A Marriage of Convenience
From its creation, the Moon Kingdom had always kept records of every great event and act to happen within the Royal Family's influence. Every marriage, birth, funeral and practically everything in between involving the Royal Family of the Moon Kingdom had been written down on paper and stored in the vast cellars beneath the Palace, attended to by an army of librarians and clerks. Despite its vastness, there were those who could be asked to find a single document, seemingly inconsequential and no different from the rest and before an hour had passed, they would present you with it.
Queen Serenity had been impressed by the clerks who had only taken two hours to search through the archives and bring her all the records of any member of the Royal Family who were exceptionally gifted in magic. Since Serena had shown exceptional skills with magic seven days ago, Queen Serenity had poured over the records that recorded when the Celestial Senshi had been formed to combat a threat against the Planets. One record in particular gained her interest;
"…And it hath been recorded that in the War upon the villainous Empire of Freeze that the pure and chaste Princess Serena did lead the Celestial Senshi into battle against the Empire's tyrannical forces. The power wielded by the Princess was enough to strike down the Freezing Prince, leading his forces to flee in terror. The Princess Serena was to perish for her bravery, the energy drained from her body…"
This was only part of the official proclamation given to the general population; there were letters, diaries and other sources to put flesh on the bone. It wasn't lost on Queen Serenity that the Princess who had perished 500 years ago in the war with the Freezing Empire shared the same name as her daughter. Queen Serenity could only hope that her daughter wouldn't meet the same fate as the Princess did all those years ago.
Queen Serenity looked up from her reading momentarily and cast her gaze around her, taking in the serene sight of her own personal garden as a contrast to the turmoil in her head. It was late afternoon and the Sun was still giving a warm feeling to be enjoyed by all. The light radiated on the flowers, causing them to shine ever brighter. Queen Serenity however, was unable to enjoy the sight as she felt a chill in her soul, while not superstitious; the same names between the Princesses left her very disconcerted.
The Battle which had taken the first Princess Serena's life was renowned in the Moon's history as being one of it most influential moments. When the Freezing Empire had blazed through the Central Quadrant, only the Moon and the Earth were left to offer any serious battle. When the Prince of the Freezing Empire had led his forces on the Moon itself, a battle in the sky had taken the place. A personal duel between the Prince and Princess had taken place with the Prince being slain and his forces routed. Princess Serena fell to the ground, her life force drained. After that, the Freezing Empire had been driven from the Central Quadrant back to the Western.
Looking back down on another file, this one a letter from a soldier who witnessed the battle, Serenity noticed another interesting factor;
"… The Transformation that the Princess had taken upon was incredible to behold. Wings of an Angel did grace her back and she wielded a pure white Sceptre that did summon the energy to strike down the Prince…"
Angel's Wings and a pure white staff… The transformation that Serena had taken upon was enough to strike down a member of the Freezing Empire's Royal Family. That sort of power was… incredible, even the Ascended Saiyan had almost died in his battle against Emperor Freeza. Queen Serenity found herself hoping that her daughter would manage to wield such power competently while also hoping that she would never have to.
A small noise from behind Serenity's chair made her turn around; Gohan was standing there, giving a sheepish grin. Blinking, Queen Serenity remembered that she had promised the young Prince that she would answer a question that had been plaguing him for quite some time. Smiling, Queen Serenity put down the document she had been holding back onto the table and motioned to a chair on the opposite side of the table "Please sit Prince Gohan."
Gohan sat on the chair, like Queen Serenity, he was dressed in casual clothing with his white shirt and dark loose trousers. Admittedly, Queen Serenity's tight fitting dress actually did look formal compared to Gohan's clothing but it was quite casual for her. Gohan looked at Serenity, trying to find some way to start when the Queen started for him "It's good to see you Prince Gohan, may I ask what is bothering you so much?"
Gohan took a breath and decided to get right to the point "What is sects?"
Queen Serenity's brow creased in confusion "Don't you mean 'what are sects'? Well to answer your question, sects are small groups that…"
"Um… no." Gohan interrupted, somewhat embarrassed "I mean the sects that makes babies."
