Kakkhan: Giendonese Saiyan Warrior

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball/Z/GT, but I do own Janden, the Laniins, the other races not including Human, the planet Giendon, a few techniques, the unfamiliar languages, and a handful of other things that are my creation alone.

A/n: Welcome to the second-to-last chapter of Kakkhan: Giendonese Saiyan Warrior! I know, isn't it sad? /Sobs/ My baby, almost all finished! /Sobs some more/ Ah, but there'll be the last chapter, the other two fics, and Vigilante Angel to keep me busy! Ahh! /Stops crying/

Allati: Are you okay, SP?

SP: Yeah, it's just a little overwhelming right now.

Allati: Why? You already have the last chapter of this written and about half a chapter of the next fic written as well.

SP: /Shoots one of Kakkhan's Glares of Demise™ at museHisses/ Shh! Do you want my readers to kill me for keeping them in suspense?!?! Jeez! I might lose my job if you keep up with this!

Allati: /Cowers/ Sorry!

SP: /Highly exasperated with museCalls to readers/ Forget what my muse just said, it is entirely untrue and just fabrication. Enjoy this chapter and review! /Turns back to muse, lowers voice/ And it's two and a half chapters I've written, not a half-chapter.

Allati: O.O /Glances at readers/

Blah Laniin, translated
Previously on Kakkhan: Giendonese Saiyan Warrior,

The Paradoxes also decorated their individual rooms with their own personal stuff, one sometimes borrowing something from the other to find a new home in his room. One such incident was when Kakkhan saw Gohan's extensive book collection. He dug out his bookcase and graciously gave it to Gohan, filling the shelves with not only his Giendonese studies but also Gohan's ridiculously advanced Earthling studies as well. This bookcase proudly lined the extra space, which was converted into a personal library with the addition of more bookcases bought to accompany it.

But after it was finished, Kakkhan could no longer hold it off. It was time.

Chapter Twenty-third: The Last Step

The next day, with only two weeks more of the two-month break to go, Kakkhan finally turned his attention to Tyeler. He had already set up the Giendonese things he had there were not in Tyeler, but these were few compared to the majority that Tyeler held. The problem was that Tyeler had to be awakened in order for Kakkhan to retrieve his things, but Kakkhan thought he could solve that.

He got to work, Gohan right beside him. First, he took the capsule apart. He carefully looked through it for the shrunken computer chip that was Tyeler. It would not hurt Tyeler or even interrupt her doze to be removed from the room capsule. Kakkhan hadn't done this before, but he had a good memory for where things went and was confident things would turn out all right. Still, Gohan helped discreetly by taking the chips Kakkhan took out of the capsule and arranging them chronologically so Kakkhan would have no problems putting the capsule back together again.

Finally, Kakkhan removed the final chip before Tyeler. He held it up in midair, admiring it, before he gave it to Gohan. He looked over as he did and did a double take at all the neat rows Gohan had made with all the different chips.

Gohan looked up at Kakkhan inspecting his rows and Grinned™. Kakkhan commented on his twin's display coolly, an attempt to save face.

"Nice arrangement. Tell me, is there any meaning to any of this organized chaos?"

Gohan just kept grinning. He did point out that the last row of chips was the last ones Kakkhan had just taken out, and that "you'll be able to piece together the capsule in much less time than without this 'organized chaos'," Gohan teased. Kakkhan just shrugged the joke off, for Gohan did have a point there. It probably would have taken Kakkhan hours to put everything back together in the same order, if not in all the right places. In this crusade, Gohan was a lifesaver.

Kakkhan allowed Gohan to hear that last thought as his way of thanks. Gohan simply smiled again. He was now wholly comfortable with Kakkhan enough that he could take such compliments from Kakkhan without so much as a blush.

They returned to the task at hand. Kakkhan reached in gently with his tweezers, as he had during the whole process, and gripped Tyeler's chip, the only foreign chip of the capsule. Tyeler was Laniin-made, not Earthling-based, and her identification bands stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the masses of blue, green, yellow, and red. Kakkhan inched the chip out of its secure hold, little by little, this way and that. This was the precise method he had applied to all the other chips, except for the fact that he was a bit firmer in his handling. Laniin technology was stronger physically than Earthling technology, and it held on to its bearings more securely than did Earthling technology. Such was that that Kakkhan had to be firmer with Tyeler's chip than the Earthling chips.

