Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon Ball VE: The Keeper Saga ❯ Chapter 4

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Dragon Ball Vegeta's Era: The Keeper Saga
 
Chapter Four
 
 
Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ. I do, however, own the plot of DBVE and all of the original characters that might appear.
 
Co-written by: Mia Skywalker
 
 
The four warriors from the future stood together, grim and ready to fight. Each knew and accepted that this could be their last battle. They faced this knowledge every time they encountered the Shades. The Shades that had ripped their lives apart and helped to shape who they now were.
 
Their only comfort was the knowledge that they would be able to protect most of those who fought with them this day. They were in their own past, a timeline their actions and the actions of the Shades could not change without disrupting the flow of time and destroying them all. They would win this battle, but the cost of doing so was still unknown.
 
Most of the Shades currently against them wore their human bodies like ill-fitted clothing. The innocent people were just puppets, rather than fully bonded hosts. Killing them would do nothing to the beings within. It would only slow them down. All they could do was hold them off and pray that the missing member of their group would show up in time.
 
Bra watched them draw near, her blue eyes cold and hard as she prepared for what was to come. She drew in a deep breath, readying herself to once more enter into the dance of death.
 
She exploded into a whirlwind of motion, blurred kicks, punches, and dazzling flashes of multi-colored energy leaving a swath of Shade Puppets down and bleeding in her wake. Her battle aura flared around her, a flickering rainbow of colors rather than one solid hue. She knew without looking that the others from her time, at least, had joined the fray.
 
Goku noted how the two older fighters from the future - it was difficult to think of Bra as “older”- seemed to coordinate very well together. Despite their ages, the younger two seemed to work well together as well. It almost seemed like the four of them were pair fighting.
 
Goku's distraction with his new allies and their techniques, however, allowed one of their enemies to catch him surprise, something that never would have happened before he had been wished to be intelligent. Determinedly, he turned towards the Shade attacking him, deliberately tuning out distractions and concentrating on the fight. As was usual with him, it didn't take long for his blood to pound and sing and the joy of the fight to take over.
 
Bulma watched all of this from behind a boulder, where she hid with Chi-Chi, wondering exactly what they were doing here. The others had said they had to protect Chi-Chi and Iktomi specifically. So why had they all been dragged out here? Wouldn't that put all of those who were most vulnerable, including herself, in danger?
 
What do they do, kidnap me and make me build things for them? Bulma didn't like the sound of that one bit. It was better than being killed, she supposed, but she had never liked the idea of working for the enemy.
 
Several stray blasts of energy singed the area near them. “What the hell was that?” Bulma cried out, staring at the burned spot in front of her. It didn't look anything like the ki blasts her friends normally used.
 
When she saw a layer of ice form on a patch of ground struck by another blast of energy, it dawned on her that the Shades were using the elements in some manner. She had never heard of anything like it, but of course she didn't have much experience with fighting outside of the battles her friends had taken part in.
 
She tore herself from that line of thought and quickly scanned the battle, looking for her one remaining child from the present time.
 
Trunks was several yards away from the boulder, barely managing to dodge bolts of electricity. His mind was obviously only partially focused on the battle. He kept glancing back where his mother hid with Chi-Chi, making sure she was all right. Bra had said that no one wanted their mother dead, but he couldn't help worrying about her.
 
Another part of his attention was focused on the adult version of his baby sister. No matter her age, he still felt protective of her. And there was something odd about how she interacted with Gohan. Something he couldn't put his finger on, but that he wasn't very comfortable with.
 
“Damn it, Trunks, move!” Trunks' breath flew from him with a grunt as Goten slammed into him, knocking him out of the way of a huge chunk of rock. “Stop daydreaming and pay attention,” Goten snapped.
 
“Yeah…” the lavender-haired teen said shakily, getting back to his feet. “Thanks, Goten.”
 
“No problem. Let's fuse and take these bastards out!”
 