Queen Serenity's raised an eyebrow and took on the face of someone who is wondering what is going on. Then the penny gradually dropped and Serenity found herself smiling "Oh dear… Gohan, are you asking me about sex?"
"Is that it? I guess so then, whenever I've asked anybody else, they all just change the topic instantly. It's been driving me insane. I can't even get any books on the subject because the librarians all say I'm too young."
Queen Serenity had by this time started to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing. After gaining control of herself, Queen Serenity asked "And none of them told you what it is?"
Gohan shook his head "No they didn't. Ami said it was really hard to explain and got all embarrassed. She got even worse when I asked her if a physical demonstration would be easier… What's so funny?"
Gohan was responding to Queen Serenity who had burst into unparalleled laughter. She took several minutes to calm down before she could answer Gohan's question. Queen Serenity hadn't laughed that much in years and it felt incredibly good to do so once again. Smiling broadly, she decided to give Gohan an honest answer "I'm going to have to agree with the librarians Gohan. I'm afraid that this is something that you'll have to ask your parents about…" A sound in the distance that cut Queen Serenity's sentence short. It was a sound that had not been heard in five hundred years.
Queen Serenity suddenly shot up to her feet and looked up to the towers of the Palace where in one of them, an ancient bell, powered by magic was tolling deep, bass tones that reverberated throughout the entire Palace. Gohan noted with shock the change of expression on Queen Serenity's face. Where once there had amusement and joy, there was now only stone cold horror "Your Majesty, what…" Gohan started but was cut off by a hand gesture from the Queen.
"Gohan, I want you to go to your rooms now and do not come out until I give you express orders otherwise. Do you understand?"
Gohan could only look on in complete confusion at what was happening and hesitated "But your Majesty, what about…?"
"GO NOW!" Queen Serenity shouted, causing Gohan to dumbly nod and quickly head back in the direction of his rooms. Queen Serenity found herself feeling slightly guilty at shouting at Gohan but she had no choice. The bell which was tolling was the Bell of Tucana, a King of the Moon who had lived centuries ago. Tucana had lived in a period of great uncertainty and strife within the Moon Kingdom. The last act of his life was to forge a Bell that would warn his descendants of any threat to the Moon Kingdom itself by ringing until the threat had passed.
According to legend, the last time the Bell had rung was when the Freezing Empire had almost taken the Moon Kingdom as its own. Queen Serenity practically ran out of the garden and headed toward the Chamber where the War Council met, knowing that her generals would be there to direct the defence of the Moon. Queen Serenity felt a chill in her soul as she remembered who had fallen the last time the Moon Kingdom was under threat and hoped beyond hope that her daughter would not meet the same fate.
XxX
"Idiot!" Queen Beryl snapped as she glanced at the crystal ball which showed the Palace of the Moon Kingdom. Turning around, she glared at Babidi in fury "The magic you've used has alerted the Bell of Tucana, they know an attack will take place!"
Babidi dropped his concentration on the spell momentarily and gazed at Queen Beryl "Do you wish me to stop then?" He asked, allowing as much bitterness as possible into his voice. The spell he had prepared for the transportation to the troops from the Dark Kingdom to the Moon Kingdom had taken over three months to get right due to the sheer danger in transporting anybody over that amount of distance by magic alone. The fact that there were 800 troops to transport did little to help as well, the portal between the Worlds would stay open for only so long. After that, he would be too exhausted to keep it open.
Queen Beryl shook her head in answer to Babidi's question "It would be sheer folly to stop now, continue." She fixed Babidi another killing glare "But keep in mind that if you ever make a mistake like this again Wizard, it will be your last."
"Yes your Majesty." Babidi said while he inwardly seethed, it would only be a matter of time before he made Beryl pay for every last humiliation she had reaped upon him. Casting those satisfying thoughts aside, he resumed with his concentration and incantation.
