Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Z.
Response to Reviews:
To Ice Angel:
I'm glad you like, to be honest, I'm not even sure how I come up with all the ideas sometimes. Other than that I bow down humbly to your praise.
To Jer:
Don't worry, his princeliness is explained, though he is technically still a prince of the Ox-kingdom you were right when you thought I wasn't refering to that. Anyway I'm glad you like it.
To vsd2oc:
Wow, if you keep going like that you'll run out of adjectives. This Zeldan invasion isn't looking for THE three specifically yet but they are in danger of course. Other than that I find myself forced to bow down humbly again.
To Lord-RawnBlade:
Glad you like it, thanks for the review.
To Crystal Lily:
The whole prince thing is explained in this chapter, the prophecy hopefully in chapter 5 or 6.
Dawn Of The Third Era
Chapter Four: Battle
Gohan walked up to the others as the whispers of the rest of the school died down. Some people actually tried to step back as he made his way past. The entire image he was portraying seemingly making them want to clear the way, even though it was already clear.
"Impressive outfit Gohan." Krillin remarked. "And an impressive response from the population."
Gohan laughed slightly. "You think THIS is impressive, I can remember the one time I made the mistake of strolling into the largest mall in the capital on Yardrat in full uniform. Literally everybody started pointing, then muttering and then bowing. But the really strange part was when some kids came up and asked me to sign the boxes of their Prince Gohan action figures."
"I think you mentioned those once before." Krillin said thoughtfully.
"I might have, it's just weird to be an action figure."
Sosumi smiled, he knew it wasn't actually his place, but he and Gohan had always been on more or less friendly terms, so he couldn't resist jumping in. "He's not just an action figure." He told Krillin. "Last year he was the best selling action figure. Both on Yardrat and in our two colonies. With prince Asron coming in a close second."
"You just had to mention that didn't you?" Gohan muttered under his breath.
Sosumi just grinned slightly and nodded.
"Oh well, let's inspect the troops, now that I've gotten all dressed up anyway."
"Very well my lord." Sosumi said, immediately falling back into his role as a soldier.
The colonel then walked over to his men to stand next to the still perfectly aligned battalion. Expanding the first of its five rows from ten to eleven men wide.
Gohan then slowly walked up to the Yardrat. Starting near Sosumi, who he saluted by bringing two closed fists together in front of him. Sosumi responded by falling into the one knee salute again, but got back up when Gohan again brought his hands together with a loud smack.
The colonel then left formation to walk behind and slightly to the right of Gohan as he continued his way along the first line. Inspecting the soldiers before turning and walking in between the first and second line, inspecting the second, and so on past the third and fourth, until finally the fifth line had been inspected.
The two men then slowly walked up to the front of the group and Sosumi smiled as he heard Gohan mutter, "I hate speeches" under his breath. The young demi-Saiyan's hatred for speeches however did not mean that he couldn't give a decent one, in Yardrat of course.
"What's he saying?" Videl asked Krillin as Gohan started to speak.
"I'm not sure." The short man replied. "I'm not that good at Yardrat, Gohan's the one that's good with languages anyway. But I think it's something about the men of the seventh battalion. Well that makes sense this is the seventh battalion. And now he's saying something about thanking them, and I think something about a war ...ago, I guess long ago. Ah yes this one I know 'Only death without honour is defeat and a worthy cause brings honour', it's a bit shorter in Yardrat but that's what it translates as, it's their motto before battle."
Videl nodded a bit dumbly. "You say Gohan is good with languages how many does he speak?" She asked.
"I'm not sure." Krillin replied. "Most Earth languages, and then there's, Namek, Yardrat, Kerlon, Saiyan, though that's virtually a dead language, and he understands Trint, but doesn't speak it well, then again who can blame him, the entire Trint language is sung, and the note at which a syllable is sung and it's precise length down to the quarter second can alter the meaning of a word or sentence. Anyway, he speaks Galactic standard and the old Cold-empire standard, the latter because a lot off our enemies still use it, the former because 90% of all space-farers speak it, and he speaks Dolxin and Zeldan, two enemy languages. He probably speaks more than that, but I don't know about all of them."
Videl faintly nodded. The way the list had just come out startled her, as if it was the most natural thing in the world for people to speak a handful of alien languages.
In the mean time Gohan had finished his speech, and the seventh battalion had finished cheering so he walked over to his friends again.
"Hey guys." He greeted, trying to sound casual.
"Hey Gohan." Twister replied. "What's with the crown?"
"Yardrat military code, all members of the royal family are required to wear their crown when in uniform."
"Okay, next question." Thaw jumped in. "How did you get to be a member of their royal family, I thought you said you were half Human and half Saiyan, but I didn't hear you mention Yardrat."
"True, I'm not a member of the Royal family by birth. But there is a Yardrat custom known as the brother-oath. When I met crown prince Asron, almost 5 years ago now, he and I went through several adventures together and in the end we took the oath. I'd saved his life, so according to the customs of the Royal family his sister was to be offered to me in marriage, or he himself should I prefer. The only way out of the clause is the brother-oath, the oath-takers become brothers and also take on each others families, so his parents are now my parents, just as much as my parents are my parents, just like his sister is now my sister, which means I can't marry her because that would be incest. I could have turned down the offer of course, but that would be rather insulting. Mind you his sister was just 2 years old at the time, she's about Goten's age, I think they might have a little crush on each other."
"But isn't Goten her brother as well?" Thaw asked again.
"No, the two oath-takers take on each others family and are taken on by each others family, but the families do not completely mix. But never the less it does make me the son of the King, and therefore the second prince of the Yardrat Empire."
"So if the King and the Crown prince die you would be leader of an alien empire?" Videl wanted to know.
"In theory yes." Gohan answered. "But I already decided as soon as the oath had been taken that if she were to survive I would abdicate immediately in favour of Nasya, my 'sister' and if all three of them were dead, there probably wouldn't be much of an empire left. It's not that big now, just the home world Yardrat and two colonies. The crown symbolises it, Yardrat in the centre, it's four moons, two on either side, the two colonies on the temples and Yardrat's sun high on the forehead."
"Still seems like a lot to me." Videl commented.
"It is one of the larger Empires around." Gohan said. "After the Cold-empire collapsed most inhabited planets started to strife for independence, we helped them. That leaves only the Zeldans and the Dolxins as former Cold-empire powers and they helped us along a bit at first, by destroying a lot of bases on otherwise uninhabited planets as they tried to take control of them away from each other. And of course we've stopped them from gaining any new colonies. So they've both been reduced to their home world and a colony. The Trint-alliance is another of our allies and probably the only larger 'Empire' in this quadrant of the galaxy, with three colonies. But the Trint colonies are semi-independent, though all military matters are taken care of by the home world. Most other policies are free so they don't call it an alliance for nothing."
