Rifts and Changes

Chapter Eight: Explosions and Freakazoid and George Clooney, oh my!

A/N: I tried to get this out faster, really I did. I think I've peeved a lot of people, sorry minna! But I did finished Weiss Kreuz! Celebrations! Anyhoo, instead of my usual evilness at the end of each chapter I've decided to list out any cultural references I make, since not everyone is as old nor as geekish as me!

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"Oh God…" Bulma said. Everyone else in the room was just as stunned. They had put most of their family there, as a safe house and now they were all dead.

"Damn it! Damn it!" Vegeta said, punching his hand into a wall. He ignored the pain in his hand as he thought about Bra, his little princess, dead. "How could that baka woman do something like that?!"

"Quit it Vegeta, we don't know the full story yet." Gohan said, his voice barely audible. Vegeta turned to him fully enraged.

"Are you brain dead?! How in the hell can you defend her after she just blew up your kids, our kids, our families?! She blew up the f*&$£%@g house, in front of our eyes and without any hesitation or remorse! There's the damn full story!" Vegeta yelled. Goku put his hand on Vegeta's shoulder, signalling that that was enough. Vegeta just tutted and stalked into a corner. Everyone else was just deadly silent, some shocked to tears. Suddenly, the front door of the house opened and in walked little Michael. Everyone who knew the little boy looked at him wide-eyed. He went and tugged at Nicholas' sleeve.

"Dad, where's Mum?" Michael asked. Nicholas, in total shock, did not answer and simply pointed in the direction his wife went. "Ta much." He said, and hobbled off. Everyone watched him walk off in total shock.

"Everyone else saw that right?!" Nicholas asked. Everyone nodded. "So I'm not crazy?!"

"Well, now that's debateable." Andrea replied. Nicholas ran in the direction Michael went, and after a beat everyone else followed. They went in and saw Michael hugging Natalie.

"Aww Mikey, I didn't know you missed me."

"You were gone for a whole day! Course I missed you!"

"You're so cute! But how did you know the way to get here?"

"I followed all the signs! You're gonna have to take me back, I forgot how to get back."

"Oh God, Mikey!" Nicholas exclaimed. "You're alright!" Nicholas picked up his son and hugged the cripes out of the kid.

"Um Dad? You're acting a bit girly."

"Sorry. But how come you're not dead?"

"What?" Michael said, his lower lip quivering.

"What the hell is the matter with you?!" Natalie asked. "You don't say that to a little kid!"

"Sorry but Videl blew up our house! And everyone was in it!" Nicholas said.

"Except Michael apparently." Andrea commented.

"What? No, I moved them from there before I went time travelling. Didn't Zophen tell you?" Natalie asked. Everyone turned to glare daggers at Zophen and he slapped his forehead.

"In all the panic, I totally forgot!" Zophen said.

"YOU FORGOT?!" Everyone yelled.

"I'm sorry buddy, I didn't mean anything by it." Nicholas said to Michael.

"It's okay."

"Natalie, why didn't you tell us?" Gohan demanded.

"There wasn't really time."

"There wasn't really time?!"

"Echo…? No, ah well."

"You really are a nutcase!" Gohan seethed. Everyone sweat-dropped as Natalie narrowed her eyes at him.

"Yeah, well…at least I don't have a man crush on George Clooney!"

"Did you have to go there? I mean really." Gohan said, as everyone looked at him weirdly.

"I anticipated something like this might happen so I told the telepath to move them before she left to the alternate timeline. She didn't really have the time to tell you." Zophen said, defending Natalie. Everyone in the room either sighed with relief (Vegeta) or celebrated in jubilation (everyone else).

"Do you know where they are?" Gohan asked. Zophen shook his head. "I guess we'll have to ask Natalie."

"Good luck baka." Vegeta said. "You just called her a nutcase and from what I've seen of that onna she's got a temper that can rival this onna." Vegeta pointed to Bulma, who in turn gave him a dirty look.

"Sonna…" Goku sighed. (I can't believe it)

A While Later…

"Sonna…" Goku sighed again. Gohan had been trying for the past ten minutes to apologise to Natalie but she had put on a walkman (no one knew where from) and was blasting music to block him out.

