Post by Krillin on Oct 13, 2010 1:41:51 GMT -5
Gohan rose to his own feet, managing this before his opponent could. Satisfied with his performance, he brushed a little dirt off his clothes and turned to face Krillin and Mez.
On his face, Krillin wore an expression that bespoke that he was impressed, but had also halfway expected this all along, while Mez was merely shocked. It was quite a pretty sight to see a demon so flabbergasted.
Contented, Gohan strolled out of the ring toward his two spectators. "Well, I suppose that's that, yes?"
Mez was too stunned to speak coherently. "But . . But . . . You . . ."
"A deal's a deal, guys," Krillin piped up, a smug expression on his face.
"But you guys . . ."
While this had been amusing at the start, Gohan decided that it was time to end this. The demon was hedging too much. "But nothing, lad. Everything was done fairly."
Mez looked resigned. "Yeah, yeah, fine," he said, giving him a wary, suspicious look. A glance back told Gohan that Goz was giving him a look much the same, only there was a bit of anger tingeing it.
"See you later, lads. Come along Krillin."
Leaving the two demons to grumble and argue over missed opportunities or other such mistakes, Gohan and Krillin walked away, both with pleased expressions lighting their faces.
"Have to say, those were some nice moves, there," Krillin said at last.
"Well, thank you, son. I told you that I used to be pretty good at this stuff. That Goz didn't have much in the way of strategy."
Krillin nodded, and looked back for a second. "Yeah . . . though I was still worried about ya for a second there. I though for a minute that you really might have forgotten that . . ."
"Forgotten what?" Gohan questioned when his companion trailed off. "You can tell me."
Krillin looked up at him dubiously. "Can I? Back when I first talked to you about leaving, you seemed to not want to remember anything about your life."
Gohan frowned. Well, that was true. But when one had forgotten things completely, he tended not to miss them very much. And for a while, he had forgotten things completely. Thus he'd had no problem with it. It had only been after Krillin arrived and started asking him about his grandson that he'd had any inkling at all of what he was missing.
That dream he'd had . . . That was about his grandson. Goku. The name had slipped his memory back in the Relegation Room only recently. While it had not disturbed him at first, it certainly did now. Who would want to forget his own grandchild? Perhaps it would be best after all if he remembered . . .
"Well, things are different now," he said at last. "Since we're out of relegation, I think perhaps its about time that I figured out who I was again. I'll need the help."
Krillin stared at him for a moment. "Okay then. What do you want to know?"
"Everything."
Never ever before had he had a job that had taken this long. For weeks now, he had been wandering around Hell, trying to find his two targets and had met with no success at all. It never occurred to him that they would be anywhere else; the afterlife was a big place, but the easiest route to and from anywhere was often straight through Hell. Surely the targets could not have gone any other way.
Kyojin was starting to wonder if his two targets had somehow managed to make themselves invisible so that they might hide from him. Hiding from him was a good idea, of sorts. Or it would be until he found them. Then, he would just smash them to bits with or without King Yemma's position. No creatures small enough to fit on his tiniest finger were going to outwit him. Not he, Kyojin, the greatest of the Otherworld enforcers.
But what a waste this was, of his talents. Maybe he should not have even been assigned this job. If the targets were so small, then he could easily miss them in a crowd. He needed to see details. He could not just smash everything in sight, much as he might want to. Doing that would bring great retribution form the Grand Kai. And he had already suffered that once; he had no desire to do so again.
But, he decided, as he paused to look around at the surrounding landscape. In the near distance, he could see something that actually rose to a decent height. One of those silly rides that the souls enjoyed partaking of. But maybe it was time to ask again for information from the caretakers down here. If they did not know, he could always just smash them like he had done with all of the others.
And so over to the rides he walked, shaking the ground with his strides as always, a warning to all those at his destination. A warning to stand clear and prepare for his arrival. And to pray that they did not incur his wrath. Wise behaviour, for he imagined that nobody appreciated getting smashed. Which was part of the fun of it.
Souls scattered in his wake as he approached the rides. A smell, and a pleasing one at that, wafted into his huge nostrils, and he bent down to pick up one of the small buildings that were sitting just in front of his feet. A soul fled from this building as he lifted it, flying toward the ground with great haste. Carefully, Kyojin took a sniff and determined that the pleasing scent indeed had come from there. It was that delicious stuff that the souls called cotton candy. Thoughtlessly, he popped the whole building into his mouth, crunching down on it happily. At least those tiny creatures knew how to do something right.
