Legacy of Chaos

Chapter 10

A/N: The next chapter contains a lot of references to Egyptian monuments. Any Egyptians should take note not to get offended, pissed off, or angry about what I write. After all, it's just fiction, not to be taken seriously. Thanks.

Dende swiftly made his way out of the grand palace on Kami's Lookout to greet the guests he sensed coming. Once their feet touched the ground, the young Namek bowed deeply in the presence of not just one, but two Supreme Gods. This was truly an honour. But he didn't have time to pay his respect. The situation he had been informed about by Sukoshin had alarmed him, no doubt. But he saw a million solutions to the problem. Obviously, none would be good enough because if they were, Sukoshin would have said so by now. So in a rare situation like this, he had to get straight to business and live up to his title as Guardian of Earth.

"Welcome," Dende addressed politely. "It is of great nobility to meet you, Sukoshin. And Kaioshin, I have not seen you in a while."

"Dende," Sukoshin regarded him and Piccolo with a courteous nod. "Thank you for your help so far. Have you been able to locate the statue?"

"Yes," the guardian replied. "It's in the country of Egypt. When it was found around 4000 years ago, the ancients believed it to be a symbol of a god. But since then, it's been…eh…remodelled." Sukoshin's brow rose involuntarily.

"What do you mean?" Dende put his hand behind his head.

"Well…"

*~*~*~*

"What the HELL?!" Doom shrieked. "They've desecrated the Grand Sister's statue! Those damn humans!" Doom and Peril had gone to the Orin Temples to make sure everything was in order, but what they had found had disgusted them to no ends.

The surrounding area had been turned into something the humans called "The Giza Plateau." Basically, a tourist attraction. The Temples were swarmed with hundreds of insect humans, crawling on top, inside, and all around the three temples. They had given them to three ancient kings, and labelled the Main Temple: The Great Pyramid.

But that wasn't the worst.

The loin-shaped statue, containing Apocolypse's life-force, had been violated. Instead of it resembling a pure lion, it now had a human face carved in on its head. Doom was about to go loco and destroyed the human-infested hell hole called Earth. They were lucky that this just happened to be the planet where Apocolypse was, or else it would have been gone by now.

"I can't believe their nerve!" Peril growled, infuriated. "What, they just found a statue, lying around, and decided to carve in someone else's head?! Have they no respect for other's belongings?!" Doom shook her head as the wandering around the 'Great Pyramid'. Peril glared at each passer-by while they entered the Temple and looked around the main hall.

There was a baby in particular that was annoying both sisters, because of its insufferable crying. Doom had to ask herself how any human could say they loved those things. They had to be the most unintelligent creatures on the face of the planet. All they did, as a mode of communication, was wail. Even more primitive animals, like cats, had some form of body language or growls to communicate with their mothers. Well over 8/10 of human mothers didn't and never will know what their baby's crying means. Half the time, they're guessing. But Doom and Peril could understand what they baby in the main hall was thinking. They could, after all, read minds. After the baby's mother ignored the child's wailing for about 15 minutes, Peril could take no more.

"For Chaos' sake, woman!" she screamed. "Don't you even know what your own child wants?!" The mother stared at Peril in bewilderment. "He wants food! Okay?! Give him his goddamn bottle!" Doom shook her head, annoyed, and dragged Peril off.

"Could we please try to keep a low profile?" she hissed to Peril.

"That ungrateful mother wasn't even listening to her child. I read her mind; she was thinking that her baby was loud and obnoxious. The baby's thoughts were broadcasting, loud and clear: I want milk! You'd think his crying would be a dead give away!" Doom hushed her sister and changed the subject.

"The Book of the Morning Star specifically referrers to a maze of passages," Doom whispered to her sister. "Where's the maze? All I see is a straight hall to the Chamber of Power."

"I'll check with Crisis," Peril replied, as she flipped open a palm-pilot and contacted her big sister. "Crisis, you there?"

"Yeah, hear ya loud and clear," the green-haired sister answered. "Go ahead."

"Get the Book of the Morning Star. We need to know about the mazes. There are none here." There were sounds of shuffling before Crisis replied.

