Chapter 6: Zero Hour

In a rare moment of peace, the streets were devoid of cars, although some were parked by the sidewalk. The street was the beginning of the gigantic line of shops that ran all the way from one end of the city to another. However, this end was all but abandonned.

As Agony walked down the street with slow deliberate steps, a group of teenage girls stepped out of a subway station. They looked at Agony and giggled and pointed for a bit, speaking among themselves on how dumb her outfit looked. They swiftly grew bored of their private teasing and turned to look at dresses on display in a shop window. Various comments began to flow from them as they remarked on how the dresses would look on them and the prices.

They didn’t see Agony looking at them with evil delight, nor did they see her point at the window.

"…my mother would give me more allowence…eh?" One of the girls was saying when the store window suddenly began to crack. The girls looked at each other.

"Did you touch it?

"No!"

"Neither did I!"

"Well then what is it doing, cracking by itself…?"

Then all questions were drowned out in horrible screams as the window suddenly exploded outward in a furious spray of shrapnal, which sliced through the girls and cut them to pieces. As blood sprayed all over the sidewalk, Agony smiled and pointed at the shop. It suddenly erupted into an inferno of flames. Screams came from within as customers ran about, lit up like cigarettes, screaming even as their skins melted and their body parts fried.

"Oh yeah." Agony chuckled.

Twisted around, she turned and pointed at a man who stood gaping at the destruction, and he to began to scream as the sidewalk underneath him suddenly liquified and began dragging him in like quicksand.

"AHHHHHHHH! IT BURNS! IT BURRRRRRRNNNNNNNNSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!" he screamed before the sidewalk completely claimed him and re-solidified, leaving one limp arm grasping at the sky for a merciful death that would never come.

A car came around the bend, driving at Agony. It honked, and then within it the driver screamed as his seatbelt suddenly turned into piano wire and yanked against him so hard he was cut in half. The car swerved and crashed into a daycare center, and then it too exploded in flames. Screams of burning children filled Agony’s ears, and she sighed with bliss.

And then she walked into Satan City and unleashed Armageddon. She pointed at a library and within it all the books suddenly came to life as they all grew cruelly sharp teeth and proceeded to devour the readers. One boy managed to get out the door, screaming in agony as a book gnawed on his arm. He yanked it off, ripping most of the flesh off his shoulder in the process, and hurled it away. As he turned though, the stone lions on the entranceway, also given life by Agony, pounced on him. He screamed and kicked as marble teeth and claws tore him apart.

Agony then waved her arm at a skyscraper and slowly it began to collaspe as she slowly increased the gravity on it. Inside it the daily humdrum was violently interrupted as each person suddenly found his or her bodies collasping under the gravity. The screams rang throughout the building as every person from CEO to janitor was slowly crushed into a pancake.

Realizing they were under attack, the people in the street erupted into full-blown panic. A huge mob of people tried to flee from Agony, but a wave of her hand and suddenly a massive wave of razor sharp spikes erupted under them, impaling through them. They squirmed and cried in horrible pain before they died, but for all of them it was agonizingly slow.

Police cars screamed towards Agony as officers leapt out, guns drawn. Agony just laughed and waved at them and their weapons exploded in their hands, blowing them off, before their cars were suddenly levitated into the air and brought down on their bodies repeatedly, like a hammer smashing in a nail, squashing them all flat.

That did it. The people of Satan City went from panic to full blown hysteria as they tried to get away. But their was no escape. As they ran, they randomly burst into flames, or had their own organs suddenly explode within their bodies, or had their skins suddenly stripped off of them leaving them in their ultimate birthday suits. Aorund Agony, buildings melted, or twisted like tops, or suddenly became living carnavorious monsters that devoured their inhabitants and then anyone on the street they could catch. Agony pointed at one man running by and his flesh suddenly began to rapidly rot, his screams cut off as his lungs withered into black decomposed sacks. Agony pointed at another woman and she began to melt as well, this time into a greenish slime. A child suddenly found his body being drawn inwards by a powerful suction until his screams were cut off as he exploded. A group of people ran into each other and then suddenly they all began to fuse together, their screams all blending together in a catatomy of pain and violation.

The people of Satan City ran. They screamed. They died in ways that were beyond horrible.

The streets ran with blood and the city burned as a lunatic demon woman brought hell to earth.

And at the centre of it all, Agony sighed in utter exctasy as soul after soul was absorbed into her black heart for eternal torture. To her, heaven couldn’t have been any better.

They couldn’t help it. Despite their need to get to the city, they couldn’t help but stop when they saw the abbatoir the city was becoming. The Z Fighters floated there, eyes wide, as they looked apon Agony’s ever-expanding masterpiece.

Ubuu nearly threw up. Yamcha nearly ran away. Gohan was braver but had no problem getting rid of his lunch. Tears stung Goku’s eyes as he thought of all the lives that were gone, taken by that lunatic who had killed so many of his friends. Goten held onto Marron as tightly as he could, she having insisted that she come along, she could give out Senzus or anything, because she damn sure wasn’t going to let her parents’s deaths go unavenged and anything she could do to hinder Agony, she would do. Dende flew, mouth agap. In all his preparations and learnings in becoming Kami of Earth, he had never seen, never even conceived, of such a ghastly sight.

Only Erik, as a look of undescribable grief swept over his face, said anything, as he turned and literally stood on Goku’s shoulders as Goku floated there.

"You see that city? If we don’t stop her, that is our fate, along with the fate of all mankind and everything else. If we fail, humanity dies! If anyone wants to run away now, go ahead. You won’t escape Agony. Better to die together, then face her alone!"

No one ran. Not even Yamcha. Mad laughter rang in the Z Fighter’s ears, and they looked down to see Agony standing on a pile of cars which blood poured out from in streams as the seats, granted a horrible consuming life, devoured their occupants.

"More company! What fun! Who shall I kill first? I know! Since you got away from me last time, YOU!" Agony yelled as she raised a hand.

And then a huge burst of energy flew from her hand right at Son Goku. Goku’s eyes widened.

"That’s Trunks’s Finish Bus-" Goku tried to say as he tried to twist away.