"Hey, what's all the ruckus here?"
The voice was small, though everything was small to Kyojin, and he looked down at his feet to see a blue demon rushing up to meet him. This demon was bigger than the others, wide shouldered, and Kyojin assumed that he was quite upset form the tone of his voice; from his height, he could not see the demon's face.
Recognition seemed to come from the demon a moment later. "Oh, hold on here. Kyojin right?"
Kyojin nodded. "Yes, that is me. I have a question. You will answer it."
"Only if I can, pal."
Hmm. How interesting. This creature did not appear to be afraid of him at all. Nearly every living or deceased thing that he encountered feared him. While the change of pace was intriguing, he was not sure whether he liked it or not. He enjoyed being feared, and when something veered from what one enjoyed, it was generally not a good thing.
He opened his mouth to voice his question, but another one stopped him.
"Goz, what are you doing up there?" called out an angry voice. Stomping up the hill came another demon, dressed the same as the first, though this one's skin was red. "Just fix whatever the commotion is and . . ."
This new demon was apparently not as observant as his partner; only now did it notice Kyojin standing high above them. While the demon seemed nonplussed at this sight, he did not seem any more afraid than his companion.
"Oh, an enforcer is here," the red demon said calmly. He turned to the blue one. "Why didn't you just tell me?"
The blue one folded his arms. "I shouldn't have had to tell ya, Mez. He's only the size of three houses. I thought you might have noticed him on your own."
"Are you calling me unobservant?" the red demon countered. "That's sure big talk coming from you!"
"Oh, is it now? Well, I . . ."
Kyojin watched this spectacle with utter bemusement. He had never before seen two creatures argue. Most were too busy staring at him to have any gall whatsoever to carry on a conversation that did not involve him in his presence. He could not hear all of the words that the demons were speaking, but he could make out some exaggerated arm movements. Kyojin almost laughed at the spectacle. But as amusing as this sight was, he was on a mission that may very well entail smashing something. It was very important.
"Silence," he spoke in an even tone, knowing that he did not need to raise his voice; it easily carried over those of the two demons. They looked at him as if they had forgotten that he was there. "I said that I have a question. I expect an answer or I might have to smash you."
The two demons gave each other a sort of annoyed look, and the red one spoke up first.
"Well, what's your question, then? We're busy demons, you know!"
"I am looking for two escaped souls," Kyojin began, though he did not like the red demon's tone. "They are very tiny creatures, even tinier than you. One with much hair and one with none. Tell me where they are."
"Look pal, if we knew where –"
"Shut up, Goz! Hold it!" The red demon covered the blue one's mouth with one hand. After giving the blue one a sharp look, it glanced up at him again. "Yeah, yeah. We've seen them. Weeks ago. Long gone by now."
Kyojin frowned. While he was not extremely intelligent, he did know that the orders to capture the two escaped souls would be relayed to all branches of Otherworld. Including these two demons. If they had seen the fugitives and not captured them, then they could be in for a heap of trouble. "I suppose that you could not handle them, and that is why they are still at large."
The blue demon pried the red one's hand off his mouth, and spoke up, "Hey, it's not that we couldn't handle them. They just got lucky, that's all! If we – Ouch! Mez!"
The red demon had jabbed an elbow into his companion's gut. "Shut up Goz! What are you trying to do, get us fired? We'll be history if this reaches King Yemma!"
Kyojin frowned at the two little creatures before him. So they did not do their jobs. That was an unforgivable sin in his eyes. Not that Kyojin was fully intending to completely obey his orders; he was going to do what he was told to some extent and capture the fugitive souls. But seeing as they had given him so much trouble already, he was ready to smash those souls to bits whether he got his permission from King Yemma or not.
"You are worthless little creatures," he said at last. The two demons looked up at him, worried, but not panicking. "I should smash you, but I still have a job to do. Unlike you, I will do it."
With that, he began to walk again, purposefully just missing stepping on the two demons as he passed. He may well tell King Yemma about their disobedience. Maybe he would be rewarded with the assignment of smashing them. How satisfying that would be. A smile tugged on his lips as he continued forward.
But before long, he decided that it would probably be best to go at this in a run. His targets were weeks ahead of him, wherever they were headed, and he need to make up for the intervening distance. With his ground-eating strides, he should be able to make up that weeks' worth of distance in a few hours.
- -
"I wish that I could tell you more," Krillin said apologetically, hanging his head a bit.
