Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Beneath the Surface ❯ Just Like Old Times ( Chapter 10 )

Chapter 10: Just Like Old Times

"Ooof," Tenkei grunted as she felt the impact of the blast consume her body. Tenkei closed her eyes at the last second when she realized the ball of energy was headed for her. But when it hit her body, the impact jolted her eyes open, and she saw that her body was flying away from the blast! Tenkei watched as the blast flew off to hit the ground a ways off, shaking the earth as it created a hole about the size of a small house.

Tenkei was still flying away from the blast, when she realized someone had a hold of her. She saw a pair of nicely toned arms wrapped around her body and wondered who in the world this could be, when the two seemed to lose control of the momentum and skidded across the ground while trying to stop. Her savior took most of the fall on his back, shielding her already beaten up body. There was a slight elevation in the ground and when the unknown hero's body hit it, the contact sent them both rolling uncontrollable until he could no longer hold onto her and they both flew off in slightly different directions, rolling and bumping along the way. They finally came to a stop within 10 feet of each other, and Tenkei rolled over on her stomach, dazed and confused. What just happened, her confused mind tried to decipher. She was still alive, which was a miracle, but who had saved her?

"Are you okay?" A masculine voice asked tenderly.

"I'm still alive…" she managed to whisper, unaware of how weak she really was until she spoke. She slowly turned her head in the direction of the voice, since she only had the energy to turn it slowly. They had rolled into some shadows void of moonlight, plus Tenkei's vision was blurred from her earlier bout, making it difficult to make out what she was looking at. She saw the outline of a young man, with rather bright colored eyes and hair, but that was all she could make out before she started to slip into unconsciousness.

Before Tenkei lost her grip on staying awake, she heard someone else land beside her body. "Is that her?" Another male voice asked, a little higher in pitch, but a boy nonetheless. He reached down and gently grabbed her arm, trying to help her to her feet. Tenkei felt like a dead weight, but she but as much energy into trying to stand as he was into trying to help her up. The other boy that had saved her got up himself and grabbed her other arm to aide. Tenkei was finally upright, or as upright as she could stand, and took a look at the second boy that had arrived. He had dark, shaggy hair and dark eyes, and now that her eyes were adjusting to the dark, she saw that he had a silly grin plastered on his face.

"Hey you okay?" Asked another genuinely concerned, yet somewhat cheery male voice. "That was some spill you just took."

"Yes, I think so now," Tenkei answered feebly.

*****

Meanwhile, Iriyoku's henchmen were baffled to find that they had missed their target.

"What the fuck?" The male asked, flabbergasted to see Tenkei fly away almost faster than his eyes could follow as his blast flew off to damage some dirt rather than her.

"Where did she go?" The female asked. She too, was surprised that Tenkei had the strength to fly away, why, she didn't even know Tenkei could fly…

"Wait a minute," the shocked female said after she pondered a bit. "That bitch can't fly. Iriyoku said they didn't know how to."

"What the--" the man started, when he received a huge blow to the back of his head by an unseen force. His body went careening at break neck speed towards the earth below.

"Klihg!" The woman exclaimed as she watched her partner sail toward the ground like a lightning bolt. She noticed a shadow cover up the moonlight hitting her back, and took this opportunity to turn around swinging, connected her fist with the hard jaw that belonged to Goku. She winced in pain at the connection, but Goku's body was sent flying back a few hundred feet, caught by surprise. She then proceeded to fly after Goku and pound him to a pulp, when she remembered that Klihg was still hurt, so she changed her direction and headed in the direction of his fall.

As she approached her friend, she noticed that he was already up and engaged in a battle with a greenish colored Earthling. He seemed to be having a little trouble with this foe, the green man wasn't beating him, but Klihg wasn't beating the green man either. They were at a stalemate.

Where did these people come from, the woman thought as she stopped in midair, debating on whether to help Klihg or go after the initial attacker. She looked to her left, and far off into the distance, she saw a yellow copter. A few more people emptied from the inside. Klihg noticed this as well.

"Juuneh," Klihg called out while he was still engaged in a heated battle with Piccolo. "We've got more company, call out the reinforcements! HURRY!"

"I don't think so," Piccolo grunted, sending an energy beam in Juuneh's direction. The blast was quick, and caught Juuneh off guard, hitting her in the shoulder and knocking her out of the air.

"BASTARD!" Klihg roared, as he began to transform to his true self for the second time that night.

"Hmm," Piccolo murmured, as he powered up to try and counter this new form. "What is this?"

