(Minutes Later)
It was quiet and peaceful over at the large pyramid where the God of Storms had been awakened. Since all of the battles had taken place a safe distance away from the manmade landmark, this meant that the terrace where the deity's throne and the unconscious Gohan were both lying had remained completely untouched. With the absence of the boss herself and any other obstacle that threatened to stand in the way of the Z-fighters, this left the entire area empty and unguarded, which was ideal for the poor demi-Saiyan who was sadly still recovering in the middle of the sealing circle.
Not counting the door to the prison hanging wide open and spewing purple energy from its catacombs, there wasn't a single thing out of place about the whole situation.
In spite of being wrapped in the translucent energy running out of the gateway for the past couple hours, Gohan hadn't even so much as flinched as he continued to lie there as still as a statue. It was only when a familiar shadow fell over him that his peaceful slumber soon came to an end.
Dropping down from the sky with Senzu beans in hand, Videl rushed over to where her crush was lying and immediately got down to her knees directly beside him. Wasting no time in checking his vitals, the girl promptly pulled the boy into her lap, waved the purple energy off of him, and slipped one of the miracle seeds into his mouth.
"Come on, Gohan. Eat," the girl whispered, praying to the Kais that he could hear her. After the ordeal he'd had to go through, she wouldn't be surprised if he didn't respond.
Sure enough though, the demi-Saiyan lying in her arms gradually began to chew on the bean in his mouth. After crushing it into a comfortable paste, he quickly swallowed it, allowing its effects to take hold of him.
Videl waited with baited breath for the male to respond, teeth bared and eyes shimmering with anticipation. Eventually, after a full minute of silence had ticked by, she saw her friend's eyes flicker open and his chest heave with a gasp. The sight putting a smile on the crime fighter's face, the raven haired crime fighter then watched as Gohan groaned and, after looking around the area for a moment, turned to the person leaning over his body.
When his vision soon cleared, the demi-Saiyan was blessed with the most wonderful sight in the world. "V-Videl?"
Eyes shimmering gleefully, the girl nodded, "I'm here." She then rested a hand against his cheek, rubbing it gently as the teenager was roused from his slumber.
At first confused by the angel gazing down at him, Gohan's eyes then flew open when he finally realized exactly who was holding him and sat up. Glancing around wildly a couple of times, his gaze then turned to his body, instinctively checking to make sure everything was in the right place. When all he saw were a couple of tears in his gi, he then focused his attention on Videl, who was kneeling patiently on the floor next him.
"Whoa. W-What happened?" Gohan asked, having been completely out of it for Kami knows how long.
The tomboy giggled at the cute, innocent look the young adult was giving her, a sight she often saw whenever her best friend was either flustered or lost. "You were kidnapped and knocked unconscious. Did you have a nice sleep?" the teen asked curiously, throwing her companion a sly smile.
It was then Gohan noticed the state his friend was in and immediately turned to her in alarm. "Oh my God. Videl, are you okay?" Taking note of her various cuts and bruises, and the fact that her clothes were all ruined, the teen reached out to her in concern. "You're… you're bleeding all over…"
"Yeah," the girl exclaimed, taking a glance at her body's condition before throwing the young man a smile. "We had a pretty rough time fighting those minions while you were lying here unconscious. The one me, Krillin, Eighteen, Goten and Trunks were stuck with was tough as hell. But Paprika showed up and bailed us out at the last minute."
Blinking a few times as he listened to what his friend had to say, Gohan took a deep breath and nodded his head in understanding. "I… I see." Swallowing nervously, the teen then smiled and shuffled closer to his comrade, fixing a warm smile upon her scuffed face. His proximity caused the crime fighter to lean back ever so slightly. "I'm glad you're alright. Thank you, Videl."
Her mouth clamping shut in response to the boy's show of gratitude, the raven haired girl quickly averted her gaze and blushed. Rubbing her cheek discreetly, she then whispered her reply, "Y-You're welcome." Tentatively glancing in the grinning teen's direction a couple of times, the tomboy then playfully pushed him in the chest. "You big lug."
Still smiling like an idiot, Gohan then looked across the terrace when he sensed the other Z-fighters arrive. Watching as Zangya, Vegeta, Piccolo, Paprika and the rest of the team landed in the courtyard from their respective battle zones, he then saw the battle worn fighters gather together and approach the sealing circle. Their presence prompting Videl to edge away from her crush, the demi-Saiyan then looked on as Piccolo and Zangya came up to him, and greeted their ally with their respective smiles.
