___Chapter 5___

The girls felt like they were standing off to the side, watching the fight. Vegeta, Piccolo, Goku, Gohan, Krillan, Yumcha, Chautzu, Tien, Trunks, and Goten were slowly forming a loose circle around Kartak, who hadn't yet moved. Kartak didn't even glance at them, the combined efforts of these ten fighters hadn't touched him yet!

But... he didn't, through a slight flaw during his creation, know about fluctuating power levels. And he wasn't that good at sensing hidden power either. Every one of his opponents was at least twice as strong and fast then during their earlier battle, and he didn't have the slightest clue.

So, it came to him as a total shock when they disappeared, and he couldn't find them, until all ten appeared a foot away from him and blasted him at point-blank range.

{{Yes! Yes! I think they got it!!}} yelled Bulma, {{They were five inches from it's face, damnit, it BETTER be dead!!}}

The dust cleared, revealing only a huge crater and ten exhausted warriors.

{{It's over!! It's really over!! I knew they'd pull through!}} Videl exclaimed happily.

Yen glanced over at Oboe and smirked {{I TOLD you, babe! Yeah, they're a little worse for wear, but they're all OK. Noone's died. Your baby's perfectly fine. *cracks out laughing*}}

Oboe only dignified that joke with a scowl as Yen thanked Kami and broke contact, followed by the others.

But before any of them could say a word, Oboe out of nowhere laughed out loud and blasted straight up, toward the top of the tower. Yen and Bulma started laughing.

"She can be so impatient sometimes!!" Bulma said with a smile, "They'll be coming down soon enough!"

Yen just shook her head. "Well, that's Oboe for you. *smiles* I guess she just wants to make sure she's not imagining things."

"Yeah..." Bulma whispered, almost jealous.

What she wouldn't do to have Vegeta love her that much...

---
Oboe rocked up to the top of the tower and yelled out "Hey, Piccolo!".

He cocked an eyebrow, turned around, and said "Oboe!" as she ran forward and hugged him.

"You poor boys! Are you alright?" she asked, bright blue eyes shining as she kissed him, and said "Kami helped us to see the battle. It was really bad for you guys." She kissed him again, her lips lingering on his for some time. Then she hugged him tighter, glad he was alive, and whispered as she dug her face into his shoulder, "You were right about dreams just being dreams."

He laughed softly, and said "If you want an answer, give me the room to talk! We'll both be OK love. The only hard thing will be getting the dragonballs to wish Dendea back. And fix the lookout while we're at it, the thing's an unholy mess if you haven't noticed."

"Dendea?"

Vegeta had been holding his tongue the whole time, even as hundreds of possible comments passed through his head. He knew what happened when he interrupted the two namekians during one of their 'loving moments'. Piccolo would jump him and slam him into the ground or a wall or whatever other expression of anger he chose at that second. But pain was nothing to Vegeta, there was a deeper reason he left them alone- he understood that his friend and Oboe were deeply in love. Like, even though he never admitted it(even to himself), he and Bulma. And he knew how pissed off he himself would get if someone talked negatively about his relationship with her.

As he continued thinking, it surfaced to the top of his mind about his strange version of a friendship with the namekian. He had no clue how or when it had happened, but somehow he and Piccolo had become the best of friends. They both seemed cold and serious, and had both sook revenge for the murders of their fathers. On a lighter note, for the most part, were some of the smallest in the group- one in size and the other in age. And they both had been extremely evil to start, though not totally through their own wills. Vegeta had been under the influence of his instincts, his people, and Frezia. Piccolo was born from pure evil for the soul purpose of vengeance. Yet even these two were not too far gone to be reached...

{{And we're not the only ones.}} Vegeta continued to think to himself, {{Noone here is the same as they before we all met.}}.

Before then, the group before him composed of: Tien, an assassin; Chautzu, an emperor; Yumcha, a girl-fearing thief in the desert with his cat; Krillan, a little bald brat of a monk; Gohan, one hell of a pampered little 'mommy's boy'; Kakkarott, a naive pure of heart idiot who cowered under his wife's every command; Piccolo, the demon connected to Kami and determined with killing Goku; and himself, the 'loyal' servant of Frezia, who longed for the death of the murderer of his people.

Now who did he see?

