Author's Note: This would've been up earlier, but voting for class officers at my school were on Monday, and we're STILL waiting for the results!! Argh, I'm so nervous . . . I think the new class officers will be announced tomorrow. I had some serious competition . . .
WARNING: Violence, excessive use of bad words and a pathetic fighting scene near the end, not to mention a cliffhanger.
Nope, DBZ isn't mine. The plot is, though.
II. Dark Passions
*~* Chapter Thirty Three *~*
The Battle for Earth: Stage One
"Come on, come on guys!! Hurry up, I know where she is!!" exclaimed Gohan, tying the sash to his gi around his waist. He'd quickly changed into another on- he was sure that there was to be a battle ahead. Once he was done, dashed out of the bathroom and eyed everyone there- Krillin, Goku, M. Trunks, Vegeta, Piccolo, Shin, Kibito, Pikkon, Tien and even Juuhachi. His army was assembled and looked ready to go.
Gohan rubbed his hands together eagerly, planning to use Instant Transmission to get to Videl. "Okay people, grab hold of me and we'll be there in a flash!"
Krillin eyed Gohan then said, "There isn't enough of your skinny self to go around."
Gohan rolled his eyes. "Just-"
A sudden explosion shook the ground, then screams of terror filled the air. What now?! Gohan raced over to the window and stuck his head out.
Great. JUST great.
Rattai's buddy was outside, blowing up parts of the hotel and the tournament grounds. Gohan leapt out of the window and told the others to rescue as many people as they could while he took care of the leftover.
I DON'T have time for this!! Videl needs me!
*~*
Videl sat on the bed, leaning back against the wall while keeping her hand clutched firmly around the stone in her palm. Her hand was underneath the bed sheet, just in case anyone walked into the room and got suspicious about what she was holding. She frowned, then sighed.
Where were all the big, noisy explosions? Gohan should've been there by now with all of the other fighters, blowing the Saiyan invaders to tiny pieces and rescuing her. But as the minutes passed, there was nothing . . . nothing . . . and more nothing.
Even the great annoying prince himself didn't come in to bother her. Yeah, I bet he's getting ready to drain me dry. What in the world is taking them so long?!
Videl squeezed the rock harder and thought. *~* Gohan!!! Gohan, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!! COME AND GET ME!! *~*
*~* Videl?! I . . . shit!!! *~*
*~* Gohan?! *~* She nearly jumped off of the bed. *~* You . . . you watch your mouth!! You're not allowed to say those words!! Hey, what are you DOING?! *~*
*~* Fighting someone!! Stop talking to me, alright?! You nearly got my head blown off!! *~*
*~* OH!! Sorry. *~* Videl didn't say anything else and waited for Gohan to contact her again. She began whistling, humming, anything to keep her busy.
Suddenly the door opened and Rattai came in. Videl pretended as if he wasn't there and continued humming leisurely under her breath. All the while, though, her heart was racing from fear of getting caught. Videl's hand clenched the stone harder, and she was sure that underneath the blanket, her fingers were turning white.
"Get up," he ordered. "It's time."
She stared blankly at him as if she didn't understand.
Seeing that she was not about to cooperate, he quickly crossed the room and pulled her off of the bed. Videl made a feeble attempt to stuff the rock into her pocket without the movement being seen, but he grabbed her arm the second she moved it. Her heart began to speed up.
"What's this?" he murmured. "Give it to me."
Videl tried yanking her hand away, but only succeeded in hurting herself. The prince sighed and squeezed on her hand. Videl cried out in pain and involuntarily let go of the stone. Oh . . . hell!
He caught it as it slipped out of her hand, then held it up so he could see it better. "A . . . rock? You fought me over a . . . rock?"
"Gohan gave me that rock, and it means a lot to me, so give it back!"
"It's a nice little trinket . . . I think I'll hold on to it for a while . . ." He dropped it into his pocket.
Videl almost screamed in frustration. She could fell the link that had allowed her and Gohan to share thoughts snap, and was unsure if Gohan would be able to find her now.
She allowed Rattai to drag her out of the room, since there was nothing else that she could do against him. He led her down a long, bright hallway. Several Saiyan men standing outside of various guards ogled Videl as they walked past, only to receive the evil eye from Videl and a warning look from the prince. Eventually he stopped her outside of another door. Videl took note of the keypad there (and which buttons Rattai pressed) before the door opened and he shoved her inside. He came in after her, the door sliding shut behind him.