It barely missed Goku, clipping his side and burning a ragged hole in his gi. Erik, unable to maintain his balance, was tossed off Goku’s shoulders.

"OH SHITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!" he yelled.

"ERIK!" Gohan yelled. He tried to dive and grab him, but suddenly the air was filled with jagged black energy spears and all the Z Fighters had to go into a mad dance of dodging as Agony laughed at them. There was no one to save Erik as he fell earthward. With a loud crash, he hit the roof of a burning building and smashed through it.

"I wonder who that was?" Agony muttered to herself. The distance had been too far for her to tell if it was anyone she knew, and she had been focussed on the dunce who had fought her alongside the green man. "Oh well."

And then Agony zapped the building, and it collasped in a pile of flaming wreckage.

"ERIK!" Goten yelled.

Yamcha, having been cowering at the back, suddenly flew forward.

"HE’S GONE! FORGET HIM! CRY LATER! FIGHT NOW!" Yamcha yelled, and before any of the Z Fighters could say anything, he dove at Agony. He’d been afraid for far too long, and he was sick of it. If he was going to die, it was going to be on the battlefield, on his feet, combat ready to the end. He sucked in air as he charged up his ki.

"WOLF WIND!" he screamed as he landed and charged at Agony, his whole body enveloped in flaming energy as he pistoned out his fist. The fist struck Agony dead center and tore right through her, but Yamcha kept going, letting his flaming body fly right through Agony, cutting her in half. Her top section sprayed upward in a great gout of blood, which splattered on Yamcha’s ki aura and sizzled as it fried. But Yamcha hadn’t even had time to keep going on behind Agony before black energy leapt up and grabbed the section, sealing it back on as Yamcha whirled to attack again.

"YAMCHA! WATCH OUT FOR HER HAIR!" Goku yelled as all the Z Fighters dove to join the fight. Confusion crossed Yamcha’s face. Her hair?

And then Agony’s hair extended and flew around Yamcha, and he screamed as he was suddenly covered in burning strands of acid which began to eat into his skin. They hissed and smoke plumed from the wounds as they dug at his muscles like a starving animal.

Yamcha could only scream as Agony turned around to smile as the fly caught in her web.

Then Ubuu dove, his hand wreathed in ki, and brought his arm down on the strands of hair, severing them. Agony’s smile vanished as Ubuu slammed a thrusting kick into her sternum, sending her flying across the street. Ubuu leapt up and began firing ki needles, enveloping Agony in explosions. Yamcha collasped, twitching, his mind afire with pain.

Then Dende was there, and the pain faded as his healing power washed over Yamcha. The horrible deep burns that had crossed all over Yamcha’s body faded and vanished as Gohan and Goku came from the sky and added their efforts to the blast war, Goku at SSJ3 and Gohan at the maximum level his Mystic ability would let him amplify his ki. Yamcha got to unsteady feet, thanked Dende, tore off his ruined shirt, and then looked at the expanding mass of explosions where Agony was. Fury rose in his heart, and he added his efforts to the blast war.

But the Z Fighters could only throw ki for so long, and eventually they had to rest and let their energy recharge. Ubuu, breathing hard, flew down beside Yamcha, gave him a once over, and then looked at the spot where the smoke still curled. Dende waited behind a building, his eyes alive with fear at seeing Agony again,

They stood, waiting, knowing Agony too well now to expect a miracle. But they at least knew her.

Or so they thought.

From the smoke, a horrible white sharp thing emerged, gleaming dully. It moved at hideous speed, and before Ubuu could move it suddenly slammed right through his chest, pucturing his right lung with a wet pop. Ubuu screamed, as the thing dragged him backwards, barbs on it ripping his flesh even as they kept the lance attached to his body. He slammed into one of the buildings that still stood, and was left there, splayed like an insect on display as the white protectile ripped itself out of his chest and slid back into the rapidly clearing smoke. As Ubuu toppled to the ground, a big splash of blood left on the building wall, the last reminants blew away to reveal Agony, her body in the same horrific half human half skeleton state that Tien had seen her in. Her left forearm was all bone, which had been snapped off at the forearm. It was the same bone-dagger that had killed Tien, but this time the bone had extended, impaling Ubuu like a bug. Despite that fact that she only had half her lips left, Agony somehow smiled.

"She stole Piccolo’s ability to stretch his limbs! Shit!" Goku cursed. "GET HER!"

The Z Fighters dove at Agony, only to have black tendrils of burning black energy leap from her body and slap them all away. They Z Fighters crashed through surrounding buildings. Dende cowered, and was grateful when Agony flew after Goku.

Ubuu, wheezing as he tried to bring air into a lung that no longer worked and oxygen to blood that was pouring out of his body in a steady stream, tried to get to his feet. He couldn’t, his legs were numb, and he collasped, mourning that he hadn’t been able to do more.

"Ubuu!"

Ubuu recognized Marron’s voice, and then her hand was at his mouth, trying to shove a small object in it.

"Eat this!" she said. Ubuu, recognizing it, opened his mouth and swallowed. His body jerked as tissues rapidly rebuilt themselves as the Senzu bean did its work, and then he breathed in in cotentment, glad his lung worked again.

"Thank you Marron." He said, giving her a thumbs-up and heading off after Agony. Marron stood, looking after Ubuu, wishing she could fight, partly so she could wrap her hands around Agony’s throat and do her damndest to choke the life out of her like Agony had done to her mother and father…

Goku shook his head as he pulled himself from the small crator his impact has left. Agony had smacked him to one of the sections of Satan City that still had people, who now all knew something horrible was happening and they were trying to get away from it. He stood up and snarled, his battle aura exploding higher around him, as Agony flew from the sky and landed in front of him, smirking.

"Awww, is the little moron angry?" Agony said in a baby-talk voice. "I’ll make it better!"

Agony pointed to a random person fleeing around the saiya-jin and the lunatic, and she screamed as her skin suddenly flew right off her like wax, followed by her muscles and organs. Agony snapped her fingers and the skeleton exploded into bone shards and flew at Goku, several hundred razor-sharp organic missiles. Goku cursed and cartwheeled out of the way as the bone knives slammed into the concrete so hard they were imbedded into the stone. Agony pointed to another man fleeding the scene and the same thing happened to him. Goku leapt up as the knives of bone imbedded themselves in the wall behind him.

