Third Eye

#18 reclined on a lawn chair under the shade of the island’s lone coconut tree watching her husband’s exercise regime. Watching her husband in motion as he was, with the sun reflecting off of his sweat soaked skin and his rippling muscles, she was getting rather worked up. Though with her ever-present stoic expression, no one on the outside would ever tell. Just at her feet, their daughter, Marron was building sand castles.

Moving to #18’s left was the owner of the house and island, Master Roshi. It is well known that Roshi is a bit on the perverted side and that he and #18 don’t get along, since, moving to the island, she had become the main target of his lecherous side. That had taken somewhat of a back seat lately. They had shared concern over Kuririn since their last ordeal. Kuririn had always been a devoted husband and father, but since he had gained his newfound power, it had appeared that he had become overanxious to use it, ready to run off at the first sign of trouble and prove himself once again as a warrior. Roshi had seen more than once what that did to Goku’s family, with Gohan and Goten having to live for so long without their father, and he really didn’t want to see Kuririn end up doing the same thing.

“I remember a time...when he and Goku first stepped at my door asking for me to be their trainer, that it would be a chore to get Kuririn to train a fraction of what he’s doing now,” Roshi stated. “In all my years of watching him grow as a fighter and person, I have never seen him train this hard before.”

“Nor for with such frequency, I’d bet,” added #18. “When he’s not eating or sleeping, he’s training. I swear, he’s getting too much like Son Goku for my tastes.”

“It’s in Goku’s blood. As a Saiyan, he loves to fight. The stronger the opponent was, the better. But Goku’s heart has always been in the right place. He also fights for the defense of those he loves.”

#18 looked at him, “So what’s your point?”

“My point is, you’re only half right comparing Kuririn to Goku. I’d like to believe that I could read my students well. I believe Kuririn is still upset over that Majin Buu, thing, where he tried to protect you and Marron with his life and he wasn’t able to. That has to eat away at a man.”

Roshi paused for a moment. He glanced at #18 and he could see a slight difference in the way she was looking at Kuririn. There was a hint of sadness in her features. Roshi continued, “I also think Kuririn is also trying to make it so that he’s just as good...just as strong as Goku. For what reason, I’m not sure of, but I’m sure you can guess who that is like.”

#18 nodded, “Vegeta. Humph...another of my favorite people.”

“I think we can agree that Kuririn needs to be reminded of what’s truly important.”

“The question is; how do we do that?” Right then, both stopped as they noticed Kuririn’s attention had turned skyward. A small speck could be seen traversing through the clouds. It got bigger and bigger, until it took the form of four people. The largest figure was Yamucha, carrying two others; a woman that no one knew and a very bloodied and battered Chaozu. Hanging on to Yamucha’s neck, was his friend Puar.

Yamucha, not looking too great himself, landed on the beach and set the woman down to her feet. Kuririn rushed over to his friend’s side and Yamucha handed Chaozu’s prone form to the smaller man.

”Yamucha...” Kuririn started, “What happened?”

“I need your help,” he said.

“How is he?” she asked, her voice clearly filled with concern.

“He’ll be sore in the morning, but he’ll be fine,” answered Kuririn. She gave an audible sigh of relief and Kuririn’s confusion grew. He sat down next to Yamucha, who moved slightly to accommodate him. “Hey man...what happened to you guys? What’s going on?”

“I’ll tell you...I just hope you’re up for a long story...”

Xeon paid another passing glance to his fallen, would be adversary then looked back at Yamucha. Xeon’s power had increased exponentially and the reason why was evident by the new accessories on both of his wrists. They were too late.

“I can’t believe the power coursing through me...” went Xeon. “It’s incredible. I can’t wait to try it out.” He narrowed his eyes, daring Yamucha to attack.

Yamucha bared his teeth. Everything up until now had been for naught. And it was just as he feared; Xeon’s new power was incredible. The question did remain though...exactly how powerful was he now? It would appear that he wouldn’t have to wait long to find out.

As Xeon inched closer and Yamucha readied himself for the pending attack, a bright light emanated, distracting both fighters. In the midst of the light was Kassex silently chanting her mantra, hoping to get the drop on Xeon. Seeing that she had been discovered, she immediately fired her attack.

