Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ With A Jagged Edge ❯ Children's Hour ( Chapter 7 )

Tayven covered her arm over her face as Vegeta's power flared upwards and all about. She heard him screaming as the force built up around him, his whole body tensing with concentration. She became aware of movement behind her and turned to see Goku flying over to them. Gohan was following, a look of horror on his face. Bulma cried out something to Goku and ducked as more peices of the house flew at her.

"Oh, Kami!" Gohan cried, landing next to Tayven, "We've got to stop him!"

"I don't know how!" She cried, having to yell to be heard over Vegeta's yelling and the rushing of the wind, "Oh...Gohan...look!"

The ghostly children linked around Vegeta and the woman-figure had begun to dissolve into slivers of light, growing more and more thin. For a moment Tayven thought that they were weakening and nearly cried out with happiness. Bulma shouted something that sounded like; "Yes! They're losing! Vegeta!"

"No," Goku said, his voice low, his fists clenched and his body ready to attack, "Don't celebrate yet, Bulma..."

Tayven couldn't believe her eyes as one by one the slivers of light flew up and into Vegeta's glowing form. His thrown back, hair wild and teeth bared, a many-voiced howl issued from his throat, causing those around to shiver in primal fear. Remember the very bad something that they had been afraid of?

Well, this was it.

The image of the woman was the last to dissolve and flew into Vegeta's open mouth, lighting him up even more than he all ready was from the inside. In fact, Tayven found, looking directly at him hurt her eyes. Light was shooting out of every one of his orifices, blinding them. He turned towards them she heard Bulma scream and Goku gasp. Tayven felt her blood run cold in her viens.

His face was devoid of any emotion and his eyes. They weren't the normal black she'd become familar with. No. They were white and pupiless. Soulless for all that he now held about ten souls inside of himself.

"At last we are free!" His voice was not his own, it was the voice of the children, she knew, and the one adult amongst thier number, "Free!"

"No!" Goku shouted, launching himself suddenly at Vegeta, letting loose with a series of punches to the shorter saiyan's face and torso, "Get out of him!"

Vegeta did not even try to block Goku's attack. He merely waited until the other had paused before raising his hand and, using just his index finger and thumb, flicked Goku in the chest. Goku went flying and crashed into the side of the house, bricks and panelling falling all over. Bulma had started to run back to her bike, scared. Tayven felt her leave but did not think to call her back. Gohan saw his father flung aside like a sack of trash and flew over to him, calling out his name frantically.

She ran over to them and started to help Gohan uncover his father from the fallen bricks,

"Dad!" Gohan cried, as Goku stood up, brushed himself off and glared upwards. Gohan turned to glare at Vegeta, screaming; "Monster! I'll kill you!" Just before he could take off and try exactly what his father had, Tayven grabbed his arm. She knew he could break free of her with a simple tug, but he looked at her expectantly.

"Gohan, that's not Vegeta!" She hissed, "Listen to me! It's those...those things inside him making him act like this! He's too powerful right now!"

Gohan shrugged her off, shooting into the air, ignoring her cries, "Gohan! No! Don't!"

"Stupid infants!" The voices inside Vegeta yelled as he sent Gohan spinning backwards with one blow, "I waste my time here! I have places to go...people to kill! But first...."

Before any of them could do anything, he pointed a finger towards the old house and a beam shot out, exploding on contact with the house, sending them all flying backwards away from it. It continued to burst outwards until it was raining down rubble.

Tayven coughed and covered her eyes, smoke and flying dirt stinging them. When she got herself under control, she realized, Vegeta was gone.

Goku was helping Gohan up and they looked upwards as if they could still see him even though the sky was empty save for the few stars that blinked in the night sky.

"W-where did he go?" Tayven asked, it hurt to talk, her face felt like it were broken, which it probably was. "Guys?"

~*~*~

Not a breeze stirred to distrub him, yet he knew something was not right. Floating several feet above the ground, the desert spread out before him and the rock walls of his cave shelter behind him, Piccolo tensed in his meditations. He'd felt something....something wild and indiscribible ripple across his thoughts. His antenna twitched slightly against the material of his white weighted turban and dark eyes flashed. All at once he knew.

"Vegeta!" His voice was a croak, barely audable. He rose into a standing position and departured at once towards the the odd, garbled yet so very strong ki signature he knew was the Saiyan Prince's. Whatever was going on, he knew that it wasn't pleasant. He had also seen those odd children in his meditations and knew that there was something more than sinister about them.

As he flew his mind drifted, without his meaning it to yet unable to stop it nonetheless, back towards the last few hours of his meditation. He'd fallen into the altered state as easily as his many centuries of practice could make it, feeling the world give away around him as he found his own, inner being.

He looked around, forgetting he was inside his own mind, a feeling of uncertainty drawing the breath out of his lungs. A million thoughts and emotions suddenly came crashing into his brain, making the namek cry out and claw at his head, to no avail. He saw his father's face, that evilness he was the re-incarnation of, in all the images. Laughing manically and pointing at him, telling him he was a failure. A complete and utter disgrace.

"No!" Piccolo screamed, "Leave me alone! I'm not you! I'm not you!"

"Are you sure about that, Piccolo, my son?" Came his father's voice, "Look at you! You have evilness inside. You are evil! Give in to it!"

"No!" Piccolo growled, wrenching his gaze away from those horrid eyes. "I told you, I'm not you! I'll never be you again!"

It was then he'd noticed the shadows flanking him. Small. They seemed only partially-grown humanoids from what he could see. They were laughing softly and drawing closer, holding out thier hands. With an effort, Piccolo jerked himself out of his trance, blinking back uncharacterisic tears before they could fall.

Piccolo snapped himself back into the present when he heard the scream. It sounded like a woman. He realized the scream had come from Capsule Corp and flew at breakneck speed to get there. He could feel Vegeta's ki stronger now so he knew that he was at Capsule Corp. He was brought up short by what he saw. Vegeta, hovering in place above the yellow-domed buildings had been throwing horrible blasts at the place, brick and mortar, plasture and wood exploded outward in the assault.

Bulma, holding onto baby Trunks and her mother crouched on the ground behind Vegeta, crying loudly. Piccolo saw several small animals racing to get away and Bulma's father trying to sheild the girls with own, feeble body as wood and peices of the building flew everywhere.

Tayven watched from a distance, standing, Piccolo noticed, with her fists clenching and unclenching along with her teeth as her eyes remained wide with fear. She looked as if she wanted to do something but did not know exactly what. She literally bounced on her heels.

"Piccolo!" Goku cried, behind him, Gohan was there as well, grabbing a hold of Tayven's arm just as the girl would have thrown herself upwards in an attempt to get at and stop Vegeta, "It's bad. Those things..."

"I know." Piccolo said, between clasped teeth, "I've felt them. Seen them. They've

taken him over."

"Oh, Vegeta!" Bunny cried, sobbing, "Bulma, why is he doing this?! Why?!"

"H-he's destroying our home..." Mr. Briefs whispered, "If we hadn't got out in time..."

Little Trunks was wailing at the top of his lungs. No matter what she did to try and calm him, the child was reacting to the fear he felt from her as well as his own fear as his world came tumbling down. Tayven, still being restrained by Gohan, felt sorry for the kid, for all that she didn't like little kids. No child deserved to see his father like this.