Author's Note (a little long, but necessary):
It's become ridiculously hard to write this story at the moment. I am totally not ashamed to say that I've been totally, totally, totally and utterly addicted to Deviantart. com , so if you like my work, you'll find me updating there almost every day. I've even give up video games in pursuit of drawing. My life has literally boiled down to school, homework, artwork, and studying, leaving very little room or inspiration for fanfiction because I mostly converse with DA artists. However, as I said before in my previous chapter's author's notes, this does not mean I've given up on my story. I have a LOT of story in my head that I have yet to put down on paper – err – Microsoft Word. The plot is still unfolding! However, unfortunately, we're all stuck in this Baby Saga until I can get us out of it.
I've thought of various ways that I can speed up the writing process. One of them dealt with me "(1) plowing through the chapters, as I always do, with super long chapters and tons of events that happen in between. ". This option is honestly my moralistic favorite. I want all my chapters to be long and detailed, but right now I'm having a bit of a writing disorder, so I'm going to have to accommodate it somehow. For, (2), I can "write an outline of everything that's supposed to happen, and then skip the Baby Saga entirely and come back one day after I've gotten my fiction juices flowing again", though the problem here is that a lot of things happen that I actually WANT to describe. This saga and I have a love/hate relationship… I love the saga because I love how far it's come, and how well I've done it, but at the same time I hate it because Evil Gohan goes against everything I've ever loved about Gohan (aka. he's a friggin awesome character, but writing him too long has been making him seem like an AU character instead of relating to GT, and I want to get it over with!)
So, before I give option 3, I want to sort of write a disclaimer for Evil Gohan… the reason I've written him this way. Gohan and Goten, in my mind, are possibly the sweetest, nicest people that Baby has happened to possess. They both retain a mild innocence and Gohan especially would fight only for justice. Baby's managed to manipulate it, filling in that free space that normally was innocent, with utter evil. Because they had that innocence normally, it made them even easier to turn evil. There was less resistance in the way. The reason why Evil Gohan is so evil was because he was literally open to receiving more concentrated, pure evil within him.
Okay, well, onto option 3, now that I got that off my chest (and it's been on my chest for an entire year now), I'll give you the "Mama Bear" option. Since Option number 1 (writing entire chapters) is way too much, and Option number 2 (writing an outline) is far too little, I've figured that Option 3 might work best: "(3): Writing short chapters, concentrating on some main points, but splitting up the chapters, to help relieve the pressure of writing so much, and increase the frequency of output.". Pan no Ojousan, author of "The Definition of Friendship" applies Option 3 and it's seemed to work wonders for her, so I think I'll do that TEMPORARILY, until I get myself back on my feet and/or until grad school lessens up on the work load (aka. it might last a year or so). I know what you're all thinking: "OH MY FRIGGIN LORD, that's gonna be a WHOLE LOT OF CHAPTERS… you ALREADY were gonna push on 300 for your story, but now… NOW…. 0.0 ... 0.o... o.O ... O.O…." ... And yes... I know -.- I know it's gonna make my story like, a bazillion chapters long. But what would you rather have? No story? Or long story? Unfortunately at this time in my life, durinc a hectic graduate school schedule and juggling around artwork, I'm not able to offer any other option.
So hopefully, maybe, this might help get me back on my feet. Please forgive me for Evil Gohan… in fact… please forgive me for Evil Everyone. It won't last too much longer… at least story-wise… I promise.
And congrats to me for writing the longest friggin author's note in a while! W00t! I still have da writin' bug inside me after all!
Please check out deviantart . com. The link is on my main page. That's the best way to tell if I'm alive or dead or not XD;;;
Ok onto Chapter 63! But first, a brief review of what has happened so far!
