Chapter 59: Trapped
We made our way out of the labyrinth and into another open hall.
"This place is getting repetitive." Vegeta said sourly. The room was brightly lit and I had to refocus my eyes back to normal.
Looking around, nothing of interest was in the room except for the large door on the other side. The Sayjin word for Destiny was inscribed on it.
"Is this thing obsessed with destiny?" Vegeta said.
"It seems to be everywhere." I added, "We better be careful, I doubt any room is this castle is without a hidden danger."
So we walked slowly towards the large door, watching for anything to happen. But it was my turn to fall victim to a trap. I stepped on a pressurized tile and the floor opened up beneath me. I would have fallen if Goku hadn't grabbed my arm first.
"Thanks." I said, looking into the hole. There were large spikes shooting from the floor of the hole. There was a skeleton impaled on one of them.
"No problem, fearless leader." Goku said again. I let it pass this time.
I jumped over the hole and we continued on to the other side of the room. We made it to the door safely.
"That seemed too easy, not that I'm complaining." Mirai said.
"Arina." Vegeta called, and the doors opened. But then without any warning a large blast came out of the doorway and hit all four of us. Getting back up, we were hit again before we could see our attacker. Then I felt a sharp pain in the back of my neck and passed out.
I woke up in a dark place. Straining my eyes I focused on three other shapes in the room with me.
Not a room, a cell.
I rolled over onto my back and sat up, seeing clearly now I recognized the three shapes as Goku, Vegeta, and Mirai. But our clothes weren't what we had been wearing last I remembered. The others were in simple robes, and I was in what appeared to be an elaborate dress, sleeve-less, white, and flattering to my figure. I also noticed that the others had some sort of collars on, and felling my neck I noticed I had one on, too. I got up, a little dizzy, and looked out of our prison. This was the dungeon of the castle, and I could here screams and roars from other cells.
I pulled at the collar but I couldn't budge it. I couldn't raise my Ki, either, so that didn't help. That struck me as strange, but I didn't think too much of it. Cell placed me in a Ki suppressing chamber, so I figured that was what I was in now.
I went over and checked on the others. Rousing them proved harder than I thought. I practically had to slap Vegeta and Mirai to wake them, and then Goku… I told him the food was ready and he shot up, nearly breaking my nose with his hard head.
"Where are we?" Mirai asked as he got up off the floor.
"I'm guessing we're in the dungeon." Vegeta said.
"Yeah, that's what I figured, too." I said as I rubbed my nose.
"So, why are we in these clothes?" Goku asked.
"I don't know, but it can't be good. But I'm more worried about what these are." I said, pointing to the collar. The others noticed they also had the collars on.
"Those are Ki suppressing collars the master ordered to be placed on you."
We all turned to the bars of our cell to see a strange creature dressed in robes similar to the others. It was a short, blue creature that reminded me of a house elf from the Harry Potter stories. It had the big ears and eyes.
"And who is this master of yours?" Vegeta spat.
"You don't know? You came here to challenge him, did you not?"
"Who is he?" I asked, a little harder.
"Master has no real name, but he requested that I tell you to call him Master Roxx."
"Roxx, huh? Well, what does he want with us? I assume that we doesn't want to kill us just yet, am I right?" Vegeta snapped.
"Master Roxx requests your presence at dinner. It will be served shortly."
"And what if we don't want to go?" Goku asked, which seemed very ironic.
"Then this will happen." The little elf-thing took out a controller and pressed a yellow button. On doing so a shock went through my body, causing me to fall to the floor. All four of us were screaming, and then finally the pain stopped.
"How original. Using pain to get us to follow orders." Vegeta spat.
"That was just a low dose. Now, if you'll follow me." He pushed another button and the cell doors opened.
"What do you think, Katie?" Goku asked, whispering.
"Play along for now. We can't fight without Ki, and we need to find out what's going on."
"Agreed." So I followed the elf, and the others followed me. Passing other cells, I saw many other creatures trapped as we were. They all had collars on and looked as though they had lost hope.
"We need to try to save all these creatures as well." I whispered back to the others.
If this Roxx is the evil I must face, then these creatures must be trophies from other dimensions and planets.
I quickly examined each creature as I walked by, seeing what was here. Mostly I saw animals, but there were a few clothed beings here and there.
I felt the others' auras flaring, but with the collars on that was all we could do. They were as angry as I was that this Roxx had captured these beings for who knows what reason.
Finally we were led out of the dungeon to an upper level. The lights were bright here, and it looked kind of pretty. The floor was marble, or at least something like it, and a red carpet spread across the floor like a path. Paintings of planets were hung on the walls.
"Those paintings are of planets master destroyed. Each one has its name and which dimension they were once located in. Of course, they have all been destroyed. Master Roxx loves his work."
"Sick bastard. Why do you work for him? I noticed you don't have a collar on." Vegeta said.
"I am one of the lucky beings chosen to work for Master Roxx. He spared me for the sole purpose of serving him."
"You're just as crazy as he is." I said.
"How dare you speak of master Roxx that way!" the elf shrieked, turning to face me, "Who do you think you are?"
"I am the one destined to destroy him. I am going to be the Angel Sayjin."
"Not yet you are." The elf got a look on his face and pressed the yellow button again. This time only I felt the shock, and it was higher than last time. I fell onto the floor, screaming in pain.
"Katie!"
"Stop it! You'll kill her!" the pain was so great I couldn't even tell who was talking. But I could clearly hear the elf laughing. I couldn't, and I wouldn't, stand for that. I fought the pain and got up, still holding my neck with one hand.
"Turn that off." I said. The elf continued to laugh, so I used all my will and made a small Ki ball. "I said turn that off." The Ki ball was small, and barely together, but it could hurt like hell if I hit him with it. He was obviously weak, weaker than a normal human from what I could tell.
"What! But you're collar! How are you doing that?"
"I told you, I'm going to be the Angel Sayjin. Now turn that off."
Instead he panicked and raised the power of the electrical shock. I fell to my knees screaming, and lost the concentration I needed to make the Ki ball, but I refused to fall over onto the floor.
"Stop it!"
Finally after what felt like an eternity he turned it off.
"I warn you, Master Roxx will inflict much more pain on you all." the elf said as he turned to walk back down the hall.
I got up with Mirai's help and walked behind the elf, knowing that as long as he had the controller he could kill any of us.
"Are you okay?" Goku asked.
"Fine." I said bitterly as we continued down the hall.
