Chapter 6: Uncoordinated Coordinated Assault

A/N: Hi everyone. Just so everyone knows I updated chapter two, so some weirdness should be sorted out there. Also, I'm going to start posting reviews at the bottoms of chapters as an added incentive for people to write them;). With that, on to the chapter!


Two figures crouched through the undergrowth, sending squirrels and rabbits skittering away from them. Low to the ground, they moved at a snail's pace, focusing on hearing any noteworthy sound that came from the forest.

A rustle of leaves. Both flattened their bodies to the ground, staring out to a clearing in front of them. A few seconds passed in strained attention. Then, a doe exited from a bush into the clearing, taking a moment to look around before moving on through the forest. A baby deer followed close behind. The two figures waited a few seconds for the animals to pass out of sight, then wordlessly resumed their sneak.

The trees were becoming sparser. Stumps here and there punctuated full-grown oaks and firs. Some of the trees were damaged on their trunks, holes crisscrossing the barks seemingly at random. The layout of the forest became more refined and ordered until finally, they encountered a straight line of trimmed trees with trunks wrapped with some sort of paper. Beyond this line of trees stood a sandy clearing, stretching for maybe one hundred yards before ending in a small open-air bunker, tables and chairs facing towards the line of trees. Sandbags were stacked both near the furniture and at the base of the trees.

The firing range. Right on target. Rayne caught Chi-Chi's eyes and gestured to the bunker. She nodded and took point, moving to the side of the firing range and peering over the barrier to see if anyone was milling around outside. After a moment, she resumed her walk towards the furniture across the sand. Guess that means this outpost is either not being used or its guards are on patrol. Either way, good for us. Rayne quietly followed Chi-Chi until they reached the row of tables and chairs, moving up to flank a door with her companion. Chi-Chi withdrew a candle and placed it on the ground. She closed her eyes and held out her hands over the candle. Soon enough, a flame ignited, blueish in tinge and waving ever so slightly. Opening her eyes, Chi-Chi examined the candle before she smiled to Rayne, extinguishing the candle as she did. Both of the two stood up and walked through the door, opening and closing it behind them.

The room they entered was a strange mix of everything that could possibly be needed at a military outpost. Beds and footlockers were crammed into one corner of the room, close enough to make movement out of the area complicated. Next to them was a row of showers, divided by concrete walls and covered by thin plastic curtains. A vast chunk of the rest of the room was taken up by living quarters; tables, chairs, and old couches dominated most of the area, with a few sets of cards out and a small, old CCTV on a nightstand against a wall. In the last fourth of the room was a couple of standing lockers with ammunition and weapons stacked nearby in crates.

"This is pretty disgusting." Chi-Chi looked over to Rayne, who was looking at a dirty shirt on the ground. "They treat this place like it's a college bathroom."

Chi-Chi shrugged. "I wouldn't know much about college bathrooms, to be honest."

"Well, me neither, I'm just going off from what I heard…" Rayne trailed off, forgetting why she had brought up the point in the first place. She walked over to the footlockers by the beds and rummaged through them while Chi-Chi peered over her shoulder. After a few moments of searching, she found what she was looking for.

"Got it!" Rayne pulled out an old map stained with some sort of undefinable brown liquid. She brought it over to one of the tables and unfurled it, bringing her finger to a large square on the map. "Here. This is where the Red Ribbon's experimental weapons lab is. All sorts of high tech weaponry are stored there. I guarantee that if we get inside, we'll find something that for sure can take out Kakarot. Just a matter of getting in…"

"HEY!"

Chi-Chi and Rayne spun around. Three semi-naked Red-Ribbon soldiers stood about ten feet away, dressed in their undershirts and boxers and blinking their eyes to shake off their sleepiness. They had entered through a door to the outside next to the gun lockers.

"We go out for a nice morning walk and some thieves walk right into our home. Now we can finally put something in our report, eh?" One of the soldiers said elbowing another.

Rayne shared a look with Chi-Chi. They needed some catharsis.

When the first soldier reached for a handgun in the nearest locker, he found his way blocked. "Wha-" was all he said before he was cut off by a punch landing in his gut, doubling him over to the ground gasping in pain. Casually, Rayne stepped over the prostrated man and locked eyes with the two startled men a few feet away from them.

Frantically, one gestured to the other to follow, and both of them charged at Rayne. The front one got a foot towards Rayne before the body of the second collided with his back, toppling him and the other man onto the ground. Chi-Chi had come from behind and shoved the second man forward. Thrashing on the ground, both men received two kicks to the guts from Rayne. Groans of pain filled the room.

