Post by Krillin on Oct 14, 2010 0:44:03 GMT -5
He would have cut himself off again, but something did it for him. He had not noticed it at first, but now he recognized the feeling of the ground trembling underneath him, just a bit.
But that was not what made his head shoot up in worry. No, a trembling ground he could deal with; it was the strange feeling that went along with it that bothered him.
"Do you feel that, son?" Gohan Senior asked. "Something is coming our way, and I don't think that it's friendly."
Krillin blinked for a few seconds in disbelief. Somehow, it had not occurred to him that Gohan Senior would know how to sense ki. He supposed that he should not have been surprised; the old man had once been a student of Muten Roshi, after all, but it was a slight surprise nonetheless. He had been so locked in protective mode that he had forgotten that Gohan Senior was unlike the other people he had protected – most of them, anyway – in that he actually knew a thing or two about how to take care of himself.
"No, it doesn't. I think our best bet is to get outta here!"
Without waiting for a reply, Krillin hoisted Gohan Senior over his shoulder, and took off into the air. The direction did not matter, as long as they got a way from that large approaching ki.
Gohan Senior put one hand on his head to hold his hat in place. "This is certainly a nice usage of ki, son!" he shouted over the wind that was surely in his ears. "Though I don't see why you didn't just do this from the start."
Despite the air of desperation around them, Krillin could not help but smile and add a little levity to the situation. "What you think I was going to carry you the whole way to Judgement? Do you want me to break my back?"
Gohan Senior just chuckled a bit. "Maybe I did at first, considering how you got me to come along with you on this fool quest."
And so the lighter mood continued in spite of the fact that they were being pursued. After all, the ki was strong, but it was not really all that fast. Krillin was sure that he could easily out fly it. He was sure that it would be far, far behind them in a matter of mere moments. He was sure that . . .
Why in the world was he ever sure of anything?
He felt more than heard or saw the attack that came, a gigantic fist slammed into the ground just beneath them, fully embedding itself in the earth. Rocks sprayed upward, nearly striking Krillin in the chest and knocking Gohan Senior from his hands, but he managed to evade them, and his grip held firm. They were in real trouble now.
"Krillin, watch out!"
Gohan Senior's voice came at the perfect time, and Krillin looked back just at the precise moment to see a monstrous foot bearing down upon them. He quickly and nimbly dodged to the side, but was caught unawares by another foot descended toward the spot he had just dodged to. There was not as much time to evade this strike, and though he managed to mostly get out of the way, the outside edge of the foot caught him in the back.
Krillin's flight was derailed, and he instinctively tossed Gohan Senior away from him in order for to keep himself from landing on and possibly injuring the old man. Krillin, for his part, tumbled to the ground which was trembling under the impact of the giant feet.
But the fall was not enough to injure him – he had endured drops from greater heights with little or no damage – and he was up on his feet almost instantly. His head snapped up to get a view of their attacker. And his gaze went up, and up, and up . . .
Geez, as if he didn't feel small enough around normal-sized people.
Unsurprisingly, considering the size of the limbs that had attacked them, the figure was a giant. Several stories high, easily, a good seventy feet tall. Other than that, it looked rather humanoid, with yellowed skin and red slitted eyes. Two large fangs protruded from under its lips, as though the creature were some sort of relative to a sabre-toothed tiger. And those hands and feet that head nearly crushed them contained fingers and toes tipped with fearsome looking claws.
Krillin swallowed. This just was not his day.
It was just too much. First, he had been killed. Then, his files weren't in order, so he got sent to the Relegation Room. Then he concocted some insane plane to get to Judgement before it was ready for him. He was willing to admit that the whole episode with Goz and Mez was actually kind of fun. But this, being hunted down by a giant that looked as though it would step on you or eat you as soon as it would look at you was just not something that he wanted to deal with.
But since when did he ever get to deal with things that he wanted to deal with? His whole existence was a polar opposite to such a concept.
Krillin tore his gaze away from the giant for a moment to check on Gohan Senior. The old man was on the other side of the giant, and was slowly climbing to his feet. He looked unhurt, if a bit dazed, and Krillin managed a smile at this. At least his friend was all right. Now all he had to do was figure out a way to take care of this giant who did not exactly look very happy to see them.
