Disclaimer: If I owned Dragon Ball then quite frankly it would be crap. Fortunately for you all I don't. Toriyama drew it, TOEI have the Japanese rights, FUNimation have the US rights, and AB have the European rights.

Notes: I finally got round to finishing this chapter. Sorry I was ill recently, and have been busy with other things. Also I just plain forgot about it over the last couple of days anyway. :P

Chapter 2 - Dull Blue

The pain was unbelievable. A high-pitched screeching sound was causing Sharpener to feel intense agony and unbearable torment. In his mind, he believed that even being skinned alive could not compare to this.

Amidst the torment, he also felt another strange feeling; it was almost like he was flying. He was consistently trying to open his eyes, but the severe head pains would not let him. He screamed once again, as many tears rushed out of the corners of his eyes. Holding his head, he whimpered as the noise increased in intensity and gained an octave.

More screams followed, the feeling of flying got stronger, and Sharpener began wildly thrashing about, trying to find a way to distract himself from the pain.

'OH GOD, MAKE IT STOP. MAKE IT STOP!!!" he cried out in anguish.

As the pain increased, the intelligent thought decreased. Sharpener was trying to keep conscious, but the whining sound in his head had other ideas. With one final increase Sharpener's tolerance levels were broken. The noise finally reached its full threshold, and he was overwhelmed.

With his pleas for mercy ignored, Sharpener lost control.



"Sharpener.Sharpener!"

He was unconscious and unresponsive.

"SHARPENER!"

Using all the strength she could muster; Erasa shook Sharpener's hand in a vain hope of him responding to her at least. She was still weak from the pain she had suffered from the weird noise in her head, and upon it ceasing, she had found herself in a place she didn't even remotely recognise. The first thing of notice she had seen however; had been Sharpener lying unconscious next to her.

"Sharpener.wake up." she spoke softly to herself. Fearing the worst, she once again checked Sharpener's pulse, as she had done when she had first seen him like this. The pulse was weak, but it was there.

'Oh god.I wish I'd listened in First Aid Class.' she thought to herself. 'If Videl was here, she'd know what to do. She had to learn it; as part of her job.'

Staring down at Sharpener's pale form, she considered giving mouth-to- mouth. The only problem was that she had no idea how too. Sighing, she decided that she should try it anyway. She didn't want Sharpener to die after all.

Trying to recall any memories of her First Aid class that she could, she tilted Sharpener's head back.

"Umm.is this right.I can't remember," a worried Erasa murmured. She was now starting to panic; she didn't want to do anything that might make it worse.

Hoping that she was doing the right thing, she pressed her lips against his, ready to initiate the blowing procedure. She almost jumped out of her skin when she heard Sharpener moaning. Shrieking, she pulled herself away from him. Shockingly, she noticed that Sharpener's eyes were open, and he was smirking at her.

"Sharpener!" she began to shout, but then she softened; "I'm glad you're okay."

A weak Sharpener responded; "Huh, okay? That's a laugh. My head feels like an elephant just stepped on it."

Erasa was curious: "You mean.hey did you get that weird noise in your head as well?"

Sharpener nodded:

"You mean the unbearable, agonising screeching noise? If so, then yeah."

Now that Sharpener was responding to her and the pain had somewhat diminished; Erasa was finally able to take a good look at her surroundings.

"It's.pretty dark in here," she stumbled out.

Pulling himself up to his feet, Sharpener had to agree with her. They were in a fairly small room, which had a distinct dull blue lighting. Although with the pain still lingering he was finding it hard to stay focused.

"Where.do you think.we are?" he asked breathlessly.

"I don't know." Erasa replied. "Last thing I remember is waiting for Gohan and Videl to come out of some alleyway somewhere.and then some weird noise in my head.then the pain."

Sharpener suddenly had a brainwave:

"Erasa, when that weird noise was going through our heads, did you feel a strange sensation like you were flying?"

Erasa tensed up, as if she'd just realised something bad:

"Yes, yes I did. But I hope you're not suggesting what I think you are!"

