The Hunt is On! Babidi's Game of Death!
Goku had no idea what had just happened. One moment it looked like Gohan and the Kaioushin's Popo guy were gonna start fighting and then the next the big guy who'd attacked Suno and his brother had suddenly appeared and had stabbed Gohan in the back with a large, strange-looking stone or clay pointed weapon with the same M on it that they had on their foreheads. She didn't know what was stranger: The fact that Gohan wasn't able to shake them off or that Kibito wasn't lifting a finger to help.
"H-hey!" Ken cried in shock at this sudden intrusion. "Uh… K-Kibito is disqualified for outside assistance!" Then he turned away from his microphone to look at the judges irritably. "Can we get some security out here?! Why are these guys even still on the island?!"
"I don't get it," Goku muttered with a shake of her head. "Why isn't Gohan able to get them off of him?"
"I'm using my powers to keep him from struggling," Xī explained calmly. Goku wheeled on her as Gohan's hair faded from gold to red and he went limp in Spopovich's arms as Yamu pulled the strange weapon out of Gohan's back.
"What?!" Goku demanded furiously. "Why would you do that?!" Spopovich dropped Gohan to the ground as the audience screamed, threatening to devolve into a full-on panic. Spopovich stared down at Gohan malevolently, no doubt still stinging from the embarrassment he'd suffered at the rest of the Son Family's hands when he'd tried to get his revenge on Suno.
"Come on, come on, let's get out of here!" Yamu uttered hurriedly, trying to keep his brother on task. Spopovich grunted and the two brothers took off into the sky, quickly vanishing from sight.
"It was all part of my plan," Xī assured Goku, still calm right up until the moment Goku grabbed the front of her shirt and hauled her off of her feet. This made Kibito leave the ring and sprint toward them as Goku held the God of Gods up roughly.
"You couldn't have told Gohan that earlier?!" she asked hotly. First one of these Babidi guy's minions beats up her wife and now Xī was letting them attack her son?
"Take your hands off of me," Xī instructed Goku firmly. Goku just glared up at her and Xī glared right back, a vein pulsing in her purple forehead before Goku was forcibly shoved away from Xī, who floated gently back to the ground. She looked sternly at Goku as she wiped a trail of glowing, iridescent white blood from her nose. Even that small shove had clearly taken a bit of energy from the Kaioushin. Goku started to advance on Xī again before Vegeta smacked her in the back of the head.
"We don't have time for this, Kakarot," he pointed out brusquely. "They're getting away. Just get Gohan a damned senzu."
"Oh yeah," Goku muttered with a nod and a bit of an embarrassed smile. "Right. Senzu." Then she was gone. Then she was back with a small brown bag tucked into her belt.
OoOoOoO
Korin looked up from his Sudoku puzzle, fairly certain that he had just sensed Goku's ki. But that didn't make any sense. Not that he could really say for sure, though.
"Nobody tells me anything anymore," he muttered as he went back to his puzzle. He really needed to get some kind of internet connection up here or something. Or maybe he'd just move down to the ground. Not a lot of demand for a cup of pain-in-the-ass rainwater these days.
OoOoOoO
"What is a senzu?" Kibito asked curiously.
"Magical bean that can heal anything," Vegeta explained with a shrug. Kibito huffed.
"I could heal him," he offered, "And I assure you that my powers are far greater than any… bean," his face curdled as he said the word as if it personally offended him.
"Hey, wait a second," Krillin interjected as he and Piccolo ran over to Xī while Goku fed Gohan the senzu. "Who are you, really? What's going on here? Who were those guys?" Xī rolled her eyes.
"Ohhh, I don't have time to explain all of this again," she muttered as she jabbed her thumbs onto Krillin and Piccolo's foreheads. "Here!" The pair were hit with a sudden burst of knowledge and information and their eyes rolled back as they processed the information. "Up to speed?" she asked brusquely, expecting the mortals to flee.
