Deep within the bamboo forest stood a large, factory like building, it's toxic waste pumping into a once crystal river, now thick and muddy with sludge. Deeper still within the factory, through a long hallway and down the spiral staircase, in a room void of light, were three dozen fairies, trapped in a large clear box that sucked out 'stale' air and pumped in a 'fresh' dose through large tubing covered by a mesh grid that left the little creatures weak and confused.
The owner of the factory watched as the fairies huddled together in fear and turned to monitor the chart readings as the machines continued to whirl.
"Please!" cried one of the little fairies yet to be drained from his cleverly designed vacuum contraption. "Please let us free! Our magic isn't meant to be used like this!" but the little blue man didn't care. This was all part of his plot towards world domination!
"Sorry! Sacrifices have to be made and that's a price I'm willing to bear," he laughed wickedly as his minions, a tall woman and a inu ninja, entered the room.
"Emperor Pilaf, sir!" they chorused together.
The emperor waved his hand in a bored fashion. "Report."
"Yes sire."
The woman, Mai, bowed and then straightened. "A thousand units of our five main products have been produced and packaged and are now awaiting shipment for tomorrow, where it'll be sent out all over the globe."
"Excellent, good work!"
"It's a shame we couldn't pick a better location," the inu ninja—Shu—added. "The shipping prices alone will take a chunk out of our profits."
"These things can't be helped you know? We needed our secret ingredient if we're going to pull off world domination!" Emperor Pilaf grumbled.
Really! Couldn't Shu use his brain just a little? What good would their products be without the magic they'd drained from these foolish fairies? It was the one thing that separated them from the rest of the poor quality goods available on a mass scale.
Apparently though, even that was too difficult a concept to grasp because Shu followed up by asking the dumbest question of them all. "How exactly is a bunch of magical beauty products going to help us take over the world again?"
"Imbecile!" the emperor groaned. "Haven't you been paying attention at all?!"
Shu threw himself to the ground. "I-I'm sorry sire! Forgive me!"
"Ugh, it's whatever. Just think before you speak next time."
"Yes of course! Thank you your majesty!"
Emperor Pilaf waved him off with a sigh. He was surrounded by idiots.
"I'm only going to explain this one more time, so pay attention! Since our attempts to gather the dragon balls have repeatedly met with failure," at this he glared at his minions who rightfully lowered their heads in shame. "We needed a new plan to take over the world!" He hit a button and a projector lit up, showcasing several items such as lipsticks, lotions, etc. "Everyone knows society is a slave to beauty standards. Once our product hits the market and everyone sees how superior we are, they'll do anything and everything to get their hands on our goods and that's where we'll get them! We'll create an artificial shortage, inflating our product price, and rake in the billions! After all, everyone knows that money equals power."
"That is truly diabolical, sir," Mai murmured with a small clap of her hands.
"Thank you!" Emperor Pilaf bowed before turning back to Shu. "As for shipping costs, these fairies are an untapped resource, without them our stuff would just be like every other product on the market. Now though, no one will be able to come close! They're well worth the price." He shrugged. "Plus labor is cheap in third world countries."
"You can't do this!" cried the fairies who still had enough energy to rattle their cage and shout out loud, but the devices that hung from their wrists and ankles made any magical attempts to escape all but impossible which is why Emperor Pilaf felt brave enough to lean over the imprisoned fairies and smirk.
"Oh but I can. Toodles!"
He spun on one foot to leave and waited for his minions to scramble and get the door but when the door didn't open after a few seconds had passed, he frowned.
"What's the hold up already?"
"My apologies sire," Shu grunted, trying but failing to open the door. "I'm afraid the door won't budge."
"What? How can that be? Mai get the door."
"Right away sire."
Mai traded places with Shu but try as she might, the knob didn't turn under her efforts. She inspected the cracks and frowned when she noticed the odd textures forming along the door frame.
"I…I think we've been sealed shut."
"WHAT?! No. I demand that you get me out of here at once!" Emperor Pilaf ordered.
"I'm sorry sire but there's nothing we can do."
"But…but we can't stay in here, what about my shows?" Anna was supposed to marry Charu on tonight's episode of The Coronet and he expected that harlot Cami to make a scene of epic proportions!
