AN: "text" = speech, 'text' = thought, ((text)) = telepathy, /text/ = hikari to yami mindlink, (/text/) = yami to hikari mindlink, #text# = English

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Chapter 5 - Dragonballs, Rocket Launchers, & Meglomaniacs Do NOT a Pleasant Combo Make

Opening theme:  Higher and Higher

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About a week after the "soda incident", found Yugi and his friends heading to the arcade for some good-old teenage R&R.  This time their group consisted of Yugi, Jonouchi, Anzu, Honda, Ryou, Hanasaki, Jianu, Miraku, Marion, and surprisingly enough, Kaiba.  (Jianu had teamed up with Mokuba and the brunet teen hadn't stood a chance.)  With such a large group of teenagers walking together they didn't go unnoticed and were getting more than a few curious stares from numerous adults.  Kaiba had tried to slip away once Jou and Honda started making faces at those who stared too long, but Jianu caught hold of his arm and held fast.  Walking in front of his cousin but just behind the two goofballs, Yugi was torn between giggling at their behavior or hiding in embarrassment over Honda and Jou's.

"You think we could walk slower and pretend we don't know them?" Anzu groaned to the others after giving up her unsuccessful attempts at stopping the boys' antics.

"Too late Anzu, we've been seen with them before," Yugi replied, a wry, slightly pained grin on his face.

Jianu opened her mouth to add in her own two cents when she was cut off by a shrill whistle.  Yugi turned around just in time to watch something slam into his cousin and send her flying through the brick wall of the building next to them.

"Jianu, daij-"

"Get down!" Miraku yelled, shoving Kaiba and Yugi out of the way right before an explosion burst from the hole Jianu's body had created.

"YOU IDIOT!!! YOU ONLY GOT ONE OF THEM!!!"

Looking in the direction of the yelling the Domino teens were shocked to see an incredibly short, blue-skinned fellow with pointed ears berating a . . . dog in a ninja suit (1).

"Gomen, Pilaf-sama-" Shuu apologized, bowing deeply to his lord.

"Calm down father," a smooth voice interrupted.  Stepping out from behind a group of heavily armed soldiers, the speaker was revealed to be a fairly handsome, tall, blue-skinned teen dressed in military fatigues.  "It wouldn't have made any difference, even if he'd hit all three of them. We've shot them with far stronger weaponry and they've always survived."

As if in answer, the sound of shifting rubble brought everyone's attention back to the building just as a bright aura flare preceded a furious shout from inside.  "Pilaf, you and your cronies have about 5 seconds to leave before I get pissed and blast your asses clear to Hell!" Jianu snarled as she climbed out, glaring darkly at the little Emperor.

Looking between his cousin and his friends, Yugi groaned silently, he'd been afraid of this.  His friends were all gaping openly with wide eyes at his cousin who, despite having been knocked through a wall and blown up, was completely unharmed.  Sure, her uniform jacket was torn and singed in a few places, and her hair was in slight disarray but that was it.  'Oh Jianu-chan, you tried so hard to keep this a secret,' he thought sadly.

The blue-skinned teen who'd spoken before shook his head, "Really Guardian, you should know better than that by now.  We've come for the Dragonball."

Flipping her powder-blue hair away from her face, Marion rolled her lavender eyes and sighed in annoyance, "Bento (2), Bento, Bento.  When are you going to learn that as long as we're around, you'll never get the Dragonballs?"

"And when will you learn that I WILL fulfill my father's dreams and let him summon the Eternal Dragon?!" Bento roared, signaling his men to move forward.

"Guys, maybe we should get out of the way," Yugi suggested, slowly backing away as Marion and Miraku's auras flared into view. "This is gonna get messy."

"Something tells me we aren't getting out of here," Jonouchi replied, his tone grim.

"Why?" Yugi asked turning around and coming face to face with the business end of a very nasty looking machine gun.  Seemingly appearing out of nowhere, the street had filled with an army soldiers armed to the teeth with a wide array of weaponry, all of whom had their guns trained on the teens.  As the small teen gulped in fear, he could feel his yami awakening.

