The Unique Alliance
Disclaimer: Dragonball Z © Akira Toriyama, TOEI Animation, BIRD STUDIO, SHUEISHA INC., FUNinmation.
Disclaimer 2: New characters, The Unique Alliance © Eileen Setiawan, H-san, Hina-chan (i.e. the author of the story), Gin and Tonic © Neko-Sama, ARK, Nyoke and Scarred man © Meiling2086
Disclaimer 3: This story is only for recreational purposes. I do not intend to sell this to anyone/anything.
A/N: Yay for excessive amounts of violence! xD;; Uhm, yeah… enjoy this rather detailed chapter.
A/N 2: Remember, this takes place during the week between Chapters 23 and 24. That is, when Goku talked to everyone on Earth and Gohan faints.
A/N 3: My little sister helped me find the song lyrics for this chapter. It was quite amazing actually. I told her to pick a song, she picked 'Cage' and it ended up matching perfectly to this chapter. 0o; Also, the two songs that helped me write this chapter was Goo Goo Dolls' "Before It's Too Late" and Marilyn Manson's "Beautiful People".
PART 2: Conspiracy
"hitan yue ni bitoku miezu kimi wa saigo no mama de
kioku umete kizukarenu you ni saigo no mama
tokei wa hidarimawari demo okashita tsumi wa kaerezu
saisho de saigo no rikaisha yakitsukete…"
dir en grey - Cage
CHAPTER THIRTY – The Sentence
Kisei sat in his room, looking up at the screen. His room was dimly lit, causing an eerie shadow to cast over him as he looked at the orange display. The display bore a remarkable resemblance to a chessboard, the chess pieces already moved as he engaged in a game with a woman.
This woman sat on the other side of a screen, on another ship. Her expression was transfixed in seriousness as she looked at the screen.
"Bishop on a to d6," she finally said. Slowly, a pale chesspiece moved, resembling that of a true Bishop chess piece, to d6 on the orange chessboard.
Kisei smiled, looking to the chessboard for some time, and then replying: "Queen in play – f8." His Queen moved from its original square to the f8. Meanwhile, Kisei smiled towards the woman. "How is the ship treating you dear Sister?"
The woman laughed, trying to concentrate on the chess game. "Your Majesty, I am hardly your sister."
"Ah, but you are – Child of the Monarchy and all," he replied, sitting back and clasping his hands in front of his face.
"That is but a title My Lord," she replied. She then stated: "Knight on f to e5."
"Interesting move Sister… you're not trying to kill my Queen are you?"
The woman gave another laugh. "Your Majesty – I'm playing the game."
Kisei smirked, looking to the board. "Bishop on e to b3." He looked up at the woman again. "So, how is the ship treating you?" he asked.
"The Royal Capital is doing well, My Lord," she answered. "They're treating me well – they have even assigned me guards."
"Ah, is that so?" asked Kisei, looking interested.
"Yes – Gin and Tonic are their names. Nice fellows – though they love the drink." The woman laughed.
"They sound interesting. You must let me meet them."
"Well, Your Majesty, I am due for a meeting with the Court soon. You could meet them then, if there is time in your schedule." She looked transfixed at the screen. "Knight on e to c6. Check, Your Highness."
Kisei smiled amiably. "It sounds like a splendid idea," he replied, leaning forward and merely pointing at his Queen. Immediately, it leapt towards the woman's Knight, taking its square as the Knight vanished.
"How have you been?" asked the woman as she transfixed her stare at the board again.
"I've been well, Sister. Though there have been uprisings, most of it has been quelled. Nikolas is doing a splendid job keeping things running. I always knew that boy would get far. ARK has been rearing its ugly head, but I'm sure I'll get that sorted. There's also this girl… but you don't need to worry about that Sister."
The woman looked confused, wondering whether to question the king and this 'girl', but decided against it as she said: "ARK … have you found anymore revolutionists?"
"No… they're starting to get smarter I'm afraid…" said Kisei, though his tone remained light and playful… eerily happy.
"Rook on h to f5," said the woman. She then looked up at Kisei, who looked rather amused.
