I do not own Dragonball Z, Batman Beyond, Justice League, X-Men Evolution, Bleach, Yu Yu Hakusho, or Ghost in the Shell
Chapter 02: The Formation
King Kaio frowned deeply as he gazed up into the cluster of worlds that surrounded the Grand Kaio's planet. His antennae quivered gently in unease as he considered the decision King Koenma had made, ignoring the crashing and thundering of the Saiyans sparring in the air not too far away. The idea of allowing Caliwone free reign across the realms was a rather terrifying concept. Not only that, but to offer such a position immediately after he was granted a pardon for past crimes, justified or not, was unheard of.
"What is Koenma thinking?" King Kaio asked. "Is he trying to balance the realms or create chaos?"
Beside him, Vegeta snorted lightly in agreement. "For once, Kaio, I agree with you. Caliwone is too much a warrior for a peace keeping position like this. He is more liable to create a dictatorship like Frieza once had than one of peace if Koenma isn't careful."
King Kaio nodded darkly, ignoring another explosion in the background. "Foolish. The first time a group doesn't obey his command he will likely blow them up."
Vegeta smirked, knowing that was very likely true. He was a Saiyan Elite, bred for battle and although his time on Earth had changed and shaped him mostly for the better, Caliwone still maintained that Saiyan pride and superiority. Arrogance, he guessed some would call it. He never did like being ignored.
Behind him, the ground blew up with a cavalcade of flying rocks and grass that pinged off of Vegeta's head. Vegeta turned, snarling. "Hey, Kakorate. Enough already. Could you for once grasp the seriousness of the situation instead of playing around up there?"
Goku paused in the air and turned questioning eyes upon his friend. "I don't see what the big deal is. If Koenma thinks this is a good move for Other World, then it's ok by me."
Vegeta shook his head. "Simpleton. You couldn't ever imagine a bad thing happening out of this, could you? Of course not, you are too pure hearted to understand how power can corrupt. Always have been."
Goku landed lightly on the ground and walked over to Vegeta, ignoring the indignant squawks from the suddenly ignored pupil he had been sparring with. "I understand it just fine, Vegeta, but we know Caliwone. Just like Piccolo and just like you, he has changed and become a true champion of justice."
Vegeta gritted his teeth and glared laser bolts at Goku. "Perhaps. I suppose time will tell."
Not too far off, there was a sudden puff of smoke in the teleportation circle that had been set up by the Kaio's for travel between the different paradise worlds and Caliwone stepped off the raised pad. His eyes found Vegeta, taking in his disappointed stare and walked over to them.
"My Prince," Caliwone said, pausing and saluting his prince with a small bow. "I assume you heard."
"Of course," Vegeta said, not fully turning around to fully face him, leaving his back partially to Caliwone.
Caliwone paused for a moment, hoping that Vegeta would say more but the space remained empty. Caliwone swallowed slightly. "I think it then safe to say that you disapprove?"
Vegeta snorted. "To say the least. I never believed that you, of all people, would become an Other World puppet."
Caliwone kept his eyes steady on Vegeta, not faltering. "I would be in command of all of Other Worlds resources and power, answering only to Koenma. It would be my job to create the balance that Other World has failed to have the courage to do under Yama. I do not see how that make me a pawn for Other World."
"It doesn't," King Kaio said, cutting off Vegeta as he opened his mouth to say something. "The problem is you do not know the first thing about diplomacy. You are too rash to think about the far reaching ripple effects of your actions."
"And the fact that you just brought up command and power tell me you are still thinking like a warrior," Vegeta said, throwing King Kaio a dirty look. "You sound just like Frieza already."
"Hey, take it easy guys," Goku said, resting a hand on King Kaio's shoulder as his apprentice landed on the ground behind him. "This is a great opportunity for Caliwone to make a difference here in Other World. We should be encouraging him, not trying to drag him down." Goku looked Caliwone directly in the eyes with that over large smile he always seemed to have. "I believe in you, Caliwone."
