Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Errant Exile ❯ When You Fall - Part 2 ( Chapter 18 )

Errant Exile

Chapter 17: "When You Fall - Part 2"

AN: This chapter has an extra advisory for gore.

For the third time in less than an hour, Piccolo found himself at the bottom of a pile of broken rock. He stood up, brushed the shards from his gi, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and launched himself back into the fight.

Goten and Trunks were finally starting to improve. Weeks of pounding, kicking, pummeling and the occasional chi bolt to the backside by either Vegeta or himself were just part of the reason; the boys had been given a new incentive by the tournament sponsors. Dissatisfied with the small number of entries they'd received, the sponsors had decided to sweeten the pot. The top prize now stood at nearly a million zeni. Trunks said he didn't care about the money but the thought of Goten possibly winning without a good challenge was too irresistible a lure. Today Goten had partnered with Piccolo and Trunks with his father, and together they were trying to teach themselves how to work as a team.

The 'team' part still needed a lot of improvement.

Moving faster than a casual eye could follow, Piccolo slammed his knuckles into the side of Trunks' face. The boy spun backwards but only for a second; he unleashed a worthy salvo of punches in return and found each one neatly deflected.

"Hey!"

Trunks looked up at the sound of the friendly shout, giving Piccolo an opening to plant a well-placed kick. Lavender hair flying and eyes bulging, Trunks flew backwards and skidded across the field, leaving a furrow through the already mangled grass. Piccolo's lip curled into a small, satisfied smile. "That's what letting yourself get distracted will get you, kid. A rough ride on your backside." He wasn't about to admit he'd sensed Gohan several minutes ago.

Shirt collar open and tie nowhere in sight, Gohan landed softly and dropped his briefcase on the ground. "The seminar ended early today so I thought I'd come see how practice was going." He stood between Piccolo and Vegeta, watching as Trunks picked himself up off the ground, red faced and rubbing his wounded pride with both hands. "How are those two shaping up?"

"Better than last week." Vegeta showed no signs of wear and tear as he folded his arms, brows scrunched in his trademark scowl. "It seems they prefer bribes to honest training."

Gohan fished his glasses out of his pocket. "I heard about the prize! Videl's been dropping hints she'd like to take a cruise during the holidays..."

Shaking the dirt from his thick hair, Goten grinned sheepishly. Both he and Trunks wore old jeans and ratty tee shirts stained with grass and blood. "Not a chance, big brother! You're so out of shape that even Kuririn could wipe the floor with you! Oh...speaking of Kuririn, does anyone know if Eighteen is going to compete?"

Gohan shook his head. "Last I heard she was still undecided. Now that the ante has been upped it wouldn't surprise me if she did. She and Marron have shopping habits to support, you know," he added with a wry grin.

"But who's team would she be on?" Goten wondered. "We're limited to four fighters per team, and I don't know if Yamcha or Tien are going to fight. Even then they'd need another teammate."

Vegeta snorted. "If you'd bothered to read the entire flyer, you'd know fighters are grouped into random teams if they're not already part of one."

Trunks finished brushing the worst of the debris from his clothes and hair. "I've been wondering about something. I know we're supposed to work as a team, but what if Goten and I were to do the fusion dance? We'd still technically be two people, just more powerful! The audience and the judges would never expect that! We'd need to start practicing now so we..."

"Absolutely not!" Piccolo snapped, hands curling into fists. He had to fight the urge to grab their ears and knock their wooden heads together. "You two are never to use that technique again...ever! You'd only make complete fools of yourselves and this stupid team we've put together!"

Trunks and Goten both froze in fright; Trunks clamped a hand over his mouth. "Why'd you have to bring that up?" Goten whispered angrily, knocking him in the ribs with an elbow.

Piccolo wasn't finished. He grabbed their shirt fronts and jerked them forward, reminding them there was muscle behind his threat. "If I catch either one of you even thinking about pulling that stunt - in the tournament or anywhere else - I'll knock you both on your sorry asses so hard you'll be..."

"Somebody's coming!" Vegeta interrupted.

Gohan shielded his eyes against the sun, then gasped. "It's Pan!"

Piccolo released the two boys and followed Gohan and Vegeta's stare. Pan hovered far overhead, then put on a burst of speed and rocketed towards them. She braked hard just a few feet shy of hitting the ground, nearly smashing into Gohan's chest. She wrapped her arms around her father's neck. "Daddy! I finally found you!" Angry tears cascaded down her round little face. "You and Mr. Piccolo have to come now!"

"Pan, honey, slow down!" Gohan wrapped his arms around his daughter and held her tightly as she buried her face in his shirt. "Now, take a deep breath and tell me what's wrong."