"Sister – your tactics get more and more surprising every time…" he commented.
The woman gave a laugh. "Well, I'm always losing against you My Lord… I can't use losing tactics."
Kisei laughed, a hand stroking his chin as he looked at the board. "Knight on f to g3," he finally said. As the Knight shifted in place, Kisei's pieces began to glow as a slow smile crossed his face.
"Check mate, your win My Lord…" said the woman, sighing as the Dark pieces lit up. She then looked to him, seeing an eerie smile on his face. "It seems like you're having fun, Your Majesty," commented the woman.
"I am, Sister…" he said as he leaned back on his seat, watching as the board wrote out alien letters, his moves coming onto the screen.
"It seems like all the pieces… are lining together…"
Nik walked along the corridor, his cloaks swishing, as usual. In one hand he held piles and piles of reports, all stacked and bundled neatly in a folio as he held it tight to his side. His face was solemn as he thought about the various things he needed to do today, his mind trying to forget about yesterday.
The sound of another person's footsteps, walking along in a light, but shuffling gait, caused him to stop and turn. His surprised eyes fell on the Princess as she made her way towards him, a smile on her face.
"Ah… Mikan-hime," he said, giving her a pleasant smile. "What are you doing here…" he then added as he looked behind her, seeing no trace of Gab. "… and alone."
Mikan gave a charming smile to Nik as she gave a small giggle. "Oh Nikolas-san, I don't need to be babysat all the time," she commented.
Nik gave another smile, this one slightly forced. He knew the Princess was prone to times of… rebellion. She hated being guarded, especially because her guards were Saiya-jin, and often ran from them to frolic on her own. Often times, she somehow managed to find her way to him.
"What is Nikolas-san doing anyway?" she asked.
Nik held up the folio, showing it to Mikan, as he said: "I must see Nyoke-sama. I have some important business to talk about with her Ladyship."
Mikan nodded, humming in affirmation. "Wow Nikolas-san, if I were in your position, I think I'd have a hard time keeping up," she said, her smiling face full of awe.
Nik gave a small, nervous laugh. He was barely keeping up at the moment. It seemed being vizier got harder and harder by the year. Especially when it became so… involved. His thoughts were then interrupted as Mikan said:
"Are you coming to the sentencing today?"
Nik looked at Mikan, for a brief moment his eyes full of surprise. He quickly covered this up with a forced smile.
"O-of course…" he said. "As vizier… it's my duty to be there."
Mikan gave a wide smile, her youthful face full of excitement at hearing the news. "Great!" she said excitedly. "Niisama said I'm allowed to decide the number of lashes… though he did say it had to be within reason."
"H-His Majesty said that?" asked Nik, looking surprised.
"Uh-huh!" said Mikan, unaware of the concern in Nik's voice. "My first act as a member of the Court." She looked at Nik, seeing him looking down at the floor, concentrating. She dipped her head low, looking up at him. "Nikolas-san?"
Nik's head shot up. "Eh? Oh… g-gomen Mikan-hime. I was… thinking."
"About what?" asked Mikan, looking slightly concerned.
Nik opened his mouth, unsure of what to reply. He couldn't say "about the prisoner". Mikan would only grow suspicious. Luckily for Nik, a familiar voice broke through their conversation.
"There you are!" said the voice of Gab.
Nik and Mikan turned, seeing Gab walking towards them, her dark eyes glaring with anger, but an awkward, forced smile on her normally-attractive face. If Nik wasn't so concerned, he would be sweat-dropping.
"G-Gab-san!" exclaimed Nik, an equally forced, but less awkward, smile on his face… almost endearing.
"Oh great…" grumbled Mikan.
"I've been looking for you everywhere," said Gab, that awkward expression still on her face.
"Well… may you keep looking?" retorted Mikan sardonically.
Gab shot Nik an angry look before looking at the Princess once again. "Come Mikan-hime… you have language lessons now."
"But why? I know all of them," she said, rolling her eyes.
"Princess, if we don't go, your brother will be angry."