Videl nodded, feeling a little strange. Somehow the ease with which Gohan discussed galactic politics just didn't go with her feelings but then she'd only had confirmation of the existence of aliens yesterday.
Now that a short pause had fallen in their conversation one of their teachers, mrs. Williams, walked up somewhat wearily while the other teachers and students edged closer to try and listen in on the conversation.
"Gohan? Could you explain what is going on here?" She asked, sounding partly scared and partly hopeful.
"Of course." Gohan answered politely. "The blue green guys that showed up earlier were Zeldans, they're an alien race bend on conquest and they kind of hate my guts, as well as most of my friends' guts.
Must be something to do with that fact that we've stopped every invasion they attempted for the last 6 years, but I digress. Anyway it looks like they got it into their heads to try and attack us at home. Stupid move if ever there was one, but they aren't known for being the brightest race in the galaxy. At present we've had the first wave of their attack, but we're expecting more." He paused and turned to Sosumi asking "How many did the 99th say again?"
"Two battleships and approximately thirty pods, your lordship." The Colonel replied.
"We've had roughly fifteen pods I think." Gohan said thoughtfully. "So that's another fifteen of them coming in pods and fifty soldiers per battle ship, a little over a hundred more to deal with.
Anyway," he continued, turning back to the teacher fully, "that's the main thing going on right now. In case you're wondering about this other group of aliens, they are the Yardrat imperial guard's seventh battalion, and their here to help."
"That we are." Sosumi stated. "My men and I are under strict orders from prince Asron to aid lord Gohan any way we can."
Gohan sighed a little inwardly, he really didn't need the term lord to be thrown around too much right now. In the end it would lead to more questions.
"Hey!" Sharpner yelled from his place among the other students. "Why don't you guys get Hercule to help with the defence? If these aliens are strong wouldn't he be the best man for the job?"
At this comment Krillin doubled over in silent laughter and Videl, Twister and Thaw looked amused while Sosumi looked at Gohan questioningly.
"Let me into your mind for a second Sosumi." Gohan said.
The Colonel nodded and the Gohan formed a telepathic link with him, quickly explaining the whole Hercule issue. The Cell-games were already well known on planet Yardrat, much of Gohan's past was.
By the end of Gohan's short explanation Sosumi felt like doubling over in silent laughter himself, but his sense of duty as an officer prevented him from doing so.
Gohan then turned to Videl, a thought had struck him, but he wanted to know what she thought about the matter before he put his newly formed plan into action.
Quickly he whispered something in her ear and she grinned and nodded in response. He turned to Sosumi again and whispered with him as well, before placing a hand on the colonel's left shoulder.
"Grab hold." He told Videl.
She grabbed his left arm rather confused and Sosumi brought two fingers of his right hand to his forehead. In the next instant the three of them disappeared, leaving a stunned group staring into thin air.
"What... happened?" Twister asked Krillin.
"Instant transmission." Krillin replied. "It's a Yardrat technique, take you anywhere you want to go in an instant, as well as anyone touching you. Gohan hasn't had time to learn it yet, so he had Sosumi do it."
Twister nodded. "So where did they go?"
"I honestly don't know." Krillin replied. "From what I can sense they're not too far away but I can't quite pinpoint where they are."
Videl was startled, as the world around her seemed to fade for a moment, she hadn't expected that. Then the world reappeared but they weren't on the fields behind the school anymore they were in her father's mansion, on the third floor, where her father was sitting in a chair.
"Hi dad." She managed to get out, trying to process what had happened.
"Videl what are you doing here?" Hercule asked.
"I..." Videl started but he interrupted her.
"Well it doesn't matter honey your safe here."
'Oh brother.' Videl thought.
Gohan whispered in her ear and she nodded.
"Daddy could you just come over here and say 'Hi' to my friends?" She asked sweetly.
"Of course." Hercule said, walking towards the group in the dimly lit room and for the first time taking a good look at Gohan and Sosumi. "A- Alien!" He yelled as he noticed the Yardrat's ears and other unusual features.
Gohan just grabbed hold of Hercule as Sosumi put a hand on his back and Videl did as well. Then Sosumi brought two fingers to his face again and took them back where they'd started.
"Hey look everybody, it's Hercule!" Sharpner yelled as the group of four appeared.
Krillin looked like he was going to double over again, but a look from Gohan stopped him.
"Uhm, yeah it's me and..." Hercule was lost for words, but was fortunately spared for the time being as Gohan's communicator beeped.
"Star here, what's up?" The young demi-Saiyan answered the communicator.
"Good news first or bad news first?" Bulma asked.
"Any order will do. I'm not in the mood for games." Gohan replied.
"Very well. I suppose I would be stressed to if I were you. Anyway, the good news is that we've finally got the sensor grids up again."
"Alright, and the bad news."
"The scout probes are still working as well and it looks like we've got two battleships and about fifteen more pods incoming. We can track them when they get to Earth, but it's going to be a tough one."
"I'm afraid so, I'd already heard those numbers though."
"How?"
"Yardrat seventh battalion ITed in, their military intelligence had the same news."
"I suppose it helps to have friends in high places in alien empires."
"It does, anyway, tell the others to stay where they are. Krillin's here now, but I'll send him east, they could use some more power there. The Yardrat and I will hold the fort here. Tell everybody to stay sharp. THE three are with me but should things get too hot I'll send them to Yardrat via IT, they should be safe there, at least for a while."
"Alright, I'll get word to the others, good luck, to Krillin as well."
"Thanks, talk to you later."
Krillin looked over to Gohan as the younger man clicked of his communicator.
"Are you sure you don't need me to stay, you know they'll be aiming for the highest power concentration on approach."
"I'll be fine, don't worry. I have the Yardrat for back up, but while they'll send both battle ships here without a doubt I have a feeling the pods will disperse upon entering the atmosphere, so I need you to back up the others in the east, that's easily the weakest point."
"Alright, take care bro."
"You too. Say 'Hi' to the others for me."
"Will do bro. Just come out of this with you and the three alive okay, you know the prophecy."
"I know Krillin, just get going."
"Alright, I'll contact you through the communicator if there's anything else."
"Okay. Bye."
"Bye."
A silence fell at Orange Star High after Krillin left. Gohan was following his friend's progress as well as checking everybody's Ki was where he wanted it to be and going over the plans in his head and most of the others assembled were too stunned to speak. The Yardrat were an exception to that rule of course but as soldiers it was not their place to speak while on duty unless it was needed.
In the end Sharpner was the one to break the silence.
"So mister Satan, what's your plan for the battle?"
"What battle?" The clue-less 'hero' asked.
"With the aliens!" Sharpner yelled.
"These aliens?" Hercule asked, looking at the Yardrat.
"No, the other aliens." Sharpner who actually seemed to have grasped some of it explained.
"Uhm... well... eh... I..." Hercule sputtered trying to come up with a plan, not so much for the battle as to get out of here.
