head. "You know what they are as well as I do." he replied.
"Yeah. Thought so." she said, sighing, turning her gaze back to the tear again. She knew what they're chances were, alright. Almost zero. But almost zero was still a chance, and she wasn't going to just give up all hope without trying. Still, they'd need a miracle at this point.
XXX
Shinkai, Earth, North City Crater
Autoro wasn't exactly sure what to make of this thing. Or what to do about it. It didn't exactly seem hostile. It wasn't trying to attack him or anything. But it was still getting bigger. In the few minutes since he'd arrived he'd had to back up almost two feet to avoid being engulfed by it. If it kept growing like this it could possibly swallow the entire city. Maybe a hell of a lot more.
Still, he didn't know if attacking it was the right idea. He didn't particularly want to touch it, even with his mechanical arm, and wasn't sure what kind of effect a ki attack might have on the mass. Would it do damage, would it just be harmlessly absorbed, or could it maybe make things even worse? Feed the thing, somehow. His onboard scanners weren't being very helpful, either.
They weren't even trying to read the mass. He'd attempted a manual scan twice, but both of them had come back negative. Whatever the thing was, his systems said it had no ki at all. Which wasn't possible. Every living thing had ki. Hell, even completely inanimate rocks held small traces of the energy. Like, one one zillionth of a point or something, but something. For something this big, and clearly alive, to have absolutely no energy made no sense.
Unless... it wasn't alive? The thought suddenly came to him of all the paralyzed zombies they'd encountered before. What if the energy that had allowed them to be mobile had fled, and had collected here? He didn't know if that was the case, didn't even know if it was possible, but it made a kind of sense. At least, as far as explaining what he was looking at. Souls, or soul fragments, all clotted together.
But, why here? Why would they all be drawn to this location? Was it because a lot of them had died here, in the blast? Or, was it something more? The Demons that had appeared had first emerged here. They had to come from somewhere. Maybe there was some kind of gateway or portal at this location, and that was what had drawn all these things here?
/But how to get through?/ he wondered. He knew he had to. If he wanted to cut this mess off at the source, like he'd said, he'd need to go to where the Demons had come from. Which meant getting through this mass, first. And so, deciding that just standing there would accomplish nothing, he pointed an arm at the mass and let loose with a low powered ki blast.
The small ball of golden energy shot across the short distance between him and blob, then into it. Litterally. The surface shifted, bent, parted, like mud letting a stone through, then closed up again. An instant later he heard cries of surprise from the other side, then a small explosion, and realized the ki blast had gone straight through the blob. No effect on it at all.
/Well, that's not going to work, then./ he thought, frowning and lowering his arm. He still didn't want to touch it, however. He didn't know what affect it might have on something living. He considered just finding a rock to throw at it, but that wouldn't be alive either. He needed something living. Glancing around for something suitable all he could see were people, and that wouldn't work. Well, it would work, but it might cause him more problems than it solved.
Then his scanner suddenly beeped as it locked onto a low power. Only 0.3. It was up above him, in the sky, and he looked up and grinned. There was a bird flying by overhead, maybe a hundred feet up. Looked like a pigeon, maybe, not that it really mattered. He quickly shot up into the air and grabbed it, clasping his metal hand around it before it even realized he was there. Dropping down again he pitched it at the mass.
As before the blob parted open, allowing the projectile to pass through it. Only, this time, instead of returning to normal as it had before it suddenly rippled. Then it began to shift and swirl, and to shrink. It looked like it was going down a drain. A few seconds later it was gone, and for a moment he could see through a hole in the air, to a faintly pink sky. The view faded and vanished a second later as whatever was there had closed.
The bird sqawked indginatly at him from the ground a few feet away, scrambled back to its feet, and then took to the air again. Autoro ignored it, however. His thoughts had just been proven accurate. This WAS where the problem was coming from. He took a few steps forward and suddenly there was a spark of yellow and blue and the portal opened again.
/So, that's it./ he thought. /It responds to the presence something alive./ He paused for a moment, standing at the threshold, preparing himself. He wanted to end this mess and restore the status quo. He couldn't run his business in all this chaos. So, after a moment to compose himself, he passed through the hole.
XXX
Shinkai, Planet Vegeta, Galactic Games Arena
"What's up, Hotaru?" Yamcha asked a moment after he and the others appeared at the arena, Sango having transported them all with her Terepo. When they'd gotten the message a moment ago they'd expected to find some kind of disaster. What they'd found instead was Hotaru and Piccolo staring at the tear, arms crossed, looking tense. At least there didn't appear to be any kind of blob here.