Chi-Chi wasn't done. She had crouched down to the first man who was hit and was considering what to do with him. She was palming the hilt of her hammer in her hand. Rayne placed a hand on her shoulder. "They know nothing about us. Let's just go. We don't have time to waste."

Nodding, Chi-Chi rose and walked over to the doorway, taking one second to look back on the room before going outside. Rayne promptly followed.

After a minute of debilitating pain, one of the men moved and lifted his head to the two others. "We… ow…. don't mention this to anyone. Agreed?"

Two heads, through terrible pain, nodded.

0o0o0

The group broke camp at dusk. Oolong had bitterly accepted some duties helping out in the camp; Puar made sure to keep an eye on him for any shape-shifting mischief. As soon as dinner was done, Bulma withdrew with superhuman speed into her capsule house. Some things change, some things don't, Krillin thought, amused.

Which was fine. It left Krillin and Yamcha more uninterrupted time to train. One of the first things Krillin decided was necessary for both him and Yamcha was to master was serenity. Both of them suffered from distracted minds, in Yamcha's case anger, and in Krillin's case anxiety. Both needed to overcome these challenges if they were going to progress any further in their training. Or, at least that's what Krillin was always told by the head monks at his temple. A part of him wondered if they were too lazy to bother training the students how to solve their own problems.

Regardless, Krillin thought there was some merit to meditating… for a time. They could only stay silent for so long, mentally bashing their heads against an unbudging wall, before they wanted to express some energy through sparring. Krillin had done his best to try to refine Yamcha's fighting style, but it was proving a challenge. The former bandit was prone to unbalanced and aggressive moves that left him exposed in a fight. Whenever Krillin tried to point this out, Yamcha would shake off the criticism, claiming 'it's just a part of my fighting style, get over it.' Krillin refused to believe that sloppiness and randomness could be the basis for an entire style.

Still, Yamcha was definitely improving; what he lacked in training he made up with creativity, improving his tactical sense and further developing regiments to train his body. The other day he had made baseball into a training exercise - the only difference was that instead of a baseball he used a ten-pound rock. It was definitely exhausting and hurt like hell to catch the ball, but it was fun and kept training fresh. Yamcha seemed to be filled with good, albeit unreasonable, ideas.

And what do I have? What do I bring to the table? The two of them were in the midst of another session of meditation; as always, Krillin's mind turned to rumination. I don't have Yamcha's experimentality and free spirit. All I have is the knowledge I learned from the temple, and every day I have less and less of that to use. When the day comes where I've taught all I know to Yamcha, what then? What will I have to offer? One thing's for sure; when this quest is over I'm going to need to find a new teacher. Or at least create some new sagacious lessons.

Krillin opened his eyes. Yamcha seemed to be giving this session extra concentration. Well, better to not disturb him. Krillin decided it would be best if he went for a walk to clear his mind and check in with the other members of the party. He got up and left Yamcha sitting in a field.

The former monk walked over to the fire at the center of camp. Oolong sat there, sullen and bound, facing it. As Krillin approached, the pig briefly turned and examined him, before grunting and turning back to the fire. Could be worse, I guess. I could be a prisoner like this poor guy. Krillin looked over to Puar, who floated nearby, stoic features lit by the flickering fire. Her eyes were firmly on Oolong. She seems to be taking this seriously.

"Krillin," she spoke, jarring Krillin out of his thoughts. Did I ever tell you how exactly I know Oolong?" Her eyes continued to bore into the pig.

"No, actually. You only said you two were in shapeshifting school together."

Puar nodded. "I want to explain to everyone about my time in that school, and how I knew Oolong. Could you do me a favor and get everyone over here?"

"Yea sure, I can do that." Krillin faced Yamcha's general direction and shouted, "Yo Yamcha! I think we're good on meditating. Come over here, it's storytime." In the distance, Krillin saw Yamcha rise to his feet, brush some dirt off himself, and begin walking over. "Is Bulma still in the house?"

Puar nodded yes.

"Alright, I'll go knock. Doubt that she'd hear me yelling from inside; I swear that house is made out of some noise dampening, space-age technology…" Krillin jogged over to Bulma's house and knocked on the door (delicately, this time). He heard some movement before a head opened and peered at him through a shutter. Krillin internally groaned. Seriously Bulma? Who else is going to be knocking on your door, out here in the middle of nowhere? Someone who wants to sell you solar panels? Bulma looked at him for a few seconds, before moving to the door and opening it, popping her head out. She looked tired and a bit frazzled. "What? I'm kind of busy."

"Puar wants everyone to come to the fire. She's going to explain how she knows Oolong," Krillin said dryly.