From behind Goku, Helena Noventa spoke up. "Vegeta is right," she said, stepping around Goku. "You will have no idea what you are doing. At least, not without some help."
Caliwone eyed her for a long moment, long since use to her wearing Kakorate's uniform over her preferred green and black when she wasn't training. Somehow, even with her hair and the uniform being off colored from each other, it suited her decently enough.
"Are you volunteering?" Caliwone asked.
"Don't pretend like you weren't going to ask me to," Helena said with a sly smile. "I know you better than you think."
Caliwone sniffed at her mock derisively. "You can handle yourself in a fight well enough but you are more unstable emotionally than I am. You are a woman, after all."
Helena hit him in the arm, perhaps a little harder than absolutely necessary. "Watch it, Cal," she said, smiling slightly and knowing how he hated it. "Or else I will remind you how women truly stand over men."
Caliwone snorted and turned his attention back to Vegeta and Goku. "I wanted to ask you for a favor."
Vegeta snorted. "Don't even think about asking either of us to join this little task force of yours."
"Of course not," Caliwone said. "I was hoping that either of you could bring me down to Piccolo." Goku and Vegeta exchanged glances and even King Kaio's expression took on a curious look.
"Interesting," Vegeta said. "Perhaps you do have some wisdom in you after all."
"He is a great fighter," Caliwone said. "But that is not why I want him. He was once the Guardian of Earth, if I am not mistaken. He has the wisdom of a passive ruler and the ability to help guide change."
Goku nodded. "That makes sense, alright. I don't know if he will agree or not but I can get you down there."
Caliwone nodded. "Thank you, Kakorate." He turned to Helena. "Have you been aware of the events transpiring on Earth?"
Helena shook her head, letting her red hair sway back and forth. "Nope. Goku has been keeping me busy training. Why?"
Caliwone glanced over at Kakorate and Vegeta. "There are a few things you need to know before you join."
Caliwone and Goku appeared center-most in Hell next to a large fountain that used what looked to be blood instead of water to circulate. Many of the inmates, formless ghosts mostly, regarded the newcomers warily, the halo's above their heads identifying Caliwone and Goku as members of Other World. Several other prisoners who had managed to bully their way into keeping their bodies glared over at them but none approached. Caliwone closed his eyes and concentrated, trying his best to locate Piccolo's energy but it was nearly pointless. Hell had a strange way of masking energy readings from a distance, leaving even those most talented at tracking to wander around aimlessly in the void of the damned.
There was a whisper of sense, like a feather brushing lightly against his cheek. Caliwone opened his eyes and turned to his left to find Piccolo standing before him, arms folded and his ever present weighted cape billowing behind him. He glanced briefly at Caliwone and then turned his attention over to Goku.
"It has been a while, old friend," Piccolo said, smiling just slightly. "Other World too busy for you to come see me?"
Goku laughed sheepishly, throwing one hand embarrassingly behind his head. "Sorry about that, Piccolo. You know that time doesn't really have much meaning here anymore. It kind of just slipped past me."
Piccolo shook his head. "Same old Goku. Disappearing for years at a time and thinking nothing of it. What brings you down here?"
Goku glanced over at Caliwone. "Actually, Caliwone has something he wants to ask you."
Piccolo looked over, his smile fading and his eyes narrowing out of reflex. "Interesting."
"King Koenma has tasked me with creating a task force for peace keeping across the realms," Caliwone said. "Fighters for this task force I have in either myself or Helena. As great a warrior as you are, I want you apart of it as well because of your experience as Kami, Guardian of the Earth."
"I see," Piccolo said, frowning harder. "Has Koenma stepped down from ruling all together?"
Caliwone frowned back. "No, he has not. He has given me clearance to step in to any situation I deem fit unless expressly forbidden."
"That is an odd move," Piccolo said, frowning harder. "Especially giving that kind of power to someone like you."