"I think the more pressing question is do we have enough food to hold us until a rescue crew can make it all they way out here to this remote location."
"Food?! What about when we need to relieve ourselves?" Shu whimpered, his bladder already starting to feel heavy.
Emperor Pilaf scowled. "Well you'll just have to hold it."
"But sire!"
"I said hold it!"
"Yes sire…"
"And hurry up and call the fire department already!" Emperor Pilaf snapped before hopping back onto his chair for a nap as both Mai and Shu hurried to do just that.
The fairies traded terrified looks. They could care less about what happened to their abductors but the longer they were stuck there all together, the harder it would be to find a chance to escape.
Already even the strongest of them were starting to feel faint, the magic seeping out of each and everyone of their pores. Would help arrive soon and allow them the opportunity they needed? Or was this the end to their existence, and they were doomed to join that big sunflower in the sky?
They couldn't predict what would happen either way, so instead they just held one another and prayed for a miracle.
o0o
Chi-Chi walked quietly beside Goku, her thoughts very much still on what had happened between them earlier that morning. It was strange. Despite having indulged in intimacies more than once now, the current air between them seemed more like what she would have expected after the first time, shy and just a little bit awkward. Every time she caught Goku's eye they would trade bashful smiles. Chi-Chi could only assume it was because this was the first time that they'd really had a moment to linger in the aftermath, having decided to conserve their energy by walking, in case there was another attack.
Before they'd always been on the move, but now…
Chi-Chi glanced at Goku, only to blush when she realized he'd been looking at her. She smiled and slipped her arm around his, making him stiffen before they both started giggling, happy to just be in that moment together.
This was their new life.
After they reached Baihu, they would get married, have children, and go on many, many more adventures together. Always together, doing whatever they pleased.
'Within reason,' Chi-Chi mentally corrected.
After all some things would be difficult once they started having children. It would be easier once they were older, but that would take awhile, especially if they had eight or nine like she hoped…
"Chi-Chi," Goku called, snapping her out of her thoughts.
She turned to him expectantly and was surprised to see a serious expression on his face.
"Goku, what's wrong?"
He frowned, his nose and tail twitching as he studied their surroundings. "Don't this forest seem…off to ya? Where are all the animals?"
Huh? Animals?
Chi-Chi looked around at their surroundings, listening in for any sign of life, but realized Goku was correct. It was eerily quiet except for the slight thud of their footsteps but even that was softened by the moss that covered the ground.
"Is this normal?" She asked him, lifting a hand to her ear to see if she could catch a hint of something, but it was as quiet as her rooms in her father's castle were in the middle of night. "I've never been in a forest made entirely of bamboo before."
"I have and it ain't normally like this," Goku muttered, tense for an attack. A dead silence was the most notable sign something deadly was out there but there was something else that wasn't quite right either.
He sniffed the air and frowned.
He knew that smell…but it definitely didn't belong in a forest.
"You smell that?"
But Chi-Chi's senses weren't nearly as good as Goku's.
"What's it smell like?"
Goku searched for the word as they kept moving. "It smells like, like…"
Like concrete.
"Like that!" Goku pointed, staring in shock as the forest looked like it had been painted over with stone just several steps ahead.
Curious, they moved closer to study the odd phenomenon and Chi-Chi even went so far as to reach a hand out to touch it before Goku stopped her with a single gesture. It was slow but he could tell the stone was spreading. Who knows what would happen if she touched it.
He waved her behind him and snatched up a fallen tree branch from the normal side of the divide before carefully tapping a stone flower. It was solid and sturdier than expected, but what was most alarming was the second he had touched the flower the branch had started morphing into stone, just like the flower, just like the entire forest. Whatever disease had spread across the area was now slowly crawling it's way up the branch's length until Goku was forced to drop it before it could get him too.
"The animals must have ran," he figured, taking a step back.
But he didn't know what good that would do considering whatever this was was spreading. How far would it go before it finally stopped? The ocean?
Or would it eventually take that too?
Goku didn't know but whatever the answer, he was sure it wasn't good.
Chi-Chi was equally confused. She knew the world was filled with mysterious things—her mother's journals had talked about more than just the journey—but an entire forest turning to solid stone? That wasn't normal. Only heat could change a state of matter but this had nothing to do with heat or a lack thereof, this was changing the very structure of living beings.
