Trunks burst in through the cell opening, the girls trailing behind him and Goten bringing up the rear. The soldiers were filing into the hallway now by the dozen, and they were packing those damn paralyzing guns again, which he had begun to hate almost as much as he hated Tayhei. The rest of the group ran back into the cell as well, overwhelmed by the number of soldiers before them, who were joining the original guards in astounding numbers, as if the entire army were making it’s way up the corkscrew hallways and into the prison cell. Getting into the tower had been completely easy, but it looked as though getting out might prove to be more difficult.

The five of them had flown into the city with ease, apparently the city soldiers were either off duty or just not paying attention to the area around them. Actually Trunks was rather disgusted with this supposed, terrible Saiya-jin army. They all looked like stupid, slobbering mongrels to him, definitely not the fordable enemy that he had original perceived. And to be honest, he was more than a little disappointed. He wanted a fight, a good fight, one that would get his adrenaline pumping and his mind working full speed, his senses heightened and his heart beating faster than he thought possible. He had only experienced that very few times in life, and he craved had craved the feeling ever since, longing for the feel of a true fight. Perhaps it was the Saiya-jin half of him that craved this, wanting to be a part of the long legacy of brutality and pride that had been laid out before him.

“Are we going to go back down the hallway?” He asked his father as Vejiita entered the room, blasting back an approaching soldier with an easy, one handed ki attack. Vejiita casually stepped over the broken door and glared at Trunks in his usual manner, the vein popping out on his forehead, his muscles taut and bulging.

“And just how the hell would we get back down the hallway?” He demanded. “Half of the planet’s population is crammed in there like sardines. If we went back down the hallway, we’d have to swim through three thousand stinking enemy soldiers.”

“Baka!” Tayhei snapped at him. “How are we supposed to get out of here, then? Melt into the floor and slide out through the cracks?”

Vejiita snarled at her, took a step forward, and gathered all of his energy in, creating a very large, very threatening ball of ki. He let it keep on growing, his angry eyes on Tayhei the entire time, and pressed his hands together, harnessing the power and molding it into exactly what he wanted. Then, with a movement that surprised all of them, he heaved the energy at the far wall with more strength than Trunks cared to measure.

The wall exploded in a sudden ball of flames, stone, and snow from the outside world, crumbling and breaking apart, debris flying every which way. When the smoke cleared, they found a hole in the wall that was just tall enough for Piccolo to duck through, and wide enough for five of them to step out at once. Fire still burned along the edges of it, bright orange flames in contrast to the white that was now before them. Wind whipped the snow in through the opening, bringing a harsh burst of cold air with it, chattering Trunks’s teeth as it came. In the center of the destruction, Tayhei stood perfectly unharmed, her arms crossed over her chest, casually tapping her boot against the ground.

Alarmed by the volume of the blast, the rest of the group ran into the cell room, Gohan coming in last with his back to them, his arms still outstretched to defend them from any Saiya-jin invaders. When he finally turned to view the rest of the group, his eyes widened in shock at the huge hole in the wall of the cell, which was now gathering snow a few inches thick at the opening, bringing in air so cold that it took their breath away. Down the hall, the Saiya-jin soldiers roared a battle cry, and it sounded as if they were charging forward, about to surge the cell and kill all of the Earthlings inside of it.

“Quickly!” Potuto shouted, “Everyone out, out, out! Follow me through the air, and you will be safe!”

He jumped out through the opening in the wall, disappearing into a wall of white. One by one, everyone else followed, sensing the urgency of the situation. Before Trunks of Vejiita could jump, the prince of the Saiya-jin suddenly turned, and looked back towards the hallway.

“Otousan?!” Trunks called out, knowing what he was about to do. Tayhei, who couldn’t fly on her own and needed to be carried by someone, looked at the only flight partner left with disgust. Bulma was also in the room, her deep blue eyes filled with concern as she watched Vejiita stride towards the cell door.

“We have to get out!” She cried, looking towards the opening in the wall with urgency. Her and Tayhei stood huddled together in the snow, both waiting to be carried to safety, not understanding why the two Saiya-jin warriors had decided to jeopardize their lives.

“Just a minute, woman!” Vejiita roared back at her, and brought arms up to form another large ki blast. Trunks jumped up and ran to his side, his arms falling into an identical position as he stood next to him, looking very mature and grown up, stronger than he had ever looked before. The two of them held that position for a very long time, blazing blue ki surrounding the both of them, looking hot and dangerous. Then, without a signal or a command from either of them, they let loose the energy just as the first Saiya-jin soldier appeared in the doorway.

