Dragonball Extreme

Radditz looked about a little uneasily but continued to work on the rocks he was breaking. He\'d never known such a thing could be so hard; however, the chains around his wrists were severely limiting his power, and even though he was in Hell, he seemed to be feeling the effects of lack of sleep.
Suddenly two dark shadows fell across him. Other condemned souls near him scattered, not wanting to be involved. Radditz stopped what he was doing but did not turn around.

\"You\'re falling behind, slug,\" a harsh voice said. \"I thought you were supposed to be some kind of tough guy; our usual pansy-asses are outdoing you.\"

A second voice chimed in. \"Maybe you think you\'re too good for this kind of work, ne?\"

Radditz swallowed hard and looked at the ground. He knew what was coming, it happened at least once a day, and he didn\'t bother to try to fight or run. It always ended up the same, and resisting only prolonged matters. He braced himself as he felt a huge, rough hand grab his shoulder. He was thrown roughly against the rocks he was working on; almost immediately, he found himself pinned at the throat by the butt-end of a whip. \"Well, at least you\'ve learned the common sense to stay quiet; too bad you\'re still a useless piece of shit,\" one of the ogres said.

Radditz gasped a little as he was shoved forcefully to the ground. He felt the sting of leather on his neck as the whip came down across his back.

\"Idiot,\" the second ogre said, \"that\'s no good. You have to get his armor off him, remember? Or have you forgotten all of your training about dealing with living-form souls?\"

Radditz lay limp as the armor and clothing was stripped from his body. He felt like crying at the humiliation, but he wasn\'t about to give the ogres the satisfaction. He also knew that more was coming. He braced himself as the whip came down across his back again, leaving a red welt and a painful sting behind it.

The second ogre growled again. \"How long have you been out of the academy?\" he asked his partner. \"Let me show you how it\'s done.\" He took the whip in his hand and forcefully snapped it across Radditz\'s back, tearing flesh and causing Radditz to shudder with pain. He ground his teeth to keep from crying out as the lashes continued.

Unlike previous beatings, however, this one didn\'t seem to be letting up anytime soon. Radditz wondered briefly if they were trying to make him scream, but that didn\'t make sense; before, screaming had only caused the punishment to get worse. He gasped between lashes, and braced himself harder, but to no avail. Something was wrong, because the ogres weren\'t letting up.

Suddenly the voice of a third ogre cut the air. Radditz could barely concentrate on it enough to understand what was happening. All he knew was that the beating had stopped temporarily. He heard bits and pieces of conversation.

\"Battle ahead of us...need every expendable soul here...difficult...not worth the risk...\"

Radditz wasn\'t sure what was going on, but he didn\'t think it would be good for him. The next thing he knew he was being hauled off the ground. He was aware of a larger, more powerful ogre wearing a uniform standing before him, and the other two trying to ask him something, then he passed out.

*

Pan stopped short a bounbounds into the yard and stared about her. She hadn\'t been sure what to expect when she crossed through the fence, but it certainly wasn\'t this. She was surrounded by a pleasant green lawn and small flowers that swept across the expanse into the forest like a carpet. The others stopped as well.

Lady Macbeth looked back at them and smiled. \"I\'ll be glad to give all of you a tour later,\" she said. \"It\'ll be easier to see when the sun is fully risen. For now, let\'s go inside; Pigero is sure to have some tea ready.\"

Everyone followed her inside. As they stepped through the doorway, they found what appeared to be an herb and tea shop. A brown-haired man stood behind the counter. \"Good morning,\" he greeted the group with a nod. He was friendly and cheerful, but the group recognized his voice as being that of the man they\'d heard earlier, and they were all on their toes.

\"Pigero, do you have some breakfast tea ready?\" Lady Macbeth asked.

\"Yes, my Lady,\" he responded. \"And there\'s another pot of water on the stove. There will be plenty for everyone.\"

\"We\'re not here for tea!\" Vegeta growled.

