A/N – some notes follow at the bottom.

Changing Faces

Part 2 – Choices They Make

Chapter 19 – Terrible Secret

Duasha jumped to his feet, bringing the once-again impaled warrior with him. He leaned back then flung his upper body forward. Videl flew from the spikes into a nearby rock wall.

Laughter followed the crash of rock and stone.

"It runs in the family," he quipped.

The cackling once again fell silent to pure astonishment as the rubble pile shifted and a bruised-but-still-alive warrior rose from the rocks. Her right arm lay limp against her body, and a quivering right leg pushed her battered body up from the ground.

"What runs in the family," she gasped as air leaked from the open wound in her back, "Perseverance or tolerance? Because to deal with your kind, it would take so much of both."

His brows furrowed, but an idea followed a short rumbling from the cave.

"I should kill you now, and believe me, I am quite tempted to do that deed. But, you seem to be the proper vessel to carry the information I am about to bestow upon you."

In this cave is the seed we planted the moment the Great Lava Pits were found," at her gasp, he chuckled, "Yes, your sacred grounds. I suppose the internal geography of this planet is not as well known as I had anticipated. The tunnels were aimed in the general direction of the Pits, and once we happened upon them, the seed was cast and the tunnel hidden. All under your pathetically ignorant noses. No one ever bothered to inspect the caverns, so I suppose you may blame yourselves."

"So why are you telling me this? What about this seed?" Videl asked, wiping a blood trail from her mouth.

"The seed is called a dragon seed(*). This special breed of dragon is resistant to heat, such as fire and molten rock. Lava. In fact, it loves high temperatures, so what better place to grow it than the Great Lava Pits of Pandova. It will take nearly two years to hatch, and once it is exposed to certain atmospheric gases, its power will rise and become unstoppable. 

We Ruani are patient creatures, so the neither the bargaining efforts nor the gestation period were problems for us. And, we are great at deceptions," he finished with a sly grin. 

* a/n – no, the dragon seed has no relation to dragon balls or the eternal dragon. It is simply a seed with a real tiny baby dragon inside. See my notes at the bottom.

"You," he pointed a clawed finger at her, "Will be my delivery girl. Tell your queen mother that in three months, your paltry planet will be nothing but a lifeless burned rock, and the universe will tremble at the name Fire Dragon."

Duasha grabbed the head of one of the remaining warriors, "Your mind is released. Return her to wherever it is she calls home."

The young woman's mind resurfaced in a flash and she looked around briefly, remembering, but not quite recollecting the entire events that had just taken place. She avoided Duasha, but rushed to Videl, helping her stand. Using her strength and energy, the warrior gingerly held Videl and lifted off from the ground.

The last thing Videl saw were the gleaming red eyes of the fighter who took her sister's life, killed and stole many of her own, and dishonored her warrior soul by not slaying her.

*end flashback*

For any geography buffs, it's called lava when it hits air, when underground, it is molten rock. Also, the Great Lava Pits of Pandova sounded much better than the Great Molten Rock Pits, or the Great Volcanic Emissions Pits.