Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ Altiverse: Pride and Hope ❯ Unknown Future ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter 1

Unknown Future

Suspended animation freezes all functions of a creature's body. Even the aging process is slowed to a standstill. However, the mind of a being is not bound by the strictest laws of nature. It keeps drifting with images of past, present...and sometimes even the future.

Three Saiyan space pods zoomed on through an infinite void filled only with scattered stars and the occasional planet. But the celestial beauty of outer space was commonplace to the pods' inhabitants, who were deep in sleep from suspended animation.

Nappa was hunched over in his seat. His furrowed brow suggested that, in a dream world, he was fighting. And the smug grin harbored on his face left no doubt that he was winning.

One could tell nothing of where Vaya was on the dream sphere. She could have been anywhere...or everywhere. She seemed a thousand years away.

Vegeta was frowning.

~*~

Where am I? This better not be another nightmare...

Vegeta was standing in the middle of a vast sea of green grass...a valley meadow, he supposed. Looking around, he saw rocky hills in the distance on either side. Behind him he could see a flowing sapphire ribbon of river descending from a jutting hill and twisting out of sight into the black forest farther away. Ahead of him, if he squinted just right, he could make out the sun glinting off of a large marble structure...

He looked down upon himself, feeling different. His armor and his scouter were gone. In their place were loose-fitting clothes that were a strange blackish-indigo shade. It was the color of Vegeta's mind state.

Suddenly, he was distracted by the frightened yell of someone as yet unseen.

"NO! ADRIAN! STOP! I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY!"

Vegeta whirled around at the familiar name, and was knocked over by a rush of ki that hit him with all the force of a small hurricane. He couldn't sense the ki, but the power of it pushed him onto the ground.

What the...?!

He scrambled to his feet again and whirled around to see a young boy make a landing from the sky. His hair was lavender and fell in loose wisps around his head. He was strongly built for someone so young -- he looked around eleven or twelve years old. His eyes were bright blue, and probably would have been friendly and mischievous had they not been wide with fright.

Vegeta stared at the boy. He looked oddly familiar. The boy stared back at him, and Vegeta began to feel weird, until he noticed that the boy seemed to be looking through him instead. Then the boy's eyes began to dart all over the place: around the valley, behind him, in front of him, and to the sky.

Whatever he was looking for did not show up right away, and as Vegeta watched the boy seemed to tentatively relax. His shoulders, formerly tensed as if prepared to fight, drooped a little, and the boy sighed with relief.

All of a sudden, another boy appeared out of nowhere and tackled the first. This new one was older and much bigger than the first boy, who screeched in surprise and fear as he was bodily slammed into the ground. The new boy turned the younger one onto his back, then promptly sat on his chest and held his arms down by the wrist.

"Now Trunks, I'm going to ask you a question, and I want you to be completely honest with me. Choose your words carefully, for they may be your last. Got it?" the second boy sneered evilly.

The boy named Trunks whimpered and struggled, but his captor held him in an iron grip.

Vegeta took the opportunity to get a good look at the new arrival. Appearing to be in his late teens, the boy was a generally dark appearance. His skin was golden-tan and his thick, spiky hair was long and black. His body, visible through a tight T-shirt, was tall, chiseled and muscular. His eyes were angular and very Saiyan-esque. Vegeta's eyes widened and his jaw dropped in recognition. But how could this be...?

Adrian...?

Adrian made no indication that he had heard anything. Vegeta was speaking in his own head; no sound was coming from his mouth, no matter how loud he tried to be. Adrian and Trunks were oblivious to his presence, and Vegeta was vaguely becoming aware of the fact that he was invisible to them completely.

"All right," Adrian snorted, and Vegeta had to smirk. The boy sounded just like him. "Did you or did you not go into my room this morning, even though you KNOW it's off-limits?"

"Maybe..." Trunks said in a small voice.

Adrian threatened him with a fist.

"Okay, yes! Yes! I'm sorry!"

"And while you were in there, did you or did you not steal the CD that I just bought and hadn't even gotten to listen to yet?"

"I thought you were done with it!" Trunks answered, laughing nervously.

"Liar," Adrian said with a sinister smirk. "Last question: Did you or did you not slip that CD into the stereo at Capsule Corp. while Goku's family was visiting and set it up so that when Gohan walked by, it would turn itself on and blast at full volume, nearly deafening him?"

Trunks seemed to shrink inside himself.

"Well?" Adrian pressed ruthlessly.

"Yes...?" Trunks squeaked in a tiny voice.

"That is the meanest, nastiest, most horrible thing I've ever heard of..." Adrian said, shaking his head, his eyes closed. Then he opened them again and smirked. "Ten-plus, little brother."

LITTLE BROTHER?! Vegeta mentally yelled.

Trunks stared up at Adrian blankly for a minute, then he broke into a hopeful grin. "Really? You think so?"

"Of course. You have learned well, Grasshopper," Adrian chuckled, getting up from his position on Trunks' chest. He gave the little boy a hand up.

"So you're not mad?" Trunks asked suspiciously.

Adrian shrugged. "Nope. It was for a good cause." He briefly broke out into a snickering fit.

Trunks beamed. Vegeta instantly saw that this purple-haired boy was extremely pleased that he had impressed his so-called older brother...but what was the deal with that?! How could Adrian have a brother? This Trunks kid did not look like Vaya.

Adrian slipped his hands into his pockets and looked around the meadow absently. "So many people to fool, so little time..." he muttered wistfully.

"I'll help," Trunks grinned. "It'll be fun. We'll make it a party."

Adrian grinned.

"Hey...Adrian?"

"Yeah."

"How did Mom know I did it? I mean, you were there too, but I got in trouble."

Adrian turned to Trunks with a serene expression. "You still haven't perfected your plan of attack, squirt. You left tracks."

"Huh?" Trunks was clearly confused.

"Fingerprints, doofus. Your mom had the robots run a scan for `em, and they came up all over the place. I'm not stupid enough to do that," he finished teasingly.

"Okay...but I still can't believe that she didn't even consider you."

"Hey, I just had the motive, opportunity, and track record...we're talking about a fingerprint, Larceny-Boy."

Trunks blushed a little, but Adrian had lost interest already. He was tapping his lips with one finger thoughtfully.

"Let's see..." he murmured. "There was something else I forgot...What was it...?"

Almost as if on cue, there was a dull, muffled boom and a cloud of smoke billowed up in the distance behind the hills. Adrian snapped his fingers.

"Oh! That was it. C'mon, little buddy, start thinking of an alibi."

"Dad's gonna be pissed..." Trunks said as he sweatdropped nervously.

Dad? Vegeta repeated in utter confusion. What is this? Who is this kid? Why is Adrian so grown up? Where is this place? Why am I SEEING this?!

But none of his questions were ever answered. Before the fog that was beginning to cover the landscape enveloped his mind completely, he caught a last glimpse of Adrian rubbing Trunks' hair. Then all faded to nothingness...

When he awoke much later, Vegeta remembered nothing.