"So you are the tiny ones that escaped," the giant said, his voice echoing for surely miles across the landscape of Hell and in Krillin's ears, and he longed to cover them, but he knew that he could not spare the time. It was too valuable. "I would suggest that you run away no longer. I've had quite a time looking for you, and it has been very frustrating."
Krillin calmed down a hair. This thing was not as rampagingly angry as it had seemed at the start. Maybe he could reason with it. "Well, that's really unfortunate, sir. You know, we'd actually . . ."
"It was merely my job to bring you back before, to face King Yemma," the giant interrupted. "But the search had been so frustrating that I've just decided to smash you without permission."
Krillin gulped. What was with this guy? He didn't seem especially perturbed in any way, yet he was still planning to kill them? Or not kill, but . . . Augh, forget about it. The question of whether something that was already dead could be killed again was one that he did not exactly have the time to contemplate at the moment. There were far more pressing issues at hand.
"Hey, look," Krillin said, though his voice was a little shaky. Maybe he could still get Gohan Senior off the hook. "My friend here didn't do anything willingly. I made him come here. Why don't you just take him back to Judgement, and you can come after me." This time, the words were much braver sounding, even though he did not feel any braver in his heart. But he felt honourable at least.
"Hold on a second son!" Gohan Senior called out. "Just what do you think you're –"
"I know what I'm doing!" Krillin shouted back before his companion could finish the protest. He had to move quickly. "Just relax!"
Not exactly a lie, but not really the truth either. The real truth was that he knew what he wanted to do, but he was unsure of how to go about it. He couldn't risk shouting for Gohan Senior to escape, at least not yet. The giant would surely track him down easily and destroy him, so he had to hope that this would work.
The typical response to his hopes greeted him; the giant laughed. "You are a funny creature, tiniest of ones. But Kyojin, the greatest of the Otherworld's enforcers, does not become swayed by his sense of humour. One out of two is no deal. It must be both."
Great. Well, that plan was shot. Now was the time for the secondary plan. Either luckily or unluckily, the giant, Kyojin, set it in motion for him.
"But I will grant you part of your request, tiniest of ones," Kyojin continued at last. "I will simply smash you first."
Well, that was a relief. Sort of. He had been afraid for a moment that the giant was going to go after Gohan Senior. Or was this turn of events really so fortunate? After all, had the giant turned around to make a strike at Gohan Senior, Krillin could have launched a sneak attack from behind . . .
Oh, well. More important things to worry about now.
Kyojin's fist came at him again, and he hopped backward to evade it. With surprising speed, the giant lifted his arm out of the ground and lunged at him once again. Krillin scarcely managed to leap into the air to evade this one, and he barely had time to sigh in relief before he looked up into the face of yet another oncoming attack.
With a gasp of alarm, Krillin twisted his body minutely to evade the edge of Kyojin's other fist, and cupped his hands to form a small ki blast. He had not the time, nor truly the energy for anything major. The power built in his hands for a few seconds . . .
Kyojin's hand shot toward him again, open-palmed this time, and on pure instinct he let out a cry and fired the ki blast that he had been forming.
The blast exploded into the giant's palm, and Krillin heard Kyojin cry out in mild pain as the blast struck, and pulled his hand away. With his opponent thus distracted, he flew behind Kyojin's head and gathered ki around his fist. His gloved hand glowed with the varying intensity of blue- white light and he drove it forward, right into the back of Kyojin's skull.
It was a particularly skilful blow, similar to the one that he had used to knock out Gohan Senior a few weeks prior. And it seemed that Kyojin might have fallen victim to it just the same; the giant swayed unsteadily on his feet before toppling forward onto his face. The ground trembled and gave way under his weight, the full force hitting all at once. A tremendous dust cloud rose from this impact, and Krillin was not quite high enough for it to avoid reaching him. He placed a hand over his mouth and coughed a little, trying to see through the cloud.
But a sudden thought struck him, and he inadvertently took his hand away from his mouth. Immediately, he began to cough, but his mind was elsewhere. Where was Gohan Senior? He'd been standing near the base of Kyojin's feet the last time that he'd checked . . . He might still be . . .
