I surrender!!
**peeks out of where she was hiding from KonekoHimi's organized reader attacks**
I surrender here's the fic!!
I so sowwy I know it's been a long time coming but I been distracted! I started my Sailor
Earth fic and it kinda took over. But ye sent me such nice reviews that I managed to get
this done! ? Thanks! Promise the next one will be sooner! Enjoy! (Or not…)
Chronicles of the Challenge Ch 4
Heero tried to blot out the voice of the girl beside him, but it was impossible. No matter
how hard he tried to focus on climbing through the rubble of the collapsed building
where his Gundam was apparently hidden, he couldn't manage to ignore her voice.
"Are we nearly there yet? I have to get back to my friends. They need me! I can feel it!
Can't we go any faster?" Rei was feeling very on edge. Her 6th sense was shouting at her
that her fellow scouts needed her, and yet she couldn't leave the strange boy beside her to
quest alone.
She couldn't figure him out. He rarely spoke except to issue orders or argue with her, and
he was the only person she had had ever met who could irritate her more than Serena.
And yet despite this she couldn't help feeling drawn to him. She would help him find the
Gundam, and then they could return to the Scouts together.
Soon the climbing began to become more difficult and she was forced to drop all
thoughts except holding on. The building seemed to have partially collapsed in an
earthquake, but all the buildings around it were in perfect condition. They had come to
the decision that it must be the work of one of the world's larger native demons, which
was in all likelihood long gone. The smaller ones seemed to have taken up residence
though, and they had lost track of the number of bizarre creatures that had been charred
by Rei or shot by Heero.
Heero had decided that the signal was coming from the third story, but since the stairs
and elevator had been destroyed, they were climbing the remains of the mineshaft. All of
a sudden, Heero stopped above her and started pulling at something. Moments later he
had tugged the elevator door off its tracks and it crashed down the shaft passed her,
narrowly missing her head. Ignoring her screech of protest, Heero disappeared up through
the door onto the third floor. She was just about to yell at him to wait when he turned and
reached down to help her up.
The hall she climbed into was dark and strewn with rubble. Heero glanced at his mini-
com and headed wordlessly down the left side. Minutes later he shoved a broken door out
of the way to enter a small room in relatively good condition compared to the rest of the
room. One piece of furniture occupied the room, a small table. Heero and Rei approached
it cautiously. There was a small solitary capsule on the center of the table.
Heero consulted his mini-com again, perplexed although he showed no hint of this
emotion to his companion. The small screen in his hand indicated that he was almost
standing in the same spot as the Gundam, and yet there was nothing there.
Shrugging fatalistically Rei picked up the small capsule. "Look at this Heero. It has
something written on it. 'Capsule Corp: Gundam Sandrock'. Is this what we're looking
for?"
"Sandrock?" asked Heero. "That's Quatre's Gundam's name but that's not it."
"Maybe it's time we contacted the others then. They might know where we should look
next."
Heero shook his head. "We can't allow Callum to discover our location. I have an idea."
With no further explanation, he pulled out his mini-com and sat on the table tapping at
the screen intently. For the next twenty minutes he was oblivious to his surroundings he
was so engrossed in whatever it was he was doing.
Rei was on the verge of indulging in some constructive pyromania to get his attention
when he finally looked up and nodded in satisfaction. He hit the call button on the device.
Rei almost exploded. He had obviously done something to the device to make it safe to
call the others, but he hadn't even made an attempt to explain to her what was going on.
He was DELIBERATELY keeping her in the dark. Here she was, abandoning her friends
to help him in his search, because she didn't want him to be alone in this world, and he
didn't even respect her enough to treat her as a teammate, let alone an equal.
In fury, she began shouting at him, insulting on his intelligence, his dress sense, his
attitude, his complete lack of the Gundam he had been sent to find, and anything else that
cropped into her mind. She was well used to insulting Serena, and found she had a virtual
reservoir of insults waiting to be used.
Heero allowed himself a self-satisfied smirk at getting the reaction from her that he had
wanted, and looked back at the screen. Rei was so busy ranting that she didn't even notice
the screen of Heero's mini-com come to life as the call went through.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - --- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Over there!" Shouted Duo over the sound of the wind, gesturing with the hand that Goku
wasn't using to carry him. "Around that corner!"
"We're there?" asked Lita, dangling from Goku's other hand. Goku swerved down and
landed on the street, followed by their other companions.