That concerning matter aside though, they had a problem.
"Goku," Chi-Chi murmured, tugging on his shirt. "What will we do? We still need to go in that direction."
And it was clear that it stretched on for awhile. The pair then looked left and right but the creeping stone's border spanned farther than either of their eyes could see in both directions.
"Hmmm," Goku rubbed his chin.
There was only one thing he could think to do. Plus it would be great to see his friend and make sure he was okay after whatever forces had blocked him from answering his call the last time.
Mind made up, Goku put a hand to his mouth and shouted, "NIMBUS!"
As if to make up for its previous absence the little cloud came zipping down at top speed, clearly not planning to stop, but that was okay, they didn't need it. Instead Goku snatched Chi-Chi up and flipped backwards, landing on the fluffy cloud as it shot up into the sky to give them an aerial view of the landscape. Even from up above it was plain to see the weird plague turning everything to stone went on for miles, reaching all the way to the horizon and then some. Neither had seen anything like it.
But what could they do?
Though both were disturbed by what was happening, without an idea of the cause there was no way to think of a solution. Hands tied, the couple put the matter aside and continued forward on Nimbus until they finally reached the end of the stone forest a good distance from where they'd started. It was only a little while later after that that they then spotted a village nestled in a small clearing that seemed to be going through a great commotion, if the people running back and forth was any indication.
Curiosity piqued, Goku and Chi-Chi swooped down to investigate—as well as see if anyone knew anything about what was happening to the forest.
Nimbus parked them in the center of the open square as villagers bustled around them, running to and fro, not paying them any attention aside for the odd glare or two. It was a typical town in every sense except one.
All the villagers were animals.
Just then a family of pigs went scurrying by, all carrying large luggage.
Goku pointed them out to Chi-Chi. "Look Chi, a dozen Oolongs."
The family overheard him.
"Hmph! Don't you know it's rude to point?" Huffed s taller pig wearing a dress. She turned away and joined her family, muttering "The nerve!" under her breath.
Goku looked at his finger. "Did I do something wrong?"
"Don't worry about it sweetheart," Chi-Chi murmured, lowering his hand with a gentle touch. Right now there were more important things to deal with. She turned and spotted a single dog man hurrying their way. "Excuse me! Can you tell us why everyone is in such a rush?"
The dog man glared. "Typical. You normies never bother to concern yourself with current events until its in your face."
Admonishment given, he continued on his way, much to Goku and Chi-Chi's confusion.
Goku scratched the back of his head. "Ooookay…let me try." He spotted a bear selling wares and went up to him. "Hi there! Can ya tell us what all the fuss is all about?"
"Haven't you heard?!" the bear gasped, shocked that anyone could not know. "An emergency evacuation's been called. The forest is turning to stone along with everything it touches!"
"That's awful! Do they know the cause?" Chi-Chi questioned.
"Alas everyone who's gone to investigate has never returned. Truly terrible." The bear shook its head in dismay before snatching up a bottle to hold up in display. "Luckily I'm selling an anti-stone antidote for the low price of ten thousand zeni!"
The bear showed them the product, a spray bottle with a simple image of a rock with a red circle crossed out stamped above it.
Goku sniffed it and frowned. "This stuff smells like water. Does it really work?"
"Wha? Why of course it works!" the bear growled but other shoppers had overheard what Goku had said and were furious.
"You con man! Give us back our money!" Demanded a tiger while a wolf was already raiding the stall.
A large cow tsked and turned away from the scene while Goku and Chi-Chi took a step back to assess the situation as an angry mob started to form in the background.
They had figured out what was going on here but they still had no answers as to why the forest was turning to stone in the first place.
"C'mon love. We need to leave, it's not safe to stay here anymore," a mother cat pleaded with her kitten, but the child didn't want to leave!
He held on to his squirrel friend Maca, refusing to budge as his and Maca's moms tried to separate them forever. "No! I wanna go with Maca!"
The kitten's mother exchanged exasperated looks with her friend, Alma. It was unfortunate that they needed to separate but it couldn't be helped. They were asking too much of their relatives as it was already!
"Leo, enough!" his mother hissed. "We've been over this. Until someone can fix the forest we can't stay here."
"Then why can't we go with them?" Leo whined.