Suddenly, Krillin did not feel quite so proud of his move. He may have just gotten his companion squished flat. Ironically – and he had no idea why this thought came to mind – it was the very same way that Gohan Senior had ended his true life. Ironic, yes, but he failed to find it very funny at the moment.
"Gohan!" he called through the dust cloud. He was using whatever free breaths he could manage between fits of coughing. "Gohan? Are you okay down there?"
He flew closer to the ground as the dust began to clear, searching over and around in any direction he could think of. He came upon Kyojin's unmoving leg and paused for a moment. Like it or not, his companion could well be lying under that leg, in Kami only knew what kind of condition. And it was all Krillin's fault. If only he had been smarter, actually done a little thinking before he rushed into this crazy plan . . .
"Krillin." A hand on his shoulder and the sound of his name startled him, and with a scream, he jumped and turned.
But the sight that greeted him clamed his nerves immediately. "Oh, geez, there you are. Don't ever do that to me again."
Gohan Senior just chuckled. "My apologies, son. But have you forgotten that I am not so fragile or frozen as to need constant attention in battle? I thought I was supposed to be the forgetful one around here."
"Well, I just haven't caught up to you yet," Krillin returned, his relief putting him into somewhat of a joking mood. "And it doesn't look like I will. Considering where I'm probably going to end up for this stunt, though . . ."
He didn't get a chance to finish his thought. Predictably, or it should have been for Krillin, Kyojin's foot twitched. First once, then many times in succession. The legs followed suit, and sure enough, the motion had travelled throughout the giant's body, right up to its massive head. And that head raised, the red-slitted eyes narrowed in fury, and Krillin was almost too resigned to feel any terror at this.
He had just knocked out the giant for a few seconds. Then it woke up, and looked bent on ripping him to pieces. Yep, that sounded like his luck all right.
Krillin pulled Gohan Senior down to his level. "Look. I'll draw this guy away and you make a break for it."
"You've lost you mind, son, if you think that I would just –"
"Do it. I think I can handle this guy one more time." Krillin glanced at his companion, noticing the dubious expression on his face. He smirked ruefully. "Not convincing, huh?"
Gohan Senior shook his head. "I'm afraid not, son. You were almost there, though."
"Well, better luck next time, I guess." Krillin's smile widened in spite of everything. "Now go!"
He did not wait for Gohan Senior's response; he merely leapt forward with his leg extended, and struck Kyojin right between his huge eyes. The blow caused the giant's head to rear back slightly, but moreso only served to make him angry. Which had been the plan anyway. Kyojin rushed to his feet, swinging out his fist once more in an attempt to catch Krillin, but Krillin hopped straight into the air to avoid the blow. He took a quick glance down at Gohan Senior, and sighed in irritation. The old man wasn't moving. He guessed that he should have expected as much, but it was still not an encouraging sight to see. Looked like he was going to have to play the role of kamikaze.
"Hey, Kyojin!" he called out tauntingly. He stuck out his tongue. "Come over here and see if you can catch this!"
Kyojin roared in anger and swung a fist at him again, and Krillin dodged this, albeit just barely. He turned in his flight, racing toward a set of high mountains. This had better work.
A quick glance over his shoulder told him that it indeed was working. One of his rare successes then, though when he taunted an enemy it rarely happened that they did not follow after him in a blind rage. He sure knew how to pick his spots sometimes. He just wished that it was more often than getting an extremely dangerous person to be hunting him down. Something a little less frightening would do him just fine.
He dropped slightly to evade Kyojin's knee, which had come out of nowhere, probably in mid-stride. And he had to move again quickly as the other knee came up – stupid, stupid move; he had dodged to the inside. He dove at an angle so as to not have to get out of the way of a constant barrage of knees.
Instead, a foot shot out, this time obviously an intentional attack. Krillin dropped to the ground for a second to get under the blow, then took off again.
All of this dodging was doing him little good. He was going to have to start attacking this monster again if he expected to get out of here in one piece. But right now, he did not have the room, did not have the time. He needed to buy it somehow, and maybe those mountains would be able to help him.