"It's... not good." she said, looking over at him. "Piccolo managed to clear out the blob thing. But... when he did we saw through the tear into Otherworld, and..."
"We saw a battle." said Piccolo, taking over as the Tanarian trailed off. "It was only a quick glance but it was pretty clear it was not going in our favor."
"You think... Goku and Bardock failed?" asked Vadora.
Hotaru shook her head. "I don't know. I saw golden auras over there so... mabye..." she shrugged. They could tell she didn't really have much faith or hope that it was actually Goku or Bardock she'd seen.
"So why are we just standing here?" asked Gainin.
"What hope would we possibly have, even if we went through?" asked Nova. "If they weren't able to stop him..."
"The Spirit Bomb was likely discovered." said Tien. "Creating one takes time. Leaves the person exposed."
"I know that look, Tien." said Piccolo, turning around to fully face the Human. "What are you thinking?"
"Hotaru, that move you used against Vegeta, could it be made strong enough to stop this Quietus person?" Tien asked her.
The Tanarian tilted her head a little, surprised by the question. "Probably." she said. "Though I don't know how strong he is, and they seemed to want the pure energy nature of the Spirit Bomb as much as the power. The Ikioi Reikon Kougeki uses ambient energy but it's not all pure. Just whatever's floating around."
"The auto charging version, though, could another attack be overlapped ontop of it?"
Hotaru blinked a couple of times, and then started to smile as Tien's idea took shape in her own mind. "I think that might actually work, if the cores were connected, merged when formed." she said. "But that would require a second attack to overlap it with. We don't know for sure if Goku or Bardock are over there."
"We don't need them." Tien said, shaking his head. "King Kai didn't teach the Spirit Bomb only to them."
"But... we never actually mastered it." said Yamcha. "Unless...?"
Tien nodded. "I've never actually used it, I quit trying to a long time ago. But I mastered all the principles involved when training for the Androids, so I know how to do it. I just haven't because it takes so long to charge and leaves you so vulnerable that it really is a last resort attack, an act of desperation."
"Still, merging them wont be easy to do, though. Unless..." Hotaru's smile grew as an idea of her own came to her. "Unless we had a regulator to link and maintain the flow of power."
"Regulator?" asked Senator Vegeta.
Hotaru nodded and turned to Sango. "Can you find Aiko's energy? Bring her here?" she asked. Sango nodded and then vanished.
"What's your plan, Hotaru?" asked Piccolo.
"Aiko's Wakusei technique. Cell managed to merge it with the Spirit Bomb seven years ago, and it's a lot like my Ikioi Reikon Kougeki, but it affords a greater degree of control over the drawn energy than either of the other two. She should be able to not only contribute power, but manipulate and control the merged skill. Maintain its cohesion and mix it properly into a single attack."
Just then Sango reappeared, Aiko at her side. Hotaru quickly explained to her what she and Tien had come up with. It was haphazard at best. She'd start her Ikioi Reikon Ikioidzuku at the same time Tien started a Spirit Bomb, forming their cores in the same exact place, merging the two skills. Aiko would use her Wakusei techniques to contribute more energy but, beyond that, she would make sure the merged attacks stayed merged.
"I think I can do that." Aiko said, nodding.
"Then we're going?" Yamcha asked, looking around.
"Of course we're going." said Raditz. "We were always going. Now we're also winning."
Piccolo snorted. "The best laid plans." he said, turning to face the tear again. "Still, I like our chances a lot more now than I did two minutes ago. Everyone ready?"
They all nodded, but as she did Hotaru turned to Yamcha. "Stay here, Yamcha."
"What? You can't be serious!"
"I am. Look, I have to go to make this attack, but you don't. There's no reason to put your life in danger. You can't be wished back again."
"No reason? There's every reason. You'll be there, for one. And the only way to protect Akemi and Sakura is to stop Quietus. You can't be wished back again, either. So I'm going, and that's final."
Hotaru stared at him for a moment, then sighed and nodded. "Alright." she said. "Sango, return to the palace, let them know what's going on. The guards will need to be alert, if things have started up in Otherworld again the Demons here could decide to make their move, too." Sango frowned, she didn't want left behind either, but nodded and vanished.
Piccolo took a couple of steps forward and the tear opened, revealing the Grand Kai's world. The battle was intense, but they could tell in an instant that Piccolo and Hotaru's assessment of it had been accurate. It was not going well for their side. A second later they passed through and stepped into the battle.