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Review:
After Goku, Trunks and Pan returned home from the Grand Tour, they were taken by surprise; every one of their friends and family had been converted to Tuffles by Baby himself, who beat them home on their return to Earth. Giru was the first to fall, destroyed by Baby-Vegeta's blast, right as Trunks was overcome by the egg laid inside him on the Planet Vidal. Goku was the next to fall, beaten by Baby-Vegeta in battle as an unconscious Pan was whisked away by Hercule and Buu to safety in the mountains. While Goku was saved at the last moment by Kibito Kai, Pan awoke in the snow to find her grandfather's ki was gone, and assumed him to be dead, like everyone else in the world concluded after the fatal blast from which Goku narrowly escaped. Piccolo, meanwhile, had been visiting Ancient Kai in search of training, and instead was assigned a new pupil to train in preparation for the next upcoming battle for the world and all its people. Piccolo arrived back on Earth a few months after Goku was perceived dead, and arrived just in time to save Pan from a terrible encounter with Evil Tuffle-possessed Trunks. They both then escaped to the southern hemisphere and began to train in the wilderness for several months as Piccolo created a new set of dragonballs – the yellow star dragonballs; meanwhile, in Heaven, Goku continued to train under Ancient Kai's supervision with little knowledge of the happenings down on Earth. After discovering that the current Earth was doomed to explode in a few months, Piccolo made a wish on his new set of dragonballs to remove the inner core of the Tuffle planet and instead create a new moon around the Earth – which he had full intention of destroying, until Evil Gohan showed up the next day and accidentally slew him on his mission to eliminate the last Saiyan, Pan, his own daughter! However, in a moment of truth, when facing actually dealing the final blow, Gohan hesitated, and in that moment of hesitation, he was knocked back by Uub, who was supported by Majin Buu and Hercule, who came to Pan's rescue. Buu managed to heal Pan's wounds, but her blood loss caused her to go into a coma for several weeks, awakening with a dramatic haircut under a quarter phase moon and just in time to dress in costume for the last cruiser ship to depart from West City, headed to the Tuffles' home planet. While on the ship, Gohan discovered Pan's presence and sought her out, but was unsuccessful in his searches. Currently, the ship is landing in the Tuffle airport, Gohan once again failed to locate and eliminate the last Saiyan, Pan and Uub are in the vents, Hercule and Buu are missing on the ship, and Goku is still 'training' up in Heaven, with the support of Kibito, Ancient Kai, and Piccolo. It's at this point when the wheels are set in motion and the tides begin to turn... The final battle is fast approaching!
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AN #2: I jumped a little ahead because I didn't want to deal with any more filler.X);; I hope you guys don't mind.
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CHAPTER 63:
Arrival
The ship was remarkably soundless during the docking process. There were a few creaks and rumbles throughout the ship as the engine had to kick into gear again, after coming out from their inertial trajectory through space, but they were brief and muffled, leading to a silent landing over the red desert planet. Gohan had been invited to accompany Her Majesty during the docking process, but, due to recent circumstances, he had preferred to sit alone in his chambers, strapped to his observation chair as if he were in self-induced solitary confinement.
The only thought on his mind, as his eyes blankly watched the desert capitol city, was that he was a failure.
He failed to carry out Lord Baby's mission; he failed to kill the Saiyan when he had the chance, and he failed to locate her. She was a pest, still hiding behind the walls of the ship, and he didn't know how he could even begin to break the news to his Lord Baby that he allowed such contamination to even land the Tuffles' own planet.
He didn't hear the knock on the door as he rubbed his temple.
He wasn't in a bad mood. On the contrary, he was feeling a sort of numbed shock at the moment, perhaps a vague sense of depression, as he contemplated how he was not worthy enough to call himself Lord Baby's right-hand man. What was he going to say? Even with the most euphemistic phrasing, he would surely lose his life. That was the least of his concerns, though. He was prepared to die, if it appeased his Lord Baby. No… What Gohan had failed to do, and one mission he failed to accomplish, left him without honor. He would have led his short Tuffle life without purpose in the world. He couldn't even kill on measly Saiyan.
"At least I got the Namek," Gohan forced a snicker as he rubbed his numbed cheeks.
"Sir!"
Gohan suddenly wheeled around, his power spiking in both startlement and instinctive defense. During the split second it took for him to whirl, his table flew back, exploding against the window with a thousand metal and wood fragments, cracking the glass almost halfway down the window. Gohan then stood there with his chair toppled aside and his right hand extended out to the intruder, already heated and glowing toward the intruding Tuffle canine man.
"Sir!" The gray canine dropped all the papers he was carrying and was quick to prostrate himself before Gohan, dropping on all hands and knees. "Sir, I beg your mercy, sir! Sir!"
Gohan's glare could have pierced the canine with a thousand icicles. He didn't even bother to ask the full question. It was more of a rhetorical interrogation as he kept his jaw from grinding his teeth. "What."
"S-s-sir," the canine official quickly tried to ruffle up the papers with one hand, as he continued to stare at the ground, his legs refusing to move, "Lord Baby has come aboard to see you! Sir, he told me he doesn't like to be kept waiting, Sir! I'm so sorry, I didn't know where you were. You were not with the Queen, so I tried your room and you didn't answer your door, so I didn't know if you were in here asleep or maybe if you were in the shower or who knows where you could have bee–!"