Bulma frowned. "Well, she better make it quick. I was planned on being asleep five minutes ago. One second." She closed the door and Krillin heard some rustling. Bulma emerged in a white robe, sash tied around her waist, with feet tucked into sandals. As she exited her house, she closed the door behind her. "Lead the way. Oh, and there's probably something I should tell everyone."

"Hmm?" Krillin started walking back towards the fire. "What's that?"

"Well, I've been watching the radar for a couple days now, keeping tabs on the remaining dragon balls left. If the legend and the radar are to believed, we have four of the seven dragonballs in our possession, so there's still three out there to be found. One seems to be moving around but in no particular direction. Another one isn't moving; it's still the same coordinates where it's been for the past couple weeks. If I had to guess, it's either lying around in a forest or in some sort of storage compound. Either way, we're a few days away from it. Though, if I had to guess between the two possibilities, I'd say it's a storage compound, considering what the last dragonball is doing; moving towards it."

"So what are you suggesting? There's another group out there trying to collect the dragonballs?" The two of them had reached the fire, where Puar floated while watching Oolong, Yamcha standing with his arms crossed.

"Yea." Bulma appraised everyone else in the circle. "Just so you guys know, it looks like we're gonna have to fight someone else for the next dragonball. Which'll probably be in a few days."

Yamcha shrugged. "Sounds about right. Puar, you said you had something to say?"

Puar nodded. "I felt it was time to explain to everyone how I knew Oolong, though you've probably heard most of it, Yamcha."

He waved his hand, dismissing the idea. "I'm sure there are some things you haven't told me. I'll stick around, see if I learn anything new."

"Right then. Well everyone, as you know I'm a shapeshifter. I don't remember much of my early life but I do remember that for as long as I can remember, I've been able to shapeshift, though not as well as I can now. Whereas I can now take entirely different forms, when I was younger I could only change a few characteristics of myself at a time. Just being able to do those few things was useful for stealing something and blending into a crowd, but it was by no means foolproof. It was during one of few times that I got caught and was hauled into a police station that a man strolled into the building, talked to the officer at the desk, and had me out in five minutes. It turns out this man ran a shapeshifting school and recruited students with talent."

"The school gave me the first taste of normality, strangely enough. While we were expected to train for long periods of the day changing into different forms, including learning how to control your mood (which is an important part of successful shapeshifting), the teachers were always kind and patient with us. By every account, they treated us like members of their own family. Considering the fact that most of the students grew up alone on the streets, this was an immensely kind thing to do on their part. Oolong was one of those students at the school, who was taken from the streets into a makeshift community."

"It was only towards the end of my education did I learn the true purpose of the school; every graduate was immediately coerced into joining an underground crime syndicate. Our school was essentially a tool for our benefactors get rich from elaborate crimes and heists. Some of the more brutal students went on to become assassins and hitmen." Puar shuddered. "It wasn't a pleasant realization."

"When I told Oolong about what was to become of all the students- how we were going to be forced into a life of crime without any choice- we decided to do something about it. We rallied the other students and revolted against the teachers, destroying the school and the crime career pipeline in the process. To this day I haven't heard of another school being set up to replace the destroyed one, but I make sure to keep my ears open for any possible rumors."

"Which leads me to my present confusion." Puar turned to Oolong. "Why would you do something so reprehensible, Oolong? The pig who ruled as a tyrant was not the pig I remember."

Oolong intentionally avoided Puar's eyes, instead staring into the fire. He began speaking in a low, quiet tone. "It wasn't something I wanted to do, at least originally. My entire life I had tried to get a sense of normalcy, and while I agree that breaking up the school was necessary, it destroyed any sense of stability I had. If I was going to have a home, I was going to have to fight to make it happen…"

"So you decided to do so at the expense of an entire town of people? How is that justifiable?"

Oolong abruptly met Puar's gaze, eyes burning like coals. "What do you know of right and wrong? Of what to do to feel at peace? I don't know what you experienced after we parted ways, but the time I spent after the school was destroyed was worse than growing up on the streets! I drifted from city to city, looking for something, anything, to keep my head above water, but I was a pig and was pushed to the fringes of society. Crime, it turned out, was all I knew. I just took the natural step in Rose City and made my schemes more complex."

"Really? Oolong..." Puar blinked back a tear, the truth hitting her in full. Not everyone was as lucky as me. Her eyes drifted to Yamcha, still standing with his arms crossed. Not everyone could meet a friend like Yamcha. She turned back to Oolong, who was downcast, his head in his lap. For all he did, he doesn't deserve this. I may not be able to free him now, but if I work on everyone for a few days time… maybe they'll let him go. "I'm sorry that happened to you Oolong. I truly am. At the very least, do you recognize that what you did was wrong?"