Pan pulled away from his shoulder, wiped her nose with the back of her hand and took a deep breath. "Grandma and Ms. Bulma and Khri and me were all eating lunch and these people started running by the windows and they were scared 'cause they were being chased by a bunch of big bugs and then Khri told every body they needed to leave and then she said..."

"Hold on." Gohan hushed her with a finger to her lips. He looked up at Piccolo, his eyes wide. "Bugs!"

Piccolo felt as if a shell of ice had formed around his heart. Before Khri had left for Satan City she'd never mentioned that Pan would be joining the lunch party, but she might not have known. If there was trouble Khri had promised to contact him...the communicator! Prior to sparring he'd put it inside his weighted turban, then wrapped it in a single fold of his cape so it could still be heard if it went off. He raced over to the distant cluster of boulders where he'd stashed the fragile-looking thing and was confronted with a huge pile of rubble. "Dammit!" he snarled, digging in with both hands. Goten and Trunks joined him, taking positions around the pile and earnestly searching. They'd been curious as to why Piccolo would carry such a thing especially after he raged at Trunks for bringing his cell phone, but the fierce expression on his face encouraged them to keep their questions to themselves.

"I found it!" Trunks' brushed away the last heavy stones and whipped off Piccolo's cape. His triumph faded when he found the communicator. It had fallen out of the overturned turban and was covered in pebbles and dust. The top corner had been crushed, taking out most of the screen. Delicate conductive fibers dangled uselessly from its shattered casing. "Piccolo, I'm sorry. I don't think I can fix this..." he said sadly, handing it over.

Piccolo stared at the wreckage a moment, cursing himself for more reasons than he had time to mentally list. He threw the device away and hurried back over to Pan and Gohan. "Pan's told me a little more," Gohan said, his face pale. "It sounds like these creatures have overrun Satan City. Khri told Mom and Bulma to head east and get out of town. She also sent Pan," he tousled her hair and she managed a small smile, "to tell us what was happening and get help." He looked to the sky in the direction of the distant city. "Now that I know what's happened, I can feel it...the panic, the fear..."

"Dad?" Trunks looked worriedly at Vegeta. "What about mom? Do you think she and ChiChi got out?"

Vegeta's smile was sarcastic but faint lines appeared around his eyes. "That woman could scream the bugs into submission if she wanted to. I'm sure she's fine but we'll keep an eye out for her."

Gohan released Pan and she hovered midair. "Honey, I want you to do what Khri said and go straight to your grandma's house. I want you to wait there until one of us comes for you. Its ok to answer the phone if it rings because it could be your mom."

Tears welled in her eyes again. "But daddy..."

"No buts! Think of it as part of the mission Khri gave you." He reached out and brushed a lock of Pan's thick hair away from her face. "It's important, Pan. Stay at Grandma's and be brave. We'll come as soon as we can."

Pan nodded and wiped her eyes again. "Oh...ok. I'll go to Grandma's."

Teeth grinding with impatience, Piccolo watched Pan give her father a quick hug and shoot into the sky. Dammit Khri...you're fighting alone, aren't you? What were you thinking? How am I supposed to find you when you don't have chi? He was itching to take flight himself and find Khri; it was the only thing that would stop the guilt gnawing at him. I knew this was a bad idea!

He looked down to find Vegeta watching him. He was sneering, as usual, but his head was cocked to one side in curiosity. "Tell you what, Namek. I'll take Trunks and play exterminator while you, Gohan and Goten look for your pretty Leonid. If you can't find her, we'll come back and help you look through the corpses."

Eyes narrowing, Piccolo restrained himself from responding physically to the taunt. "If you want to go squash bugs, fine by me."

Hand raised in a mocking salute, Vegeta took off so fast a cloud of dust spiraled into the air behind him, leaving the rest of them coughing and rubbing their eyes. Trunks shook his head ruefully and raced after his father.

Wiping at his watering eyes, Gohan tucked his glasses back into his pocket. "Piccolo, I know I'm rusty, but I'll do everything I can to help find Khri."

"Then let's stop wasting time," he growled and shot upward, Gohan following close behind.

From several kilometers away smoke could be seen rising from multiple locations in Satan City. Piccolo could make out the distant roar of Royal Army planes circling the scene and artillery fire. The gleaming skyscrapers that had once been the pride of the city were gone, including the majestic Continental Hotel, replaced by thick columns of smoke that filled the air with ash. He could feel Vegeta's chi and knew the arrogant idiot wasn't going out of his way to get there quickly; he was either being deliberately slow and wanting to prolong the battle or was searching the ground for signs of Bulma and ChiChi. The latter excuse was too altruistic for Piccolo to swallow. Trunks didn't wait and flew straight to the where the noise and smoke were most concentrated. At least he'll keep Vegeta from taking out the planet as well as the bugs.