All went white, and the entire world disappeared from their view, for a moment, as the blinding light flew down the hallway, destroying everything in its path. The walls and the ground shook violently, light appearing in all of the cracks in the stone around them, as if they were about to burst any moment, fly open and scatter into a thousand pieces. As the castle began to crumble and break apart, the two Saiya-jins jumped from the broken down doorway, and with the speed of Super Saiya-jin fury, they grabbed Tayhei and Bulma in their arms, shooting out of the opening in the wall. Not even a split second later, both of them turned just in time to see the main point of the new Saiya-jin empire crash to the ground in a mix of cold black stone, sharp ice, and a blizzard of unrelenting snow.

A cloud of snow and smoke rose up in a sudden plume, folding out into the air around them, blinding them completely, and choking them with its heavy thickness. Trunks bent his head down and tried to shield Tayhei from the snow, his arms holding her tightly as he flew through the air in no certain direction, not even sure of his balance. Light headed and amazingly dizzy and unsure, Trunks floundered slightly in the air, choking again on the smoke. Not knowing what the best course of action would be, or even where his parents were, he dropped down from the sky and headed for cover, smoke filling his lungs up speedily. Vejiita, only sure that he had to get out of there and get out of there fast, headed in the direction that he assumed was right, flying as far away from the city as he possible could, with an unconscious Bulma still wrapped in his arms. In the midst of the destruction, the two couples separated unknowingly, not able to see anything from through the haze of smoke and fire in the distance, or through the thick blizzard that surrounded them, wrapping them up in harsh, icy ribbons.

It wasn’t until they had nearly reached the icy tunnels that Potuto realized that there was something terribly wrong. It was dark out then, all light had been extinguished from the snowy fields, except for the snowflakes, which seemed to glow with a life of their own. He flew ahead without any question of direction or angle, knowing exactly where he was going. As a child, he had spent many hours in the snowy fields, searching for anything interesting, getting used to the directions around him. No one Saiya-jins would dare to go out into the fields for fear of getting lost, but he enjoyed it out there, as did his mother, seeking out the solitude and quietness of the snow. Now though, the fields brought him anything but comfort, as he realized that something was missing. He looked back uncertainly as he flew, and through the blanket of snow and darkness, he could make out eight figures flying behind him, following him blindly through the snow. Only eight figures when there should very well be twelve behind him, twelve Earthlings alive and well, that he would take into the safety of the tunnels. His eyes widened, and he halted in flight, staring behind him with a worried, confused gaze.

“What happened?” He cried. “Where are the rest?”

Kakarroto’s son, Gohan spoke up, his voice barely heard over the harsh wind. “Don’t worry, they’re still alive. I can feel that they’re all okay still. I think Vejiita just wanted to get rid of any kind of threat that might follow us. They will catch up to us, I’m sure of it.”

Still worried, Potuto nodded, and continued flying ahead, his mind going a thousand miles an hour. Too much had been happening, and he wasn’t even sure if his own mother was still alive or not. He suddenly felt very disconnected, and his heart was anything but peaceful. Even if he did come out of this mess alive, what was he going to do? How could he continue living on this awful planet, even if he was free? He knew he didn’t want to, wished that he could go back home with the Earthlings, where it was probably warm and dry, and he was actually able to see the sun shining above him. He had never been anywhere but this terrible place, never known anything besides the snow, and the draining, colorless sky that always hung above him in dark, threatening clouds. He had never known freedom, never know what it was like to be a truly innocent child, never known what it was like to wake up and hear birds chirping outside of his window. To him, the world was colorless and cold, and if he had never read about it in books or heard it from the stories of his mother, he couldn’t have imagined that other places existed.

He dipped low and circled around, dropping into the darkness and snow where he knew the cave entrance existed. He landed in the snow with a soft thud, bending his knees to absorb the shock and the sinking of the snow. The others followed hesitantly, blindly plunging into the deep depths before them. They landed around him in a scattered array, each falling to a stop and sinking into the knee-deep snow on the ground, squinting through the darkness. Concentrating in the wind and wet snow, Potuto held a hand out in front of him and a small blaze of ki light up the area, showing them the small cave entrance, lined with sky blue icicles and mounds of snow. Tipped up on the side of the entrance, was a very familiar pearly white snowbike, nearly buried in the snow.