"Because the Natsus are going abroad while we're going stay with your uncle. It's just not possible for us all to stay together."
But Leo wasn't willing to give up just yet. "What about what Mr. Tawny said? The Ox Queen and Monkey King will save us!"
"Honey, that nutty old owl doesn't know what he's talking about," Alma said kindly. "Now Maca, say goodbye. We need to leave."
"NO!"
Leo and Maca clung to each other tight, refusing to let go, but it was as their mothers were physically trying to tear them apart that Maca suddenly spotted something, something that gave her hope. There in the middle of the square was a normie with a tail!
She hastily unfolded the slip of paper Mr. Tawny had sketched an image of the Ox Queen and Monkey King on to give her and gasped. It was him! The Monkey King! Mr. Tawny had said they would look strange which meant…
Maca's gaze drifted to the woman standing next to him and frowned. She didn't look like an Ox…but then those buns in her hair did sorta look like horns…
Faster than her mother could react, Maca was off, tearing across the square and leaping onto the unsuspecting woman before scurrying up her back and running her claws through the woman's hair ties. With just a quick snip, the woman's hair fell, revealing two slightly curved horns.
"Oh!" Chi-Chi gasped, startled and confused, as Goku tried to figure out if they were under an attack.
His gaze landed on Maca and he plucked the squirrel child off Chi-Chi's shoulders, lifting her to eye level as she stared back at him with wide, terrified eyes.
"Please! Please Mr. Monkey King, please save us!"
"Monkey King?" Goku frowned, his tail going rigid, which in turn caught his attention. Well…maybe the monkey part was right but not the other part…unless…he turned to Chi-Chi who was frowning at her destroyed hair ties.
"When we get married, will that make me a king?"
Her head snapped in his direction and she blushed, still a bit shy about discussing the topic of marriage in front of others. "Only if you want to."
"Do I gotta do boring stuff, like meetings and stuff?"
"A good king would."
"No! No way!" Goku refused immediately. "I'll pass." He turned his attention back to the child. "See? I ain't this Monkey King. Ya got the wrong guy."
"Maca!" Alma cried as she skidded to a stop in front of them, Leo and Luna close on her heels. She reached for her daughter. "Please sir, she's just a child!"
Goku handed the mama squirrel her child but the little tyke twisted, latching onto his hand instead.
"But you have to be the Monkey King!" Maca insisted.
"Maca!"
"But Mr. Tawny said they'd come!"
"Maca!"
While Maca was fighting with her mother, Leo was sideling up to Chi-Chi until he was close enough to tug on her dress. He waited until the strange woman crouched down before asking, "Are you really the Ox Queen?"
"Oh! Well I…" Chi-Chi hesitated. Technically—if her father had his way—she would be a queen in the future. "I'm only a princess, but my father is the Ox King."
Leo and Maca started squealing excitedly while their mothers traded wide eyed looks. They'd heard of the frightening king before.
"So old Mr. Tawny was telling the truth!" Leo grinned, smiling to his mother, who was forced to agree.
Mr. Tawny had said some outlandish things over the years but there was no way he could have guessed something like this unless he actually knew and if he actually knew, then maybe these strange looking folks could actually help? It wasn't like she was eager to go and stay with her brother. He still lived the life of a bachelor! Luna didn't want him influencing her son.
She kneaded her son's shoulders for a moment before finally daring to ask, "C-Could you help us?"
"We can certainly try!" Chi-Chi smiled, sharing a look with Goku who nodded. "Do ya have any clue how it got this way? How long ago did it start?"
"Only a few months ago," said Mrs. Natsu. "We know the forest as Rainbow Forest, because the fairies who lived there make it bright and colorful or maybe it was because it was so magical that that fairies were drawn to it?" She sighed and shook her head. "Either way, we coexisted with them peacefully and sometimes they even helped individuals with their problems. Until one day a villager went to see them and they didn't come back!"
"It was Chai's daddy!" blurted Maca as Leo nodded vigorously beside her.
"That's right," Luna sighed, thinking of her own missing husband. "His poor family."
"We think it started because of the large shipping trucks that drove through town shortly before that," Alma added when it looked like Luna wasn't going to say anything more.
"Oh that's right! I'd forgotten about them."