Caliwone felt a wave of irritation bubble inside of him but responded with a cocked eyebrow. "Koenma said the reason is because I have the balance of attachment but detachment to the realms needed to make clear decisions. I do not know if I fully agree."
"Me either," Piccolo said. "But who am I to argue with the lord of the realms?"
Caliwone narrowed his eyes, his instincts telling him that he was being played here. "I am a warrior. I know how to manage war and battle. I have instincts that can direct me to conflict. That is not the combination needed to maintain peace. That is why I want you. You were once a passive ruler as Kami. You will be the balance of peace to my war."
Piccolo smiled just slightly. "You speak truth about yourself, Caliwone. Even now, you sense manipulation and are on the defensive, thinking of ways to win this fight with me. You are indeed a warrior. Unfortunately, that kind of thinking only happens from a warrior's point of view."
Caliwone remained silent for a moment, not quite sure where to go with that. "Ok," he said at last.
"You do not understand," Piccolo said. "If peace is what you will be fighting for, then you need a warrior who understands war to be its protector; to see the paths of war starting before they happen. You also need someone completely dedicated to peace in order to lead that. That is why many leaders are former war veterans. Because they intimately understand war. That is why Koenma has chosen you for this role, Caliwone."
"Then why do I sense doubt in you, Namekian?" Caliwone asked.
"Because you do not yet understand the big picture," Piccolo said. "You see the war in the micro, up close with limited regard to repercussion. You must look on the macro, at the grand scheme of things. You must learn that a flap of a butterfly's wings can create a tornado on the other side of the planet; how stopping one war can create five more."
"I understand," Caliwone said. "Will you help me or not?"
"My role is here," Piccolo said, turning his back to the two Saiyans. "There are things about Hell that you still do not understand. I am now a pawn to you, nothing more."
"Very well," Caliwone said. "Then do your part."
"It was good to see you again, Goku," Piccolo said, starting to walk off with his cape billowing behind him. "And Caliwone, remember that Koenma is not your enemy. The job you wanted me for, the balance and guidance, Koenma is still there to help you. And as for someone to join your little team, I am willing to bet you that Koenma already has someone waiting to help you with that."
Caliwone watched after Piccolo as the Namek faded into the shadows even as the permanent residence of Hell watched in silence, his mind sifting through the words Piccolo has left him with. It was true enough, he supposed. That would explain why the Gotei 13 never joined in on Earthly affairs, nor when Other World would step in either. Perhaps the thought of preventing events on Earth would have a ripple effect across the cosmos somehow. After all, look at his mere interference with the new Batman character had caused. Giving him a glimpse of a potential future that led to altered decisions and ultimately the death of Ra's Al Ghul which then in turn had culminated in the events that Kitty had just faced. Or even a step further than that, the lack of action by Other World by allowing Slade to live in the Living World as long as he did and the results that had brought in the first place. For all he knew, Heaven and Hell's Gate wars that fractured the United States could very well have been caused by Slade or some other form of Other World interference.
"Ready?" Goku asked, resting a hand on Caliwone's shoulder and snapping Caliwone's attention back to the now.
"Yes," Caliwone said and the two vanished.
Helena Noventa stared off into the myriad of paradise worlds that hung in the space above the Grand Kaio's planet, seeing but not seeing them as her mind traveled to one planet in particular within the realm. From her experience visiting that world, she knew that the greens were greener and the blues were bluer there, giving a much wider range and precision of colors than on any other world. Statues representing a thousand civilizations with an equal number of differing styles of art and architecture spanned thousands of miles. Hundreds of different vistas could be found as frequently as a New York block in some areas of the planet while others spread themselves out over entire continents. It was, in short, an artists' paradise.
Tears flooded down her face, out of sight of King Kaio or Vegeta. Neither of them would understand. It was one thing to find out that her son, her only child, had been corrupted and taken advantage of by the same man that had nearly done the same to her, or to find out that he was now imprisoned for eternity among the Green Lantern Corps for crimes against Earth and the Corp itself. She could live with that, she supposed. Taken advantage or not, he had made those choices and, like her, he could have chosen to break away from Slade the way she had. No, these tears were of personal failure and complete self-loathing for the woman she had become.
