I decided to take a little longer with this part, but don't worry it won't become a habit. Enjoy!
Part 4
By: Christina
"Now Lord Freeza, I see there no reason for you to get upset. Our people have done everything you have asked of us thus far." King Vegeta said with a clenched jaw over to the video phone. Prince Trunks looked over at his fathers' expression to see blind hatred.
"I don't trust you monkey's Vegeta." Freeza responded in the raspy voice he had acquired.
"A treaty was signed Freeza, and if you break it." King Vegeta pushed.
"You'll what Vegeta? Fight me?" He laughed mockingly.
"Don't tempt me." He muttered.
"What was that?" Freeza asked tauntingly.
"Nothing, Lord Freeza." King Vegeta mocked.
"That's better." Freeza said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have better things to do than sit around here and listen to you monkeys babble about your pathetic existence."
"He's up to something." Prince Trunks said securing the disconnection between the two Leaders.
"Like I didn't grasp that concept already." King Vegeta said with his normal sarcasm.
Prince Trunks rolled off his comment. "What are we going to do?" He asked around a cup of Vegetasai's finest wines.
"Assemble the armies to prepare for battle." He yelled to the General.
"Sir, there are only 1,000 men assigned to the next siege." The General informed.
"Then I want you to summon one male from each family." King Vegeta roared impatiently. "Now get out of my site and do your job."
"Why can't we just take them on ourselves? You know just as well as I do that you and I are strong enough to take Freeza on." Prince Trunks said arrogantly.
"Don't be stupid boy, you know how great his power level is compared to ours. And besides, the army will be there to ward off Freeza's little minions, I don't want to have to even bother with them." King Vegeta said with disgust at the thought of having to challenge something with enough power to fight his daughter's dog and lose easily.
"Fine, your decisions not mine. I'm going to go and check up on mother." Prince Trunks informed.
"How is she anyway?" King Vegeta asked, trying to sound as if he were uninterested.
"I'm getting another little brother or sister." Prince Trunks shrugged. A chilled wind and a cold shiver ran down Prince Trunks' back as he realized his father had just run past him and to the medical ward.
"I'm not going to ask." Prince Trunks said as he shook his head and took his time to get to the medical ward himself.
Pan washed the dishes with a daze. Her eyes drew the conclusion that she was no longer herself. Her parents watched as she expertly washed the dishes without even looking at what she did.
"She must have done really well on her exam." Videl whispered to her husband while quizzically looking at their daughter.
"Yeah, no kidding." Gohan replied.
"Mother, Father, I must study for another exam…I'll see you later." Pan said as she made her way to her room. Gohan and Videl sat in a stupor.
The silent, steady air remained that way for a while. That was until drums were being sounded in the distance.
"No." Gohan whispered self consciously. Videl looked on at her husband with fear.
"Come Videl, we must go to the center square." Gohan said as he stood from the table with all his efforts. Videl grabbed his cane and passed it to him as he limped towards the not too distant area.
"What in Kami's name is that?" Pan asked hearing the faint drums being sounded. She looked out her window to see Videl and Gohan drudging to the area with reluctances.
"I'm going to find out even if it's the last thing I do." Pan muttered. She jumped from her window and hopped from roof top to roof top until she reached the area where all were gathering. She looked over the ledge and listened intently to the conversation below.
"Freeza is indeed said to be ready to break the treaty he has with Vegetasai. The King ordered that one man from each family is to fight in the upcoming battle against the Icejins." The tall man upon the horse bellowed out into the crowds.
"No." Videl whimpered. Gohan wanted so much to comfort his wife, but not in front of one of the commanding Coronals. The Saiyajin race was very power-driven, and if Gohan were to show that his wife and family were a weakness, their very lives could be endangered to get what they needed out of Gohan. It was known that the Saiyajins weren't very family oriented.
"Those on the current sieges have been pulled back and have been given new orders, the sieges can wait. For now, we must defend the pride of the people. When I call your name, come forth and receive your conscription noticess."
Videl looked over at Gohan. His face was so stern, and unyielding to any emotions at the moment. She was hoping and praying to Kami that perhaps they have skipped his name in the listing of drafted soldiers.
"Son Gohan." The voice echoed in Videl's head like several ki blasts. (A/N I couldn't say gun shots, it's just not right!)
"No." She whispered again. Gohan gave Videl his cane and stepped forward. He bowed before the commanding officer, and received his official orders to reassemble at the south camp tomorrow morning.
Gohan turned and tried not to show the limp in his tread as he went back to his house.
"Son Goten." A name said in the back.
Videl watched behind her as her Gohan walked back to the house that he built with his own two hands.
"No." Pan whispered with tears threatening to spill from her eyes. Goten had said so himself!
"I don't think he'll be able to use his left leg as well as before…not without support anyway. And that is only me being optimistic."
She ran back to the house to beat her father. She wasn't supposed to be out there with the rest, but she knew she had to try and talk him out of it, there was no doubt he wouldn't be able to fight this war, and especially by listening to the severity of it, it didn't sound good. Lord Freeza? Was King Vegeta really out of his mind?