Mikan gave an over-exasperated sigh before finally saying: "Fine." She then turned to Nik, smiling up at him. "It was nice seeing you Nikolas-san. I'll see you at the sentence."
Nik smiled down at her. "You too Mikan-hime."
Nik watched as both Gab and Mikan left the hallway. Before both women turned, Nik saw Gab's head turn, her eyes looking directly at his. Nik's eyes darted down, avoiding contact. He then looked up a second later and both were gone. Sighing, he turned with a sweep of his cloaks and continued to Lady Nyoke's room.
Tarrec lay back on his bed, looking at the metallic grey ceiling above him. Bored was the only word that could be described for his current situation. He had tried striking up a conversation with Jinn, but it seemed his best friend was having his more "serious" days, as all he gave was a noncommittal grunt to everything Tarrec said. Muttering about how Jinn had the conversational skills of a two-year-old, he had then "retired" to his bed, merely staring at the wall.
He did not know how long he had been there, but his intent staring was interrupted as the door to the bedroom burst open, revealing an urgent-looking Jinn.
"It's the hybrid's father," he said.
Tarrec sat up immediately, rushing out towards the living room where Jinn was already waiting.
"Hey Tarrec!" greeted the familiar voice in his head.
"Hey Goku-san… what's the matter?" Tarrec asked, looking concerned.
"Well… I'm not too sure myself… but I'm pretty sure Gochi is ok…" said Goku. "I really need you guys, though."
"What do you mean?" asked Jinn, crossing his arms.
"The ship, right now, seems to have stopped moving –"
"Must've been because of whatever happened a while ago," interrupted Tarrec.
"- but still… we can't afford it to get repaired, not when you're already so far from Earth."
Tarrec sighed. "Well… we gotta somehow get outta the Prisons…"
"… and then somehow find our way around the place," ended Jinn.
"That wouldn't be a problem," smiled Tarrec. "My other half still pretty much remembers where everything is."
"Other half?" asked Goku, confusion riddling his voice.
"Never mind," said Jinn dismissively. "Would you be able to draw on this information?" asked Jinn.
"Might take a while," explained Tarrec. "He's still angry… from before."
Jinn nodded, remembering Tarrec's blind, red rage as he strangled Nik. "I may be able to hack the system… might take a while for that too."
Tarrec laughed. "The system won't be too hard to hack," he said. "You were our secondary computer man."
"Sounds good… though I'm a little confused…" said Goku.
"You're always confused," said another voice in both Saiya-jins' heads, both of them realising it was this Kaiosama that allowed communication between the Other World and here. Goku gave a sheepish chuckle, then continued:
"Okay, well, get on planning then. I'll contact you in a while, but it seems there's someone coming," said Goku.
Tarrec opened his mouth to reply with a confused 'what', but closed it as the door to their Prison Home slid open with an airy swoosh, revealing Gab, her long, russet red hair tied back as she looked to them both.
"What?" asked Gab as their stares became unnerving.
"What do you want?" asked Jinn.
Gab looked sidelong. "The Princess is in her lessons… I'm free currently."
"So?" asked Tarrec.
"I just wanted to come here to tell you…"
"What?" asked Jinn, interrupting with an annoyed tone.
"Her sentence is today."
Both Saiya-jins went silent.
"What's gonna happen to her?" asked Tarrec.
"I'm not even too sure myself," said Gab, turning to leave. "I'm sure Nik will tell you after the fact."
"Gab!" yelled Tarrec, unsatisfied with her answer. But the door to their quarters had already closed. "Gawd," snapped Tarrec in frustration, sitting down on the couch. "Why do they hafta be so damn frank about everything!"
Jinn sighed, sitting down opposite Tarrec, saying nothing. His mind settled on something different. A plan to stop the ship in its tracks permanently.
Gochi stared down at her hands, the little light seeping in from the door to the isolated room illuminating her wrists where the arm bands wrapped around them. The green light on the bands illuminated her face, her eyes blinking every so often as she tried not to think too much.
She had been thinking a lot lately.
