Chapter Two:


Space was huge. The universe held more than anyone really guesses. Even Kaio-shin who watched over all of it didn't know everything that happened out there. In the vast emptiness, populated mostly with civilizations much less advanced than earth's, tyrants and pirates could run free, unopposed by anyone.

Out there, no one had heard of saiyajin, or the Z fighters, or Son Goku.

There was one such tyrant that was more powerful than any of the others. His 'army', unlike most others, was composed of robots with only a few living servants. It was mostly his own power that kept him safe. He didn't believe in keeping a bunch of bodyguards around that were weaker than he was.

His name was Osiris. He was a vampire.

Humans, hearing the word vampire, would automatically think of crosses, garlic, coffins, and other such things. He had none of it. With all the different religions and all the different people in the universe, it would have been absurd to assume that one of them had the power to destroy him. He had never so much as seen garlic. He slept in a normal bed, when he slept at all. And, after two thousand years, he was much too powerful to be destroyed by the sunlight of any planet.

He did drink blood on occasion. Only newly made vampires needed it all the time. He only needed it to make him stronger. If he craved it, he took what he wanted from some poor being on any nameless planet.

Looking at him, he wouldn't look any different from a normal human, if he wanted. He had amazing mental powers, and could project images into other people's minds. But what he really looked like stuck out like a floodlight.

His skin, like the skin of all very ancient vampires, glowed with a white radiance, and was as hard as marble. His hair was a shiny blue-black, about one inch long, slicked back. His eyes were glints of blue ice that seemed to glow.

He dressed in simple black, normal pants and top made of smooth cloth. His voice was soft and mesmerizing, with an accent that sounded vaguely French, but not quite. Altogether, he seemed calm, detached, and refined.

That is, until he dropped the act and let himself go. His power was amazing, and he never seemed to show it all. He was a raging demon, a furnace of power, not all ki. To put it in a short way, he was very, very dangerous.

He was far away from his normal territory. He was looking for the planet where the Golden Moon would appear. It appeared that he had found it.

He stood, hands clasped behind his back, looking at the destroyed robot on the table in front of him. If it hadn't been for the teleportation device he had installed in his robots, he probably would have lost the whole thing.

He cursed under his breath as he looked at it. The computer was downloading it's memory now. That way, he could at least know what had killed it. His ship's computer had billions of different kinds of DNA in it's files, so it wouldn't take long to find the strength and species of whatever had killed it.

He waited patiently as his robots scooted back and forth, getting parts and tools to repair the damage. It would be a lot of work, but better than losing one of his few battle robots.

The computer had finished it's download.

"Computer, access memory from the last fifteen minutes before the robot was damaged." he said softly.

A view screen on the wall blinked on.

"Scan complete." the electronic voice came out of the wall speakers. "Retrievable data being uploaded."

"Never mind. I want to see the results of any DNA scans."

A bar appeared on the screen ,and filled in yellow in a couple seconds. Then, a list of text appeared on the screen.

He read silently.

There were quite a few homo sapien, or human, as they called themselves. Judging from the power levels, it wasn't one of these that destroyed the robot.

Suddenly, he stopped. In the middle of the list:

demi-saiyajin.

He hissed through his teeth, a grimace showing his fangs. "Saiyajin... where have I heard that before?"

He couldn't remember, but judging from the power levels, these were definitely the ones that had destroyed his robot. Seemed that the electric jolt that the robots used hadn't killed them. The last thing the robot had confirmed was that they had both survived.

"Computer, I want to see the robot's last visual scan."

Immediately an image appeared on the screen. It was a fist.

"Rewind, one quarter speed."

The fist began to pull back slowly. But not slow enough. It looked like it was moving at human speed. The image was rewinding at one quarter speed.

"Stop."

The image froze. Trunks' face was clearly visible on the screen.

Osiris stared at the snarling face for a minute. Then a slow smile crept over his face.

"I will remember you." he said quietly. "When the Golden Moon comes, you will be one of the first to die."




Goten groaned and opened his eyes. At first, everything looked blurry, but it only took a fraction of a second for his vision to clear. His muscles ached, as if he had just been in a horrible fight. But... what had happened?

He saw Trunks' face suddenly in his field of vision, and it all snapped back. He had been out for perhaps fifteen seconds.