Agony looked perturbed.

Then a school bus driving down a side street and oblivious to the chaos happening in the city screeched to a halt as Agony walked in front of it. Her eyes turned and lit up as she saw it, the driver looking in confusion and the kids trying to see what was going on.

Goku saw Agony’s delight.

"NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Then Agony pointed at the school bus and suddenly it began to crumple, crushing itself like it was being handled with a pair of invisible hands. The kids screamed within it, but there was no escape.

Blood and worse began to squirt at high pressure as Agony crumbled the massive bus into a metal ball that seemed to be able to bleed.

"Hey Goku, CATCH!"

And then the ball flew at Goku. So slowed were his reflexes from the horror that it slammed right into him. As the blood of the children continued to pour out and soak Goku’s clothes, it carried him through several buildings before one finally collasped on them, burying him under tons of rubble.

"YOU…" hissed a voice behind Agony, and she turned to see Yamcha, agrier then he had ever been in his life at Agony’s utter delight in taking the lives of the children.

"YOU…YOU…YOU…MONSTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

And then Yamcha flew at Agony, fists burning with rage and energy.

Agony didn’t even move, and Yamcha brought his fist down on her right shoulder, chopping her arm right off. He reared back and prepared to attack again, and then suddenly Agony, almost bored, reached out and grabbed his throat with her other arm. Yamcha’s eyes widened as a dagger of black energy flew from her palm and impaled itself right through his throat.

"Thank you little boy. Now go away. You bore me." Agony chuckled, and then, almost instantly, a new limb grew out from the stump of her right shoulder, bursting out. The sight was horribly familiar, and in the back of his mind, Yamcha made the connection.

And then every single coherent thought in Yamcha’s head was blasted away as Agony reached back her hand and plunged it into Yamcha’s chest. Yamcha made a noiseless sound of horror as her fingers closed around his heart…

Then Ubuu was there, smashing Agony with a two-footed thrust kick to the jaw. Yamcha collasped, Agony’s hand tore from his chest before his heart could be removed. Agony was thrown up and then hit the ground, plowing up the street for several hundred yards and sending abadonned cars flying into the air.

"Oh god, Yamcha…" Ubuu began in hopeless horror. Yamcha would never survive…

Then Dende was there.

"He’s badly hurt, but I’m sure I can save him…" Dende said, his brow furrowing in concentration as he began to heal Yamcha’s wounds. Ubuu turned back to Agony, flying at her as she was getting up and pummeling her. Slamming her into the air with a standing snap kick, Ubuu zapped above her and smashed her into a building.

"For you teacher. KA-ME-HA-ME-HA!!!!!!!!!!" Ubuu screamed, and threw the massive blue bolt of energy. What was left of Satan City shook as a huge mushroom cloud of dust rose into the sky.

Ubuu gave a grin of saitisfaction and prepared to dive to attack again.

Then Agony materilized behind him even as the last of her wounds healed up.

"Peek-a-boo."

Then a fist of pure stone slammed into Ubuu’s back, snapping his spine like a twig and sending him tumbling to the ground. He hit the ground hard, feeling his legs break along with his right arm from the impact, and then there was just horrible numbness in his whole body.

Agony smiled as she landed and picked the paralized Ubuu up. He could only stare in horror into her demon eyes as she licked her lips.

Then something caught her eye. Ubuu couldn’t move, so he couldn’t see what Agony saw as she turned her head.

What Agony saw was Dende, finishing up his healing of Yamcha. So absorbed was he in the task that he never noticed the demon woman.

"So, that’s how he got up before I could finish devouring him last time. It’s little green man, with some sort of healing power. Well, we can’t have that now, can we?" Agony said as she hoisted the paralized Ubuu above her head.

"Hey, God!"

Dende’s eyes snapped up in horror as he heard the evil voice, and then they grew even larger when he saw she was focussed on him.

"CATCH!"

And then Agony threw Ubuu at Dende as hard as she could. Dende tried to move, but he was too slow. Ubuu’s massive body struck him and he was slammed backwards, his head slamming into the concrete wall behind him as it was sandwitched between it and Ubuu’s body. Dende collasped, his skull fractured and the darkness of unconsciousness swallowing him. Ubuu smashed his head falling to the ground and was devoured by the same darkness.

"Mmmmmm. Smorgasboard." Agony chuckled, and started walking to the prone trio.

"GREAT KICK SPECIAL!"

Agony’s head turned at the ridiculous name before Goten’s foot smashed into her face, sending her through the building next to the unconscious three and through the ones behind it in a crazy tumbling heap. As her broken body fixed itself, she looked up at the lone fighter she hadn’t seen yet.

Goten looked at Agony, hate blazing in his heart. He knew he would need more power to beat her then he had, so after he had dropped Marron off and told her to be careful, he had retreated and begun to build up his ki. He’d pushed himself harder and harder, with his friend’s face in his eyes and all their good memories flowing through his mind. He had hoped the other fighters could hold Agony long enough as he gathered every ounce of power he had, praying they would be safe and that it would work.

It had.

Agony looked at the now SSJ3 Goten and chuckled.

"I see you got a makeover. Wanted to look pretty when you join your friend? You never struck me as gay, but these days…" Agony laughed, her horrible spine-chilling laugh.

Goten clenched his fists so hard that blood began to drip from them as his nails cut into his palm.

"For everyone you’ve killed. For Gotenks. For Marron. For Trunks. And for me." He hissed.

Then he charged up and flew at Agony. Agony’s eyes widened as his insane speed.

Then he was hammering her, pummeling her, letting loose on her with everything he had.

"WILD BOAR ATTACK! BRAIN CRUSH HAMMER! FINISH FLASH! GALATICA SUNDAE! HYPER PLASMA SHORTCAKE!" Goten yelled as he utilized all the goofy attacks he and Trunks had developed as Gotenks into a deadly arsenal of physical blows and ki blasts. They might have been useless on Majinn Buu, but they were smacking around Agony like it was no one’s business, as Agony was smashed all over the city like a pinball in a machine. Her wounds healed, but her power seemed to be slowing down. It’s working! I’m winning!