Long shots, long shots. His existence was just chock-full of them.
Word Count: 2792
But that was not what made his head shoot up in worry. No, a trembling ground he could deal with; it was the strange feeling that went along with it that bothered him.
"Do you feel that, son?" Gohan Senior asked. "Something is coming our way, and I don't think that it's friendly."
Krillin blinked for a few seconds in disbelief. Somehow, it had not occurred to him that Gohan Senior would know how to sense ki. He supposed that he should not have been surprised; the old man had once been a student of Muten Roshi, after all, but it was a slight surprise nonetheless. He had been so locked in protective mode that he had forgotten that Gohan Senior was unlike the other people he had protected – most of them, anyway – in that he actually knew a thing or two about how to take care of himself.
"No, it doesn't. I think our best bet is to get outta here!"
Without waiting for a reply, Krillin hoisted Gohan Senior over his shoulder, and took off into the air. The direction did not matter, as long as they got a way from that large approaching ki.
Gohan Senior put one hand on his head to hold his hat in place. "This is certainly a nice usage of ki, son!" he shouted over the wind that was surely in his ears. "Though I don't see why you didn't just do this from the start."
Despite the air of desperation around them, Krillin could not help but smile and add a little levity to the situation. "What you think I was going to carry you the whole way to Judgement? Do you want me to break my back?"
Gohan Senior just chuckled a bit. "Maybe I did at first, considering how you got me to come along with you on this fool quest."
And so the lighter mood continued in spite of the fact that they were being pursued. After all, the ki was strong, but it was not really all that fast. Krillin was sure that he could easily out fly it. He was sure that it would be far, far behind them in a matter of mere moments. He was sure that . . .
Why in the world was he ever sure of anything?
He felt more than heard or saw the attack that came, a gigantic fist slammed into the ground just beneath them, fully embedding itself in the earth. Rocks sprayed upward, nearly striking Krillin in the chest and knocking Gohan Senior from his hands, but he managed to evade them, and his grip held firm. They were in real trouble now.
"Krillin, watch out!"
Gohan Senior's voice came at the perfect time, and Krillin looked back just at the precise moment to see a monstrous foot bearing down upon them. He quickly and nimbly dodged to the side, but was caught unawares by another foot descended toward the spot he had just dodged to. There was not as much time to evade this strike, and though he managed to mostly get out of the way, the outside edge of the foot caught him in the back.
Krillin's flight was derailed, and he instinctively tossed Gohan Senior away from him in order for to keep himself from landing on and possibly injuring the old man. Krillin, for his part, tumbled to the ground which was trembling under the impact of the giant feet.
But the fall was not enough to injure him – he had endured drops from greater heights with little or no damage – and he was up on his feet almost instantly. His head snapped up to get a view of their attacker. And his gaze went up, and up, and up . . .
Geez, as if he didn't feel small enough around normal-sized people.
Unsurprisingly, considering the size of the limbs that had attacked them, the figure was a giant. Several stories high, easily, a good seventy feet tall. Other than that, it looked rather humanoid, with yellowed skin and red slitted eyes. Two large fangs protruded from under its lips, as though the creature were some sort of relative to a sabre-toothed tiger. And those hands and feet that head nearly crushed them contained fingers and toes tipped with fearsome looking claws.
Krillin swallowed. This just was not his day.
It was just too much. First, he had been killed. Then, his files weren't in order, so he got sent to the Relegation Room. Then he concocted some insane plane to get to Judgement before it was ready for him. He was willing to admit that the whole episode with Goz and Mez was actually kind of fun. But this, being hunted down by a giant that looked as though it would step on you or eat you as soon as it would look at you was just not something that he wanted to deal with.
But since when did he ever get to deal with things that he wanted to deal with? His whole existence was a polar opposite to such a concept.
Krillin tore his gaze away from the giant for a moment to check on Gohan Senior. The old man was on the other side of the giant, and was slowly climbing to his feet. He looked unhurt, if a bit dazed, and Krillin managed a smile at this. At least his friend was all right. Now all he had to do was figure out a way to take care of this giant who did not exactly look very happy to see them.
