[video] mastering the pronunciation of 'Bgztl'

[notwithoutafight]

[ Videl has just returned from a patrol on Bgztl, a lovely and peaceful place that bored her just about to death. She's been back on the Legion World for no more than two hours filing post-patrol paperwork, debriefing, and impatiently waiting for a chance to access the omnicomm network and get up to speed about what she's missed. ]

[ And that's how she greets the Legion network. No hello, no pleasantries, just a sudden video feed of herself looking rather anxious and not trying to hide it. ]

What's the status of the mission with the alternate dimension Lanterns? Have those teams returned yet? I need to know what happened.

[ Her eyes are flicking quickly back and forth from left to right, showing that she's reading something on her screen while she broadcasts. Videl's eyebrows, ever expressive, rise as she skims the Legionnaire roster. ]

Geez, that Time Trapper jerk was busy while I was gone. Six... no, seven new recruits? Is that right? [ She asks wonderingly, her agitation briefly giving way to surprise. ] I thought I was only on Bgztl for a few days. Unless there's some weird time discrepancy between Bgztl and Legion World. [ What even counts as a 'day' in this weird universe? ]

On yeah, and speaking of Bgztl... [ Videl's tone shifts to annoyance. ] If you ever have to go anywhere on that planet, make sure you ask about doors before you get to your destination. Native Bgztlians can just phase through stuff whenever they want, so a lot of short sighted architects forget to add doors to their stupid buildings.

Comments

AUDIO

[kingtyrantranger]

So that's where you were. I'm not even going to try to pronounce that.

[Oh, right, she had questions.]

Oh, yeah. Mission accomplished. Winath got hit a little hard, but we kept the damage down to a minimum. The Lanterns are all gone, the good guys arrested the bad guys and took them home, and everything's back to normal. Mostly.

Most of us weren't hurt seriously. Alexander died again, Rich needed some new skin patches, and they say that I shouldn't have any scars. Some of our teammates kinda got kidnapped and brainwashed, though, so, uh. Step a bit carefully on there.

audio (she'll acquiesce to your obsession with non-video responses this time, jason)

[notwithoutafight]

It's tough at first. The pronunciation's all in the tongue, though.

[ Unseen, she nods to herself as she listens to Jason's explanation of the Lantern fiasco. It sounds pretty standard for the most part, even Rich's ability to get really injured or Alexander's penchant for dying, until Jason gets to the 'brainwashing' part. ]

Brainwashed? How? Who? [ Step carefully? More like 'investigate harder.' Her breath hitches with apprehension. Though she's worried about all of her teammates, it's Gohan whose well-being is forefront on her mind. ]

audio (He appreciates it!) AND locked.

[kingtyrantranger]

[It takes a moment to respond. He's got to actually look up how to privatize a conversation.]

Some of the rings, the red, yellow, and orange ones, apparently warp your minds. Like, seriously. Sam got hit by a Red and, well. Melted off half of Rich's face. Both of them are being a little sensitive about it. Apparently they make you go just totally insane.

Dipper, Nick, Hal, and Parker all got kidnapped by the Sinestro Corps. I don't know how bad the rest of them got it, but Dipper apparently went through a few rounds of torture. They've got telepaths helping him out now, but it's... [He hesitates. He doesn't even really know Dipper that well, but it's the principle of the matter.] I don't know what kind of people could do that to a kid like him.

I haven't run across Nick since, but I think Parker's more angry that they took her ring away than anything else.

Oh. And when Alexander died, he turned into some kind of monster super-zombie and killed some people.

[He sighs, taking a moment. That was... An intense mission.]

If there was anyone else taken, I lost track of them in the fighting and haven't heard from them. I think I got everyone, but... I don't know. This was a bad one.

(audio) (locked)

[notwithoutafight]

[ Videl was silent for a minute or two after Jason finished his explanation, chewing her lower lip as she took in this heavy information. Kidnapping? Torture? And brainwashing, she suspected; what else would make Sam turn on Rich like that? ]

But... how? [ She finally managed to speak, her voice sounding smaller and significantly less confident than it had when she started this conversation. ] How could something like this happen? Even Galactus couldn't break our ranks.

(audio) (locked)

[kingtyrantranger]

Apparently their rings had some kind of teleport function that we couldn't track.