"RENZOKOKEN SHINE SHINE MISSILE!" Goten yelled as he used the thousands of ki blasts to pummel Agony straight through several other buildings. Agony pulled herself from the wreckage. She seemed groggy. Goten ground his teeth and decided to end it now.

"This is for you, Trunks." He said as he made some motions that Trunks would usually make, although he only used one of his hands.

"FINISH BUSTER!"

As the massive blast flew at Agony, the grogginess vanished from her eyes in a flash. She threw up her hands and sent a black blast out to counter it. Goten’s eyes widened. She’s doing the Finish Buster too!

Goten snarled. After all she had done, her using his best friend’s attack was no more then blasphemy to him. The blasts were about equal, but Agony was using both of her hands. Goten was using one. And on the other one, blue energy suddenly exploded into life before he threw it forward.

"KAMEHAMEHA!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Agony’s blast was smashed before the two combined powers. She had time for one scream before they enveloped her.

The explosion sent Goten flying backwards, the ground ripping up and flying alongside him as he tumbled. He bounced along the ground and finally came to a stop as the last of the windstorm buffeted him. He got to his knees and then to his feet as the dust cleared.

Nothing. No Agony. Goten looked all around him. She wasn’t flying in the air. She wasn’t behind him. She wasn’t anywhere.

She was gone.

As he slipped back to normal, panting, Goten looked up and formed his fingers into a V.

"For you Trunks. Peace."

Then Agony materilized in front of him.

Goten’s jaw nearly hit the ground. He couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, all he could do was stare at Agony. Agony smiled back at him, her twisted lobsided smile as she raised a finger and waved it as if to say "Naughty naughty." The boy thought his twin beams had done her in. They hadn’t even come close to burning her away before she had fixed herself.

"How…?" Goten managed to squeek.

"Just as you can act brave boy, I can act scared. There is nothing more delicious then the collaspe of a person’s heart when they have failed."

Goten didn’t get to say anything else as Agony decked him, sending him flying backwards. He hit a metal wall hard and yelled in pain, then stared in horror at Agony as she slowly approached him. He had nothing left. He, like Trunks before him, had used up all his energy and it still hadn’t been enough.

The fear grew worse and worse, as it’s icy daggers plunged deeper and deeper into him. Agony smiled at the look she could see in Goten’s eyes. She’d seen it many times. He didn’t want to die. Not like this. The look never failed to delight her as she subjected her prey to the inevitable.

"Goten!"

Goten turned and an even greater fear filled his heart. Marron was heading towards him from another street. She’d seen him fly into the wall, but the buildings blocked her full view. Goten’s heart, already an impossibly low temparature, plunged down to absolute zero when he realized Marron couldn’t see Agony.

"Marron! No! GET AWAY!" he screamed. Marron kept coming

"I’ve lost Mom and Dad, I won’t lose you too! I’ll get you a Senzu no matter…"

And then Marron turned the corner and saw Agony standing there. She stopped, frozen.

"Well, if it isn’t the little girl."

Marron screamed as suddenly her hand was on fire. She dropped the burning bag of Senzu beans as she clutched her burnt appendage. As Agony sucked in the jolt of pain, Goten saw his last hope burn away to ashes.

Goten looked back at Agony and froze as he locked eyes with her.

Hell. Hell was in her eyes, a place beyond his comprehension and his wildest nightmares, a place where every soul burned in pain and violation beyond imaging, for all eternity, the only sound screams, cries, and Agony’s mad laughter. He began to tremble uncontrollably.

"Do you see your fate, boy? That is where your friend is. But you can escape it, boy. All you have to do…is let me have her."

Goten looked over to Marron, who was looking at him, her eyes wide.

He thought of the hell in Agony’s eyes, a place that everyone she killed went to.

He thought of Marron, her laughter, her smiles, her soft cries as they made love, her soft touch as they had sat under the moon making whispered promises.

And he thought of the neverending torment that lay within Agony’s black heart.

"Take her…" he whispered. Marron’s eyes went as wide as they could go.

"What did you say boy? I didn’t hear you." Agony said, grinning.
"I SAID TAKE HER!" Goten screamed as loud as he could. "TAKE HER! KILL HER! JUST GET AWAY FROM ME! STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!!! I WANT MY MOTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Agony smiled. It was just as she knew. When the chips were down, men threw anything in the path of their upcoming death. And for some strange reason, which she had seen many times, when death looked them in the face men regressed back to the beginning of their lives, as Goten continued to cry in utter fear for his mother. She turned her eyes from the pathetic sight, looking to Marron.

It didn’t matter what Agony could do to her, the greatest pain Marron had ever felt and knew she would ever feel was when Goten had taken her heart and torn it in two. She looked at the man she had loved, as he continued to cry uncontrollably, the man who had given her to a demon to save his own hide. The concept that Goten had gone insane with fear didn’t even raise its head in the pain.

She’d loved him, and he had betrayed her in a way that was beyond cheating, beyond leaving, even beyond killing her.

To save himself, he’d given her to Agony.

"You see that man, Marron? That is the real Goten, that is all men, greedy selfish little boys who in the end don’t give a damn about anyone but themselves. Love is a lie, it always will be." Agony said. The pain coming from Marron was one of the sweetest she had ever tasted, as the young woman fell to her knees, the first tears leaking from her cheeks. Agony couldn’t wait to taste the heart.

"Don’t worry though. He’ll be joining you after I’m done with you. And you can spend eternity knowing he subjected you to this fate, even as he suffers it as well…"

Marron looked up in Agony’s face, not comprehending and not caring. Her mind was too shattered for it.

"Why so sad Marron? Did you expect a brave rescue, or maybe a sacrifice? HA! Humanity isn’t like that! They’re so self-serving, so greedy, so pathetic, that it even makes me sick. Why do you think I kill them? They have no redeeming qualities."

Agony smiled and reached out to Marron.