The two of them began the fusion dance, only to be stopped by Goten being hit by a blast of ice. It seemed that these enemies at least weren't going to just sit around and watch them do the stupid dance.
 
Hidden within another outcropping of rocks, Videl winced, watching as her brother-in-law was knocked out of the sky by a huge ball of ice. She and Pan could both fight, but the Shades wanted to kill little Iktomi. The two of them would be the ones to protect him.
 
“Grandpa!” Pan suddenly shouted, noticing someone coming up behind Goku. She ran towards him, easily dodging as her mother tried to grab her.
 
"Pan!" Videl screamed, trying to catch the girl. She cursed softly, wanting to run after her, but knowing she had to keep Iki safe and hidden.
 
Pan was no longer willing to be left out of the fight. She was part Saiyan, and she was going to defend the ones she loved. No one was going to hurt her grandpa while she was around!
 
She ran toward the enemy, striking him hard, just as he was raising a hand to throw some sort of energy blast at Goku's back. The Shade turned towards her, raised a hand… and suddenly backed off, looking fearful. Confused, the child took a determined step toward him. He turned and fled.
 
Pan didn't bother to chase after him. “Are you all right, Grandpa?” she asked.
 
Goku stared after the Shade that had attacked him. He had stopped running and was fighting Goten. “I'm fine. Pan, what are you doing here?”
 
She puffed her chest out proudly. “I'm gonna help you fight them!” she declared hotly. “I'm gonna protect Mommy and Iki!”
 
Goku's eyes widened. He was going to admonish her, but he was distracted by the fighting around them before he got a chance. “Pan, go to your mother! If you're going to help her, go next to her to do it!”
 
Then he was engaged with several Shades, fighting with all of his concentration.
 
The little girl pouted, unaware that she was a small oasis of peace in the raging chaos around her. “I'm not gonna get outta the way,” she muttered sullenly. “I'm gonna fight too! I'm strong!”
 
She ran toward of the Shades fighting against Goten, a tall woman with bright red hair. The woman turned her black, fathomless eyes toward Pan, preparing to attack. And then, like the enemy Pan had faced previously, she suddenly backed up and fled.
 
Crossing her arms over her chest, the little girl stamped a foot angrily. “Why do they keep running away?” Then a sudden thought flashed through her mind and her face brightened. “They're scared of me! I'm the one who is going to beat `em and they know it, so they're scared!”
 
More determined than ever, the little girl charged into the nearest group of Shades. Again, they fled the moment they saw her. The little girl grinned at an astounded Goten. “See? They're scared of me. I'm gonna fight `em all!”
 
Bulma was staring at the scene before her. “Chi-Chi, what is your granddaughter doing out there?” she asked in amazement.
 
“What?” Chi-Chi snapped, peering out from behind the boulder protecting them. Her eyes widened and fear and horror. What was her little grandbaby doing in the midst of all that danger?
 
Then both women watched as Pan routed group after group of Shades. She didn't seem to be causing them to flee the battle, but they did avoid her as best they could. Neither woman knew what to make of it.
 
“Do you suppose,” Bulma asked slowly, “that Pan has a power we don't know about? They seem afraid of her. Maybe that's why Bra and Gohan didn't say that she was in danger. Maybe she's the only one who isn't!”
 
The two women watched Pan in awe, completely unaware of the Shade possessed man who was creeping up behind them, intent on killing Chi-Chi. The Shade in control of the body had fought the woman before, in the future, and felt great satisfaction at the thought of killing her.
 
Before the Shade could strike, two white-gloved hands came up out of his shadow and firmly grabbed his ankles, pulling down into the darkness of the Shadowed Ways, the innocent human puppet becoming Shadow Lost while the Shade was devoured by those who guarded the Ways.
 
The cloaked man rose up from the shadows, his hidden gaze going from Chi-Chi to Bulma.
 