Oolong kept his head in his lap for a second, then raised it and looked towards Puar. "Yes. Though, there was nothing I could have done to stop it."

Throughout the whole experience Bulma, Krillin, and Yamcha remained silent. They were a bit hard to read at the moment, but Puar thought she sensed some compassion for the sad pig in front of them. Time would tell.

"Well," Bulma finally said, "I think that's enough storytime for today. We should get to bed. Chances are we're going to stumble onto the next dragonball soon and we don't want to be tired for that. Goodnight," she said, walking away while waving an arm towards everyone. Krillin nudged Yamcha and the two of them said goodnight to Puar and headed over to their bedrolls. Puar was left alone with Oolong, still staring at the pig, who had resumed looking into the fire. What do you see in that fire Oolong? Your past, present, or future?...

0o0o0

It took a few days for Rayne and Chi-Chi to reach the Red Ribbon Army lab. It seemed to have been intentionally placed far away from any sort of settlement; it provided secrecy for whatever the Red Ribbon Army was up to. Hopefully this translated into fewer guards and security measures to get through. Rayne preferred that their entry and exit be as sneaky as possible. I'd rather not send the base into alert if I can help it…

At the moment they were both crouched in front of a chain-link fence, pushing up against the undergrowth behind them. In this section of the fence, vines had climbed and choked the chains, obscuring them to anyone in the base beyond. Rayne and Chi-Chi were peering around this virtual wall of vines towards the base itself. Because the chain link fence had barbed wire topping it, they were going to need to find another way in.

The area enclosed by the fence was a grouping of a few concrete buildings, maybe about three or four, that had guard towers interplaced between them. Soldiers milled around in these, gazing out into the surrounding area. The building in the center of the base looked like a three-story office building. If Rayne's hunch was correct, any and all storage would be in the basement of that building, the most remote part of the base to any person trying to infiltrate it. Unfortunately, the most remote place was also the most guarded. Guards flanked every entrance of the three-story building, and most of the watchtowers were arranged to have a direct line of sight towards at least two of the building's entrances. The longer Rayne looked, the harder it became for her to imagine sneaking in successfully. I don't even see a way through this chain-link fence except for the front entrance. Not good.

She turned to Chi-Chi, trying to determine if she was feeling similarly hopeless. Rayne was surprised to see Chi-Chi's eyes closed in concentration, kneeling on the ground with one hand outstretched on the dirt in front of her. She started walking over to tap her on the shoulder.

And then she remembered. Oh right. We circled the base before. She probably put down more of those… candle things. Ki detection. Did she sense something? Rayne waited next to Chi-Chi, every once in awhile looking back past the vines to keep tabs on the guards. Eventually, Chi-Chi opened her eyes and quietly called over Rayne.

"I sense something." She stated flatly.

"Can't give any more information than that?"

Chi-Chi shook her head. "Unfortunately, no. My candle trick senses someone's presence but doesn't help to identify them. For all we know, it could be anyone."

"Could it be him?" Rayne didn't want to ask the question but felt compelled to broach the topic.

Scrunching her face, Chi-Chi paused to consider. "Possible, but unlikely. If he was here he probably would have charged right into the base, caution thrown to the wind and such. Whoever is here is taking their time identifying possible entryways into the base; otherwise, we'd be hearing a lot of commotion right now from the guards.

"This second person or people is/are going to be a problem, aren't they?"

"Dunno. Depends on how they proceed. Though, if we're lucky, they'll distract the guards in some way and give us a chance to get inside that office building. My recommendation would be to wait and see what they do." Chi-Chi shrugged.

"Well, I guess we're in no rush. What's another couple minutes?" Rayne walked over to a stump, sitting down and laying back against the wood.

And quickly fell asleep.

She was jolted awake by Chi-Chi shaking her body. "Rayne! RAYNE!" she yelled in the loudest whisper possible. "You dozed off for half an hour. Things are happening! Look!"

Rayne rubbed her eyes. Things were indeed happening. The guards were rapidly filling out of the outermost positions and watchtowers, rushing back into the three-story office building. Distant thuds and shots could be heard in the distance. The retreating guards had their guns drawn, aimed forward as they ran.