Krillin raised a brow at Duo, who pointed round the corner, crossing his fingers that the
others would be there. He had been appointed the navigator of the group, and if he had
led them on a wild goose chase he was in trouble.
They set off to walk around the corner. Duo and Lita rounded the corner first, and
stopped dead in their tracks, jaws dropping in horror. Seeing their expressions, the others
rushed to see what was wrong.
There was a long moment of shocked silence. Storm was the first to speak. "By the
Goddess, no......"
As if she had broken a spell with her words, everyone suddenly rushed forward towards
the horror scene facing them. Bodies of their comrades were strewn around the street,
covered in blood, amidst a battleground reduced to rubble.
Within moments they had confirmed them all dead. Wufei lay where he had fallen in
front of the body of Michiru, who he seemed to have protected to the last. Vegita had
been half buried by rubble, and Gambit lay in a crumpled heap at the side of the street.
Trunks, Aria and Haruka were no-where to be seen. It was a nightmarish sight.
Jubilee collapsed to her knees in tears, and Lita looked away rubbing her eyes. Duo knelt
over the body of his friend. "I'm so sorry Wu-Man. I should have been here. I should
have gotten your Gundam here sooner. I'm sorry. I'll find who-ever did this, and I'll make
them pay. And I promise I'll take care of Nataku." He sat in silence beside his fallen
teammate silently for a while, unable to believe that after all they had survived through
together, one of them was now dead, along with many of their newer friends. Their quest
was suddenly not a game anymore.
"Who could have done this?" Asked Goku through his teeth, clenching his fists in fury.
Between them the group finally forced themselves to carry their companions over to the
unstable wall at the far side of the street, and with a little persuasion it collapsed over the
bodies, providing them with the best burial they could manage. The sight of the rubble
covering her fellow scout and the others caused Lita to finally break down, and Duo
stepped closer and put his arms around her and held her while she cried.
Storm, shaken, was comforting Jubilee, and Goku and Krillin were worrying about the
members of the team whom they had not found, when a voice drew all their attention to
above.
"Goku! I, the mighty Freiza, have come for you! Prepare to die!" Everyone followed the
familiar voice to see a figure hovering in the air nearby.
"Rogue!!" exclaimed Storm in recognition. Realizing what had happened she shook her
head in despair. "Rogue, what have you done? What have you done?"
"Freiza?" asked Goku at the same time. "She's not Freiza!" added Krillin in confusion.
Wolverine extended his claws slowly, with an evil glint in his eyes. "No. But whoever
this Freiza person is he must have been here, and she absorbed his personality. The only
way she could still be alive while the others are dead is that Freiza let her live. There's no
scent of an enemy on our friend's bodies, so she musta done it herself. I think you should
introduce me to this Freiza. I'd love to have a long conversation with him, while I feed
him the contents of his stomach piece by piece."
Just then, the Rogue/Freiza got tired of waiting for a reaction of fear and terror, and
decided to attack. She had almost reached a startled but ready Goku, when Storm stepped
out in front of him. "Stop Rogue! Control yourself! Overcome this Freiza you have
absorbed. It is your body! Do not hurt anyone else I beg you!"
A look of confusion flitted across Rogue's eyes, and she landed and skidded to a halt.
"Storm?" she asked tentatively. She blinked a few times, and went pale as memories
flooded back. "Oh Storm what have ah done?" she whispered.
"What happened Rogue. How did this happen?"
"I am NOT Rogue! I am Freiza!! I am here to DESTROY GOKU!!" was the sudden
yelled reply, but just as suddenly Rogue clasped her head in her hands, trembling. "No! I
am ME! I am Rogue! Oh my god Remy what have ah done?"
Shuddering all over, she suddenly launched into the air and hurtled around the corner at
break-neck speed. Echoing back across the street, her voiced thoughts faded away with
distance. "I am Freiza! No I am Rogue! I must KILL Goku!! No I can kill no one else. I
am the strongest warrior in the universe. GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!"
Storm immediately went to follow, but Wolverine held her back. "You've probably lost
her already. I'll track her. I'll make sure she hurts no one else." Storm nodded reluctantly,
knowing that she had little chance of finding Rogue herself. "Wolverine remember. She
didn't cause this. Whoever attacked must have been extraordinarily powerful to have
over-come her so much. Remember she would never have committed a massacre like
this. She loved Remy more than anything."
Wolverine nodded, already planning how to follow her. "Don't worry 'Ro. I won't hurt
her. Hell I've done things myself in the past that I'm not proud of. I might even be able to
help her." Without another word, he was gone at a run down the street.
