Chapter Eight

Freeza kicked a pointed rock that lay on the cold stone floor of his jail cell. He could hear his Ginyu Force yelling from their own cell further down the mountain. In a stroke of pure genius, or maddened fury, Freeza had attacked them, and refused to settle until he erased them from existence. It had taken several of the best fighters of the Greater Plain to remove him from Burter, and had been forced into solitary confinement. Freeza took a moment to study his surroundings, before collapsing to the floor and stretching out his short arms and legs.

"Ahh," He sighed, wiggling his toes. "Alone at last. No noise, no smell, and space to myself."

He continued to lie there, slapping his tail against the floor.

"This is wonderful. I actually get light up here." He turned his head to look through the iron bars. "I had no idea there were birds down here. That chirping is rather pleasant."

He sat up. How could he hear birds? Had the Ginyu Force actually shut up?

He stood and walked to his bars, slipping his head through the bars and looking down. There seemed to be no movement from the Ginyu's cell.

"What do you know? It's a first." Freeza snorted to himself.

"Chirrrup!"

He looked up. Hovering in front of his cage was a small, black bird. Freeza stared in awe at the creature, perhaps for the first time in life or death, appreciating the sight of another being. He reached out his arm, stretching to touch the bird.

It flew away, diving down the mountain face into the Ginyu's cage.

Freeza frowned, pulling his hand back. Almost instantly, what looked like a wall of black flew past him, shutting out the light entering the cage. Freeza had only a moment to consider when the ceiling of his cell collapsed in, the black curtain demolishing it and slamming to the floor. Hastily, Freeza jumped back and used his tail to rebound off the back wall. He flew through the new opening and out into the orange clouded skies of Hell.

Freeza hadn't been alone in his attack. From his position high in the air, he could see the blackness enveloping the landscape of Hell. It moved like a wall of water or oil, targeting any soul it saw. Those fortunate enough to know how to fly had taken to the skies. One brave fighter had chosen to fly low, to get a better look. He was quickly swallowed.

"What is going on!" Freeza exclaimed, surveying the damage.

-

"Just what do you think you're doing with my stuff?" Minerva yelled in shock.

Cell turned from his crouched position by the sofa.

"I just figured that since I'm going to be sleeping here for a while, I might as well get the room the way I like it." He explained. "And I like a sleep with a view. I'm just going to move the sofa closer to the window is all."

Cell stood, lifting the end of the sofa.

"You're lifting it? Why not push it?" Min asked.

"The coffee table is in the way of that." Cell replied, lifting the sofa into the air, holding it vertically.

Min blinked. "I thought you lost your powers?"

"I- URK!" Cell buckled under the weight. "Can... handle it-"

Piccolo was stirred from his troubled sleep by a large crash.

Min tapped her foot.

"You can handle it, eh?" She stopped and put a hand to her head. "I'm watching Cell get squashed by a sofa! This feels like another weird drug trip."

Piccolo poked his head around the door frame.

"A little help?" Cell squeaked weakly, waving an arm from under the upholstery.

Piccolo lifted the sofa without a word and watched Cell crawl out of the way.

"My head..." Cell moaned, resting it in his hands. "I didn't know being mortal could be so painful."

"Just what were you doing with this?" Piccolo asked, indicating the furniture in his hands.

"Moving it to the window." Min answered. "He decided it was too difficult to push the coffee table out of the way and slide the sofa across the carpet. He opted to lift it."

"Move the coffee table?" Cell looked up. "I didn't think of that."

There was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it!" Cell phased in front of the door.

"No!" Piccolo and Min yelled simultaneously.

Cell swung open the door.

"Hey, I was in the neighbourhood, and I-"

Geoff stopped. And blinked. His mouth opened and closed with unformed words.

"Hello, mortal." Cell greeted cheerfully.

Geoff collapsed on the doormat.

"Geoff!" Min ran up to check her boyfriend.

"Hello mortal?" She screeched.

"What? What did I do?" Cell asked.