(/Daijoubu ka, aibou?/)

/For now anyway, but I wouldn't get too worried yet.  Jianu-chan and her friends have dealt with this guy before./

(/Very well,/) he conceded.  Yami no Yugi didn't like it, but he wasn't sure he could initiate a yami no game fast enough to handle them all.

Jianu's eyes widened in shock when she noticed her cousin and his friends being held at gunpoint.

"Let them go!" she snarled, balling her fists in rage. "They have nothing to do with this!"

"Guilt by association my dear," Bento smirked at the tri-color haired senshi (3).  "You really shouldn't be hanging around ordinary people.  Too many chances for . . collateral damage," he replied flippantly, grinning darkly at the outraged expressions on the Guardians faces.

"Such unique circumstances have brought a delightful idea to mind:  Just how fast are you three?"

"You son of a-"

"All men, FIRE!!"

"NOOOO!!!"

The three Guardians instantly moved to shield their friends while firing ki blasts into the mass of soldiers.  Surrounded on three sides, they knew they couldn't protect the others for long.  There were too many non-combatants to shield, too many enemies firing, and not enough of them to cover them all.

The teens' silent prayers seemed to be answered when a volley of ki blasts slammed into the soldiers from above, putting a stop to the unrelenting hail of bullets.

Looking up, Marion put her hands on her hips and glared at the newcomers, "About time you guys got here!  What took you so long?!"

"Hey!  We were already back at Capsule Corp when we felt your ki!" Akira growled while Takeshi, Sean, and Chujitsu nodded in agreement, all of them oblivious to the shell-shocked expressions of their Domino classmates.

"You should be happy we came at all brat," Vegeta growled, narrowing his eyes at the lavender-eyed female. "We'll likely be finished before Kakarott and the others even arrive."

"Much as I hate to interrupt your witty banter, I feel I must." Bento drawled, affecting a bored expression, "Fire again!"

Pilaf laughed maniacally, "And this time use the rockets!"

Cursing, Vegeta set after the rockets, knocking them upwards to explode harmlessly in the air, while the Guardians busied themselves protecting the Domino teens from the bullets raining down on them once again.  Bento smirked and waved forward his "surprise".  At his signal, a second wave of rockets blasted toward the teens, forcing the Guardians to attempt to block them as well.

A loud curse brought Yugi's attention above him and looking up, he spotted a stray rocket that had managed to elude the senshi protecting them.  Amethyst eyes widening to the size of dinner plates, Yugi thrust his arms out and concentrated on strengthening his aura. 'Please work!' he prayed, hoping against hope that he could pull this off.  He knew how to do this in theory but he'd never tried it before.

"YUGI!!"  Jianu screamed just before the rocket struck.  The resulting explosion knocking the Guardians forward and rattling windows for miles, shattering the ones in that block.

When the smoke cleared, Pilaf and Bento were stunned by the sight revealed:  The Domino teens were enclosed inside a bright aura shield, completely unharmed!  Groaning in exhaustion, Yugi dropped the shield and fell backwards into Jonouchi's arms.  "That . . . that was . . a lot . harder . .  than I thought it would be," he gasped, grinning weakly at the blond.

"Impossible!" Pilaf shrieked, "How could he-?!"  Shaking with rage the emperor signaled for his final "special attack" while Vegeta and the Guardians continued to reduce his army.  He would not let these children defeat him!

"Dodge this Guardians!" he challenged, grinning nastily.  These men weren't firing normal rounds like the others, something that the teens quickly became aware of as one round tore it's way through Chujitsu's shoulder.

"Chu!" Sean yelled, moving to the wounded senshi's side.

"They're using armor-piercing rounds!" Akira yelled catching on immediately, "Don't let them hit you!"

"I'm on it!" Marion replied, bringing her foot down on the concrete sidewalk hard enough to fracture it into pieces, then grabbing one to use as a makeshift shield.

"Great idea!" Jianu said as she and the others followed in her example.  Keeping the ungainly stone in front of her, firing ki blasts back at the soldiers, and keeping herself in front of Kaiba while doing it, with so many soldiers firing on them, proved to be easier said than done.  No matter how fast the teens moved they couldn't block everything and all took several grazing shots to the arms and legs.  Above them, Vegeta continued firing on the soldiers, unimpeded by the need to shield anyone from his position.

