Chapter 6

Videl tried lifting her head despite dull throbbing pain, and eventually she succeeded. Slowly she opened her eyes. The light was low and very blue. She tried to get a feel for the container she was in. It couldn't be bigger than a thirty-gallon garbage can, but it was transparent. The way she was folded into it was less than comfortable. She couldn't even feel her legs. "Hello?" Her voice was croaky and unsteady. "Where am I? Somebody?"

Videl struggled against the walls of her tiny prison. Punching and pushing till she was gasping, exhausted.

"You can't escape," a disembodied voice announced. "You will die here."

Videl fought the urge to cry unsuccessfully. "Who are you? Why are you doing this? Show yourself!"

"You would like to see my face?" A ghostly image of a willowy woman with long pale hair appeared. "This has been my form of late, but I take a new one today." The woman moved around the room through her expansive crystal garden. "You met Rinback, didn't you? This is to be his place in my garden after Gohan kills him. A memorial to a fine warrior."

Videl tried to get a hold on her emotions. There had to be a way out. She had to figure out what she was dealing with. Whatever this thing wanted, it hadn't just targeted her. Gohan was apparently on her agenda too. "You want Rinback to lose to Gohan? But he's fighting for you, isn't he? You're the lady he was talking about. Why would you want that?" Videl asked.

The ghost-woman laughed wickedly. "He is fighting to die so that I may live. You see he loves me. I am the one and only point in his universe." She skipped over to a bare spot in the gallery between to monolithic statues. "You know I think this would be a better place for Rinback." She moved over two paces. "And Gohan, he, will stand right here, eventually. I hope he lasts a long time though. He seems delicious."

Videl felt like all the blood drained right out of her. "What, you want to add Gohan to your sick little garden? Why him? Why are you doing this?" Videl started striking at her prison again. Her knuckles turned red and started to bleed but she kept on hitting, imagining that it was the creature she was striking.

"Is he delicious, Videl? You love him; he loves you. Thank God for love."

"You're some kind of witch or vampire or something, aren't you?" Videl whispered between punches. "Whatever you're planning won't work. Gohan is stronger than you. I'm stronger than you. You WON'T win." She punched with everything she hand and felt something break in her right hand. Fresh tears slipped down her cheeks and she cradled her hand against her chest. It couldn't win.

The ghostly woman floated over to the newly blood smeared prison. "I'm not a witch, or a vampire per se. I was created by a man many millennia ago. I'm not sure exactly who it was, but I like to think he was a great and powerful sorcerer. You see, pet, I've had a lot of time to think about such things, my origins, my nature. Honestly, I am nothing more than a bit of magic discarded into a pocket universe along with a wild assortment of other failed conjurings. I think, and this is pure conjecture, that I was a failed love spell. It's hard to be sure, when you're thrown out with the trash.

"I've survived in my world though. Scraping an existence out of the bits of magic and power my creator left me. Each piece of unsuccessful magic I found, I assimilated, making myself stronger. Eventually I was able to break out from this pocket universe for a short time and search for energy with which to sustain." The ghost woman placed both hands on either side of the crystalline prison containing Videl and it began to glow.

"I discovered my nature in that first world. A grief stricken warrior, thought I was his dead wife. It was like instinct. His love to bind his mind and soul to me, and his life force to keep me alive and strong." The ghost-woman's form grew indistinct but when it began to recoalesce it was solid and different.

Videl couldn't speak for a moment. "You look exactly like me now."

The evil-Videl laughed. "Of course I do. I'm much better at surviving now, pet. Stronger warriors, deeper more perfect bindings. Eventually I won't need to retreat to this world at all. I'll be substantial enough to survive in your plane of existence."

Videl felt her face turning red. How dare this thing look like her. How dare it bust into her life and destroy everything. How dare it even think about touching her Gohan! "You don't even know how strong Gohan is. You won't be able to bind his mind or his will. He'll destroy you." Videl wished she believed everything she was shouting at the monster wearing her face.

Evil-Videl stroked at the casing enclosing her prey. "The only way the binding I work will fail, is if Gohan doesn't love you."

Videl covered her face with her hands and tried to block out the vision of herself sneering through the crystal cage.

Evil-Videl did a perfect pirouette and beamed at her prisoner. "Don't you worry either. I plan to keep you around, pet, for at least a few years." She waved her hand over the front panel of Videl's cage and it came to life with images of Gohan and Rinback. "You should watch the battle with me. I expect it to be short. I have finally drained dear Rinback to a shadow of his former self."