Videl quickly analyzed her surroundings. This room was similar to the other- no window for Videl to escape put of, a big flat screen on the wall, a control panel and a bed in the corner. There, however, was an absence of the bright colors and weird patterns that she'd seen in the other room. "What's going on?" she demanded. "Why did you move me?"
"You must be prepared." Videl was about to speak when he continued. "How good of a fighter are you, darling?"
Videl frowned. "What does that have to do with anything?"
He chuckled and went over to the control panel. "It has everything to do with what's going on."
"Speak plainly, okay?"
"This room has the ability to change it's own internal gravitational pull while leaving the area around it unaffected," he stated.
No big deal, buddy. The place was just another gravity room.
"By increasing the amount of force put on your body," he continued, "you will have to bring forth some of your energy to stay conscious. Once this occurs, I will be able to take the energy from your body." He began to fiddle with the buttons on the machine.
Videl felt the weight on her body increase, but she stayed on her feet.
He raised an eyebrow. "No? Well, then, how about this?" He increased the gravity.
Videl sank to her knees, although she felt relatively unaffected by the added pressure. She didn't want him to keep making the pull stronger until she really felt it. She was putting her meager acting skills to the test.
He studied her for a while, then increased it a little more. Now Videl was having a little trouble breathing and moving, but nothin too bad. She twisted her face around into what she hoped was a look of pain. Rattai seemed satisfied- his hand left the controls.
"I'll be back in a little while. Enjoy." He left.
"Enjoy, my . . ." Videl pushed herself back against the wall and took in deep breaths. What now? She didn't have the stone anymore, and Gohan had probably lost her location.
Out in the hallway, Rattai punched in his secret code, locking the door behind him and then examined the stone. He couldn't find anything suspicious about it, but . . . He turned to the newly stationed guard outside of the gravity chamber and tossed him the stone. "Destroy it."
*~*
Gohan was pissed.
Correction, Gohan was very pissed.
So pissed that he felt like blowing something up, and that wasn't an urge that he got very often.
Videl was gone from his mind, and, along with her, went the location of the ship. He would've racked his brain the moment he felt her disappear, but, unfortunately, he was involved in a heated battle with Rattai's henchman when it had happened.
So when he'd finally decided that he'd had enough of the guy, he finished him off with a swift Kamehameha wave. When the dust and all settled down, he saw that the others were reforming a group not too far away from him. He flew over to them and gave them the news.
"I can't feel her location anymore," he said.
Vegeta looked angry. "What the hell do you mean, boy?"
"I don't have her exact location, and I need that to use IT. The relative area location is still there . . . but that could span over hundreds and hundreds of miles," explained Gohan impatiently. "We're going to have to fly there now, there's no other way."
Goku frowned. It could take a lot of time to get to their destination, and a lot of time they didn't necessarily have. But, if that was the only plan they had, then . . . "Alright, Gohan, let's get moving then. Lead the way."
From not too far away, two little boys watched as the adults took off, powering up and flying away at breakneck speeds. They emerged from the treetop that they were hiding in and looked at each other.
Goten frowned. "We gotta go help, Trunks. It's . . . well, it's sorta our fault that Videl got took! We didn't tell anyone about it."
"They'll bust us up pretty bad if we go, Goten," said Trunks. "We'll get into trouble again . . ."
"So! That never stopped us before. Besides . . . there'll be a fight!" Goten added. "I'm sure of it, and I don't wanna miss the big battle for earth. This'll probably be the only one we'll get to see!"
Trunks did want to see some evil dude get messed up pretty bad . . . by his father in particular, but Gohan would do. Maybe he'd go all berserk and do something awesome. And he didn't want to miss it. "Alright, let's go! But try to lay low, okay?"
"Lay . . . low?"
Trunks rolled his eyes. "Don't attract attention, baka! Come on before they get away!"
"Alright! Battle for earth, here we come!!"
*~*
Videl was exhausted. Not because of the extra force (well, maybe just a little bit), but because it had to be really late at night. After all, she'd left the after party at midnight, then was taken . . . only Kami . . . er, Dende knew how long she'd been in the other room, and she'd been lying on the floor in the gravity room for a little over two hours. She stifled a yawn.
There was no way that she was going to fall asleep, not when the Calvary could arrive at any second.
More like, the Calvary should've been there by now!!!!