Bulma did what came naturally to her when something frightening loomed up at her suddenly. She screamed.
 
“Bulma!” Chi-Chi snapped at the older woman. “Stop it! If he were an enemy, we'd already be dead!”
 
Before Bulma could respond, Goku had already gotten between them, moving so quickly that neither woman had seen it. “I don't know who you are,” he said firmly to the new arrival, “but I won't allow you to hurt either my wife or my best friend.”
 
The cloaked figure stood perfectly still, not even bothering to shift his gaze to the big man. “I mean them no harm, Saiyan,” he said quietly in a softly accented voice the three of them found vaguely familiar. “I am Father Dian of the Gem Order, bound to those who dwell within the Shadowed Ways by the god of the Gems. If I were here to be your foe, you could not stop me.”
 
“Dad!” Gohan lifted two fingers to his forehead and teleported between his father and the new arrival. “He's on our side,” he assured the others anxiously. “We've been waiting for him to arrive. We can't beat these things without him!”
 
While the others were talking, Bulma was trying to figure out where she had heard the stranger's voice before. The tone and the slight, odd accent sounded very familiar to her…. Then, with a sudden realization, her eyes widened. Of course she had heard that voice before! She heard it every night in passion, and every day in verbal barbs. Try as he might to disguise it, she knew her husband's voice.
 
Bulma opened her mouth, stepping toward the man who had disappeared this morning, whom she had been told she wouldn't see for another year. That's too long to wait, she realized in despair. She had been without him too many times, had lost him too often. She didn't want to lose him again. She lifted her hand to touch him.
 
Don't, he said into her mind, jerking away from her hand. Don't let them know who I am, please, incarre.
 
He turned away from her, bringing his attention to Goku. “Ka-“ he stopped himself in mid-word and took a deep breath, getting back under control. “Goku, the others are being overwhelmed while we talk here. Give me your hand and try to channel your power into me.”
 
Bulma felt hurt by his apparent rejection, but was mollified somewhat by the endearment. It reassured her that he still loved her, or he would not have used that term. At least he comes back to me, she thought wistfully. He's alive in the future, so he comes back to me and stays with me. I don't think I could bear it if I lost him forever.
 
“Channel my power?” Goku frowned thoughtfully, wondering what the stranger meant. Then he remembered something he had done on Namek, the time he had given some of his power to Krillin and Gohan when they were injured.
 
“Okay,” Goku said abruptly. Something in him decided to trust this person. He touched him, sending out some of his ki and wondering what the other man would do with it.
 
The cloaked one held out his staff, the tip pointing upwards, as he felt Goku's energy flow into him. He took a deep breath and sent it, plus his own, into the staff, feeling the warm, smooth wood amplify the power as it sent it up into the sky in a wide, soft diffusion of violet light. Light that drove away the weakest of the Shades, leaving only the most powerful and those that had fully bonded to their human slaves.
 
He opened his eyes at the sound of mocking laughter coming from one of the latter variety of Shade.
 
“Very well done, little gem priest, very well done,” the Shade mocked. It wore the body of a large, muscular man with long brown hair, but the voice that emerged was a purring, feminine contralto. He sauntered forward, smirking. “You are lucky, little priest, that the Great Shade did not allow us to bring our best fighters. How do you think this little group would have faired against Tanva or Aien?”
 
“Enough talk, Shade,” the hooded one growled, taking a step forward.
 
“Doesha is soft and wishes you unharmed,” the Shade sneered. “I won't touch you, but I would dearly love to see what killing your little soul mate would do to you.”
 
With those words, he brought up his hand, forming an intense burst of electrical energy, enough to overwhelm and kill even a Saiyan. Goku took a protective step toward Bulma, his instincts knowing full well who the cloaked man was even if his conscious mind hadn't figured it out yet. The deadly bolt headed not toward the human woman, but toward the unprotected Gohan.
 