Queen Beryl turned away from the repulsive sorcerer and turned her gaze onto the sight of her troops. They were standing on one of the many desolate wastelands that made up a significant part of the Dark Kingdom, assembled in ranks and looking slightly nervous. They were of all shapes and sizes, skilled in combat and some in magic. All had been selected for the attack because they were both excellent as shock troops and utterly expendable.
Queen Beryl smiled. She had never expected this attack to succeed but merely wanted it to send shockwaves through the Moon Kingdom. If they felt that even if their own soil was no longer safe, the Moon Kingdom would be weaker than ever. Even the Alliance with the Saiyans may be revoked… An even Queen Beryl was happy to see, the alliance between the Saiyan Empire and the Moon Kingdom had been the one event she hadn't foreseen. How did Queen Serenity manage to forsake her hatred like that?
But it was of little matter, the Saiyans would have their turn too eventually. A flash of light suddenly obscured Queen Beryl's vision momentarily. When it cleared, a small shimmering circle was standing in mid-air. Babidi's incantations became faster and he was beginning to sweat from the effort needed. As the portal grew and extended to the ground, Queen Beryl smiled with relish, the War between the Kingdoms was about to reach a new level…
Queen Beryl motioned her head to the sorcerer, and gave a command "Once you're done here, rejoin me in the Throne Room, we can discuss further plans there." Not even bothering to see if Babidi acknowledged her words, Queen Beryl disappeared in a flash of light as Babidi continued with the spell
XxX
Within the War Council, events were running rapidly. A scanning spell and scanning equipment had been activated to spot where the danger was coming from. Nothing had as of yet been found, much to Queen Serenity's worry "How could we have not found anything yet?" She asked out loud.
"The magic that was employed in forging the Bell was far more complex than the scanning spells we are currently using." Cosmos answered "The Bell is able to detect some extremely complex and secretive magic that would take too long for us to enact."
Queen Serenity nodded at that answer and glanced down in front of her. She and Cosmos were standing at an incredibly large table that was a 2D map of the Royal Palace and the capital city of Lunos separated into grids. Any enemy magic used would be detected and shown on the grid via a red dot. So far, it remained clear and Queen Serenity allowed herself to hope that the magic that governed the Bell of Tucana had somehow collapsed. The likeliness of such an event however, was minimal at best and Queen Serenity had given the order for maximum alertness for all troops within the Palace and capital city along with the order that all non-military personnel should stay in a safe place until the crisis had passed.
Over 1000 soldiers had been summoned from the nearest military base on the Moon to reinforce the 3000 strong garrison in Lunos. The 500 garrison in the Palace would stay and defend in case of the event the assault reached that far. As for now, Queen Serenity was purely worried about the attack which she believed would strike the Moon Kingdom's greatest city and the devastation that would be affected upon her people. She turned to a soldier who was standing at a smaller table some distance away who was controlling a device that was performing a scan for any increased magic in the area "Have you found anything yet?"
The soldier shook his head "There doesn't seem to be any disturbances at all in Lunos your Majesty. I think the Bell may have been…" The soldier stopped suddenly as the device he was working at beeped loudly. Looking down, the soldier gaped in panic and rapidly pressed several buttons which only made the beeping grow louder. The soldier turned to General Cosmos "Sir, I've found where the threat is coming from. We've been looking in the wrong place. They're not assaulting the city; the threat is directly in the Palace!"
Queen Serenity felt a small shiver of dread go right down her spine at those words. Serena and the other Princesses were in Serena's room where Queen Serenity had sent them to avoid danger. Looking down at the grid-map, a bright red dot had appeared on it, showing the threat was located in the east wing of the Palace, where the sleeping quarters were.
Seeing that Queen Serenity had frozen in shock, General Cosmos took charge. Pointing at the group of soldiers who were standing at the communications station, he ordered "Send word to the troops in the city immediately, I want those reinforcements coming to the Palace and I want them now. But tell the garrisons already in Lunos to stay there; we don't know if this is the main attack yet." Turning to the soldiers standing at the door, he barked "And you; make sure that no harm comes to the Queen, she is not to leave this room until the crisis has passed."