"Found it," she announced. "There's a spell here that were have to chant to activate 'the Maze defence'. A bunch of misleading corridors are supposed to appear and the main hall is masked. The reason they aren't up yet is because if they were, we wouldn't be able to get through. There are traps located along each random corridor. The spell is to be used inside the Chamber of Power once the hostess is prepared. Got it?"

"Right," Peril said before snapping the communicator shut. "You heard, Doom?"

"Yes." Doom followed the main hall to the top where they entered the Chamber of Power, dubbed the 'King's Chamber' by the locals. Peril still couldn't believe that they thought a dead guy had been buried in the Temples of Orin.

Doom traced her fingers along the wall until she found a square hole. She crouched down and examined it. It looked big enough to fit an elemental cube. Behind Doom, Peril was also examining the wall opposite of Doom's. She, too, found a square hole, leading somewhere.

"What's this shaft for?" she asked.

"The hostess's essence is to be place there," Doom explained. "Down stairs in the Preparing Chamber, we're supposed to put father and mother's essence into similar shafts. The Book says something about an energy produced from their life essence that's required in Apocolypse."

"Gotcha," Peril said with a smile. After thoroughly examining each pyramid to ensure nothing else had been tampered with, they headed back to home base.

*~*~*~*

Gohan walked aimlessly through the woods where Sukoshin and the others had left him hours ago. He was still thinking and mostly moping about the recent lose. At least everything made sense now, and Gohan did hate it when nothing made sense.

Everything had been planned all along.

He thought he was just being paranoid, but they really were trying to break apart his friendship with Videl. Those lying, manipulative, bitches! He would never forgive them. They'd better hope that there's someway to bring the real Videl back.

'The whole thing was planned out carefully,' he thought bitterly. 'They're the ones who gave the GGS club my address. After all, how else could those crazy girls have found me? And the sisters were in the office a bunch of times, so they had the opportunity to get the files with my address. Then that means they're the ones who started that rumour about me and Videl. They were trying to get Videl to hate me even then. And no thanks to that GGS club, I lost a lot of sleep, so I lashed out. Then the party. Since they're telepathic, they probably read my mind about having to walk Videl home and had Pearl lure me away from the party, convincing Videl I ditched her. That stupid kiss…Pearl must've tricked me somehow. She probably went back to that party and told everyone what happened. And Videl found out why I ditched her…' Gohan swallowed hard as he stopped to lean on a tree. 'And she's so paranoid that she must've thought if she walked home with me instead of Pearl, I would've tried the same thing on her.' Gohan clenched his eyes and banged his head on the tree.

Perfect…Just brilliant…

'I just love a well-thought out plan," Gohan thought sarcastically.

*~*~*~*

"I don't under why we can't go and blow up the damn temple!" Vegeta barked. "Bye-bye temple, no resurrection, end of story."

"Actually, the story wouldn't quite end there," Sukoshin retorted. "It'd go more like this. Bye-bye temple, no resurrection, the Earth goes bye-bye too, and we're all killed. End of story." Goku and Vegeta stared at her with shocked.

"What do you mean?" the younger Saiya-jin asked.

"I mean if we destroy the temples, that sets off a chain-reaction of explosions in the Earth's core. The followers of Armageddon weren't as stupid as you guys think! They ridged it to take out this very planet, should something happen to the whole building. Chikyuu will be destroyed along with the temples, and I didn't come all the way here so I could be killed by a petty explosion. If you're going to help me, you need to follow my instructions to the letter. Understood?" The two Saiya-jins nodded, yes, including Vegeta, who was in no mood to put a fight. "Good. I do have some sort of plan. It will take accuracy and patience, but I think we can pull it off." She paused and waited. Goku and Vegeta leaned foreword somewhat, waiting for her to continue, but she did not.

"Well come on!" Vegeta yelled. "Out with it!" Just as he said that, Gohan made his appearance and landed beside Sukoshin.

"That's who I was waiting for," the soft-spoken god said. "Gohan, have you had time to think things through?"

"Yes," Gohan replied reluctantly. Sukoshin hesitated with her next statement.

"Gohan, if necessary, will you do what you need to if things get out of hand?"

Gohan, staring at his feet, replied, "Yes." Sukoshin's eyes momentarily became clouded with sadness.

