[Quest] Ben Weeks redwizardb@yahoo.com ------------ Chapter Five ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The night sky was the only thing you could see. Twinkling of stars, nebulae, gaseous clouds of dust....nothing else but that. And one other figure in this mystical spiritworld. Gohan felt his whole body flowing with ecstatic power, his Ki rippling up and down his entire frame, his black hair hovering in the air above his childishly handsome face. Across from him stood Piccolo, the only other thing of solidity, of reality, in this whole crazy realm... Piccolo, clothed in the same white cape that Gohan wore, the same blue outfit, but with much more confidence and security in his power. The non-existent air crackled around them with invisible streaks of power as Gohan felt his energy gathering, sure, so sure, that his attack would take Piccolo off guard. He wanted soo bad to impress his mentor, he'd go to any lengths...and he knew that this would make a huge impression. Abruptly, there was a snap of Ki power, and he felt his whole being ready. He stood for a second, facing Piccolo wordlessly, the silence overwhelming. Attack. He suddenly leapt forward, breaking the silence with a loud "KIAI!" of power, bringing his arms forward to fire his newest beam. At the exact same moment Piccolo lunged ahead and hurled an attack of his own, a large Ki ball of purple energy. Gohan's beam and Piccolo's sphere met between them with a blinding explosion of power and heat, arcing out in a dome of rapidly pulsating Ki energy. Gohan cursed in disapointment and suddenly felt a fist bury itself in his face, crushing skin and muscle tissue violently. He fell backwards with a cry of pain, then landed and leapt into the air, dodging a flurry of blows from Piccolo. As he flew up, higher and higher, but seeming to gain no ground whatsoever, he suddenly felt something gnawing at him, egging him to worry.. Abruptly, Piccolo disappeared from the realm, as did Gohan. Gohan felt himself falling back into consciousness violently, and he opened his eyes, feeling a strange presence all around him but sensing no Ki power other than Piccolo's familiar being. "What the.." Gohan trailed off as he squinted in the harsh, cold blizzard, barely able to make out four figures in the darkness. They were approaching slowly and confidently, and Gohan felt uneasy. "Mr. Piccolo...." "I see them...but I can't sense them. Strange..." Gohan watched, with a growing unspeakable anxiety, as they walked into full view. Piccolo's eyes popped open. Gohan gaped. Robots. Moving, living, sentient ROBOTS! There were four of them, all in a horizontal row, all humanoid. "What in the heck!?" The lead robot spoke in a suprisingly gentle and deep voice, not the scratchy metallic sound one would expect. "You do not have a Primary Target." Piccolo frowned. This may be the beings that Vegeta and Son were talking about! "What's that?" asked Gohan. "I believe you Earthlings refer to them as Dragonballs." "Who are you?" "Where is your Primary Target? We are short on time." "We don't have it, like you said. Son and Vegeta took it." "Who?" asked one of the smaller robots, it's flashing eyes twinkling glaringly. "Snag 3 and Snag 2." answered another, apparently the leader. "Where did they go?" asked yet a different robot, stepping forward and extending a radar-type antenna. "Why should we tell you!?" asked Gohan, puffing up his chest. "Because we are much more powerful than you, little one, and capable of beating your Namek friend. He's impressive, but not deadly." "I think you're wrong." "It doesn't matter; we don't have time. T-11, have you picked them up yet?" "Negative; this heavy precipitation is clouding my sensors." "I'll ask one more time, and then we will be forced to use physical persuasion. Where did they go?" "Go to hell." The leader sighed and nodded, as if he was afraid of this. The other three began to circle them in a flanking maneuvar designed primarily to intimidate. Metal feet crunched in the snow as Piccolo threw off his cape. Gohan did the same, narrowing his eyes at the aggressors. As the robots finally fell into position, Gohan and Piccolo instinctively began to measure their fighting stances and postures, analyzing and searching for a weakness to exploit. But they couldn't find any, and they'd have to rely on pure organic unpredictability to use against the robots. They obviously knew about Gokou and Vegeta; and if they felt strong enough to take them on, they obviously had hidden powers of some kind. They watched as Gohan's eyes flashed, as Piccolo's teeth bared, they scanned and read their entire being, discarding