Turning her head up to look at the far wall, all she could see was the darkness pressing around her. They had placed her in an isolated chamber after watching the Saiya-jin women die, left to her own thoughts and devices. Every now and again the light coming from underneath the door would be obscured as people, more than likely guards, obscured the doorway. Gochi also noticed a draft coming from underneath the door, ruffling the thin shift dress she currently wore.
Now, the light was once again obscured, though unlike most other times, where it was only obscured momentarily, it remained there for some time. There was a beep as the door seemed to slide open with a whoosh, causing the draft to come as more of a gush of air. Gochi's pupils, so used to the little light coming into the room, dilated painfully. She looked up, seeing the silhouettes of guards staring down at her from where they stood. Moving out of the way, another two guards came into the room, the first two standing guard at the doorway, and yanking the girl up by her wrists.
Gochi allowed herself to be roughhoused as they jerked her up onto her feet, shoving her outside into the brightly lit hall. She looked back momentarily to see the dark room she had been residing in disappear as the door closed. She was then shoved once more and told to 'move' in a voice as rough as the shove. Wrists now bound by the magnetic cuffs which only appeared when out of the cells, Gochi followed the man's instructions, half her mind too much in a daze to really know what she was doing.
As if she was watching herself move through the hallways, all Gochi could remember were the lights passing above her and the long metallic halls. Everything else was a blur. Before she knew it, she was standing before a meniscus-shaped seminar room, in the centre the handsome king, his blue eyes staring into hers.
Gochi blinked several times, trying to figure out what was going on. As her mind came back to her in full clarity, she realised her arms lay clasped above her, the shift dress gone as she lay half-naked, only her underwear and a cloth covering over her breasts. She then heard a conversation between the king and the princess.
"… sand whips should do it," ended Mikan, Gochi only catching the end of what she said.
"Sister," began the King, his quiet voice slicing the silence with a precision of a surgeon's blade. "Aren't you being a little cruel?"
"But niichan," said Mikan, looking innocent. "I think it is a just number. She deserves that much, if not more."
"What do you think?" asked Kisei, turning towards Gochi's direction, but staring to her right, where a man stood.
"I believe the Princess to be true. One thousand whippings be a just number," replied the man.
"To be fair, she's an earthling. One hundred whips would do," sighed Mikan, seeing the scepticism on Kisei's face. "We can whip her ten times with the Cat, and another five with the two-tailed Tawse."
Kisei turned to his sister, looking slightly impressed. "You've been learning about our punishment system," he stated.
Mikan gave a small, proud smile.
"Fine," said Kisei. "It sounds fair."
Gochi stared between the two then shifted her eyes to the left, where Nik sat, staring down at the ground as he refused to look towards her. She then turned her head to the left once again, seeing as the man seemed to grab a metal rod on a table of other instruments. His thumb flicked a switch, causing a humming to resonate from the tip of the rod. Gochi's eyes widened slightly as nine extensions grew from the resonating end.
Nine whip-like extensions. Gochi had read about this somewhere – the cat o' nine tails. Staring forward, Gochi hardened her expression. So this was to be her 'punishment'. One hundred whips? Swallowing hard, Gochi told herself she would not show them pain.
She would just have to tolerate it.
"ONE!" yelled the man behind her, his arm raising high above his head as the cat o' nine tails reared up, ready to bear its burden onto Gochi's back.
Illuminated by a holographic screen, hardened faces watched the spectacle before them, some amazed, others horrified, and most indifferent.
Two twins, sitting together, exchanged glances as the cry of 'TEN' sounded from the screen, followed by the sound of nine whips hitting flesh. The girl getting whipped held no expression on her face, only a slight wince, though her eyes remained staring at the ground. A copper-headed man leaned back on his chair, his expression uncaring as he looked to the ceiling. A scarred man, his left eye obscured by bandages, remained indifferent, staring at the screen with a far-off gaze.
All men, they watched as Gochi received her punishment, the authorities using her as an example to them: this will be your punishment if you are to rebel against us. They watched as the executor flicked the switch once again, the two-tailed Tawse becoming visible as the cat o' nine tails disappeared, replaced by two extensions. Once again, the counting resumed:
"ONE!" yelled the executioner, whipping Gochi's back.
