The New Age Empire v2: Book 2

~Chapter 17: Restless Spirits~

The shadows were dark, amassing themselves especially into the corners. Goku stood there, on the hard packed dirt of the floor, and let his eyes adjust.

Off to the right there was a large room filled from floor to ceiling with wooden crates. They were all at one end of a tunnel. At the other the saiya-jin probably sat, miserable. Goku immediately set off in that direction and the others followed. Bob, surprising them all, lit himself like a lamp and led the way.

"I knew it!" A deep voice grumbled. "I knew nothing good would come from joining up with that Changeling!"

A sigh. "Who's fault is it this time? Every single day it's someone new."

"It's everyone's fault for not believing me. I told you he was gonna kill us all!"

"You did it by running into the cafeteria and shouting. We thought you had gone insane."

"Of course you did! You're all idiots!"

"Now wait just a damn minute-"

"Uh hello?" Goku called out. The angry voices fell silent at once and he peeked around the corner. Five saiya-jins were sitting near the front of the cell while countless others crouched in the shadows. Goku couldn't begin to guess how many of his people were imprisioned, their kis were blended together, but he knew that it was over fifty. That had to be some huge cell.

"Who are you?" the one closest to the the bars asked. As Goku stepped out further into the small space that seperated the cell from the tunnel there was a loud gasp.

"You're Kakarotto!" The scarred saiya-jin furthest away from the bars jumped to his feet. "You kicked Furiza's ass on Namek-sei! I saw it!"

Goku blinked. "How did you know that? You guys were long dead before that happened."

"Meet Bardock, our resident psychic." A bearded one spat out. "He's right one time and he thinks he has a gift."

"Oh? What was he right about?"

"I knew Furiza was going to destroy our planet! I was on Kanassa-sei and this alien gave me the power to see into the future just because I wiped out his entire species. These idiots over here didn't believe me and we all got killed. You didn't die because they sent you away before I got back to Vegeta-sei." There was an almost feverish gleam in his eyes. "You are Kakarotto! My son Kakarotto!"

"Really?" Goten stood next to his father. "He's telling the truth. You took look so much alike it's scary."

"You're one to talk, Goten." Vegeta grinned.

"Oh I almost forgot." Goku blushed slightly. "Well Goten, Vegeta, and I are here to bust you guys out. I can't even begin to think how you've been suffering. You're saiya-jin after all."

"Is that your brat?" A voice asked from the shadows. "He looks a little young to be the one that hurt me."

"Raditsu," Goku acknowledged him. "Oniisan."

"How are you going to free us little Kakarotto? You couldn't even defeat me without help." A quick flash of movement and he was backhanded by his father.

"You will never be as strong as he is, Raditsu! You don't know what happened after you died. He is the Legendary Super Saiya-jin! I saw it in my visions!"

Several different gasps errupted from the saiya-jin in the shadows. The bearded one jumped to his feet and glared at Goku.

"It is a lie," he said in a barely controlled tone. "My brat is the legendary saiya-jin. He is royalty. Besides, this Kakarotto is not a killing machine. He's," he curled his lip in disgust, "nice."

"I saw it, Vegeta! Your brat is not as strong as mine!"

"Wait a minute!" Goku shouted over their voices. After everyone fell silent he continued. "I am not the legendary super saiya-jin."

"Of course not," Vegeta-oui sniffed.

"*Vegeta* is not the Legendary Super Saiya-jin."

"Brolli is," Goten inserted with a grin.

"I know of no saiya-jin by that name." Then Vegeta-oui's eyes dawned with recognition. "Paragas' son? That traitor's son!" He growled then as if the mere thought of an insane traitor's son would get the best gift saiya-jin genetics had to offer. The one everyone fantasized about having.

"How are you going to free us?" Raditsu still asked his question. "We can't bend the bars or destroy them."

Goku turned and nodded to his son and to Vegeta. "Guys, help me." Then he powered up to super saiya-jin and grabbed the bars to the door in his hands. Goten and Vegeta did the same.