"Shipping trucks?" Chi-Chi questioned.
"That's right," nodded Mrs. Natsu. "Shortly before people stopped returning from the forest several large shipping trucks drove through town, the likes of which we've never seen before. I almost thought we were under siege! But then they drove off to the forest and soon after everything started turning to stone. The elders sent representatives to see if the fairies knew what was happening but so far none of them have come back except one who never managed to reach them but was able to warn us of what was happening. We can only assume the others have turned to stone as well!"
"It has to be those large trucks!" Leo hissed as Maca nodded her agreement.
Chi-Chi agreed but she didn't know what could have possibly been in those trucks to cause this mess. Luckily there was a way to find out.
She turned to Goku and lifted her pendant. "C'mon Goku, we can find the source of this problem easily with this."
With that necklace thingy, Goku knew that'd it be easy but he couldn't help but be worried. This curse thing could turn living things to stone with just a touch. It was dangerous.
"Stay here and I'll go check it out," he suggested but Chi-Chi refused.
"No way! I'm comin' with you."
She hopped on Nimbus before he could take off and leave her there, not having forgotten their last argument about him not wanting to involve her in the fights. He might not want her there, but she didn't want him going off on his own either. At least if she was there, she would know and not have to wait around anxiously for his return.
"We're in this together," Chi-Chi reminded him.
"Aw c'mon Chi, it's not like that."
However when she still didn't budge Goku pouted and hopped up beside her. "Fine. Which way?"
"Just a sec."
Chi-Chi focused her thoughts on finding the source of what was happening and then aimed the pendant back towards the forest. When she got a lock on a location, they took off, and soon they were back above the petrified forest where everything was made of stone, that is, except for one glaringly obvious thing they'd failed to notice before.
"Look!" Chi-Chi gasped, pointing down at it below. "The river's not solid at all!"
Although not for a lack of trying. It certainly didn't move quite like rivers did. Instead it was slow and thick, like mud. She figured the only reason it hadn't solidified completely yet was because rivers were always moving.
Chi-Chi checked the direction on her pendant again and when it pointed upstream following the length of the river her eyes narrowed, a growing anger sparking inside of her.
"Faster Nimbus."
The little cloud did as told and soon they were pulling up to the largest factory either of them had ever seen, but more importantly, they had found the source of the problem. From what they could see, some type of sludge was coming out of a pipe at the base of the factory and falling directly into the river.
No wonder it had spread so far. The factory was dumping toxic waste into the water!
They needed to shut down the factory.
However Chi-Chi had no clue where to start. It didn't look like there was anyway to even get inside the building as the windows had been transformed into stone, sealing them shut!
"What do we do, Goku? We need to get inside the factory to shut it down."
"Leave it to me," Goku grinned and winked, already knowing what to do. Busting into the building would be easy but he'd have to be careful. If he went full power it could end up making things worse!
He brought his hands together, pooling his ki into that central point and said the words that helped him focus.
"Kamehame…HA!"
Unlike his usual blasts, this kamehameha was much more controlled, bursting through just a single solidified window and straight through to the other side. He cut off the attack and waited, but when nothing further seemed to explode he guided Nimbus into the building to figure out what the hell was going on.
o0o
"Go fish," Emperor Pilaf muttered just as the building shook like a rattle. He jumped to his feet, terrified. "What was that?!"
"Oh no! The building's collapsing!" Shu cried, pulling his hood over his face as he ran for cover even though the shaking had already stopped.
Mai lowered her cards to the ground and stood cautiously, bracing for another round but when everything remained calm she sighed and went to the computer. "It's probably the search and rescue team. They probably had to break down the door. We keep them locked to prevent trespassers."
"Finally!" Emperor Pilaf grumbled. "It took them long enough. Hey imbeciles! We're down here! Hurry it up!"
In the background another fairy fainted and the whole room grew a little dimmer…grayer even. Unbeknownst to the occupants in the room, the stone plague started to seep through the walls and ceiling…
o0o
Huh.
Goku looked over the giant open warehouse but it was strangely empty of any sign of life—or what used to be life—just stacks and stacks of what had formerly been boxes and machinery before they'd been turned into stone.
Whatever had started this whole mess, it didn't originate from here.
