Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Through A Mirror Darkly ❯ Challenge and Consequences ( Chapter 6 )

Legendaldan danced easily enough away in mid-air from the fire the small creatures, flying like him, threw at him, those blast that did hit him were absorbed into his thick hide, not without pain, but not enough to hinder his actions. He crunched bone and blood seeped from his maw as he turned about in the air, dark purple leathern wings beating a rythum and keeping himself aloft.

Foolish mortals! Leave off attacking me or die like these!

His mindtouched raked through their heads, Piccolo winced but did not back away and Vegeta merely growled and altered his course of attack so that his blasts were stronger, faster and more explosive. Toshi and Mara cried out in pain as the dragon's voice stabbed at their brains, but they did not fall to the ground in submission as the beast would have liked.

On the ground, Mara could see the kitsune twins; Kyoko and Mariko, as they emeraged from the now blazing house and gasping up at them. She silently wished they would go find shelter someplace far from here. Far and safe! But they did not. She took her eyes from them as Legendaldan dived through the air towards her and Piccolo. She felt claws rake the flesh of her upper arm before Piccolo shoved her far to one side and she had to swallow back pain and fear to remember how to keep herself airborn.

She did not bother with observing her wounds close over and heal themselves in a matter of seconds. She flew back to the dragon, now seperating herself from Piccolo and connected herself mentally with her twin, learning the things he knew in mere moments. She raised her hands the same time he did, on the other side of the dragon, and unleashed an impressive assualt she knew, from reading his thoughts, was his signature attack.

Special Beam Cannon!

She heard Piccolo's voice in her head as clear as if she herself had spoken and watched as the dragon writhed in the power of their double attacks. The beast opened and closed it's mouth in silent agony, dark wings flapping feriously, trying to keep itself upright through it's torment. It flashed it's ember eyes and spoke uncoherant thoughts of pain and hatered of all things humanoid as Vegeta and Toshi resumed their own attacks. Toshi, flying too close to the dragon, was grazed by it's wing talon across her stomach and fell backwards and down in a spiral towards the earth, no longer remembering how she had been able to fly in the first place.

She clutched at her stomach, but the gash which had been sliced through her clothing was gaping and ugly, dark blood stained her skin and the material she wore. She felt herself falling but was unable to cease her desent. Suddenly, she felt herself pause in mid-air, suspended but with nothing to hold her up. She looked up and saw that the others had nearly succeeded in subdueing the monster. She was glad, at least for that. She ached terribly and knew her life's blood was pouring out of her at an alarming rate.

"Stop strugging, Toshi!" She heard the voice of her cousin below her, and then that of Kyoko's twin, Mariko; "We will lower you down gently…"

She looked down to see the twins, their black-silver fox ears erect and their bushy tails straight out behind them as they raised their hands, palm-upwards, towards her. She saw Kyoko mutter a chant beneath her breath and Mariko made a few subtle gestures with her fingers as Toshi felt an invisable net embrace her and she began to decend, slowly, towards the waiting earth.

Still fighting, his strength not ebbing in the slightest, Vegeta saw with peripheral vision the woman-child named Mara, the saiyan-like female who'd claimed to be his soul-twin falling, broken, from the sky and then the two fox-females were there, beneath her, doing something odd and saving her from crashing headlong into the waiting earth. He breathed a sigh of releaf and watched at the dragon before him began to grow weaker. He could feel the monster's ki, once strong, growing ever dimmer as it struggled to fight for it's very exsistance.

"Toshi!" Mara cried, looking down for a split second to see her friend falling, and a sudden rush of blazing heat slashed across her face, burning and blinding her all at the same time. She screamed and raised her arms, too late, to sheild herself from Legendaldan's flaming breath and choking smoke.

Piccolo felt the fire that had rushed at Mara, felt it as if it had been him who had just been burned. He flew over to where Mara was hovering, away from the dragon, her arms crossed over her face and her antannae smoldering. He could feel her pain though his own body and winced as theblackish-green skin on her face, head,neck and upper arms bubbled and began to mend itself. The process was not without pain and she trembled in the air as agony washed over her.

"Keep your attention on the fight, girl!" He growled at her, but helped her downward towards her friends, his touch was at once comforting and frightening and Mara choose to ignore it as she could hardly see or feel anything past the blazing agony of her scorched flesh healing, "You and Toshi…and the little foxes…find somewhere safe!"

"N-no!" Toshi cried, hearing him from where Kyoko and Mariko had helped her to the grass. She was trying to stand up, bent over holding her belly from spilling it's guts all over the ground, forced the words from between dry lips, the pain was making it difficult for her to see what was in front of her, "I want to fight!"

"You can hardly stand up!" Piccolo yelled at her, and she flinched, but did not back down. Her face was so pale she looked translucent. She was in no shape to quarrel and she knew it. She growled deep in her throat and snarled at him, but allowed her cousin and Mariko to guide her away.