She turned away from the worlds above her and walked toward the teleporter. Unlike the teleporters that the Justice League had used, this was less technology than it was psychically driven her only having to think of the world she wished to travel to. With a yank in her stomach region that she deftly ignored, she appeared on the planet that nearly always took her breath away. This time, she merely stepped down off of the teleporter and concentrated just enough to find the presence she could always distinguish not too far away. Lifting off of the ground, she flew off toward him before landing lightly and quietly behind him, holding herself tightly with her arms.
Kyle Rayner paused in his artwork and turned around, surprised to see Helena standing there. "Hey," he said, throwing her one of those awkward smiles that he had always seemed to save especially for her. The one where he was never quite sure why she kept coming back to him. He frowned slightly as he caught sight of the tears on her face. "Is everything alright?"
For answer, she walked to him quickly and buried herself into his chest and open arms as his easel and equipment faded away from existence. She could feel the tears beginning again and this time didn't try to hide them even as she held herself tighter. For a long time, they stood alone there with nothing to break the silence except for a few stray birds and Helena's cries. Finally, Kyle removed his arms from around her, lifted her face with both hands, and leaned in to kiss her.
"I am a horrible mother, Kyle," Helena said, looking almost pleadingly into his eyes as he halted his facial advance. "What kind of mother stops watching her son grow as long as she can?"
"Uh," Kyle said, taken completely off guard by this. "What are you talking about?"
"Our son," Helena said, not moving away from him. "Nathan. Do you know what he has become? Who he has become?"
"Helena," Kyle said, his tone beginning to become firm. "You cannot expect yourself to spend the last 25 years watching over someone from the grave. Other World doesn't allow for it. Time doesn't run the same here."
"You don't understand," Helena said. "I never checked in on him more than twice in this entire time. I didn't even know he had become a galactic criminal and nearly killed everyone one Earth. I didn't even know Slade had taken my son!"
Kyle's face paled noticeably. "What happened?" he asked, sounding shocked.
"He raised our son to be everything he wanted out of me," she cried. "Manipulated him and trained him to be a killer."
Kyle put his hands on Helena's shoulders and slowly they both sank down to the grass. "Helena," Kyle said softly. "I didn't know either. I mean, he was just a baby when we both passed. Neither of us had a lot of time to get used to being parents or to be able to grow that attached, considering. I mean, he was kind of a surprise to both of us. And you and me…"
Helena wiped her nose and laid her head on his chest again and started to focus on her breathing. "We never really seemed to work out well together, did we?" she said softly.
Kyle chuckled slightly. "No, we never seemed to. But we did have some good times while it lasted, though."
"And some pretty rough times when we didn't," she answered, pulling away from him and giving a game attempt at a dark smirk.
Kyle smiled and kissed her once, bringing a flood of emotions down on her as he did so. "That's more like the Helena I know," he said.
Helena looked down and took both of his ringless hands in hers for a moment before looking up at him again. "Thank you, Kyle."
Kyle blinked. "For what? Bringing up the past?"
Helena laughed, letting go of his hands as she stood up and started walking away. "For reminding me what life was like back on Earth," she said, throwing him another attempter smirking looks that Kyle had always liked, even if it fell rather short today. "And to help me punch my way out of this silly emotional state Caliwone said that I had."
Koenma appeared with little flare deep in the Spirit Wilds outside of the populated regions of the Soul Society, his blue robe billowing out from around him for a moment before settling back into place. Stepping forward swiftly, Koenma entered the cave in which Caliwone had been found. Inside, Shunsui waited patiently sitting on the ground with his arms crossed. Koenma came to a halt several feet away, not being gifted with any extraordinary abilities to sense energy but even he could tell that Shunsui was putting out a tremendous amount of low wave energy.