At last, with a yank Kakkhan had not used with the Earthling chips, the Giendonese chip came free. Immediately it glowed as it adjusted to the new environment, new temperature, and most of all, the new lighting.

Laniin technology was infamous for being so sensitive to the solar energy molecules of any star that it could work while not hooked up or with any of its essentials with just that energy. The problem was that starlight was so fired up with energy molecules and so fleeting on Giendon that once a piece of technology was exposed to the starlight, it would not work with anything else. Hookups would not operate it, accessories guaranteed and proven to help the technology operate did not, and the only thing that even got a response from the technology were telepathic bonds to the technology. Sadly, these were lacking outside of the personal artificial intelligence computer every occupant of the Tiara had, so nothing would work, basically, once the addictive starlight energy got a hold of a piece of Laniin technology.

Kakkhan stared at the chip as the dark purple surface lit up with lavender, a neon red unknown to Humans, and dark forest green lights. Gohan stared at it too, fascinated by all of the colors. Whirring sounds erupted from the chip, a sign that the artificial intelligent computer inside the chip was charged up and ready to go. Kakkhan just placed the chip on the table to join the 50 other chips already waiting. The chip continued to glow and whir as Kakkhan meticulously filled in its place with a small slide of cheritin, a hard substance that was used to forge chips. It looked like a chip for an artificial intelligence computer, but it was in truth only a clone of a chip, and empty. It was colored exactly like Tyeler, complete with the information bands, only it was not glowing.

Kakkhan put the Earthling chips back in, thanking the gods for Gohan and his organized chaos. He never would have remembered, even with his good memory, in which order the chips had been taken out. Sure, they eventually would have been in the right places, like a puzzle, but it would have taken Kakkhan hours, maybe even a day at the most. Gohan was again a lifesaver.

This time Gohan did not hear the thought.

Kakkhan placed the last chip into the capsule, put the capsule's inner cap together, and then slid the final outer cap on. He held the completed capsule in his hands, weighing it without Tyeler's weight. It felt just the same to him, even without the loads of information Tyeler contained. Kakkhan sighed. He had, believe it or not, just gone through one of the darkest hours of his life, removing his best friend from the only place he'd ever get to see her again and setting her aside as if she were merely a thorn taken from his side. Lady Fate truly was wicked.

His time of reflection over, Kakkhan clicked the capsule and threw it in the air. It exploded with a small boom and developed into the room Kakkhan had spent the last G16 years of his life in. Gohan stared about in wonder as Kakkhan got straight to work. Kakkhan tried to ignore the place where Tyeler usually was, her green face working as she conversed with Kakkhan. He failed miserably when he was looking for one of his katanas and Tyeler's oh-so-familiar voice did not ring through his head, asking what he was looking for. Kakkhan missed her terribly, but he put on his most unemotional mask and ruthlessly dived into finishing the job.

Gohan watched Kakkhan go through his belongings. There was truly no emotion on his brother's face now as he stacked more and more books into the "take out" pile. Gohan could only imagine what Kakkhan could be feeling right now, in the room of the planet he most loved but had forsaken for what was the right thing to do. Freedom was the most important right a person could have, even the limited kind. The freedom to think, say, do as one pleased was as natural a right to a person, no matter what race that person was, and was so unalienable that to take that right away was a crime of the worst nature available to the Universe. No matter if opinions were not heard or cared about. As long as someone was allowed to dream and do things of their own will, not actions foisted upon them by beliefs and lectures not their own, they were free.

However, the Laniins had done just that to Kakkhan. They had made him grow up in a society that was not his own, thus taking away his freedom, and were even now attempting to do that still. But Kakkhan had seen in time what the Laniins were doing, and had gotten out of the way. Gohan was not sure what both he and Kakkhan would be in terms of character, personality, etc, if Kakkhan had not stopped and questioned himself and his beloved society. They wouldn't ever find out either, unless by some cruel twist of Fate they did. Gohan would not put it by the mischievous Lady Fate at all.

He looked around again at the various stages of decoration Kakkhan had in his room. He wandered over to a painting of an old-style Japanese bridge with the usual Daoist-resembling brush style. A woman dressed in the dress of ancient Japanese noblewomen was in the middle of walking over the bridge, her head bent just so that her long black hair hid most of her face, except for her nose, mouth, and part of her eyes. An aura of tranquility and grace surrounded the woman, making Gohan feel peaceful himself. Just before Gohan overanalyzed the painting, he felt Kakkhan come and stand by him.