them into some number, but reminding themselves of robotic weaknesses. Lack of pure manuevarability, too logical at times. But they also had much superior stamina, and since they had never fought anything organic that was their equal, they could be excused, perhaps, for being cocky. They stood there, on all sides of the two warriors, one in a pure blind spot where he couldn't be seen or felt, two seen only through peripheral vision, one straight ahead, the leader. The blizzard raged around them harshly. The leader finally spoke. "We will give you one last chance; where did the two go?" "I'm looking forward to a good, honest fight; let's see how strong you are!" said Piccolo, his voice evil and resounding across the tundra. The robot shook his head slightly. Suddenly, Piccolo turned and lunged at Gohan, yelling out his name. All the robots' ocular instruments suddenly swiveled to survey this totally unexpected attack, distraced only for a millisecond. Not much, really; just a hair of attention, just a single drop of change. But it was enough. Piccolo twirled in midair and caught the lead robot across the face with his foot, scraping metal, and then with pure skill, years of experience and training coming to focus in his veins like blood, flipped up and fired a beam of Ki energy into the robot's torso. Metal turned red-hot, hissing as snow melted against it's steaming surface. Gohan chose the exact same moment that Piccolo touched him to kick backwards powerfully, knocking T-11 to the snow. He grabbed T-12 and swung him into T-14, both of them cracking against each other's metal exteriors. T-34 grabbed a handful of snow, not panicking but moving quickly, and placed it tightly against his overheated metal shell, cooling it down as the snow turned to water. At the same time, T-11 dragged himself up from the snow and leapt into the air. As T-12 and T-14 advanced towards Gohan, Piccolo grabbed T-34's 'hands' and began a grueling test of strength, pushing against him with all his will, veins throbbing and teeth gritted. [T-34: We underestimated their abilities. No more.] [All: Agreed.] Gohan watched the two robots approaching him warily, backing up slowly in the snow. He brought his hands up, twisted into a battle posture, his eyes searching over them for the slightest signs of attack. But there was no tensing of muscle with them, no flash in the eyes, nothing.... But then, before the two robotic warriors could do anything to harm the young Saiya-jin, there was a flash of Ki power directly above Gohan, and all he had time to do was look up and he was suddenly engulfed in a huge explosion of pure Ki power streaming down from T-11 in the sky, ripping up snow and melting it, flinging a spray of water all over the combatants. But it wasn't that water that Piccolo shielded from his eyes; it wasn't the water that made him gasp in fear. It was the spray of blood, like a fountain, that covered everyone as the smoke blew violently with the wind, a grisly token of doom that faded away, leaving behind a large crater of rubble and water, liquid-hot lava and sizzling ice. And then, silence, except for the terrible, dreadful whistling of the wind that blew harshly across the icy tundra. T-11 landed from his perch high in the sky and walked forward, scanning the rubble. After a few moments, however, he gave up and shook his head. "He is dead. It's unfortunate; he was only a child." Piccolo bared his teeth, fangs glinting, his face covered in blood, looking like all the demon he was, and yelled out with such ferocity that T-34 broke from the contest and took a hesitant step backwards. Surrounded by white Ki flames that blended horribly with the snow, Piccolo flew forward, ripping up the earth below him, forming a road of rubble that marked his path right into T-34's waiting stance. Piccolo brought forward his incredibly supercharged fist, rippling with pure Ki power, rumbling with a vicious elegance. T-34 slid to the side, moving gracefully in the snow with robotic form and style, and brought up his elbow to knock the blow out of the way to the left of his head. Piccolo swung to the right, but that, too was blocked by T-34's metal limbs, and then there was a flash of power, and the powerful Namek felt back onto the snow, stained green with dripping blood from his nose. The other three were about to lay into him with all they were worth when suddenly there was a gigantic explosion of power. When I say explosion, a word I use a lot, it means this: A huge burst of pure energy, containing snow, ice, debris, rock, and other misc. things, all rocketing outwards from the core at speeds in excess