*****

Juuneh landed with a large thud on some rocky ground located near the old house that Tenkei had blasted through earlier. Her body was reeling in pain, but she had heard what Klihg said, to release the reinforcements. Juuneh reached into her trench coat pocket and pulled out a small remote control. The "reinforcements" were a sanction of the militia Iriyoku had built up from the various planets he had conquered. They weren't as strong or as fight smart as Iriyoku's special forces that he sent to Earth to station themselves. Iriyoku had also tested the Majin magic he learned on these soldiers to see how effective it was. It seemed to work very well on these men, so Iriyoku took this as a guarantee on how well it would work on Brolli's children once he acquired them.

Iriyoku also took this opportunity to tweak the spell a bit. He changed the spell in that the Majin inside of his soldiers would only come out when he wanted it to, so that if any got out of hand while under the spell, and miraculously became stronger than he, he would simply turn it off, almost like an android switch, then he would dispose of them promptly to avoid any more trouble.

Iriyoku made special remote controls for his top elitists, Klihg and Juuneh among the few, to lead the militia in hunting down and bringing back the precious cargo. They did not expect to use the reinforcements unless the kids got out of hand and little too much for Klihg and Juuneh to handle without transforming. Iriyoku gave the two strict orders not to transform, for they might attract the Z-senshi's attention. Though Iriyoku said that if they did trigger interest in the mind of the Z-fighters, the henchmen and company would be finished gathering what they came for and off the planet before the Z-fighters arrived in time to actually see what happened. But Iriyoku didn't even want them to get wind that something strange was going on, he wanted a complete surprise attack to take place once he had everything in order, totally catching the warriors off guard, and totally unaware that anything had happened before they were taken out. Iriyoku knew that if the Z-fighters sensed high power levels, yet didn't find anything, that they would begin training right away, knowing that that power would be back.

Their increased strength could hinder his project, for Goku or Vegeta might reach an even higher lever of Super Saiyajin and Iriyoku did not want to run the risk of that happening.

Juuneh flipped the switch on the remote to call up the reinforcements. Out from the shadows of the houses, buildings, and brush lining the path from Tenkei's home to the market rose people that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. They looked just like humans as well, much to the credit of Iriyoku's magical intervention. They had lay dormant and totally undetectable until summoned upon, just as the spell intended. Now that they were awake, their strength was aided by Majin magic, and the Z-fighters were in for old-fashioned showdown.

*****

"What's that?" Gohan asked as he and the rest of the Z-senshi exited the copter, leaving Shinobi and Zeusu behind since they were not ready to fight yet.

"You two stay behind," Krillin ordered on his way out before he noticed that they had more company. "Wouldn't want to lose you to that tyrant after we found you first."

"Looks like more trouble," 18 answered, as if unaffected by the new threat. About 20 new shadows appeared from nowhere, almost like waking zombies from a horror film. Though their ki signatures had been relatively non-existent before, now that they were revived, the Z-fighters could feel large ki readings radiating from these human forms.

"Wow, do you guys feel that?" Yamcha asked in a low voice, with a hint of nervousness in his voice. "That's a lot of energy!"

"Yeah, I know," Gohan, answered, his expression transformed to one of a serious Saiyajin. Yamcha and the rest of the Z-fighters dropped into fighting stances, determination the only readable attribute on their faces. But these ki signatures they were reading were topping that of a level two Super Saiyajin. No problem for Goku, since he could ascend to that of level three, and Gohan who had achieved a Mystic form years ago. But, the rest of the fighters weren't that strong, or nearly at that. Android 18 might be able to hold her own, but not for long. Goten and Trunks if pushed hard enough to ascend could cause some damage, but they couldn't successfully pull off a fusion right now, since they hadn't performed one since they were tikes, and their power levels now probably didn't match which was crucial to have a successful fusion. Krillin, Videl, Tien and Yamcha were leagues below their friends in energy levels. The lot hadn't trained hard in years so they were quite rusty, and really unprepared to take on a battle parallel to that of about 20 level 2 Super Saiyajins. They had mentally prepared for battle, knowing it was possible that they might engage in one, but they weren't expecting strength like this.

*****

"Whoa, do you feel that Trunks?" Goten asked uneasily, as his body sensed the growing number of high power levels seeming to appear out of nowhere.

"This is not good," Trunks replied, unconsciously raising his guard.

"What's going on?" Tenkei asked, still not quite sure where she was or what was happening. Her wits were scattered about after her duel. Goten and Trunks took one look at each other and nodded. They walked Tenkei back a few feet where the remains of a shed stood, still in the depths of the shadows and a relatively good hiding place for the time being.