"Look there!" Erasa suddenly yelled, startling everyone and directing their attention to the sky above the forest up ahead where the streaks of fire atmospheric entry caused were visible.
Gohan's Super-Saiyan Vision immediately discerned what was coming.
"Looks like both battle-ships and five pods as an escort." He told Sosumi.
"Pretty much standard for the Zeldans." The Colonel commented.
"Yup, that means the other ten pods have probably dispersed all over, hopefully aiming for the four other groups. Where they'll get a warm welcome."
"Yes, but I'm wondering why are they taking so long to get down here."
"Seems like these pods are travelling at exactly the same speed as the battle ships, let's just hope they don't try to land on any buildings."
"What do we do if they do?"
"Don't worry I'll throw a Ki-shield when it's needed, but I'd probably have to go to level three to make it work on this scale."
Sosumi nodded. And then yelled several orders in Yardrat. Causing the battalion of fifty to break up into ten battle groups of five and spread out.
"Tell your man to fight where and when they can, but if they get overwhelmed get out of there." Gohan said. "I'll take care of it then."
"We are soldiers. We do not fear death." Sosumi answered.
"Perhaps not. But your lives may be needed later. I am almost certain they will be. Though you should hopefully be able to stand your ground in fights with equal numbers. I'll try to draw the other fifty. Keep a guard of at least one battle-group near the three at all time."
"As you wish my lord." Sosumi said before issuing the appropriate orders.
In the mean time Gohan powered up. Surprisingly, his crown stayed on his head even as he transformed into level 2. Behind him Hercule squealed and seemed to mutter something that included the term Cell-games, but Gohan didn't pay any attention to him.
After he'd stabilised in level 2 Gohan took to the air, rushing forward to come to a halt above the edge of the woods. As he'd hoped the manoeuvring thrusters on the enemy ships fired as they slightly changed course to stay headed for his location. Their scanners picking up his Ki as their target.
As Gohan had hoped his move caused the alien ships to land in the forest in front of him. As they opened he heard Sosumi's voice shouting in Yardrat, ordering the first three battle groups to form a line near the edge of the forest. That gave Gohan some room to play with. Three battle groups of five Yardrat fighters each should be enough to take care of any stray Zeldans that might escape, and if a large group tried to break out he could always take care of it himself.
Videl, Twister and Thaw could feel the eyes of two Yardrat battle groups on them as they themselves tried to watch the fighting from where they were standing. It wasn't too easy as Gohan was at least 200 yards away from them, fighting in and above the forest, and even the Zeldan defence line was a good 100 yards removed from them.
To ad to their troubles watching Gohan seemed to disappear and reappear somewhere else in an instant some times, moving to fast for their eyes to see.
"What's happening?" Videl asked, not really having anyone in particular in mind as she let out the question.
"They're fighting." Sosumi who was standing nearby answered. "So far lord Gohan has killed 42 of the Zeldans while six have been picked up by our defence line as they were trying to break out. I'll have to get to the third group on the line though, with some reinforcements. They've taken four of the outbreaks and it looks like one of the men is wounded." Suddenly he barked a few orders in Yardrat and five men joined him as he left Videl and the others, heading for the group in question.
Not a minute later he reappeared.
"I thought I'd keep you updated." He stated. "This is not yet the time to lead from the front anyway. I need to be back here for a tactical overview, though I doubt our services will be needed much during the rest of this battle. Lord Gohan has already taken out 64 Zeldans."
A few moments later Gohan suddenly appeared near them as well.
"That's that last of them." He told Sosumi. "I'll contact the others to see if they're okay. Do you have any injured?"
"One of my men has two broken bones, other than that a couple of scrapes and bruises, but the new training is paying off, had we faced them a year ago we would have done far worse against the Zeldans."
"Good, I'm glad to know it's effective." Gohan said. "Now give your wounded man this." He pulled out a senzu bean. "It should completely heal him."
Videl wanted to ask something but found that before she could Gohan already had his communicator out.
"Star to Whiz, what's the screen showing? Any high Kis that shouldn't be here?"
"Whiz here, that's a negative Star, the only thing out of the ordinary are 51 high readings close to you but I assume those belong to the Yardrat."
"Hai. Now since I've been fighting in uniform this all falls under Yardrat military code. That means that as the ranking officer I have to go see the king in a little while to ask permission for the battle, even though it's already been fought, but before I do, where would you like me to send the ships that are here?"
"Good question. You've got what? Two battleships and 5 pods there?"
"Yeah. And a dozen pods from the first attack wave."
"All right, send them to storage planet three."
"Good, I'll input the coordinates and set the autopilots. Tell the others to send whatever pods are in their areas there as well."
"Okay, if anything this has been a good day for our spare parts supply."
"Yeah, talk to you later, contact the others and see if they have any wounded. If so send them to Dende's. I'll be in touch, I have to do some thinking about where to go from here."
"Okay, later."
"Later."
Gohan went about the business of sending off the ships quite unceremoniously. After briefly excusing himself from his friends he went into one of the two battleships and programmed in the coordinates for the target planet. Then he made it connect to the other battleship and the nearby pods to give out the same orders before putting it, and the other ships with it on a 30 seconds delayed take off program and getting out of there, rejoining the others just in time to see the ships leave the atmosphere.
"Where are they going?" Videl asked.
"Storage planet three." Gohan replied.
"I heard that already, but what does it mean?" Videl asked.
"Without going into too many technicalities, Z-squad is a fully sovereign organisation, and we have several uninhabited planets under our control, some, mostly those with climates that while inhospitable can still support human life, we use to store supplies, and captured enemy ships. Because we can't be bothered to name them all we usually just use numbered designations, SP or storage planet 1, SP 2 etc. we currently have 4 storage planets. And 10 unmanned observation posts."
"Gohan if you don't mind my asking, what exactly is your position in Z-squad?" Twister, who was listening along with Thaw, wanted to know. "You seem to be the youngest there, but the others seem to take orders from you."
"Well I am the youngest member, and yes the others do take orders from me. Technically we're a democracy, which means they re-elect me every three years. Because quite simply, I'm the strongest, and therefore the only one that can keep everyone in line and I can guarantee you that some of the people I work with need to be kept in line every once in a while. But Sosumi and I really have to go now, we'll be back in a while."
His friends nodded and Gohan flew off, followed closely by Sosumi.
As he flew Gohan took some time to get into the right mindset. He would be playing at least four parts in the upcoming conversation. First of all he would be a soldier, a general of the Yardrat Imperial Guard. But he would also be a prince of the Yardrat Empire, which was similar but different. Next to those two he was also a citizen of Earth, and last but not least the leader of Z-squad and the galactic alliance that Z-squad was just starting to form.