"I told you! I told you! He's the Golden Warrior!" Bardock continued to shout above anyone else while the saiya-jin in the shadows stepped forward to the torchlight's edge. It didn't matter to him that there were two others who could do the same. As long as *his* son could.

Slowly the the door to the cell creaked and then it gave way with an earsplitting metalic sound. Goku and Vegeta almost lost their balances at the suddeness of it but poor Goten hit the floor on his back. While the entire room burst into laughter he jumped to his feet, blushing and powering down.

"Who is this boy?" Raditsu asked as he approached Goten. The saiya-jin laid a hand on top of his head and Goten jumped in surprise.

"I'm not a boy for one, I'm a man," he said as he looked up to his uncle. Raditsu had at least five inches of height on both Goten and his father which made him at least six feet, six inches. "My name is Son Goten. Gohan is my older brother."

"Has anyone else noticed the trend?" Raditsu suddenly said after a moment of thoughtful silence. "Kakarotto is otousan's second son and Goten here is Kakarotto's second son. All three of them look almost alike."

"What about Tares?" Goku asked. He had been wondering about this for years but there was no one he could ask until now. "He looks like me, like otousan, and like Goten."

"Tares," Bardock muttered almost to himself as he stared at his son. The gleam in his dark eyes had almost disappeared. They looked normal, now. "Does he always have a smirk on his face?"

"That's not really helping much, otousan. Most saiya-jins always have a smirk on their faces."

"Alright then. He's taller than you, but shorter than Raditsu. He's also darker in complexion than you and talks in a very deep and gruff manner."

"That's him!" Goku grinned. "He tried to kill me a while ago."

"He's your cousin." Bardock said this with no emotion whatsoever. "Tares was not born on Vegeta-sei. He's an offworlder."

"That alone makes him a disgrace to the saiya-jin race." Vegeta-oui added.

"Tousan can we leave this place now?" Goten asked. He was worried about Taura and Jas. There were evil maniacs above ground.

"Goten, go ahead of us and make sure Furiza and Kold didn't kill our friends. Also make sure they're all behaving."

"Sure, Tousan."

"Make sure they're behaving?" Toma, Bardock's tomodachi asked with shock. He was a heavily muscled saiya-jin, though shorter than Bardock, and his spikey black hair was pulled back into a ponytail. "Are you really sending your son up there to do that?!

"Are you saying that I'm weak?" Goten asked with anger in his eyes.

"Not weak exactly, but not strong enough to keep Furiza in line. I've seen the kind of power his underlings have. After all they killed me, Celipa, Panboukin, and Totepo. Bardock was sort of caught between Furiza's blast and Vegeta-sei."

"What were you doing there?" V.J. asked with curiosity. "I would have never gone back to Vegeta-sei after I realized that Furiza was really gonna blow it up."

"I tried to stop him," Bardock said more to the ground than to anyone else. "I shot a ki blast that was eventually absorbed by Furiza's more powerful one. I ended up dying but I knew that someday Kakarotto was going to defeat him. I was hoping," he glanced up at his son, "that you would kill him as well but it was not meant to be. At least he was still killed by a saiya-jin. Furiza told us that he was Vegeta's hybrid son."

Goku exhaled noisily. "How many times do I have to apologize for that? I'm sorry for letting the evil bad guy run off. I'm sorry for giving him a second chance. If I could apologize for being merciful I would. As it were it came back to haunt me when he tried to kill off my friends and family."

"Rule number one, Kakarotto," Vegeta began. "Don't ever give the enemy a chance to screw you over."

"You are not my king. In fact, you are no one's king." Goku walked off into the darkness that was the tunnel and left everyone stunned. Vegeta-oui was tempted to attack him but he knew that he could never win.

"You shouldn't have brought that up," Goten growled at him. "Tousan did the best that he could. He *always* does the best that he can." Then he ran off to catch up to his father. Kalen was right behind him.