"Natalie, come on…" Gohan tried.

"Semete, semete ito igiri no ai wo. Mune ni imete anata to tabitatou…" (1) Natalie sang.

"Please don't drown me out, this is important."

"Tooku, tooku sasou youna heaven. Kiete shimau maborosi da toshite moii sa!" (2)

"Natalie!"

"No, no, no don't cry!!" (3) Natalie sang, as Nicholas, Goku and Goten all sang along."You guys!" Gohan said, annoyed."Gomen…" They, except Natalie who was still singing, apologised."Its just such a catchy song!" Goten grinned sheepishly.

"Let me try talking to her son." Goku said.

"No, I have to."

"But she's mad at you."

"She is not, she's just mad at the situation."

"I've seen loads of girls mad like that Gohan, and I can definitely tell she is mad at you."

"Fine!" Gohan said, annoyed. "You talk to her then."

"Okay!" Goku said cheerfully. He walked over to Natalie and tapped her shoulder politely. "Excuse me?" Natalie took off her headphones. "Can you tell us where you took everyone else?"

"Sure Goku-san, they're at lil comic book girls secret lair." Natalie replied.

"Arigatou!" (Thank you)

"Doo Itashimashite." (You're welcome) Everyone else face-faulted.

"Lil comic book girl, she must mean Remy." Trunks deduced. "I mean, that place of hers is practically a bomb shelter! And it's twenty minutes from here."

"Yeah, and since she's moved all her things into a top secret safe somewhere it has the perfect place!" Goten said.

"Top secret safe?"

"Yeah, her stuff is worth a fortune."

"Damn, she was right. I knew I should've kept my comic books."

"You collected comic books?"

"I casually read them. I wasn't a die hard fan or anything."

"Can we get back to the point?" Gohan said. The two best friends looked down at the floor embarrassed. "Seeing as we have a better safe house I say we should move between those two places."

"So let's all get down there." Vegeta said, walking out of the room. Bulma smiled and followed him. Everyone soon piled out of the room, leaving Natalie and Gohan.

"Natalie…"

"Don't say anything. I don't want to hear it."

"I didn't mean what I said."

"Why lie Gohan?"

"To make you feel better?"

"To make yourself feel less guilty."

"No…"

"Bottom line; you can't trust me. We've been friends since high school Gohan. We've been through a lot of crap together, and I thought more than anyone you'd at least understand what I was going through."

"You were willing to kill another human being." There was a brief silence.

"After what she did, can you blame me?"

"That still doesn't justify it."

"I made my choice Gohan. That day, you were all there. I decided not to kill my mother because if I did then I would've become just like her. I know the difference between right and wrong, I am not a child. The fact that you thought I was so unstable, that I couldn't take the drama really shows me what you think of me."

"We were just protecting you."

"You cannot protect me from my memories Gohan." Natalie sighed. "You really think so little of my character Gohan?  I know she wasn't one of your androids or killer alien or superpowered villain or some demon type thing, but she was my own personal demon to defeat. And I did, the right way. If you were so worried that I couldn't handle it, why didn't you talk to me?"

"I didn't want to upset you."

"So, you thought that by telling about the Tocopherans coming before would be the final straw and that I'd snap and kill someone. Therefore permanently going off the deep end."

"…Yes."

"But ironically enough, it was you who killed someone and now it's your wife who's gone off the deep end. Funny how life turns out huh?" Natalie got up and left Gohan there stunned. She realised her words had hurt him, it was what she had intended to do, but she still couldn't help the way she felt. Her friends; who were practically family, her husband; the love of her life, she would've trusted them with her life and they couldn't even trust her with this. She was beginning to wonder if she had made a mistake not erasing that event from their memories when she had the chance.

Gohan, on the other hand, was at a loss for what he was feeling. His wife was evil. His father was powerless. His friend was captured. He couldn't understand how his father could do this again and again throughout his life and still keep his childlike innocence. Gohan loved Videl with all his heart, and now he would have to fight her. Possible he would…no, he would never let it get that far. He just hoped it would never come to that.