"I'm afraid that we only met for that one time."
"Now, now, that's okay, son. It improves on what I had before."
While that was true, Krillin felt bad. Just as always, he came up short when someone was counting on him. He could only seem to manage partial success no matter how hard he tried. And it was always his own fault, too. He could have known more about Gohan Senior. All that time that Krillin had spent with Goku, he could have talked to the Saiyan about his adoptive grandfather more. Goku was not uncomfortable about the subject; oftentimes, he would mention the old man, and a wistful, happy smirk would come to his face. A memory that seemed to give him serene peace as those of his grandfather did were certainly a good place to dwell. Yes, he should have asked. Should have asked a hundred questions so that he could have been prepared for this moment.
"I guess so, but I still feel bad," he continued. "I can't help you get the rest of your memory back."
Gohan Senior patted him on the back. "I already told you not to worry about it, son. Who knows? With the little jogs that you've given me, perhaps I'll be able to remember everything in time. Provided that I don't end up back in relegation, that is."
Krillin laughed half heartedly. That was the other thing that bothered him. His whole plan to have his Judgement sped up could very well end up backfiring on him. He should have expected this – his plans usually did backfire – but he had just wanted it so much . . .
Now, they were wanted fugitives, heading straight for the judge that would condemn them. Or at least condemn him. Maybe he could get Gohan Senior off the hook, considering that he had knocked the old man out to get him to come. He could argue that Gohan Senior had been under duress. That could work, and maybe he would get the fate that would originally have been afforded to him.
Krillin himself on the other hand . . . Well, he'd likely screwed up his chances of going anywhere good, all because of his impatience. He could wind up in some terrible place like the Ironic Punishment division, or straight to . . . Well, here, considering that this was Hell. And maybe he would be stripped of his body to boot. And maybe they would actually just decide to suck his soul away entirely, through the use of some giant evil vacuum, wiping him out of existence entirely. . . Or maybe . . .
Good Kami, if he were still alive he would have scared himself to death by now! It was always worst-case scenario for him.
Krillin’s mind had begun to wander before he shook his head. There he went with worst-case scenario stuff again. He really need to get his head on straight, and convince himself that while something terrible was certainly going to happen to him for this, it likely would not be quite as terrible as he thought. He hoped, anyway. Though his hopes often . . .
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On his face, Krillin wore an expression that bespoke that he was impressed, but had also halfway expected this all along, while Mez was merely shocked. It was quite a pretty sight to see a demon so flabbergasted.
Contented, Gohan strolled out of the ring toward his two spectators. "Well, I suppose that's that, yes?"
Mez was too stunned to speak coherently. "But . . But . . . You . . ."
"A deal's a deal, guys," Krillin piped up, a smug expression on his face.
"But you guys . . ."
While this had been amusing at the start, Gohan decided that it was time to end this. The demon was hedging too much. "But nothing, lad. Everything was done fairly."
Mez looked resigned. "Yeah, yeah, fine," he said, giving him a wary, suspicious look. A glance back told Gohan that Goz was giving him a look much the same, only there was a bit of anger tingeing it.
"See you later, lads. Come along Krillin."
Leaving the two demons to grumble and argue over missed opportunities or other such mistakes, Gohan and Krillin walked away, both with pleased expressions lighting their faces.
"Have to say, those were some nice moves, there," Krillin said at last.
"Well, thank you, son. I told you that I used to be pretty good at this stuff. That Goz didn't have much in the way of strategy."
Krillin nodded, and looked back for a second. "Yeah . . . though I was still worried about ya for a second there. I though for a minute that you really might have forgotten that . . ."
"Forgotten what?" Gohan questioned when his companion trailed off. "You can tell me."
Krillin looked up at him dubiously. "Can I? Back when I first talked to you about leaving, you seemed to not want to remember anything about your life."
Gohan frowned. Well, that was true. But when one had forgotten things completely, he tended not to miss them very much. And for a while, he had forgotten things completely. Thus he'd had no problem with it. It had only been after Krillin arrived and started asking him about his grandson that he'd had any inkling at all of what he was missing.
That dream he'd had . . . That was about his grandson. Goku. The name had slipped his memory back in the Relegation Room only recently. While it had not disturbed him at first, it certainly did now. Who would want to forget his own grandchild? Perhaps it would be best after all if he remembered . . .
"Well, things are different now," he said at last. "Since we're out of relegation, I think perhaps its about time that I figured out who I was again. I'll need the help."