Deftly, Xeon avoided the attack and prepared one of his own. Before he could fire it off, Yamucha tackled him. As Xeon wrestled with Yamucha, he called to G’nola, “Don’t just stand there! GET HER!!!”

G’nola, for his part, was watching in fascination. He also wondered exactly how strong Xeon had become. He needed to be certain that when the time came for the two of them to have their reckoning, he wouldn’t be the one that ended up dead. He decided that, for now, it would be wise if he continued to bide his time. Compliantly, he started after Kassex.

Kassex readied herself for the inevitable attack, but before the demon got there, Chaozu appeared in front of her and attacked the beast with a rather powerful ki blast that exploded on contact. Kassex turned her gaze to him and with an almost crooked grin, he said, “Don’t worry. I won’t let him hurt you.”

“Chaozu,” was all she could manage.

Through the heavy smoke, the dark silhouette of the demon appeared still marching towards them. Seeing his quarry still coming, Chaozu began rapidly firing off ki blasts to impede his advance. Unfortunately, it was to no avail.

It was as if it played out in slow motion in front of Kassex’ eyes. The imposing demon, nearly three times their height roared through the remaining smoke and through Chaozu’s attacks and with his mammoth hands struck him in the face. The force of the blow launched Chaozu into the air and he sailed a good ten meters before landing back to the ground with a sickening thud.

Screaming his name, Kassex ran to his side and cradled his head. Looking up, she could see the monster slowly stalking towards them with a maniacal grin on his face. Instinctively, she covered up as much of Chaozu as she could, to shield him from whatever he had in mind. She knew, though, it wouldn’t be enough against whatever he would do to them.

Yamucha chanced a glance at his friends and recognized the predicament they were in. “No, Chaozu!!!” That split second distraction was all Xeon needed. He struck Yamucha in the gut with a knee and followed up with a punch to Yamucha’s face that had the scarred man reeling. The mere fact that Xeon was able to hurt him was proof enough that his power was one to be reckoned with.

With the immediate danger Chaozu and Kassex were in, there was only one option left to Yamucha. He allowed his ki to swell and explode outward. It wouldn’t have been enough to kill Xeon or the demon, but it served its purpose of buying him enough time to scoop up his comrades and fly them to safety. The blast was powerful enough however, to level the nearby museum. Fortunately, it was merely collateral damage, as all of the patrons inside had long ago evacuated from Xeon’s appearance.

When the blast had fully subsided, Xeon found he and the demon alone on the battlefield. Thanks to Yamucha’s ability to mask his ki, Xeon couldn’t tell where he went, but it didn’t matter. For the first time in their many encounters, Xeon managed to fight him off. His grin grew broadly over his borrowed face reveling in his victory.

“Damn...” went G’nola. “They got away.”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Xeon. “There will be another time. But now that I’m whole again, it’s time to start rebuilding my empire!”

Kuririn, after hearing the story from the beginning, trembled with rage. “I can’t believe this guy’s going around in Tenshinhan’s body doing these things...”

“I think I can beat him, fighting one on one,” said Yamucha. “But with that demon with him, I can’t do it alone.”

Kuririn gave his friend a smile and nodded. “Say no more, ole buddy. I’ll be right there with you next go round.”

Yamucha smiled back, “Just what I wanted to hear.”

“Unfortunately, it’s not going to be that easy,” Kassex said out of the blue.

“Why’s that?” asked Yamucha.

“Back when my ancestor fought him, Xeon had three, very powerful demon generals fighting at his side. That’s not even mentioning the armies they commanded.” Yamucha and Kuririn’s faces dropped. “I doubt that, even with his new powers, Xeon would be able to conjure a gate that would allow his army of demons to cross back over to this realm, but I’m certain that he will call his generals over the first chance he gets.”

“Was that one of the generals we fought with earlier?” Yamucha asked.

“No. I guess you could say these were demon royalty, the strongest of their kind. One’s called O’ro, a cunning, four armed creature; Grahm, a relatively small, but super fast imp-like being; and the king of demons, Dabura...”

“Dabura?” interrupted Kuririn.

“Yes,” went Kassex. “You sound as if you recognize the name.”