He guided Nimbus towards what looked like a hallway, making sure to steer clear from bumping into anything, but from there the two would have been at a lost of where to go—it seemed to go on forever!—if not for the giant sign above one stairwell that read "KEEP OUT"!
Goku's eyes met Chi-Chi's.
"What do you think's down there?" she asked.
He grinned. "Only one way to find out."
Goku urged Nimbus down a long spiral staircase until they came to the single, stone door at the base of the stairs. Shouts could be heard coming from the other side.
"Help!"
"We're down here!"
"And hurry! I've got a small bladder!"
"Shut it Shu!"
Goku scratched his head and shrugged before pulling his hands to his side. "Stand back! KamehameHA!"
He blasted through the door, narrowly avoiding a large tank while revealing three familiar looking faces.
"Heeeey, don't I know you guys from somewhere?"
"Excuse me comin' through!" Shu cried, bursting past them.
"Hey wait! Don't!"
But it was too late, the inu ninja was already running up the stairs for the bathroom.
"Sir! Sir!" Mai leaned down to whisper into Emperor Pilaf's ear. "That's that boy! Son Goku!"
"Son Goku!"
Goku turned his attention back to the woman and little blue man. "Hey, howdja know my name?"
"Nevermind that Goku, look!" Chi-Chi gasped, pointing towards the little fairies in the background.
They were in some sort of odd looking fish tank with tubes hooked up and running in several different directions. Their wrists and ankles had some weird looking manacles on them and several of the fairies weren't moving. The ones that still could didn't look like they would be doing so for much longer.
"What do ya think you're doin' to those poor creatures?!"
"Never you mind!" snapped Emperor Pilaf, shuffling in front of the tank as if he could hide it behind his tiny body. "This is a top secret lab. I could have you sued for trying to steal our product's special formula!"
Chi-Chi glared. "Listen here you little weas—"
"Hey!" Goku pounded his fist into his hand. "I remember now. You're those guys who kept trying to steal my dragon ball over the years and make bad wishes on 'em." His smile morphed into a frown. "Looks like you're still up to no good."
Emperor Pilaf stuck up his nonexistent nose. "I'll have you know I'm a honest business man now."
"Tch, yeah right!" Chi-Chi scoffed. Honest business men didn't turn entire forests to stone! Her gaze cut to Mai. "How can you work for someone so despicable? Don't ya have any pride?"
"W-Well I…" Mai stammered, momentarily intimidated by this fierce woman, but then she remembered she was a soldier and straightened her posture, standing tall. "I believe in our mission!"
Pilaf, meanwhile, could only scoff in disgust. "Despicable?! I'll have you know we don't do any animal testing!"
"Just killing the natives and destroying their local habitat instead, huh?" Chi-Chi growled. She made to jump off the cloud but Goku held her back pointing out the ground slowly turning to stone.
"Careful."
She nodded. "Right!"
Chi-Chi leapt close enough so that she was in smacking distance, prompting Pilaf to duck behind Mai, and Goku took that as hi cue to join in, but before he could even pull out his power pole a crashing sound alerted them to something coming down the stair well. Everyone turned to look as Shu came rolling into the room, his lower half, as well as patches of his face and back, all turned to stone.
"Sire! Help me!" he cried, wailing inconsolably. "What's happening to me?!"
"I tried to warn him," Goku shrugged.
He saw the other two make a break for it, despite what happened to Shu, and shook his head. Didn't they see what had happened to their friend?
Goku and Chi-Chi sat back on Nimbus and waited for a few minutes until they heard a second crashing sound and down came rolling the woman, the lower part of her legs and uniform transformed to stone, with the little blue man petrified in her arms.
Huh. It must have spread faster on him because of his height. But why weren't these three already stone before he and Chi-Chi had showed up?
His gaze drifted to the little fairies, all but one unconscious, and then to the ground now slowly starting to transform. Could these fairies have been keeping the curse at bay?
Then they were probably the solution too.
He directed Nimbus to the fish tank and promptly punched a hole clean through, scooping the fairies out and spreading them between him and Chi-Chi.
The last conscious fairy trembled in his hands.
"P-Please…please let us go."
"Well sure but I don't think you'll get very far."
The little fairy looked at her sisters and started crying. "That monster! He captured us and has been draining our magic for his stupid beauty products!"