\"That\'s right!\" Gokou chimed in. \"We\'re here to see Gohan!\"

Lady Macbeth smiled patiently. \"I\'ll take you to him then; he didn\'t seem to want visitors right now, but perhaps he\'ll change his mind when he sees you.\" She started through a door at the side of the room. \"Follow me.\"

The group followed her down a dimly lit stone hall. Sunlight filtered in from various rooms and windows, casting dancing shadows on a stone floor. Instead of seeming to belong to a small cottage-like store, the hall seemed more like that found in a castle or fortress.

\"Is this part of the tea shop?\" Bra asked.

\"No, we\'re behind the tea shop right now,\" Lady Macbeth replied. \"This is part of my home; that\'s why the building materials and the decor is so different.\"

As they walked, the saiya-jin noticed the sound of little feet behind them occasionally. A quick look would catch a small figure dashing into a room or around a corner. They looked at Lady Macbeth to see if she knew about it, but she didn\'t seem to notice anything out of the ordinary. They continued on for a bit, keeping a tense eye on the sounds behind them.

Lady Macbeth suddenly spoke up. \"If she\'s bothering you I can keep her from following us.\"

Everyone jumped at the words. Lady Macbeth disappeared from their view and reappeared holding a small girl in her arms. The group was surprised to see that she was a child, about five years of age.

\"Up a bit early this morning, aren\'t we?\" Lady Macbeth asked the child. \"You weren\'t hiding very well; you were upsetting these kind people by following us.\"

The child cast her eyes on the ground. \"I\'m sorry,\" she said softly.

\"It\'s all right, dear,\" Lady Macbeth said. \"Just work on your hiding ability more. If they can see or hear you coming, I certainly can.\" She tilted the girl\'s chin upward. \"Now go ask Pigero to start breakfast,\" she said. \"I\'m sure others are waking up as well.\"

The little girl ran off down the hall. Pan looked from her to Lady Macbeth. \"Is she your daughter?\" Pan asked.

Lady Macbeth shook her head. \"No, she\'s not. She\'s just one of the little ones I\'ve taken in. Her mother died in a car accident and her father is a falling-down drunk. Not a good household for a little one like that to be raised in.\"

\"So you just took her?\" ChiChi demanded.

\"Someone had to,\" Lady Macbeth replied. \"The community certainly wasn\'t doing anything about it.\"

ChiChi started to speak again, but Gokou motioned with his hand for her to stay quiet. \"What about Gohan?\" he asked. \"Why did you bring him here?\"

\"I found him passed out on a bench on my way home from town. I could tell that he was feverish and that he was in pain when he stopped there, so I woke him and brought him here. I figured it would be better for him than sleeping unprotected in the rain.\" She paused in front of a large wooden door. \"I\'ll see if he wants to see anyone.\" She opened the door and entered, quickly closing it behind her.

Gokou started forward, but Vegeta detained him. \"She doesn\'t seem threatening right now, and as long as we know Gohan\'s safe we should keep it that way. Don\'t interfere with what she\'s doing...yet.\"

Bulma and ChiChi were getting a bit upset that the saiya-jin seemed so intimidated by the small woman. \"Just what is so great about her?\" ChiChi demanded. \"So what if she can hide her ki? I can do that too! That doesn\'t give her the right to just go around snatching up people\'s children, even if it is for their better interest in her mind!\"

\"ChiChi, there\'s more to her than that,\" Gokou said. \"I know you can\'t tell, but I can. She doesn\'t even smell like a normal human.\"

Trunks cut in. \"I agree with him; there\'s something different about her, and I know she\'s concealing a lot more power than she shows. Look how easily she kept us out of this castle...we couldn\'t even see this castle from the outside.\"

Lady Macbeth leaned into the hall just then. \"Gokou, he will see you right now, but he doesn\'t feel up to seeing everyone at once.\"

ChiChi started to say something, but Gokou put his hand on her shoulder. \"It\'s all right, ChiChi,\" he said. \"I\'ll make sure Gohan\'s ok.\" He followed Lady Macbeth back into Gohan\'s room.

Once inside, he saw Gohan sitting upright in a bed, half covered by blankets. He was shaking a little, and sweat ran down his face. Gohan mopped his forehead with the arm of his shirt and looked up at Gokou. \"Dad,\" he said.