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Goten and Trunks were resting their chins on the windowsill and Master Roshi was standing just over them.

"I can't believe Gohan made us come inside. We're not babies," Trunks complained.

"I know. I can hardly see them from here," Goten said. "Oh, he must have made Gohan mad, see that."

"I feel that," Trunks said. "He really made Gohan mad."

Piccolo was unable to stifle the sense of impending disaster as the two fighters collided in mid air. A flurry of blows left Rinback on the ground spitting up blood after only a few minutes of fighting. Gohan landed near him and waited for the fighter to get up so he could hit him some more. Kidnap Videl. Attack Videl. He wasn't getting up though.

It was a joke. The flashy display of power at the beginning of the battle was hollow. This Rinback fellow wasn't up to the fight by a long shot. He still wasn't getting up. Maybe he was already dying. The initial blind rage of the battle faded. It wasn't right to kill someone who was virtually defenseless. "I don't need to kill you, do I? Concede and return Videl. Go home, while you still can," Gohan said. He pulled the knight up by his collar.

Rinback managed a weak outburst of power, which freed him from Gohan's grip, and he landed on his feet. "Fight me, kill me, or watch the girl die."

It was hard to keep from surrendering to the rage, the threat against Videl provoked, but with a supreme effort of will, Gohan allowed himself to power- down. For some reason this man wanted to die. He wanted to die at Gohan's hand. What option was there though? Watch Videl die? That wasn't an option. "For Videl, I'd do almost anything. Including, if you make me, killing you." Gohan offered the fighter his last chance. "Surrender?"

Rinback shook his head slowly and deliberately. "You fight for your lady. I fight, for mine. It is a great symmetry and dance. When the dance is perfect, her power is unimaginable. We must fight."

The poor bastard didn't even make any sense. Well he could, not-make-sense in the afterlife. "I can't say I'm sorry then." Gohan slowly powered back up. He drew into his personal well of energy and unleashed a small portion of it on the injured fighter in front of him.

A battered bloody form, Rinback dropped to his knees. Slowly, a crimson stain expanded out from him onto the grass. As his life slipped away, Rinback saw his existence for what it was. A look of peace passed over his face. Freedom at last, the spider who had held him in her web finally released her hold. "Thank you," Rinback whispered. He wanted to cry out with his last breath, a warning to the fighter who had freed him. That same spider would consume him as well. But darkness clouded his vision and he slipped from the world.

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Videl watched in abject horror as Rinback fell forward. "Gohan, we're in trouble here. You have to do something or we're dead." Videl shut her eyes and tried to think of something she could do. Punching the crystalline prison wasn't working. There was the ka-me-ha-me-ha wave, Gohan had tried to teach her. Of course she hadn't trained with Gohan for a while and she'd never actually pulled it off.

She could hear Gohan's patient voice in her head. Reach down inside yourself and focus all the potential energy in your body. Project it outwards, punch it. Videl screamed, "KaaaMeeeeHaaaaMeeeeHaaaaaaa!!!" The blast was puny compared to the energy her Gohan threw about casually, but a crack appeared in the cage. Her shoulders slumped with exhaustion. I have to do it again. "God, I have to hurry."

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Gohan turned toward the window in the air and was just in time to catch Videl when she fell. "Videl, can you hear me? Gohan dropped down to one knee and tried to bring her around. "Come on, I want to hear your excuse for standing me up this afternoon." Gohan's smile was brittle. "Wake up and tell me to go to Hell."

Piccolo kept staring. The wrongness hadn't dissipated with Rinback's death. It was stronger if anything.

Videl's eyes opened and she pulled away from Gohan for a moment. "What happened?"

"Some guy kidnapped you, but you're safe now," Gohan said. He hugged her tight. "I could have lost you. I'm so sorry this happened." Videl kissed the blood staining Gohan's shirt, Rinback's blood.

Piccolo gasped. Gohan's energy, his very essence was changing. "Gohan she isn't Videl. Get away from her, now!" Piccolo flew at the couple but the fake-Videl held up her hand and cast a shield.

She had to finish the binding before these creatures interfered. She could feel the layers of the spell strengthening locking together, reshaping this creature's perception to follow her will and love her for it.

Piccolo was rebuffed by the shield but only for a moment. Slowly, he began to penetrate the wall of energy.