As the bolt sped towards the half Saiyan too fast for any of the others to respond, there was one fighter who reacted immediately and instinctively.
 
“Gohan!” the Namek cried out, interposing his body between the bolt and his pupil in a manner more than vaguely reminiscent of a similar time so long ago. And like then, Gohan's reaction was immediate and intense.
 
No! Piccolo!
 
As the Namek fell, his body electrified, the half Saiyan threw himself at him, catching the green-skinned warrior before he hit the ground.
 
“Piccolo!” he moaned out. “Why did you do that?”
 
Piccolo gave a weak smile, even as he felt his life force fading. “I couldn't have you get killed before me, could I, kid? You're Gohan, even if you are from the future….”
 
Gohan felt his mentor's ki disappear, and the grief overwhelmed him completely. He had known that Piccolo would die the day they were kidnapped, but he hadn't known how. By having his father teleport to where Piccolo was waiting, he had doomed his friend as surely as if he had fired the bolt himself.
 
Warm, familiar hands gently closed on his shoulders, Bra offering silent comfort. The cloaked one also moved forward, placing one gloved hand on Gohan's head.
 
“I'm sorry, darryn…” he whispered. “I know what he meant to you. At least he got to die now and won't have to witness the horrors to come.”
 
“Aww, how sad,” the Shade mocked once more in that disturbingly feminine voice. “I accidentally made fried green bean casserole.” He readied another electric bolt, this one slightly less powerful than before, but not by much. He sent it once more toward Gohan, the half Saiyan too overcome by grief to even attempt to dodge.
 
This time, it was the cloaked one who moved in to his defense, his staff held out. The bolt hit the amethyst, the violet gem absorbing the electrical energy in a violent burst of power that knocked its wielder back, throwing him to the ground and forcing back the hood that had hidden his scarred features from view.
 
“Vegeta!” Gohan shouted, leaping towards the older man.
 
The Saiyan prince waved him away and slowly got to his feet. The expression on his face was enough to make the leader of the Shades back away, uncertain of himself.
 
“You are new to this realm,” Vegeta said, his voice deadly soft. “You must be. Or you would know that I have fought Tanva and Aien, and I have held my own against them. You are nothing.”
 
Fear flickered across the Shade's face, but he had no time for any other reaction before Vegeta brought up his staff and channeled his power through it, adding it to the electrical energy the gem had just stored.
 
The Shade was knocked from his feet and sent sailing through the air, screaming. With a quick calculation, Vegeta figured where he would land - the shadow of a large tree.
 
A grim, savagely pleased smile crossed Vegeta's face as he ripped open the fabric of reality and sent his foe into the Shadowed Ways. The Shade was fully bonded with the human host, so the Guardians of the Ways would not be able to devour it. It would be forever Shadow Lost, a far worse fate.
 
Goku studied Vegeta for a moment, noting how different he seemed. He wondered about the scars, the staff, and his rival's new powers, but knew that now wasn't the time to ask.
 
“Let's finish up the rest of them, eh, Gohan?” Goku said, turning away from Vegeta to look at his son. “There aren't too many left.”
 
“All right. But… I can't go super Saiyan, remember.”
 
“That's all right.” Goku smiled at him. “Goten and Trunks and I can. Hey, you two?” He looked at the two confused teenagers. “You want to join us as Gotenks?”
 
The two young men glanced at each other, Trunks trying not to stare at the future version of his father, then nodded. Before they could begin the fusion dance once more, Videl screamed.
 
The Shades had been shocked at their leader's death, but that hadn't stopped some of them from remembering their mission and heading towards the least protected of their targets.
 
Videl backed away from three of the eleven remaining Shades, holding a wailing Iktomi tightly to her as she concentrated on holding a ki shield around them both.
 
“Mom!” the future Iktomi screamed, heading toward her as fast he could, cursing himself for being so absorbed in everything else that he had neglected to watch out for his mother and baby self. The teenage Saiyan girl who had been like his shadow all during the battle was right behind him.
 