"Oh shut UP." Gohan kicked the dog in the shoulders, sending him sprawling back against the bed frame. "Your mouth is going to be the end of you, unless you learn to control it."
"S-Sir!"
"…You son of a bitch!…"
"Sir?"
"Oh SHUT UP, I wasn't talking about you." Gohan kicked the chair aside and hovered a moment above the canine before grabbing him by the collar and hoisting him up to shoulder-level. "Where is he."
"S-sir, I'm supposed to lead you to–"
"Then LEAD," Gohan shoved the official forward so hard that the dog almost tripped trying to maintain his balance. Gohan bent over and picked up the chair, placing it where the nail alignments should have been. "You stupid mutt" Gohan snorted under his breath as he turned on his heel to follow the canine. "They'd better be able to repair the damage you made me do, or you're going to personally suffer for every day this ship remains grounded for the cracked window."
"Sir, but–"
The official was suddenly met with Gohan's right hand within a hair's breadth to his face once again, and in that brief moment, found himself lacking for words.
"If I were you, right now," Gohan hissed, "I'd just shut up and walk."
"Sir," the dog replied with wide, panicked eyes, as he led the way.
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"Something's happening," Pan whispered as she peered through one of the vents in the ceiling, looking down upon a crowd of people, "They're all riled up for some reason."
Following closely behind, crawling through the vents at a tight squeeze, Uub scrunched his face, trying to ignore the sweat accumulating on his brow, "That's great…"
"No it's not. They're not leaving. We need to..." Pan trailed off as she inched along slowly as to not give away their position. "Wait, there!" Seeing a drop-off, she pointed again in the cramped space, but her entire body kept Uub from seeing anything beyond a certain area he felt it improper to look upon, "That might lead us somewhere."
"What do you mean?" Uub frowned as he continued to look down at his hands, "I thought you were trying to get us out of here, not somewhere new."
"I know, I know, but maybe this leads somewhere safer… You know, away from the main floor."
"What do you mean away from the main floor? Isn't that where the exit is?"
"Silly," Pan grinned naughtily, "Of course it is, but we need a good place to change."
"Isn't Gohan still looking for us?"
"Oh who cares about him," Pan tried not to frown, "I'm looking forward to fighting him. He's going to have to fight me sooner or later. Here." Pan reached the drop-off, and squeezed herself to the side as far as possible. It was a little wider here, so Uub could see what she was talking about. "An air shaft."
The shaft was narrow, and stretched both upward and downward in dim-to-almost-zero lighting. Pan's eyes had become accustomed to the dark, and Uub had never had electricity to begin with, so both were able to make out the small details of the shaft well, but even though Uub saw the same route as Pan, he was not quite on the same page.
"So you want to go up or down?" Uub looked to her quickly, but seeing her flushed face made his eyes quickly jerk away, a hint of dark pink threatening to tint his cheeks.
Pan didn't look at him as her eyes covered the length of the vertical vent, "Here, let's go down. You go first. I'll help you down."
"No really, I insist, I can help you."
"I'm stronger than you," Pan glanced to him, "I can help you down."
"No you're not," Uub suddenly felt a traditional moral value about to be challenged, "I can help you."
Pan's eyes narrowed as she felt a temple throb in stubbornness, "Get. Down. There."
"No."
"Fine!" Pan threw her legs to the vent, "I can go down on my own."
Uub frowned, "Hey wait a minute, I don't…"
Pan braced her body against the walls of the chute by pressing her arms and legs hard enough against the walls to create friction holding her in place as she edged down, "It's easier when done this way, anyway."
"I don't get you," Uub continued his frown as he watched the girl inch her way downward. "You're really hard to understand, you know that?"
"Hey, I'm not really out to…" Pan's voice faltered as her gaze went blank.
Uub leaned over the vent with a slightly confused brow, "Hey, Pan?"
A sudden feeling of euphoria suddenly enraptured Pan. It seemingly came out of nowhere – a moment of bliss, like a homecoming… Her skin suddenly tingled as if she were by a fire, even though the cool breeze was blowing her hair into her eyes.
"I promise…" A voice she had only remembered in her dreams, or at least imagined she remembered, seemed to whisper in her mind for a brief moment. She never even realized what hit her, as she suddenly flashed back to her dream, except this time she was reaching out… reaching…
"Darnit, Pan, don't DO that!"
Somehow in her hallucination, she began to focus on her arm being gripped by Uub's left hand. It made no sense. How come she was back here? What happened?