"Goten? Can you hear me, buddy?" Trunks' voice sounded worried. Goten opened his eyes a little wider (they had started to close again) and sat up.

"Shit." he muttered. "What was that?"

Trunks narrowed his eyes. "You mean the thing that attacked you? I wish I knew. It disappeared."

"What? What do you mean it disappeared?"

Trunks gestured over to the spot on the grass where the thing had landed. "I think it was some kind of robot. I got down here to see if you were alright, and when I looked up, it was gone."

Goten shook his head. "That's nuts."

Trunks nodded. "Yep, it's nuts. Real nuts. But I saw it."

Goten reached around gingerly and touched the two burns on the back of his neck. As soon as his fingers touched them, he winced and drew them back in pain.

"Trunks, how bad is my neck?"

Trunks craned his head and tilted Goten's so he could get a view of the burns. The skin was charred black.

"That must have been one hell of a jolt." he said grimly. "I could swear he shot you with electricity. I don't know anything else that would do that."

"Well, let's go up to Korin's and get a senzu bean. We can tell my dad about this while we're there."

Trunks nodded. "Let's go."

They took off and flew toward the tower.




Vegeta sat cross legged on the floor of the gravity room. He wasn't training, just thinking. Though, with the machine set at six hundred fifty times earth's gravity, it was training even without moving.

Ever since Goku had gone off with Uubu, he had felt distinctly uneasy. He wasn't really sure why, but the feeling was there, just the same.

It wasn't as if he didn't have enough to keep him occupied. He was busy with super saiyajin three, which he had reached a few months ago. The first time he had done it, he had destroyed the gravity room and a good chunk of capsule corp. along with it. He had discovered that when Goku had said, 'it's not the easiest thing to control,' it had been the biggest understatement he had ever heard. Until you got used to it, it was almost impossible to control. He had felt like the power would tear him apart.

The first time, he had only been able to hold the form for about three minutes before he had passed out. After that, he had gone off into the wilderness that surrounded their little bit of civilization and trained until Bulma fixed the gravity chamber. He had learned to do better. Now, he could hold the form for close to a half hour. Not very long, but better than even Gotenks had done.

But that had nothing to do with the uneasy feeling. For just over two years, since Goku had taken Uubu to Dende's lookout to train, he had felt a strange apprehension. As if someone was whispering in his ear.

Something is coming.

Maybe something was. Who knew? But there was nothing he could do, and worrying didn't help. It only wore on his nerves. He wasn't that used to feeling worried.

He stood and began a quick series of kicks, punches, blocks, and small blasts that were directed back at him. Training was as good a way as any to get things off his mind. He didn't do the things humans so often did, like drink or drugs, so his only outlet was training and Bulma.

He smiled at the last thought as he continued to throw punches. No matter how angry she got, or how much she yelled, he would only smirk at her. And usually if they started arguing, they would end up in bed an hour later.

Oh, well. He thought. If something is coming, it won't help me at all to be apprehensive about it.

He continued his training.




Uubu spun a kick at Gohan, which the demi-saiyajin blocked expertly. The shock of the kick sent waves of energy down through the air, making the floor rumble. A split second after the kick was ended, they both blurred away again.

Goku sat on the floor, watching them and smiling. He was really proud of Gohan. He had quit training for close to ten years, and just decided to pick it back up one day. He could still use his mystic ability, though it was a little weaker from not training for so long. And, on a whole, he had bounced back rather well.

Once he had started training again, life had been a little different. He had a job teaching at Orange Star High, but he wasn't the 'nerd' that was expected. He came to class wearing a suit, sure, but he had traded his glasses in for contact lenses, and he seemed to have a knack for making things fun for kids. Most of them liked him, and those who didn't, didn't say much. He pulled in a good salary.

All in all, Goku was very proud of him. He was proud of Goten too, though his younger son only worked at a restaurant and didn't want to worry about good grades in school. Goku understood that Goten was more like him than Gohan or ChiChi. Goten was the kind of person that had great potential in life, but only used it to get enough money for the day and a place to sleep at night.

His son was actually pretty smart, despite always being absent minded. Goku was the same way. Teachers would get mad at him daily for not using his brain more.