The twins whispered to one another, conversing under their breath.
"TWO!" yelled the executioner.
The russet headed male leaned forward into his chair, staring up at the screen with an annoyed expression, as if growing tired of the stupid paradigm the guards were trying to set.
"THREE!"
The scarred man leaned back, casting his eye down, his mind elsewhere, thinking of other things, of things he should have done a long time ago.
"FOUR!"
The guards, patrolling around the males, stopped every so often, watching the spectacle with smiles on their visages. It wasn't often they were treated to a show.
"FIVE!" yelled the executioner, the last lash finally hitting Gochi's back. The males watched, seeing Gochi cringe, but otherwise remain stoic.
They saw the executioner turn to the front, where the camera turned to Mikan, looking slightly irritated at the exhibition. She turned to her brother, some male prisoners leaning forward to try to hear her, where the king cocked a brow in interest. He said something back, once again unheard due to the low intonations, and the princess gave a small smile. She then turned to the executioner, waving her hand lazily. The executioner gave a small nod, flicking his thumb as the whips disappeared.
The male prisoners all exchanged glances, wondering what had just happened, but turned towards the screen once again as the executioner flicked his thumb again, the cat o' nine tails reappearing. Meanwhile, Gochi, who was completely relaxed by this point, was not aware of what was about to happen.
Many of the prisoners, even those that did not care, looked surprised as the executioner raised his arm one more time, the cat o' nine tails bearing down on Gochi's back. The male prisoners saw Gochi's eyes widen in surprise, her back arching from the surprise attack and her mouth opening in pain as an ear-piercing scream erupted from her throat.
What they saw next surprised them most.
Slowly, her eyes changed from a black to a green, her hair from black to yellow and a yellow aura engulfed her and all that surrounded her before, finally, the camera went offline with a long, resonating beep.
As the fifth Tawse finally hit her back, Gochi lay relaxed, panting ever-so-slightly. Her mind reflected on other things, trying not to concentrate too much on the immense pain on her back. However, she did not see the interaction between king, princess and executioner, her head drooped down.
It seemed the princess wasn't pleased with Gochi's performance. Before Gochi could realise what was happening, nine lashes hit her back in unison, all nine of them spreading down her back and throughout her body. The shock from the sudden and unexpected lash caused Gochi to arch her back outward, her mouth opening in a scream.
Her eyes slowly turned a green as she was suddenly seeing cement and grass beneath her. Earth. She was on Earth? For a split second in time, it was as if she blacked out. Time stood still and everything seemed to disappear as she saw him, his face twisted into one of immense pain, his face clammy and pale.
Gohan?
However, something did happen in that interim. Gochi's eyes burst into colour, green illuminating from the normally black pupils. From the roots of her long hair, yellow spread down, illumined by the yellow aura bursting from her body and spreading outwards.
In the seminar room watching, all the court, the king, the princess and their helpers turned away, their eyes not used to the bright yellow light erupting from the execution room. As they turned towards the room, they were met with a ghastly sight. The executioner lay crushed against the tempered glass, his blood spreading from a focal point that was his head, his body, or what was left of it, giving involuntary spasms. Where Gochi once stood was a golden-covered woman, her hair floating ethereally as she had their backs to them, the blood on her back floating up in globules, pushed up by some invisible force. The remainder of the blood seeped into her flesh, as if something was crawling its way through her skin, forming a tattoo of devilish origin. Slowly, she turned to the seminar, her left eye glowing a deep blood red. In a tongue that froze all within the seminar, the voice of this woman came piercing through, as quiet yet as harsh than even that of Kisei's.
"You have angered Mother…" (1)
Translation:
"because of sorrow I cannot see virtue you are the last mother
the memory buried so that you won't realise the first mother
even though the clock turns backwards the sin I've committed can't be changed
the first and last person who understood me is burned into my memory…"
dir en grey – Cage
(1) In Japanese, this would be said as "Haha", the humble "kenjougo" way of saying "mother". Not "kaasan", which I write as it is in romaji.