[He sighs again on his end, rubbing his face. This wasn't how he was used to Videl sounding, but the circumstances being discussed were...]

The rings chose us based on attributes. Greens chose those who could overcome fear, the Star Sapphires chose Sam and Gwen because of their capacity for love, Hiccup was compassionate enough for the Indigos to pick him, and the Blues chose people who inspired great hope. I'm told that the reds went after anyone who got angry enough and the yellows were going for anyone who could scare people.

[He pauses, considering his words to Dipper before everything started. Poor kid.]

I guess having a Green isn't protection from getting 'adopted' by another Corps. Dipper was making really creepy constructs before the fights started. He told me that he wanted to scare the Yellow Lanterns out of the fight. Hal, I don't know. He was a Green Lantern before this, maybe those people were already scared of him. I can't say about the others. But I don't think the Red and Yellows were really waiting on people to willingly volunteer.

Re: (audio) (locked)

[notwithoutafight]

[ As she listened, Videl tried to remember what Jazmin had said when the Lanterns first appeared; the Legionnaires would borrow Lantern rings in order to help put a stop to the ancient war the Lanterns had revived, since their own powers would probably be ineffective against Lantern energy constructs. ]

I thought the rings were just tools we were going to borrow, like any other weapon. [ Unseen, she shook her head, puzzling through things. ] I never would've expected them to be sentient. They sound like... like parasites...

[ A sick knot was forming in the pit of her stomach from the description of the attributes the rings sought out. Gohan was capable of a tremendous level of anger, beyond all logic and control. Videl had seen him overcome by such emotion only once-- during the Cell Games when they were both children and she had no idea who he was. Since then, she had only seen hints of the all consuming anger he was capable of, usually so well hidden behind his gentle nature. If he had lost control of himself against the Lanterns... If one of those accursed red rings had claimed him... ]

[ Grimacing, Videl fought back her fear for Gohan and brought herself back to the present. ]

Did the Lanterns know this would happen when they asked for the Legion's help? Did they even warn anyone that this could happen before our teams went out?

(audio) (locked)

[kingtyrantranger]

[Parasites actually sounded like a good term for them. Parasitic jewelry.]

My ring told me I was too stupid and unimaginative to use it the way I wanted. Sentient or not, it was a jerk.

[The lippiest jewelry he'd ever worn. He was still a little sore about that. Still, he's not so full of himself that he couldn't catch the drift of what she was saying.]

They must have known that it would be an issue. No one mentioned that rings could override each other, at least not that I noticed. Or that Black Lanterns were even a thing.

[His voice was bitter. Zordon would never hide things like that from them. That was important information. More of them could've died or lost to the other side thanks to that.]

text

[deafleppard]

I really have to wonder how they evolved into those powers.

Like.

Wow.

text

[notwithoutafight]

probably selective breeding between all the shallowest jerks in the species until they became intangible from all the shallowness

[ Not being able to phase through stuff on Bgztl was like being handicapped and there were few things Videl hated more than being belittled for her inability to do something. Even if that thing was completely impossible for a human. ]

text

[deafleppard]

wow. the bother you that much?

text

[notwithoutafight]

they always acted like they were better than everyone who couldnt phase. im sure phasings cool and all but its not the end of the world if you cant do it

text

[deafleppard]

shame on you for not being on their level

text

[notwithoutafight]

ugh not you too

[fourstars]

Videl!

[ CLICKETY CLACK DOWN THE TRACKS IT'S LOTS AND LOTS OF EXCITEMENT ]

Oh man, you should've been there! The rings were kind of like having ki again, but so much more powerful! It was weird at first, because it felt a lot more precise that what I'm used to. But after a while, I got the hang of it, and it felt like I could do everything I could before, but on a much larger scale! I never even thought of trying to shape my ki before this! I mean, I can shape it into a beam, but that's really all I've tried. I've never tried different geometric shapes, or different ways to control the energy. Just what I learned from dad and Piccolo, and--

[ Oh, wait, was he rambling too much? ]

Um... sorry, I just realized I kind of dumped all of that on you with no filter. But yeah, um... things got a little hairy once we started fighting the red and yellow lanterns, but we pulled through.

