___Chapter 8___

Vegeta, Piccolo, and Gohan had all landed in about the same spot.

"Can I say ow? That hurts!!" cried Gohan as he regained consciousness. He couldn't move anything except his head, so he looked around for what he could. Vegeta was in worse condition- broken except for the eyes. Piccolo, however, was not conscious at all, but a further check of power showed he was alive.

"Hey kid, can you see what's happening? I can't tell at this angle." Vegeta said rudely as he glanced at Gohan.

Gohan gave a weird smile and said "Yeah. It seems Dendea was alive. I just saw him. But the weird thing is, I think he's fighting. But the voice is different. And he's got a different outfit. And unless he's been training nonstop for the last few years, or was holding alot of power from us, he could never fight like this."

Then Gohan glanced over at the person he was talking to, and practically screamed "Vegeta!!! What are you doing?!?!" upon seeing the sayian prop himself up on his shattered elbows and crawl to a spot half a foot away where he could see.

Vegeta, plainly in severe pain from that last stunt, took a look at the fighting and said "That's not Dendea, unless he got a couple years younger. That kid's about nine or so it looks. Dendea's almost sixteen, and even though he looks younger, he doesn't look THAT young. Who the hell is that kid? Don't we have enough of these green idiots on the planet without more coming?"

He glanced around irritably, but then he saw Piccolo, and a concerned look washed over his face.

"Is he..."

Gohan looked over and replied "No. He's alive, just got a worse beating than we did. And whoever that little guy is, he sure can fight pretty good. You're right- that's not Dendea. I can see Dendea over there on the ground. He must have gotten hurt. So noone's died yet... But we might as well be at this rate. Just hope that kid knows what he's doing. The weird thing is, he almost reminds me of someone. I'm not sure, but he really does."

"Yeah. I see your point." Vegeta took another look after saying that, and thought {{The kid's fighting style is familiar too. And that aura... wait a sec. No way!!!}} He jerked his head violently to the left where Piccolo lay. {{I must be seeing things. It's the battle, that's it, it's wearing on my mind. Yeah, I'm exhausted and injured, so I'm going delusional.}}

He looked at the kid. He looked to his left. Back at the kid. Back to his left. Kid. Left. Kid. Left. Gohan, because he started talking and asked in a slightly scared voice "Are you alright, Vegeta...?"

The sayian then snapped out of it and said "Of course I'm fine! All my limbs are broken and I can only move my eyes. Perfectly fine!"

Gohan then rolled his eyes and said "You're fine if you can still complain." Then he watched the battle.

{{I can't believe I could think something so outrageous. It's utterly impossible.}} thought Vegeta to himself again. But looking at that kid's aura and fighting style, and comparing it to... It made him think.

---

Lute was doing pretty well. He still had the element of surprise because Kartak had no clue who he was. Kartak was still wondering how the small green one he had just shot seemed to be fighting after being paralyzed. But then he saw the real Dendea on the ground, realized this was a different enemy, and then the fight turned ugly.

A quick jab to the side with the blunt part of a foot claw sent Lute flying to the ground about two yards or so away. Kartak just sat and laughed as Oboe, who had healed sufficiently, rushed over to pick up the young boy.

"Are you alright?" she asked with concern.

"Yeah anocha." mumbled Lute as he staggered up.

Piccolo's eyes snapped open as Kartak took a fighting stance before Oboe and the boy.

Gohan had a look of shocked awe on his face as he saw Piccolo rise to his feet. He was in far worse shape than everyone else. He had started fighting first and was one of the last to stop. And there he was, standing up. At that point, only he, Gohan, Vegeta, Oboe, Kartak, and the little boy Lute were conscious. Only they would see what happened next.

As Piccolo staggered up, a thousand thoughts passed through his mind in less than a blink of an eye. The most prominent memories were those were those of Oboe. But one in particular lingered as he started to run.

The first time Oboe died.

It was not an enemy that killed her. It was his own fault. Some trivial matter that he could not even remember anymore had so maddened he and Vegeta that they had temporally lost their minds and attacked everyone at once with massive ki attacks the world had never seen before and would hopefully never see again. The smallest of them had had a diameter of two miles. The result was that everyone was killed. The fighters, the girls, even the guys from the Turtle house and Corin's tower. Kami hadn't died, but he wouldn't be getting up or even entering consciousness for weeks. Only Piccolo and Vegeta truly survived. Of course, they were all wished back, but the guilt hung in his head.

Kartak unleashed his tail, aiming to impale the two in front of him on its razored tip.

Piccolo only said one thing as he ran forward. "Never again. She's not dying again!"

Almost in slow motion he saw the blade edge closer to her and the child. He ran faster, though it was a miracle he could move at all. With one final burst of speed, he reached them, and Kartak's tail hit.

The world went black and cold as he felt something pierce his chest.

Vegeta screamed out "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" in anguish as the poisoned blade tore through his best friend, ripping out his life as it ripped through his heart. Gohan cried out in kind. Vegeta tried to rise, but could not. As before, Gohan did the same.

The world was then stopped by one word.

When Lute cried out, "Father!"