"I know this must be very hard for you," she whispered. "But I'll do everything in my power to keep things from escalating that far." He nodded, emotionlessly. Goku looked back and forth from his son to Sukoshin.

"Uh…" he mumbled. "What are you guys talking about?" Neither answered. Kaioshin sighed.

"They're talking about Videl," the short god whispered. "Sukoshin is saying that if we come close to running out of time before resolving this problem, she wants to know if Gohan is willing to…kill the hostess." Goku yipped.

"But the hostess is Videl!" he yelled a little too loud. Everyone's head shot in his direction while Gohan winced slightly. Goku bashfully covered his mouth.

"Gomen nasai," he mumbled. Everyone turned their attention back to Sukoshin.

"Now then, here's what I have planned," she began. "Since there's nothing really to be done about the temples themselves, we do have one more option. The followers of Armageddon designed the temples and wrote a detailed book called the Book of the Morning Star cross-examining every action that must take place. North Kai and East Kai were able to acquire another version of this book from a follower whom had passed away and was caught by Enma-sama. It says in the book that the hostess is supposed to placed on a specific pedestal, and the three elemental cubes are to be placed inside a shaft, located in the east wall of all three pyramids. They referrer to the rooms in which this occurs as 'the Chamber of Power'. What we need to do is destroy the shafts and pedestal so they can't align the cubes or the hostess correctly."

"That sounds like it might work," said Kaioshin. "So why don't we do that right now?" Sukoshin hesitated.

"Well, here's where the tricky part comes in," she explained. "In order for this to work properly, we'd have to wait until a few hours or less before the summoning happens." Everyone fell over from shock.

"Are you serious?!" Gohan yelled. "That's cutting it kinda close, isn't it? I mean, what if we screw up or something? There won't be enough time to fix the mistake!"

"That's what I'm counting for!" Sukoshin snapped. "Not for us to run out of time, but for them to run out of time. See, if we destroyed the pedestal now, they find out sooner or later and simply repair it. They do have the Book of the Morning Star after all, and it says where it is located. At least this way, if we destroyed it with seconds until the Equinox, they wouldn't have enough time to repair it and there goes their chance to revive Apocolypse for another 2500 years. By this time, we can deal with the Armageddon sisters and turn Videl back to normal."

"We can do that?" Gohan asked. "Turn her back, I mean."

"Of course! It says somewhere in the Book that her loved ones and a golden light can extinguish the darkness plaguing her soul. I haven't figured out what the golden light is yet, but I know who her loved ones are." Sukoshin turned to Dende. "Dende-sama, with your permission, may I teleport a human to your lookout?" Dende gave a shocked look.

"Why not?' he replied kindly. "After all, you should even bother asking me. You're higher in the chain of command." Sukoshin smiled and closed her eyes, concentrating on something. Her body began to radiate with a blue light and she began to fade away.

Moments later, she returned from wherever, but not alone. Holding onto her arm was Mr. Satan himself.

"Not him!" Vegeta wined. "C'mon!"

"Vegeta, please…" Sukoshin muttered, silencing him. "He's important to this plan to revive the real Videl."

"That's right!" Mr. Satan remarked. "I want Videl back as much as anyone else, most likely more! Those Armageddon Sisters have got another thing coming to them if they think they can kidnap my little girl! I'll just scare them with my martial arts and kick them-"

"Mr. Satan, you're not helping any," Sukoshin uttered, a hand on her forehead. "Anyway, I've informed him of everything and our plan. Despite the fact that he had lied to the entire world, people everywhere trust him and they trust his judgement. If things get too serious, we'll need him to evacuate the people of Cairo and they'll only listen to his voice. Another reason why we need him is because he is among the list of people who are loved ones to Videl. Every key player must attend this event."

"Who are the other loved ones?" Goku asked. Sukoshin gave a mischievous grin.

"Well, Videl is a bit fond of you and your wife. She thinks of her as a second mother. And Goten would be like the little brother she never had." The Kai turned away, still smiling as if she knew a big secret no one else knew. "And…she's also very fond of Gohan." Gohan gasped.

"Me?" he questioned.