“Boys!” Goku shouted at Goten and Trunks. “Goten! Go help Videl. She's alone with the baby and can't fight and protect him at the same time. Trunks, protect Chi-Chi! Gohan and the rest of us will take care of the others.”
 
“I'm going to help too, Grandpa.” Pan insisted, marching up behind him.
 
“No, Pan,” he said sternly. “You hide somewhere and stay safe.”
 
“No!” she shouted. “I got those things scared of me. I'm gonna help you fight them, you'll see.” Tears welled up in her eyes, but her anger only made her more stubborn. “You can't make me go, Grandpa. I wanna fight!”
 
“We don't have time for this, Dad.” Gohan said, sparing only the briefest of glances at his daughter. “We have to fight them and protect Mom. Now!
 
Goku stared at his son, wondering suddenly why Gohan had yet to say a single word to his daughter. He decided to ask later and nodded, powering up suddenly and releasing a furious round of ki blasts that took several of their enemies. Gohan and Bra fought once again in unison, taking out their enemies with techniques that were flawless, even if not nearly as powerful as they had once been.
 
Pan ran through the battle, Shades carelessly darting away from her and into the path of various attacks. The little girl was ecstatic at being able to help. Her uncle and his best friend had often gently teased her about not being able to go super Saiyan, and this was her chance to show that she was just as tough as they were.
 
Gradually, the Shades fell, greatly weakened by the burst of Goku's soulstaff enhanced energy. Finally, they were gone, leaving the group of present and future warriors utterly exhausted.
 
“Vegeta?” Bulma murmured softly, walking over to him. Tears filled her eyes as she studied the scars on his face and the black patch covering the empty socket of his left eye. “What happened to you?”
 
Goku blurred over to them before Vegeta could answer. Once again, he wondered what tortures the older Saiyan had undergone, and wondered if it was related to being forced to mate with another woman. He said nothing, however, not wanting to hurt Bulma.
 
“What I'd really like to know is why that creature seemed to think my husband is Vegeta's soul mate,” Videl said, sounding grumpy as she trudged over to them all. Baby Iktomi seemed to have sensed when the battle was over and was now sleeping peacefully in her arms.
 
Videl instinctively moved next to Gohan, calling Pan to her while she waited for an answer.
 
“There was an accident that resulted in me being Shadow Lost,” Gohan finally said when it became apparent that Vegeta had no intention of answering. The older man scowled at him, but Gohan ignored it. “In order to save me, Vegeta had to give up a piece of his soul, which the Dwellers of the Shadowed Ways put inside me, so I could safely walk the Ways.”
 
Videl blinked. “You have a piece of his soul in you?” she blurted, startled. She hadn't been expecting that to be the answer. She had never really thought much of Vegeta, considering him to be too hard and cold. She shuddered slightly, unable and unwilling to imagine what it must be like to have a part of his soul.
 
“You gave Gohan part of your soul?” Bulma asked Vegeta, more gently than Videl had. “You gave up part of your soul to save him.” She bent down and kissed his lips lightly, feeling bittersweet about it. He was here, but he was from the future. Her Vegeta was in space somewhere being held prisoner, and she had been told she wouldn't see him for a year. Did it have to be like that? Why couldn't they rescue them now?
 
Goku blinked in surprise, then smiled suddenly. He wasn't as surprised as Videl was to discover that Vegeta had been willing to make a sacrifice to save his son. He'd always thought Vegeta was a better person than anyone else was willing to accept. After all, if he weren't, Bulma wouldn't have stayed with him for so long.
 
Before he had a chance to comment, or to ask Vegeta about the scars and his eye, Pan bowled her way forward.
 
“Didja see it?” she crowed, bouncing excitedly. “They was scared of me! They knew I could hurt `em or something. Hey Uncle Vegeta! Am I a big hero in the future? Is that why they was all scared of me?”
 