The King had very little real power of course, the local governments held the real power on most fronts, the king only controlled the Royal military, but even that went through the council of representatives elected by local governments.[1] However the king did have great power over public opinion, and more importantly he held the title of world ruler, which meant he was the one Yardrat military code required Gohan to see.
Once they'd arrived at the palace Gohan and Sosumi gave their names to the guard. The poor man had looked like he was going to faint when the calmly flew up to him, and looked even more so when they announced who they were.
He walked inside where they could hear him talking to someone there and then someone else came out, looking rather pale as he guided them into the building and to the throne room. There he stepped inside, rather shakily to announce them and apparently his nerves hadn't influenced his voice because Gohan and Sosumi could hear him loud and clear outside the door.
"Your Majesty. Introducing Colonel Sosumi, leader of the seventh battalion of the Yardrat Imperial Guard and Lord Gohan, Prince of the Yardrat Empire, General of the Imperial Guard and Leader of Z-squad."
The door was opened and the two of them walked in, Gohan falling into the one knee salute a few yards from the throne as Sosumi stood behind him.
"Your Majesty." He said, his eyes fixed firmly at the ground as was customary. "I am Lord Gohan and I would like to introduce to you my companion, Colonel Sosumi, head of the Imperial Guard's seventh battalion."
"Please rise Lord Gohan." The king responded. "I have many questions, so I do apologise if I violate any of your customs but I would like to ask them."
Gohan got up again. "Do not concern yourself with customs your majesty. Please ask what you will. Though before this meeting is done I must ask something of you as well."
"Very well. Ask me when you feel the time is right. For now I would be grateful if you could explain who you are and why you are here on Earth."
"Of course." Gohan replied. "For me that answer is simple, I was born here on Earth and consider myself an Earthling, even though technically I'm only half Human and half Saiyan.
Now explaining why Sosumi is here is somewhat trickier. That story starts years ago, while I was out in space. Why I was there is not important now, but I ended up saving the life of Prince Asron, the crown prince of the Yardrat Empire. According to Yardrat customs that meant his sister was to be offered to me in marriage, but at the time I was only 13 and she was only 2 of our years old. Not a marriage I desired. The only way out of it that wouldn't be an insult was the brother oath, which I took with Asron. This made me his brother, but also gave me the part of his brother in the family, making me the second prince of the Yardrat Empire, and more importantly making it impossible for me to marry his sister Nasya as she was now my sister as well.
Now to get back to the present. I'm sure your majesty has heard of the battle that took place in Satan city as well as several other skirmishes world wide." The king nodded and Gohan went on. "Those were battles between an organisation I represent, known as Z-squad, and an Alien race known as Zeldans. The Yardrat's intelligence service found out about this planned assault and so Colonel Sosumi and the seventh battalion were send here to aid us, or more precisely to aid me."
"I see." The king replied. "I must say I'm not all together surprised by the existence of Aliens. I still remember an incident a dozen or so years ago where two of them landed on Earth. But all of that is shrouded in mystery, at least for me, perhaps you might be able to shed some more light on that subject as well." He looked at Gohan with a piercing stare making the demi-Saiyan feel as though he was being looked through rather than at.
Slowly, contemplating what he would say he nodded before proceeding to explain just a little of that event and some other things, but the big shock came later. When the King brought up the Cell-games.
"Perhaps this question my surprise you." The monarch stated. "But I want to know, do you know what really happened at the Cell-games? I may not be a fighter myself but I've seen enough in my day to know that Hercule's story has to be completely made up."
Gohan again found himself slowly nodding before he briefly explained the truth of the matter.
The rest of the discussion touched on a wide range of issues, most of them to do with galactic politics and in the end Gohan left knowing the King would do anything in his power to bring Earth into the alliance should there ever be a need to do so.
It took a while for those left at OSH to shake of their dazed state after Gohan and Sosumi flew off. The only thing breaking the silence was Hercule occasionally muttering things like: "Just like the Cell-games." "So much stronger than me." Or "Shouldn't have lied."
After about fifteen minutes of this situation Sharpner broke the silence.
"What do you mean mr. Satan?" He asked as Hercule just finished a 'shouldn't have lied'.
"I, eh, well, uh, I mean uhm..." Hercule sputtered.
"Yes what do you mean by that?" Mister Smythe the history teacher asked.
"Well I uh," Hercule continued to sputter in vain before suddenly figuring out a way out. "I have to go, I have to go home to see if there are more aliens coming." And with that the 'champ' was off running like there was no tomorrow.
The group just fell into silence again until Gohan and Sosumi suddenly reappeared, having used IT to get back.
"Alright." Gohan said to Sosumi. "That went well."
"Yes." The Colonel agreed. "Now shall my men and I go back to Yardrat or does your lordship have any further use for us?"
"Send back your men. But stay yourself." Gohan said. "I may need you to get there myself."
"Very well my lord." Sosumi replied before shouting a few orders in Yardrat.
"Alright." Gohan said as the Yardrat troops ITed out of there. "Now let's see if there's any news." He took out his communicator. "Star to all units, repeat Star to all units, come in please."
"Whiz, signing in."
"Prince, standing by."
"Disc, 'sup bro."
"Guard, standing by."
"Bandit, read you loud and clear."
"Ma Jr., standing by."
"18, standing by."
"Emperor, ready to receive."
"439-base, standing by, are you okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine." Gohan replied, smiling a little at the concern in his mother's voice. "Everybody else get through okay as well?" He asked.
"Yeah, I did an inventory like you asked." Bulma replied. "No injuries to speak of, couple of bruises maybe."
"Okay, now I've been doing some thinking everybody."
"Yes?"
"I think I'll be going to Yardrat for a while, with the three. I need access to their ancient texts because of a ritual I may have to perform."
Videl, Twister and Thaw who had walked up to Gohan gasped at the last statement, he was actually considering taking them to an other planet, and treating the whole thing like it wasn't any more special than a vacation abroad.
Gohan chuckled slightly before continuing. "Has anybody got anything I need to do before I go?"
"Not really, but you do need to inform your friends' parents." Chi-Chi said. "After all I wouldn't like it if you just went without telling me."
"Yes mom. Anybody else got anything?"
A silence followed.
"Guess not." Gohan said. "Okay then, we'll keep in touch through the hyper-speed channels."
A chorus of 'okay's and 'later's followed and the line went dead.
"All right you three." Gohan said, turning to his friends. "We need to explain to your parents, though in your father's case Videl, that may be a lost cause. Also all three of you keep in mind that in the end we're not asking permission, this is going to happen, even if your parents don't like it, we're just letting them know."
End of Chapter Four
[1] I have no idea of the governmental structure of the Dragon Ball world, so I made something up. The King (blue cat person we see during the Cell-games) rules the whole world, but has little real power. Beneath him are the local governments they operate on the same level as countries in our world, and beneath them are the local sub-governments who see to the day to day running of things at the low level.
