Rifts and Changes
Chapter Sixteen: Are We Still Using The Codenames?
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z or any of its characters and properties. I also do not own anything/anyone that I make a cultural reference to in this story. I do however own the characters that I created, even though their templates are people I know
A/N: It was a long wait, I'm sorry! I wanted to get it right, and I hope you like it!
"Yamcha, should we try and…?" Goten asked.
"Nope." Yamcha said. "We'll come in when they ask for help."
"But…"
"Sorry Goten, but they should've thought about that before they dove head first into a crowd of thirty armed guards."
"We're handling it!" David yelled.
"I'm finding that very hard to believe." Yamcha sighed.
"Oh ye of little faith!" David replied. "On three Nat…"
"Did he just say ye?" Trunks asked.
"THREE!" David yelled. Natalie jumped into the air as David started to run faster and faster around the guards until they were all carried into the air by the strong wind he was making. Natalie then jumped down and found herself stuck in the mini tornado.
"Oh yes, this looks smart." Trunks replied snidely. David stopped running and all thirty guards were on the floor looking disorientated. Trunks' jaw fell to the floor in shock. "H-h-h-how!"
"Well, the sudden fast circle like motion made them dizzy." David said.
"Thus, that made them an easy target for me to layeth the smackdown." Natalie said.
"Ohhh…" Trunks said.
"Well I wasn't expecting that." Yamcha laughed.
"I expected nothing less." Goten grinned. Everyone looked at him surprised. "What? If my brother has full confidence in them, then I see no reason why I shouldn't!"
"That's so cute!" Natalie squealed.
"Geez, I forgot how annoyingly high pitched you were." David said. "I did not miss that."
"I bet you didn't miss this either." Natalie said, elbowing David in the ribs hard.
"Okay, enough horsing around." Yamcha said, running off. A beat later, the others followed him. "We have a back up plan to implement!"
In the West Tower of the Castle…
"Lomet!" A loud voice yelled throughout the halls.
"Oh joy. It's The Prince!" Lomet sighed, as she continued to braid a young woman's hair. The Prince burst through the double doors of the room Lomet and the young woman were in. The room was pink. All of it. Pastel pink. With any long material having an edge of lace. Which was also pink. The Prince himself was also pink in the face, as he had spent the last half an hour yelling around the castle yelling for Lomet.
"When I call you Lomet, I EXPECT YOU TO ANSWER STRAIGHT AWAY!" The Prince yelled.
"I'm sorry Your Majesty, but I was doing something important." Lomet replied. The Prince's eyebrow twitched.
"How is braiding my daughter's hair more important than the explosions that are happening outside!" The Prince yelled.
"Father, you know as well as I do that a member of the royal family must always look her best. No matter what." The young woman answered, with a sickly sweet tone. The Prince sweat-dropped.
"I get the feeling that I have spoiled you far too much." The Prince sighed. Lomet rolled her eyes.
"Do not worry Father, I am sure Grandfather has everything in hand." The Princess said. As if on cue, another loud explosion echoed through the castle.
"That is IT!" The Prince yelled. "We are going to the main hall!" He dragged his daughter by the hand.
"Why?" The Princess asked.
"To go and see your grandfather."
"Why?"
"So we can ask him what's going on…and please don't say why again."
"Okay…if that's where all the danger is, what is the reason for us to go in that direction?"
"…"
"Father?"
"To be honest with you, we're not safe anywhere in this castle."
"That's not very comforting." The Princess said. The Prince could hear a waver in her voice, as if she were about to cry, but he decided to ignore it and press on.
Castle Main Hall…
"Dude, why is that guy laughing?" Nicholas asked.
"That 'dude' is the King." Zophen replied. "I think he is laughing at Boss."
"Are we still using the codenames?" Uubu asked.
"That's not what I'm worried about right now." Pan replied, pointing to her father. Gohan had clocked that the King was laughing at him, and his face had become red due to the anger and embarrassment.
"Why are you laughing!" Gohan demanded. The King briefly stopped.
"It's just…you're married to her, and she looks old enough to be your mother!" The King said, promptly going back to laughing his head off.
"Shut up!" Gohan cried, charging straight for him.
"Woah." The rest of team one stared at him in awe. Before Gohan could attack the King, Mara stood in his way.
"We meet again honey." Mara said, smirking. "Most guys would give up after having their ass handed to them by a girl."
"I'm not most guys." Gohan replied. Before Mara could react, Gohan was holding her over his head and tossed her to the other side of the room.