"Hey, kid," the shirtless Namekian spoke.
"How are you feeling?" the Hera asked, completely ignoring her own injuries as she watched the boy slowly rise to his feet. A mischievous grin formed on her face, "Sore? Surprised? Dizzy? All of the above?" She then raised a hand and pointed at her palm as if it were holding something, "Show me on this doll where the assholes touched you."
"Hey, Zangya," Gohan chuckled, "I'm glad to see that you're okay." After helping Videl up and ignoring his teammate's little joke, the spiky haired fighter quickly adjusted his gi and grinned back at his blue skinned sparring partner. "Well… heh… out of all the places I've regained consciousness over the years; this is probably the most interesting place yet." He then pointed out the pyramids surrounding him with a quick look-about, thumbing over at the necropolis to his right. "I've always wanted to visit Ancient Egret."
Zangya rolled her eyes and walked over to him, "Well, congratulations. You just won a free trip to a pile of rocks and sand." She then stopped right in front of him, gazing up at the teen as he grinned down at her. Looking him over, she then took a moment to brush some granite off of his shoulder and adjust his gi. "Considering the hell we had to go through against those four dirt bags, you're looking surprisingly cleaned up. Guess you're a lot tougher than you look, stud."
Smiling at the woman, Gohan then noticed the state of dress the bruised up Hera was in and balked. Cheeks reddening at the sight of her lingerie, the boy looked away with a gulp, "Uh… thanks." His sudden reaction confused Zangya and drew an irate look from Videl.
Eye twitching as she glared at the Hera for the blush she put on her man's face, the raven haired girl then shot a look at the powerful alien and snapped aggressively, "Damn it, would you put some clothes on already?" Though the underwear was of an extremely high quality, the half naked woman was acting surprisingly calm in front of them. "Seriously, Zangya…"
Blinking at the teenagers in confusion, the Hera then looked down at herself to examine the problem. "Why? I'm comfortable the way I am."
"Yeah. But we're not," Piccolo cut in, holding his hand towards their shameless teammate and shooting an electric beam at her. The stream of energy wrapping around the Hera in an instant, a flash of light then enveloped the group before fading moments later, revealing Zangya standing in her usual training gi. "There. That's much better."
Checking herself out, the Hera smiled and adjusted her white tube-top and buckles, "I'll never get tired of that technique." Upon admiring her newly created colors, the still bruised and burnt fighter then threw the green warrior a grateful smile, which he returned with a grunt before looking away with his arms folded across his chest.
Hands on his hips, a present Krillin beamed at his best friend's son, "It's good to have you back, partner."
"Thanks, man. It's good to be back," Gohan nodded, before then looking down to see his Super Saiyan brother and his best friend jog up to him. The sight of the two transformed youngsters instantly put a grin on the older warrior's face as he reached over and ruffled his sibling's gravity defying hair. "Hey there, squirt."
"We came to rescue you, big brother!" Goten chirped, throwing himself at the teenager's torso and hugging him tightly. The adult demi-Saiyan laughed as he held the child up, giving him a playful spin through the air before gently setting him back to the floor.
After giving Trunks a pat on the head, acknowledging his transformation to Super Saiyan and drawing a grin from the boy as well, Gohan then looked over at the rest of the group to see how they were doing. His gaze passing over Vegeta and Android 18, both of whom were standing back and looking off in different directions, his eyes then fell upon Paprika to see her hiding behind Zangya. The sight of the demon woman drew a nod from the teen, which in turn had the Makyan huff and look away.
"Man. For a second there, I thought I was done for," the half-Saiyan said with a relieved look on his face. "Thanks for coming after me, guys."
"How are you doing though?" Piccolo asked, wanting to make sure his student wasn't suffering from any nasty drawbacks. "You were knocked out and left lying here for quite a while. Are you feeling alright?"
Looking down at his body a second time, Gohan quickly took stock of his energy levels and raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I'm feeling great, actually. I… actually feel a lot stronger than I was before." He supposed his Saiyan genetics had something to do with that. It was after looking himself over the boy then remembered why he was here in the first place and gazed back towards his teammates. "What happened to those minion guys? Did you take care of them?"
It was this question that had Paprika look at the demi-Saiyan in annoyance, "If by 'take care of them' you mean crushed them, then yes. That's exactly what we did." It was an accomplishment she felt was worth noting. After all, there was no way she was going to let some dumb, anthropomorphic dog get away with killing her arch nemesis. That was her job. "Frankly I was expecting a bigger challenge."