'Piccolo! Do you know what's going on in Satan City?' Dende's shout was painfully loud inside his head.

'We're almost there, but I need to know...what are you seeing?'

He felt Dende widen his focus to include Gohan in the conversation. 'The city is being attacked by those creatures that landed the same time Khri did. Almost a hundred of their ships landed just west of the city! Almost everyone evacuated to the east, but there are still people trapped downtown. Anyone the creatures find they kill, and the Royal Army is doing just as much damage with their bombs and weapons trying to fend them off. Its almost as if they're looking for something...'

'Dende, what about Khri? Can you see her?'

'Let me look...Piccolo, I can't find her, but she doesn't use chi, remember? She might as well be invisible!'

Gohan gave him a mental nudge to get his attention. 'Piccolo, do you know how we can find her? Satan City is a big place and if we can't use chi to sense her...'

The thought had occurred to Piccolo before Dende's frantic hail.. 'I have to get close to the city. I can't explain how it works, but there's a technique we've experimented with that might help.' If she's still alive, he thought, then immediately shoved that notion away as they reached the outskirts of the city. She's alive. She's too experienced, too clever...she's got to be alive. His own refusal to believe otherwise surprised him, but now wasn't the time to waste on sentiments like new friendship. He wouldn't have that friendship anymore if anything happened to her...

Piccolo stared down in awe at the streets below. Every building for at least a square mile either had all the windows blown out, was riddled in gaping holes or had been reduced to piles of rubble. Cars and trucks had been smashed and tossed around like toys in a sandbox. A broken main sent a steady stream of water into the air from the cracked street and turned the gutter into a minor river. Goten whistled. "Piccolo, how are we ever going to find Khri in that mess? Its like looking for a needle in a haystack that's been spread across a field!"

"There are soldiers down there, and it looks like there might be a few civilians too." Gohan pointed to a flat roof where a handful of people were huddled. The corner had collapsed and blocked off the stairway, leaving them trapped but out of danger for the moment. "Maybe we should ask if anyone has seen her?"

"It's a waste of time she might not have." Piccolo felt Gohan and Goten regard him anxiously. "I need you to be quiet so I can concentrate."

In spite the urgency and need, Piccolo felt his cheeks turn purple with embarrassment as he noted his position relative to the eastbound street and closed his eyes. He began to turn like a weathervane in a slow, steady breeze.

"Piccolo, what...?"

"Quiet!" Khri's little game of Blind Man's Bluff had let him practice sensing the empty spot where her chi would be, if she had any. This would be tricky; the huge chi of Vegeta and Trunks off to the west were overwhelming his senses and the bit of chi he used to fly added to the background noise. Dammit, Khri, where are you? Why didn't you wait for...

There! Piccolo's eyes flew open and he froze, ignoring the spike of pain shooting through his skill. Khri's blackfire shield was winking on and off erratically like a floodlight with a short. "This way!" He shot towards the south side of the city, leaving Gohan and Goten to keep up.

Sirens wailed as the first emergency crews began to arrive. Ignoring the water trucks struggling to bring a massive factory fire under control, Piccolo kept his focus on Khri's failing shield. At one point it dipped below sensing levels and he had to stop. Khri, if you die on me...

"Gohan! Are...are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Goten asked, his voice tight.

Piccolo felt a hand on his arm. "Look down," Gohan said quietly. "Khri left us a trail."

The wide street was packed with cars, abandoned by their drivers after being trapped in the traffic jam. Dead Telkarri littered the entire scene, most of them in pieces, the acid leaking from their bodies hard at work eating the paint and metal of the stranded vehicles.. A noxious smell Piccolo remembered from years ago wafted upward and Goten plugged his nose. "Khri did all that? By herself?"

"I don't doubt it." Piccolo's eyes followed the trail down the street. The bodies became more numerous until the trail dead-ended at a large parking garage. He raced to the gate and landed on the dented hood of a truck. Cars had been trapped just inside the entrance, leaving very little room to walk between them. Metal creaked when Gohan and Goten landed behind him. The emergency lights were off and the shadows were thick inside the first floor. Anything lying in wait for a victim would have a good chance of not being seen. "Gohan, take the second floor. Goten, go up to the third. I'll check this one. Be careful; those things move fast." The brothers nodded, then flew carefully beneath the low ceiling towards the ramp leading upwards.

Flying horizontally over the maze of cars, Piccolo headed towards the back of the garage. He held a fold of his cloak over his nose and mouth, trying to keep from breathing in the fumes produced by the acid dissolving concrete. The further back he went the fewer the cars became until he finally passed the last one, another Telkarri corpse draped across its mangled roof. There was nothing but columns and corpses between his position and the far retaining wall and no sign of a blackfire shield. Fists clenching in frustration, Piccolo took a deep breath through the cloak fabric. "Khri!"