At Remy's…

"This place still looks exactly the same on the outside huh?" Goten said, as Trunks nodded. They knocked on the front door, with everyone else behind them. They waited for a while and then knocked again. They knocked a third time and the door opened furiously. All the now powerless semi-Saiya-jins could see was a luminous green light heading towards them.

"AAAH!" They yelled and grabbed the green light. They looked up and saw that they were holding a toy light sabre (4), and that Remy was holding said light sabre. "Remy?"

"Trunks, Goten!" She said, dropping the sabre and hugging them. Now older, Remy had lost the grungy look she had well into her late teens and had become a pretty young woman. "I'm so glad you guys are okay! Marron told me everything that happened. How could you not call and say you were fine?!"

"That's exactly what I said." CJ said.

"CJ!"
"No! No hugs Remy! I'm injured!"

"Who did it? I'll kick his ass."

"With a toy light sabre?"

"Shut up Trunks! I have a real one downstairs."

"I'm not even going to ask where you got that."

"Will you children stop babbling about crap and let me into the damn house!?" Vegeta demanded. They stood out of the doorway and Vegeta stormed in followed by everyone else.

"Your dad is still as colourful as ever I see." Remy smirked. Trunks just stuck his tongue out at her.

A million hugs and kisses later…

"Mama did what?!" Pan yelled.

"I know it's hard to believe honey but we will get her back." Gohan said, trying his best to soothe her. The parents had decided to tell the older kids, meaning Pan, Drake, Claudia and the twins what had happened and that it was best to tell the younger ones only if needed.

"I can't believe she would do something like that!"

"Pan honey, it's not her exactly. It's complicated…"

"It's Mama right?"

"Technically…"

"I don't want technically Daddy!" Gohan smiled sadly, Pan reminded him so much of Videl.

"We are going to get her back Pan. I promise you that."

"In order to do that, we're going to formulate a plan of attack." Vegeta said, his stoic face suddenly changing to sport a wicked smirk.

"Are you taking notes Danny?" Adrian asked.

"Already halfway down the page bro." Danny replied, quickly studying Vegeta and scribbling on a notepad. Vegeta left the top of the house and went downstairs to where Remy used to keep her merchandise.

"Has he woken up yet?" Vegeta asked. Trunks shook his head.

"How many Mickeys (5) did you give him anyways?" Trunks asked. CJ sweat-dropped.

"Just the one! But then I kind of dropped him on his head. It was an accident." CJ said. Everyone sighed.

"Enough of this." Vegeta said, punching the hostage in the head. Vegeta noticeably winced in pain. "Trunks, punch him." Trunks did but to affect.

"Here, let me do it." Marron said. She pinched the back of his neck and he awoke in a shock. Hamelis looked around him and sighed.

"Damn, I was captured. By a girl. The boss is going to have my head for this." Hamelis said, speaking his native tongue.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Vegeta said, flicking Hamelis' forehead with every 'hey'. "If you're gonna talk you'd better talk in a language we can understand!"

"Fine. Stop flicking me you *%&£$^!"

"…Oh he's going down!"

"Tousan, control yourself!" Trunks exclaimed. "You, you're going to tell us everything we need to know. Now."

"Yeah, and you're gonna stop wearing my face!" Goten said. Hamelis laughed.

"You really think I'm afraid of you? Half of you don't even have your powers, and I'm immune to telepathy. You've got no options, and keeping me here is just a waste of your time as well as mine." Hamelis said.

"Hey Remy, what does this thing do?" CJ asked, holding a small mechanical device. Remy yelled and grabbed it from CJ's hands.

"Don't touch that! It's a matter transporter!"

"Matter transporter?"

"Yep, it can take any one part of any thing and transport it elsewhere."

"Okay, hypothetically, if I wanted to transport a body part from the a body, would it work?" CJ asked, looking menacingly at Hamelis.

"Well yes, an arm or a leg or…" A light bulb went off in Remy's head. "Oohhhhh! I know what you're thinking! Ouch!"

"Indeed!"