"Yeah," Krillin replied with a cavalier shrug. "I've been in every other adventure so far. What's one more?" That caught Xī by surprise. "Hey, babe!" Krillin called over his shoulder as he turned to look back at Lazuli. "I'm gonna go with these guys, see if I can stop some evil wizard from unleashing an awful demon or whatever. Wanna come with?"
"Nah," Lazuli said with a bit of a dismissive wave. "I'm sure you'll be fine. If you're gonna back out of the tournament, one of us has to stick around to make the money, right? I'll know if you're in trouble." Krillin grinned as Piccolo cracked his knuckles.
"I've been worrying that I'm getting rusty," he said with a grin. "I need to see how I still hold up. Count me in." Surprises and surprises, Xī thought to herself as Gohan hopped to his feet, which startled Kibito.
"Alright," Gohan said emphatically as he rolled his shoulder back a few times to stretch it out. "I'm back. Let's go!"
"Hey, Gohan!" Videl shouted as she dashed onto the field, stopping him before he could take off. "So I guess you're gonna go deal with that whole Majin Boo thing now, huh?" Gohan nodded.
"I know you probably want to come," he told her, "But this is going to be dangerous."
"Oh, yeah," Videl responded dryly with a roll of her eyes, "Me with my ability to fly that I learned a month ago, I'd be a big help against an ancient, God-killing evil and a demonic warlock." She smirked and leaned up to kiss Gohan on the cheek, patting him on the arm. "Just be careful, okay? We still haven't even gone on our first date!" Gohan was left red-faced and stammering like an idiot, Videl giggling and pointing behind him. Gohan turned over his shoulder and saw that the other five had already left him behind.
"H-hey!" he called as he flew after them. "Wait for me, guys!" The sextet took off into the sky, following the trail of Gohan's stolen energy. Goku realized that she'd forgotten to tell Suno what had happened and where they were going. She couldn't turn around so she decided she'd just leave her a message.
OoOoOoO
Suno was sitting on her cot and calmly meditating, her legs folded and one hand flat and with her thumb pressed to her chest, the other hand balled into a fist and held under it, the wrist of her bottom hand turned up to touch the wrist of the top hand. Her eyes were closed and her breaths slow and deliberate. It was a meditative stance Goku had taught her once when they'd first been living together that she said she'd learned from Kami and that was useful in recharging your ki faster.
'Hey, Suno!' Goku's voice said in her head, startling her out of her meditation and nearly making her fall off of the cot. 'Me, Vegeta, Gohan, Krillin, Piccolo, and that purple lady and the pink guy are gonna go chase after that big guy who beat you up and his brother, so I guess we're gonna miss the tournament.'
'I… uh…' Suno stammered in her thoughts, still startled. 'I'm flattered, Goku, but I don't think all of you are needed just to beat up the two of them–'
'Oh, it's not that,' Goku explained. 'Apparently, they work for some evil wizard guy named Babidi and they stole Gohan's ki to give to this Babidi guy who's gonna use it to try and summon a monster called Majin Boo who's gonna… I dunno, eat the universe or something. I kinda missed that last part.' Well… Suno had definitely never heard that before. 'Shouldn't be more than a couple hours! Good luck with the Budoukai! I'll see you later!'
"Uh… b-bye?" Suno said aloud to no one, terribly confused. Still, she supposed it couldn't just have been as nice and straightforward and normal as Goku coming back for the Budoukai, could it? Suno shook her head with a sigh and got back into her meditative stance. With so many people leaving the tournament, she wouldn't have as much time to recover as she'd thought. She didn't want to continue the tournament at anything less than her full strength.
OoOoOoO
"U-uh, please stay calm, everyone!" Ken implored the panicked and rowdy audience. "J-just give me a moment to discuss this with the judges and we'll be able to continue the tournament in a timely fashion!" He wiped his forehead with his pocket square again and shook his head, letting out a long and exasperated breath. Just what the hell was going on today? As he talked with the judges, Trunks and Goten ran onto the grass, pouting and having just missed the others.
"Hey!" Trunks shouted with a huff as he watched his dad and all the others fly off, angrily stomping his foot. "Why didn't they ask us to go? We're way stronger than those other two!" He crossed his arms and pouted, a grumpy look on his face.