Suddenly, Goku's thoughts were interrupted. He sensed Goten and Trunks outside somewhere, probably at Korin's.

Korin's meant senzu beans. Senzu beans meant someone had been hurt.

He jumped up. "Uubu! Gohan! Come with me down to Korin's, will you?"

The two stopped their spar in mid move and looked down.

"Why, what's wrong, dad?" Gohan asked curiously.

"Oh, probably nothing. But I just sensed Goten and Trunks down at Korin's."

Gohan and Uubu understood immediately why he was worried.

"Okay, let's go." Gohan said. Uubu nodded and followed them.




Goku, Gohan, and Uubu got to Korin's part of the tower just as Trunks and Goten were getting their senzu bean. When they landed, the white cat and the two demi-saiyajin turned and looked at them curiously.

"Hey, dad!" Goten said happily.

Goku smiled back. "Hey, Goten!"

They embraced briefly, before Trunks cut in.

"Hey, Goku. We were just going to come up there to you, actually. There's something we need to discuss."

Goku raised one eyebrow questioningly. "What's that?"

So Trunks spilled out a short version of what had happened, beginning with the two sparring and ending with them coming here to get a senzu bean. Goten was holding the bean in his hand now, but he hadn't made any move to eat it yet.

Goku was looking from one to the other of them gravely. "Let me see those burns."

Goten turned his head, and Goku stepped up to look. The skin was charred black, and he thought it was probably hurting a lot. He touched it gingerly, and Goten drew in a hiss of breath through clenched teeth. Goku drew back.

"That looks like it hurts. Go ahead and eat that senzu bean." he said.

Goten smiled and did so. In a couple seconds, all trace of the burn was gone.

Goku was standing with his arms crossed, looking at the ground with a thoughtful expression on his face. Gohan and Uubu looked on, not sure what to do.

"I think I can help."

Goku looked up (not far up) at the small white cat on it's hind legs.

"What is it, Korin?" Goku asked. "Do you know what they're talking about?"

Korin smiled a bit. "I might. If you want to wait here, I think I have something."

Goku nodded, and Korin went off into the small room at the back of the tower.

Goten heaved a deep breath. "So, Gohan, how's it going?"

Gohan smiled. "Pretty good. What about you? Keeping in shape?"

Goten laughed. "You know how it is. I never have time to train anymore."

They talked on.






Krillin was laying on the beach of Kame island, looking at the clouds. Next to him lay Juuhachi-gou, his wife. They had been sitting there for hours, neither saying so much as a whole sentence. They didn't rally need to, they were so in tune with each other. There was probably not a happier (or more mismatched) couple among the Z fighters.

Marron was out somewhere, probably the mall. It was easier now that she was old enough to be on her own for a good part of the time. Much as Krillin liked master Roshi, he wasn't to keen on leaving his teenage daughter alone with him.

The sound of the waves on the beach was relaxing, and Krillin found himself fighting off sleep part of the time. Almost out of habit, he began to scan the kis of people in the area. It was something he did quite often, really for no reason.

He felt Goku, Gohan, and Uubu up at the lookout. Trunks and Goten were with them, which was uncommon, but did happen once in a while. He felt Tien and Choutzu, training off somewhere in the woods. He could feel Vegeta in his gravity room, and the assorted weaker kis of Bulma, Bura, Videl, Pan, and ChiChi, as well as the other, even smaller, kis of uncountable humans.

His eyes opened a bit. He thought he felt something else...

Just then, he felt a heavy hand on his arm.

"Juu-chan?" he sat up and looked at his wife. "Is something wrong?"

She did look worried. Actually, she looked just plain scared, which was not normal at all.

"Krillin, my scanners picked up something strange..."

"Are you sure? I don't sense anything." but he thought he had, just for a second. He sense a ki that was somehow... wrong. Not evil, or bad, just not right.

She shook her head. "It's not ki. It's some kind of machine, giving out a huge amount of electricity. I'm not sure what it is, but it feels close. It almost feels like..." she paused, as if she wasn't sure, "like a cyborg, or an android."

As if on cue, they both stood up. He could feel it too, almost. Not ki, but sort of a sixth sense.

Suddenly, Juuhachi-gou's eyes went wide. "Krillin, behind you!"