"Hide here," Trunks whispered as he and Goten gently sat Tenkei down. "We have to go check something out." Tenkei just responded with a look of confusion barely readable in the dark, but Goten and Trunks were off in the direction of the activity before she got a chance to ask for a thorough explanation.

"Whatever it is, its stronger than us Trunks," Goten said as they neared the battle area. "And there are a lot of them, look." Goten pointed in the direction of the clearing that Tenkei and Iriyoku's henchman had just battled in. In the midst of the moonlight the new opponents gathered. They were dressed in the same attire that Klihg and Juuneh arrived in, all black with black trench coats covering them. They looked totally normal, except their zombie-like expressions plastered on their faces. Plus there was immense power vibrating through the air, radiating from their bodies. It was stifling.

Goku had long since recovered from the punch delivered to him by Juuneh, and had already landed about 100 feet from where Goten and Trunks now stood. He too was sizing up the situation. Hmm, he thought to himself, there are about 10 of us and 20 or so of them, about two fighters apiece. But, we can't just defeat these guys, they will just follow us. Sadly, they must be destroyed, so they cannot report any of their findings back to Iriyoku, that way he doesn't get wind that we know about him, then he won't be sending out forces targeted directly at us when these guys don't return. That will buy us enough time to train Brolli's children for when they do finally come.

Goku was quite surprised with himself after he finished his analyzing. He felt more like himself now than he had in the past few weeks. He hoped it would continue this way. But once Goku figured out what needed to be done, he realized it was a lot easier said. These new opponents would be no push over, plus a lot of the gang were now aging, and just not strong enough to wipe these guys out like Goku knew they needed to be.

Piccolo and his adversary decided to pause in their fight and watch the reinforcements gather themselves. Once Piccolo sensed that Goku had flown back and touched down, he glanced over in his direction, and started trying to leap in Goku's train of thought. Once he got the connection, he sent it out to Gohan, Trunks and Goten, who all nodded at the same time in agreement. In the end, it was up to them.

"Yamcha, Krillin, Tien and Videl," Piccolo semi-whispered, "I want you guys to fall back to the ship and protect our cargo. 18, it would probably be best if you stayed, but if it starts getting tough for you, I'd appreciate it, along with the rest of us, if you fell back as well." 18 nodded, knowing she wasn't one to take orders from anyone, but also knowing that her safety was more important in the end and Piccolo knew that.

"Right," the rest of the Z-fighters said in unison, as they slowly but cautiously backed up towards the copter where Zeusu and Shinobi watched with curious blue eyes.

"What's going on?" Zeusu asked quietly, yet his eyes filled with wonder and anticipation. It looked as if there was going to be a fight. Memories of the World Tournament flooded his mind.

"We've got a little company is all," Krillin answered as he positioned himself beside Zeusu to get a good view. "It's been a while since I've seen a good match." Krillin tried to lighten the mood, as not to scare Zeusu and Shinobi, but he knew deep down that this was not a guaranteed win. He crossed his fingers.

"Muahahahaha…" a devilish voice rang from the heavens. Everyone looked up to see Klihg cackling like a mad man, or a mad Jepidian rather. "I see that Juuneh got to the reinforcements after all. We will let you all fight them first, you shouldn't last. But if you so happen to break past them, no worries, you get my partner and I next, and believe me, you won't like that. Best if you all just give up now. You can't possibly protect this planet from what's bond to happen."

"I really wish Father had decided to come," Trunks murmured. Goten just nodded. Vegeta's help would be greatly appreciated right now.

"Fine," Piccolo grunted, breaking down into his fighting form once more. "Let's do this." Piccolo knew that in reality, he was no match for any being with the power of a level 2 Super Saiyajin, so he knew that he himself might have to fall back to the copter if things got too intense. But he was definitely going to give it all he had, in hopes to perhaps tire some of them out. He knew that Goku and Gohan had a pretty good chance of putting them all away once they were worn out, they may even be able to do it sooner than that. But it would be difficult with 20 of them constantly bombarding them with blasts and attacks, and coming from such strong beings could turn the tides in the total opposite direction.

Android 18 launched the first assault on the group of zombies, cracking one square in the back of his head with a swift kick, sending the creature flying off into the night.