"It's him." Pan's mouth opened slightly as she recognized someone's ki, though her mind was racing so fast, she couldn't place his name, even though she knew it so well. "He's close."
"You're freaking me out, Pan." Uub continued his strong hold on her arm. "Snap out of it."
"I…" Suddenly, another cool breeze whipped past her hair, and Pan immediately realized she was dangling freely from Uub's grasp and totally lost all train of previous thought. "Hey!"
"You almost slipped and fell. Don't do that again!"
"Shhh," Pan hissed as she braced herself against the vent, wiggling her arm free from Uub's grasp, "Do you want everyone to know we're here?"
"What do you mean! You're the one who was screaming you promised!"
"Promised what?"
"Who knows! Just don't do that. Just… don't."
Pan snorted and rolled her eyes, "You know what, Uub, you're just weird."
Uub flushed slightly as he began to edge his way down the vent after Pan, "Well you're…" His voice trailed off, though, as he found himself lacking for comebacks, "just.. weirder."
Pan suddenly laughed uneasily as she edged her way downward faster, into a darker region of the vent. Somehow, Uub always seemed to make her smile. It was a nice deviation from her current mood. If she had to get stuck in a vent with someone, she was glad it was someone she could come to trust. "You know what, Uub? I like you."
"You… what?" Uub almost lost his grip as his entire face flushed red.
"No, stupid!" Pan hissed with a grin, "Not in that way."
"Oh…" Uub suddenly felt a pang of rejection, but would never admit it.
"You men are all alike," Pan sniffed with a dignified air as she hit the bottom of the air shaft, "All jumping to conclusions."
"Hey," Uub frowned and hopped down in the vent with a mild clang that vibrated the entire metal interior. He cringed and tensed as he waited a split moment, sensing if anyone may have heard it, but after a few moments of them both listening, Pan was the first to break the silence.
"This way." Pan began to crawl along the only way the vent seemed to lead. "I sense him over here."
"Who?"
Pan didn't respond, seeming to be lured by something Uub could never understand. Instead, he inquired again, still confused by her former statement, and dazed at her even more previous comment that almost rocked his entire world for some unknown reason, even to him.
"Follow me."
And Uub followed, though, in all honestly, there really was nowhere else they could go…
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"But… but…"
The young kai rolled his eyes again, "Just hold still."
Goku's changing voice seemed to crack a little more than usual, as he backed up a few steps, still trying to run through the Kai's former statement in his mind. "But I don't understand! How do I just grow back my tail?"
"You're not." Kibito snapped the large pliers Suguro had transformed into, "We're going to pull it out."
"P-p-PULL?.!." Goku suddenly felt dizzy as his backward steps seemed to lose their grounding, "You can't pull my tail!"
"And why not?" Ancient Kai seemed to close the distance.
"I feel nauseous even if someone holds it. You can't pull it. I won't let you pull it!"
"Oh stop being such a baby!" Kibito continued to stroll forward, clicking the instrument in anticipation, "You don't even have a tail yet, may I remind you."
"Piccolo… Piccolo you tell them! You tell them that they can't pull my tail!"
The Namek who was sitting under the sole tree of the perimeter only huffed once and didn't even care to respond.
"You can't do it! I'd rather have it grow! Give me a drink for it, or even a shot. I'll even take a sho-okay maybe not a shot – but anything else! Anything!"
"I thought you wanted to help Pan?"
"I will! With all this training you gave me, I'm sure to have gotten stronger!"
"Ouuu, you dolt." Ancient Kai stopped walking and crossed his emaciated arms, "That training alone will never get you to defeat that Tuffle."
"But I don't understand!"
"What he means to say, Goku," Kibito sighed as he stopped progressing as well, "is that we were waiting for your tail to grow, but recent events have forced us to take drastic measures to speed up the process."
"Yes, yes! If it weren't for your granddaughter still down there, you wouldn't have to have your tail pulled."
Goku frowned at Ancient Kai's statement, suddenly growing concerned, "What about her? What has changed?"
Piccolo then took his moment to speak, as if he were the only one wise enough to know what was really going on in the situation, "She's about to get herself into some deep trouble."
"Yes, yes! Piccolo is right. Unless you grow back your tail, you won't ever stand a chance at defending her."
"But she can hold out, can't she?" Goku looked to Piccolo as if the Namek knew the answer.
"Goku," Kibito frowned as he rested the giant oversized pliers on the ground, "Be reasonable here. Pan's in serious trouble. She's just entered the heart of the Tuffle planet, where she is going to have to take on the same team that almost killed you."
