Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Rebirth of Destruction ❯ Returning Once Again ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

“What do you think about this?”

“It’s a toaster oven.”

“Your powers of observation astound me, Vegeta.”

“Why would you offer them a toaster oven as a wedding gift?”

Bulma sighed in exasperation. Gohan and Videl’s wedding was several days away and they had yet to buy their wedding gift. The couple had announced their engagement several months before. Not that it had come as a surprise. In fact, when a nervous Gohan had stood in front of his family and friends, Videl in tow, and made the announcement, everyone had simply smiled in congratulations and turned back to their individual conversations.

~oOo~

“Um, guys?” Gohan called out. “Didn’t you hear what I said?”

“Yeah, you’re getting married,” Krillin said with a shrug, a small grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. “About time, if you ask me…”

“No one did,” Vegeta muttered from his place leaning against the far wall with his arms crossed.

“Gee,” Gohan said, scratching the back of his head, much like his father. “I had no idea I was so predictable.”

“Oh, you’re not predictable, Gohan,” Goku spoke up. “You’ve been dating for a while, so everyone just expected it.” He stood up and made his way toward his son. With a proud grin, Goku enveloped him in a hug and clapped his back several times. He then turned to Videl and slightly bent his torso forward in a traditional Japanese salute. “I’m proud of you both.”

Gohan blushed at his father’s words and looked down.

“Yeah, we were starting to make bets on when you two would finally tie the knot!” Krillin exclaimed with a laugh.

“Which reminds me, Krillin,” Yamcha added. “You owe me twenty bucks!”

Chichi picked that moment to step out of Kame house with a tray of goodies. “Here you go, everyone,” she said happily. Setting the tray down on a table, she moved to sit with Bulma.

“Hey, Chichi, did you hear Gohan’s ‘big announcement’?” Krillin asked.

Chichi shook her head. “No, what big announcement?”

“Gohan and Videl are finally getting married!”

“Oh, my baby!” Chichi cried. She jumped up from for her seat and hugged Gohan, planting kises on his cheek excitedly. “I can’t believe my baby’s finally getting married!”

Gohan blushed deeply in embarrassment. “Um, mom, c’mon…”

~oOo~


“It’s a practical gift, Vegeta,” Bulma explained with exaggerated slowness. “You’re supposed to give the couple something they’ll be giving a lot of use to for years to come. Anyway, it’s on their registry.”

Vegeta smirked. “I can think of other, much more interesting things that they can give a lot of use to for years to come.”

“I do not want to know, Gutter-brain,” Bulma replied with a roll of her eyes.

She placed the toaster oven back on the shelf and grimaced. “Well, we’ve just about searched the entire mall,” she continued. “Is there nothing that suits your ‘Royal Standards’, oh Mighty Prince?”

Not appreciating her sarcasm, Vegeta simply scowled at her. “Buy whatever the hell you want, I don’t care. It’s your money.”

“Don’t you dare take an attitude with me, mister!” Bulma cried.

Vegeta rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. Here we go again.

“Gohan and Videl are our friends,” she told him matter-of-factly. “And you are going to shop with me and you’re going to help me pick out their wedding present, and you are going to enjoy it, whether you like it or not! And furthermore—” Her voice was raising both in pitch and in volume as she went on, so Vegeta released a sound in exasperation and stepped forward to cover her mouth with his hand. People around them were slowing down to stare at them curiously.

“Quit your jabbering, woman, you’re drawing attention to yourself,” Vegeta hissed. “And your agitation can’t be any good for the child you’re carrying.”

Bulma glared at him as she removed his hand from her mouth. “Oh, what would you know?” She placed a protective hand over her seven-month swollen belly. “It’s not like you were around the first time.”

It was Vegeta’s turn to roll his eyes. Bulma’s hormones had been out of control since she had gotten pregnant. To say that he and Trunks had been victims of all-out crazy mood swings would have been the understatement of the year. While Trunks held a healthy fear of his sometimes crazy hormone-driven mother, Vegeta had no such patience.

 “Now is not the time to be bringing up such things,” he retorted. “I am not going to crawl on the ground and beg for your forgiveness, so deal with it. I’m here now, aren’t I?”