Catching movement in his peripheral vision, Kaiba turned and spotted another soldier sneaking up on them through the building Jianu had crashed through earlier.  "Jianu behind!" he shouted in warning.

Throwing a wide-arcing blast to clear the area in front of her Jianu whirled around to face the opponent Kaiba had alerted her to.  Yanking the brunet back against her chest she blasted the man, her body jerking violently before he even fell to the ground.  "Kreiger, what-?" Kaiba trailed off when he saw the pained look on her face.

"Can't shield everything at once," she explained, letting him go to watch as Vegeta stalked towards the little emperor and his son while the newly arrived senshi landed all about them in a protective ring.

"Aw, c'mon Pilaf. Haven't you learned yet?" Goku groaned in disbelief.   He'd been dealing with this nut since he was twelve and it was starting to get old.

"I'll never stop until I have my wish!" the lunatic raved at the group.

"I say we kill him and end the problem now," Vegeta growled.

Pilaf flinched and sweatdropped, visibly worried by the threat.  He knew that while Son Goku was soft-hearted by nature, Vegeta could and would kill him without remorse.  Then he remembered what his son was up to and relaxed, after today these meddling senshi and the Guardians would trouble them no more! 

"And now that the stragglers have arrived the real event can begin," Pilaf chuckled darkly.  Behind him, Bento had taken out the book he'd recently acquired and was chanting a spell.  The teen being careful to keep his voice too soft for anyone to make out and interfere, but loud enough to work.   "You see, I've realized that we've been going about things all wrong.   Brute force will never work on you troublesome senshi."

This of course, prompted a round of smartass commentary from the teenage Guardians.

"Huh, wonder what his first clue was?"

"Maybe it was the last thirty or so times we've kicked his ass?"

"Nah, I'd say it was the millions he's wasted in ammunition alone."

"Don't forget the planes . . ."

"Ooo, and the tanks!"

"Not to mention all those henchmen."

"Then there's the sheer number of wasted hours, planning all this shit."

"ENOUGH!!" the little emperor snarled. "It's time to take our battle to a place where physical strength means nothing!!"

Bento finished his chanting and stared straight at Jianu, "I challenge you Dragonball Guardians and your friends to a YAMI NO GAME! (4)" he roared, an udjat eye appearing briefly on his forehead before everyone was engulfed by shadows.

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Closing Theme:  Yume Wa Oshite

12/09/04
    re-edited 08/20/06
    re-re-edited:  September 22, 2009

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1 - Remember in the DBZ universe there are many animals that walk, talk, and act like humans, this particular one is Shuu, loyal henchman to Pilaf.

2 - A type of Japanese boxed lunch.  This is also a DBZ joke.  Most of the characters had food or food-related names.

3 - warrior

4 - Okay, according to the intro, the yami no games were used to resolve conflicts and decide rulers.  No where is it said that one must have a Sennen item to play.

About the Guardians:  Akira Wales, 1 star ball Guardian, originally from England.  Miraku Nagata, 2 star ball Guardian, he's native to Japan.  Jianu Kreiger, 3 star ball Guardian, originally from America.  Takeshi Rio, 4 star ball Guardian, originally from Brazil.  Marion Vegeta, 5 star ball Guardian, originally from Australia.  Vegeta isn't her original last name, she changed it to that when she was 12.  Looks to Vegeta as a father-figure.  Loooonnng story.  Chujitsu Montreal, 6 star ball Guardian, originally from Canada.  Sean Dublin, 7 star ball Guardian, originally from Ireland.  All sophmores, all MY characters.

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Afterword: Yup, I gave Pilaf a son.  So why Pilaf?  Well why not?  He was a big pain in Goku's ass back in Dragonball and I don't see why he would have stopped in his quest to summon the dragon and wish for world domination.  He's just had the Guardians in his way all this time.  `Course, Pilaf's not smart or patient enough to handle Shadow Magic, so he gets a son.  Hmm, maybe I'll be merciful and use him in my DBZ fiction.  Maybe.