"Your parents are wai-ARRRGGGHHHHH!" Agony screamed as a blade of ki suddenly burst from her chest. And then suddenly she was in the air as Goten lifted her above his head, his crocodile tears switched off like a faucet.

"You may be able to act, Agony, BUT APPARENTLY YOU CAN’T RECOGNIZE A BAD ACTOR!" Goten yelled and hurled Agony across the street and into the nearest skyscraper. As Agony screamed in frustration and vanished into it, Goten let loose with all the energy he had managed to gather from the very corners of his being, throwing several dozen destructive blasts which collasped the building, burying Agony.

Goten turned to Marron, who knelt there, confused.

"Go-ten…? What…?"

"Oh Marron, oh god I’m sorry, I’m so sorry you had to hear that bullshit and think it was the truth. Oh god I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry…" Goten said as he knelt down and hugged the woman he loved, the woman he had always loved and had never planned to sacrifice.

"Goten…you didn’t mean…?"

"Oh Marron…I knew Agony would never let us live long enough for me to gather what I had left and blast her. So when she asked, I lied…I put on a huge act and said all those godawful things…I needed to keep her attention on something other then me for a few seconds…so I said all that crap…and you thought I was serious. I couldn’t send you any cues that it was all lies because I needed to make absolutely sure that Agony belived that crap. I would never sacrifice you, I love you…oh god I’m sorry please don’t hate me…" Goten said, starting to cry as well.

Marron’s mind wrapped around Goten’s words. It had been an act. His crying, his screaming to take her, his begging for his mother, it had been an act. He’d pretended to give her up because it was the only way he could save her and himself.

Marron began to cry again, but this time they were tears of joy. Later, she might hate him for making her feel the way she had felt, but there might not be a later. It was better to live in the now, and now her heart was mending and she knew she loved Goten.

"OH GOTEN!" she cried, throwing her own arms around Goten. The couple knelt there in the destroyed street, crying and holding each other.

Then Agony burst from the building, screaming her rage. She’d been denied her pain, and that had made her angry enough. But what made her utterly furious was that once in a blue moon, she had been wrong.

He had loved her after all, and now the only thing coming from them, despite their impending fate, were love and happiness.

And she couldn’t stand it.

Goten and Marron looked at Agony. In a small part of his mind, Goten realized he had never seen her angry before, and that in itself was a small victory.

"You two…so cute!" Agony spat. "Well, you can spent eternity together…IN HELL!"

And Agony brought her arms up and slammed them down, throwing a massive black bolt of energy at the couple.

As it flew at them, the two looked at each other. Marron knew. Goten had used everything up. His deepest reserves were dry. There was no way he could escape, not even by himself.

"Goten, I love you."

"I love you too Marron. With all my heart."

Their lips met, and Goten held Marron tighter, waiting for the horrible pain, pain he was sure he could face as long as he held on to Marron, as long as he never let her go. No matter what fate Agony could inflict on him, it was all right as long as they died together, in each other’s arms.

Breaking the kiss, Goten whispered in Marron’s ear.

"No matter what happens, no matter what fate we suffer, I’ll always be there for you. Always."

As one, the two closed their eyes as the blast, radiating the heat of Agony’s hatred and shaking the ground around them, prepared to envelop them.

"BIG BANG ATTACK!"

A gold ki ball suddenly slammed into the blast, sending it off course. It missed Goten and Marron by inches as it flew by. Behind them, it exploded, blowing up a whole mile of the city.

Goten looked up.

With a magnificence that was almost royal, Vegeta floated down, his golden hair blazing with a seeming power of it’s own. He slowly landed in front of the two, his eyes locked on Agony, seeing her for the first time and not losing any of his hatred of her for it.

"Vegeta…" Goten said. His father’s worst enemy had saved them.

"Go Goten." Vegeta said, no emotion in his voice. Goten blinked. Vegeta had never called him by his name before. It was always "spawn of Kakarott" or "Kakarott the Third" or something simular. But he had no time for that. Still holding Marron, he fled, heading in the direction where he thought Dende and co had been left lying.

Slowly, Vegeta floated up until he was face to face with Agony. The two stared at each other, the distance of fifty or so feet almost seeming like inches.

"I’ve waited so long to get my hands on you." Vegeta said. His voice was laced with anger and an evil tone that rivaled Agony. "You took everything from me. You started with my princess. Then you took my wife, and then you took my son. Now I’m going to take everything from you."

Agony began to laugh, her composure regained despite failing to get the couple. She could always get them later.

"Oh, the father coming to avenge his children. How touching." She chuckled. "Would you like to see them?"

Vegeta blinked in confusion as Agony held out her hands.

And then as if they were alive and flesh and blood again, he could see them, floating in front of Agony. He drew in breath in sheer horror.

Bra was on a rack, slowly being stretched, screaming and crying.

Trunks was merely screaming as he lay on razor-sharp spikes, as larger and larger blocks were slowly placed on him to force his body down by inches by agonizing inches.

Agony snapped her fingers and the images suddenly drew back into her.

"Let’s see if you taste as good as they did."

Every single coherent thought Vegeta could have was slapped away. He screamed so loud the buildings still standing around him were knocked down in a hail of wreckage as he exploded into SSJ3 and lanced at Agony. The two began to do battle as Vegeta tried to hit her and Agony danced away, mocking him.

"Missed. Missed. Missed again. Come on! You can-gurk!" Agony said as her words were cut off. Vegeta had feinted and then grabbed her throat from above her, driving her down. He slammed her into the concrete and bean pummeling her with fists to the face, screaming at her, his words being punctuated by his blows.

"I don’t care *crack!* how many times *crack!* I have to *crack!* kill you *crack*, you are *crack* going to *crack* DIE!" Vegeta screamed, smashing Agony’s face to pulp over and over as he tried to get ahead of her regenerating talent. But it was useless, and Agony let him know it by instantly regenerating her face after every blow. His hands slick with her blood, Vegeta kept pummeling Agony, smashing her face to pulp again. It reformed and smiled, only to find itself looking into Vegeta’s palm.

"BIG BANG ATTACK!"