And for the life of him, Vegeta still couldn’t figure out why that was. How he had gone from being an incredibly strong and sadistic bastard who worked in Freeza’s army and destroyed entire planets just for the mere challenge and thrill of it, from being the mighty prince of the Saiyans, to being a family man, protector of Earth, living with his loud-mouthed wife and a purple-hair hybrid son, was certainly beyond him.

He had originally come to Earth to find Goku and the Dragonballs. It had seemed like a simple enough plan in his head. Get to Earth, get the Dragonballs, make his wish, and destroy the planet. Simple.

Right?

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, depending on whose point of view you looked at it from, a long battle had eventually resulted in unspeakable humiliation: his life had been spared by an arch nemesis and his hybrid brat. He had crawled away, battered and bewildered from his defeat, yet determined to regain his footing. As soon as he had healed, he had been on his way to Namek, deducing that there must have been another set of Dragonballs that he could use to gain his ultimate goal—immortality to defeat Freeza and take his rightful place as ruler of the universe.

One can only imagine his surprise when he had gotten to Namek, only to find that said arch nemesis and followers had beaten him to it. To top it off, Freeza had also discovered the legend of the Dragonballs and had come to gain his own immortality. He had been bluntly forced into an alliance with his enemies—enemies who had, against his will, eventually become his friends—in order to defeat an even more powerful, common enemy.

What had happened next was unforgettable. Loaded up with an immeasurable amount of cockiness, Vegeta had taken it upon himself to kill Freeza. The relatively short fight had ended in the death of Vegeta. His then-temporary allies had watched the entire thing, and in one last desperate attempt at ridding the universe of the evil Freeza, Vegeta had actually begged Goku to finish Freeza off as revenge for them and their dead world.

Next thing he knew, he had awoken buried under a pile of dirt. After realizing that he wasn’t in Hell, he had flown to the ongoing battle between a newly Super Saiyan Goku and an incredibly pissed off Freeza. He had been close enough to spit on the bastard, but had instead been transported to Earth, along with all of the Namekians and Earthlings that had been on Namek. The blue-haired woman, Bulma, had invited him to stay at her home while he gathered his bearings. And that was where he had ended up staying for the last fifteen years or so, battling a seemingly endless amount of foes and saving the world from utter destruction.

Against his better judgment, he had started a relationship with the woman and even had a child with her, with another on the way. Worse yet, he had become attached to them and couldn’t even bring himself to leave for an extended period of time. These alien feelings he had for his family were beyond his comprehension and he found that could do nothing less than surrender to them. Earth had somehow become his home and for some reason, he didn’t mind it one bit.

Pathetic, he thought with disgust. That’s what I’ve become. I’ve lowered myself to live the life of a pathetic earthling and shop for stupid wedding presents for Kakarot’s idiot son and his idiot wife. My father must be rolling in his grave.

“I know, I’m sorry, Vegeta,” Bulma told him. She smiled an assurance. “You’ve changed a lot since then and you know that I appreciate everything you’ve been doing for me and for Trunks lately.” She bit her bottom lip. “I think it’s just the hormones acting up. Jeez, I’m a mess.”

Just as he was about to reply, Bulma’s face lit up with excitement and she pointed at something behind him. “Oh, Vegeta, look!” she cried.

Vegeta furrowed his brow and followed her gaze—only to twist his face in horror as he realized what had gotten her so excited.

It was a baby store.

In an instant, Bulma had suddenly acquired some sort of hormonal-driven superspeed that even he seemed to be incapable of, as she breezed past him, out of the store, across the corridor, and into the next store.

“Bulma!” he called after her. “Hey! Bulma!” His face showed only pure irritation as he trudged over to the store she had gone into. “Bulma,” he called again as he found her going through the racks of baby clothing.

“Oh, isn’t this the most adorable thing?!” Bulma exclaimed, bringing out a tiny pink dress lined with white lace.

“It’s too small on you,” Vegeta muttered.

“Oh, for the baby, silly!” she replied. “And it’s a ‘3-6 months’! Perfect.” Vegeta scowled as she draped the little dress over his arm.

“We didn’t come here to shop for baby clothing, Bulma,” Vegeta said, his voice laced with barely controlled annoyance. Still, he didn’t make a move to remove the dress from his arm.

“Oh, I just can’t resist, Vegeta,” she answered without even glancing at him. “What do you think about this?” She held up a light yellow baby pantsuit. Without waiting for his answer, she tossed it on his arm over the pink dress.