He spun and put his arms up in an instinctive block, just in time to stop a kick that had been aimed for his neck. The shock traveled all the way up his arms and through his shoulders. Before he even dropped his arms, he felt that there was something quite wrong. There was no ki coming from whatever had hit him.

He flipped back, out of the way of another kick that was aimed at his sternum. He landed next to his wife, and got a look at the thing that was attacking him.

It looked exactly identical to the one that had attacked Goten. It's head was smooth and shiny black, no face. It's whole body was the same color.

And, though they didn't know it, this thing was in connection with the nearly one hundred others like it on the planet. It was already radioing out for assistance.

"What the hell is that thing?" Krillin asked. Juuhachi-gou shook her head. She had no idea.

"Well, I'm not waiting to find out!" Krillin charged at it, slamming a punch that was blocked.

He and the robot began exchanging blows. It fought like a human, and moved faster than Krillin did. It was fairly obvious from the first punch, however, that Krillin's strength was greater. The robot had blocked with it's arm, and the punch had left a dent.

Just then, Juuhachi-gou sensed more.

And just after she sensed them, she saw them.

Three more, coming straight for them.

"Krillin!" she yelled, "Look out, there's more of them!"

Two immediately landed on her, and she had no more time to talk. She was fighting. The other went after Krillin.

He was going to lose if this kept up. He was stronger than one of these things, but they were too fast, and two on one was pretty crappy odds. He took a shot to the mouth that sent him sprawling.

He got to his feet, blood dripping from one corner of his mouth.

"Okay, then. If that's how you want it." he muttered. His aura burst to life around him, blowing sand and rocks away.

He flew back into the fight.




Korin had just walked back out of the room with a huge book held under his arm when his smile disappeared and a look of worry passed over his face.

"I think a couple of you go down to Kame island.": he said flatly. "There's some trouble down there."

Goku's head snapped around. He had been laughing, but now the laughter stopped. "What do you mean? What happened?"

Korin waved one paw in the air. "It'll be okay, but I think someone should go help. Otherwise, it might not be okay."

Gohan stood up. "I'll go. Do you think I'll be enough, or should I take someone with me?"

Korin looked Gohan up and down. "You'll do. But be quick about it! There's something I need to tell you all."

Gohan nodded and took off.






once he had powered up, the odds had become a little more even. He had been training a lot lately, and he guessed his strength and his wife's were about equal now. She seemed to be doing okay, and he had knocked one of his attackers to the ground. He was holding the other one by the arms, trying to keep away from the buzzing prongs that had sprouted out of it's right wrist. Just the sound was enough to tell him that they were carrying a pretty good jolt of electricity.

He thought he had everything under control, when the one he had knocked to the ground, and he thought was out of the fight, slammed a fist into the small of his back. He let out a cry of pain and released the arms of the robot in front of him, which immediately jabbed the electric prongs at him. He had just enough time to dodge them, and they shot out a blue arc of electricity about five feet long just to his left.

Which turned out to be very good for him, because it hit the robot that had just punched him from behind. It let out a horrible squall, like fingernails on a blackboard, only ten times louder, and dropped out of the air, smoking.

Krillin also dropped to the ground, though he landed on his feet. The pain in his back was horrible, and he expected he would need a senzu bean when the was all over.

The other robot dropped in front of him, pointed the prongs at him, and fired.

He jumped out of the way, just in time. The electricity burned a small patch of the ground by his feet.

He smiled in a way that suggested he had just though of something wonderfully ironic. "Is that it? Come on, give me your best."

The thing had no face, so he couldn't tell if he had effected it's emotions (did it even have any?), but it pointed at him and fired.

Juuhachi-gou was having worse luck. One of the robots held her, and the other was about to shoot her with the electric barbs.

She elbowed the one holding her, and it's grip loosened enough for her to jump free. The electric shot hit it, and it let out the same squall that Krillin's had, and fell to the ground.

She turned to look at it, and smiled. Serves you right. She thought savagely.

But she regretted turning for even a second, and had brief time to kick herself over it, when she felt the steel electric prongs against her neck.

Before she had time to turn, she felt the horrible clench of electricity passing through her body at unbelievable speed, and then her internal computers shut down on their own, to avoid total burnout. Her body froze, and fell to the ground.