"So you are the tiny ones that escaped," the giant said, his voice echoing for surely miles across the landscape of Hell and in Krillin's ears, and he longed to cover them, but he knew that he could not spare the time. It was too valuable. "I would suggest that you run away no longer. I've had quite a time looking for you, and it has been very frustrating."
Krillin calmed down a hair. This thing was not as rampagingly angry as it had seemed at the start. Maybe he could reason with it. "Well, that's really unfortunate, sir. You know, we'd actually . . ."
"It was merely my job to bring you back before, to face King Yemma," the giant interrupted. "But the search had been so frustrating that I've just decided to smash you without permission."
Krillin gulped. What was with this guy? He didn't seem especially perturbed in any way, yet he was still planning to kill them? Or not kill, but . . . Augh, forget about it. The question of whether something that was already dead could be killed again was one that he did not exactly have the time to contemplate at the moment. There were far more pressing issues at hand.
"Hey, look," Krillin said, though his voice was a little shaky. Maybe he could still get Gohan Senior off the hook. "My friend here didn't do anything willingly. I made him come here. Why don't you just take him back to Judgement, and you can come after me." This time, the words were much braver sounding, even though he did not feel any braver in his heart. But he felt honourable at least.
"Hold on a second son!" Gohan Senior called out. "Just what do you think you're –"
"I know what I'm doing!" Krillin shouted back before his companion could finish the protest. He had to move quickly. "Just relax!"
Not exactly a lie, but not really the truth either. The real truth was that he knew what he wanted to do, but he was unsure of how to go about it. He couldn't risk shouting for Gohan Senior to escape, at least not yet. The giant would surely track him down easily and destroy him, so he had to hope that this would work.
The typical response to his hopes greeted him; the giant laughed. "You are a funny creature, tiniest of ones. But Kyojin, the greatest of the Otherworld's enforcers, does not become swayed by his sense of humour. One out of two is no deal. It must be both."
Great. Well, that plan was shot. Now was the time for the secondary plan. Either luckily or unluckily, the giant, Kyojin, set it in motion for him.
"But I will grant you part of your request, tiniest of ones," Kyojin continued at last. "I will simply smash you first."
Well, that was a relief. Sort of. He had been afraid for a moment that the giant was going to go after Gohan Senior. Or was this turn of events really so fortunate? After all, had the giant turned around to make a strike at Gohan Senior, Krillin could have launched a sneak attack from behind . . .
Oh, well. More important things to worry about now.
Kyojin's fist came at him again, and he hopped backward to evade it. With surprising speed, the giant lifted his arm out of the ground and lunged at him once again. Krillin scarcely managed to leap into the air to evade this one, and he barely had time to sigh in relief before he looked up into the face of yet another oncoming attack.
With a gasp of alarm, Krillin twisted his body minutely to evade the edge of Kyojin's other fist, and cupped his hands to form a small ki blast. He had not the time, nor truly the energy for anything major. The power built in his hands for a few seconds . . .
Kyojin's hand shot toward him again, open-palmed this time, and on pure instinct he let out a cry and fired the ki blast that he had been forming.
The blast exploded into the giant's palm, and Krillin heard Kyojin cry out in mild pain as the blast struck, and pulled his hand away. With his opponent thus distracted, he flew behind Kyojin's head and gathered ki around his fist. His gloved hand glowed with the varying intensity of blue- white light and he drove it forward, right into the back of Kyojin's skull.
It was a particularly skilful blow, similar to the one that he had used to knock out Gohan Senior a few weeks prior. And it seemed that Kyojin might have fallen victim to it just the same; the giant swayed unsteadily on his feet before toppling forward onto his face. The ground trembled and gave way under his weight, the full force hitting all at once. A tremendous dust cloud rose from this impact, and Krillin was not quite high enough for it to avoid reaching him. He placed a hand over his mouth and coughed a little, trying to see through the cloud.
But a sudden thought struck him, and he inadvertently took his hand away from his mouth. Immediately, he began to cough, but his mind was elsewhere. Where was Gohan Senior? He'd been standing near the base of Kyojin's feet the last time that he'd checked . . . He might still be . . .