Vegeta was thrown off Agony by the point-blank range explosion. He did backward sommersaults away from the explosion and landed, waiting.

Slowly, Agony’s body got up as her head regrew along with her upper torso. New arms popped from the stumps and she raised them as her hair suddenly extended and lanced at Vegeta, the strands now living nightmares with razor-sharp barbs at their ends.

"I went to a new world, don’t know how and didn’t care, I caught a midget troll man, and ate him with my hair!" Agony crooned in a twisted nursery rhyme.

Vegeta reached out and caught her hair, and it was then Agony realized that he was wearing armoured gloves. Her eyes widened.

"You want to sing nursery rhymes? Here’s one!" Vegeta yelled as he yanked as hard as he could, pulling Agony right over his head and slamming her body back down on the ground. The ground broke and so did Agony’s body.

"Here we go round the mulberry bush! The mulberry bush! The mulberry bush!" Vegeta yelled as he used Agony’s hair to slam her all over the street and into the buildings, Agony’s screams music to his ears as she tried to cut her hair off. He knew this wasn’t hurting her in the end, but it was humilating her and that was just as good.

"Here we go round the mulberry bush!" Vegeta yelled, slamming Agony onto the ground again before throwing her into the air. "And here’s a…FINAL FLASH!!!!!!!"

The blast burnt Agony down to blackened bones again, but her flesh began to instantly regenerate.

Then Vegeta was on it, pummeling the skeleton, ripping blackened bones and hunks of muscle off. The bones flew back and he blasted them to atoms and kept ripping, tearing, trying to keep her in pieces.

It was, in the end, a wasted effort. Vegeta felt the bones twitch and flew back as they suddenly twisted into a huge mouth with razor sharp bone teeth. The teeth closed down where he had been, nearly biting him in half, and then the bones went back into their normal positions as black energy flowed over them, and again Agony was complete.

She started to smile, but it was wiped off her face as Vegeta went to his maximum and began to pummel here again, ripping out and breaking everything he could get his hands on. But the screams were gone. Agony just kept laughing at him as he tried to kill her.

"You people are all the same. You seem to think that if you keep running head-first into a brick wall, something will happen to the bricks! Your skull is gonna be shattered long before the brick wall is, so why go on, Midget Troll Man?" Agony mocked.

And then it came, as Vegeta reared back his right arm as he poured so much power into it the muscles nearly bulged out from his skin, and slammed his fist into Agony’s jaw. Her head flew right off as blood sprayed from her neck and gave Vegeta the latest coating of it. So fast did it fly that the black energy that erupted from the stump missed it, and the flying head turned to ashes as the flesh began to rebuild itself on the stump.

"Beause I realized, in the end, that vengeance is far better then despair." Vegeta said, as Agony’s head regrew. Her eyes were filled with anger. She’d had to regrow her head before, but that was when it had been burned off. No one had ever knocked her head off with a physical blow and caused her to have to grow a new one to replace it, and it made her furious.

Then her eyes caught something. A white building, still standing due to its superior construction that protected against such things as earthquakes and mob riots. People were constantly being loaded out as the doctors and nurses finally saw enough peace in the chaos in Satan City to try and flee with their patients.

"Well well, look at that!"

Vegeta, despite himself, glanced down and his heart filled with ice. He’d been so focussed on killing Agony that he hadn’t noticed where they had been fighting.

"You know, along with souls, I absorb memories. If your son’s hasn’t failed, that’s the hospital where Bulma is staying!"

Vegeta’s head snapped up as Agony raised her hand, black energy crackling on it.

"I don’t like it, it’s ugly!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Vegeta screamed, flying at Agony, intent on doing anything, anything at all, to stop her.

He didn’t even notice the sword until it was too late.

Vegeta impaled himself right on Agony’s arm, as she stretched it out to meet his charge as it formed into a sword. He opened his mouth and blood flew out as pain rush through him. She’d gotten him right through the heart.

As Vegeta, the strength leaving him rapidly, struggled and tried to feebly get off the blade, Agony met his eyes. She was grinning, pleased with herself.

"You never had a chance, Vegeta. You can have all the rage in the world, but you cannot kill death itself. And I am death. Now see how futile your efforts are!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Vegeta screamed, but there was nothing he could do, not even throw ki or punch or anything, as Agony hurled a blast at the hospital.

There were some faint screams and then the building collasped, burying the doctors and everyone in rubble.

Agony threw back her head and laughed to the heavens.

"Oh yeah! That feels so good!" she snickered as she looked at Vegeta. Her hand turned into knives as Vegeta looked at the woman who had taken everything from him.

"The family is dead, Vegeta. Yours have just, how shall we say, proved it in a way. Thanks for the pleasure. Goodbye, Midget Troll Man."

Agony reached out.

And then Gohan slammed his fist on the back of her head as hard as he could. Agony lurched and Vegeta flew off the blade, tumbling down to the wreckage of the hospital. He wanted to scream, to curse Agony for her trickery, for her cruelty, for her existence, Erik for bringing her to this world, and the creator of everything for letting a creature such as her exist.

But he couldn’t say anything. He was too weak,and he noiselessly tumbled into the wreckage, not even making a sound when he landed,

Agony turned and Gohan decked her. She flew back. These constant interruptions while she was going for kills were really getting on her nerves.

Gohan cursed himself. He’d been careless, and thus Agony’s attack had knocked him silly. He’d been out and missed the whole battle. Now Yamcha, Dende, and Ubuu were down, Vegeta was dead or would be dead soon, Goten was out of power, and his father was nowhere to be seen. Well, it was his fault for being careless. If he had to take the weight of the world on his shoulders, then so be it.

"I’m going to suck down your soul for that!" Agony yelled as she charged at Gohan.

And suddenly found the gas dispenser right in her face.

"Suck on this!" Gohan yelled, and pumped every bit of gas right into Agony’s open mouth. Agony gagged and coughed, and Gohan waited until she was looking up before he put on his act of fear.

"Oh no! It didn’t work! How…" Gohan pretended to say. Agony snapped her hands out and formed them into knives. Gohan turned and flew away at top speed. He had to get Agony to chase him, get her mind utterly consumed with his death, and then pray the gas worked.