This brought Queen Serenity out of her stupor and she snapped her head towards Cosmos "You can't expect me to wait here while…"
"Yes your Majesty, I can." Cosmos interrupted "The reason being is that we can lose many things, but if the Moon Kingdom loses its Queen then we are lost. Please don't make me order my troops to hold you down your Majesty."
Queen Serenity gave a ghost of a smile at that and she relented, knowing that Cosmos was right "Very well Cosmos, but bring my daughter back safely, I beg of you."
Cosmos nodded "I swear by the stars themselves, I will bring the Princess to you unharmed." He then turned on his heel and prepared to leave.
A shout from Queen Serenity stopped him however "Cosmos!" He turned back to look at the Queen "Please… be careful." Cosmos nodded in reply and left the room, his hand already gripping his sword.
XxX
In the eastern wing of the Palace, the Princesses waited breathlessly while they waited word from Luna who had volunteered to go and ask the Queen on how events were transpiring. All five were standing up and Serena was pacing about at a furious pace, worried about her friend, her mother and her home. All of them practically jumped out of their skins when Luna's voice called out "Let me in!" From behind the door. Serena did so and was almost tripped up when Luna ran right past her, calling out "Lock it! Lock the door!"
Serena did so and turned around to see Luna who was in a terrible state. She looked terrified, her fur was bristling and a wild look in her eyes that showed pure terror "Luna what…" Serena started but was quickly interrupted.
"Barricade the door! They're here!"
"Who's here?" Rei asked, just as confused as the others
"The soldiers of the Dark Kingdom!" Luna snapped "They're coming in through a portal in a hall down the corridor. It's only a matter of time before they reach here and find us! We must barricade the door!"
There was a horrified pause at this; none had been expecting an attack by the Dark Kingdom like this. The Princesses had no idea what to do… apart from one "Let's transform." Lita said.
Luna's eyes widened at this "You can't be serious!" She snapped at Lita.
"Do you have a better idea? Barricading the door jut means that we'll be trapped here like mice in a corner. I say we transform into the Celestial Senshi and fight our way out of here. It's our best chance of getting away with our lives."
"But you've only been training for a week!" Luna protested "How can you hope to defend yourselves when you're so inexperienced?"
"You mean you have a better idea?" Rei demanded, joining in "I'm with Lita; if we transform into the Senshi then at least we have half a chance of getting to safety. And even if we don't, I'd rather go down fighting."
Ami nodded at this "It's true Luna, if we fight, our chances of survival will be much higher if we try to escape rather than hide in here."
Mina stepped forward, her hand clenched in determination "I'm with you guy. Sorry Lita, I know you're trying to think of the best thing for us but this time, I think we should have our own way."
The four Princesses then turned to Serena who tried her best to look inconspicuous "Well you guys all bring up interesting points but I'm afraid I'll sit this one out…" She was interrupted by the others grabbing hold of her arms and shoulders and shoving her towards the door.
"Oh no ping-pong head," Growled Rei, though she smiled a little when she did so "It's all for one is this instance."
"All for one what?" Lita asked in a confused tone.
"Rei's right Serena," Mina cut in "We all need to fight together and since you're the most powerful among us, we need you." They stopped just by the door and let go of Serena who paused. The truth was, she was terrified of the thought of going into battle and had hoped that she would never have to do it. But with this situation arising, Serena realised that she couldn't leave her friends to face the threat without her. They would face this threat together.
Turning to her friends, Serena smiled "All right, I'm with you. We'll fight together and hopefully get out of here." The others nodded in reply and Serena closed her eyes. She had been wearing the brooch which allowed her to access her magic ever since her mother had given it to her a week ago. The energy coursed through her body once more and with a flash of white, Serena had transformed once more. The wings upon her back and sceptre in her hands denoting her power.
Serena turned around to see that the others had also transformed into their Senshi outfits. A voice from behind them was heard "Well, I wish you had listened to me… But I'm proud that you've matured so much." Luna smiled when she finished saying this "I'll go with you and hopefully we'll get through this unscathed."
