Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Ripple in Time ❯ Chapter Seventeen ( Chapter 18 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

<><>CHAPTER 16<><>

The five days flew by fast. Before I knew it, the day I had been waiting for drew to a close. The moonlight streamed in through my window as I lay in by bed, sheets spilled loosely around my unsleeping form. Dana and I had arranged everything several days ago; she would sneak out of her house with all the materials except the candles and I would join her at the rendezvous point we had selected in the park after I said good-bye to my mother. I had managed to broach the subject… almost, but I never got around to telling her anything important. So I had never gotten to say good-bye.

I sighed, setting my feet on the floor as I pulled out my already packed bag. I had packed all of my favorite clothes, movies, and books into that small thing and layered myself in everything else that wouldn't fit in it. I padded over to the window, my tail twitching behind me. I felt awful about leaving my mother without her knowing. Wait…

Hearing a noise I turned to the door of my room to see it opening slowly inward. What the hell? My eyes widened in shock as my mother, dressed in her rumpled nightgown, step forward.

“Mother?” I asked gently. It was obvious that she had been crying again, here eyes were slightly discolored and puffy. My vision had improved a lot since my… merger… with Goku. One part in particular was my night vision.

“You're leaving.” Her voice was flat. I didn't deny the fact, and simply nodded my head. She looked down at the ground as her shoulders slumped in defeat.

“Mother…” I moved towards her and put a hand on her shoulder, then wrapped her up in a hug. “You know that I love you. I'm not leaving to hurt you.”

She looked at me, despair plain in her eyes. “Then why?”

I let myself sight again. Leading her over to the bed, I consulted my wristwatch. I was fully dressed, and had been for several hours. Well, I still had a half an hour. I needed to resolve things with my mom too.

“Mom… you remember that incident that sent me too the hospital the other day? Well…”

I glossed over the minor details, but basically outlined what had happened to me in terms that my mother would understand. When I finished, she seemed to be in even more shock than she already had been. Perfect.

“You understand… right?” I finally asked, timidly.

Her face remained pale but she nodded slightly. “So… my little girl got married… and I didn't get to be there.”

I blushed, looking down at my hands. “We aren't… totally `married' yet. At least by earth's standards it really isn't official. More like `engaged'.”

She seemed to accept everything that I had told her, much more so than I had anticipated from past experience. My mother was a stubborn woman, but now… the past several weeks' activities had worn her thin. I felt sympathy for her well up in my chest; it was really hard supporting me and I hadn't been giving her enough credit for what she had been doing.

“I don't have any time left… I will come back as soon as I can.” I hugged my mother again, and was surprised to feel tears fill my eyes. My mother hugged me back, emotions still running rampant.

“Promise me you will be careful.” She whispered before releasing me from her embrace.

“I promise.” I sniffled.

Instead of my original plan of sneaking out from my window, my mother walked with me to the front door of the house and said her goodbyes. Tearful as it was, I felt was a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders; I was no longer angry with my mother, even though I still had a lot of questions for her.

I walked along the quiet streets, until I came to the darkened park. Several trees rose on either side of the main walkway, before branching off into a small cluster that concealed a clearing. I consulted my watch for the time and found it to be nearly midnight. Dana had already set up everything so I slipped into my seat beside her.

“Hey.” She grinned at me. I smiled before taking the silver and green candles from my backpack and setting them up around the pentagram that Dana had drawn with the herbs that the woman had sold us.

“Do you think this will work?” I asked her softly after we had lit the candles. Setting the book we had purchased before us I glanced over at her nervously.

She shrugged. “You want to start?”

I gulped. The moment of truth… I started murmuring the incantation to summon the earth's guardian. I wouldn't let Dana help because of what might happen to her; the witch who had sold us the stuff had warned about the spirit being powerful, and I didn't want to take any unnecessary risks with Dana's life.

*Latin Phrasing*

A silver mist began to swirl around the summoning circle, spreading out to cover most of the park as well in a thick, opaque fog. Some of it condensed into a column hovering in the center of the pentagram that was illuminated with streaks of blue lightning. Dana huddled by my side, shivering in fear or maybe trepidation, both of our eyes trained upon the events unfolding before us. A rumbling of thunder was heard overhead, and I looked up to see dark clouds rushing to cover the light of the twinkling stars. I swallowed nervously.