"Yeah," Goten whined, sadder that she didn't get to spend more time with her mom and hang out with her big brother. "It's not fair! They coulda waited!"
"Hey," Videl said from behind them, "I'm sure your parents were just looking out for you. Gohan told me what they're going to go do and it sounds pretty serious. Evil sorcerers and monsters and the end of the world and stuff." Trunks and Goten's eyes lit up with excitement at that and Videl realized that maybe that wasn't the best approach. "You're both very powerful," Videl assured them, "But you're also inexperienced. They probably just didn't want you guys getting hurt if this Babidi guy is stronger than you. I'm sure you'll be able to go on the next adventure though." Trunks and Goten nodded at Videl but, as soon as her back was turned, they exchanged knowing nods. As soon as they had a chance, they were going to go after the others.
OoOoOoOoO
"This Majin Boo business had better not interfere with our battle, Kakarot," Vegeta grumbled as their group flew in pursuit of Spopovich and Yamu. Goku grinned and even chuckled.
"Don't worry," she assured him. "I don't even think I've been on Earth for two hours. We've got plenty of time!" Xī could barely believe what she was hearing. These fools were supposed to be focusing on stopping Babidi from releasing Majin Boo, the greatest and most terrible evil that the universe had ever seen… and they were worried about how it would impact their schedule? Saiyans truly were odd beasts.
"So, uh, Kaioushin?" Krillin asked somewhat awkwardly. "I know you kinda dumped all that info into me and Piccolo's brains but I still have a couple questions. Just how bad is Majin Boo?"
"Worse than 'bad'," Kibito stated, either unable or simply not caring to hide the condescension in his voice. "Majin Boo is destruction incarnate. He could wipe out an entire system's worth of planets in minutes."
"Doesn't sound that tough," Vegeta muttered with a scoff. "Freeza could blow up planets easily as well and I don't think I have anything to fear from him anymore."
"Majin Boo could have killed Freeza with a particularly labored breath," Xī retorted bluntly.
"Pretty sure I could, too," Vegeta shot back. Xī merely shook her head in disappointment. "What?" Vegeta demanded hotly, knowing when he was being insulted.
"You just could have been so much more than what you are," Xī sighed sadly. His brow furrowed in consternation and he balled his fists.
"What in the nine hells is that supposed to mean?" He demanded. "I am a King!"
"A king of nothing," Xī reminded him, "And before that, you were a slave." Veins pulsed in Vegeta's head and he glared at the Kaioushin, tension rising in his neck. "I had such hopes for your race when I created you. You could have been something great. My protectors of the rest of the universe," she maligned. Vegeta opened his mouth to say something before Kibito cut him off.
"I see them," he announced. "We should land before we are spotted, exalted Kaioushin." Xī nodded and they all began to make their descent, drastically lowering their ki so as not to be spotted as they stood upon a mountain overlooking the desert, hidden from sight. They watched Yamu and Spopovich walk toward a small, vaguely-conical white and red structure that poked out of the ground.
"That must be Babidi's spaceship," Xī whispered with a furrowed brow as the front of the structure opened slowly and Spopovich and Yamu went down on their knees.
"That little thing?" Goku whispered curiously. "Must be pretty cramped in there."
"No, no," Xī replied with a shake of her head, "Babidi's ship is enormous. The majority of it must be buried underground." That meant that Babidi probably knew that Xī and Kibito were here which was… troubling.
"Hey," Krillin pointed out, "Someone's coming outta that thing!" Or more accurately, two someones. The first was a small, shriveled little brown-green creature in a blue robe and an orange cape that hovered three feet off the ground with spindly little arms, enormous bug eyes, and an evil little grin on his face. The second was a tall and imposing-looking pink man with enormous ears and horns. He wore a blue bodysuit that was ruffled at the shoulders and had white boots and a scalloped white cape. He carried himself with dignity and poise and had an elegantly trimmed black goatee. His eyes were yellow and full of malice. Like Spopovich and Yamu, he had a large black M on his forehead, matching the M on the buckle of his huge white belt.