"Hey! Come back here!" Agony yelled, flying after Gohan, planning to rip his heart out slowly for that annoying gas, even if it hadn’t done anything.

A trail of blood was left on the ground as Vegeta crawled along the wreckage. He was dying and he knew it. He wanted to do a million things, like curse the unfairness of Agony, or recite his saiya-jin funeral montage. But all he could think of was crawling to the place where he thought he had glimpsed a bit of green hair.

Yes. He had been right.

Bulma lay there, somehow having escaped being buried by wreckage. Vegeta crawled to her side and somehow managed to get to his knees as his life’s blood poured from him. A human would have died long ago, but Vegeta was a saiya-jin, and an Elite one. But he was on his very last legs.

"Woman?’ he asked softly, cradling her head. "Bulma? Green Locks? My love?"

There was nothing. Vegeta, although darkness was starting to come on the edge of his vision, reached down and felt for a pulse. There was none. She was gone. She had escaped being crushed, but the collaspe and fall had broken her neck.

"Green Locks…" Vegeta whispered. He looked up at the sky. He could still see Agony, chasing Gohan around with knife-fingers.

Once, Vegeta had called himself pure evil, and had believed he was in order to get the power of the Super Saiya-jin. That day was long ago, but Vegeta remembered it like it was yesterday.

He had been wrong. He hadn’t been pure evil. He hadn’t even been evil, just good, determained, and deluded by the ideals of his long-dead race.

What chased Gohan, the woman who laughed and reveled in death and pain, was pure evil. There was nothing else that could be. Agony had taken everything from him, and she had laughed, but there was more to it then that.

Freiza had laughed, but he had been quick.

Cell has done it, but he took no enjoyment in it, seeing it as a necessity or an end to a means.

Buu had laughed as well, but he too had been quick.

Freiza had commited genocide because he was afraid or to dispose of those who could oppose him.

Cell had done it for power.

Buu had done it because he had been created for it.

Agony had done it for the sheer hell of it.

"Green Locks…"

Slowly, a tear fell on Bulma’s dead face. It was join by a twin, and then another and another.

For the first time in his life, Vegeta cried over something that was worth crying over. Screw his pride. Pride could rebuild itself. But it could never bring back what he truly cared about: his family.

In the end, being a warrior had given him nothing.

Being a husband and a father, even though he hadn’t realized it until now, had given him true joy.

Death came for Vegeta, it’s clammy hand opening to seize him.

And then it was chased away by a warm glowing light that suddenly infused Vegeta. As his tears continued to fall on his dead wife, Vegeta wasn’t even aware of his wounds healing from the sheer power of the light or the strange tingling as the power surged into him…

"GOD DAMN IT! STOP RUNNING!" Agony screamed. Gohan had been leading her on for minutes and she was sick of it. She wanted a kill, and she wanted it now.

Goten and Marron watched in horror as they knelt over the still unconscious bodies of Dende, Yamcha, and Ubuu.

And in a building on the very outskirts of what was left of Satan City, Goku, his outfit tore to shreds and still soaked in the blood of dead children, finally pulled himself from the wreckage. He searched out ki’s and found a strong one and several weak ones. He immediately teleported to the weak ones.

"Toussan!" Goten said as his father materilized.

"Dear Kami…" Goku said as he saw the situation of Dende, Yamcha, and Ubuu. He reached into his boot and pulled out a Senzu bean.

"I always keep this with me for emergencies. Give it to Dende and have him heal the others. I’m going to help Gohan!"

"Dad, be careful. He sprayed her with the gas. He needs to keep her focussed on him so that her mind will be obssessed with killing him and thus…" Goten said.

"Yeah. I’ll stay out of the way." Goku said, flying up.

Finally, the boy was tired. Agony grinned fiercely. Time for the kill.

Gohan turned as Agony landed behind and walked toward him, grinning, although her eyes blazed with anger. She was grinning through clenched teeth for sure, which meant she either really hated him or she really wanted the kill. Gohan hoped it was the latter.

"Mercy!" he said. So focussed on Gohan was Agony she never saw Goku flying up behind his son.

"Mercy is for the weak! I grow tired of this game!" Agony grinned.

She raised her knife fingers.

All the remaining Z Fighters prayed.

"Die!"

Agony swung her hands down to cut Gohan’s face to ribbons.

The look on her face when she realized something was wrong was worth everything.

"WHAT?"

And then her hands curved inward, jamming the knives through her own chest and directly into her heart. Blood sprayed from her mouth, and Gohan leapt to his feet and away from it as if it might be toxic, as a look of pure disbelief came over her face.

"What…how…no…this isn’t possible…I didn’t want this…no, I’m Agony, I can’t die…nooooooooooo…" Agony wheezed.

And then she fell forward, as her terrible eyes rolled up and closed. She landed and did not move.

Gohan held his breath.

And as a pool of blood continued to spread under Agony’s body, Gohan let it out. It was over. At long last it was over. He leapt in the air and whooped, pumping his fist at the success of his idea.

"Gohan, did it work?" Goku asked in confused delight.

"It worked Toussan! She’s dead! The bitch is dead!" Gohan yelled.

Down on the ground, Goten and Marron heard Gohan’s yells. Marron’s face lit up, Goten’s became solemn. Dende danced a little, and then realized he looked like an idiot and got to finishing his healing of Yamcha and healing Ubuu.

"Your parents are avenged." Goten said

"As is Trunks." Marron replied. "Now we just have to clean it all up."

"I’m sure we can find the Dragon Radar in Bulma’s lab. Once the balls are gathered, we’ll wish everyone back. If it can’t be done, we’ll go to New Namek and use theirs…"

Up on the roof, Gohan was doing all the goofy poses he did as the great Saiyaman, and Goku was standing on the rooftop, clapping and giving them good reviews. Gohan had done the seemingly impossible, and he deserved to do anything he wanted. Finally, he ran out of moves and turned back to his father.

"We did it Dad. We won. Good conquered evil. I just wish Erik could have seen this."