The rest of the company looked at one-another. Goku shook his head. "If Freiza is back,
and strong enough to defeat Vegita, then we need backup. We have to contact the others.
Everyone nodded in grim agreement, not eager to have to break the tragic news to them,
and Goku nodded at Duo, who pulled out his mini-com and pushed the call button.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Back in the safe house, things were far from peaceful. There was a long moment of
silence, which was broken by a yell. "MOMMY?? Who are you calling Serena Mommy.
Unfortunately she's MY Mommy!!!" Rini put her hands on her hips and glared at the
newcomer. She would never admit it, but she was actually quite attached to her mother's
younger self, and the idea of some kid just waltzing in and replacing her was unthinkable.
Mina crouched down beside her and put her arm around her shoulder. "Relax Rini. We're
not sure who this is, but he's a friend, and we'll find out. All you have to do is be nice to
him for a few minutes, can you?" She smiled encouragingly. Rini shook her head. "You
have five minutes to find out who he is and what he's doing here!" She sent another glare
in the direction of the newcomer.
Meanwhile Serena was staring openmouthed at Garion. "Mommy? You're my son? But...
But I only have one daughter in the future, Rini. And I'm married to Darien in the future!
What do you mean?"
Garion shook his head in impatience at his mother's temporary insanity. "You are my
mommy. That's my Daddy. The man with the cloak said I had to go back in time to help
you. Understand?" He turned his head around to look at Rini. "Is that my big sister?
Wow! I've always wanted to meet her!" He looked at her in awe. "Lemme down. I wanna
go talk to her!"
Dazed, Serena let him down and he ran over to Rini. His sister quickly overcame her
indignation when she realized she had just acquired a little brother who hero-worshiped
her, and soon she, Garion and Gotu were happily involved in their own private
conversation, accepting the oddity of the situation with a childlike innocence.
Unfortunately the older members of the group had a little more difficulty coming to terms
with the new turn of events. Luckily, other than the Gundam pilots they had all
experienced time travel in some sense of the word, and as they were all incredibly
adaptable, they soon managed to get over the astonishment for the most part.
Respecting that there were things those involved needed to discuss, the members of the
X-man and the Gundam group left the rest alone and went to greet the members of their
group who had just arrived. That left Serena and Goten facing Gohan, Mina, Amy, and
Setsuna.
Setsuna was the first to speak after a long silence." Serena how did this happen? Do you
know anything about it? Has it happened already or is it going to happen in the future? I
know that's a hard thing to answer but we really need to know. You and Darien rule the
Moon Kingdom together, and this could change our future."
Serena blushed. "Well it sorta could have happened already." Mina's jaw dropped.
"THAT'S what you were doing upstairs? And I was feeling SORRY for you being lonely
up there!" She grinned and whispered aside to her friend, "Well done Serena, he's cute!"
Goten, whose Saiyajin hearing picked this up, blushed.
Amy shook her head. "I understand Setsuna's point. What about the future? We SAW it
and you're married to Darien! What if you change the future? Rini might cease to exist!"
Serena shook her head. "I'm NOT marrying Darien. I don't love him and I never have!
I… I love… I love Goten!" Goten's face reddened even more. Gohan tilted his head
sideways. "What do YOU think Goten?" he asked curiously.
Goten mumbled quietly in a barely audible voice, already embarrassed. "I love her too."
Gohan smiled happily. "SO what's the problem? Congratulations!" Goten gave his
brother a quick grin, but then Serena spoke. "I intend to rescue Darien from the mind-
controlling person who holds him. He is still my friend. But now that is all he is." Setsuna
shook her head. "What about Small Lady? She is still here, and so the future has not been
changed." She glanced over to where the three children played happily with Aria's new
pet Coll, as if to reassure herself that she was still there. "How is that possible Serena.
Have you and Darien….?"
Serena glared daggers. "Would you stop with the personal questions already? Why can't
you just leave me alone? Let's settle this once and for all. I am not going to marry Darien.
He and I have done it ONCE, but never again. So Rini's probably already been…made.
All we met in the future was a hologram of Darien. Could have been made just to show
Rini what her father looked like. So the future need not have been changed. Is that
enough?" She glared some more.
There was another silence, indicating that no-one was stupid enough to pick a fight with
her, whether because of the tall warrior standing protectively beside her or because they
thought she was right.
