The Book of Shin

It was hard to believe that perhaps ten hours before I had been relaxing on a Caribbean beach sipping limejuice and laughing at Kibito. The same sun that had greeted us so joyously at sunrise now lanced radiation through the skies as though trying to scorch the Earth herself, the playful zephyrs of morning stilled in mute apprehension of the scowling visage of a thoroughly peeved deity.

I had very quickly locked on to the fleeing energy of Yamu and Spopovich. They were carrying with them a large quantity of some of the purest energy to be found in this dimension, after all. They were about as hard to track as nuclear meltdown.

It was only a matter of minutes before I heard Goku\'s voice calling for me to wait up. I smiled when I heard his voice, sensing with him Piccolo, Krillen, and of course, His Highness, the Prince of Saiyajins. It\'s always nice to know that you\'re not completely alone.

It was now time for the obligatory story-telling session, and for the first time in centuries, I allowed my thoughts to return to those long heart-shattering years. I remembered the loss of my brothers and sister, suddenly having four times more work than I was designed to take. The decades of hunting across the much younger voids of space, one galaxy to another, always just too late. Vast empires that spanned galaxies were left as dust once Bibidi and his Buu were through wihem.hem. Gone were the fabled towers of Reaja, the City-ships of the Derrin, the starsingers of the Eritrian Republic. One after another they fell, entire systems disappearing in a few hours, until at last we caught up with them here, on Earth.

And it was here that I destroyed Bibidi. You must understand, I was the first Kai ever, since time was started, to destroy. We are creator deities, we don\'t destroy. We don\'t even kill, and destruction is so much more thorough. We are more inclined to grace than karma. But I\'d already broken the established way of things by taking on the universes of my siblings. I\'m not sure how we caught him off-guard, but I saw an opening, and took it. Do you know how hard it is to destroy one thing to the exclusion of all other things when one shouldn\'t be able to destroy at all?

But, I did. Bibidi was no more, and that left the pod. To destroy it would take a lot of energy, which might awaken the thing inside. That was out of the question.

So, we buried it deep under Earth, not cognizant of the fact that there was a son out there. Which brought us to where we were that day.

I finished my storytelling session justore ore Gohan rejoined us. It was interesting to watch the shift as the junior member of the pack was returned to their surveillance. Goku smiled, Piccolo sighed in relief, Krillen nodded sensing a certain symmetry, and Vegeta- though it would be a pleasant day in Hell before he admitted it- felt a sense of satisfaction in his return.

At this point vocal communication stopped, though I found it interesting that I ended up with Gohan to my immediate left and Piccolo to my right. I said nothing, merely noted the confused looks they gave each other when they thought the other couldn\'t see.

Over the sea we flew, then green-grey swampland, then arid desert, then mountains, their snowcaps reaching eternally to heaven. We flew lower as Yamu and Spopovich slowed, wild daisies and indian paintbrush waving merrily as we passed overhead.

I brought us in to land on an outcropping where we looked out on the glacier carved valley, in the center of which sat a white growth which resembled nothing more than a large metal fungus. Unfortunately, that was no mushroom-I knew that ship anywhere.

The earth around the ship had recently been disturbed, as though the planet herself had pulled away in disgust of what it harbored. I noticed that the usual array of mountain creatures usually found in Colorado valleys were missing-no field mice, no hawks, no deer, no wolf packs, nothing for miles.

We watched in silence as the energy was handed over to Pui-pui, once known as the Scourge of the Kappus System. Yamu and Spopovich looked quite pleased with themselves, but from Pui-pui\'s expression, he remained doubtful. It didn\'t matter, because all too soon their superiors showed up.

It was with a sickening feeling that I recognized Dabura, and next to him that little green maggot Babidi. Obviously the message informing me of Dabura\'s leaving the Demon World had gotten lost by the celestial bureaucracy. Damn red tape. Suddenly, what had been a rather straightforward mission-Operation Go Stop Babidi-had gotten a lot more complicated.

We watched the proceedings with interest. Neither Kibito nor I were surprised when Spopovich\'s head exploded, although the others were. Even Vegeta twitched as he watched Yamu flee and die. Warrior races do not consider killing your own to be smart strategy. Not that such things mattered when you had a weapon such as Buu in your arsenal.

They didn\'t immediately return to the ship, preferring to stand outside and converse. My ears strained but couldn\'t catch their words. I could tell that Piccolo was trying the same thing with just as little success. But, the two of us should have been able to hear them, which meant that they must have been speaking very quietly. Babidi and Pui-pui reentered the ship, but Dabura stood and watched them go.