Krillin stared at him for a moment. "Okay then. What do you want to know?"
"Everything."
Never ever before had he had a job that had taken this long. For weeks now, he had been wandering around Hell, trying to find his two targets and had met with no success at all. It never occurred to him that they would be anywhere else; the afterlife was a big place, but the easiest route to and from anywhere was often straight through Hell. Surely the targets could not have gone any other way.
Kyojin was starting to wonder if his two targets had somehow managed to make themselves invisible so that they might hide from him. Hiding from him was a good idea, of sorts. Or it would be until he found them. Then, he would just smash them to bits with or without King Yemma's position. No creatures small enough to fit on his tiniest finger were going to outwit him. Not he, Kyojin, the greatest of the Otherworld enforcers.
But what a waste this was, of his talents. Maybe he should not have even been assigned this job. If the targets were so small, then he could easily miss them in a crowd. He needed to see details. He could not just smash everything in sight, much as he might want to. Doing that would bring great retribution form the Grand Kai. And he had already suffered that once; he had no desire to do so again.
But, he decided, as he paused to look around at the surrounding landscape. In the near distance, he could see something that actually rose to a decent height. One of those silly rides that the souls enjoyed partaking of. But maybe it was time to ask again for information from the caretakers down here. If they did not know, he could always just smash them like he had done with all of the others.
And so over to the rides he walked, shaking the ground with his strides as always, a warning to all those at his destination. A warning to stand clear and prepare for his arrival. And to pray that they did not incur his wrath. Wise behaviour, for he imagined that nobody appreciated getting smashed. Which was part of the fun of it.
Souls scattered in his wake as he approached the rides. A smell, and a pleasing one at that, wafted into his huge nostrils, and he bent down to pick up one of the small buildings that were sitting just in front of his feet. A soul fled from this building as he lifted it, flying toward the ground with great haste. Carefully, Kyojin took a sniff and determined that the pleasing scent indeed had come from there. It was that delicious stuff that the souls called cotton candy. Thoughtlessly, he popped the whole building into his mouth, crunching down on it happily. At least those tiny creatures knew how to do something right.
"Hey, what's all the ruckus here?"
The voice was small, though everything was small to Kyojin, and he looked down at his feet to see a blue demon rushing up to meet him. This demon was bigger than the others, wide shouldered, and Kyojin assumed that he was quite upset form the tone of his voice; from his height, he could not see the demon's face.
Recognition seemed to come from the demon a moment later. "Oh, hold on here. Kyojin right?"
Kyojin nodded. "Yes, that is me. I have a question. You will answer it."
"Only if I can, pal."
Hmm. How interesting. This creature did not appear to be afraid of him at all. Nearly every living or deceased thing that he encountered feared him. While the change of pace was intriguing, he was not sure whether he liked it or not. He enjoyed being feared, and when something veered from what one enjoyed, it was generally not a good thing.
He opened his mouth to voice his question, but another one stopped him.
"Goz, what are you doing up there?" called out an angry voice. Stomping up the hill came another demon, dressed the same as the first, though this one's skin was red. "Just fix whatever the commotion is and . . ."
This new demon was apparently not as observant as his partner; only now did it notice Kyojin standing high above them. While the demon seemed nonplussed at this sight, he did not seem any more afraid than his companion.
"Oh, an enforcer is here," the red demon said calmly. He turned to the blue one. "Why didn't you just tell me?"
The blue one folded his arms. "I shouldn't have had to tell ya, Mez. He's only the size of three houses. I thought you might have noticed him on your own."
"Are you calling me unobservant?" the red demon countered. "That's sure big talk coming from you!"
"Oh, is it now? Well, I . . ."
Kyojin watched this spectacle with utter bemusement. He had never before seen two creatures argue. Most were too busy staring at him to have any gall whatsoever to carry on a conversation that did not involve him in his presence. He could not hear all of the words that the demons were speaking, but he could make out some exaggerated arm movements. Kyojin almost laughed at the spectacle. But as amusing as this sight was, he was on a mission that may very well entail smashing something. It was very important.
"Silence," he spoke in an even tone, knowing that he did not need to raise his voice; it easily carried over those of the two demons. They looked at him as if they had forgotten that he was there. "I said that I have a question. I expect an answer or I might have to smash you."
The two demons gave each other a sort of annoyed look, and the red one spoke up first.
"Well, what's your question, then? We're busy demons, you know!"