Serena nodded before remembering something very important "We need to go get Gohan! We can't leave him alone! We'll go get him and then go to the War Council; there should be where all the generals and soldiers have gathered." Nodding at this plan, all followed Serena as she opened the door and slid out of the room, to whatever lay ahead.
XxX
General Cosmos rushed through the corridors of the Palace on the way to the east wing. He had already directed 100 soldiers to the east wing via a different route that would allow them the element of surprise against the Dark Kingdom's soldiers. Cosmos himself was taking the most direct route to Serena's bedroom which he believed would be the most dangerous. Hence, the reason why he was the only one taking it.
At a corner, Cosmos turned and felt utterly justified in his decision. Admittedly this was because a group of ten Dark Kingdom soldiers were standing only a few metres away and his life had just entered a very dangerous period but it was justification nonetheless. The soldiers had stopped when they saw Cosmos; they were standing at a 'T' junction within the corridors with the other one stretching off to the north. One of the enemy soldiers, a slim, blue skinned male wearing dark black robes, grinned in an evil way "Well, well," He said "What do we have here?"
Cosmos merely unsheathed his sword in reply. It was a sabre type, his name inscribed into the handle, made from the finest steel on the Moon and sharpened to the extreme. The enemy soldiers merely laughed in reply "Oh come on old man," One howled, a female with grey wings, long greasy hair and wore a filthy grey robe "Do you honestly think you can beat the ten of us? Who do you think you are?"
"I am General Cosmos of Her Majesty's Armed Forces." The Dark Kingdom soldiers all paused and appeared to get smaller, as if every molecule in their body had gone 'Oh bugger'.
The blue skinned man managed to rally first, actually managing to sneer, he snarled "Even if you are Cosmos, there's still ten of us and one of you."
Cosmos smiled evilly "Have you ever heard of the last war the Moon Kingdom had in the Eastern Quadrant? I was trapped in a cave with forty enemy troops. I was the only one who walked out alive." The Dark Kingdom soldiers visibly quailed at this, which only served to increase Cosmos's smile "Now, who would like to die first?"
After a brief pause, the blue skinned man lunged forward, a black ball of energy burgeoning in his hands. He screamed with a nameless fury and threw the energy and himself right at Cosmos. The general merely side stepped both and brought his sword down across the soldier's neck. The blow was swift and true and the soldier's head flew from the shoulders, bouncing several times as it hit the ground. Not even bothering to look at the corpse, Cosmos turned to the remaining soldiers and plainly asked "Who wants to be next?"
Those who hadn't attacked Cosmos all looked at each other. It was really a question of who they were more afraid of, General Cosmos or Queen Beryl. After a wordless debate, it was decided that defying Queen Beryl was a damn sight more stupid than attacking Cosmos, even now. As one, they all powered up their magical energies and prepared to unleash them upon Cosmos. They were interrupted however when a bright flash from the northern corridor that grew brighter until it lit up the area right in front of Cosmos where the light hit the Dark Kingdom's soldiers.
The flash that followed caused Cosmos to cover his eyes. When he opened them, he was greeted with the sight of the enemy soldiers gone, apparently vaporised. A cry of "Great shot Serena!" Was heard from the northern corridor.
Cosmos gave a sigh of relief and called out "Your Highnesses? Are you all alright?"
The five Princesses rushed around the corner to see Cosmos practically beaming, the power the Princesses possessed deeply impressed him. The Princesses looked surprised to see him "General Cosmos," A voice from down below everyone's knees was heard "It is surprisingly pleasing to see you. May I ask as to if you're here to aid us?" Cosmos shook his head "I'm here to take you to the War Council, you should be safe there."
Serena nodded out of hand "OK, but before that, we must go get Gohan."
Cosmos's face sneered in disgust "The Saiyan? You Highness, the safety of you and the other Princesses is paramount. The barbarian's is not, I believe that…"
"No," Serena said, cutting Cosmos short "We are going to find Gohan and then we'll go to the War Council. You can either come with us or return by yourself." Princess Serena then turned around and marched down the corridor down to Gohan's rooms.