There was only one more question. "Ummm… Does this mean that Serena is carrying
two different children at the same time?" Gohan asked in confusion. Serena thought for a
moment and went pale. Luckily Setsuna was able to put her mind at rest. "Serena is the
Princess of the Moon. She can subconsciously postpone everything for as long as she
wants. Small Lady and Garion may not be born for years!" Serena let out a sigh of relief.
Everyone drifted back together again in the center of the room. The armchairs were
grabbed, some sat on the floor, and a few, such as Piccolo, were happier to stand. Just as
people were about to ask the questions of where their missing friends were, unaware of
the bad news that lay in store, Trowa's mini-com beeped.
He pulled it out and answered, and Heero's expressionless face popped onto the screen.
"We can use the mini-com's again. "He announced cryptically, speaking over the yelling
of "You're ignoring me! Look at me this INSTANT and tell me what…" in Rei's voice.
She cut off suddenly seeming to realize that the call had gone through.
In his typical calm manner Trowa ignored the shouting and raised a brow at Heero. Of
course as Heero could only see his other eye this was a wasted effort so Trowa tried
again. "I didn't know we weren't supposed to use them."
Heero shrugged. "Ask Aria and the rest of that group. They can explain. They're on the
way to ye if they're not there already. Tell them I've used the network between them to
jam Callum's device. But I have a problem here." Trowa nodded at him to continue. "I've
arrived at my target but there is no Gundam here. Someone must have gotten here before
me. All that is here is a small table and a small metallic capsule."
Quatre pushed over Trowa's shoulder. "Does it have a Capsule Corp Label?" Heero
looked away from the screen, presumably while Rei checked, and then faced Trowa and
Quatre again. "Yes. It has that logo on it. Why?" Quatre smiled and told him to take it
outside, press the button, and step well back. Then meet us here at the co-ordinates we'll
transmit to you. " Then he waved and Trowa cut off the communication.
A few miles away, Heero frowned at Quatre's unusual instructions. He did however pick
up the device and head towards the door. Rei blocked his path, pointing an arresting
finger at his chest. "Stop right there Heero! We're not LEAVING this building until you
start respecting me and treating me as an equal! I swear, if you keep one more secret from
me or ignore me again I'll…"
She seemed to be just warming up and Heero realized that he may have pushed her too
far in his efforts to infuriate her. He had to admit that she was especially beautiful when
she was so angry, but he seemed in for a truly long and boring lecture unless he could
think of something fast to shut her up.
Quickly and without second thought, he did the first thing that shot into his head,
something he had secretly wanted to do for hours. He grabbed her face and kissed her. To
his surprise she responded passionately and it was a while before they broke apart and
headed towards to exit of the building, walking slightly closer together than when they
had entered.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Just as Trowa's mini-com cut communications, Gohan's beeped. He answered it
immediately to reveal his father's face, wearing a serious expression. "Hi son. We need
to meet up with ye. We have our Gundam. Can you tell us where ye are?"
Confused at the short message and abrupt greeting, Gohan transmitted his co-ordinates.
"Thanks son. I'll be there soon." Without another word, Goku's image was gone. Gohan
shrugged and folded away his communicator.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -
Goku squinted at the gadget in his hands for a moment before handing it to Duo. "You're
gonna have to be our map reader again. This make sense to you?" Duo nodded and the
group took flight again, flyers carrying non-flyers as they had before. They were in a
hurry to meet the others, as they had unanimously agreed that it was best to break their
awful news in person rather than relating the deaths of their comrades over the mini-com
system.
About twenty minutes later, they arrived above the house. They were about to land, when
Krillin pointed to the shadows and shouted, "Look! Over there!" everyone followed his
gesture, to see tens of blood red eyes peeping out of the shadows. A closer look told them
that demons of all shapes and were creeping towards the house from all directions.
"What the… I thought these houses were supposed to be Safe! Isn't that the deal with
'safe' houses?" Asked Duo in a mixture of exasperation and worry for his friends. Storm
shook her head. "They're not entering the house. They can't. They know we're gathering
there though so we won't be safe in there for long. We must hurry."
To be on the safe side they entered through an upstairs window and never had to land
near the demons. Glad to be finally reunited with their friends, they hurried downstairs.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Everyone jumped when the door to the stairs opened, but relaxed as soon as they
recognized the intruders. However they know at once that something was wrong. They
were all already in mourning for Kurt, whose group had related the heroic events of his
death. They had just been about to discuss how to rescue Darien and Callum when
Goku's group arrived.