"Of course…" Sukoshin shrugged, showing that she was not going to say anymore on the subject. "Now then. Is everything clear?" Everyone nodded. "Good. Go back to your daily routines. Act as if everything is fine, but let your family and friends of what is planned. Vegeta, your wife might be of some use. She is skilled with the mechanics, is she not?" Vegeta nodded. "Good. And Goku, we'll be needing your wife and second son for the loved ones plan. Gohan, I want you to make no mention of this plan to anyone. Let Vegeta and your father take care of informing everyone. If you're near the Armageddon sisters and they try to read your mind, they might pick up on the plan. The more people you tell, the more fresh in your memory banks it'll be and easier for the sisters to pick up on. Understood?"

"Perfectly, clear," Gohan said with a determined face. "But what if by some off chance they do release Apocolypse? Would there be any chance of stopping her? Couldn't you just seal her up again?"

"I'm afraid not. Not even if I used the last of my energy and sacrificed myself to seal her up, it wouldn't be enough. I haven't recovered yet."

"I see. So we better not screw up, huh?" Gohan chuckled. Sukoshin grinned.

"You can go ahead and screw up if you want. I'll just get on your case while we're in the after world."

*~*~*~*

Goku and Gohan returned home much later. The first thing they were met by was a lecture by Chi-chi. She was calmer than usually, which surprised the two older Son boys. After the lecture was over, Goku asked Gohan to go study while he explained the details of Sukoshin's plan to Chi-chi.

Gohan found himself feeling very useless at the moment because he wasn't allowed to tell anyone about the plan or anything. He decided to sit back and read a book or something.

Just as he pulled out an old favourite of his, the phone rang. Knowing his parents were busy at the moment discussing strategy, he picked up the phone.

"Moshi, moshi," he greeted.

"Gohan, is that you?" asked a female voice. "It's Erasa. Where were you? You didn't come back after the casino thing!"

"I…got sidetracked," Gohan answered carefully. "Oh, how'd the talk with Videl go at lunch?"

"We never even found her! She was gone! And after lunch, I usually have math with her, but she wasn't there. But then again, neither were those stupid Armagen girls. I swear, something about them just gets me so angry!"

"I thought you like them at first."

"Not anymore! No one steals my best friend and gets away with it!" Gohan chuckled on his end of the line.

"Dedication," he stated. "And loyalty. That's probably why Videl's so…fond of you…" He trailed off.

"Gohan? Gohan! You there?"

"Uh, yeah, still here. Anyway, I gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow!" He quickly hung up. "I need to talk to Sukoshin-sama again," he said to himself. "More people to add to her list of loved ones."

*~*~*~*

Erasa huffed as she was hung up on. 'He's probably busy, that's all.' It made perfect sense. A smart guy like Gohan didn't have time to be chatting on the phone when he had studying and work to do. She checked her watch and decided, since it was just after 6:00, she'd pay those Armagen girls a visit. She was finally gonna give them a piece of her mind, even if people said there wasn't much to give. Erasa was a very bright girl and not as stupid as her classmate took her for. After all, how else could she have gotten into a great school like Orange Star High? Certainly not dumb luck, pardon the pun.

She slipped on her shoes and stormed out the door of her house, chucking a capsule out and getting a motorbike from the minor explosion. Hopping on and putting on her sleek helmet, she revved the motor once to get it going and sped off towards the house which just that Saturday had held a grand party, probably the best she had been to. But despite the amount of fun she had, it still ended horribly. Poor Gohan, framed for something any clear-minded person would know he would never try. Drinking and making out? Nope. Not his thing.

She knew better. She knew Pearl had lied.

Erasa slowed down when she reached the road which the Armagens' house was supposed to be located, only…it wasn't there. There was a small, indent of where the spacious house had once been, but no sign of the actual house itself. It was as if the mansion had picked up its foundation and just walked away.

Erasa got off her bike and walked through the empty lot. No signs of a basement ever being here, no electrical fixings, no pipes, no nothing.

Not a trace!

The house didn't move. It was like it was never there to begin with.

Erasa shook her head, confused. 'I know it was here! This is where the party was just last Saturday! I'm not losing my mind!' She hopped back onto her bike and drove off, still thinking about the missing house. 'I need to tell Gohan. If there was ever an expert on weird phenomenons, he's the man.'

*~*~*~*