Krillin, almost as if on cue, turned just in time to see his wife hit the sand.

"JUU-CHAN!!" he yelled out, letting his guard down for just long enough. The robot he was fighting grabbed him from behind, pinning his arms down. The one that had just KO'd Juuhachi-gou turned and pointed it's metal prongs at him.

He shut his eyes. This is the end, he thought.

Then, he felt it.

Just after he felt it, he saw it.

A white blur that he at first didn't realize was Gohan slammed into the robot that was about to electrocute him, demolishing it into scrap.

Krillin grinned slyly, and surged his ki as high as it would go. It knocked the robot that was holding him off just enough for him to jump away. As soon as he hit the ground, he began to power up.

"Ka...me...ha...me..." he cupped his hands behind him as glowing energy began to gather, and shine out in bars of light.

The robot tilted it's head to the side, almost as if it had no idea what he wad doing. As a matter of fact, it didn't. It had not been programmed to fight warriors as powerful as the Z fighters. If Osiris had known how powerful the earth's warriors were, he never would have sent his robots.

"HAA!!" he yelled out, and a beam of blue energy nearly three feet across flew out, and before the robot had time to move, the kamehameha had sheared through it like a hot knife through butter.

The blast exploded over the water, sending up spraying jets almost one hundred feet. Before the first of them came down again, Krillin had powered down and was at his wife's side.

He held her hand and rubbed it. "Juu-chan? Are you okay?"

Any normal human would have been long dead. But her cybernetic body was built to take more than a normal human, and as her sensory input computer felt Krillin's hand rubbing hers, the cybernetic parts that enhanced her brain whirred back to life. Her eyes fluttered open.

"Krillin?" she coughed a bit and sat up. By this time, Gohan was kneeling next to the former monk, looking with concern at Juuhachi-gou. Both of their faces lit up when she rose.

Suddenly, her eyes grew wide. "Krillin! Are you okay?"

He nodded. "Just fine. Thanks to Gohan." he grinned.

She nodded. "Good. We need to warn everyone."

The other two looked at her with confusion. "Why?" Krillin asked. "The things are dead, see?"

He pointed to where the one that had been electrocuted had fallen, but it was gone.

"What the hell?" he muttered.

Gohan was still looking at Juuhachi-gou. "Why do we need to warn everyone?"

She looked scared still, which made them both scared. To frighten Juuhachi-gou, the situation had to be bad.

"Why do we need to warn them?" Gohan asked again.

"Because there are ninety seven more of these things on the planet."

Krillin paled a bit, and Gohan swallowed nervously.

"Listen," the demi saiyajin said. "Can you guys come back to Korin's with me? There is definitely something bad going on."

They both nodded, not even bothering to ask questions. They knew the answers would come eventually. Without another word, they all took off for Korin's tower.

Just as they left, the door to Kame house opened, and Roshi stuck his head out.

"Hello? Is something going on out here? I thought I heard some noise."

He saw the burnt spots on the grass, and the three figures flying away in the distance.

"Best not to ask." he said shortly, and shut the door.






if Krillin had still been thinking about it, he might have mentioned the strange ki he had sensed, the one that felt wrong. But he had completely forgotten about it.






ChiChi was cooking a huge pot of stew, expecting Goten home anytime. It was almost done.

Just as she was putting the lid back on to let it simmer a little more, there was a knock at the door.

She puzzled over this, wondering who would be knocking. Goten would just walk in. After all, he lived here.

She walked into the front room, wiping her hands on her apron, and opened the door. When she saw the man standing on the other side, she let out a little yelp of surprise.

It wasn't anyone she knew. And she was glad that she didn't know him, on her first glance.

He had hair the color of blood that hung just a little past his shoulders in wavy curls. That wasn't really startling, but his face...

His skin was like that of Osiris (though ChiChi didn't know that). It seemed to glow in a stark, stabbing white, but didn't exactly give off light. It was as white as paper. His eyes glittered like polished rubies. The irises were the same color as his hair. For some reason, when she was scared, she noticed details very well, and she saw that he had abnormally long, glossy fingernails.

"Excuse me." he said in a soft voice. He didn't sound mean at all, but she knew that didn't mean anything. "Is this the home of Son Goku?"