Please Review.
Response to Reviews:
To Ice Angel:
I'm glad you like, to be honest, I'm not even sure how I come up with all the ideas sometimes. Other than that I bow down humbly to your praise.
To Jer:
Don't worry, his princeliness is explained, though he is technically still a prince of the Ox-kingdom you were right when you thought I wasn't refering to that. Anyway I'm glad you like it.
To vsd2oc:
Wow, if you keep going like that you'll run out of adjectives. This Zeldan invasion isn't looking for THE three specifically yet but they are in danger of course. Other than that I find myself forced to bow down humbly again.
To Lord-RawnBlade:
Glad you like it, thanks for the review.
To Crystal Lily:
The whole prince thing is explained in this chapter, the prophecy hopefully in chapter 5 or 6.
Dawn Of The Third Era
Chapter Four: Battle
Gohan walked up to the others as the whispers of the rest of the school died down. Some people actually tried to step back as he made his way past. The entire image he was portraying seemingly making them want to clear the way, even though it was already clear.
"Impressive outfit Gohan." Krillin remarked. "And an impressive response from the population."
Gohan laughed slightly. "You think THIS is impressive, I can remember the one time I made the mistake of strolling into the largest mall in the capital on Yardrat in full uniform. Literally everybody started pointing, then muttering and then bowing. But the really strange part was when some kids came up and asked me to sign the boxes of their Prince Gohan action figures."
"I think you mentioned those once before." Krillin said thoughtfully.
"I might have, it's just weird to be an action figure."
Sosumi smiled, he knew it wasn't actually his place, but he and Gohan had always been on more or less friendly terms, so he couldn't resist jumping in. "He's not just an action figure." He told Krillin. "Last year he was the best selling action figure. Both on Yardrat and in our two colonies. With prince Asron coming in a close second."
"You just had to mention that didn't you?" Gohan muttered under his breath.
Sosumi just grinned slightly and nodded.
"Oh well, let's inspect the troops, now that I've gotten all dressed up anyway."
"Very well my lord." Sosumi said, immediately falling back into his role as a soldier.
The colonel then walked over to his men to stand next to the still perfectly aligned battalion. Expanding the first of its five rows from ten to eleven men wide.
Gohan then slowly walked up to the Yardrat. Starting near Sosumi, who he saluted by bringing two closed fists together in front of him. Sosumi responded by falling into the one knee salute again, but got back up when Gohan again brought his hands together with a loud smack.
The colonel then left formation to walk behind and slightly to the right of Gohan as he continued his way along the first line. Inspecting the soldiers before turning and walking in between the first and second line, inspecting the second, and so on past the third and fourth, until finally the fifth line had been inspected.
The two men then slowly walked up to the front of the group and Sosumi smiled as he heard Gohan mutter, "I hate speeches" under his breath. The young demi-Saiyan's hatred for speeches however did not mean that he couldn't give a decent one, in Yardrat of course.
"What's he saying?" Videl asked Krillin as Gohan started to speak.
"I'm not sure." The short man replied. "I'm not that good at Yardrat, Gohan's the one that's good with languages anyway. But I think it's something about the men of the seventh battalion. Well that makes sense this is the seventh battalion. And now he's saying something about thanking them, and I think something about a war ...ago, I guess long ago. Ah yes this one I know 'Only death without honour is defeat and a worthy cause brings honour', it's a bit shorter in Yardrat but that's what it translates as, it's their motto before battle."
Videl nodded a bit dumbly. "You say Gohan is good with languages how many does he speak?" She asked.
"I'm not sure." Krillin replied. "Most Earth languages, and then there's, Namek, Yardrat, Kerlon, Saiyan, though that's virtually a dead language, and he understands Trint, but doesn't speak it well, then again who can blame him, the entire Trint language is sung, and the note at which a syllable is sung and it's precise length down to the quarter second can alter the meaning of a word or sentence. Anyway, he speaks Galactic standard and the old Cold-empire standard, the latter because a lot off our enemies still use it, the former because 90% of all space-farers speak it, and he speaks Dolxin and Zeldan, two enemy languages. He probably speaks more than that, but I don't know about all of them."
Videl faintly nodded. The way the list had just come out startled her, as if it was the most natural thing in the world for people to speak a handful of alien languages.
In the mean time Gohan had finished his speech, and the seventh battalion had finished cheering so he walked over to his friends again.
"Hey guys." He greeted, trying to sound casual.
"Hey Gohan." Twister replied. "What's with the crown?"
"Yardrat military code, all members of the royal family are required to wear their crown when in uniform."
"Okay, next question." Thaw jumped in. "How did you get to be a member of their royal family, I thought you said you were half Human and half Saiyan, but I didn't hear you mention Yardrat."
"True, I'm not a member of the Royal family by birth. But there is a Yardrat custom known as the brother-oath. When I met crown prince Asron, almost 5 years ago now, he and I went through several adventures together and in the end we took the oath. I'd saved his life, so according to the customs of the Royal family his sister was to be offered to me in marriage, or he himself should I prefer. The only way out of the clause is the brother-oath, the oath-takers become brothers and also take on each others families, so his parents are now my parents, just as much as my parents are my parents, just like his sister is now my sister, which means I can't marry her because that would be incest. I could have turned down the offer of course, but that would be rather insulting. Mind you his sister was just 2 years old at the time, she's about Goten's age, I think they might have a little crush on each other."
"But isn't Goten her brother as well?" Thaw asked again.
"No, the two oath-takers take on each others family and are taken on by each others family, but the families do not completely mix. But never the less it does make me the son of the King, and therefore the second prince of the Yardrat Empire."
"So if the King and the Crown prince die you would be leader of an alien empire?" Videl wanted to know.
"In theory yes." Gohan answered. "But I already decided as soon as the oath had been taken that if she were to survive I would abdicate immediately in favour of Nasya, my 'sister' and if all three of them were dead, there probably wouldn't be much of an empire left. It's not that big now, just the home world Yardrat and two colonies. The crown symbolises it, Yardrat in the centre, it's four moons, two on either side, the two colonies on the temples and Yardrat's sun high on the forehead."
"Still seems like a lot to me." Videl commented.
"It is one of the larger Empires around." Gohan said. "After the Cold-empire collapsed most inhabited planets started to strife for independence, we helped them. That leaves only the Zeldans and the Dolxins as former Cold-empire powers and they helped us along a bit at first, by destroying a lot of bases on otherwise uninhabited planets as they tried to take control of them away from each other. And of course we've stopped them from gaining any new colonies. So they've both been reduced to their home world and a colony. The Trint-alliance is another of our allies and probably the only larger 'Empire' in this quadrant of the galaxy, with three colonies. But the Trint colonies are semi-independent, though all military matters are taken care of by the home world. Most other policies are free so they don't call it an alliance for nothing."