"Oh my God!" Pan yelled, as she started to run over to Mara.
"Pan, stop." Gohan said. Pan looked at him like he was crazy. "Like you said, that's not your mother. Besides, she can take more than that."
"I think it's safe to say 'Badass Gohan' has joined us after an absence of many years." Nicholas said, as the rest of team one nodded in awe and started to applaud.
"Then let us take the example of our leader, and attack!" Zophen said.
"FATHER!" The Prince's voiced echoed throughout the main hall. Zophen face-faulted.
"Poor Zophen…he was all cute and ready to attack!" Pan said sadly.
"Your priorities shift easier than luggage in the overhead compartment of an aeroplane." Drake said snidely.
"Please son, this doesn't concern you!" The King said.
"It does when there are a million bombs going off around us!" The Prince, so engrossed in his rage, chose to ignore everyone and everything else in the room. Mara got up dazed.
"Huh…I'm a little surprised that you attacked me." Mara said, shakily getting up.
"I know. I was counting on that." Gohan said, as he charged again. Mara attacked too, this time blocking all his punches and kicks.
"Aren't you afraid of damaging your wife's body?" Mara asked, finally connecting a punch to Gohan's chin. He looked unaffected.
"Injuries can be healed. Broken bones fixed. Her mind is the most important thing now, and I'm going to get it back." Gohan said, returning her punch threefold. She went flying across the room.
"Anyone else think this match is a little unbalanced?" Andrea asked, looking at the fight through her fingers.
"I'm having a hard time watching both fights." Zophen replied. The second fight he was referring to was the one between father and son.
"What on Earth have you gotten us into this time!" The Prince yelled.
"How dare you take that tone with me!" The King yelled back.
"In trusting Medilan, you've brought havoc to this planet! Instead of doing what is best for your people, you keep worrying about someone usurping your throne!"
"Of course! You think I am going to allow some outsider to just rule over this planet!"
"They would do a better job than you are right now! You sound like a crazy old man, jabbering on about something that would never have happened if you were not so scared of it!"
"Zing and a half." Drake said, nodding in approval.
Back to Team Two…
"Ahh, so this is what you meant by back up plan!" Trunks said, smiling.
"I still don't get it, what's Gandalf gonna do? Throw his staff at the bad guys?" David said.
"For the last time, I am not Gandalf!" The Elder said. Yamcha was busy at work opening the cell that was holding The Elder.
"Done!" Yamcha said.
"Amazing, I have been trying for a long time to open this and I could not! How did you manage it?" The Elder asked. Yamcha blushed in embarrassment.
"Well…" Yamcha said, sweat-dropping. "That's not important right now! Sir, Inerl told us that the original legend manuscript is kept here and you know how to get it."
"That's right. It is the reason I was imprisoned." The Elder replied. Yamcha grabbed The Elder and put him on his back. "What are you…!"
"I'm sorry but we don't have much time!" Yamcha said. "Direct me to that place! Inerl said that there may be something in there that can tell us how to stop Medilan."
"Very well then. The quickest way is down that hall!" The Elder said. Yamcha sped off with the others running behind him.
"If I had known we were gonna do this much running, I would've gone with Boss's team." Trunks sighed.
"Turn left here!" The Elder said, looking visibly pale.
"Sir, please stop holding my neck so tight. I still need to breathe!" Yamcha said, as he made a sharp left.
"I've got the old 70s Scooby-Doo theme song running through my head." David said. (1)
"So do I!" Natalie said.
"Why are you guys so weird?" Trunks asked.
"There was this theory that there was something in the water, the year we were born." David said.
"That and the TV we grew up on was…well, weird to say the least!" Natalie said.
"I'm gonna go with the water thing." Trunks said, with Goten nodding in agreement.
"We are here." The Elder said. Yamcha put him down. They had entered a room that had nothing in it except a big stone wall. Team Two sweat-dropped in confusion. "No one outside of the royal family has ever seen this. The copies of the legend that we have seen are all…well, copies."
"Interesting." Trunks said dryly. "Can we get on with the hocus pocus?"
"Right." The Elder said. He started to mutter some words in the Tocohperan language. When he had finished, writing started to appear on the big stone wall.
"Woah…"
"Indeed." The Elder replied. "Oh dear…it says here that in order to access the legend, a descendent of the royal family must place their hand on the stone wall."
"Well that's just great, we don't know the royal family." Trunks said.
"Not to mention the head honcho seems to have a vendetta against us anyhow." David added.