"Ohhh no," Xī whispered, "That… that's gonna be a problem." This just made things significantly more troublesome.
"Why?" Gohan asked. "Who's the big guy?"
"Dabura," Xī answered, "The Demon King."
"I'm sorry," Piccolo asked in a consternated tone, "The what?"
"As in the actual King of the Demon Realm," Kibito assured him. "Not a slug with delusions of grandeur." Piccolo had his reservations about attacking the Kaioushin but he was about this close to smacking the shit out of her attendant.
"There are very few beings in the universe whose power matches Dabura's," Xī explained. "And if his power has been boosted by being in Babidi's thrall, it could make today very difficult." Like Spopovich and Yamu, the rest couldn't sense Dabura's ki so they had to take Xī's word for it.
OoOoOoO
"We have done as you asked, Lord Babidi," Spopovich growled as Yamu held up the Energy Drainer toward his master. "We have collected the energy you require." Babidi held out his hand and the Drainer flew into his open palm. He looked down at the indicator to see how many Kilis it had absorbed and nodded approvingly.
"Very good," he told his minions appreciatively in a high, nasally tone. "Very good, indeed. I'm surprised you worked so quickly. It must have taken a great many beings' life forces to gather this many Kilis."
"No, my lord," Yamu explained. "Just one." One? Babidi blinked his huge eyes, both sets of eyelids flickering. That didn't make any sense. How could one being have this kind of power?
"I believe it might be those that think they are hidden from us," Dabura offered, whose deep voice was as dark as his black soul. Babidi nodded, stroking his chin as his eyes flicked over to a mountain for just a moment. He could sense the Kaioushin's hypocrisy radiating off of the damn thing.
"You two have performed well," Babidi informed his slaves. "You have accomplished your tasks…" his eyes narrowed as he held out a hand. "Meaning that there is no more use for you." He closed his hand into a fist and Spopovich suddenly went rigid, his jaw clenching painfully and his eyes bugging out. A scream went out from between his teeth that were shut so hard they started to break before Spopovich suddenly… inverted. One second, he began leaning forward, his head pointed toward his stomach. In the next, there was only a horrible wet ripping sound and in Spopovich's place, there was only a mangled ball of blood, meat, bones, and entrails. Yamu's face turned even paler than it already was and he looked at Babidi in horror for a moment before he started to fly off in a panic as fast as he possibly could. Babidi looked at Dabura and nodded at him and the Demon King turned his eyes to Yamu. He moved in a flicker of blue and white and Yamu fell to the ground. Or, more accurately, Yamu fell to the ground bit by bit as, in the blink of an eye, Yamu had been reduced to nothing more than a mass of bloody cubes that splattered onto the dry desert floor.
OoOoOoO
"Holy shit," Gohan muttered, aghast. He didn't feel particularly sorry for the two brothers— for his money, it couldn't have happened to two nicer guys— but he still felt a little queasy. Those were, undoubtedly, the two most awful ways he had ever seen anyone die. Even Piccolo looked a little queasy. It was hard to tell since he was already green, but you could see it if you knew what to look for. Vegeta, on the other hand… was intrigued.
OoOoOoO
"Now then," Babidi said to his servant, "Go deal with them. Don't kill all of them," he explained. "I want the Kaioushin to live long enough to see my ultimate triumph as I resurrect Majin Boo. Kill the riffraff," he went on, "And lure the strong ones in here so that I can use their power to resurrect Boo."
"Your will is my action," Dabura assured his master with a slight bow as Babidi returned to the ship. Then he turned his eyes to the mountain with a smirk.
OoOoOoO
"I don't get it," Goku muttered. "Why's Debra staying outside the ship after Babidi just went back in?"
"It's Dabura," Xī corrected her with a clear tone of frustration in her voice, "And it's because–"
"Because he sees us!" Vegeta announced as Dabura suddenly charged toward them. He made up the difference in no time at all, on top of the assembled heroes in the blink of an eye with his palm raised to Kibito's face. A deadly red ball blasted from Dabura's hand vaporized Kibito before Xī even had a chance to blink. Then Dabura started… spitting at them.