Videl nodded, feeling a little strange. Somehow the ease with which Gohan discussed galactic politics just didn't go with her feelings but then she'd only had confirmation of the existence of aliens yesterday.
Now that a short pause had fallen in their conversation one of their teachers, mrs. Williams, walked up somewhat wearily while the other teachers and students edged closer to try and listen in on the conversation.
"Gohan? Could you explain what is going on here?" She asked, sounding partly scared and partly hopeful.
"Of course." Gohan answered politely. "The blue green guys that showed up earlier were Zeldans, they're an alien race bend on conquest and they kind of hate my guts, as well as most of my friends' guts.
Must be something to do with that fact that we've stopped every invasion they attempted for the last 6 years, but I digress. Anyway it looks like they got it into their heads to try and attack us at home. Stupid move if ever there was one, but they aren't known for being the brightest race in the galaxy. At present we've had the first wave of their attack, but we're expecting more." He paused and turned to Sosumi asking "How many did the 99th say again?"
"Two battleships and approximately thirty pods, your lordship." The Colonel replied.
"We've had roughly fifteen pods I think." Gohan said thoughtfully. "So that's another fifteen of them coming in pods and fifty soldiers per battle ship, a little over a hundred more to deal with.
Anyway," he continued, turning back to the teacher fully, "that's the main thing going on right now. In case you're wondering about this other group of aliens, they are the Yardrat imperial guard's seventh battalion, and their here to help."
"That we are." Sosumi stated. "My men and I are under strict orders from prince Asron to aid lord Gohan any way we can."
Gohan sighed a little inwardly, he really didn't need the term lord to be thrown around too much right now. In the end it would lead to more questions.
"Hey!" Sharpner yelled from his place among the other students. "Why don't you guys get Hercule to help with the defence? If these aliens are strong wouldn't he be the best man for the job?"
At this comment Krillin doubled over in silent laughter and Videl, Twister and Thaw looked amused while Sosumi looked at Gohan questioningly.
"Let me into your mind for a second Sosumi." Gohan said.
The Colonel nodded and the Gohan formed a telepathic link with him, quickly explaining the whole Hercule issue. The Cell-games were already well known on planet Yardrat, much of Gohan's past was.
By the end of Gohan's short explanation Sosumi felt like doubling over in silent laughter himself, but his sense of duty as an officer prevented him from doing so.
Gohan then turned to Videl, a thought had struck him, but he wanted to know what she thought about the matter before he put his newly formed plan into action.
Quickly he whispered something in her ear and she grinned and nodded in response. He turned to Sosumi again and whispered with him as well, before placing a hand on the colonel's left shoulder.
"Grab hold." He told Videl.
She grabbed his left arm rather confused and Sosumi brought two fingers of his right hand to his forehead. In the next instant the three of them disappeared, leaving a stunned group staring into thin air.
"What... happened?" Twister asked Krillin.
"Instant transmission." Krillin replied. "It's a Yardrat technique, take you anywhere you want to go in an instant, as well as anyone touching you. Gohan hasn't had time to learn it yet, so he had Sosumi do it."
Twister nodded. "So where did they go?"
"I honestly don't know." Krillin replied. "From what I can sense they're not too far away but I can't quite pinpoint where they are."
Videl was startled, as the world around her seemed to fade for a moment, she hadn't expected that. Then the world reappeared but they weren't on the fields behind the school anymore they were in her father's mansion, on the third floor, where her father was sitting in a chair.
"Hi dad." She managed to get out, trying to process what had happened.
"Videl what are you doing here?" Hercule asked.
"I..." Videl started but he interrupted her.
"Well it doesn't matter honey your safe here."
'Oh brother.' Videl thought.
Gohan whispered in her ear and she nodded.
"Daddy could you just come over here and say 'Hi' to my friends?" She asked sweetly.
"Of course." Hercule said, walking towards the group in the dimly lit room and for the first time taking a good look at Gohan and Sosumi. "A- Alien!" He yelled as he noticed the Yardrat's ears and other unusual features.
Gohan just grabbed hold of Hercule as Sosumi put a hand on his back and Videl did as well. Then Sosumi brought two fingers to his face again and took them back where they'd started.
"Hey look everybody, it's Hercule!" Sharpner yelled as the group of four appeared.
Krillin looked like he was going to double over again, but a look from Gohan stopped him.
"Uhm, yeah it's me and..." Hercule was lost for words, but was fortunately spared for the time being as Gohan's communicator beeped.
"Star here, what's up?" The young demi-Saiyan answered the communicator.
"Good news first or bad news first?" Bulma asked.
"Any order will do. I'm not in the mood for games." Gohan replied.
"Very well. I suppose I would be stressed to if I were you. Anyway, the good news is that we've finally got the sensor grids up again."
"Alright, and the bad news."
"The scout probes are still working as well and it looks like we've got two battleships and about fifteen more pods incoming. We can track them when they get to Earth, but it's going to be a tough one."
"I'm afraid so, I'd already heard those numbers though."
"How?"
"Yardrat seventh battalion ITed in, their military intelligence had the same news."
"I suppose it helps to have friends in high places in alien empires."
"It does, anyway, tell the others to stay where they are. Krillin's here now, but I'll send him east, they could use some more power there. The Yardrat and I will hold the fort here. Tell everybody to stay sharp. THE three are with me but should things get too hot I'll send them to Yardrat via IT, they should be safe there, at least for a while."
"Alright, I'll get word to the others, good luck, to Krillin as well."
"Thanks, talk to you later."
Krillin looked over to Gohan as the younger man clicked of his communicator.
"Are you sure you don't need me to stay, you know they'll be aiming for the highest power concentration on approach."
"I'll be fine, don't worry. I have the Yardrat for back up, but while they'll send both battle ships here without a doubt I have a feeling the pods will disperse upon entering the atmosphere, so I need you to back up the others in the east, that's easily the weakest point."
"Alright, take care bro."
"You too. Say 'Hi' to the others for me."
"Will do bro. Just come out of this with you and the three alive okay, you know the prophecy."
"I know Krillin, just get going."
"Alright, I'll contact you through the communicator if there's anything else."
"Okay. Bye."
"Bye."
A silence fell at Orange Star High after Krillin left. Gohan was following his friend's progress as well as checking everybody's Ki was where he wanted it to be and going over the plans in his head and most of the others assembled were too stunned to speak. The Yardrat were an exception to that rule of course but as soldiers it was not their place to speak while on duty unless it was needed.
In the end Sharpner was the one to break the silence.
"So mister Satan, what's your plan for the battle?"
"What battle?" The clue-less 'hero' asked.
"With the aliens!" Sharpner yelled.
"These aliens?" Hercule asked, looking at the Yardrat.
"No, the other aliens." Sharpner who actually seemed to have grasped some of it explained.
"Uhm... well... eh... I..." Hercule sputtered trying to come up with a plan, not so much for the battle as to get out of here.