"Guys, isn't Videl-san the REAL descendent of the royal family?" Goten asked.
"Yes, but she's evil now." Trunks said.
"Well then can't we just go get Cory?"
"He's on Earth."
"How about Pan-chan?"
"Hmm…that should work!" Trunks said.
"I worry about the future if it takes us that long to figure out anything." Natalie said, smiling uneasily. "David?"
"On it dude." David said, as he left at super speed.
Back in the main hall…
"Captain, I think it's time we…" Dimethic started to say. Medilan nodded.
"Mara, come here." Medilan yelled. Mara stopped fighting with Gohan and ran over to stand next to Medilan and Dimethic. Dimethic proceeded to put a protective force field around the three of them.
"NO!" Gohan yelled as he flew over to them and tried to punch his way through the force field.
"Uh oh…that does not bode well." Andrea said.
"My father, your grandfather, trusted Medilan with his life!" The King said.
"Yeah! And he died before he should have, does that not bother you in the slightest?" The Prince asked. The King sighed.
"Leave. We are to discuss this no longer."
"I am not a child Father, you cannot just dismiss me when I say something you do not like!"
"I can, and I have." The King said.
"Both of you, you must stop this arguing!" Zophen said, trying to stop the two from coming to blows.
"Give her back you coward!" Gohan yelled, pummelling on the force field.
"Time to give Gohan some back up guys!" Nicholas said.
"Ready Pan? Pan?" Drake said, noticing she was gone. "Freaky." He looked around and noticed a note stuck on his father's back. It said: 'Pan's with us…kick Nick real hard! Love David'. "Super speed is definitely useful."
Back to Team Two…
"What am I doing here?" Pan demanded.
"You've been demoted." Trunks said.
"NANI!" Pan said, growing angrier by the second. Goten stood between the two of them.
"He's kidding!" Goten said. "We need you to unlock some ancient text. It can only be opened by you, Cory or Videl."
"Aha…so you need me!" Pan said, smirking.
"This, young Goten, is what I was trying to avoid." Trunks sighed. Goten sweat-dropped.
"Pan, we do not have time for this." Yamcha said.
"I know that!" Pan said. "I wanna know what's in it for me, that's all."
"Shrewd." David commented.
"I thought so." Pan replied.
"Pan, sweetie, if you do not do this, I will be forced to tell Drake your secret." Natalie said.
"You wouldn't dare!" Pan said.
"Try me." Natalie said, smiling in a very creepy way.
"Fine." Pan said. "I was only joking." Pan went to the wall and placed her hand there. The writing that was there disappeared and more writing appeared. The Elder started to read through it.
"Everything looks the same…wait, except this." The Elder said. "There's no mention of the corruption that has caused you all to come here."
"Wasn't that key in the whole 'Gohan is Aragorn' bit?" Trunks asked.
"Yes, it was." The Elder said. "Oh no…it was just as Inerl feared…"
"Stop with the cryptic Gandalf, what's going on?" Natalie asked.
Back to the main hall…
"Enough of this foolishness." Dimethic said, as he charged a psychic blast that made Gohan and the rest of team one (sans Zophen) fly across the room.
"Owww…anyone notice that this happens to us an awful lot?" Nicholas said, rubbing his head.
"I think it's about time." Medilan said.
Back to Team Two…
"There is a traitor to The King. That is what has caused you to come." The Elder said.
"And five yen, I know who that is." Trunks said.
"Five yen? You're cheap for a billionaire!" Yamcha smirked.
Back to the main hall…
"Time for what?" Mara asked. Medilan held out his hands, and a green ball of electric style energy emerged. He fired and it went straight through the King's torso, barely missing the Prince. "Oh. That."
"GRANDFATHER!" The Princess shrieked.
"Who the heck let the high pitched chickie in here!" Drake cried, covering his ears.
"What are you doing!" Gohan cried, looking at Medilan in shock. "He was your King!"
"I think Tocopherat can do without a monarchy." Medilan said. Gohan's eyes widened in shock.
"Shimatta!" Gohan cried, as he flew off towards the Prince. He took him in his arms and flew upwards to avoid Medilan's second strike. "SOMEONE GET THE PRINCESS!"
"On it!" Drake said, grabbing the girl and putting her over his shoulder.
"What do you think you are doing! You cannot touch me, I am royalty!" The Princess cried.
"Okay girl, you're speaking in your native tongue. So you don't understand me, and I can't understand you." Drake said. The Princess continued to cry in protest. "Aiya…"
"Everyone, retreat!" Gohan said.