"Watch out!" Xī warned the extremely confused warriors. "Even Dabura's spit is a weapon!" Gohan, Vegeta, and Goku moved out of the way but Piccolo and Krillin weren't fast enough. A globule of spit landed on each of their shirts and before either one had a chance to react, they cried out in pain and were turned to stone.
"Krillin!" Goku screamed in horror.
"Mr. Piccolo!" Gohan cried in dismay. Dabura chuckled as he swept his cape back dramatically.
"If you want to have any hope of saving your friends," he taunted, "You'll have to follow me!" Then he flew back to the ship and was gone from sight, leaving them stunned.
"He's right," Xī announced. "The only way to break Dabura's spell is to kill him."
"Not gonna be a problem," Gohan and Goku said in unison with gritted teeth. Vegeta rolled his eyes at mother and son, shaking his head.
"Then what are we waiting for?" he asked irritably before flying off toward the ship. Gohan and Goku nodded before flying after him, leaving only Xī behind.
"No, wait!" she called after them. "Don't fall for such an obvious trap, you…" She groaned and ran a hand over her face, sighing and shaking her head before following them. "Should have made them smarter," she chided herself. "Should have made them much smarter." If they'd just interbred with the Tuffles a few hundred years ago, she might have been saved a headache.
OoOoOoO
Once the quartet was inside the ship, the door immediately slammed shut behind them, sealing them inside.
"Oh, look at that," Xī remarked sardonically, "It was a trap." Vegeta crossed his arms and huffed, not dignifying that with a response.
"Greetings, my friends," Babidi's voice suddenly filled the room, "And welcome to my humble abode. I know it's not much but I hope that my servants shall be able to… entertain you!" Then he cackled with malevolent mellifluousness before the room went silent again.
"The heck did he mean by that?" Goku wondered aloud.
"The only way out of here is to fight our way out," Xī explained. "Each level of the ship will contain one of Babidi's warriors until we reach the bottom."
"Or," Vegeta offered dryly, "And just hear me out: We blow the whole damn thing up."
"We can't risk destroying Majin Boo's egg and releasing him," Xī shot back. "Honestly, do you use that space between your ears to do something other than hold up your widow's peak?" Vegeta closed his eyes and breathed slowly, counting to ten.
"If you're all quite finished?" A new voice announced with a voice that could only be truly described as… greasy. They all looked toward the center of the room where a strange man had just appeared. He had brown skin, yellow lips, green eyes, and he was dressed in a black bodysuit with white armor, though it was difficult to tell where the armor stopped and his body began as he had a long, white bony protrusion on top of his head that reminded Gohan vaguely of Freeza's third form. The protrusion had a black M on it in the spot where his forehead would probably be so at least they knew Babidi's style now.
"And just who the hell are you?" Vegeta asked. The strange man put a hand to his chest proudly and grinned at them.
"You can call me Pocus," he announced. "I am one of Babidi's mighty warriors!" Even Xī snickered a little at that. "Now which one of you will be the first to die at my hand?" Pocus asked, doing his best to ignore the Kaioushin. Gohan, Vegeta, and Goku turned to each other and nodded.
OoOoOoO
Deep down below in the bowels of the ship, Babidi drove the injector point of the Energy Drainer into Majin Boo's shell, his eyes lighting up as the brown, veined orb drank in the Kilis and began to glow softly.
"Excellent, excellent!" The Dark Wizard hummed. "Just one injection and I already have half the power I need to resurrect Majin Boo!" He tapped his chin thoughtfully as he put the Drainer aside. "Perhaps I was a bit hasty in executing those two fools."
"Nonsense," Dabura assured him. "With these remaining warriors battling the other two and me, we should have all the power we require to free Majin Boo."
"That reminds me," Babidi murmured, "I should see how Pocus is doing." He held out a hand and his viewing globe floated into his hands, grinning as he turned its focus to Pocus' level on the ship. "...What?"