"It'sbeen titledThe Lady of the Bridge. After a long and difficult day at Giendon, all I had to do was look at that painting and I'd almost immediately calm down. It's funny how paintings, only made of rice paper and oil, can convey so much feeling, especially one of such a simple subject," Kakkhan murmured, his voice a whisper, as if they were in a museum. Gohan just nodded mutely. They surveyed the painting together for a few minutes, then Kakkhan turned away. Gohan continued to look, however, and finally deduced that, even with her peacefulness, and her grace, the lady seemed sad, almost, if not already, lonely.

It was then that Gohan decided to take the painting with them. It would be a little too heartbreaking to see The Lady of the Bridge go back to Giendon. Gohan's heart was already cracking at the idea. So while Kakkhan was filing the katana he'd found for the outside, Gohan discreetly took down the painting. He looked for the door and slipped out of it, knowing Kakkhan knew he'd gone away. Gohan just hoped Kakkhan wouldn't be mad. Or disappointed. Or even sad. That would be the worst of all.

Kakkhan pocketed the second of two capsules he'd taken along for his Giendonese things. He looked around for the last time, and frowned. Something seemed to be missing; something that should have been there, but wasn't.

At last Kakkhan simply shrugged. It didn't matter. Kakkhan picked up a glass sculpture he was particularly attached to, cast a final look around, and then left his room for the last time.

He was actually going to miss that room.

More hours went by. Kakkhan redecorated his room, his office loft, and also applied his eclectic taste to mesh with Gohan's simplistic style. It was actually very artsy, the Paradoxes mused when it was all finished. You just had to get over the shock of seeing a luxurious display of weapons in one room and a rapidly filling library in the next, say. The Paradoxes merely shared smirks at the thought.

Now as Kakkhan bypassed Gohan's room to put away several Giendonese things, he realized what had been missing from the Giendonese room earlier. He paused in the hallway, staring at the painting. There was something different about the lady, but not anything drastic. She was still walking, her face was still semi-hidden by her hair, but...

Kakkhan realized that she no longer seemed sad. Now she just exuded loneliness, but with more than a tinge of resignation added, tying in with the serenity and grace themes of the painting. Kakkhan didn't know just why The Lady of the Bridge had changed emotions; the woman had always seemed sad to him, even as she hand hung in Kakkhan's room. Serra had acquired it for him at the age of G12, not all that long ago. It was only two Earthling years, but to Kakkhan it seemed like it had been hanging up on his wall forever. In that forever, Kakkhan had never seen the lady not look sad. This concept threw a new light upon The Lady of the Bridge and evoked some new feelings as well as the old.

Still looking at The Lady of the Bridge, Kakkhan said to Gohan, "I don't know what you did, Gohan, but it's a definite improvement over when it was in my room."

Gohan swiveled around to look at Kakkhan. He was relieved to see no anger or sadness on Kakkhan's face, but instead wonder. Gohan answered softly, "I didn't do anything but hang her. It's almost as if it's the Lady herself isn't sad anymore. She did it all." He stretched, suddenly mindful of his thirst and hunger. "I'm going to get something to eat. Want anything?"

"Nah. I'll come get my food when I'm hungry," Kakkhan replied. In fact, he was hungry now, but he reminded himself that he was always hungry.

"You're just saying that so you won't have to fight me over the food," Gohan teased.

Kakkhan chuckled. "You know me well, Gohan. Now go before I do decide to fight you over the food." Gohan left in a scramble of black hair and purple gi, leaving Kakkhan in the doorway of his room. Kakkhan took a final look at the Lady before he muttered incoherently, "It is the Lady, Gohan" and moved on to his own room. The lady in the painting seemed to smile, her black hair seeming to move back a bit to reveal the smile. However, the illusion soon faded back into the original scene and the unnatural phenomenon passed.

No one saw.

Kakkhan was busy concentrating on setting his Giendonese clock to Earthling time when a voice invaded his head and almost made him jump out of his skin. He restrained himself and instead turned his head to see Gohan at his shoulder, a concerned look on his face.

'Are you okay, Kakkhan? I called you four times and even knocked, but you didn't respond. Just—are you okay?' Gohan repeated, still speaking in Kakkhan's mind.

Kakkhan just looked at Gohan, communicating clearly that he was not fine. Taking Tyeler out of the capsule and retrieving his things from his room had rattled Kakkhan badly. He had not yet recovered, and he could tell his day wasn't going to be much better. Gohan could see that conclusion ingrained in Kakkhan's eyes as well.

