Forgotten Guardians
~ Disclaimer: Same as the ones before this chapter.
Chapter 9
Born in hate, raised in greed, fed on sickness; the creature watches from the darkness waiting, watching…
Stand firm seeker or turn back forever! You are upon the wrong road if you cannot face the night.
This is not the end, but merely the beginning of the journey. Stay if you can, stay if you dare…
But this path is only for those who hunger for the truth and knowledge, for others, we have a different message.
Little innocents, come no further. Be ignorant of this, lest you live your life in terror.
- The Twenty-Fifth Companion
Destiny smiled in delight when she saw her gauntlet lying on the floor on the training room. The room itself was very large and had high ceilings. After she used her powers to call it to her she slipped it onto her right hand. When she flexed her fingers the gauntlet changed and extended into a sword with four intricately placed symbols upon the hilt. "What do they mean?" Gohan asked and tapped the blade lightly. "Truth. Honor. Justice. Freedom." Destiny said and touched each of the symbols.
Destiny twisted her wrist and fingers slightly and the gauntlet turned into a seemingly delicate bracelet with a large blue stone as its centerpiece. "How did it do that?!" Gohan asked in surprise and took her hand in his larger ones and studied the bracelet intently. "It's-" Destiny opened her mouth to explain when Gyp interrupted. "Your proximity is too close to one another."
Gohan immediately dropped her hand and backed up while keeping his head down so she wouldn't see him blush. Destiny reacted differently however, after looking at Gohan she let out a snort and looked up towards the ceiling. "Be nice and quit trying to embarrass people Gyp." She scolded and grinned wickedly. "Or I just might have to even up the playing field." She added.
"Yes, Miss Destiny." Gyp answered, sounding very ashamed.
Destiny waited until Gohan looked back up at her and held out her hand again. "Just give as good as you get." She suggested. Gohan grinned despite himself and stepped back up to study the bracelet. "So who did it do that?" He repeated his question. "When it's a gauntlet and you slip it on, you can change it to a blade by flexing your fingers a certain way. To get it to change to a bracelet you have to twist your wrist and fingers. But that's only when you've got time. In a fight I just use my mind to make the change."
"So anyone can use it then?" He asked curiously. "Nope, it… chooses its owner for lack of a better word." She said slowly. "What?!" Gohan exclaimed. "Silvon told me when he first handed me the gauntlet. Anyone can wear it, but to really use it you have to almost belong to it. It's hard to explain, I tried with Shad and he didn't get it either." She said when she saw his slightly irritated expression.
"Is there anything about you Learians that's simple?" He asked.
Destiny looked horrified and shook her head. "Are you kidding? Being simple would be like being perfect."
"Oh really? Why's that?" Gohan teased.
"Because it's too easy and takes all the fun out of life. Not to mention all the stuff you couldn't do." She answered impishly.
"That's a Learian for you." Gyp stated drolly. "Careful Gyp. I'm the only mechanic around here." Destiny said in a mock serious tone. "I'll keep that in mind." The ship answered dryly and Destiny just grinned and turned her attention back to Gohan. Feeling a little uncomfortable about being so close she took a small step back and relaxed again. "Feel like training?" She asked. "Always." Gohan answered.
"Alright, like Shad, you're stronger than me physically so here's what happens." She said and walked over to a set of controls on the wall and pushed a button. A light shimmered for a moment in the middle of the room and then stabilized into a sort of wall that was transparent but rippled with energy. "If you feel like blasting anything without causing this whole ship to shake aim for the wall." Then she pointed to another button that was shaped like a dial. "That's to increase or decrease the pull or gravity." When she increased it a bit the wall shimmered and covered the whole side of the room. "That means you can blast anywhere now." She murmured with a grin and tapped the keypad and the screen lit up with three selections. Training. Music. Opponents.