“You’ve already bought enough as it is,” he told her. “She’ll grow out of these before she gets a chance to wear them all.”

“I’ll make sure she wears them all,” said Bulma absently, looking through another rack.

“May I help you with anything?” a kind-looking elder saleslady said from beside Vegeta.

“No,” Vegeta said firmly, but was overridden by Bulma’s, “Definitely! I’m looking for all types of clothing for a newborn baby girl…”

Vegeta groaned as he fought the urge to simply grab Bulma and fly her out of here before blasting the store into oblivion.

~oOo~

At long last, he was home.

The throne room of his palace had a lovely view of his home planet. He looked down at the frozen landscape, contemplating the unique beauty of a world bathed in ice. Whole mountain ranges dressed in thick layers of snow, and deep oceans shielded by blue ice. They were a proud race having endured the hardships of the land now easily bent to their will. Few people understood this. Few took the time to look out the window and see the beauty of their world. No matter what his purpose, he always did. The coming of familiar ki’s interrupted his thoughts.

“Koola, what have you been up to? You’ve been extremely busy since we got back.”

Freeza turned his porcelain face sideways to greet his brother. Koola stood next to him glancing at the sights below. He waited for a few seconds before answering.

“I was reviewing the state of our empire,” he said. “Many things have changed in the time of our absence. Half of it is gone and of the remaining half, many no longer answer to our people as lords.”

Freeza chuckled. “Expected. I knew many of those fools only swore allegiance to me for interests… It is nice to know who they are though. That should give us something to work with, should it not, Brother?”

Koola nodded. “Dalia and Coran are sending word to the worlds that still answer to us and an invitation to those that do not. Call it a warning if you might.”

The corners of Freeza’s dark lips curled and his tail swayed in anticipation. “Oh my, this should be interesting.”

“My lords, pardon my intrusion.”

Both brothers turned to face the newcomer. It was Dalia. She was strange for a warrior. Dressed in the finest silks of the galaxy, her hair and face decorated and styled to the latest and most beautiful fashions, she looked more like a geisha than a trained assassin did. Freeza nodded in approval. She had always been like this.

~oOo~

“So, you wish to assemble an elite army, do you my sons?” King Kold stood in the throne room of his ship looking at the space they flew by. His face was emotionless, but both of them could sense the interest of his father in his tone of voice.

“Yes, Papa,” Koola said. “We wish to gather the strongest fighters of our empire and choose from them those worthy to serve us. These elite fighters could win us worlds and kingdoms.”

King Kold chuckled. “But Koola, can you not do that yourself? Have I not trained you and your brother to be the mightiest warriors of the universe? Are we not by far the strongest family ever to be born? Why would you want to gather little nobodies from back-washed worlds?”

“To remind their rulers who their lord is,” Freeza spoke up. “By giving us their strongest fighters, they are giving up possibly the strongest weapon their planets have. Besides, it will be fun to train them. It would give us something to entertain us for a time.”

“But you’ll kill them if you fight full power with them.”

“We will not. Freeza wants an army to plow the worlds before him, I do not think it is such a bad idea. They can go places when we are occupied else where.”

“But you already have an army,” King Kold countered.

“Not like this,” Freeza said. “I am talking about a hand full of warriors that can single-handedly destroy a planet and leave it in rubble. We will need such fighters if we want the king of Vegeta-sei to side with us, an army whose single force is feared throughout the universe.”

King Kold turned his tall frame around and regarded his sons with interest. “Have your wish,” he said to them. He then turned to the few guards and assistants standing by the door. “Send word to the ruler of every planet. Inform them that Lord Freeza is asking for their strongest warriors. Those chosen will have the honor of belonging to his elite army. Any world that does not cooperate, will answer to him.”

He finished his words in a matter of threat. Freeza smiled at the reckless running around of the guards quickly obeying his father’s orders in fear of him keeping that promise on them.

“Oh Papa, you have such sense of humor,” he said when they were gone.

King Kold nodded. “Have your fun. The two of you are the strongest of the universe. It is beyond me the reason why you want an army of weaklings, but have your way. Koola, I trust you too will be in the selection of the warriors?”

“Yes. I too will choose some to serve me as Freeza will choose his.”

“Then I will trust your decision.”