She looked over to the chain-link and tiny concrete checkpoint entryway to the base. The guards had abandoned that as well. "Well, this will be simple. Let's waltz right over to that entrance over there an-"

Rayne was cut off by a crunching, shearing sound. She looked back towards the vine-covered section of the fence and a whole part had been cleaved and pushed through, opening up a person-sized hole to walk through. Rayne glanced towards Chi-Chi, who was holstering an ax onto her back. Rayne must have been glaring as Chi-Chi quickly responded with "What? They're distracted. This is faster than walking around. C'mon, let's go."

The two of them quickly climbed through the fence.

They found themselves inside the lobby of the office building in a few minutes. It was a decently-sized room, with a presently vacant receptionist desk and a few chairs against the opposite wall. The guards Rayne and Chi-Chi had seen enter not thirty seconds ago were nowhere to be seen.

"Now," Rayne playfully said, "if I was a hidden chamber, where would I be?" She walked over to the receptionist desk and checked underneath the top of the desk. Nada. She examined the paintings on the wall, flipping them over and checking the wall for any pitted grooves. Nope. Finally, she turned towards the chairs and began moving them all over the place, twisting and turning every single one, but nothing out of the ordinary caught her eye. Rayne frowned. "It has to be somewhere, come on…"

Voices suddenly came from outside. Chi-Chi ran over and grabbed Rayne. "This will have to wait. Into the next room, now!" She pulled her through a doorway deeper into the building, closing the door behind them.

The next room was smaller than the last. Strangely enough, the room was a small square, clean white tile serving as the floor. There was nothing in the room except for Rayne and Chi-Chi themselves.

"Very odd," Rayne pronounced, walking forward, "Perhaps there's a secret entrance in her-"

The ground shook, then flipped, as the section of tile Rayne was standing over spun and flung her downwards. hurtling her a good five feet before she landed on something soft. Something fleshy. What the-

"RAYNE!" Rayne jolted her head up towards the sound, seeing Chi-Chi's head looking down the opening she had fallen through. "There's a door to the left of you. I'm going to take the door to the left up here and try and find another way around to you." Rayne couldn't tell if Chi-Chi was pale or if it was the white lighting and tiles casting a weird sheen on her face. "Just… don't examine the room around you. I'll see you soon." With that, she disappeared from sight.

Rayne stretched her limbs, making sure she didn't injure anything in the fall. She didn't need to look around her to confirm what she already knew. I've fallen into a damn corpse dump. Not the first time I've fallen onto a pile of bodies, though... Shaking away the memory, Rayne did her best to ignore what was around her and moved towards the door on her left. After a few brief seconds, she reached and opened it.

This room was decidedly different from the room she had just been in. It was a veritable warehouse, with stacks of wooden crates reaching all the way up to the ceiling. She could barely see more than a few feet in any direction; the room had been constructed as a virtual maze. Doesn't seem to be the most efficient means of storing items, but who am I to judge? Listening for any sounds, and hearing none, Rayne closed to the nearest crate and lifted the lid, curious to see what was inside. Rack of assault rifles and some ammunition. Pass. She lifted the lid to another one. Grenades of all sorts filled the box to the brim. Ooh, these could be more useful. Rayne took off her pack and started eagerly filling it with grenades. She had the pack about halfway full when she heard a metal groaning sound, coming from somewhere nearby but still out of her sight. Looking for a spot to hide, the best she could find was a crate maze dead end, so she quickly moved over and crouched at the end, hoping the lack of light would disguise her. She slowed her breathing, taking great pains to make no sound as the metal groaning sound stopped somewhere in the room. An elevator, perhaps? So either it's Chi-Chi or... company.

She could hear some voices talking, but they were too quiet to be intelligible. A few words, though, did manage to float over to her.

"Base is a nightmare…"

"...could it be here?"

"...says somewhere…"

"Around this corner, here!"

It was clear that it was two people speaking. They had grown louder until they were right around the corner from Rayne. She slowly withdrew a grenade from her backpack, ready to pull the pin and throw at the first sight of someone. However, the footsteps stopped right before coming into visual sight. Still considering whether to throw a grenade around the corner, Rayne continued to listen in to their conversation.

"You sure this is the right crate? Doesn't look very different from the rest of them…"

"Just look at the radar, it's right on top of us. Give me a hand pulling this out." Rayne heard some grunting and scratching until she heard the distinctive sound of something being pulled from a shelf and hitting the ground with a thump.

"Jeez, what did they put in that box? Uranium?" one voice said while audibly panting.

"Only one way to find out." Rayne heard a wood lid being lifted. "Hah! It was in a metal crate inside the wooden crate! Explains the weight. Looks locked though… hmm…"

"Not to worry. I got the thing from Bulma right here." A hissing sound went through the air, as the fuss of hot air collided with metal. A few seconds later she heard something heavy clink to the ground. "There. The lock's off. Open it up."