"Look there!" Erasa suddenly yelled, startling everyone and directing their attention to the sky above the forest up ahead where the streaks of fire atmospheric entry caused were visible.
Gohan's Super-Saiyan Vision immediately discerned what was coming.
"Looks like both battle-ships and five pods as an escort." He told Sosumi.
"Pretty much standard for the Zeldans." The Colonel commented.
"Yup, that means the other ten pods have probably dispersed all over, hopefully aiming for the four other groups. Where they'll get a warm welcome."
"Yes, but I'm wondering why are they taking so long to get down here."
"Seems like these pods are travelling at exactly the same speed as the battle ships, let's just hope they don't try to land on any buildings."
"What do we do if they do?"
"Don't worry I'll throw a Ki-shield when it's needed, but I'd probably have to go to level three to make it work on this scale."
Sosumi nodded. And then yelled several orders in Yardrat. Causing the battalion of fifty to break up into ten battle groups of five and spread out.
"Tell your man to fight where and when they can, but if they get overwhelmed get out of there." Gohan said. "I'll take care of it then."
"We are soldiers. We do not fear death." Sosumi answered.
"Perhaps not. But your lives may be needed later. I am almost certain they will be. Though you should hopefully be able to stand your ground in fights with equal numbers. I'll try to draw the other fifty. Keep a guard of at least one battle-group near the three at all time."
"As you wish my lord." Sosumi said before issuing the appropriate orders.
In the mean time Gohan powered up. Surprisingly, his crown stayed on his head even as he transformed into level 2. Behind him Hercule squealed and seemed to mutter something that included the term Cell-games, but Gohan didn't pay any attention to him.
After he'd stabilised in level 2 Gohan took to the air, rushing forward to come to a halt above the edge of the woods. As he'd hoped the manoeuvring thrusters on the enemy ships fired as they slightly changed course to stay headed for his location. Their scanners picking up his Ki as their target.
As Gohan had hoped his move caused the alien ships to land in the forest in front of him. As they opened he heard Sosumi's voice shouting in Yardrat, ordering the first three battle groups to form a line near the edge of the forest. That gave Gohan some room to play with. Three battle groups of five Yardrat fighters each should be enough to take care of any stray Zeldans that might escape, and if a large group tried to break out he could always take care of it himself.
Videl, Twister and Thaw could feel the eyes of two Yardrat battle groups on them as they themselves tried to watch the fighting from where they were standing. It wasn't too easy as Gohan was at least 200 yards away from them, fighting in and above the forest, and even the Zeldan defence line was a good 100 yards removed from them.
To ad to their troubles watching Gohan seemed to disappear and reappear somewhere else in an instant some times, moving to fast for their eyes to see.
"What's happening?" Videl asked, not really having anyone in particular in mind as she let out the question.
"They're fighting." Sosumi who was standing nearby answered. "So far lord Gohan has killed 42 of the Zeldans while six have been picked up by our defence line as they were trying to break out. I'll have to get to the third group on the line though, with some reinforcements. They've taken four of the outbreaks and it looks like one of the men is wounded." Suddenly he barked a few orders in Yardrat and five men joined him as he left Videl and the others, heading for the group in question.
Not a minute later he reappeared.
"I thought I'd keep you updated." He stated. "This is not yet the time to lead from the front anyway. I need to be back here for a tactical overview, though I doubt our services will be needed much during the rest of this battle. Lord Gohan has already taken out 64 Zeldans."
A few moments later Gohan suddenly appeared near them as well.
"That's that last of them." He told Sosumi. "I'll contact the others to see if they're okay. Do you have any injured?"
"One of my men has two broken bones, other than that a couple of scrapes and bruises, but the new training is paying off, had we faced them a year ago we would have done far worse against the Zeldans."
"Good, I'm glad to know it's effective." Gohan said. "Now give your wounded man this." He pulled out a senzu bean. "It should completely heal him."
Videl wanted to ask something but found that before she could Gohan already had his communicator out.
"Star to Whiz, what's the screen showing? Any high Kis that shouldn't be here?"
"Whiz here, that's a negative Star, the only thing out of the ordinary are 51 high readings close to you but I assume those belong to the Yardrat."
"Hai. Now since I've been fighting in uniform this all falls under Yardrat military code. That means that as the ranking officer I have to go see the king in a little while to ask permission for the battle, even though it's already been fought, but before I do, where would you like me to send the ships that are here?"
"Good question. You've got what? Two battleships and 5 pods there?"
"Yeah. And a dozen pods from the first attack wave."
"All right, send them to storage planet three."
"Good, I'll input the coordinates and set the autopilots. Tell the others to send whatever pods are in their areas there as well."
"Okay, if anything this has been a good day for our spare parts supply."
"Yeah, talk to you later, contact the others and see if they have any wounded. If so send them to Dende's. I'll be in touch, I have to do some thinking about where to go from here."
"Okay, later."
"Later."
Gohan went about the business of sending off the ships quite unceremoniously. After briefly excusing himself from his friends he went into one of the two battleships and programmed in the coordinates for the target planet. Then he made it connect to the other battleship and the nearby pods to give out the same orders before putting it, and the other ships with it on a 30 seconds delayed take off program and getting out of there, rejoining the others just in time to see the ships leave the atmosphere.
"Where are they going?" Videl asked.
"Storage planet three." Gohan replied.
"I heard that already, but what does it mean?" Videl asked.
"Without going into too many technicalities, Z-squad is a fully sovereign organisation, and we have several uninhabited planets under our control, some, mostly those with climates that while inhospitable can still support human life, we use to store supplies, and captured enemy ships. Because we can't be bothered to name them all we usually just use numbered designations, SP or storage planet 1, SP 2 etc. we currently have 4 storage planets. And 10 unmanned observation posts."
"Gohan if you don't mind my asking, what exactly is your position in Z-squad?" Twister, who was listening along with Thaw, wanted to know. "You seem to be the youngest there, but the others seem to take orders from you."
"Well I am the youngest member, and yes the others do take orders from me. Technically we're a democracy, which means they re-elect me every three years. Because quite simply, I'm the strongest, and therefore the only one that can keep everyone in line and I can guarantee you that some of the people I work with need to be kept in line every once in a while. But Sosumi and I really have to go now, we'll be back in a while."
His friends nodded and Gohan flew off, followed closely by Sosumi.
As he flew Gohan took some time to get into the right mindset. He would be playing at least four parts in the upcoming conversation. First of all he would be a soldier, a general of the Yardrat Imperial Guard. But he would also be a prince of the Yardrat Empire, which was similar but different. Next to those two he was also a citizen of Earth, and last but not least the leader of Z-squad and the galactic alliance that Z-squad was just starting to form.