Pan jumped into her window and wiped the fresh tears that had fallen down her cheeks. She picked up her Organic Chemistry book and began to study as though she hadn't been affected by what happened.
"Hey Panny." Gohan said as he walked into the room and sat at the edge of her bed.
"Hey daddy. How's your leg feeling?" Pan said trying to stay away from the topic.
Gohan flinched slightly. "Well, it'll be fine."
"Dinner!" Videl called. Gohan and Pan went downstairs and sat down to the lovely meal that Videl had prepared.
"Well dad, it doesn't look fine to me." Pan said eyeing his leg carefully. There were still open sections, and she could even see some parts of the bone. "I still don't see why the doctors couldn't do anything for it."
Videl looked over at Pan. "What doesn't look fine?"
"His leg. Which, the doctors didn't do anything to."
"Pan, my flesh was burned off. If I were to get stitches, there's a high possibility that the flesh could have torn easily by just the simple movement of me moving my leg. There's nothing they could do. They can only allow it to heal by scaring and by aligning my bone properly." Gohan said as he took a bite at the food he had in front of them.
Pan looked angrily at Gohan and dropped her chopsticks. "Then why are you going on this next siege? Goten said it would be at least 9 months before you had to go on the next one, and he even said that you need to get lots of rest! It will never heal if you go on that siege!"
Gohan dropped his chopsticks as a result at Pan's outburst. "I don't have a choice Pan, and you know that."
"Then let me talk to the King, I have some things I would like to talk to him about."
"No Pan." Gohan said picking his chopsticks up and resuming eating.
"There are plenty of other healthy men to go on this next siege, and you don't have to be one of them. If anything, you'll be in there way! I don't think it's fair that you have to go!" Pan yelled standing up.
"Nothing in life is fair Pan! There is never anything fair in life and if it were fair then you're not living life! We're not royalty and we're not high-class so we'll have to depend on what we have now! And what we have now is a good family that we all love. Everyone functions around here. I do the training and fighting, your mother does the cooking and cleaning, it is time that you learned your function as a respectful daughter!" Gohan said between narrowed eyes. He heard Videl choke down a sob.
Pan was speechless at this point. She got up and left the room. She opened the kitchen door and was out in less than a second.
"What do you mean she's gone? Where'd she go? How long has she been gone?" Goten asked into the receiver.
"We had an argument. Apparently, she heard about the latest siege and that I was a part of it. I don't know where she went because if I did then I wouldn't be consulting you. And she's been gone for 4 hours, so keep an eye out for her, Videl is beginning to worry." Gohan yelled into the phone, hoping it'd help the situation.
"Okay, okay, I'll let you know if she shows up." Goten soothed.
"Thank you. I'm going to go and call mom and dad. Bye." Gohan said softly.
"Yeah, bye." Goten said as he clicked his phone off. A soft tap spooked him out of his train of thoughts as he looked over to the window and saw Pan levitating outside. Her eyes were red with grief, and puffy and sore from endless hours of pouring her soul out.
"Your parents are worried sick." Goten said as he opened the door to let her in.
"I don't care right now." She sniffed as she sat down. "He can't go on the next siege. I don't care how easy they are or how he can depend on the others, he won't always be able to. And this is against Lord Freeza. What the hell was King Vegeta thinking when he declared war against Freeza?!" Pan cried out as she sat down on Goten's sofa.
"I can't answer that question for you, but I can assure you that I'll watch out for your dad. I caught his back before, and there's no doubt I won't do it again. And besides, your grandpa is going to be there to help me too." Goten said assuring.
"Are you sure?" Pan asked looking up.
"Yeah." Goten said forcing a smile.
"I'm not four anymore Goten, I won't fall for that. I've studied up on how sieges work. I've watched as many videos as possible on this topic to learn about what it is our people devote so much time and effort into, and there is no guarantee that you'll be there. Sieges are split into many little teams, and you got lucky last time. The chances of you being with my father are very little." Pan said as she sat back in her chair with a sadistic irony to her words.
Goten sighed, "Pan, you know too much for your own good. I won't lie to you and say that we will, but there are never any guarantees with sieges. He might even get lucky and they will just send him home!"
"But he won't go." Pan stated matter-of-factly.
"I'm sorry Pan, there's nothing I can do but give you the little reassurance that I've already given to you."
"If that's all you can give me, then that's what I'll take." Pan said as she buried her face into one of the cushions on the sofa.
"Go home Pan, you're not doing any good by sitting here. Your father leaves tomorrow for that siege, spend time with him." Goten hinted.
"Don't do that!" Pan yelled at him. "My father won't die! He won't die on this siege!" She stormed out of Goten's house.
Goten sat befuddled and ran through the words in his head. "I have a college degree, and I said that?!" He slammed his head into the nearest wall.
Hey there! There's part 4...lemme know how it's going! Ja ne!
-Christina