It had only taken a few days for every single planet to send their candidates. Koola and Freeza were now seated in the far corner of a great stadium watching each of the warriors being presented. Freeza looked at his brother and smiled at his discomfort. Unlike himself, Koola preferred to remain anonymous to the rest of the empire. Though his strength was also great, he preferred to administrate rather than go and conquer the worlds.

“Do not worry, Brother,” Freeza told him. “Those not chosen will not leave this room alive.”

Koola grinned, “That wasn’t what worried me, but that these warriors look mighty weak.”

“It will be interesting to see them fight,” Freeza said looking at the rather young warrior that was being presented now.

“Zarbon, duke of Akeela of the world of Xo’na,” the announcer said. This was an interesting fighter. He had been the first not to break eye contact with them when bowing.
“My lords,” he said kneeling before them. Both of them nodded at the greeting and gestured for the next one. The value of this daring one would be confirmed soon.

“Kali, of the world of Draconic.”

This was a winged reptilian of some sort with horrible breath. The parade of warriors continued for some time, and then it had been her turn.

“Princess Dalia, youngest daughter of King Meero of the world of Zainu.”
At the word ‘princess’ the entire stadium had gone quiet and turned to look at the one being presented. A beautiful deep blue skinned girl stood in that place. Her indigo hair was styled in complicated braids and her mint-colored eyes were accented with make-up of a similar color. She had long, flowing garments of a strange fabric. She took a regal bow before the two of them, then turned and left with the other waiting fighters. Freeza followed her with his eyes. Something was different about her, something all the fools whistling and cat-calling her didn’t know.

The presentation continued for sometime longer, until eventually there were no more warriors left. Koola and Freeza exchanged glances then nodded at the announcer.

“By their majesties’ decree, the last twenty warriors left standing will have the honor of being considered,” he said. “There are no rules, just fight and try to stay alive. Begin!”

The next few moments were full of frenzy for all those whose eyes weren’t trained to see what was happening. Many of the fighters were crushed a few seconds into the tournament, but many others continued. Some time later, Koola pointed towards one of the corners of the room. There, about ten or so fighters had ganged up on the Princess of Zainu. She looked completely calm and in control and by the state of her garments, it appeared as if she was at a fancy cocktail, instead of being attacked from every side. Still, none of the warriors reached her. Her aura alone was enough to send them all flying the way they had come.

“Interesting,” Koola said programming his scouter on the desired person. “A Princess? Notice her ki has barely risen since she walked in.”

“Mmm. Is it possible for her to hide her ki?” Freeza asked clicking a few buttons himself. Suddenly her ki flew off the chart.

“Perhaps,” his brother replied. “Either that, or these guys will really get a fight worth their money.”

Freeza nodded while curling his lips. She proved to be merciless.

~oOo~


As expected, none of the fighters even got close to her when the last twenty had been left standing. Amongst them have been Zarbon and Dodoria and a few members of the future Ginyu force including Ginyu himself. They had each made their choice, Zarbon he had chosen for his style, tactic when fighting, and because he kept a cool head, Dodoria for his brute strength, even though his manner left a lot to wish for. Ginyu was a military genius though he could be rather odd, and finally Burtur for his speed. Koola had also made his choices, with his strongest being Sauza, but the decision of who trained the foreign princess had not been resolved. Finally, they chose to leave her out of it and train her both equally. She was also kept well hidden from the rest of the universe; only the chosen few knew of her true identity and never dared mock her again.

She had later on even helped Ginyu himself train his elite warriors, but had little patience for playing teacher. It had been she who had also brought to their attention the world of Konack in the Southern Galaxy. It had a race of extremely powerful priests who had been gifted by their gods in incredible ways. Many legends and myths of long gone heroes came from it so it had come to her attention. The original priests had over time become sorcerers and wizards and this could be put to great use. She had managed to bring one of the most powerful to them, and with his help, they had taken over that world. Coran had been a loyal servant ever since. He and Dalia were almost inseparable now after many years of combining her incredible power with his unusual one. Both had served Koola and Freeza well, and now, years after their death, had somehow managed to bring them back.

“Coran wishes to speak with you, there have been some unexpected events we hadn’t thought of before,” Dalia said after a bow.

“Does he know how to give us physical bodies again?”

“Yes, Lord Koola,” she replied. “I believe that is one of the reasons why he wishes to see you.”

Freeza chuckled. “He can come in.”

Dalia looked towards the door then back at her masters. “There is something he must show you, if my lords would be kind enough to come?” Koola and Freeza nodded and let themselves be led by Dalia to where the other was.