The King had very little real power of course, the local governments held the real power on most fronts, the king only controlled the Royal military, but even that went through the council of representatives elected by local governments.[1] However the king did have great power over public opinion, and more importantly he held the title of world ruler, which meant he was the one Yardrat military code required Gohan to see.
Once they'd arrived at the palace Gohan and Sosumi gave their names to the guard. The poor man had looked like he was going to faint when the calmly flew up to him, and looked even more so when they announced who they were.
He walked inside where they could hear him talking to someone there and then someone else came out, looking rather pale as he guided them into the building and to the throne room. There he stepped inside, rather shakily to announce them and apparently his nerves hadn't influenced his voice because Gohan and Sosumi could hear him loud and clear outside the door.
"Your Majesty. Introducing Colonel Sosumi, leader of the seventh battalion of the Yardrat Imperial Guard and Lord Gohan, Prince of the Yardrat Empire, General of the Imperial Guard and Leader of Z-squad."
The door was opened and the two of them walked in, Gohan falling into the one knee salute a few yards from the throne as Sosumi stood behind him.
"Your Majesty." He said, his eyes fixed firmly at the ground as was customary. "I am Lord Gohan and I would like to introduce to you my companion, Colonel Sosumi, head of the Imperial Guard's seventh battalion."
"Please rise Lord Gohan." The king responded. "I have many questions, so I do apologise if I violate any of your customs but I would like to ask them."
Gohan got up again. "Do not concern yourself with customs your majesty. Please ask what you will. Though before this meeting is done I must ask something of you as well."
"Very well. Ask me when you feel the time is right. For now I would be grateful if you could explain who you are and why you are here on Earth."
"Of course." Gohan replied. "For me that answer is simple, I was born here on Earth and consider myself an Earthling, even though technically I'm only half Human and half Saiyan.
Now explaining why Sosumi is here is somewhat trickier. That story starts years ago, while I was out in space. Why I was there is not important now, but I ended up saving the life of Prince Asron, the crown prince of the Yardrat Empire. According to Yardrat customs that meant his sister was to be offered to me in marriage, but at the time I was only 13 and she was only 2 of our years old. Not a marriage I desired. The only way out of it that wouldn't be an insult was the brother oath, which I took with Asron. This made me his brother, but also gave me the part of his brother in the family, making me the second prince of the Yardrat Empire, and more importantly making it impossible for me to marry his sister Nasya as she was now my sister as well.
Now to get back to the present. I'm sure your majesty has heard of the battle that took place in Satan city as well as several other skirmishes world wide." The king nodded and Gohan went on. "Those were battles between an organisation I represent, known as Z-squad, and an Alien race known as Zeldans. The Yardrat's intelligence service found out about this planned assault and so Colonel Sosumi and the seventh battalion were send here to aid us, or more precisely to aid me."
"I see." The king replied. "I must say I'm not all together surprised by the existence of Aliens. I still remember an incident a dozen or so years ago where two of them landed on Earth. But all of that is shrouded in mystery, at least for me, perhaps you might be able to shed some more light on that subject as well." He looked at Gohan with a piercing stare making the demi-Saiyan feel as though he was being looked through rather than at.
Slowly, contemplating what he would say he nodded before proceeding to explain just a little of that event and some other things, but the big shock came later. When the King brought up the Cell-games.
"Perhaps this question my surprise you." The monarch stated. "But I want to know, do you know what really happened at the Cell-games? I may not be a fighter myself but I've seen enough in my day to know that Hercule's story has to be completely made up."
Gohan again found himself slowly nodding before he briefly explained the truth of the matter.
The rest of the discussion touched on a wide range of issues, most of them to do with galactic politics and in the end Gohan left knowing the King would do anything in his power to bring Earth into the alliance should there ever be a need to do so.
It took a while for those left at OSH to shake of their dazed state after Gohan and Sosumi flew off. The only thing breaking the silence was Hercule occasionally muttering things like: "Just like the Cell-games." "So much stronger than me." Or "Shouldn't have lied."
After about fifteen minutes of this situation Sharpner broke the silence.
"What do you mean mr. Satan?" He asked as Hercule just finished a 'shouldn't have lied'.
"I, eh, well, uh, I mean uhm..." Hercule sputtered.
"Yes what do you mean by that?" Mister Smythe the history teacher asked.
"Well I uh," Hercule continued to sputter in vain before suddenly figuring out a way out. "I have to go, I have to go home to see if there are more aliens coming." And with that the 'champ' was off running like there was no tomorrow.
The group just fell into silence again until Gohan and Sosumi suddenly reappeared, having used IT to get back.
"Alright." Gohan said to Sosumi. "That went well."
"Yes." The Colonel agreed. "Now shall my men and I go back to Yardrat or does your lordship have any further use for us?"
"Send back your men. But stay yourself." Gohan said. "I may need you to get there myself."
"Very well my lord." Sosumi replied before shouting a few orders in Yardrat.
"Alright." Gohan said as the Yardrat troops ITed out of there. "Now let's see if there's any news." He took out his communicator. "Star to all units, repeat Star to all units, come in please."
"Whiz, signing in."
"Prince, standing by."
"Disc, 'sup bro."
"Guard, standing by."
"Bandit, read you loud and clear."
"Ma Jr., standing by."
"18, standing by."
"Emperor, ready to receive."
"439-base, standing by, are you okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine." Gohan replied, smiling a little at the concern in his mother's voice. "Everybody else get through okay as well?" He asked.
"Yeah, I did an inventory like you asked." Bulma replied. "No injuries to speak of, couple of bruises maybe."
"Okay, now I've been doing some thinking everybody."
"Yes?"
"I think I'll be going to Yardrat for a while, with the three. I need access to their ancient texts because of a ritual I may have to perform."
Videl, Twister and Thaw who had walked up to Gohan gasped at the last statement, he was actually considering taking them to an other planet, and treating the whole thing like it wasn't any more special than a vacation abroad.
Gohan chuckled slightly before continuing. "Has anybody got anything I need to do before I go?"
"Not really, but you do need to inform your friends' parents." Chi-Chi said. "After all I wouldn't like it if you just went without telling me."
"Yes mom. Anybody else got anything?"
A silence followed.
"Guess not." Gohan said. "Okay then, we'll keep in touch through the hyper-speed channels."
A chorus of 'okay's and 'later's followed and the line went dead.
"All right you three." Gohan said, turning to his friends. "We need to explain to your parents, though in your father's case Videl, that may be a lost cause. Also all three of you keep in mind that in the end we're not asking permission, this is going to happen, even if your parents don't like it, we're just letting them know."
End of Chapter Four
[1] I have no idea of the governmental structure of the Dragon Ball world, so I made something up. The King (blue cat person we see during the Cell-games) rules the whole world, but has little real power. Beneath him are the local governments they operate on the same level as countries in our world, and beneath them are the local sub-governments who see to the day to day running of things at the low level.
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