Suddenly, Krillin did not feel quite so proud of his move. He may have just gotten his companion squished flat. Ironically – and he had no idea why this thought came to mind – it was the very same way that Gohan Senior had ended his true life. Ironic, yes, but he failed to find it very funny at the moment.
"Gohan!" he called through the dust cloud. He was using whatever free breaths he could manage between fits of coughing. "Gohan? Are you okay down there?"
He flew closer to the ground as the dust began to clear, searching over and around in any direction he could think of. He came upon Kyojin's unmoving leg and paused for a moment. Like it or not, his companion could well be lying under that leg, in Kami only knew what kind of condition. And it was all Krillin's fault. If only he had been smarter, actually done a little thinking before he rushed into this crazy plan . . .
"Krillin." A hand on his shoulder and the sound of his name startled him, and with a scream, he jumped and turned.
But the sight that greeted him clamed his nerves immediately. "Oh, geez, there you are. Don't ever do that to me again."
Gohan Senior just chuckled. "My apologies, son. But have you forgotten that I am not so fragile or frozen as to need constant attention in battle? I thought I was supposed to be the forgetful one around here."
"Well, I just haven't caught up to you yet," Krillin returned, his relief putting him into somewhat of a joking mood. "And it doesn't look like I will. Considering where I'm probably going to end up for this stunt, though . . ."
He didn't get a chance to finish his thought. Predictably, or it should have been for Krillin, Kyojin's foot twitched. First once, then many times in succession. The legs followed suit, and sure enough, the motion had travelled throughout the giant's body, right up to its massive head. And that head raised, the red-slitted eyes narrowed in fury, and Krillin was almost too resigned to feel any terror at this.
He had just knocked out the giant for a few seconds. Then it woke up, and looked bent on ripping him to pieces. Yep, that sounded like his luck all right.
Krillin pulled Gohan Senior down to his level. "Look. I'll draw this guy away and you make a break for it."
"You've lost you mind, son, if you think that I would just –"
"Do it. I think I can handle this guy one more time." Krillin glanced at his companion, noticing the dubious expression on his face. He smirked ruefully. "Not convincing, huh?"
Gohan Senior shook his head. "I'm afraid not, son. You were almost there, though."
"Well, better luck next time, I guess." Krillin's smile widened in spite of everything. "Now go!"
He did not wait for Gohan Senior's response; he merely leapt forward with his leg extended, and struck Kyojin right between his huge eyes. The blow caused the giant's head to rear back slightly, but moreso only served to make him angry. Which had been the plan anyway. Kyojin rushed to his feet, swinging out his fist once more in an attempt to catch Krillin, but Krillin hopped straight into the air to avoid the blow. He took a quick glance down at Gohan Senior, and sighed in irritation. The old man wasn't moving. He guessed that he should have expected as much, but it was still not an encouraging sight to see. Looked like he was going to have to play the role of kamikaze.
"Hey, Kyojin!" he called out tauntingly. He stuck out his tongue. "Come over here and see if you can catch this!"
Kyojin roared in anger and swung a fist at him again, and Krillin dodged this, albeit just barely. He turned in his flight, racing toward a set of high mountains. This had better work.
A quick glance over his shoulder told him that it indeed was working. One of his rare successes then, though when he taunted an enemy it rarely happened that they did not follow after him in a blind rage. He sure knew how to pick his spots sometimes. He just wished that it was more often than getting an extremely dangerous person to be hunting him down. Something a little less frightening would do him just fine.
He dropped slightly to evade Kyojin's knee, which had come out of nowhere, probably in mid-stride. And he had to move again quickly as the other knee came up – stupid, stupid move; he had dodged to the inside. He dove at an angle so as to not have to get out of the way of a constant barrage of knees.
Instead, a foot shot out, this time obviously an intentional attack. Krillin dropped to the ground for a second to get under the blow, then took off again.
All of this dodging was doing him little good. He was going to have to start attacking this monster again if he expected to get out of here in one piece. But right now, he did not have the room, did not have the time. He needed to buy it somehow, and maybe those mountains would be able to help him.
Long shots, long shots. His existence was just chock-full of them.
Word Count: 2792