After another section of groaning, Rayne could hear the telltale signs of a metal joint being lifted, finally flipping over and clanging against the side as gravity took it down and fully backward. She then heard some rummaging until one of them gave a whoop. "Got it."

Okay. So very clearly these people aren't Red Ribbon- otherwise, they wouldn't have needed to melt a lock off. This must have been the group of people who infiltrated earlier. But that doesn't make sense. These two are talking away while sneaking around in a base. Do they understand anything about stealth? How the hell did they get inside?

Rayne grimaced in the dark, putting away her grenade. Guess these questions aren't going to be answered anytime soon. Guess I'll just wait until they leave and then-

Oh crap.

Rayne was face to face with the two people she was eavesdropping on, who had rounded the corner and discovered her in her hiding spot. One, from the looks of it, was a bald boy (maybe a teen? hard to tell) monk, loose, neutral color clothes clinging to his body and wooden sandals on his feet. In his left hand was a circle-shaped object. An orange ball was in his right hand. To his left was a slightly taller teen, unkempt hair peeking out of his dusty brown scarf wrapped around his neck and lower head. He wore the clothes of the desert, grey and brown fabric tied down to his body with bands and belts at his waist, wrists, and ankles. In his left hand was a blowtorch, presumably producing the sound she had heard earlier. They seemed about equal in age to Rayne. Both of them looked very surprised to see she was crouching in the darkness.

The one to Rayne's left opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again. The one on the right used his free hand to scratch his head. "How much did you hear of all that, exactly?" he asked nervously.

"Enough." Hopefully, I can convince these idiots I have some leverage over them.

"Well," the one of the left said, "you don't look like a Red Ribbon soldier. Were you sneaking in like us?"

Well, I was a Red Ribbon Army and I'd hardly call your actions up until this point sneaky, but regardless… "Yeah, I was. Still am, too." Now, do I appeal to their practicality or their sympathy? "I was with my friend and we got separated in this building. I'm a little freaked out that I can't find her…"

Their expressions changed instantly. Severe for the situation given to them. They looked towards each other and nodded. "This complicates our plans, but who are we to not help someone in need? Let's find your friend." Said the one who looked like a monk, extending a hand towards Rayne. She hesitated for a second, looking at the hand, before meeting his eyes and shaking. Well, this was unexpected. Not unwelcome, though.

As they walked back into the crate maze, Rayne felt a bit disoriented by the maze's lack of distinguishing features. She fought off the urge to question her helpers until they rounded another corner and found themselves looking straight at a freight elevator. The two walked in and beckoned Rayne inside. Guess this is where they came in from- this must have been that metal sound from before. She walked inside and moved toward the back of the elevator. One of them pressed a button and the elevator started ascending.

"What's your name?" The one to the right of her asked after no one had talked for a few seconds.

"Rayne." I should be more cautious… but meh. They're goofy enough. She smiled, asking, "What about you two?"

"I'm Yamcha," the one at the buttons gestured with his thumb, "and his name is Krillin."

They didn't really know what to talk about for the rest of the elevator ride, so they sat there in silence until the elevator came to a stop. The doors were about to open when Yamcha very quickly said "Oh-by-the-way-we-have-a-plan-just-roll-with-it."

"You're under arrest!" A guard quickly emerged from behind the doors, producing three sets of shackles and affixing one to Krillin. Rayne was about to try and bolt out of the elevator when Yamcha elbowed her. Don't run, his eyes said. This is part of the plan. Wary, Rayne let herself be shackled, glaring at Yamcha the entire time. When the guard finished Rayne glanced at him only to find that he had whiskers and was winking at her. As soon as this happened, the whiskers disappeared and the guard returned to his resting grouchy face. Something's not quite right here.

Yamcha was the last person to be shackled. Checking their locks one more time, the guard then led them down a hallway. Bright white light made it difficult to tell how far they'd walked.

"So," the guard asked, "I bet you guys did some pretty bad stuff in that storeroom."

Rayne blinked. Definitely not right. Yamcha didn't seem to pick up on the weirdness. "Like we'd ever tell you what we stole!" He said proudly.

The guard shook his head. "Terrible. Looks like I'll have to take you to the special outside holding cells… tsk, tsk."

The group took a right around another corner, and in the distance, Rayne could see natural light peering through the glass in the door that led to the outside.

Unfortunately, a guard blocked the hallway, gun drawn and pressed against her body.

"What's the meaning of this? I have prisoners! I am a ranking officer! Let me through!" Their captor rumbled.