"Oh that vile little creature," Chi-Chi muttered. "Is there anything we can do? Here, let me get those cuffs off ya."
"They're really strong," the fairy sniffed but Chi-Chi and Goku both smirked.
"We're stronger."
One by one they pinched the restraints off the fairies as Chi-Chi explained what had been happening in the forest. The fairy—Daisy—was horrified, and while normally she would have been confident at being able to reverse it, without her sisters and drained as she was, it was impossible.
Goku pulled out the last senzu bean and studied it for a moment before placing it in front of Daisy. While he was reluctant to give it up in case they were attacked again, the fairy and her friends needed it more.
"Take a bite of this and feed it to the others. Since you're all small, it should be more than enough."
Daisy looked at the bean cautiously. She was wary after everything that just happened but these two seemed alright and they were riding a cloud. Clouds were notorious for being picky, so she didn't imagine they could be bad, and if eating this bean could help her sisters, then she could be brave.
She took a nibble and sat back, not knowing what to expect but she had assumed it had some sort of medicinal properties, so when Daisy swallowed and felt instantly better she nearly fell back in shock. Why her magic felt stronger than ever! This was fantastic! But boy did she feel full. She needed to feed whatever this was to her sisters, fast!
With a quick snap of her fingers several pieces broke off and flew into her sisters' mouths and Daisy carefully worked her magic to help them swallow it all down. When her sisters then all started waking up one by one she wept with joy.
"Sisters!" Daisy cried, flinging herself at them. "You're all alright!"
Even the weakest among them, who had fallen first, had managed to awaken a little after the others, no worse for wear.
The fairies hugged, they cried, they linked arm in arm and danced around in a circl—
"Uh, a little help please?"
Everyone turned to look at the inu ninja on the floor. All but his mouth, eyes and ears had turned to stone, while Mai had transformed up to her thighs and elbows. Their fearless leader could only move his eyebrows.
"Why should we help you?" Daisy demanded, flying at their captors to stick her tongue out at them.
The smallest fairy, the one who'd fainted first, flew up beside her and tugged her arm. "If we don't help, won't that make us bad like them?"
"Wha?! But Prim—"
"She's right Daisy," murmured an older looking fairy, who was currently inspecting their younger kin. "Besides, I want no part of them in our forest."
The younger fairy's shoulders slumped, acquiescing to her authority. "Yes, Dianthus."
Daisy and Primrose rejoined their sisters, ready to get to work but Dianthus still had one last thing to add.
She turned to Chi-Chi and Goku and said, "Though you've restored our magic, undoing what was done will take a good deal of effort. Before that, I'd like to thank you for saving us."
"Oh yes!" clapped Daisy. She flew up to study Chi-Chi. "Our specialty is transformative magic. Is there anything you'd like changed?"
"But she's so pretty already!" Primrose gasped.
Chi-Chi blushed and Goku agreed but he knew what she could ask for.
"Hey Chi-Chi, maybe they can remove your horns if ya really still want that."
"Oh that's a great idea!" Chi-Chi gasped, her hands flying up to her still exposed horns. She hadn't had a chance to fix her hair back up after that little squirrel girl had snipped her hair ties. "Is that something you can do?"
Daisy flew to the top of her head to study the horns in question. "Hmm…sure can! Easy peasy. Primmy, come here!"
Primrose joined her sister as the older fairy asked, "Do you remember how we handle removal jobs?"
"I…I just have to shrink it down, right?"
"Very good! And then we'll transfigure the last bit into hair to match the rest of hers."
"Right!" Primrose nodded.
Both fairies got to work, sprinkling their magic and weaving it through the fabric of the horns makeup. They shrunk the horns down until they were just little nubs and then twisted and twisted and twisted until the horns broke into multiple little pieces that were dark like ebony and soft like silk. Primrose smiled but Daisy kept her focused. Together they pulled, tugging on an invisible connection that lengthened the strands out until they flowed and spilled down her back and shoulders, matching the rest.
"Whew!" Daisy grinned, as Primrose wiped the sweat from her brow. "All done!"
Chi-Chi felt her scalp.
Even after the surgery she'd had as a child, she'd always been able to feel where they'd been, a haunting reminder that she wasn't normal. Now though, it was as if they had never existed at all!