"Great job 18!" Krillin yelled, pumping his fist into the air and startling the rest of the group located in the copter with his sudden outburst. Zeusu and Shinobi were just plain shocked. How in the world could she kick a person hard enough to make them fly through the air? That was supposed to only be in the movies! Zeusu's surprise was short-lived though, 18's strength only reminded him of the near impossible moves he saw performed in the tournament so many years ago. But Shinobi had never seen anything like this.

Android 18's attack started the battle, and everyone began launching assaults on one another. Goku immediately powered up to level 3 Super Saiyajin and started delivering damage to the 5 or 6 aliens that decided to pursue him. Gohan was surrounded by three of the foes, but his weekend trainings with his father had helped him keep his Mystic level on top of things, border lining the power of level 3 Super Saiyajin, if not passing the level at times, depending on how hard he was pushed. Right now he was being forced to dodge a series of blasts while trying to send some back in the direction of his assailants.

The other fighters also had about three opponents apiece, and not much luck between them. Goten and Trunks were barely strong enough to handle one level two Super Saiyajin, so three apiece was really pushing it. Neither of them fully understood the strength of Iriyoku's army and what a threat it truly was until now. Yeah, Goku may be the strongest fighter in the universe, but if he were forced to tackle this army alone, which would consist of several thousand men of the same strength or stronger than these zombies, it would be near impossible to win. Goku would eventually wear down, and then it would all be over, even with Gohan and Vegeta's help. He would definitely need more help.

Piccolo and Android 18 were now fully prepared to step out of the fight, but their opponents didn't seem to catch on to their gesture. They were completely overwhelmed with the power of these zombie-like fighters, yet it didn't seem that they were easing up to give them a chance to escape. Ki blasts were seen shooting off in every direction, lighting the night sky up like fireworks. Multiple kicks were thrown, punches landed, hits missed, all out brawling.

Tenkei watched from the shadows of her makeshift-hiding place with fear. She could tell that Goten and Trunks were having a very difficult time, but her eyes couldn't follow Goku and Gohan's movement. They were just too fast for her at this stage, so she couldn't tell how they were fairing. Piccolo and Android 18 were out of her view.

From the copter, the rest of the Z-senshi watched, not quite sure what to make of the situation. They weren't having much luck following the fight either, though could tell that most of the participants for the Z-fighters were struggling.

"You guys are gonna teach us to fight like that?" Shinobi asked in amazement.

"If we get a chance, yeah," Yamcha answered.

Goku wasn't having any trouble knocking his opponents. His shear power was enough to nearly rip their heads off when he landed a punch or a kick. But as soon as they recovered, which was rather quickly due to their Majin forms, they would just keep coming back for more. Even though their energy was about a level below Goku's according to the scale used to determine the power of a Saiyajin, their hits on his body could still cause some damage, especially if all 5 of his assailants decided to assault at the same time. I need to be rid of these guys so I can help the others and we can get the hell outta here, Goku thought to himself as he watch the group he just torched rise up again and head toward him.

Piccolo and Android 18 were now on the run, dodging and deflecting energy beams along the way. The two were exhausted, but as much as they wanted to rest, the zombies weren't up for it. Goku do something, Piccolo thought, trying to send the message to Goku that he and Android 18 were in trouble and wouldn't last too much longer since they were tiring out.

Gohan seemed to be really the only fighter handling his foes with ease. Mainly because he didn't have 5 or 6 trying to come at him like Goku did, but since their power was nearly the same (for a few years, Gohan did not train and lost some of his power, but as soon as he began training with his father again, he slowly gained most of it back) it was much easier for Gohan to free himself up and catch his breath in between blow-outs. At this time he was watching his opponents gather themselves to launch another attack on him, but they weren't fully ready, so Gohan let his gaze rest on his brother. Goten was having a rather difficult time. He was tiring out, and his blows and blasts were causing some damage, but not enough to give him a breather. Where he was tiring, it seemed his foes were not affected as much. When Goten hit them, they hit him back, harder. Shit, Gohan thought as his competitors finally returned, I need to hurry up with these guys and help my kid bro. He hadn't seen Trunks anywhere, but in the back of his mind Gohan was sure he needed help as well.

Trunks was fairing a bit better than Goten since he had trained more than his best friend and thus was a little stronger than him still, but he too was running out of time. As soon as we get out of this, Trunks thought as he dodged an energy beam, and blocked a kick, I've got to get Goten in my gravity chamber to train with me. We need to bring back Gotenks. Just the thought of Gotenks perked up Trunks' spirit, and a new source of energy began to surge throughout his body. Trunks powered up even more, not really knowing what to do with this new energy, it seemed to invigorate him. One assailant was heading for Trunks head on, with the others close behind. Trunks thrust forward, catching him in the jaw, then spun around and kicked one in the chest on his spin. He elbowed the third in the neck and watch as they all went sprawling toward the ground below. Elated, Trunks decided that rather than waiting for them to get up and come at him, he would bring the fight to them instead, and sailed at lightning speed to his foes.