"I am looking for two escaped souls," Kyojin began, though he did not like the red demon's tone. "They are very tiny creatures, even tinier than you. One with much hair and one with none. Tell me where they are."
"Look pal, if we knew where –"
"Shut up, Goz! Hold it!" The red demon covered the blue one's mouth with one hand. After giving the blue one a sharp look, it glanced up at him again. "Yeah, yeah. We've seen them. Weeks ago. Long gone by now."
Kyojin frowned. While he was not extremely intelligent, he did know that the orders to capture the two escaped souls would be relayed to all branches of Otherworld. Including these two demons. If they had seen the fugitives and not captured them, then they could be in for a heap of trouble. "I suppose that you could not handle them, and that is why they are still at large."
The blue demon pried the red one's hand off his mouth, and spoke up, "Hey, it's not that we couldn't handle them. They just got lucky, that's all! If we – Ouch! Mez!"
The red demon had jabbed an elbow into his companion's gut. "Shut up Goz! What are you trying to do, get us fired? We'll be history if this reaches King Yemma!"
Kyojin frowned at the two little creatures before him. So they did not do their jobs. That was an unforgivable sin in his eyes. Not that Kyojin was fully intending to completely obey his orders; he was going to do what he was told to some extent and capture the fugitive souls. But seeing as they had given him so much trouble already, he was ready to smash those souls to bits whether he got his permission from King Yemma or not.
"You are worthless little creatures," he said at last. The two demons looked up at him, worried, but not panicking. "I should smash you, but I still have a job to do. Unlike you, I will do it."
With that, he began to walk again, purposefully just missing stepping on the two demons as he passed. He may well tell King Yemma about their disobedience. Maybe he would be rewarded with the assignment of smashing them. How satisfying that would be. A smile tugged on his lips as he continued forward.
But before long, he decided that it would probably be best to go at this in a run. His targets were weeks ahead of him, wherever they were headed, and he need to make up for the intervening distance. With his ground-eating strides, he should be able to make up that weeks' worth of distance in a few hours.
- -
"I wish that I could tell you more," Krillin said apologetically, hanging his head a bit.
"I'm afraid that we only met for that one time."
"Now, now, that's okay, son. It improves on what I had before."
While that was true, Krillin felt bad. Just as always, he came up short when someone was counting on him. He could only seem to manage partial success no matter how hard he tried. And it was always his own fault, too. He could have known more about Gohan Senior. All that time that Krillin had spent with Goku, he could have talked to the Saiyan about his adoptive grandfather more. Goku was not uncomfortable about the subject; oftentimes, he would mention the old man, and a wistful, happy smirk would come to his face. A memory that seemed to give him serene peace as those of his grandfather did were certainly a good place to dwell. Yes, he should have asked. Should have asked a hundred questions so that he could have been prepared for this moment.
"I guess so, but I still feel bad," he continued. "I can't help you get the rest of your memory back."
Gohan Senior patted him on the back. "I already told you not to worry about it, son. Who knows? With the little jogs that you've given me, perhaps I'll be able to remember everything in time. Provided that I don't end up back in relegation, that is."
Krillin laughed half heartedly. That was the other thing that bothered him. His whole plan to have his Judgement sped up could very well end up backfiring on him. He should have expected this – his plans usually did backfire – but he had just wanted it so much . . .
Now, they were wanted fugitives, heading straight for the judge that would condemn them. Or at least condemn him. Maybe he could get Gohan Senior off the hook, considering that he had knocked the old man out to get him to come. He could argue that Gohan Senior had been under duress. That could work, and maybe he would get the fate that would originally have been afforded to him.
Krillin himself on the other hand . . . Well, he'd likely screwed up his chances of going anywhere good, all because of his impatience. He could wind up in some terrible place like the Ironic Punishment division, or straight to . . . Well, here, considering that this was Hell. And maybe he would be stripped of his body to boot. And maybe they would actually just decide to suck his soul away entirely, through the use of some giant evil vacuum, wiping him out of existence entirely. . . Or maybe . . .
Good Kami, if he were still alive he would have scared himself to death by now! It was always worst-case scenario for him.
Krillin’s mind had begun to wander before he shook his head. There he went with worst-case scenario stuff again. He really need to get his head on straight, and convince himself that while something terrible was certainly going to happen to him for this, it likely would not be quite as terrible as he thought. He hoped, anyway. Though his hopes often . . .
Word Count: 2506