"Oh thank you!" She cried, tears of happiness pooling at the corner of her eyes. Now she'd never have to worry about them again!
"It is the least we could do," Dianthus nodded as Daisy flew over to Goku.
She looked him over, examining him from head to toe before snapping her fingers.
"So you want us to remove your tail?"
"NO!" Goku shouted, holding said tail protectively to his chest. He'd just gotten it back! No way would he let someone take it away from him again. "I don't need anything. Just turn the forest back to normal now, wouldja?"
"Suit yourself," Daisy shrugged, flying back to her sisters.
Dianthus nodded to the group and—with a final wave goodbye to their saviors—linked hands with her sisters as they flew up through the ceiling.
Goku and Chi-Chi shared a look and then they were following after, completely forgetting the three nearly stone people still in the room as Nimbus took them back up through the stairwell.
Mai looked to her companions, her neck barely moving, and then turned her sharp gaze back to the ceiling with a sigh.
Outside of the factory the fairies were hard at work, the magic pouring out of them in waves as a mysterious wind blew from out of nowhere, spreading their power to the farthest reaches of the curse. The magic shimmered across the land and soon the stone forest began to lighten in some places, darken in others, until it was as if the stone forest had never been and in its place was a colorful forest, filled with greens and purples, oranges and pinks.
"Hey wouldja look at that!" Goku cheered, laughing as Chi-Chi giggled beside him, delighted by the display.
The fairies then turned their attention to the factory and soon it began to fade until all that was left were the three that had imprisoned them, panicking at the loss of their product until the inu ninja happened to notice the disfigurement of the other two who in turn pointed out his own and then they were all panicking for an entirely different reason.
"Serves them right," Chi-Chi huffed as Goku smirked in agreement.
With one last wave to the fairies they were off, returning to the small village to share the good news with the two families who were still in the center of the square, debating on how long they should wait for. They'd been joined by a large owl man with a long beard that he draped over one shoulder, who smiled when he noticed Goku and Chi-Chi coming their way.
"Well?" he asked once they were in close range.
Goku and Chi-Chi smiled wide.
"Everything's back to normal," Goku told them as Chi-Chi added, "You don't have to leave your homes anymore."
"I knew it!" Maca cried, leaping into Chi-Chi's arms as the others all cheered. "I knew you two would do it! See mama? Mr. Tawny was right all along!"
Alma smiled and turned to Mr. Tawny. "I'm sorry for doubting your visions."
"No apology necessary," Mr. Tawny said with a wave of his wing. "It's only right to be skeptical of a stranger's word."
"Sti—"
"Alma?"
"Luna?"
Both women turned as several villagers stumbled into the square, disoriented and confused.
"HONEY!""SWEETHEART!"
"DAD!"
The two families ran to their fathers and the others villagers began to take note, noticing the return of their men who had ventured off into the forest to investigate and had never returned. Soon there were celebrations all around and Goku and Chi-Chi watched from the sidelines, smiling to see so many happy families reunited.
"Thank you," Mr. Tawny said after a moment, catching their attention. "Such joy is only possible because of you."
"We didn't do much," Goku shrugged, embarrassed at the underserved praised.
Chi-Chi nodded beside him. "The fairies did all the work."
"Be that as it may," Mr. Tawny smiled. "None of it would have been possible if not for you." He returned his attention back to the gathered families, his smile widening as a consensus rang out for a true celebration. "I do not know what your plans are from this point but might I suggest you stick around for the evening to join in on the festivities? After all, no one parties quite as hard as a bunch of animals."
Goku and Chi-Chi shared a look.
"I don't see the harm," Chi-Chi smiled. "I'll even whip up something really good to contribute."
"You've done more than enough," Mr. Tawny argued but Goku waved him off, suddenly more interested in sticking around.
"No, no, let her do it. Chi-Chi's food is the best!"
"Well if you insist."
"Great!" Chi-Chi grinned, quickly getting to work as everyone else also started gathering supplies for a party, and soon food and liquor flowed freely throughout the square and children and villagers all danced in delight as the band struck up a tune.
The village celebrated long through the night—and straight into dawn—and Goku and Chi-Chi quickly learned that Mr. Tawny was right.
No one partied quite as hard as a bunch of animals.