"…" Hamelis started sweating bullets.

"How does this thing work?"

"You press the green…"

"OKAY! OKAY!" Hamelis said, crossing his legs in panic. "I'll talk."

"I thought you might." CJ said, giving Remy a sly high five.

"I have no idea what just happened here." Trunks stated.

"Welcome to my world." Goten said.

In another sector downstairs…

"How on Earth could she fit all this space down here?" Natalie said, in awe as she and Andrea prepared some food for the younger kids, who were currently watching cartoons.

"Yeah, amazing." Andrea replied. Natalie looked at Andrea concerned.

"How are you holding up?"

"Not as good as I need to be."

"He's going to be fine Andie."

"How can you be certain?"

"Because I know that when the chips are down, David will accidentally get himself out of whatever jam he's in."

"Yeah, I guess so." Andrea said, and then started chuckling. "He'll probably annoy them so much they'll kick him out!" They both started laughing and then Andrea's laughter turned into sobbing. Natalie hugged.

"Ssh, it'll be okay honey."

Upstairs…

"So Zophen, are you homesick? You look a little sad." Pan said, sitting next to Zophen.

"No, I am not homesick. I worry about your mother. She is not at fault and is being used…it just sickens me." Zophen said.

"Oh Zophen, you're so sweet to worry about my Mom!" Pan said, getting all misty-eyed. Zophen looked at her and sweat-dropped. "Do you think we can help her?"

"I am not sure, but I know I will not rest until I have tried my best to help her. I feel somewhat responsible for what happened."

"There wasn't anything you could have done." Pan said. **He's so intense!** "Thanks for helping us Zophen, you didn't have to."

"It's my duty Miss Pan." Zophen said, and again sweat-dropped when Pan blushed and started giggling. **She is a very strange girl…**

"Ah damn, Pan made the moves on Zophen first!" Claudia protested.

"I'm sure she's not Claude, her mother's been kidnapped! The last thing she'd think about is some guy." Drake said.

"Look at her, she's turned into a giggling tomato."

"Nani?! Man, she's really lost focus." Drake said, shaking his head. "He's not even that good looking."

"You have no eye for men Drake."

"You better believe it, I only like girls thank you."

"You mean like Pan?"

"Nani?!"

"You do, don't you?"

"No way! She's not my type."

"Cute's not your type?"

"Pan is not my type. We have absolutely nothing in common, and I'm younger than her anyways."

"By a few months."

"Claude, will you please stop trying to entertain yourself? If you're bored go watch TV with the rest of the little kids." Drake said, walking away from her.

"I am not a kid! I'm older than you are Drake!" Claudia said, angrily. "Although, that Freakazoid (6) show does look funny…"

On Medilan's ship…

"This is the song that never ends! Yes it goes on and on my friends! Some people started singing it not knowing what it was and they'll continue singing it forever just because this is the song that never ends!" (7)

"WILL YOU SHUT UP?! YOU'VE BEEN SINGING THAT DRIBBLE FOR THE LAST THREE HOURS!" A Guard said. Of course, he said it in his native tongue, which David did not understand.

"I have no idea what you just said Double D." (8) David said, in his best Ed impression. Mara came into the cell where David was being held.

"Daaaang Videl! Did Emma Frost throw up all over you or something?" (9) David asked. Mara rolled her eyes.

"Quit calling me that." Mara said. "I've decided not to kill you, yet."

"Oh goodie. I was wondering when we'd get to that."

"Instead, I have arranged for you to watch a historic event take place right in front of your eyes."

"What, you're actually going to be nice to me for a change?" David said, as Guard took him out of the cell. Mara chuckled.

"Always the joker eh Finch?"

"No, not me. I'm the imbecile. Yup. You're thinking of Nick. You remember him right? Tall, movie star looks, short angry wife, constantly horny?"

"Probably because the short angry wife won't put out."

"I should hope not!"

"They've had four children Finch."

"And I love those kids, but he's lucky I didn't chop his head off for corrupting my best friend."