Coran waited for them in library. His tall frame was bent over a pile of old and musty looking books. Like all of his species, he had large and extremely pointed ears. The humanoid youthfulness of his face had never left him despite his years and was complemented nicely by a head full of light red hair. As always, he wore the ceremonial robes of his place amongst his people: a sleeveless dark beige shirt that revealed an elaborate necklace covering most of his bare chest, with dark green pants and cape. As soon as he saw them enter the room he stopped what he was doing and greeted them with a low bow.

“My lords,” he said respectfully.

Freeza nodded. “Tell us, Coran, what have you discovered.”

Coran nodded and proceeded to explain: “You asked me to search for a way to give my lords a body, and this I have done. When Dalia and I began working on a way to bring Your Majesties back, we also had a plan on how to restore you to a mortal or physical body. We knew that without them, growing in strength would be impossible in the mortal plane and that the two of you have been training too hard in the afterlife to be stopped by this. Our original plan backfired on us, however, because when I invoked the magic to give you bodies, nothing happened.” He walked back to the table and picked up one of the books he had been reading. “I have found out why. Apparently, like the sources of power used to bring my lords back were reciprocal but the same, the portal opened to lead you out of your prisons was too. We were aware of the one you came from, but somewhere else there was another that opened the opposite of your prison and let two beings, one for each of you, out of it. In our case, it was Heaven and the beings that came are out of my knowledge, but they must be same in power as my lords but opposite in intentions.”

Koola crossed his hands over his chest and tapped his fingers impatiently. “How does this relate to our bodies?”

“I was coming to that, my lord,” Coran said bowing his head. “Things changed because of this anomaly. I have been led to believe that my lords must find those let out of Heaven, along with another body to inhabit. The first of the two to get a body will possess it. The other one will add his power to the first. It will be like what many call fusion.”

“Anybody?” Freeza said walking up to one of the large windows and looking out, his tail swaying in anticipation.

“Of species, yes,” Coran said. “But it must be newly born for the union of power to be effective.”

Koola gave a half-hearted laugh. “Too bad the Saiyan scum have no unborn offspring we could use, isn’t it, Brother? I know they were the ones you had in mind.”

Freeza chuckled. “I will have my revenge,” he said softly. “They will pay dearly for what they did to me!” He clenched his fists and Koola could feel his ki rising rapidly.

“We will, Freeza,” he told him. “What was that you once told me about Dragonballs?”

Freeza turned to them once again. “Yes! The Dragonballs! They can grant us immortality as well as bodies!”

“I have heard of such things,” Dalia said. “There are two of you, however, and it would take more than one wish to achieve that for both.”

Koola nodded. “We must find suitable bodies first, as well as those who came into the mortal realm with us.”

“My lords,” Coran called to them. His back was turned, but they could still sense the heavy magic he was using, “I think I may have found an appropriate candidate.”

Koola and Freeza walked to see what he was doing and discovered a window of magic before him. Inside, a pretty human female talked to someone that was out of their sight range. The window widened and they saw who it was.

“Vegeta!” Freeza exclaimed angrily. “What--Who is the girl?”

“That,” Coran told them, “is the one he has chosen to be his mate. But what interests me is her belly.”

Dalia looked at the apparition and smiled. “She is with child!” she cried.

Coran nodded.

Koola chuckled. “The monkey prince… I remember him. Yes, this does make things more interesting.”

Freeza laughed madly. “Nothing will hurt the stupid monkey more than to know his precious brat is possessed by that which he hates! Yes, then we can kill all he holds dear! All that have seen him and Son Goku will die by our hand!”

Koola smirked. “Take care of Vegeta, Freeza. Son Goku and I have some age-old scores to settle. I will make him pay for all he did to you and I.”

Freeza turned to his brother. “Yes… it was by his blood that Papa and I were killed…”

“You confirmed it then? That kid was Vegeta’s son?”

Freeza nodded bitterly clenching his fists in anger. “I learnt it in Hell when another defeated by them told me. Damnit!”

“Lord Koola, Lord Freeza,” Dalia said, “allow Coran and I to go find your Dragonballs. We will also get you any other thing you might wish. As well as find out who your opposites are.”

Freeza smiled coldly and as he looked at his brother. “Yes. That way Koola and I can attend to some of the pressing matters of state.”