Gokou was at his side instantly. \"Gohan!\" he exclaimed. \"Gohan, what\'s wrong son? Are you all right?\"

Gohan sighed and took a deep breath. \"I\'m all right for now; I didn\'t mean to worry al you you. I just had to get away for awhile.\"

\"Videl is here with us,\" Gokou said gently. \"Do you want to see her?\"

\"No!\" Gohan exclaimed. He sat up quickly. \"No,\" he repeated, a little more calmly. \"She didn\'t want anything to do with me yesterday; I\'m not going to pressure her into anything, and I don\'t want any of you pressuring her either. That includes you and Vegeta, Dad,\" Gohan said pointedly.

\"All right,\" Gokou said. \"If that\'s what you , Go, Gohan. They\'ll all want to see you soon, though, so I\'ll let you rest. Let us know when you\'re feeling a little better.\"

Lady Macbeth suddenly appeared next to them with a small plate holding a glass of tea and some bread and butter. Gokou and Gohan hadn\'t even realized that she\'d left.

\"Try this, Gohan,\" Lady Macbeth said. She handed him the plate. \"It\'s some sleepygrass tea and my special herb butter. It should help you relax a bit.\"

\"Thanks,\" Gohan said. He took the plate and quickly devoured the contents, then stretched out on the bed. \"I\'ll see you a bit later, Dad,\" he said. \"I would like to rest. Tell the others not to worry.\"

\"Ok,\" Gokou said. Lady Macbeth ushered him to the door. Gokou stopped in thought for a moment, then turned back to Gohan. \"Your mom is going to pitch a fit when you get better, you know.\"

Gohan grinned a little. \"I know. I\'ll decide how to deal with it then.\"

As Gokou walked out into the hall, the others peered anxiously around him, trying to get a glimpse of Gohan. \"Well?\" ChiChi demanded. \"Is he ok?\"

\"He looks like he\'ll be ok, ChiChi,\" Gokou said. \"He wants to rest right now; he said he\'d see everyone in a bit.\"

ChiChi looked a bit disappointed but didn\'t push the matter.

Lady Macbeth addressed the group. \"Why don\'t all of you join us for breakfast? You\'ve had a long trip and a stressful night.\"

\"How do you know we\'ve had a long trip?\" Vegeta asked suspiciously.

\"You came from the Capsule Corp main headquarters, didn\'t you? That\'s a couple days\' trip by foot, though you managed to cover the distance much more quickly.\"

Bulma jumped. \"How did you know that? Did Gohan tell you?\"

Lady Macbeth smiled. \"No,\" she replied. \"I have my ways.\" She smiled mysteriously.

Gokou stared at her for a minute, internally examining her. \"I ge,\" ,\" he said telepathically, \"you can read people\'s minds without them knowing you\'re there.\"

\"Yes,\" Lady Macbeth replied. \"I can read minds. I can also track an individual\'s ki trail mentally. That didn\'t make it hard to figure out where you came from and when you started out.\"

Vegeta looked from Gokou to Lady Macbeth. He could tell that a telepathic conversation was going on, but one of the two parties had a block up to keep him from butting in and he suspected that it wasn\'t Gokou.

\"Sorry about that, Lord Vegeta,\" Lady Macbeth\'s voice echoed in his mind. \"I have the block up naturally; I didn\'t mean to exclude you from the conversation.\" Vegeta was startled; not only could she keep him out of her mind, she could get into his at the same time.

\"Why did you call me Lord Vegeta?\" Vegeta asked.

\"It\'s how you prefer to be addressed, is it not?\" Lady Macbeth responded.

Vegeta frowned, but didn\'t comment.

The silence was starting to get unnerving to the others in the group, but a low rumbling from Gokou\'s stomach broke then tense air.

Lady Macbeth laughed out loud. \"I guess that\'s our cue to get moving, ne?\" she asked. \"I wouldn\'t want those saiya-jin stomachs to go empty.\" She smiled and gestured for them to follow her.

*

The group walked into a melee of activity in the dining hall. Children ranging from toddler age to teenagers were seated aroundargearge, rectangular table, busily eating from plates and bowls in front of them. Gokou sniffed eagerly at the aroma of food that drifted though the air.

\"Yum!\" he exclaimed. \"It smells great in here!\"

Goten nodded his agreement; Pan, Trunks and Bra looked tempted to do so.