She was getting more and more worried, that something had happened to Gohan and the others, or maybe that they had no idea where she was, or both. And she was worried that the door would slide in at any moment and that Rattai would come forth with the next part of his fiendish plan to drain her of her energy.
Well, it wasn't as if she could see if it was light outside, or if anyone was flying in from the horizon. There were no freaking windows!! And she couldn't hear anything from outside because the walls were as thick and impenetrable as Vegeta's ego.
Her head slumped down to her chest. Aww, who am I kidding? I'd LOVE to see Vegeta right now, if it would get me out of this hellhole!!
*~*
Gohan and the others had been flying for hours before his sharp eyes noticed something odd in the distance. At first all he saw was rock, dirt, more rocks and more dirt, but then he noticed something out of place.
A big, green, healthy looking tree growing in the middle of a desert. He stopped in mid air, and the others struggled to keep themselves from colliding into each other.
"What is it, Gohan?" asked Krillin, looking around. "Are we here?"
" . . . I think so. Krillin, you probably can't see it, but there, out there . . ." Gohan pointed, "is a tree. A very nice looking tree. A tree like that doesn't grow out in the desert."
No one seemed to know what to make if it until Vegeta said, "That's no ordinary tree."
Everyone looked at him.
"Many of the more . . . powerful Saiyan ships used a form of greenery to provide it with extra energy that normal fuel could not provide," explained Vegeta.
"So where's the ship?" asked Piccolo.
Gohan didn't like being left all out in the open and flew forward a bit, then went to hide behind a tall mountain of rock. The others followed, lowering their ki too.
Okay . . .where could this ship be? Underground? Maybe . . .
Behind them, the sun began to rise, slowly illuminating the area. Well, it didn't really help, because he still didn't see anything but the damn tree.
Gohan stilled. Something was happening.
Was that . . . a person? Yes, it seemed that a person had just appeared out of thin air and proceeded to walk up to the tree. A Saiyan, Gohan guessed, by the spiky dark hair. He squinted. The guy remained a fair distance from the tree, and appeared to be inspecting it or something. Once the Saiyan was satisfied, he walked back to the space he'd come from, reached out . . . and then vanished.
"What the hell?" muttered Mirai Trunks.
Goku looked confused. "That man just came out of no where!"
Gohan frowned. There HAD to be a logical explanation to everything. The guy couldn't just disappear, unless the Saiyans had developed some advanced cloaking technology . . .
"That's it!" hissed Gohan. "The ship is invisible! He came out and went back in!"
Shin nodded. "Makes sense."
Pikkon edged forward. "Okay, now we're here. What now?"
Vegeta grinned evilly. "An all out assault. We bomb their asses and NO one gets out alive."
Gohan glared at the prince. "I don't . . . wait a minute. That just might work to our advantage . . ."
*~*
Videl's eyes had just fallen shut when a big explosion rocked the ship. She fell over onto her side, her head hitting the floor hard. "Fuck! I'm up now!" she exclaimed, climbing to her feet. "What the hell was that?"
KABOOM!!
Another explosion. She struggled to stay on her feet and ended up hugging the wall for support.
KABOOM!!! KABOOM!!! BAMBAMBAMBAMBAM BOOM!!!!!!!
Videl screamed and fell to the floor as the whole room began to shake. She covered her hands and head with her hands and cowered in a corner. The explosions continued, one after another.
"IF THIS IS THE GOD DAMN FUCKING CALVARY, I'M GOING KICK EVERY LAST ONE OF THEIR ASSES . . . IF I GET OUT ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!"
*~*
"ALRIGHT GUYS!!!" shouted Gohan. "KEEP IT UP!! WE'LL HAVE THIS DONE IN NO TIME!!"
The gang, all spread out, continued blasting away at the general area, trying to make it visible with the debris that was flying up from their attacks, or, if they got lucky, blow the thing that made the ship invisible to pieces. After a few more minutes, Gohan stopped, his breath coming in rapid pants. "STOP!! THAT OUGHT TO DO IT!!"
They all backed off and waited for the smoke to clear. Once it finally did, it was quite obvious that they'd gotten lucky. The ship was now fully visible. The tree, protected by some sort of bubble, sat on a base that extended itself a little from the main part of the ship, a surprisingly small circular chunk of metal.
"Prepare yourselves for battle," said Gohan grimly. "We've got a lot of exterminating to do."