"Well, ojiisama, it's been fun but I have a job to do. I want to get back home, ya know."

"Who are you anyway?" Vegeta-oui asked.

"I'm Vegeta or weren't you listening when Goku-san said my name before?"

"*You're* Vegeta?" There were murmurs of surprise. "How can that be?"

Kallen's voice floated from the well entrance. "Vegeta hurry up!"

"I am Vegeta. Your son's second son. Wow, that makes a great tongue twister." He took off down the tunnel but his voice echoed back. "You should get a one-day pass from Hell to come see us sometime on Chikyuu. You can see tousan's empire!"

"Did he just say empire?" Vegeta asked with surprise.

There were nods from various saiya-jin but Bardock vocalized it. "He did."

"I have to find a way to get resurrected!" He followed the others back through the tunnel. "I want to be a part of it!"

"Wait Vegeta! Furiza's up there!" But he did not wait.

So everyone else ran after him.

***

"Are they gonna take all day down there?" Taura complained. "God, I wish I could fly. Or at least levitate so I wouldn't break my neck by jumping down there." When he didn't even receive a grunt from Jas he looked up into his face. He was intensely concentrating on something in the distance that Taura could not yet make out.

"What are you staring at?"

"There's something coming from over there. I don't think it's a spirit but it's something evil. Maybe moreso than the spirits because these beings do not usually kill the living. They erase the dead."

"What?" Taura's voice shook just a little. "They *what*?"

"While the spirits kill the living the souls usually end up in a afterlife unless otherwise directed. These riders attack the souls in both Heaven and Hell and completely wipe away their existence."

"What do they do to the living if so inclined?"

"They first kill them, then erase them, then make everyone who's ever known them forget they even existed. It's a punishment for being alive."

"GOD!" He ran to the well and peered into it. "Goku! Somebody! You need to get up here and save us!"

Jas was still emotionless. "The Riders'll be here long before Goku and the others return."

"I don't want to die!" Taura wailed as he watched the Riders draw closer and closer. But there was nothing either man could do. Just as the Riders made it into the village Goku exited the well. "Thank God you've come!" Taura cried and darted behind Goku to use the saiya-jin as a shield.

"What's going on?" Goku asked in a confused tone. "Who're they?"

The Riders were exactly what they sounded like. The trio of robed skeletal warriors rode huge and powerful black steeds that could cross a mile within sixty seconds. The gleaming scythes the warriors carried made them each appear to be the Grim Reaper but of course they weren't. The leader, a warrior who also wore a black helm, extended his hand and began to speak.

"You are the one who wants his soul back." His voice echoed strangely as if they were surrounded by tall mountains. "My master wishes to see you."

"Is his master Lucifer?" Taura asked, his voice trembling. He had never been so afraid in his entire life.

"Probably," Goku said quietly.

Jas began to step forward to take the leader's outstretched hand when his friend ran to stop him. There was nothing but silence for a few moments while the two communicated with only their eyes but soon the lead Rider broke it.

"I do not have time for this. My master wishes to see you as soon as possible. You do not want to anger him."

"No," Jas said. "I do not."

"What does he want him for?" Taura asked the leader. "What the hell does Lucifer have to do with Jas?"

"I am merely a messenger." He told him. "But you may come along to find out if you so desire." By a unspoken command, another rider moved his horse forward until he was even with the leader. Then he also extended his hand.

Jas mounted the leader's horse without a second thought while Taura hesitated for just a moment. He turned back to the people he had been travelling with for so long and saw Goku nod slightly. It was all the permission he needed.

"You can go back and we'll meet you on Agalar." Jas told them. "This shouldn't take long."

"Time is not the same here as it is in the living world. Does time flow slower in this realm or faster?" The Rider's fleshless mouth moved up in what might have been considered a smile. "No one knows."

"Lucifer knows because this is his realm." He stared hard at Goku. "We will return."

Goku nodded. "And we'll be waiting."