The woman didn't flinch in the slightest. "Sorry sir, but as per Colonel Silver's orders, no one is to leave the base. She looked over to the three shackled people behind the guard. "I see you found some of the infiltrators."

Rayne's ears perked. More?

"More?" the guard echoed what Rayne was thinking, "What do you mean more?"

"Colonel Silver captured a young girl in the base. He took her to the mess hall. You'd better bring these three there. I'm sure he'd like to know the girl had accomplices, sir."

Their captor grumbled something of a goodbye, then turned and started walking in the direction the woman guard indicated was the mess hall. Once they were far enough away, he stopped and started unlocking their cuffs. His eyes met Rayne's. "This is a problem right?"

Jolted by the immediate change in personality, she haltingly nodded. "...Yea. I came into the base with a girl named Chi-Chi. We got separated before I got to the storeroom. Guess this is the worst case scenario…"

The guard disappeared in a poof. In his place now floated a cat, eyes still locked with Rayne's. "Yea, it is. By the way, I'm Puar and I'm a shapeshifter. Anywho, we can't leave your friend here, so here's the plan. Huddle in…"

By the time they reached the mess hall in full red ribbon uniform, about five minutes had passed. Most of that time was taken just dressing - finding some hapless soldiers milling around the base and telling them they needed to fetch something was simple for officer Puar. The doors to the mess hall were of the double-door swinging variety, so as the four of them pushed through the doors they made quite the grand entrance.

A huge group of soldiers was on the right side of the rectangular room, luckily looking away from where they had entered. These soldiers seemed to be affixed on some sort of spectacle going on at a mess table. From where they were, well behind the crowd, it was impossible to tell what exactly was happening. They cautiously approached the crowd, nodded to each other, and then separated and blended into the crowd. Rayne, summoning some of the authority she used to command her subordinates, tapped the shoulder of the nearest soldier and barked, "What the hell is going on, soldier?"

Her tone of voice worked wonders. "N-N-Nothing sir! Everyone just wanted to get a good look at the infiltrator! Kinda hard to see through the mass of bodies…"

Rayne scowled at the soldier. "Well, might as well clear me a path forward. I want to see this 'infiltrator' for myself." The soldier nodded, quickly putting himself to work elbowing other soldiers and pushing people away. A path through the crowd steadily formed before her. Marshaling a sense of superiority, she followed in the soldier's wake, taking care to not make eye contact with any other soldiers. Soon enough, she walked into a pocket of open space, dominated by a steel dining table.

The man standing on top of the table, oppressive in his size and stature, had the air of someone very important within the Red Ribbon Army. He wore tall, brown boots, that almost went up to the midpoint of his shins. Blue jeans and a purple-blue trench coat framed his physique, chiseled to the point of absurdity. The lack of shirt left nothing to the imagination. A red bandana was wrapped around his neck, providing an interesting contrast to his wild mane of fire-red hair.

Both of his arms were on the shoulders of the person in front of him - Chi-Chi. She very briefly made eye contact with the chained girl, a pleading helplessness pouring from her. Chi-Chi's arms were shackled behind her. Well, let's see if I play my cards right -

Arms were on her. Try as she could, Rayne couldn't resist the mass of people closing around her, trapping her. She heard the tell-tale click of metal and the cool sensation reached her wrists. Damn it She was able to glance toward Colonel Silver and saw that he was staring back, his features a strange mix of satisfaction and tranquility. A mistake to underestimate the Red Ribbon Army, a mistake, a mistake! Two more people joined her at the front of the crowd. Krillin and Yamcha were brusquely shoved forward, both in a similar state to her. Clink, clink, clink.

"Well," Colonel Silver finally spoke, "that plan couldn't have gone much better. Amateurs, all of you. Why would you try to rescue your collaborator during a stealth mission? It's as they say, then. 'Criminals always return to the scene of the crime', or something like that." he said with a particular cutting tone.

He closed his eyes, waving his hand in dismissal. "I grow tired of success today." He gestured to a soldier close to him. "You there! I want you to take these group of… thieves? Or spies? Doesn't really matter. Take them to the cells downstairs." The guard's eyes flicked back between Colonel Silver and the four shackled prisoners. "Yes," Colonel Silver continued, "those cells."

The earlier memory of the corpse room flashed through Rayne's mind. What a shitty way to go...

Seemingly bored, Colonel Silver climbed down from the table and waded back into the crowd. In the space of a few seconds, he was gone. The guard led the four of them out of the crowd, towards where they had come from, the soldiers in the crowd parting and staring as they went. Soldiers followed them as they walked through the base, petering off until disappearing fully by the time they entered a stairwell.

