A Different Path to Happiness (GokuxOC)

Trouble Brewing

Goku glared at the pink demon as he pulled the shaking cub closer to his chest. He felt Goten latched onto his shirt and tugged on the fabric so he could bury his face in the man's neck. The rage the older saiyan felt surged as small damp spots bloomed on his skin, and a deep growl came from his chest. Goten was trembling, his little heart beating a mile a minute. The little black tail wrapped tightly around Goku's wrist setting his instincts off with the sharp scent of fear coming off the cub.

His eyes remained trained on Dabura who was looking at him warily as another snarl passed his lips when the demon's eyes wandered over his cub. There was a slight amount of satisfaction over seeing someone hesitant over fighting with him, but it was overshadowed by the protectiveness he felt towards his son, the anger at seeing his best friend petrified, and the mass of emotions he felt over the whole situation with Calla.

He straightened to stand as he moved Goten so that he was being held in his left arm close to his chest. Goten whimpered a bit but he was somewhat calmed by the deep rumble from Goku's chest. It was only then that he took a quick look around the area. Goku saw Krillin become petrified as the saiyan had pushed to get there in time, but he didn't see Calla anywhere.

"Another saiyan? My goodness, did we find a whole nest of them Dabura?" Babidi commented to his henchman.

'This one won't be of any use except to fight master.' The king of hell commented telepathically as he noticed the halo. 'He bares the mark of those wretched Kais. He's already departed from this world in any case. I believe we have lost our chance to retrieve the child.' Dabura felt the hairs on his neck stand up as he met the adult's eyes. Lethal white fangs peeked from curled lips. This alpha would kill him if he approached the cub, or even looked at him wrong. He had fought plenty of saiyans and none of them were ever more dangerous than when a cub was threatened.

'We need to lure him into the ship.' Babidi commanded as he stepped into the open door of the ship. 'With his aggression we can pit him against our fighters on board and harvest energy for Majin Buu that way. If we play our cards right we can even get him to bring us the child as well.'

'He isn't alone master, I can sense several other energy signals approaching, the Supreme Kai among them. This one must have sensed the cub's distress or his mate's and come ahead.' Dabura said. 'He won't bring the cub onto the ship.'

'Then perhaps we need to give him a little motivation.' The wizard chuckled both physically and mentally. 'I'll proceed with the woman, with a little work she might just be ready now. I so love seeing loved ones kill each other. Make sure the Supreme Kai lives, and make sure the stronger fighters are encouraged to come inside. Do as you wish with the rest.'

'Yes, master.' The pink demon smirked as he chuckled, and seeing that had Goku tensing with his arms pulling Goten closer to him. His smirk grew as Gohan, Vegeta, Piccolo, the Supreme Kai, and Kibito landed behind the orange clad saiyan, and Goku only cocked his head to acknowledge the arrival of the group.

"Where is she?" Goku asked through gritted teeth before his eyes flickered over to his best friend. "And what did you do to Krillin?" He let out a menacing snarl when Dabura didn't answer. His energy spiked making the ground rumble around him.

"Goku..." The namekian lowly called out as he reached a hand out to rest of his old rival's shoulder.

"I know you can grow it back," Vegeta started to say and that had Piccolo stopping. He was looking at the taller man with a scowl on his face, but when he looked over at the namekian a smirk appeared on his face. "But you're going to loose an arm if you touch Kakarot right now, green bean."

The demon king shifted his stance into one of nonchalance as the vertical pupils in his eyes looked over the group of fighters to gauge their power levels. An idea formed in his mind, but he needed a distraction to make it work. All of the men were too guarded for him to execute his plan.