Koola grinned. “We will rally some old friends.”

Dalia and Coran bowed. “We have already sent word to all the worlds of your empire,” Dalia said being careful with her wording. Her lords were back and that meant all they had once claimed returned to them even if the worlds were not yet aware of it. “I have summoned the rulers at your request and leave you to choose when and where you wish to meet with them.”

“Well done,” Koola told them. “The two of you know where to go. I trust we will have what we want soon?”

Dalia nodded. “Whole worlds, if you wish, sire.”

~oOo~

The warm afternoon breeze blew lightly, causing the thick green blades of grass to sway gently. A chain of mountains could be seen far away, bathed in shadows cast by the glare of the sunlight. The only sounds heard were the occasional song of a bird or the distant roar of a dinosaur and the air was filled with the aroma that could only belong during in the springtime.

Abruptly, a giant spiral of light and energy appeared above, breaking the peaceful scenery with a clap of thunder and the darkening of the formerly sunny sky. The earth trembled, shaking the firmament of the planet down to the very core and making all in its vicinity seek shelter in fear. Two figures, dwarfed by the magnificence of the spiral, ripped out of the portal and landed with a sickening thud on the ground. As swiftly as it had begun, it disappeared, leaving the two stunned beings lying unceremoniously on the hard ground.

One was medium sized with long tied-back white hair almost matching his lilac skin and very pointed ears decorated by a pair of earrings. He wore bright red and white robes suited for someone of high nobility. The other was much taller with green skin, an oval-shaped head with a form-fitting helmet tied with a cloth at the base, plus a golden halo over his head. He wore a long-sleeved navy blue shirt, white pants, and a heavy, white, sleeveless coat tied at the waist with a black belt.

“Damnit!”

“What the…!”

They both sat up simultaneously and turned to look at each other. The second who had spoken gaped at the first in stunned silence. His unintentional companion simply furrowed his brow in confusion, before turning to look around with a faint sense of recognition. “Are we on Earth?” he asked.

“Pardon me, but I wouldn’t exactly know,” the second being replied.
The first one nodded and glanced around again. “Earth,” he murmured, as if confirming his own suspicions. He turned back to his companion. “Paikuhan, I presume?”

Paikuhan looked at him, puzzled, but nodded anyway. “Yes,” he answered. “Have we met before?”

“No, but I’ve heard plenty of you,” the other being said. “You have quite the reputation in Heaven as the one who challenges Son Goku in strength.” He clasped his palms together and bowed respectfully. “I am called Kaio-shin.”

“Lord Kaio-shin?” Paikuhan asked with surprise with a newly found utter respect. “What… what are you…or, rather… what are we doing here?”

“Um, well, I suppose that… um, well,” Kaio-shin stuttered and then sighed. “I have no idea. But…” his face lit up once again, “I could go find out!”

Paikuhan raised an eyebrow as he watched Kaio-shin simply stand there expectantly. Kaio-shin held up a finger. “I’m transporting,” he said, as if it explained everything.

Paikuhan simply stared.

After a few more seconds of lack of activity, Kaio-shin’s face fell. “I don’t understand… it’s always worked before.”

“Try again,” Paikuhan suggested.

Several minutes later and still no teleportation, Kaio-shin clenched his fists and a desperate look came over his face. “Damnit!” he cried. “I’ve been stripped of my power!”

Paikuhan crossed his arms and turned around to look for the first time at their surroundings. Now that the spiral was gone, it looked once again peaceful and he could fully enjoy the beautiful scenery. “So this is Earth, huh? It looks a lot calmer than I imagined it would, with the reputation it’s acquired…” He turned back to face Kaio-shin. “What should we do?”

At a loss, Kaio-shin simply blinked. “I… I’m not sure,” he replied. “I suppose we should start by figuring out why we’re here.”

Paikuhan nodded. “Okay,” he agreed. After a few moments of silence: “So... How do we do that?”

“Stop asking me as if I know everything!” he answered, distracted by the fact that he couldn’t teleport. “What do I look like, a god?”

“Um.” Paikuhan blinked. “Well, you’re higher than a god…”

Kaio-shin snapped his fingers. “Of course!” he exclaimed. “God! This world’s guardian: Dende.” As if forgetting that he had a companion, he simply turned and flew off to the general direction of the Lookout. Startled, Paikuhan reflexively took off after him, catching up in no time.

