"Yes it was me, and my mate. Father would not approve, he's not Ice-jin, but he's Zarbon's brother, you remember Zarbon right?"

"Yes," Gohan ground out, four lashings to go, he wished the bastard would hurry up,

"Those two were always at odds," three lashes to go, "Too bad the monkey prince killed him off, I might have gone for him in stead," Two lashes, "But then again, who cares as long as I have a mate?" One lash to go, "I guess its time to go, finish up then drop them, they probably won't be able to move, I don't think we need the camera's in here anymore. They've learned their lessons for now, put them in the third corridor where they can be put to use with watching the slaves, they're starting to revolt," the last lash was long and hard and it made Gohan's knees buckle under the pain. The woman left and he saw Videl's form crumple to the ground, his followed. When he heard everyone leave, he grinned faintly and crawled to his knees. He looked up to see shock in people's faces from their chained down positions as he got to a crouching position and picked up the black haired girl.

He half stumbled, half walked toward the closest empty bed he could find and settled her there on the bed on her stomach. He stumbled toward the bathroom and filled a bowl with water and grabbed the medical supplies that were left in a large cloth bag. He had to drag it on the floor because he didn't have the strength to life it, and he had to save his strength for the black haired girl. He removed her shirt and glared at the welts that were red and ugly against her pale cream like skin. Her sports bra was the only besides the black shorts she wore kept her privets still privet. He was glad the welts were on her lower back and not above the bra, or he would have to remove it. He pulled out some ointments and began to rub them gently into the welts on her back, ignoring the stinging sensation as his arms moved. Videl cracked an eye open and looked around, she tried to get up but Gohan forced her back down, albeit painfully.

"Rest, you'll need it," Gohan ordered, he stood up and wrapped bandages around her midsection and put the supplies away. He knew he would heal, but it would take days for that to happen. He walked back toward his own bed, but collapsed onto the floor before he could make it...

Searing pain was the only feeling that Gohan could feel for days. No one came into the room to release them from the beds and the only person whom had come into the room was to chain Videl to a bed, so Gohan was left alone on the floor, bleeding. He winced when he woke up on the cold and hard floor, at least his back was healing. He frowned, he heard someone calling out to him. He moved his arms and turned over onto his back, immediately regretting it as he arched his back in agony and rolled back over onto his stomach.

His breath came out in short gasps as he used the wall and the foot of somebody's bed to lever himself up. Glancing around looked at the concerned faces of the black haired girl Videl and the children, a few of the adults too, but most were out cold. He got to his feet and walked toward the child that had released him form his collar before. She complied readily and soon his collar was off. He broke the chains on the people and they were able to walk around, if their injuries aloud them. Videl told him to lay down and rest, he did so and was out cold before his head hit the pillow.

While he was sleeping, Videl and a few of the others tended his back. It had been many years sense someone had been beaten so badly and even then, the person hadn't survived. Gohan woke up to soft hands massaging ointment into his wounds. He glanced around and found it to be one of the children,

"Thanks," he said softly, turning to bury his head in his soft pillow,

"Your welcome," a soft voice said.

"Your awake, good, drink this," Videl said, "By the way, my names Videl," Gohan turned and found Videl offering him a flask of water, which he downed quickly. Five flasks later he was asleep again. Videl looked at his sleeping form, glad she had made some sort of friend in this place. She moved some of his bangs away from his eyes and smiled faintly, then she heard a small voice call out,

"Nii-chan!" and someone phased next to Gohan's bed, shaking him,

"Hey! Stop that! Can't you see he's hurt! Just who do you think you are kid!" Videl snapped, dragging the boy away. Gohan woke up at the disturbance and looked around. HE spotted Goten and immediately tried to get up,

"No! They can't have you too Goten! Who's protecting mom!" Gohan struggled to get up but only managed to open new wounds,

"Stay down!" Videl growled, she finally had to resort to knocking out Gohan by hitting him on his neck. Goten stayed by Gohan's side the whole night and day, he even nuzzled next to Gohan's sleeping form. After explaining what had happened, Goten went right to sleep.

Gohan, when he came to his senses, his back had mostly healed in the few short days it took, was in shambles. He scolded Goten for coming after him and winced when he figured it was the only thing his brother and friends thought of to do after he had disappeared.

Gohan's thoughts ran wild. How could his family even look at him after what he did to his father? If anything they should leave him to rot. Gohan sat in a corner of the room to think tactics. He had tried the doors, they were Ki proof, he knew he was in space, that meant that Earth was below them, he could see the moon, so they were in the moons orbit. That didn't help a lot,

'How could they even think about rescuing me? I killed dad! They shouldn't even look at me!' Gohan thought, 'I have to get Goten and Videl out of here, real soon. They know I know how to remove the collars without Ki, so they won't try that again...' Gohan's thoughts were cut off as the room began to fill with a thick, gray green fog. People moved quickly to lay on their beds some people even passed out before they reached them. Goten and Videl reached him before they fog touched them.

Something dropped over Videl and Gohan, and Goten beat on the glass the surrounded the two, but the thick fog reached him and his eyes rolled into the back of his head, he passed out. Gohan glared as the bottom of the glass fell out from underneath the two. Gohan grabbed Videl and began to hover in the air, they floated up ward but something was pressing them down. So Gohan dropped to the ground and when he reached it, he found himself in a large, richly furnished room. The woman walked in and saw him holding Videl; she grinned.

"Good, now my plan will be put into action," ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What exactly is the woman's plan?

Tabi Chan