“Yamucha’s vehicle!” Gohan cried, running towards it and dusting off the snow. “He must have gone into the tunnel!”

Beside him, the tall green Namek titled his head towards the cave entrance, as if listening, or trying to feel something in the distance. “He’s not the only one. ChiChi is with him.”

“Okaasan!” Goten said with delight, and stepped towards the entrance. He entered it at full speed and blindly, kicking up snow as he ran, gleefully shouting with joy.

The two silent ones, the jinzouningen, looked on in interest, being the closest to the cave. The female, whom Potuto thought to be very attractive, bent her head down to stare after Goten, a curious look on her face. She turned to Potuto, and motioned at the cave. “Is it safe to follow?”

He nodded. “Hai. I’ll wait at the entrance until you are all in and safe, and I’ll try to cover up that bike to hide any kind of evidence. Go ahead and walk with confidence, there are no traps and no enemies in the tunnels. If you come to a crossing, always take the left path. That will eventually lead you to the opening on the other side.”

They filed into the tunnel as he watched from several feet away, brushing snow onto the vehicle to cover it up from view. He thought it was rather stupid of the rider to just leave it here uncovered where anyone could find it, considering that there were enemies everywhere. Several minutes went by as he worked, and he could no longer hear the echoes of voices in the tunnels anymore, the Earthlings well on their way down the icy path. When he thought that the bike was sufficiently covered, he turned to brush himself off and join them in the tunnel, his mind weary. He paused to look out into the night, to watch the snow fall heavy and thick to the ground before him, tiny glowing orbs in a net of pure blackness.

And out of the darkness and snow, stepped Pi, as if she had appeared behind a stage curtain, dragging her sword behind her in the snow.

Potuto froze, and his blood turned to ice, staring into her eyes.

She stared back at him with a cool, detached expression, fingering the sword at her side. “And what, may I ask, are you doing out here?”

He could have told her the truth. He knew that if he did tell her that he was helping the Earthlings, that they had gone into the tunnel, that she would spare his life. She would have passed him over and gone on a hunt to find the Earthlings, would have probably killed every one of them. She would have left him there, shaking at the entrance, forgetting for the moment that he even existed, and he could have lived on for many years. He couldn’t live with the guilt of that though, couldn’t live with the fact that he had let innocent people die just because he wanted to save his own skin. He had been given a duty, an order to carry out, and all of those people were trusting him to lead them to safety, to get back to their planet in one piece. They had families back home, and lives to live, still young and free and full of possibilities. He couldn’t tell her the truth, knowing that she would go after them. She expected the truth from him, and he knew that she thought he was too weak to lie to her.

So he lied. “Things are about to get ugly, and I don’t want to be out in the middle of it. Hardly anyone knows about the tunnels….no one would find me here.”

She glared back at him evenly. “That is just like you, my dear brother. Always the pathetic, weak, sniveling little child. I can’t even believe we came from the same blood. Where are the Earthlings?”

He didn’t even blink. “I left them in the city. There were too many of them, and I couldn’t possibly take care of them. Koronu is still around….I thought I would leave them in her hands. I’m not much for battling anyway, it’s just safer for me to stay here and hide.”

He knew she would kill him now, could feel it in his bones. Somehow he had known all along that this would happen, that fate would end him here, in this spot, in this way. He could already feel the cold metal of her sword, could already feel the sting of death.

Pi glared again, her gaze hot and steady. “I don’t think I need to even tell you what happens next, do I? You and Koronu have been a thorn in my side for far too long now, and I really don’t see a use for you anymore. Since I have no Earthlings to kill, I will simply have to make do with what I have: my weak, pathetically embarrassing brother. You aren’t even acting like a Saiya-jin, you sniveling idiot! Saiya-jins don’t run and hide, they fight! You’re too much of an embarrassment to live.”

As she stepped towards him with her sword outstretched, he welcomed the oncoming death, knowing that he had lived his life, and done what he could with the time that he had. There were no regrets; he knew that he had been an honorable, worthwhile person, full of integrity and spirit. He had done his best, lived his life, and now it was time for everything to come to a crashing stop.

She plunged the sword into his chest, and he didn’t even feel it, only saw her dark eyes on his the entire time, looking at him with a sick expression of pleasure on her face. Then everything, the snow, the wind, the darkness, left his vision, except for a single snowflake, white against black, which fluttered through the dark softly, then faded away to nothing.

Chapter 65
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