Goku thought of Erik’s tumble. Despite his greater power then the average human, no one could have survived a tumble into the burning building the way he had, at least someone who wasn’t a Z Fighter.

"I’m sure wherever he is, he’s rejoicing. And I’m sure that as long as he’s in this world, we can bring him back."

Gohan smiled. His father was right.

"Come on father. Let’s go…"

Then Gohan saw the shock wash over Goku’s face like water, and his heart leapt as he tried to turn.

And then the sword slammed through his chest, and he screamed to the heavens.

"GOHAN! NO! IT’S…IT’S…" Goku gasped as Agony slowly got up from where she had lain, smiling as the sword-arm she had shoved through Gohan when his back had turned.

"No…you stabbed yourself…you can’t heal your own injuries…how are you still alive…" Gohan said, his voice a reedy whisper from the pain. Down on the ground, Goten and Marron’s eyes grew as wide as saucers, and Yamcha and Ubuu, now healed, looked up at the horrible sight. Dende began to tremble all over. What had gone wrong?

"Oh no…big brother…" Goten said. Fear exploded in his heart, stronger then ever. If the gas hadn’t worked…what possibly could? He reached over and held Marron, who held him back as tightly as she could.

"That…was a clever trick. I will give you that. But there’s something you didn’t know. Yes, if I hurt myself I won’t heal, but I also have the greatest sense of survival that ever existed. The concept of killing myself while trying to kill someone else is the most alien thought I could ever have. In other words, the thought wasn’t mine me at all, and my power knows that. It was clever, but in the end, you might as well have tried to stab me yourself, because me getting a sudden uncontrollable urge to do myself in, even by sudden misfiring commands in my muscles…well, it ain’t me. After that…it was just a matter of playing dead and waiting for you to turn your back."

Gohan shuddered from the knowledge. They had been so close, and yet so far.

"I’ll give you one thing though. You have some serious backbone, Son Gohan." Agony said in an evil whisper, and Gohan felt her knife-fingers gently stroking his spine.

And then Agony suddenly reared him above her head.

"But not anymore!" Agony concluded. Gohan gathered the last of his strength and screamed.

"TOUSSSSSSSSSSAAAAAANNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!"

"GOHAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Goku said, finally getting over his shock enough to try and leap forward, and somehow save his son.

But he was far too late.

Gohan screamed as Agony punched her fist into his back and tore his entire spinal cord out with a wet ripping snap. Despite the wound, he kept screaming, which finally faded into nothingness.

"Gohan…" Goku said, not believing it. He trembled in utter grief, unable to move even as Agony reached into Gohan’s back and pulled his heart out from the inside. Goku couldn’t think rationally anymore. Agony seemed to be able to defy any law of reality she chose. When it came to defeating a foe like that, Goku drew a blank.

Agony’s sword arm slowly turned back into a hand as she lifted Gohan’s corpse above her head, even as his soul was pulled, screaming, into her heart.

"Here is Son Gohan, the man who tried to kill me. He failed just like all the others. Take him and BURY HIM!"

Goku managed to get enough thought through his grief-overwhelmed mind to reach up and catch his dead son, and then it shut down again, even as he stumbled backwards from the weight and fell off the skyscraper.

"Toussan! Big brother!" Goten said, his words full of despair. His eyes were pulled away from their falling bodies as Marron pointed at something.

"LOOK!"

The building Agony was on began to shake, and then suddenly all the buildings still standing in Satan City began to shake.

"What’s this?" Agony whispered to herself.

And then all the buildings remaining were suddenly blown to pieces as a gigantic wave of force flew from Agony’s body. Gohan and co were sent flying through the air as the building underneath Agony shook and collasped. Despite the firestorm of wreckage, Goten had regained enough strength left to fly and did so, holding Marron to him. The wind slammed against them like a million small hammers, but he held his ground, or rather his air. Despite the tremendous waves of force, Yamcha, Ubuu, and Dende fought their way to Goten’s side as he gaped at Agony.

"No………."

The aura surrounding Agony was one he was all too familiar with, and she continued to give off waves of power so great it pounded all the wreckage left in Satan City to dust.

"God damn it! I’ve never felt anything so powerful!" Yamcha cursed as shrapnal pelted them. Ubuu threw up his hands and formed a ki shield around the group. Agony’s laughter reached them, horrible triumphant laughter.

"Goten, what’s going on?" Marron cried, terrified.

"She…absorbed…Gohan’s…Mystic…Ability." Goten said, having to fight to get each word out, it horrified him so much.

"Mystic?" Marron asked.

"It was a power given to him by the Kaioushin to defeat Majinn Buu. It links to your ki and augments it a thousandfold…" Dende said as the full meaning hit him, along with the horror.

"No! You’re not telling me…" Yamcha began.

"Agony now has all the power of Tien, Chaozu, Trunks, Krillian, Eighteen, Piccolo, and Gohan’s kis combined…multiplied by a thousand. The power she has now makes Majinn Buu look like Mr. Satan." Dende said. His voice had gone dead.

"Oh…my…god…" Marron said, getting the full scope of it.

"That’s pretty much it." Ubuu said solemnly. Goten looked at him.

"What?"

"With all that power, Agony is now officially a god."

Agony was in heaven. Forget this world. This world was nothing. With the power she had now she could burn down every single existence there was. She could fulfill her dream of ultimate destruction, a universe of nothing but death.

Agony’s eyes turned to the group flying about a mile away. The poor fools hadn’t even bothered to hide themselves, even though some exceptionally tough buildings had somehow managed to survive her ascent to the new messiah of everything.

Godhood and death to everything could wait. She was going to finish business, and have some fun while doing it.

"AGONY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Agony turned and her eyes widened slightly. It was impossible.

Vegeta floated in the air, looking apon Agony with no fear. Vegeta had changed greatly. He had torn off his shirt and red fur now sprouted along his chest and arms. His black hair had grown even longer and now tumbled down his back in a mane of night. And the most obvious thing was the newly re-grown tail, which lashed around Vegeta in anticipation of battle.

As he looked apon Agony, Super Saiya-jin Level 4 Vegeta raised a finger and pointed at her as if he was marking her with a brand.

"You’re dead."