"Training is basically for letting the computer know you wish to train." She said and touched the word training on the screen. It made a soft sound and a different screen with Music came on and with the words yes and no under it. "If you'd like music press yes if not press no. But if you press yes then you have to type in what you want to listen to with the keypad." Gohan pressed no on the screen. The screen switched to Opponents next. "This is the fun thing. You can create opponents to fight with this, pick ones that are already in the program, or use the ones Shad and I made. But be careful, the power levels, abilities, and power you give them can make them very dangerous even though they're computer generated and not really alive. Or you can press no and not worry at all"
Gohan nodded and looked at her. "You designed all of this?"
Destiny nodded and shrugged a bit sheepishly. "Don't ask me where I get all this from. When you're bored your mind just makes up with stuff. I'm just lucky enough that some of the things I daydream I can make into a reality." She said the last seriously and stepped back. "Well I'll leave you to it, oh and when you're done just say, training over. I have to use the other side of the room." She said and then headed for the wall and actually walked through the thing.
"Destiny! How'd you do that?" Gohan called but apparently his side of the room was soundproof as well.
"Energy, Master Gohan." Gyp answered him. "The wall is made of an energy that comes from an eno crystal from Lear. It will absorb all of your attacks thus making it a safe environment to train in." Gyp added.
"Oh, thanks." Gohan said slowly but silence was his only answer. Well, better get to it. He thought to himself and scanned through the opponents and picked the one that read, 'The It Monster. By Destiny." Gohan grinned at the name and glanced at its readings. It was in the medium range but seemed like a good warm up so he selected it. A dark green blob shimmered at the other side of the room for a moment before the shape changed and became…
"What is that?" Gohan muttered to himself as she stared at the creature. It looked like a cross between a spider, a snake, and a rat. Then it's three eyes focused on him and the thing opened its mouth and hissed. Displaying everyone of it's nice, long, razor sharp teeth right before it charged him. "Oh hell." Gohan muttered before he moved.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Destiny jabbed her sword into the 'Dubbs' as Shad had named it and watched it drop to her feet. "Training over." She called out lightly as the sword switched back to its bracelet form. "Not bad." She said with a yawn and stretched in a lazy cat-like motion and looked over at Gohan curiously. His hair was blonde and his eyes were a bluish kind of color, he also had blood coming from his lip and quite a few bruises were visible on his arms and face. What's he fighting? Destiny wondered and turned off everything on her side of the training room and let the wall extend to cover the whole room.
He's fighting the Kroveen! She thought in amazement and stared and picked up her cloak and put it back on. The gravity is also stronger. She noted but was able to move around freely enough. Kroveens were large reptile like creatures with wings. Both their fangs and claws contained a deadly poison that if not treated with a few hours, could kill. They were also very smart and had a never-ending hunger for blood.
That's when the Kroveen stopped its slow attack on Gohan and whirled around to look at Destiny. It's dark yellow eyes gleaming. Destiny merely raised an eyebrow at the creature before turning to look at Gohan. "It hasn't bitten you or scratched you has it?" She asked. "My back's scratched." He growled at her and his eyes narrowed dangerously at the Kroveen that was sneaking up behind her. "How long?" Destiny asked and narrowed her eyes on him. "Dammit Destiny, I don't know! I'm in the middle of a fight!!" He yelled. "Well excuse me." She answered flippantly and jumped up into the air just as the Kroveen sprung into attack.
Gohan blasted it into oblivion and dropped to his knees. He had thought that his heart was going to stop when he had watched the Kroveen spring and the Destiny had just disappeared only to reappear high above them. His hair changed back to its normal midnight black and his eyes returned to their onyx color. Dimly he heard Destiny say off training.
"Destiny?" He called out softly.
"Yes Gohan?" She answered and landed beside him.
He got up very calmly and turned to face her. "Don't you ever scare me like that again!" He yelled angrily and her mouth fell open in shock as his hands came around her shoulders and shook her lightly. "Do you understand?! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" He added, still yelling.