He gazed down at the Captain-Commander, identifying it as one of the Soul Society's master techniques handed down from Captain-Commander to Captain-Commander as a warding kido. Looking carefully, he could almost see it like mist in the air all around him.
"I see that you are already hard at work," Koenma said after a long pause. "I appreciate the warding. I am not a fighter and my face in particular is extremely delicate. I am here to observe and advise. If this really is a hidden tomb of the Antecedents, the entirety of the realms as a whole could change overnight."
"I figured as much," Shunsui said, lifting his head just slightly in acknowledgement to Koenma. "To be honest, I am not really sure quite what to expect here. From Caliwone's description, I can surmise that there is a warding already in effect here. For what purpose, I couldn't begin to guess."
Koenma looked to the rear wall of the dead end; the location where Caliwone had been attacked by the nameless arms of the dead then behind him at the entrance of the cave in deep thought.
"Let us take any conclusions that Caliwone made about the attack out of the equation for a moment and proceed with just the facts," Koenma said. "And correct me if I make any mistakes."
Shunsui nodded, eyeing Koenma. "Alright."
"Caliwone said that the first of these ghosts appeared near the entrance of the cave but made no move against him," Koenma said. "In fact, the only move it made was to point at him just before he was attacked from behind, correct?"
Shunsui nodded. "That is how he described it."
"Then that would indicate to me that the aforementioned ghost was serving the purpose more of a guardian, wouldn't it?" Koenma asked. "Forgive my naiveté in these kind of matters but that to me sounded more like the indications of a warning than threat."
Shunsui looked back at the dead end for a long few heartbeats. "If it was a guardian, I would have expected it to offer some sort of defensive measures rather than simply a warning," he said at last. "If this was the tomb to the first civilization, or a tomb of any secrets worth protecting for that matter, there would have been a stronger show of force."
"Not necessarily," Koenma said. "But perhaps you are partially right. Remember, we are talking about their disappearance many hundreds of millions of years ago. Any kind of defense can get worn down in that amount of time. Kidos, souls, immortals even have their limits."
Koenma walked over to the rear wall and rested a gentle hand on it. Concentrating, Koenma channeled his energy into the wall. The wall glowed brightly blue, bathing them both in a strong luminescence. Koenma squinted, doing his best to keep his eyes open despite the light and saw ancient text spiral away from where his palm was pressed into many concentric circles that filled the wall. Lines of light cut across the circles vertically and horizontally, splitting them into four even segments, each line of light a different color.
"What in the worlds is this?" Shunsui asked, his tone in awe.
Koenma looked up and down at what was before him, trying in vain to translate the text into something that he could recognize. "It's a lock," Koenma said at last. "I think, anyway. A password lock, the humans would call it. You see, each of these lines of light is just thick enough to cover one letter in each row of this text and each letter is spaced out from the next so that each of the lines is covering a letter, meaning that the correct four words or combined phrase must be input to release the seal." Koenma removed his hand from the wall and the light disappeared, fading into nothing.
"I am afraid that this search may have come to an end even before it really began," Koenma said. "We have no information about the Antecedents that would allow us to crack this seal."
"Lord Koenma," Shunsui said, looking up at the younger man. "It is much too soon to be giving up. In a matter of a few moments, our knowledge about them expanded tenfold thank to Caliwone's accidental discovery. We landed on a breadcrumb trail. This is where the work truly begins."
Koenma gazed at the wall for another long moment before placing his hand back on it. The spiral pattern of text and light returned without hesitation. "Write down everything you see here exactly as it is, Shunsui," Koenma said. "You are right, of course. This is too important to let go. It looks as though I will have much studying to do. Hopefully, Caliwone will be able to guard the realms well enough that I will be able to dedicate some time to this."
To be continued…
Well, it looks as though Caliwone may have really uncovered something truly important after all. But behind every lock is something worth protecting.
I guess time will tell.
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The Dark Prince