"That's it! No answering the door! Ever! Now help me lift Geoff onto the sofa!" Min glared at Cell, daring him to do otherwise, then stooped down to her boyfriend.

-

Goku sat cross-legged on the edge of the Lookout. He frowned in concentration, two fingers on his right hand raised to his forehead. Meanwhile, Dende, with the assistance of Tien and Yumcha, carried out of the main building a large crystal ball sitting atop a purple velvet cushion on a carved marble table.

"I didn't know the whole crystal ball thing actually worked." Yumcha commented. "I thought it was a bunch of baloney cooked up by the fake fortune tellers you see at carnivals."

"It had its roots in truth, but a ball must be carved from a special type of stone and have a special spell cast on it." Dende explained. "The purpose of a ball is specialised to one purpose. This ball may be able to show me any place on earth at one time, but it can't show me the future or the past, and it can't answer any questions like Baba's. Baba herself owns many balls."

"I see." Tien mused. "Where do you want it?"

"In the centre of the tower." Dende replied. "That's where the energies are strongest."

Vegeta watched in amusement as Goku faded from sight only to reappear seconds later for the fifth time.

"No luck Kakarrotto?" Vegeta chuckled.

"I don't understand it." Goku replied, leaning back with his hands on the tiles. "I mean, I should be able to instant transmission to Cell even if I can't sense his energy signature."

Vegeta straightened. "You can't sense him? I thought you had to know where you were going."

"No, I just need to know the signature, I don't need sense it." Goku scratched his head. "It's strange. It's like I take off towards Cell, and I get halfway before getting bounced back. Like there's a barrier in the way."

"He was in HFIL for a long time. Perhaps he figured out a way to stop the instant transmission?" Vegeta suggested.

Goku sat forward, raising his fingers to his head. "I can't find Piccolo either. It's the same thing. It's like I'm bouncing."

"Hnn." Vegeta turned the now glowing crystal ball.

"Oh magic crystal ball," Dende began, moving his hands in circular motions around the ball. "Ball with the power to see all and reveal all, grant me one small request that I make."

The light of the ball began throbbing.

Dende turned to Goku. "We can only find one of them. We can only ask it to find Cell, or to find Piccolo. After that, the ball will not grant anything until the next full moon."

"So we find Cell, right?" Yumcha asked.

"I don't know... I'm not sure we can win this without Piccolo." Goku stood up, and walked over. "Besides, he's really hurt and we don't know what's wrong. We should help him. Who knows what he might do?"

"But Goku, we owe it to all those people that might get hurt by Cell to try and take him out as quickly as possible." Tien argued.

"But..." Goku began, and then fell silent.

The loud sound of someone clearing their throat filled the Tower.

"Might I interrupt?" King Kai's voice echoed from the afterlife.

"King Kai! Hello!" Goku greeted him cheerfully, glad for an excuse to stop arguing.

"Goku. Listen, this is very important- something has attacked Hell. It emerged what would have been last night your time. It's been devouring souls, washing over them like a tide. There were a fortunate few with the ability to fly who got enough warning to take off out of reach. Goz and Mez set off an alarm with the higher plains and managed to evacuate a small group, including Freeza and a bunch of his crew, some Saiyans. Including the staff, a dozen were saved."

"What? That's terrible!" Goku exclaimed. "How could it happen?"

"We don't know much about it Goku, that's what makes it so dangerous! I heard from King Yema, and told Grand Kai, who is now finding Supreme Kai to inform him. From what we can tell, it's heading your way. To the Lower Plain. Be on the watch for anything and everything Goku, but don't try to fight it!"

"I see, King Kai, thankyou for warning us."

"I wasn't supposed to, but I couldn't let Earth go without a warning. Good luck!"

Vegeta snorted. "That's it? Be on the watch but don't do anything? He wants us to just sit and die?"

"Our situation just went from worse to impossible." Tien lowered his eyes to the floor, sounding exhausted.

Silence descended upon the tower.