A small internal conflict took place within Cosmos, though he hated Saiyans, his overwhelming sense of duty came before any petty hatred. Muttering darkly to himself, Cosmos followed the Princesses through the Palace. The group travelled the distance to Gohan's room, fighting off three separate attacks along the way. Serena was the first to the door and stopped suddenly. A note had been stuck on eye level that read;
"To Queen Serenity,
I know that you told me to stay in my rooms but I'm really, really, REALLY hungry. I promise I'll be back after I get something to eat from the kitchens.
I apologise once again,
Prince Gohan"
Serena felt her hands grip the piece of paper with overt force. The look on her face made everyone step back, even Cosmos. Gritting her teeth, Serena shouted three words "That. Big. DOPE!"
XxX
As he turned around another corner, Gohan swore that he would never try to take a short cut again. He had thought that by cutting through a certain room, he'd be able to get to his rooms that much quicker. He had been wrong and with all this walking, all that faiter he had eaten was starting to wear off, hunger was striking again. Gohan had yet to get used to the sheer size of the Palace, the one back on Planet Vegeta had been tiny as Saiyans very rarely went in for grandeur in their architecture. Now he was completely lost, Gohan found himself wishing that the Moon Kingdom had followed their example.
Gohan turned yet another corner and came across a very surprising sight. In front of him, the hall was packed with a group of very unsavoury looking types. They all paused at the sight of Gohan before realising who he was. One walked up to a distance in front of Gohan "Well, well, well. If isn't that Saiyan who's supposed to marrying the Princess. I hear you're a complete weakling, the only reason you got sent here was because your family were ashamed to give birth to such a little freak."
Gohan felt his face flush in fury at those words "And who are you?" He demanded.
The person who spoke answered with the same contemptuous tones "We are soldiers of the Dark Kingdom. And I imagine presenting your head to Queen Beryl on a platter will please her incredibly." He motioned with his hand towards Gohan "Let's kill him and return to the Dark Kingdom. I imagine his screams of agony will be most amusing as we tear him apart." As one, the group of Dark Kingdom soldiers moved menacingly towards Gohan…
XxX
It has been noted before that Gohan is considered weak by most Saiyans. Indeed, the regular power level of a Saiyan his age is over a third more than what Gohan's is. What people failed to note however was that Gohan was weak, but only compared to other Saiyans. Compared to most other races of the Galaxy, he was still incredibly powerful.
So the sensation felt by the Dark Kingdom soldiers when they went to kill Gohan can only possibly compared to someone deliberately stepping on what he thinks is the tail of a cat, only to find out in fact belongs to a fully grown Siberian Tiger who's been suffering from toothache for the last three days, his long time girlfriend has just left him for that Puma down the valley and he's just eaten an entire bag of coffee beans.
All in all, not a nice experience.
XxX
Piccolo paced the floor of the hall he was in, being careful to avoid the portal beside him. The attack had gone as planned, the soldiers of the Dark Kingdom had spanned out in groups of ten or more around the Palace to cause the largest amount of chaos and destruction possible. Piccolo had stayed in hall, waiting for an hour while the Moon Kingdom scrambled to defend themselves. Then, during the chaos, he would seek out the son of Kakarott and kill him, painfully. The time frame in which to do so was non-existent Piccolo realised; the portal to the Dark Kingdom was shrinking rapidly, obviously Babidi had returned to the Palace and the magic sustaining it was quickly vanishing. But Piccolo believed he was resourceful enough to escape the Moon even without the portal.
Piccolo was so determined in this plan that he didn't pay attention when he heard screams and explosions outside the door to the hall. After two minutes, the noises stopped and someone opened the door from the other side, slowly. Piccolo was amazed when he saw the face of the person who opened the door belonged to that of a child. One who looked haggard and distraught but a child nonetheless.