A faint rattle sounded far off to the left. It could be her...it could also be more of these things...he spun around and raced towards the source of the echo, passing column after column, all with corpses sprawled at their base. He rushed around a ramp leading down from the second floor and froze.

"Kh...Khri!"

Clinging to the talon that had pierced her shoulder and pinned her to a column, Khri's head was slumped forward. Her House Guard armor was gouged, dented and pitted and her helmet was gone. Her eyes were tightly closed and her entire body was trembling. Struggling to control his own shaking, Piccolo climbed past the body of the Blue, careful not to move or jar it. He reached out and gently placed his hand on her forehead, pushing her head up. "Khri!"

She opened her eyes. They were barely glowing and her pupils, normally as clear and amber as her irises, were dilated and cloudy. Acid had scorched her cheek, digging deep and narrowly missing her eye. Her breath was coming in short, shallow pants. "Pih...Piccolo?" she whispered.

"Don't talk. We're going to get you to Dende," he said gruffly. 'Gohan! I...I found her...she's...'

Before he could finish Gohan appeared beside him. As neglected as his skills were, Gohan could still teleport when his emotions ran high. "Piccolo!" His eyes were round and his face pale. "Oh no..."

"Gohan, Hold her up! Hurry! Her weight is hanging on that thing!"

Gohan slipped underneath the huge talon and gently grasped Khri around the waist. He pushed up and tried not to push back at the same time. "Piccolo, she's bleeding a lot but it should be worse! How could she live through this?"

The air whistled and Goten appeared, his face just as horrified as his brother. "Oh...what do you want me to do?" he asked Piccolo, voice shaking.

"Be quiet! Dende, can you hear me?"

'I can hear all of you,' the shaky voice rang in all three heads. 'I'm ready for her!'

Still supporting her head, Piccolo took her face in both his shaking hands. Her skin was cold and turning a pale yellow. "Khri, I know you're keeping yourself from bleeding to death. Don't stop! We're going to get you out of this!"

"Suh...city? S...safe?"

"You want to talk now? Vegeta and Trunks are taking care of the rest of the bugs. They're not your problem anymore, so shut up and concentrate on what you're doing!" His shout echoed back to him, angry and terrified. "Talk later," he whispered hoarsely, bringing his face close to hers. "Fight now."

Goten tore off his old tee shirt and wadded it up. He shoved it between Gohan's arm and the Blue's body to keep acid from dripping on him. "Can't you just teleport her to the Lookout now?"

"If you had been serious about training," Piccolo growled, "you'd know there are limits to it. Khri is trapped by both the bug and the pillar, which is attached to the garage. Nobody, not even Goku, can teleport that much dead weight. And Dende can't heal her with this sticking out of her."

Gohan carefully moved Khri's dangling left arm, trying to make her more comfortable. "Even if we could, there are people trapped on the upper floors! This building is already damaged. If we took the pillar with us it could collapse!"

Piccolo looked over the situation one more time and grimaced. He gave Khri's head a little shake to rouse her and glared into her dimming eyes. "Khri, we're going to have to cut the thing's leg and pull you off." Ignoring the gasp from Goten and the groan from Gohan he went on. "You can't black out! Do you hear me? You've got to keep yourself from bleeding to death!"

Incredulity at his demand forced its way though her agonized expression. She stared at him, her struggle to breath worsening, then rasped, "I'll...try."

"You'll do better than try," he growled softly, leaning his forehead against hers, antennae burrowing into her hair. "You're going to focus, you're going to fight, and you're going to live." He glanced off to the side. "Gohan, you know what to do?"

Gohan traded places with his brother, letting Goten keep Khri's weight from hanging on the talon. His chi surged and his right hand began to glow. "Ready when you are."

'So am I,' came Dende's thought. He had boosted his own power level, giving Piccolo a stronger point to focus on when he teleported.

Piccolo nodded and looked back at Khri. He gripped her face a little tighter, trying not to notice the blood seeping from the corner of her mouth. "Just focus and fight. We'll be fast." His left arm circled her waist and he pulled his right shoulder back out of Gohan's way. "Now!"

Gohan's ki sliced cleanly through the Blue's talon with a surgeon's precision. Without support its body fell forward as it collapsed but Gohan blasted it back, sending it skidding towards the retaining wall. As soon as the body was clear Piccolo threw his other arm around Khri as Goten released her, held her tightly and pulled. He felt her stiffen as the wider, cut end went through her shoulder and out her back, taking bits of her with it. "Fight, dammit!" he growled in her ear as he reached up and put two fingers to his eye ridge. Determined not to think about or feel the wet warmth soaking into his gi, he clenched his teeth, focused on Dende's chi and vanished.

To Be Continued...