[notwithoutafight]

Gohan! [ His name came out with the relieved exhale of breath that hitched in her chest when she heard his voice. ]

[ It was such a relief just to know he was safe that Videl barely heard what he was talking about. The excitement in his voice and on his face made her smile, and for a brief second, it felt like home. ]

[ A second really was all that it lasted, when Gohan's self consciousness broke Videl out of that spell. Lines of concern returned to her face. ] That's what I'm hearing. [ She chewed her lower lip, trying to figure out the best way to ask him what was worrying her the most. ]

[fourstars]

[ Yeah, she wasn't exactly doing a good job hiding her worry. So much so, that even Gohan took notice. ]

... Is everything alright?

[notwithoutafight]

[ Wow, was she that transparent? Videl wasn't sure if how easily Gohan could read her was endearing or annoying; she liked to think she was usually a little more put-together than this. ]

Sort of. [ She admitted. ] Jason gave me a run down of everything that went on in that mission, and I didn't know if you... [ She pauses, thinking better of her next words. Maybe outright admitting her fears about Gohan being conscripted by the Red Lanterns wasn't the best way to voice her fear. ] ... were okay.

locked

[fourstars]

[ ... Somehow, Gohan saw this coming. Not that he had any problems with Videl trying to ask him this, he just... hadn't really been thinking about it until just now, and it made him anxious. ]

... I um... I didn't get a red ring, if that's what you're worried about...

[ He'd thought about it. Thought about if a red ring would latch itself onto him like the green ring had. Once he heard about red rings being attributed to anger, it became a very real concern. But it never ended up happening, and he was glad for it. Maybe it was because of how happy he was wearing the green ring, who knew. ]

locked

[notwithoutafight]

[ It's a good thing Gohan thought to lock this communique, because that tended to slip Videl's mind pretty frequently. And a good thing he's continuing to read her so easily, because it's saving her a lot of awkward explaining. ]

Among other things. [ She admitted. ] Jason didn't say anything had happened to you, but there's no way he could've known everything that happened to everyone, and that rings could actually choose people whether they wanted it or not, and... [ She let out a breath. ] I hate having to wonder if something happened to you.

[ringslinging]

It got messy.

On the other hand, it could've been a lot messier.

[ Despite the construct razing Winath looking an awful lot like them, as far as Hal could tell none of the emotional entities had actually come along. The black ring had been a complication out of left field, but it had only been one.

He's definitely seen worse. ]

[notwithoutafight]

[ In light of what she's been hearing from Jason, Hal is both the first and last person she really wants to talk to right now. It takes a lot of self control not to launch straight into accusations; Hal was a Lantern, this fight was with Lanterns. Surely he knew something. Surely he was responsible for something. Surely he could have prevented their teammates from getting kidnapped and tortured. ]

[ But throwing all the blame on Hal just because this was all to do with Lanterns wasn't fair. Correlation was not always causation; a good cop had to know that. So Videl forced her anger to the back burner of her mind. ]

Seriously? How much messier could it have been?

[ringslinging]

They didn't bring Parallax or the Butcher along for the ride. To compare: Parallax is the thing we let out of the can back in my time when we needed to take out the Spectre.

[ Dealing with other corps as a threat doesn't feel half as bad as it could, when he got here fresh off of dealing with threats so dire the entire spectrum had to work together.

Which isn't to say he'd say any of that went well, and he's definitely going to have to punch Sinestro in the jaw a few extra times next time he sees him. ]

[notwithoutafight]

[ A being with the ferocity to match the Spectre was more than a little difficult for Videl to comprehend. “The Butcher,” on the other hand, leaves little to the imagination. She involuntarily shudders. ]

But an enemy we can be united against is better than an enemy that divides us. [ Videl’s conviction in this fact has been shaken since she joined the Legion, but she holds to it. ]

[ringslinging]

I don't disagree. But if they brought Parallax to play, it would've tried to possess someone. 99% likely.

[ And then they would've been divided against an enemy with that much more power to throw around. Which would've sucked even worse. ]

[notwithoutafight]

[ The mention of possession strikes an unexpected fear in Videl and conjures an image of her fight fight with Harrow on Braal, one long banished to the back of her mind. That sickening, slimy feeling of Harrow grabbing her and trying to force its way into her mind… The visceral memory makes her gag involuntarily and she claps a hand quickly over her mouth. ]

Did they know? [ Her words are muffled by her hand. She swallows hard in an effort to calm her stomach. ] Did anyone know there’d be the risk of kidnapping and torture on this mission?