*~*
Videl peeked up from underneath her hands. Was it safe to come out now? She hesitantly got up and looked around. Everything looked to be in order . . .
Now to get out of the room.
The room must've been damaged somehow in the barrage of explosions, because the extra gravity was gone. She immediately rushed over to the controls and began attacking the buttons.
Come on, come on . . . I need to get out!!
*~*
Rattai was quite aware of what was going on outside. In fact, in the lowest level of the ship, he was assembling his forces while watching the enemies on a big screen that hang overhead. He turned to his men and said, "These are your targets. Notice the colors on your clothing. Men of the same color will fight the same enemy, and only the one designated to you unless I say otherwise."
The prince glanced back at the screen. "That one . . . the boy . . . no one touches him. He is mine."
*~*
Gohan's eyes narrowed. In the front of the ship, a gate was being let up, and men came rushing out. They immediately took to the air, heading towards the group.
Gohan caught on quickly as the enemy forces began to separate to fly in different directions. All of the people of the same color were heading towards one of the Z-Fighters, with five or six fighters in each color group. Most of them seemed pretty weak, but being ganged up on was not something easy to deal with alone. "FIRE!!" called Gohan. "GET THEM NOW!!!"
They all shot in different directions, using their strongest ki attacks to blast away the enemies before they reached them. A few managed to get through, but nothing that they couldn't handle. Gohan was just about to go help Krillin fight off two men when something caught his eye.
Rattai was coming out of the gate, dressed in Saiyan armor and ready for battle. Gohan grinned and cracked his knuckles.
This one was his.
*~*
"DAMN!" Videl slammed her hand down on the controls. It seemed that all of the buttons were fried because none of them did anything. She was frustrated, tired, hungry, scared and she wanted Gohan . . .
Videl was about to burst into tears (something totally not like her) when the door slid open. She looked up. A big man came into the room, holding a container with a long, wicked looking needle on the end of it. He gave her a look that sent shivers up and down her spine.
She took control of her emotions and backed up. "What are you doing?"
"We got instructions from the prince to take your energy now," said the guy, advancing on her, "while he's out fighting some punks."
Punks? Gohan and the others are here! Hmm . . . Behind the guy, the door was wide open. I've got an idea . . .
The man quickly grabbed her and spun her around, then stabbed the needle deep into her stomach. Videl cried out in pain, almost blanking out from the intensity of it. She hadn't expected it to be that bad. A bright glowing pink light filled the room and the Saiyan's grasp slipped from surprise.
Doing her best to ignore the pain, Videl took her chance.
*~*
Gohan could hear Videl's scream coming from inside of the ship. He saw red and clenched his fists. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HER?!!" he roared, his ki shooting up.
"Only what is necessary," replied Rattai. "That's not important right now, though. How about we get this fight over with already?"
"Bring it on."
*~*
Videl clinched her teeth together and brought her foot up, placing it directly in the Saiyan's crotch. It had worked before . . .
The man grunted and fell to the floor.
And it would work again.
Videl struggled to take deep breaths and pulled the needle out of her body, the pink light dissolving away. She slumped back against the wall to catch her breath.
But not for long.
The Saiyan was making an attempt to get up again.
Videl swiped up the container and held it by the needle end. She raised it over her head and brought the blunt end down on the man's skull. Again and again until he lay still. She dropped it to the ground and took off, running down the hall.
She stopped to peek around a corner, then dashed down that hall, ducking into an open room when she heard heavy footsteps. Once the coast was clear, she went back out into the hallway.
Either I can run for days and never find an exit or . . . I can create one and get the hell out of here!
She chose the latter.
*~*
"TRUNKS, IT'S STARTING!!! IT'S STARTING!!!" exclaimed Goten as they flew onto the scene. They surveyed the area- the adults seemed to be doing all right, fighting off a few Saiyan warriors. Gohan fighting the prince guy and it looked as if the Big Battle between them had just begun.
"What can we do to help?" wondered Trunks, not wanting to get in the way or cause anymore trouble.
" . . . Videl!! Where is she?"
"She . . . must be in that ship down there. Come on, we gotta get closer if we're gonna bust her out."
The boys circled around the back of the ship before landing on the ground, ducking behind a group of rocks. "Now what?" asked Goten.
As soon as those words left his mouth, one of the spaceship's windows was blown apart. Videl's face peeked through the whole in the ship, then she pulled herself up and squeezed through it. She plopped ungracefully to the ground.