“Lord Kaio-shin?”

Snapped out of his momentary reverie, Kaio-shin turned to him. “Sorry about that,” he said apologetically. “I am not usually that rude. I’m simply eager to know what’s going on.”

Paikuhan nodded. “No apology necessary. I assume we are on our way to this Dende?”

“Yes,” Kaio-shin said. “He knows all that goes on in this world, so if anyone can help us, it’s him.”

Paikuhan nodded and looked ahead at the needle like structure that appeared in the horizon before them. The needle proved to be an ivory colored structure rising from the firmament into the clouds. Carved from top to bottom, it was crowned by what looked to be a small circular palace room of the same material as the tower itself. To his surprise, Kaio-shin flew straight past it and higher still into the sky where a wide, cone-like structure floated above the ivory needle.

~oOo~

Dende sighed for the millionth time at the constant arguing in his head caused by a bunch of seriously freaked-out kais. Looking at Piccolo’s face, he could tell that the older Namekian was losing his patience.

“This is all your fault, isn’t North Kai?” the West Kai exclaimed, “You kidnapped my Paikuhan because he almost kicked the living crap out of your Son Goku, didn’t you, you filthy son of a bitch?”

“I did no such thing!” King Kai cried in indignation. “How dare you accuse me of such malice? And did I let Freeza out of Hell too?”

“How would I know the criminal mastermind?”

“Are you suggesting I’d release such a tyrant from his eternal prison just to get back at you?”

“If the shoe fits—”

“Why you…!!!!”

Dende covered his ears in vain to try to lock out the shower of screams, insults, shouts, and accusations that soon followed.

Piccolo clenched his teeth and snarled. “OK, CUT THE CRAP! ALL OF YOU!!!” he exclaimed. “If you sit in a circle and talk shit, we won’t figure out anything!”

The stunned silence that followed was broken by someone clearing his throat.

Let’s calm down, everybody.” It was Dai-Kaio. “No use pointing fingers aimlessly. Besides, neither of you could explain, let alone plan the disappearance of Lord Kaio-shin.”

“What!” the East Kai exclaimed. “He’s missing too?! What are we going to do?”

“Dai-Kaio,” Dende said, “you mean to say Kaio-shin is gone too? There are three people missing from your dimension?”

“Four,” Dai-Kaio replied, “Lord Enma also said Koola was gone.”

“Ah ha!” the West Kai said shoving his finger up into King Kai’s face. “So you let the two of them out! Where are they?!”

At this, the taller South Kai had to restrain his northern companion by lifting him in the air by back the collar of his robe. “Lemme at him!” King Kai exclaimed waving his arms up and down and kicking his feet in anger and frustration. “I’ll teach him a lesson in manners, I will!!!!”

The West Kai stuck his tongue out at him causing even more reaction from the other. Instantaneously, the shower of arguments, insults, and yelling followed.

Dende sighed in frustration once again and turned his face away from the vision. Opening his eyes, he saw Kaio-shin and another looking at him blankly a few feet away.

“Lord Kaio-shin!” he cried out happily. “You’re here!”

At this, Piccolo and Mr. Popo opened their eyes and turned to where Dende spoke.

“Lord Kaio-shin,” Piccolo said. “What are you doing here? It’s Hell in Heaven as it is.”

Kaio-shin and Paikuhan walked up to the small group. “Greetings Piccolo, Dende, Mr. Popo. I was hoping you could answer that for us,” Kaio-shin replied. “I have no way of communicating or transporting myself back there.”

Dende furrowed his brow but nodded slowly. “I’ll let the other kais know you are safe,” he said and once again focused on the argument in his head. Things hadn’t improved. Now both the East and South kais were trying to restrain King Kai while the West kai hid behind Dai-Kaio and shouted insults at the lot of them.

“Umm… excuse me?” Dende started.

Nothing.

“Lord Kais…? He’s here.”

Still nothing. He looked at Piccolo for his ever-present support in these situations.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Piccolo interrupted.

Once again, the kais returned their attention to their counterparts on Earth.

“Thank you,” Dende started. “I was trying to tell you that Kaio-shin is here as is another, Paikuhan, I presume?” he said looking at the newcomers for confirmation.

Paikuhan nodded. Kaio-shin placed a hand on Dende’s shoulder and shared the link with him.

“What has happened?”