OoOoOoO
"Ro! Sham! Bo!" Gohan, Goku, and Vegeta cried as they pumped their fists and threw out their hands. Pocus and Xī were just as confused as Babidi.
"Ha!" Vegeta laughed as he threw up an open hand in triumph. "Paper covers rock! I have bested you both! I am the King of Roshambo and of the Saiyans!" He threw his head back and laughed as Goku gave Gohan a wink behind Vegeta's back before he turned his attention to Pocus. "Now you have to deal with me, little man."
"...But I'm taller than you," Pocus pointed out. Vegeta's expression soured and Gohan snickered. "Anyway," Pocus continued, "Here's how this works. Every time you guys get hurt, that gives energy to Majin Boo's resurrection."
"So if we don't get hurt," Vegeta observed, "Boo gets nothing."
"I guess," Pocus admitted with a smirk. "But I don't see that happening." Vegeta smirked right back and beckoned Pocus to attack him.
"Come and find out then," he challenged. Pocus grinned and charged at Vegeta, throwing out a kick that Vegeta easily avoided by moving his head to one side. Honestly, though, the creature had moved so slowly that Vegeta had run the risk of falling asleep by the time Pocus' foot got to him. Pocus stared at Vegeta in shock, his movements so belabored and protracted from Vegeta's perspective that they seemed deliberately overdone, before Vegeta slapped Pocus in the face and sent him crashing into the wall. Despite this overwhelming and obviously assured victory, it was Vegeta who cried out in dismay. "Damn it!" he groaned. "Damn it, damn it, damn it! I got the weakest one! Kakarot!" He snapped as he wheeled around to look at her. "Was this your scheme all along?!" Goku only giggled. Pocus charged at Vegeta and punched him in the back of the head, breaking his own wrist.
"You're persistent," Vegeta admitted. "Good for you." Then he swung his arm around and slapped Pocus in the face again. Pocus hit the wall hard again with a groan and slid slowly, squeakily, to the floor.
OoOoOoO
"All right," Babidi muttered, "Clearly this is going to be a problem." He held out his hands and used his magic to give Pocus an edge, transforming his level into the terrain of his homeworld of Zoon to give the poor bastard some kind of a chance.
OoOoOoO
Pocus grinned as the room around them transformed into his harsh and desolate homeworld, the ground under their feet red and crater-filled, the air sulfurous and arid. Only the strong could survive here. These fools would have no chance!
"You had your fun," Pocus admitted as he dusted himself off, "But now it's my turn! Here on Zoon, the gravity is ten times greater than it is on your planet! You won't stand a chance against me here!" For whatever reason, he didn't seem to notice that the gravity change hadn't affected any of the other four in the slightest.
"First off," Vegeta began, "If the gravity was going to make that much of a difference, you would already be faster than me on a planet where the gravity was lighter."
"That is science," Gohan chimed in.
"Secondly," Vegeta continued, "...Ten times? That's it? That's the gravity of my home planet, you doddering jackass!" Pocus stared at Vegeta in horror as the King advanced on him.
"Yeah," Goku agreed, "Ten times really isn't that big of a deal. I was already doing ten times that like eleven years ago."
"So," Vegeta finished as he put a fist on either side of Pocus' head, "I think we're done here." Then he brought his fists together, crumpling Pocus' head and making his brains pop out of the back of his skull like a bursting zit. Pocus' dead body crumpled to the ground and the room returned to normal. Xī laughed and threw up her pinkies, pointing them toward the ceiling.
"Yeah!" she taunted. "You like that, Babidi? My guys are awesome! We're coming to get you!" Gohan turned to her curiously.
"Why are you pointing your pinkies up?" he asked with one eyebrow raised.
"It's a rude gesture," Xī explained, "One that's basically universally-recognized." Gohan nodded slowly with understanding, not wanting to throw up the Earth example for comparison on the off-chance she might recognize it. Still, he thought, good to know not to stick up his pinkies if he ever went to another planet again. A hole opened up in the floor and Goku and Vegeta quickly hopped down, leaving Gohan and Xī to follow down after them… into complete darkness.