This was very… unexpected, to say the least. I thought that maybe the spirit would just appear and hang transparent over the circle, like I had seen sometimes in movies. Not so for real life. The iridescent fog finally took on the figure of a woman, some of it billowing about her as if to indicate some form of ordinate dress.

“Who has summoned me? Speak child, what is it that you wish that you would risk your life for?” The earth spirit's glowing white eyes held a form of compassion that was visible even to me. Goku's conditioning overcoming me, I knelt in the traditional Japanese bow, touching my head to the dirt in respect.

“My lady; I have come to ask for your assistance. I have been separated from my husband in unfortunate circumstances, and I wish to return to his side.”

The spirit's brow furrowed in confusion. “I cannot help you in such mundane matters.”

“My lady, my husband is one of the last of the race of the Saiya-jin from a different universe, the universe of the Grand Kai. I know some of the extent of your power; please look inside my mind if you doubt me.”

I held myself still as I felt her presence brush against my consciousness and then push deeper. I felt her surprise that I was able to withstand this treatment without any sort of protest; our minds had started to link on a certain sub molecular level. It was only to be expected with the type of contact that she had initiated.

I bit my lip as it became painful. Finally she withdrew and I opened my eyes to gaze at her face, held inches from my own.

“You are a remarkable individual, Jun Goku. To have survived such an adventure when I was not even aware of it… I sense foul work at play.” She looked concerned, and I could feel what her concern was about. If the guardian of the earth could miss an event of such importance… something had interfered with her duties.

“In such, I believe that I will be able to help you.” She moved a little farther away, a smoky hand trailing upwards to cup her chin as she murmured softly in contemplation. “From your mind I know the chi signature of your mate and I can place you on the same planet or the general area as him. It will hurt a lot, and from what I have seen, he may already be dead, or reborn. Are you willing to take the chance of ending up in space? Of dying?”

I could feel Dana shaking beside me, but she hesitantly spoke up. “M-my Lady? I want to go with Jun. She might need help.”

“Dana…” I turned to face her. “Are you sure? I don't want you to get hurt. And what about your family, and your boyfriend? Aren't you going to miss them?”

“It's not fair that you have all the adventures.” She joked, before addressing the earth spirit once more. “I know what I'm getting myself into.”

The Lady looked at us for a short time, reaching her decision quickly. “Dana. You are important to Jun, and I feel that you would be of great assistance on this quest. Jun, I will pass information to you, as you need it, and do as much as I can to reunite you with your husband. In return I ask that you help me deal with this problem that has arisen. I cannot leave this earth without loosing my powers; you will have to be my avatar, my eyes and ears for a short time. Will you do this for me?”

I nodded, bowing once again. “I will do as you wish.”

“As will I.” Dana clumsily copied the bow I had made, her gesture heartfelt and genuine.

“Then I wish you luck, my warriors.” She smiled, cupping her hands together and releasing her powers, bathing the both of us in whiteness. It did hurt as much as she said it would, pins pricking my flesh incessantly while I also experienced the sensation of being dipping in fire and frozen in ice. Landing on solid ground with a thump I groaned in pain.

Vegita…

My eyes felt as if they had been gouged from my head, and I also had the headache from hell, quite literally in fact. Biting my lip I forced myself to my feet and looked around for Dana. She was huddled in a small bundle on the opposite side of the clearing, also obviously in pain.

I looked about in surprise at the place where we had been dropped. It was nothing as I had imagined. Out of all the scenarios I had imagined, the rolling hills of dark green before me and lush, verdant grasses that were basking in the twilight of the setting sun were not even on the list. Was this a feudal planet? There were no signs of roads or of civilization that I could make out.

“Where the hell am I now?” I groaned. Vegita… I will find you. I promise.

THE END

<><>Author's Notes<><>

I'm thinking of writing a sequal… but I'm still a little uncertain as to where I'm going to have them crossover. Maybe I'll have Jun and Dana in the Wheel of Time cycle and have to deal with the haughty Ai Sedai that I'm going to beat up… or maybe on Darkover, with the coymn or whatever and really mean men that I'm going to beat up. ^-^ Either way is fine, but I'm kind of leaning towards The Wheel of Time. The One Power and all that…. Or maybe in Middle Earth and the ring and Legolas (drool)! Oh well. I hope you have enjoyed this; reviews are welcome!

Caelestis