Gohan for his part was shaken deeply. He had been attacked by a group of ten Dark Kingdom soldiers and in return, had killed eight of them with the other two fleeing in terror. Though it had been purely in self defence, Gohan felt his very being disturbed from what he had done. He was still unsure as to why was attacked in the first place. He was no warrior and he knew the images of when he had vaporised three people with one energy attack would haunt him in his dreams for years to come.
Gohan was so fazed that he barely even registered Piccolo's presence until he had walked straight into the room. He came down from his plane of thought and noticed the figure standing just opposite him. Gohan blinked and muttered "Kami? No wait, he's fetching that Ambassador from Namek isn't he? Who are you?"
Piccolo smiled evilly, he couldn't believe his sheer luck. Here he was, waiting until he could find and kill the spawn of Kakarott and the child walked right up into his lap. Though the child was inexplicably clothed in Human shirt, trousers and shoes, the furry tail and gravity defying hair was testament to his race. Piccolo shifted his position so that he was looking directly at the young Saiyan "My name is Piccolo and I suppose you are the son of the Saiyan Kakarott."
Gohan looked at him dumbly before nodding hesitantly "Ye… Yes I am. Do you know my dad?"
Piccolo took several steps towards Gohan "You could say that," He growled "My father was the Demon King Piccolo Daimao. Does that name mean anything to you?"
Gohan paused in thought "No, should it?"
Piccolo stopped in his tracks and glowered at the child. How could his father not tell him about the Demon King? Piccolo took another step towards the young boy "So your father didn't tell you that he faced the Demon King in battle and slew him?"
Gohan simply shook his head, his head still fuzzy from what he had gone through "No he didn't. When I was young I had nightmares from the stories he told me so he never talked about what he does since then."
By now Piccolo was directly in front of Gohan, his huge frame towering over the still confused child. Suddenly, his hand lashed out and grabbed Gohan by the shirt, turning him around a full 180 degrees so that it was Gohan now facing the doorway and Piccolo turned towards the portal "Now listen you little brat! For the last eighteen years, I've been nothing but a slave to that witch Beryl because your father killed mine. And I've sworn that…"
What Piccolo had sworn, Gohan never found out. A hiss from behind him cut off Piccolo's words and he turned to see a Dark Kingdom soldier, who seemed to be half-snake half-human grasping at a spear conjured from pure energy in his hands "Ah Piccolo," He hissed "I'm sssure Zoycccite will reward me handsssomely for your head on a ssspike. And I'm cccertain Queen Beryl won't care much for what happensss to you."
As the Dark Kingdom threw the spear directly at Piccolo's heart, the Namek reflected that perhaps it wasn't just Zoycite who was hoping to see him dead. As he could only look onto his impending death, Piccolo was amazed when Gohan grabbed his arm and tripped the Namek to the ground. The spear, instead of hitting Piccolo in the heart, struck Gohan directly in the shoulder. With a scream of agony, Gohan was flung back from the impact and struck the now miniscule portal. As Gohan was still holding onto Piccolo with his good hand however, the Namek was dragged along with him and he was pulled into the magical pull of the portal.
The Dark Kingdom soldier scowled in annoyance, now he wouldn't be able to collect that reward from Zoycite. Then he noticed that the portal was still, very slightly, open and realised that if he was quick enough, he could go through and kill both Piccolo and the boy. The soldier didn't know if the boy was important or not but hey, food was food.
Before these actions could be taken, the soldier saw a movement out the corner of his eye and turned. The last thing he ever saw was a man with greying hair stab him with a deadly sharp sabre. The soldier slumped to the ground, dad before he hit it "Miserable scum." Muttered Cosmos as he lowered his blade.
"Sure he was, now let's go in there. I'm sure that's where the scream came from." Serena said, rushing past Cosmos and barging into the hall where the portal lay. A second after Serena saw it however, it blinked out in a flash of light, leaving only empty space "Gohan?" Serena asked, her voice hollow.
To be continued…
I'm a git aren't I? Leaving with Gohan stuck in the Dark Kingdom and several hundred enemies flaunting around the Moon Kingdom's Palace. Well, I hope you enjoyed regardless and please R&R!