Goten caught this activity out of the corner of his eye while he was being backed down by his opponents. Amazing, he thought, losing his train of thought for a split second, just enough time for one of his assailants to punch him in the face, and out of the sky. Goten's body hit the ground with enough impact to cause a small tremor, which Tenkei felt from her hiding position, and the rest of the Z-fighters felt as the vibrations reached the copter. "Ohh you're gonna be sorry for that one pal," Goten whispered, enraged from insult and embarrassment. Out of sheer determination Goten jumped and met his oncoming attackers with a surprise Kamehameha, sending all three of them skidding across the earth.

Wow, Gohan thought as he saw some zombies fly by from his brother's direction. Good job little bro. You and Trunks might be able to handle yourselves after all.

Piccolo and Android 18 weren't having any such luck though, and Goku knew this as he tried in vain to put his opponents down. He didn't want to exert too much power, so that he wouldn't destroy everything around them, and he didn't want to use all of his power as a Super Saiyajin 3. He hoped it would take less power to demolish these monsters. But it seemed that the more time he took, the less Piccolo and 18 had, and anything could happen to them if he didn't step in. "Alright, time to end this."

Goku powered up to about 75% of his full Super Saiyajin 3 power, and started dealing out damage accordingly. Two zombies decided to attack, and Goku just grabbed them by the neck and smashed their heads together, causing their skulls to crush upon impact and leaving them fatally wounded as they fell back to earth. Goku cringed at the site, but knew that it had to be done. As the bodies descended, their deaths triggered a transformation to their true selves, which was unlike that of Klihg and Juuneh. They were totally different creatures. Their faces were too mangled to make out any features though. Goku hadn't realized the force he had used until he saw the damage done. What a shame, he thought, as he countered the attacks of two more zombies.

Gohan saw what his dad was doing and decided to follow suit. He powered up and sent his fist directly into the chest of one of his oncoming attackers. Gohan had meant to aim for his head, but the guy changed his direction at the last second and got caught in the chest, where Gohan's arm went straight though. The zombie heaved, trying desperately to breathe. Gohan slowly pulled his arm from the zombie's chest, dripping of blood and a little tissue. The assailant fell from the sky and breathed in for the last time. He couldn't quite breathe back out, and never had a chance to as he life seeped away.

"Damn," Gohan whispered, as he too noticed that the being transformed to its true self in its death, and didn't look anything like Klihg when he watched him transform during his bout with Piccolo. Perhaps they are just slaves, Gohan thought, as he spun around and sent a ki blast through another's chest. But there isn't anything we can do about that now.

Once Goku and Gohan took care of the fighters they were being chased by, they headed over in Piccolo and 18's direction to assist them. Deftly, they put all of those zombies out of their misery.

"It's about time," a tired Piccolo said, once he was out of danger. He had taken a lot of blows and was pretty banged up, but he hung in there until Goku arrived.

Trunks and Goten were still battling with opponents, holding their own in the fight, which now was pretty even since the two boys had ascended a little (Trunks was now at a level 2 from previous training even though it had been a year since he trained in his chamber, Goten was not quite level two yet) and worn their opponents down but not quite strong enough to put them out. So Goku and Gohan stepped in and took care of them as well.

"Excellent job boys," Goku said once everything had calmed down. "You guys did great!"

"Thanks Dad," Goten beamed.

"Thank you, Goku," Trunks replied.

"Yeah," Gohan added, "I think you guys got a little stronger there too."

"I feel stronger," Trunks agreed, flexing a muscle.

"Where's the girl?" Gohan asked as Piccolo and 18 touched down to join them.

"She's right over--" Trunks was cut off by the sight of a blinding light force illuminating in the night sky.

"What the hell is that?" Goten yelled, shielding his eyes.

"I don't know," Piccolo said, holding his arm up to block. "But 18 and I need to get out of here, we are spent. Where is the girl, we need to take her back to the ship with us."

"That won't be necessary," a voice boomed from the sky, "she will be coming with us once this is all over."

Author's note: Sorry this took so long, heh. I'll try to be quicker with the next chapter, but I can't promise anything. Lack of time and writer's block seem to be in control here, lol.