The two of them stayed silent. They both knew that if they were right, they could be very far away from home indeed.

"I'm scared Sharpener," Erasa blurted out.

If the situation was any different Sharpener would have probably covered up how he felt and lied straight out, but now he would not.

"Me too Erasa.me too."

However despite the new fear and apprehension he was feeling Sharpener couldn't help but smirk at the same time.

"But were you kissing me when I woke up, or was I just imagining that?"



Videl was stumbling. After the intense pain she had felt, she was finding it hard to move anywhere. She wouldn't have been surprised to find out that her brains had turned to mush.

"Ugh," she mumbled, as her legs gave way and she fell to the floor. Deciding to try to regain some self-control, she remained on the ground.

"Why.do I feel so weak?"

Videl remembered a phone booth; she was phoning up to report her friends' disappearance. But then, somebody had grabbed her, and then the noise.and the pain.

Shuddering, Videl tried to force any memories about that experience out of her head. She didn't know where she was, or really how she got here; but she had a suspicion that it was something to do with the whining sound that had been in her head.

"Maybe Erasa and Sharpener were brought here too?" she questioned aloud.

Expectedly, no one replied. Videl thought to herself a bit more:

'And Gohan.maybe it happened to him as well? Or maybe he's still there, wondering where I've gone.'

Tears began to form in Videl's eyes, out of both fear and hopelessness. However, she wiped them away, despite no-one watching. She had broken down in front of Gohan earlier, and she regretted it. She didn't quite know why, but she liked having the tough girl image that she had acquired over the years.

'I guess I do kinda take after my dad.' Videl smiled, followed by a heavy sigh. She had been wandering around in pain for about half an hour, with no clue where she was. The most she had discovered were seemingly endless, dark corridors.

It was just then that a door seemed to suddenly open in front of her, as if by magic. Light was beaming through the wall, and Videl could see a room inside.

"What? No way!" Videl cried, leaping up to her feet, although the slight jolt of pain this caused her made her cringe slightly.

Even though she had her doubts about entering, it seemed there was something compelling her to enter. Videl was dismissing it as her thrive for action and nothing more. Besides, entering the room would be much better than trolling around corridors for another hour or so, right?



"Help me. Help me please."

Gohan could hear the voice, but not see where it was coming from.

"Where are you?" he called. Upon waking up the first thing he had heard had been calls of distress. He didn't particularly recognise the voice, but his good nature had compelled him to help out.

"I'm over here," the voice called out. Gohan could definitely tell it was female.

"Hold on," he called, following the sound of her voice. On his way he considered the possibilities as to what may have happened. Someone had grabbed him, stabbed him; and some high-pitched noise had invaded his head. Next thing he knew, he was in a dark room, in incredible pain, and could hear somebody calling out. However, he had been surprised to find no stab wounds on him at all. It was an even bigger surprise to find he wasn't dead.

Turning a corner, he could just make out a human figure sprawled on the ground. Moving closer, he realised that a girl had her legs stuck under a fairly large rock. However he couldn't make out her face.

"Does it hurt?" he asked gently.

"I'm.not sure," she responded. "All I know is that I can't move."

Gohan ignored his own pain and leant down beside her. The girl smiled at him in the process. Gohan wasn't quite sure but he could swear that the girl seemed all too.familiar. But it definitely wasn't Videl or Erasa.

Weirdly, Gohan found it difficult to pull up the rock. It was as if he had no energy at all! Summoning all the strength he could, he once more attempted to lift it.

"You're going to have to move your legs when I lift up this rock, and quickly. They could be broken so it might hurt, but I have no other choice I'm sorry." He told her firmly. The girl nodded in agreement.

Straining his muscles, he wrenched the rock off the ground, grunting heavily as he did so. The girl moved her legs, yelping in what Gohan assumed to be pain at the same time. He was confused, why was this so hard to do? Eventually the strain became too much for him and he had to let go of it.

Holding his chest, he fell to the floor breathing heavily. The pressure from lifting the rock up had only added to the pain he still felt from earlier.

"You okay?" he muttered.