It was while the guard was opening a door to the next flight of stairs that he literally collided with Colonel Silver, who seemed to be rushing up the stairs. What? Where did he come from? thought Rayne. His eyes lit up once he saw the guard's chain of prisoners. "Ah! Perfect that I caught you all. I've received a change in orders." He turned towards the guard, his face as calm and placid as before. "I want you to take these prisoners to my helicopter outside. We're going to transfer these four to our headquarters immediately. I'll join them on the helipad in a few minutes. Tell my pilot of the change in plans. Dismissed."

Saluting, the guard changed course and started ascending the stairs to the outside, eventually emerging into the open air outside of the office building. No one had returned to their posts outside as of yet.

Colonel Silver's helicopter turned out to be a good 100 meters into the forest, far away from the compound. A small landing pad had been carved out of the forest. The guard walked up to the cockpit's passenger door and knocked. The door opened. "Colonel Silver says that these four are to go to headquarters immediately. Here's their mass inhibitor device." The guard handed something to the person he was talking to. "Keep it close at hand." Inhibitors? In the shackles? Isn't that experimental tech? Rayne's mind was spinning. Is that why no one else was making an attempt to escape? She glanced back towards their companions. Sure enough, they looked ready to collapse from exhaustion. I'm having trouble focusing… the shackles must be getting to me, too...

"Good luck." The guard closed the door and started walking back through the forest towards the base. A handful of seconds passed where there was no movement from the helicopter. Then, both doors opened and two Red Ribbon soldiers left the cockpit. The woman on the left smirked, lifting up a remote and pressing a button. Almost instantly, Rayne felt a mental and physical pressure lift from her. Krillin and Yamcha immediately burst into whoops.

"Way to go guys!" Krillin exclaimed. "You really pulled our asses out of the fire."

The other soldier exploded into a puff of smoke. Puar? The cat gestured 'it's no big deal' to them. "Please. It was simple once we knew who was involved. Just needed one good look at that CO."

"Yea," a voice said from behind them, "that's really all it takes." Rayne turned around and nearly jumped at the sight of Colonel Silver, standing with his arms crossed, walking over to the helicopter.

"I have a feeling," Colonel Silver spoke with a decidedly not Colonel Silver tone, "that we all have a bit of catching up to do. Then, he too exploded into a cloud of smoke. What is going on!? Rayne turned to Chi-Chi and saw she was as confused as her.

A pig walked out of the smoke, gesturing to Rayne and Chi-Chi. "Hop into the chopper. We can debrief you once we get away from this awful place." The pig climbed up into the open air back of the chopper with Krillin and Yamcha and beckoned Rayne and Chi-Chi inside. Rayne shared a glance with Chi-Chi, then nodded, climbing into the back with her. Bulma and Puar smiled and disappeared from sight. The helicopter's engine started soon after and the ground started to pull away.

As the base shrunk in size and was slowly re-disguised by the surrounding forest, Rayne couldn't help but appreciate the caper that'd been pulled off for them.

0o0o0

Colonel Silver waited in an elevator for what he assumed would be a reprimanding. He shifted his weight between his feet uneasily; he was not looking forward to the next minute or so at all. The elevator stopped at the third floor and opened to a scene of mechanical chaos. Metal and tools lay scattered on every empty countertop and table. Dirty rags laid on the ground in heaps. In the center of the room was an empty table, save for some loose metal bands wired together as if forming a barrel. Colonel Silver stepped out and observed the table, eyes adjusting to the light to notice the man absorbed in his work at the far end of the table, welding mask pulled down and blowtorch in use welding two metal strips together. He hadn't seemed to notice Colonel's Silver's entry.

"Doctor, the prisoners have escaped."

The man hunched over the center table didn't react in the slightest. After a few heartbeats of welding, he lifted his mask and looked at the Colonel. The beginning of a grey mustache was growing on his face. "Your loss then. Not you, strictly, but the army. I was especially interested in that little trick you described the girl could do. What was it, the candles?"

Colonel Silver nodded.

The man flipped back down his welding mask. "That's all the conversation you'll get out of me today. Leave."

Obliging, Colonel Silver gave a small bow and walked back into the elevator, pressing the button for the ground floor. Once the doors closed, he let out a long, heavy sigh. "Could have gone much worse," he spoke to himself in a quiet cadence.


Reviews:

Q: Krillin as the hero and goku as the bad guy. Interesting! I like your take of the relationship between Yamcha and krillin too. A sort of rivalry/friendship.

A: Thanks! That's definitely the feel I was going for the relationship between the two of them. Their relationship will probably be one of the more consequential ones in the series...