Goten and Trunks came from behind the rocks and ran over to her side.
She got to her feet and stared at them. "What are you two doing here?!"
"We came to save you," announced Goten with pride. "We're going to keep you safe until Gohan kicks this guy's butt!"
"You two shouldn't be here at all! It's too dangerous!!"
An explosion rocked the ground and all three of them fell over. Videl pulled the two little boys closer to her and covered their heads as dust and rocks began to fly up.
"That's Gohan!" Goten cried over the noise. "He's powering up!!"
*~*
Gohan was. He was going up to level two already- he didn't want to draw this fight out any longer than necessary. He felt the power flowing throughout his body, felt himself getting stronger and stronger. When his transformation was complete, Rattai began clapping for him with a comical grin on his face.
"So you can go up to level two. But can you do three?"
Gohan was startled. Even Goku and Vegeta, who'd fought off the last of the Saiyans and were now watching the battle, gasped out of surprise. There was a third level?
"You're lying," growled Gohan.
"Oh, no. I'm so close to three, I can taste it. I'm more powerful than you, boy, more powerful than your other people over there. You'll never win. This planet will be reduced to dust and," he grinned evilly, "the girl will be mine."
Rattai began his accent.
*~*
Videl was tired of all of the explosions and light effects now. She and the boys had been huddled up in the same position for a while now, trying to keep themselves safe from the crazy power ups that had been going on.
That must be Rattai, if the other one was Gohan. This is bad . . . if he's just as strong as, or maybe even stronger than Gohan, we're in trouble.
Things began to settle down and Videl got to her feet. She winced slightly and placed a hand on her stomach where the needle had pierced her skin. "Come on boys. Since we're here, we might as well go see what's going on."
"ALRIGHT!!"
*~*
Rattai attacked. He was fast, almost too fast for Gohan. As they fought back and forth, he found himself outmatched. Rattai was simply stronger than he was. Those years of slaking off were now beginning to show.
On the ground, Videl and the two boys were darting back and forth between piles of rocks, trying to get a better view of the action. Videl froze in place and stood there out in the open, almost crying out when Gohan took a blow to the face, then another and another.
Goten and Trunks, who'd ducked behind some rocks, hissed at her. "Videl!! Get over here!! He'll see you!!"
She didn't listen, didn't hear them. Rattai punched Gohan hard, sending him flying into the ground, then fired a ki blast at him. Videl stared in horror and waited for the smoke to clear. Oh, Gohan, please be okay!! Please!!
When she could finally see, Gohan climbed out of a deep crater and fell to the ground. His face was all bloody and his gi was torn and tattered.
Videl didn't think and rushed forward over to Gohan's side with one hand clutching her stomach. She fell to her knees beside him and wiped the blood from his cheek with the back of her hand. "Gohan . . . open your eyes . . . come on . . ."
"What is she doing?!" demanded Mirai Trunks. "She's sitting in the middle of a damn battlefield!!"
The others looked a little worried too, but Goku just said, "He won't hurt her. She'll be fine, and so will Gohan, as long as she's out there with him."
From the air, Rattai watched as Videl hovered over Gohan, jealousy flaring up in his chest. What in the world did she want with a weakling like him? Hadn't she JUST SEEN the way he'd beaten him so easily? Stupid boy . . .
He frowned. What was wrong with her side? Why was she holding it?
Unless . . . unless she'd been drained of some of her energy. That had to be it.
Her energy could very well help me get to level three. Well, well, well . . . I'm going to humiliate that little boy by pulverizing him . . .
"I have a proposition," he announced loudly, catching everyone's attention. "Come back in six days, and I will fight him again."
Vegeta looked suspicious. "What the fuck? What's the catch?"
"Catch? There is none. You can take the girl, the boy, you all can leave, but you must come back in six days. If you don't show up, then I'll find you. I know where you all live."
Goku didn't like the idea. "N-"
"Fine," said Videl firmly. "We'll be back in six days, and Gohan'll be ready by then, I promise you."
Author's Note: AHHH!!! What is Videl doing?! Sorry about the pathetic fighting scenes, but that's just not my thing . . . or maybe I didn't feel like writing one out. Use your imagination.
ADVERTISING:NEXT CHAPTER: What exactly is Videl up to? Now the Z-Fighters have six days to prepare . . . will Gohan be ready?