Gohan's face lowered at her words and his fists clenched. The others could hear Bra speaking softly to him, but they couldn't understand her words.
 
“Daka vende, incarre,” Bra murmured. “Hrra darra lon ekorri.”
 
Bulma's attention shot toward her daughter at those words. She didn't recognize most of them, but `incarre'… that was what Vegeta had always called her. He had long ago told her it was the closest thing to the word `beloved' that he knew in Saiyasi. If Bra called Gohan that, then either she didn't know what the word meant, or… the one person who could have taught her the word knew what she wanted to know it for. There was only person who still spoke Saiyasi, but would he have taught it to his daughter, to use it on the oldest son of a man he pretended to hate?
 
Gohan growled and spat back at Bra, “Hrra ekorri ganna sha vehe orn!”
 
Goku looked from his son to Vegeta, then down at Pan. The little girl seemed unaware of her future father's anger, and Goku could make no sense of it. Why was he so angry with his daughter? The enemies had fled from her, that much was obvious. So why was Gohan so upset about it?
 
“Zhevva. Sha ina pakata fah'or,” Bra said softly, placing a hand on Gohan's shoulder. She switched languages suddenly, wanting the people of the present to be able to understand her words. “We've done what we came here to do. Let's leave it at that.”
 
Vegeta nodded at her words and pulled Bulma close to him, giving her a quick, but passionate, kiss before turning away from her and walking towards Pan. He pulled a silver chain from an inner pocket of his cloak, a red gem in the shape of a dog head hanging from it. He used his powers as a gem priest to awaken the pendent, careful to only touch the chain. Then he held it out to the little girl, gazing down at her.
 
Pan stared up at Vegeta, wide-eyed. “Uncle Vegeta?” she asked hesitantly. She knew he was Vegeta, despite the new scars and clothing she had never seen on him before. But she couldn't ask him what he wanted. There was something in his manner that was even less conducive to questioning than he had ever been in the past.
 
She reached forward and took the pendent from his grasp. She gasped when the gem glowed briefly at first contact with her hand, but the radiance quickly faded.
 
She looked back at the full-blooded Saiyan. She was still afraid to ask him why he was giving it to her, but somehow she knew…. She was a hero, or she was going to be one, and he was giving the pendent to her to fulfill some kind of destiny. He couldn't tell her what it was, she knew, but that was the way it always was for heroes.
 
She placed it around her neck and looked up at him solemnly. “I'll wear it always,” she promised him.
 
"Good girl," he said softly before turning to face Chi-Chi. His next words were for everyone, but he directed them towards her. "Gohan, Bra, and I will be back in a year, tell us nothing of what has happened here. Never let Iki or the girl know of it either. Chi-Chi, remember this: During the time that Goku cannot help you, I will be there for you. I won't let you stay lost in the darkness."
 
“I won't be able to protect her?” Goku was startled. He had vowed to never abandon his wife again, and he had meant it. If he couldn't be there for her, what was going to happen to him? Would he be kidnapped the way Vegeta and Gohan had been? Or was it going to be something worse?
 
He knew better than to ask, however. He knew that no matter what, Vegeta and the others weren't going to tell them what was going to happen to them. That they had done this much was probably against every rule, if there were rules governing such things.
 
He looked at Gohan, who was still grieving over Piccolo's loss, and realized that had Gohan known about his mentor's death, he might have tried to prevent it. Therefore, he couldn't be told what would happen in this battle. If he were, he would try to change it, possibly causing something even worse to happen.
 
“Thank you,” Goku said sincerely, looking at Vegeta. “I know you can't tell us what will happen. But if you're going to help my wife when she needs it, then I want to thank you for it now.”
 
But I'll be there for Grandma, Pan thought, looking at her grandparents with anxious eyes. I'm gonna be the hero, I know it. I'll protect all of you. I swear it. Always and forever.