"Piccolo…" Mara said, reaching out to touch his cape, he turned about and saw that in the time it had taken him to rebuke Toshi she had nearly healed all the way and looked into her deep dark eyes…so green they appeared to be black. "I'm nearly healed all the way now. I can finish with you…"

He shook his head, "No," He said, "Your ki is very weak. You need to rest…your not through healing. Go with the others."

"I can fight!" She said, her voice harsh, raspy to her own ears.

"Don't argue with me, girl!" Piccolo raged, fury in his gaze, she could not keep her eyes from sliding away from such fire, "Go!"

Mara turned away and saw Mariko as she took her arm and lead her, along with Kyoko and Toshi, away from the frightening creature still looming like a shadow of doom over all. She hardly heard the people still screaming and running in all directions around her or the littered pieces of corspes strewn across the ground. She just stepped over them and watched, in her mind's eye, her twin flying back upwards and launching himself back into the fray.

Mara winced in pain as she felt the rake of claws across Piccolo's chest, heard with her namekian hearing, the material of his gi splitting apart as Legendaldan slashed out blindly at whatever or whoever was near.

Toshi half turned, ahead of Mara and saw Vegeta still shooting his ki blasts at the dragon and grinned to herself as she saw Legendaldan finally begin to waver, his wings flapping less fluently now, blood which belonged to him now dripping downwards to fall like bright drops of crimson rain upon the dead body littered ground.

It was over in seconds after that. The monster's scream sounded disturbingly human as it spun, spiraling downwards towards the ground as those left alive strove to flee from the hulking shape as it fell. Legendaldan was dead before he hit the earth, creating a great crater that some dozen unlucky few either too old and weak or hurt to run away fast enough fell into and were crushed by it's weight as it threw itself about in it's throes of death.

Piccolo and Vegeta rejoined the women and the kitsune twins, scarred and bloody, but not doing too badly. Mara had Toshi's head cradled on her lap as she sat in the grass near one of the untouched foutains. The bleeding had stopped and Kyoko was busy wrapping clothe she's torn from her own dress about her cousin's wound.

"How is she?" Vegeta asked, peering down at her, "She looks pale."

"Were she of mere human blood she would have been dead by now." Mariko said softly, "You are the only thing keeping her alive…"

Toshi's tail twitched behind her and she groaned as Kyoko bandaged her. Vegeta saw her small hands clentching and uncletching at her sides and knew she was fighting to stay alive. Fighting as feircely as any saiyan warrior. He leaned down and touched her cheek gently. "Keep it up, girl! Don't give up!"

"She'll be okay," Kyoko said, finishing with her wrappings, her once ankle length skirt now barely covered the tops of her thighs, "But we should get word to Helena and Elena…"

"Yes, Our Grandmothers should know about Toshi," Mariko said as she stood over her twin and inspected her work, "It's cruel not to let them know right away about one of their own being injured…"

Mara shifted her weight so that she carefully lay her friend's head down on the soft grass beside the gurgling fountain and stood up. "I'll go." She said simply, slipping away before anyone could think to say anything other than; Okay. Piccolo watched her leave before he felt Vegeta's gaze on the side of his face.

"Go on." He said to the towering namek, "I can take care things here…"

Without waiting for more, Piccolo gathered his cape about himself and followed after the strangely beautiful creature who, after so short a time, seemed to know him better than he knew himself and who attracted him like metal to a lodestone…however mysteriously…he didn't think he'd ever understand this whole twin-mirrors stuff, but all he knew was that he had shared a connection with her…much more than the one he had shared…still shares…with Gohan…and that he had felt her pain through his own flesh when she'd been hurt and she'd felt his!

He did not know if Vegeta had had a similar experience with Toshi and didn't care about asking as he caught up with the female namek who had felt his approach ever before he'd decided to follow her. She did not look at him but shook her head instead, a rush of sorrow engulfed him and it took a moment for him to realize that it as her emotion and not his as she thought about the loss of so many lives to the monster they had just killed.

"Such a waste…" She muttered, but Piccolo's namekian ears picked her voice and her words up as clearly as if she'd screamed them, "So much death…so much pain…"

And to his shock, but not total surprise, he saw the tears in her eyes and a wave of greif over…was it true? Legendaldan. Did she really grieve for the horror who had killed so many of her people? He touched her hand at her side and felt, in that slightest of contacts, all she felt and held dear…she held all life sacred…no matter that it woud have destroyed her had she not fought and helped to end it's life.

"I couldn't be helped, Mara." Piccolo was saying, trying, in his awkward way, to lend her comfort, "You know this. It had to be put down…"

"I know…" She said, wrapping her fingers around his as they walked towards Toshi's grandmother and her dark twin's house, "I just wish it hadn't had to be." She paused, added while looking side-long at him, "Perhaps it's better in your world?"

Piccolo's mind flashed on numerous enemies he and others had fought and some had even died to and shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid not…"

Mara did not reply and they were nearly to Helena and Elena's front door anyway.