“I do. He appeared on Earth some time ago. He helped to release Majin Buu.” Kassex recoiled at the mere mention of his name. She knew all too well the horrors wrought upon the Earth at the hands of Majin Buu. “Dabura’s dead, though. He was one of Majin Buu’s first victims.”

Kassex thought for a moment. “In that case, a replacement would’ve been needed to fill Dabura’s place. It could be that the one we faced was that replacement.”

Yamucha crossed his arms, “That would still make it four against two. The odds need to be evened just a little more...” He and Kuririn turned to look at #18.

She glared at Kuririn. “In case you’ve forgotten, we have a daughter to take care of. I know you’re just itching to run off and do battle with this guy. Not me. If someone comes here looking for trouble, that’s one thing, but I won’t go out looking for it.”

“Okay, okay...” went Kuririn. “Well, looks like we’ll need to pay Goku a visit.”

“No,” said Yamucha.

“No?” Kuririn repeated. “What’re you talking about?”

“No aliens, Kuririn.”

“But...why won’t you...”

“Look Kuririn, how many times has some threat come and we had to run and hide hoping some big, strong alien would come and save our butts? Goku, Piccolo,” Yamucha stopped, as if he couldn’t stomach what was coming next, “Vegeta...”

“But Yamucha-“

“NO! This is our planet! And we are going to defend it ourselves.”

“And what about Gohan?”

”What about Gohan?”

“He IS half Human you know,” said Kuririn. “By your own words, he has as much right to defend the planet as any of us.”

“In case you haven’t been playing attention to the way things have gone in the past ten or so years, Gohan is a Saiyan first.” Yamucha thought for a second, “Maybe Videl...”

“You know if Videl gets involved in this, Gohan will want to join in also, for her.”

“Aw damn...” Yamucha paused again. “Okay then, how about this...we’ll ask Videl for her help. We will not ask Gohan though. But, if Gohan decides he wants to join us, I won’t object.”

Kuririn smiled, “Sounds reasonable.”

”Good,” interjected Kassex. “Now, let’s get going before the bonding is complete.”

This caught the two warriors off guard. “Wait, time out,” said Yamucha, making the ‘T’ with his hands. “What is this bonding you’re talking about?”

“Er...well…once one of those items that makes up Xeon are placed on a host body, you have a short amount of time before you can’t remove them without killing the host. The power bands and gateway bond almost instantaneously. The crown that houses Xeon’s consciousness, since it has to totally subdue the host’s old personality, takes three days to bond.”

“Geez, you couldn’t have told us this TWO DAYS ago when we started this trip?”

“Yamucha, calm down,” went Kuririn. “This means we don’t have much time to save Tenshinhan. Let me get changed real quick so we can leave right away.” Yamucha nodded and Kuririn hurried off.

As Yamucha turned to wait outside for his friend, a hand was put on his shoulder, motioning him to halt. Looking behind him, Yamucha found Kuririn’s wife, who favored him with a look that was more stern than usual. “Did you need something?”

“I know Kuririn is eager to go off into battle and prove his worth as a fighter and I know I won’t be able to stop him from going no matter how much I want to,” #18 said. “But I will say that what I want from you is for you make sure he comes back alive. Understand?” Yamucha’s features, which had been growing harder and harder since he left Capsule Corporation for what seemed so long ago, suddenly softened at #18’s demand. “What?”

“Kuririn sure is a lucky man,” stated Yamucha. “I wish I had a wife like you.” #18 was caught so off guard by his comment, she let a blush slip through her facade.

“Ready!” said Kuririn as he appeared from the recesses of the house, dressed in his orange gi.

“That was quick,” stated Yamucha.

“Well, like I said, we don’t have much time.”

Yamucha nodded. “Hey Kassex, let’s go.”

“Right,” answered Kassex. With that, the trio moved outside. Once there, Yamucha scooped up the woman and the three launched themselves into the sky, flying off to the storm.

Watching them disappear into the horizon, #18 reflected on what Yamucha said. “Humph, I’m the one that’s lucky to have Kuririn,” she said, sure no one else could hear. Then, with a myriad of meanings behind it, she added, “I just hope I don’t lose him...”

Part Six

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