of a thousand mph, each with the force of a train, winds blowing with hurricane power, the sound reaching unbelievable, deafening levels.... But the source of the sound was a scream, a scream of pure power and Ki, the scream of a Super Saiya-jin. At the center was a figure bathed in yellow Ki flames whirring up and down his body in a mammoth burst of energy, tugging at his muscles and testing his will, injecting pure adrenaline and anger into his veins. Gohan. The robots dimmed their ocular instruments so as not to burn the image into it's core, the Sol's Dogs version of squinting. Piccolo dragged himself up, wiping the blood from his mouth and nose, smirking painfully. Gohan finished the scream, and brought his now-green eyes down to bear upon the robots. He smiled. Suddenly, T-34 saw the Saiya-jin running towards him with such speed that only the Hellcats could outdo, and he saw the young one bury a fist into his chest, destroying several components that thankfully weren't vital, but were a major shocker for the leader of the robots. Gohan brought his fist back for a fatal blow when suddenly two robots grabbed it, and the Super Saiya-jin was unable to move it. He howled in anger, but then T-34 ran forward and kicked him in the groin. Hard. Gohan screamed, then coughed up blood gruesomely onto T-34's indifferent hull, and fell unconscious. With a gentle sigh of power, the hair turned back to it's original black. And all that was left was the sound of falling debris. Piccolo bowed his head in anger and grief. Dammit, where was Son and Vegeta!?? "Hey, Vegeta!" High above the Sahara desert, night just falling, the sky clearer than anywhere else on earth, suprisingy cold....the two saiya-jins sped onward towards their unknown destination to somewhere in Egypt, the ancient home of Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox. "Vegeta!!" "What is it, Kakarotto!?" "Can you feel that?" Vegeta narrowed his eyes. "What the hell are you talking about?" "Behind us....where Piccolo and Gohan are..." Vegeta shook his head and scowled. "But something's wrong!" "Dammit, Kakarotto, we don't have time for this! We haven't even found the exact location of the next dragonball! Piccolo and that son of yours can take care of themselves!" "But they feel like they're in trouble!" "Let them take care of themselves, Kakarotto!" Gokou sighed and turned around, against his better judgement. Surely Vegeta was right, Piccolo and Gohan could take care of themselves. After all, they were among the most powerful on the planet. I mean, Gohan can go Super Saiya-jin, and Piccolo...well, he's Piccolo! Even so, he felt uneasy as the two homed in on the last mystical orb that had yet to be gathered. The Sahara desert is, as far as I know (which isn't very far, trust me), the largest desert in the world. And it's so hot during the day that it's few inhabitants clothe themselves in heavy articles of fabric to shield their skin from the scorching sun. But at night, it's different. The sky is clear, devoid of clouds and reflective civilized light, and beautiful, but it's cold. Suprisingly cold. Gokou's teeth chattered as he landed in the middle of a large crater directly outside Cairo. The earth appeared as if some comet had landed hard on the sand, tossing up pieces of dirt and rock as if they were toys. A small comet, however. A dragonball. After the dragon had been dispersed, the dragonballs hadn't moved in over six years, and it showed. Vegeta walked forward and grabbed the dragonball, tucking it under his left arm. Turning to Gokou, two dragonballs in his arms, Gokou with one, he realised that he couldn't sense where anymore where. These must be the last three. Vegeta smiled slightly. Now that they had them, all they had to do was wait for the thieves to materialize, and then he'd have a little talk with them. "C'mon, Vegeta, let's hurry back and check on Gohan and Piccolo!" "Don't be ridiculous. We're going to sit right here and wait for whoever's responsible to show their smelly faces. We'll hide in that cleft over there," Vegeta motioned to a large holey mountain not too far away, "and then they'll have a lot of answering to do." "But I know something's gone wrong!" Vegeta snarled and dropped the dragonballs on the sand. He walked to Gokou and slapped him hard, causing him to drop his orb onto the ground as well. "Fine! Go and satisfy your idiotic curiousity. I for one am much more curious about who's stealing these things. I'll be happy to keep all the fighting to myself." Gokou shook his head and tightened the belt on his Gi, rubbing his shivering shoulders. "I'll wait with you, Vegeta, but