"Same here," Vegeta agreed, sharing a glance with the Makyan before looking away with a smirk. "Those guys were all talk and no action. It's a shame, really."
Gohan then turned his attention to Piccolo, "And mum. Is she alright?"
"She's fine, kid. Don't worry," the Namek replied, drawing a relived sigh from the teen. "Everyone's alive and well."
So far so good. With his bearings returning to him little by little, as well as his sense of awareness, Gohan could finally rest easy knowing that things were going to be alright. But just as he was beginning to stretch his aching muscles out and address the gathering with their next plan of action, Trunks then noticed something off about the area.
While the terrace remained mostly intact, save for the collapsed temple behind them, there was one other point of interest that needed to be acknowledged.
"Hey. What happened to that other dog woman?"
Their attention quickly being drawn to the fact that Set was no longer there, the majority of the Z-fighters immediately reacted in alarm. It was then their little moment of realization was promptly interrupted by the sound of someone's throat being cleared, which pulled all of their gazes across the courtyard and towards the temple. After seeing the stone throne sitting several meters away turn to dust, the group watched as the God of Storms herself emerged from behind the seat with a second figure hovering behind her.
Looking quickly at the battered and wounded teal-alien with white hair suspended in golden cuffs behind the anthropomorphic dog, the group quickly locked their glares back on the deity and hurriedly slid into fighting stances. The moment they did they heard the red furred woman click her tongue and, with her hands held behind her back in a relaxed manner, took a few steps forward and tilted her head at the battered Z-fighters in interest.
A smile formed across the canine's face. "I see that your group has managed to defeat all four of my subordinates… just as I expected. Well done." Tail wagging happily behind her, Set then stopped a safe distance from the team of hostile looking warriors and flashed them all a fond smile. "You truly are a group of unique and incredibly powerful individuals."
Beads of sweat forming on his brow as he looked the newcomer over, Gohan then spared a glance towards Krillin. "Hey. Who the heck is this girl? I don't remember seeing her around the other four guys back at Mount Paozu. Where did she come from?"
The short fighter, looking just as nervous as everybody else there, swallowed heavily. "That's the group's leader. Her name is Set; the God of Storms and apparently the same freaky dog thing you can see engraved on all of the walls around this place. The four guys you ran into wanted to use your energy to open the door to the pyramid behind us to bust her out. When they did, she wound up making all eight of us fight her goons in some sick gladiator matchup to determine who would become her new bodyguards." Krillin then nodded towards the person floating behind her. "I have no idea who that guy is though. He must have shown up while we were dealing with her personal hit squad."
And from the amount of bruises the guy had on him, it looked like he needed help… desperately.
Gritting his teeth, the spiky haired demi-Saiyan then looked back at the fox lady with the cool attitude and the bushy tail. "So she's some kind of deity, huh?"
"Not just any deity," the short fighter continued, answering Gohan's question with another piece of important information. "Vegeta says she's the most powerful being in the universe and that not even he would stand a chance against her. If you ask me, I think that's a little bit over the top."
That was Krillin's opinion anyway. But from where Gohan was standing, the teen was getting nothing but bad vibes from the fox woman in front of them. Even though he couldn't sense any energy coming from her whatsoever, the way she stood there shrouded by an air of confidence, poised with that smug smile pulled across her face, he could tell that this Set person meant serious business. If they weren't careful, then they were probably going to experience a lot of problems. And unlike the enemies they'd faced in the past like Kana and the Ginyu Force, the young warrior had a feeling these issues wouldn't be resolved so easily.
However, just before the boy could go about making any further inquiries, he suddenly saw the woman's eyes snap in his direction before she vanished in the blink of an eye. A split second later, Gohan jumped when he saw the vixen's face right in front of his and recoiled in shock. It was the same reaction his friends shared when they realized Set was now standing amongst them.
Even Paprika was blown away by how fast the goddess moved.
Freezing up when the deity stared intently at his face, the demi-Saiyan then watched as the deity began looking him over and running her finger over his jaw. After feeling her prod at his chest and lift his hand up, he then felt her run her thumb over his palm before leaning forward and sniffing him. Upon getting a whiff of the young male, the fox God moaned and pulled away, a delightful grin forming on her face.
"What a fascinating specimen. So you're the one whose energy was used to remove the seal that was placed upon my tomb?" she asked, drawing a few startled blinks from the boy as the woman's tail wagged behind her. Licking her lips, Set then leaned forward and gave him a very mischievous smile. "Yes. You'll do nicely."
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