Well you're the one who needs medical attention! And what are you getting mad at me for? Destiny hissed in mind-speech and narrowed her eyes at him. "Because I thought that thing was fixing to eat you! And what are you in my head for?!" He added the last as an afterthought.
Destiny looked a bit shocked then and closed her eyes for a moment as she calmed herself. "I'm sorry. When I'm angry I sometimes switch to mind speech." She explained. But only with people I'm close too… She added to herself and mentally shook her head and shrugged it off. It was probably because Shad had done the same to her when he was worried about her safety. Except that we usually just yelled at each other until one of us stalked off. She reminded herself and smiled slightly at Gohan who was still scowling at her.
That's when Destiny smelled the stench of the poison in Gohan's blood. "How long have you been fighting with the Kroveen?" She asked worriedly as she sensed the amount in his body. A couple of hours." He answered with a shrug. Destiny groaned aloud and stepped closer to Gohan and pressed her hands lightly against his temples.
"Don't say a word until I'm done." She threatened him and closed her eyes and began to work on getting the poison out of him. That was the dangerous thing about the training room; everything was real even if the opponents weren't truly alive.
Fifteen minutes later Destiny let her arms drop and backed away from Gohan and bent down on one knee and pressed her palm to her forehead to help ease the momentary headache healing always gave her.
Gohan stood there watching her. He had… felt her inside of him somehow. All of his scratches, cuts, and bruises were completely gone now. It was like having been given a sensu bean, except different. "Are you alright?" He asked and knelt down beside her.
No. She answered grumpily in mind-speech.
"You need some water, Miss Destiny." Gyp said.
Leave me alone. Destiny replied tiredly.
"Master Gohan, would you be so kind as to bring Miss Destiny into the galley?"
"Umm. Sure." He answered hesitantly and picked Destiny up in his arms.
Put me down. Do not touch me. This is sexual harassment. Destiny snapped at Gohan the whole way to the galley. Even after he'd placed her in a chair and given her a glass of water.
"Drink." He commanded.
After a glaring contest that lasted about two minutes Destiny dropped her head and gulped down the water.
More please. She said to Gohan.
After five glasses of water Destiny's headache was gone and she was able to talk regularly again.
"Thank you." She said finally and smiled a little tiredly.
Gohan nodded and asked, "What did you do to me?"
"Healed you."
"I got that, but why?"
"Kroveens have a highly toxic poison in their fangs and claws. If that poison had remained in your bloodstream much longer you would have died." She said simply. "And how did you get rid of the poison?" Gohan asked. "Uh, I transferred it to me."
"What! Why?" He yelled.
"Because, unlike you, my blood will eventually neutralize it. But I needed a lot of water till it was done." She explained. What's the big deal? She wanted to ask but if the look on his face was any indication, it would be a death wish of a question.
"And what would have happened if you didn't have the water?" He asked in a very soft voice.
"The same thing, it just would have taken longer and made me sick. No big deal." She answered with a shrug and stood up.
"Miss Destiny?" Gyp interrupted.
"Yes?"
"You may want to come to the control room. We've received the feedback that our sensors took. I believe it's safe to say that you'll be most surprised."
Destiny and Gohan glanced at each other in slight suspicion and puzzlement but they headed out of the galley and back towards the control room. "Oh, Gohan." "Yes Destiny?" He replied. "You really don't have to worry so much. I promise not to die until we're through." She replied very seriously. That's the question, until you're through with what? Gohan thought quietly to himself.
~ Ah, the plot thickens. Sorta anyway. I'm trying to show more of their characters. Most the playful, protective, angry, and whatever else comes up. *grins* Don't worry Eria, I'm not a blabber, I just like to see what people think might happen next. You'd be amazed at how differently people can see things. Oh and the things at the top, they do mean something.
*looks over my shoulder at my friend Hannah who is looking through some pages*
Oh that's for my term paper, no big deal. Oh, feel sorry for us peeps, we start school Thursday. *sighs* Oh the horror.
Anyway, please read and review! Thanks! ~