"But she has Uub, right? I trust in Uub. Uub is on my level. I trained him for ten years!"
"Trust me, Goku. Pan needs you."
"I know that, but my tail… I…"
And then everyone seemed to stand still and silent for the time being, as Goku trailed off and took a moment to look at everyone –or everything, as chance had it, since Suguro already transformed into a tool for tortureand contemplated, for a relatively long time, the consequences of every situation that could potentially occur, whether he grew his tail or not. Strategy was never his forte, and it was especially difficult for him to make such an important decision in his current state of mind, but after pondering it, and knowing how desperate everyone was in the current situation, he tried to convince himself that it would be worth the torture to help his granddaughter. Pan was worth them pulling his tail. He knew that, but… When actually faced with it, it was still something that caught him off guard. They had no idea of the pain involved with pulling one's tail. They obviously had never grown one before.
His words seemed to come in slow motion, as Goku seemed to doom himself. "Okay, I'll do it." Though, he had a terrible suspicion that nothing good could come from this…
… And, unknown to everyone at the time, including himself, Goku, for once, was right…
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Reds… Reds, mostly.
Gohan found himself gazing at the tapestries lining the walls of the lower level of the travel cruiser. Although the ship itself was relatively small in comparison to the great space station Lord Baby had constructed as the royal cruise line, this ship still had its secrets in its enormities – the lower level being an off-limits zone specifically redesigned to house only the most elite of Tuffles. It was on this level, the great royal meeting chamber had been constructed, for occasions like these, when Lord Baby would have to schedule an emergency meeting before his palace construction was to be finished in the center of the Tuffle capitol city.
Reds… though some purples, too. Purple was a royal color, and there was no doubt that Lord Baby personally ordered the halls to be decorated in his honor. He tended to be narcissistic like that… and it only made Gohan smirk wider, in pride for his race and heritage, despite the fact he knew, or suspected he knew, the reasons behind this conference.
The hallway was well lit, though the dark tapestries tended to dim the corridor. Things seemed even dimmer, as Gohan walked steadily behind the canine officer. The more he had to stare at the idiot's back, the more he was itching to turn him into dog food, but he restrained himself, merely for the sake of his image… and perhaps the disturbing image of even a spot of blood on his uniform while presenting himself before his Lord and Master. Besides, he'd have plenty of opportunity later for getting revenge on the dog… after he would seek out and destroy the last Saiyan, of course… That is, if he lived to see that day.
As he approached the door that led to the main conference room, two of the guards were dressed in dark violet, denoting their uniforms as official bodyguards, though a third figure in navy blue stood among them, talking in a low growl to them before looking up and recognizing the superior officer.
Goten seemed to smile a moment before it turned into a dark sneer. "Gohan…" He brought his right hand up to casually scratch his left elbow; his cigarette still lit in his left hand, "You know, you're somewhat getting a reputation of being called a 'tyrant'."
Gohan nodded nonchalantly to him, addressing him formally as his eyes remained cold, "Lieutenant Son."
"Good to see you, too." Goten smirked with a dark glint in his eye as he brought the cigarette to his lips, "And, I thought Green Bean might have given you a tough time."
"He's long history."
"Tell that to Lord Baby; you might score some points."
Gohan turned to push open the doors, but was stopped short, and became suddenly enraged and defensive when Goten grabbed his left arm to stop him, "And I sure hope you killed the Saiyan," Goten's hand retracted as Gohan jerked his arm away, "Lord Baby seems to be pretty pissed off a.t.m., if you get my drift."
"Don't you ever touch me," Gohan glared.
"Whatever. If you come out dead, it isn't my problem."
"None of what I do is your problem."
"Whatever." Goten dropped the cigarette and crushed it with his sole. "But I ain't comin' to your funeral."
"Drop dead," Gohan smirked to him and opened the doors.
"You, too – break a neck. Just don't piss off Lord Baby even more; you know he takes it out on all our heads."
"Listen, Goten," Gohan released the doors for a moment as he looked at his younger brother for what he realized might be the final time, "Whatever Lord Baby decides for our fate, I am proud to deliver. My life belongs to him. I am at his mercy."
"Just go," Goten rolled his eyes, "He's been waiting long enough as it is."
"See you in Hell."
"Right. Get outta here."
Gohan nodded once to Goten, a brief sneer playing on his lips for old time's sake, as he entered through the double doors, and submitted himself to the mercy of his Great Lord Baby.
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–3/6/06–