"Boss, you're kidding me right? We haven't gotten Videl yet!" Nicholas yelled.
"We'll come back for her later! If we don't leave now, we're gonna have an intergalactic crisis on our hands!" Gohan said. "Cover us Uubu!"
"Right!" Uubu said, as he deflected Medilan's attacks while everyone else made their way out of the main hall and out of the castle.
Back to Team Two…
"We'd better tell Gohan." Yamcha said. But Gohan beat him to the punch.
"YAMCHA-SAN, ARE YOU THERE!"
"OW! Yes, but I don't think I can hear anymore!"
"THERE'S NO TIME FOR JOKES NOW! MEDILAN JUST KILLED THE KING!"
"Crap, I guess we were too late." Natalie sighed.
"WE'VE GOT THE PRINCE AND HIS DAUGTHER WITH US! DO YOU REMEMBER WHERE WE WERE SUPPOSED TO MEET IF ANYTHING WENT WRONG!"
"Hai…" Yamcha said, holding the ear piece at arms length.
"GOOD, WE'LL SEE YOU THERE! BE CAREFUL!"
"Kid needs to learn to use his indoor voice." Yamcha sighed. "Okay, you heard Gohan. We've got to get going."
A few hours later…
"…reports that King Raben is dead. The Captain of the Tocopheran Army was there, but unfortunately could not stop this great tragedy from happening. While it has yet to be proven, Captain Medilan Sterylin has named the King's son, Prince Rofen as the culprit. So far, the whereabouts of Prince Rofen and his daughter are unknown. We'll bring you more as the story develops."
"Huh…so, you do get the news over here." David said, as he stared the holographic image. Both Teams, plus Inerl, The Elder and the royals had gone into hiding. They were in a small house that was cloaked by Inerl's magic.
"David, this isn't really the time to be in awe of their technology." Andrea whispered, indicating the grieving royals.
"Oops." David sweat-dropped.
"I cannot believe this has happened." Prince Rofen said. He was holding his daughter, who was weeping uncontrollably. "What are we to do now?"
"I…I am sorry. I do not know." The Elder said. He took the royals to another room, so that the others could talk.
"I do." Gohan said. "We know who the true enemy is now."
"As if we didn't before." Trunks muttered.
"We do the smart thing this time. Go underground. Do some investigating. But we strike while the iron is hot." Gohan said.
"Have you got a plan?" Inerl asked.
"I do." Gohan said. "But first, we need to rest."
"I heard that." Nicholas said. "Making loads of me is exhausting."
"I can imagine. Taking care of just one of you tires me out enough." Natalie replied.
The Tocopheran Army HQ…
"That is enough for today, the Captain will answer all your questions tomorrow." Dimethic said, pushing the last of the reporters out of Medilan's office.
"I wish you had told me your plan Medilan." Mara said, looking out of his office window.
"Would it have made a difference?" Medilan asked.
"Yes, if I had known you were going to kill him then I wouldn't have watched my manners around him."
"We have more pressing issues." Medilan said. "The appearance of these Decolains means that the Earth was not destroyed, like you claimed."
"I told you. They are more resistant that you give them credit for." Mara said. Inside, she felt a twinge inside her. She was not sure if it was guilt or relief.
"It does not matter much. I did not want Earth destroyed in the first place. Just Son Gohan and anyone in relation to him."
"For killing your father."
"That's what I said, isn't it?" Medilan smiled.
"I wouldn't worry about Son Gohan's friends, sir. Thanks to Mara, I anticipated something like this would happen." Dimethic said. "It's all been…taken care of."
Back on Earth…
"So, what are you up to these days Remy?" Alex asked. Remy laughed nervously.
"Okay, this is too weird for me!" Remy said, as she left him standing there.
"So suddenly…" Alex sighed.
DING DONG
"I'll get it!" Bulma said, as she ran to the door. Just as quickly, she was thrown across the room in a blast.
"BULMA!" Vegeta yelled, as he ran to check on her. "She's alive…barely."
"We were told there were still some rats left." Anthius said. He had a 25 strong group behind him. "Don't worry, the exterminator's here."
"Well…if that wasn't a plot twist I was totally expecting." Remy said.
To Be Continued…
You guys are gonna hate me now! I'm sorry! I will try my best to get the next chappie out. There's not much of the story left, so hang in there!
(1) As you probably all remember, the old 70s Scooby Doo cartoon used to have a chase scene in every episode, and every chase scene had a song.
Woo, just the one. Good for me!