"But he-what the hell am I talking about?!" Mara berated herself. "This is exactly why my next step is absolutely necessary." She took David into a room that had a perfect view of the Earth. "Part of me still clings on to my 'good' side as long as there are people there that I know."

"So what? You're going to kill them?" David asked.

"In a way, yes." Mara said, as she turned to him. "I'm going to blow up the Earth."

"You're gonna what?!"

"You heard, and guess what blondie, you get a front row seat to its destruction." She said ruffling his hair. "Told you it was going to be historic!"

**What can I do? I need to get a warning to them, but I'm captured! Wait…I'm having an idea! Note to self: celebrate later…**

Back on Earth…

"This show is awesome." Claudia said, totally zombified.

"Totally." The little kids replied, also zombified.

"Is this how we were when we were that age?" Goten asked.

"Totally." The older gang replied. CJ walked in.

"That Ham baka just gave us the 411, but I'm not sure how much of it's true." CJ said. "Most of it's pretty heavy."

"True or not, we're gonna need it." Gohan said.

"Yowza!" Natalie yelled. Everyone looked at her. "Geez David, there's no need to yell!"

"David?! David's talking to you?!" Andrea asked frantically.

"Yeah, he says he's fine for now. No need to worry. Videl's put his eath-day (10) on hold for a while. Woah, Dave are you serious?!"

"What, what is it?!" Everyone asked. Natalie ushered them to get away from the younger kids.

"Videl's gonna blow up the Earth."

"NANI!?"

"Keep it down!" Natalie said. "Dave, is there anyway that you can shut it off? Uh huh…uh huh…damn. Try your best okay? Take care. Okay, she's got Dave shut off in a jail cell so he can't exactly go exploring but he says he'll try and find out as much as he can."

"Screw that, we gotta get up there." Vegeta said.

"We can't go up there, they have the advantage." Trunks said.

"Vegeta's right." Gohan said.

"HUH?!"
"Damn straight." Vegeta said.

"This is code red now. We won't be going in there unprepared, and we can't just sit here and wait to be blown up." Gohan said. "There's a bigger thing than revenge going on here if they're willing to blow up another civilisation, and I want to know what that thing is. Zophen, is there anyway that you can get us up there?"

"Do you have any kind of space travel vehicles?" Zophen asked.

"You kidding? I got my name on half the spacecrafts up there!" Bulma said. "Leave it to me."

"Then I can get us up there undetected." Zophen said.

"Good, we move out in the morning. Hopefully Dave will be able to stall until then." Gohan said.

"You're asking the speedster to stall?" Nicholas asked.

"Hey, you're paraphrasing The Flash! Nice." Remy commented. (11)

To Be Continued…

As promised, the references explained:

-1 2 and 3 are lyrics from the song Piece of Heaven by Weiss Kreuz, which is also featured in the anime as the series' second opening theme. Translations:

(1) But at least, but at least, if I hold you tight and kiss you now. In my heart, I will know that you'll always love me, me alone.(2) Far away, far away, you await me in your Heaven. And I swear, here and now, to return before it fades away, so my love,

(4) A light sabre is the weapon used the in the Star Wars films.

(5) Tranquilliser darts.

(6) Freakazoid was a cartoon show made by the WB about 8 years ago. The basic storyline of the show was never really constant but it didn't matter when the jokes and references were better than most prime time TV shows on today. It was cancelled (so wrong!) after two seasons.

(7) This song was featured on the kids TV show Lamb Chop's Play Along, and it's what it's most famous for. Kids everywhere know this song and love to sing it to be annoying. ^_^

(8) This is a direct quote by Ed from the Cartoon Network show Ed Edd n Eddy. Edd or Double D often talks in a way which simpleton Ed cannot comprehend.

(9) Emma Frost is a character from the Marvel Comic X-Men. She currently stars in the New X-Men line up but was once part of the Hellfire club and an enemy of the X-Men. She is most famous for her razor sharp wit and revealing clothing.

(10) Death in pig-latin.

(11) The Flash is a comic book character from DC Comics. The version that Remy was referring to was most likely the incarnation on the TV show Justice League by the WB. (Who's the best character on the show, tied with Bats!)