Tien and Chautzu, the best of friends; Yumcha, well... Vegeta didn't know what to think about him... ; Krillan, often misunderstood, but actually very brave and an amazing fighter for a human; Gohan, twenty years old and as headstrong as ever, though he didn't mind his old childhood mentor watching over him; Piccolo, seemed to have a mutual understanding with Yumcha, good friends with Krillan, very good friends with Gohan, Vegeta's best, and bound to a woman who was his total opposite. He was sullen, she was cheery. He was (usually, not now) shy about his emotions, she let them out. Piccolo actually had many sides now- the stone faced warrior of his younger days, Oboe's totally devoted lover, Gohan's mentor, and Vegeta's pal who would stand behind him no matter what.

And the last person atop the sanctuary in ruins, the sayian prince- no, king, who was no longer heartless. Yes, he put down others, wasn't much of a father or a husband, and seemed like he could care less about any more than two people, but he stood by them all, his friends. Never afraid to fight, an impulsive egomaniac, but close to Bulma- no matter how many times he screamed or cursed at her, deep in that black heart of his, he cared for her.

Vegeta then slapped himself and muttered "Damn, I gotta stop thinking such deep thoughts, I've been raving for the last ten minutes... *mumbles oh so quietly* At this rate, I'll go senile before I'm forty..." The sayian turned around and was about to sigh and say goodbye when he saw it. The beginning of a ki blast. In seconds, it would shoot out and kill Piccolo and Oboe where they stood. They would never see it coming. "Oh shit!!" Vegeta screamed out as he launched himself at the two, hoping he could knock them down before not only they, but now Vegeta himself, were blown through.

The blast flew loose and an explosion filled the air.

---
Kartak glanced up inquisitively at the spot he had thrown the blast at. When the enemies had attacked him before, he barely slipped away and led them to believe he had been vaporized. Then he had hid, his energy cloaked through a complex system inside him, waiting for the right moment to strike. He had just seen that opportunity, and taken action upon it.

"What the hell just happened?" Kartak heard a confused voice say as the dust cleared. Pity. The enemy had survived. Another frontal attack was needed.

"Now Kartak kill." he said as he left his hiding place and appeared among the warriors.

---
"What the hell just happened?" was Piccolo's first thought when one second he was talking to Oboe, and the next Vegeta slammed into them headlong, all three slamming to the ground as a huge ki blast whizzed an inch over their heads.

"THAT JUST HAPPENED!!!" screamed out the sayian wildly as he pointed to the blast hole in the far side of the sanctuary. Then he pointed at Kartak as the creature appeared fifty yards off. Tien, Goku, Yumcha, Krillan, Goten, and Trunks all bumrushed Kartak at once, hoping to overwhelm him again. Goku went to ssj. And six huge kameahmeahs flew straight for Kartak. But the creature's reaction was strange- it didn't quite block the blasts, but instead channeled the energy through its pattern of spines... and out, right into Yumcha.

He fell still to the ground.

The already badly injured Krillan screamed, and charged a ki-enzan. The others rushed to get out of the way when Krillan let fly, aiming to behead the monstrosity that had shot his friend. And it DID hit, but sadly, only the blade on Kartak's tail was cleaved from him. But... Kartak screamed madly in rage at this small loss, as if the tables were turned and HE was the one who might have just seen his friend die.

Kartak began screeching wildly, almost as if he were cursing, and rushed down to the ground to pick up the lost blade. Krillan merely stared, confused. Then Kartak struck, rushing forward and smashing the blunt side of the blade flat against Krillan's skull, sending the monk ricocheting into and through several walls before landing silent on the far side of the lookout.

Goten and Trunks then decided to take action. They formed a small ball of energy before them, but instead of attacking with it, they pumped more, and more energy into that small sphere. Goku and Tien also put their forces into it. Then Chautzu, Piccolo, Gohan, Vegeta, and even Oboe put their energy into the 'bomb', and the sky turned black from the tremendous force piled into a sphere no bigger than a basketball.

Then the sphere, unable to hold any more, burst free, and surged forward with such a force it knocked each and every one of the warriors backward about six feet.

Vegeta glanced at Piccolo swiftly, nodded, and then the two of them leapt up and sent a hail of renzokou kikou flying forward also, and all the energy hit Kartak at once, whiting out the entire landscape...