He could see the girl slowly pull herself up and trundle over to him. Now that he could see her properly, he was sure he could recognise her. The redhead above him held a hand out to him, he grabbed it and pulled himself up.

"Yes, I'm fine," she finally responded. "Legs are a bit sore but I'll manage. Thank you Gohan."

At the mention of his name he sparked up. He did know this girl. She was in his class at school, but.why was she here? The only problem was that he had forgotten her name.

"Hello.Gohan? It's me Angela."

"Oh yeah hey." Gohan stumbled out. At least he didn't have to suffer the embarrassment of not knowing who she was.

"Thanks for rescuing me," she said, beaming. "I didn't even know you were here!"

"Here.er, where is here?" Gohan asked confused. Did Angela know where they were?

"I don't know," Angela responded. "I was in the alleyway beside my house thinking to myself; when I suddenly felt this weird noise in my head which hurt like hell. Then I just found myself here, and my leg was stuck under that rock."

"Oh I see; you must have been the girl we heard scream first." Gohan noted.

"Eh?" Angela responded in confusion.

"Never mind." Gohan answered.

'This is great; Videl and the others must be here. At least they're not dead.' He thought to himself happily. A smile appeared on his face.

"Why so happy?" Angela questioned.

"Huh, oh nothing. Come on, let's go find the others." Gohan quickly responded, grabbing Angela by the arm and pulling her along with him.

"Others.?"

(AN: In this story Gohan never went out with Angela. I just needed another character in the story and went with her rather than making my own up. :P)



The room was exceptionally large in comparison to the corridors Videl had been trolling around in for the last half an hour or so. However it still retained its dull blue colour. There were balconies high above and the room was distinctly circular shaped.

In the centre, something caught Videl's eye. It seemed to be some sort of platform. Again something compelled her to read it, but once more Videl dismissed this. Upon reaching the platform she noticed a placard. Curiously, she read it:

'The Game of Life, five shall play

Not as the predator, but the prey'

"The hell does that mean?" Videl questioned out loud.

An eerie silence filled the room that caused Videl to shiver violently. It was almost like.she was being watched. Unexpectedly, the ground began rumbling. It was only faint, but Videl could definitely feel it.

'I don't think I should stay in here,' she proposed to herself. The rumbling was getting stronger and Videl was beginning to panic. Ignoring any pain she still felt, she found herself sprinting back towards the door she came in from.

The shock of the loud bang that occurred just a short distance ahead of her made Videl fall to her feet and cover her ears. She was petrified, and felt too weak to do anything about it. Slowly looking up she noticed that the door had slammed shut; steel iron bars covering it.

Pulling both herself and her courage up as high as she could, she continued racing to the door as a last-ditch attempt. She had a nasty feeling that something was behind her, and she didn't want to know what it was. Reaching the door she screamed and tugged desperately at the iron bars, but her attempts were futile.

"Please, someone help me. Please, HELP ME!"

All went quiet as the room, as if answering her pleas; stopped shaking. Videl stood perfectly still, not even daring to blink. Was the thing behind her gone?

"Come on Videl.you can do it. Face your fear. All you have to do is just. turn around."

Screaming, she swung her head around, half-expecting to see something she didn't want to. However, the room was just as it was before, podium and all. Smiling, she let out a sigh of relief. It must have been the fear of being alone that made her believe that there was something behind her. Even so the room was locked, with no escape. It seemed hopeless.

"Guys.where are you."



Crouched on the ceiling, the organism observed Videl from 30 metres above. It had tasted her fear, and it liked it.

Smashing its tail into the roof, it caused one final explosive tremor. Grinning as the human girl fell to the floor, it decided it was time to eliminate its prey.

Signalling the beginning of its advance, it hollered its predatory war cry. Hungrily, it focused its eyes on the girl's own; watching as its prey let out a shrieking noise and backed away.

As usual, this would be a good kill.



Notes: Please review.

I don't know how long it will be until Chapter 3 is up, as my site comes first, and we're currently having hosting problems. Also I have a ton of information to write for it. But I will do it soon.