Goku, Krillin, Storm, Duo and Lita walked in slowly. They walked over and took seats
where they were available, and Storm was about to begin speaking when Duo noticed
someone. "Trunks!! Aria!! You guys are alive!! When we didn't find you we thought you
were dead with all the others!"
There was sudden shocked silence, as Lita punched Duo's arm for his indiscretion and
everyone absorbed his statement. "Dead? Who? How?" asked Amy weakly. Storm took
over and related as gently as she could what had happened. Reactions were pretty much
the same in every case. The scouts were distraught at the loss of their two friends. Quatre
and Trowa hung their heads in sorrow at the thought that their friend, who had finally lost
his life after surviving so much.
The X-men, who had already lost a man that day, had what might be the hardest blow,
having one of their number responsible for the tragedy. Jubilee, who had almost regained
calm on the way, burst out crying as Storm related the tale. Trunks buried his head in his
hands and Aria wrapped her arms around him comfortingly.
There was a gap of almost an hour while the living comforted the living, before Piccolo
became impatient. "We can't stay here much longer if there are Demons gathering
outside. We need a plan and we need to leave quickly." As he spoke, there was a
thunderous crash as the glass of the room broke and Heero and Rei tumbled in, Heero
rolling over Rei as they landed to protect her from the glass. A quick glance at the hosts
of demons outside revealed why the door would not have been a better was to enter. It's
hare to open a door when sprinting to escape demons.
Heero and Rei stood up and shook themselves off, and Heero held up the Capsule. "We
have it." They were quickly brought up to speed while Rei pulled the Glass out of
Heero's back. Then, while they came to terms with the news, the rest of the group began
discussing their next move.
It was decided that there were three main tasks which needed doing. Darien needed to be
rescued, Callum needed to be rescued, and Freiza needed to be found and destroyed. To
do this they would need three teams. It didn't take long to split them up, and soon, Beast,
who held a notepad, went over the plans once more to make sure everyone understood.
"Alright people. I believe the first mission is to find Darien. The team for this is as
follows:
Serena
Rei
Hotaru
Archangel
Sam
Setsuna
Rini
Garion
Gotu
Jubilee
Quatre
Amy
Trowa
Have I missed anyone? No? Good. The second mission is to locate and recover Callum.
Team two consists of:
Heero
Duo
Aria
Storm
Beast
Bobby
Mina
Lita
Alright? And mission three is to destroy Freiza. The team for this is:
Goten
Gohan
Goku
Krillin
Piccolo
Trunks
However team two and three will travel together if possible, as they will complement
each other. Until they split up if it becomes necessary, Teams two and three will together
be known as Team Four. Everyone understand everything? Excellent." Beast sat down
again.
Within ten minutes everyone was gathering at the door, making farewells. It was more
serious this time. Some of those they had said goodbye to last time had not returned. In
the corner, the Gundam pilots conversed.
"Well If you found Deathscythe Quatre then hand him over!" exclaimed Duo in relief.
Quatre handed it to him while Heero returned Sandrock, which was the Gundam he had
located, to it's rightful owner. Trowa wordlessly gave Wing back to Heero, and
shrugging, accepted the only Gundam left for his own use, the Altron, or Nataku.
There was a moment of silence, before Quatre said, "Good Luck you guys! Be careful!"
They all nodded, somberly and headed back to the others who were at the door. They
were going to have to fight their way out of the safe house because by now they had
discovered even the sky was filled with demons.
"Ready everyone?" asked Beast from the door. "Remember, Team 1 go left as soon as
you break through. Team 4 hear right!" he added before he yanked the door open and
they all poured out into furious battle.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Oh that all for now! ?
By the way Moon Dragon I got Garion's name from mixing the two men in Serena's life
up. Darien and Goten. Garion. ? Well that's the official line anyways… The truth is I'm
a HUGE fan of David Eddings and I like the name.
Anyway if you'll just allow me to sign off with a little music (loaded secretly with
subliminal messaging)….
LalalalalalalalalalalalalaaReviewLalalalalalalalalalalalalalalaReviewLalalalalalalalalalalal
alaaReviewLalalalalalalalalalalalalalalaReviewLalalalalalalalalalalalalaaReviewLalalalal
alalalalalalalalalalaReviewLalalalalalalalalalalalalaaReviewLalalalalalalalalalalalalalalaR
eview LalalalalalalalalalalalalaaReviewLalalalalalalalalalalalalalalaReview
LalalalalalalalalalalalalaaReviewLalalalalalalalalalalalalalalaREVIEEW!!!