Lady Macbeth gestured toward the table. \"Help yourself,\" she said. \"There\'s plenty to go around.\"

\"You don\'t know a saiya-jin\'s appetite,\" ChiChi said dryly. She glanced over the sparse table.

Lady Macbeth laughed. \"Don\'t worry, there\'ll be plenty,\" she said with certainty.

The saiya-jin rushed for the table and plopped into empty chairs, followed more sedately by ChiChi, Bulma and Videl. Gokou reached out and grabbed whatever was closest at the moment to eat; the others remembered to ask for plates to be passed.

Out of the ruckus, the sound of two little boys arguing piped up above the rest. Suddenly one of the little boys stood and jerked his arm back to throw a roll at the other boy.

The room fell silent as Lady Macbeth intercepted the roll only inches from the second boy\'s face. She looked sternly at the first boy, who slunk back into his chair. \"This wouldn\'t be an attempt to waste good food or to hurt someone else, would it?\" she asked. She raised her eyebrow at the offending boy.

\"He called me names,\" the boy sulked.

\"That\'s no excuse. You know my rules,\" she said.

The little boy looked at the floor. \"Yes, my Lady,\" he said.

\"I think I\'ll give this to someone who\'ll be more appreciative,\" she said, holding the roll in front of her. She tossed it in Gokou\'s direction and he snatched it from mid-air, gulping it down a second later with the rest of his food. Lady Macbeth smiled a little bit and turned back to the boy. \"Perhaps at lunch you\'ll be more mindful of where your food is going,\" she said. \"Now finish your breakfast; you need to leave for school soon.\"

As Lady Macbeth finished her lecture and walked away from the table, the bustle of noise picked up again, though not as loud. She glanced over the table looking for any other disturbances then walked away satisfied.

*

After breakfast, Lady Macbeth gave Gohan\'s friends a tour of her home. They were a little surprised by the amount of actual space her castle encompassed. They paused in the back yard to take in the view; it was breathtaking. An expansive yard spread out to several out buildings, and the occasional neigh or whinny from hs cos could be heard from a couple of them.

Pan and Bra ran ahead to see the horses, and Goten and Trunks followed behind them more leisurely. The others kind of scattered about, trying to keep occupied until Gohan was feeling better. Vegeta and Piccolo had wandered off to stand by themselves;ou aou and Tales had happened to sit down facing each other and were angrily eyeing each other, neither one wanting to back down, until ChiChi stepped between them demanding that they break it up. They promptly turned their backs to each other and ChiChi walked away exasperated.

Lady Macbeth noticed that Piccolo looked particularly disturbed. His thoughts were tumultuous at best. She walked up to him, knowing that what he needed was to talk.

\"You don\'t seem to be enjoying yourself,\" she commented.

\"I have other matters on my mind,\" Piccolo said. He hoped that she would go away.

Lady Macbeth persisted. \"Piccolo, you\'re not fooling me. You\'re worried about Gohan, that much is obvious. Why don\'t you tell me why you\'re thoughts are such a mess; it\'ll make you feel better, even if it doesn\'t resolve your problems.\"

Piccolo sighed, wondering why the woman was bothering with him. \"I could have kept Gohan from ending up like this,\" he said. \"Gohan came to me for help and I pushed him away. I thought this was something he could overcome on his own; obviously I was wrong.\"

\"You forget that one can\'t overcome Mother Nature so easily,\" Lady Macbeth said. \"But that isn\'t all that you\'re thinking about, is it?\"

Piccolo clamped his mouth tightly, not wng tng to speak, but then realized that the woman knew what he was thinking any way. \"That wife of his doesn\'t appreciate him. She should understand that he isn\'t and never was entirely human. He needs to be treated as such. I made that mistake with him when he was young and had more than one close call.\"

\"You think that she should accept his saiya-jin nature and adjust her lifestyle to accommodate it,\" Lady Macbeth said.

\"Yes,\" Piccolo said. \"Gohan deserves at t tht that much.\"

\"It\'s not in human nature to vary from their routine,\" Lady Macbeth said philosophically. \"Humans are creatures of habit; Videl will have to be quite determined to make Gohan comfortable before she\'ll change her ways.\"