Now why. . . oh shit.

\"They know we\'re here!\" Vegeta exclaimed.

No, really? I thought as Dabura turned slightly to look straight at me.

Not good.

I saw the dust around his feet stir, and then suddenly he was hovering in front of Kibito, grinning like the madman he was. Kibito was rooted to the spot in startled fear. There was a moment, just a moment, where even the breeze of the demon king\'s passing stilled. And then Kibito was gone. Contrary to popular belief, there was no shout, no bang, no flash of light, no lingering puff of smoke. He was there, and then he was gone, in empty silence.

Until that deep, midnight dark chuckle rumbled through the valley, rousing the warriors from their shock-they knew Kibito was, or rather had been, no slouch. I do not recall who took to the air first, for I was still reeling from the shock of loosing Kibito, the only familiar face I had through all those millennia after the death of my family.

And it was happening again.

I was called from my denial by Piccolo\'s panicked shout of \"What the Hell?!\"

I looked up in time to see Dabura spit at Krillen as Piccolo\'s arm hardened into a dead grey. By that time, explanations were redundant. I had failed twice in as many minutes.

Piccolo\'s horrified gaze locked with my own, and words failed. I tried to apologize for my failure, tried to say it would be alright, but nothing came. Only his name, three syllables that managed to squeeze themselves out before falling ground-ward.

Then the demon king chuckled once more and flew back to the ship as Gohan and Goku ran to their petrified friends.

\"Careful!\" I exclaimed as stone was embraced. \"If they are damaged in this state, they\'ll die when Dabura is killed and they return to flesh.\"

No sooner had I said this than Goku was off with a flash.

\"Dammit Goku! Wait!\"

Vegeta walked up to me with an unreadable smirk. \"Sorry,\" he said, \"But we are not a patient species.\" And then he was gone after his wayward subject.

\"Shit.\"

The Gohan appeared, his shining cheeks reflecting the midday sun. \"So,\" he sniffled. \"If Dabura dies, then Piccolo and Krillen go back to normal?\"

I made the mistake of nodding.

\"Then what are we waiting for?!\" And he grabbed my hand and vaulted into the sky, hauling me toward the ship.

\"Fucking Saiyans!\"

* * * * *

Our way down to the first stage was unencumbered, and we landed only slightly after Goku and Vegeta. Explanations were demanded, granted, and wonder to tell, Vegeta claimed dibs on the first challenge. Which was fine, except for one thing.

\"Shouldn\'t you guys work together?\"

Silence.

\"The Prince of Saiyajins does not require assistance

\"Ah.\"

It was at about this time that I started a little bitching session. Mind you, \"bitching\" because it was mostly under my breath-had it been louder, one might have termed it a \"rant\".

It started off with \"Damn hotheaded Saiyans!\" and meandered through the incompetency of the celestial bureaucracy, the quality of tap water in Budapest, and Nemekian biology. I had started in on the rules of physics when I noticed that Gohan was still holding my hand. I looked up to see him looking at me with a softly bemused expression on his face while his thumb glided over mine.

\"I never knew that the Byzantines had such a wonderful cure for headaches.(1) \" He said.

I sighed, rubbing my temple. \"The things they fail to teach you kids in school these days.\"

My eyes closed briefly, but shot right back open when I felt something on my thumb that was not another if its kind.

I nearly stopped breathing as Gohan brought each of my knuckles up for a reverent kiss.

Wait. . . what had happened to grieving for his mentor, and getting ready for the coming fights? Oh yeah, he was a teenager, that\'s right. He had to deal with both human and saiyajin horomones.

My thoughts were once again disrupted as he lifted his eyes to mine once more, twin openings to a bottomless abyss. Awareness of the other two saiyajin stretching on the other side of the room faded to the background, as warm night sought to smother me. The darkness swirled with curiosity, playfulness, a promise of rest. Voca me cum benedictus.(2)

But, alas, the spell was broken with the sound of the door opening.



_____________________________

(1) The Byzantine cure for a headache was to receive a blow job. Good thing they hadn\'t invented ice cream yet, or nothing would have ever gotten done.

(2)Latin: \"call me with the blessed.\" From the Missa pro defunctis, aka, Requiem Mass. If you recall, earlier in the story (part I) , they take some time to listen to part of Mozart\'s Requiem, esp the Dies Irae and the Rex Tremendae. This line is from the Confutatis, which is the second movement after the Rex Tremendae.