'Kakkhan, get some rest. Take a walk. Do something. But don't do anything related to Giendon. You can do that when you're feeling better,' Gohan said telepathically.

Kakkhan shook his head no. 'I can't. I have to finish this.'

'Why?'

Gohan's question stopped Kakkhan completely in his tracks. It was only a second, but that was all it took for Gohan. He leaned past Kakkhan and gently, but firmly, took the clock out of Kakkhan's hands. He set it on Kakkhan's desk. He faced a surprised Kakkhan with his hands on his hips and pointed to the bed in the far corner.

'Bed. Now.' Gohan ordered.

Kakkhan nodded mockingly, a small smirk on his face. 'You remind me of Tyeler when you do that,' he commented sarcastically as he got up.

Gohan just pushed Kakkhan in the direction of the bed again. "Good. I'll be your Earthling Tyeler." This statement was said out loud and sounded loud in the silence.

Kakkhan looked around and shook his head. 'We need music or some other noise-making machine in this place. It's too quiet,' he declared. He finally climbed into bed and pulled the covers over his head, slipping into the darkness of his mind as he did so.

Gohan studied the body-shaped lump in Kakkhan's bed with its dark red sheets drawn up securely over its head. It had been a shock to realize that Kakkhan was shaken. Gohan was already used to the concept that Kakkhan was strong and invincible, and he'd known him for barely six, seven weeks. It felt like he'd known Kakkhan all his life, and Kakkhan had known Gohan for all of his lifetime. It was in the way they conversed with each other, acted in each other's presence, and the way they always seemed to know what the other one was thinking. It was as if they'd grown up with each other, they were that close.

Gohan shook his head. This was still all so very weird. Nevertheless, Gohan preferred it this way. He wouldn't trade this arrangement for anything else, no matter how good that anything else may seem. Casting a final look at his twin, he left the room, leaving Kakkhan to meditate himself to sleep.

A/n: ...

Okie-doke, that's over with! On to the sneak preview, since I have nothing else to do! (Rhyme!)

SNEAK PREVIEW OF: Breaking Ties

Gohan, when he stepped into the house of 351 Marguerite's Hope St, immediately stopped, and held his breath. He listened for signs of life in the big empty building, from the squeak of a mouse to the snore of an elephant, or a Saiyan. Gohan heard none of these things, not even the hum of the refrigerator. Nothing made a sound in this house, not even Gohan as he moved through it.

REVIEW RESPONSES:

Just as a safety precaution against some people who can't make up their minds (coughFF(dot)NET!coughcough), I've decided not to address individual reviews, but instead general questions that need/are begging to be answered. I'm not going to answer all of them, though....

1) I am NOT ever going to stop writing this fic. Be assured, this trilogy will be finished, eventually. It may be three years from now that the trilogy will be finished, but it WILL be finished. OK?!

2) What will the Paradoxes do next? Well, I don't know! I haven't written that yet! I have only a half a chapter (two and a half, but who's counting here?) of the next fic written! I have no plot to follow yet! Sheesh! Which reminds me, got any ideas? :D

3) Now, I have a question for you. What makes anyone think that Gohan will be doing anymore Time travling with Kakkhan? We know that Kakkhan will be doing the Time traveling, but that same information does not apply to Gohan...

And finally... 4) THERE ARE ONLY THREE GOHANS IN THIS FIC. I WILL NOT BE WRITING ABOUT ANYMORE. IN THIS FIC OF THE TRILOGY ANYWYAY. SO AMBER, SHUT UP ALREADY ABOUT THAT ISSUE OF YOURS!!!! And you lose the bet, it's only about a thousand books. :D

Thanks to supersaiyaman (4x?), SS2 Megami-sama (2x), crazy-lil-nae-nae, DBZ Chick1, andsimba-rulz for their excellent reviews! Domo arigatou from the bottom of my heart!

Well, that chapter wasn't very long. Oh well. Expect more action next chapter. There'll be plenty of it then. So consider this chapter as the calm before the storm, the time of preparation before the week of exams. No, we're not having exams yet, but we're getting there at my school... Yecch.

You know, I was considering not including a sneak preview for the last chapter, but Allati had the presence of mind to negotiate with me on that. So you'll just have to find out where I put my evil mind to work later in the trilogy. Heheheheheh...

On to the last chapter! /Wails/

Later dudes!

TheShadowPanther and Allati, from AASN

AASN; Writing is what we do for you at AASN. Enjoy.