why in the name of Kami should we do it here!?" "Because this is the last place they'd suspect we'd wait; it's miserable and far from the comforts of civilization. They'll regret stealing from a planet that a Saiya-jin lives on!" Gokou sighed. Taking one last look at Vegeta as he flew into a hole in the mountain, he turned and lifted into the cold night air. Determined, powerful, he surrounded himself in red Ki and zipped off into the distance, back towards the snowy mountains in the Alps. Speeding west to navigate their way out of the snow, the robots took the only evidence of their presence with them: Piccolo and Gohan, both unconscious and bloody. The robot's were covered in scratches and dings, but they were giddy with pleasure; they'd finally proved they were any organic being's superior! And they weren't even the most powerful team out there; the Hellcats were each at least as powerful as the boy when he transformed, possibly stronger! No-one knew how powerful the Alpha Team was, but it was rumoured they were so powerful Sol was afraid to use them. That was good, because the Dogs could handle it on their own without any help! True, they didn't yet have a dragonball, but it was only a matter of time before the last three fell into their hands. "Milord, one of the Dogs has arrived, and is requesting to see you." "What? Only one? Hmm....which one is it?" "T-13, milord." "Send him in." Sol swiveled in his expensive seat, cutting short a transmission to the Grand Admiral of the Zarian Fleet, Rar. A truly disgusting man that Sol was planning on having replaced; it was rumoured he had sex with his own children. If that was true, a court-martial was the least of Rar's worries. The fleet was primarily in the capable hands of it's seven admirals, all of which had forgotten more Navy strategy than Rar ever dreamed of having. Unfortunately, Sol needed Rar because he was the only thing keeping the Zarian fleet from disbanding. Sol was grooming a replacement, but these things take time. He pushed all of this intrigue out of his mind, however, instead concentrating primarily on the goal at hand: Immortality. The door to his throne room opened slowly, letting T-13 stride in. But he wasn't alone; he appeared to be carrying a scantily-clad human female. Sol arched an eyebrow in perplexion. T-13 stopped ten feet away, ignoring the nervous guards, and layed the woman down on the ground. She was beginning to come back into the conscious realm, groaning and rubbing her no-doubt aching muscles. "T-13...what are you doing away from your team??" "Master...I have brought a captive; the wife of Snag 3." "What!? Why?" "Master, she put up a resistance; we had no choice. She could prove pivotal in negotiations; perhaps we could bargain her return for the dragonballs." "That's smart, T-13, but...well, nevermind. How goes the quest?" "I do not know, but they all apparently are aware of our existence." "Hmm....that was inevitable. It appears there is going to be a battle; are you prepared to face Snag Gold?" "Master, we have analyzed his Ki power, and we believe he is dead. There is one match, but it's a boy that may have been related; the boy is only six and the Ki power is too faint to be the same." "Very good...do you think the time has come for the Hellcats?" "No, Master. The Hellcats are unnecessary; we have the situation under control." "Very well; go, join your team and help prove your worth." T-13 nodded, and at a gesture from Sol, two guards opened the door for the robot to exit. T-13 bowed a final time, and then he disappeared into the hallway. Sol looked down to Chi-chi; what should I do with this female? What indeed? "Sir!" Sol suddenly blinked in suprise, interrupted from his thinking. He turned to see Rahl entering from a secret side entrance, giving a formal bow, nothing more. As he talked, he couldn't keep his eyes off the nearly- naked woman on the floor. "I think I know precisely what to do with this female, sir! Let me take care of her; I'll find out all we need to know about the Earth situation." Sol frowned. That might prove useful, but Rahl would probably not just get information, judging by that lustful look in his eyes... "I have a better idea; I'll put her under the care of Doc." Rahl was obviously disappointed, and a flash of anger passed over his face, but he simply nodded. Sol watched as Rahl exited, fuming, and he turned back to the map of the earth. The dragonballs would soon be under his control, and together, his wife and he would be immortal! Sol frowned. It was almost too easy...... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Chapter Five ===================