Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Another Time ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Another Time

By Karete-chan

Chapter 3: Plot, plot. Let me think. Where did we put it?

Gohan groggily came back to the real world. He opened his eyes and saw two faces looking expectantly down at him.

"Hmph," said Piccolo. "You are your mothers child after all." He and Kat stood up to give Gohan some room.

He sat up. "Did I really hear what you just said?"

" `Fraid so kid."

Gohan turned piercing eyes on Kat. Her face remained blank. "You better not have just made this up."

"I didn't. Besides I only found out a couple of days ago and it was Mr. Compassionate here who told me." She jerked a thumb in Piccolo's direction.

"You watch that mouth brat," growled Piccolo.

Kat rolled her eyes. "Some people can't take a joke," she muttered.

"You told her Piccolo? How do you know?"

"Kami."

"Kami? What's he got to do with this?"

"A lot actually but I think explanations can wait for a while. Or at least until your mum gets here."

"But she might be ages!"

"I can hear a car coming Gohan and I don't think you get that many people out this way."

Sure enough, two minutes later ChiChi and her father pulled up at the house.

"Gohan!" ChiChi called as she got out of the car. "We're back."

She and her father walked around to the side door. The look on ChiChi's face wasn't one of happiness when she saw Piccolo or the complete stranger with him, both of whom were standing next to her precious little boy who was on the ground.

"Gohan! What have they done to you?" she cried running to him. "They haven't hurt you have they?" She didn't wait for his answer and started to check for injuries.

"Mum, I'm fine," said Gohan, squirming out of her grip. "I just fell over, that's all."

"Are you sure?" she asked, eyeing Piccolo and the strange girl.

"Yes. I'm fine."

ChiChi looked as if she seriously doubted it. A cheery voice broke the silence.

"Piccolo, good to see you," said the Ox King. Piccolo nodded politely in return. "And who is this?" he said, rounding on Kat. "Let me introduce myself. I'm the Ox King and this is my daughter ChiChi."

"Her name is Kat," filled in Gohan.

"The Ox King? I've heard of you," said Kat.

"You have? Well it's good to see that today's kids still pay some attention to their parents."

There was a slight flicker in Kat's blank expression. "I don't have parents." Her voice was void of emotion.

There was an awkward pause. The Ox King broke it.

"Well where did you come from then?" he asked with a chuckle, trying to break the tension.

"That's what Piccolo was about to explain when you came home," Gohan answered seriously.

All eyes turned to Piccolo.

"Oh. Your girl is she Piccolo?" asked ChiChi, an eyebrow raised.

"Please mum, we don't want to got there again, trust me."

"I'll take that as a no then," she paused. "Well?"

"I've already told the story once and I don't want to repeat it every time someone else comes along. So that means if you want to hear it you're going to have to follow me to Bulma's," said Piccolo.

"Yeah, I'm not worth wasting breath on," muttered Kat. Piccolo glared at her.

"I'm not leaving in the middle of the day just to follow you around," fumed ChiChi.

"Believe me mum we want to follow." ChiChi turned to protest but stopped when she saw the look on Gohan's face.

He was staring at Kat with suspicion. It was as if he couldn't really believe that she was standing there.

"Well that settles it then," said the Ox King. "I'll drive." He looked at Gohan. "Maybe Gohan should ride with us."

"I think that would be a good idea," agreed Piccolo, eyeing Gohan's face.

He and Kat waited until the family was in the car then took to the air.

*****

It was a fair drive to Capsule Corporation and Piccolo didn't want to arrive before Gohan so he and Kat kept pace with the car as it wound its way out of the forest and on to the highway.

This suited Kat fine. It gave her a good chance to look around. ~It's all changed so much. There never used to be houses out this far.~ She scowled inwardly ~There's also less forest. Hmph, you'd think people would learn.~

Down in the car ChiChi watched Gohan with apprehension. He kept looking out the window for Piccolo and Kat. "Gohan? Honey? Did Piccolo say anything about that girl before we got home?"

That seemed to bring him out of his gazing. "He …did but…"

"But what?"

He turned to face his mother. ~I wonder how she'll take it. It's not exactly the best time to spring this on her.~ He sighed. "It…well it wasn't that…well it was but…" he looked away, "I just think we should wait until we get to Bulma's." ChiChi exchanged a glance with her father who just shrugged.

*****

As they landed in the grounds of Capsule Corporation Kat looked around in wonder. "I've always wanted to come here."

"What?" Piccolo looked at her.

"Huh?" she came out of her daze, "oh, nothing, just thinking aloud." They waited until the Sons had joined them then went and knocked on the door.

Bulma's muffled voice could be heard on the other side. "I'll get it mum! *crash* Ouch! Damn toys! Why haven't the robots picked them up?"

She opened the door. "Oh, hey guys what's up?" It took her a moment to figure out why they were staring at her. She carefully unwrapped the pull-along truck from her ankle.

"Are you ok Bulma?" asked Gohan.

"I'm fine, we're just having some problems with some of the new robots that's all," she beckoned them to follow her, "Anyway what brings you guys here? Not that you're not welcome of course." She grinned.

"Well that would be mystery girl here," said ChiChi. "Piccolo wouldn't tell us who she was until we came here so you could hear it too."

Bulma peered around the others and gave Kat a wave. "Hi, I didn't see you there. I'm Bulma."

"She's Kat," said Piccolo stepping into Bulma's view. "Look, I want to get this over and done with so I can get out of here. Unfortunately to do that Vegeta has to be here. Can you go get him?"

"As courteous as ever I see. Vegeta's training, if you want to see him so badly you go get him. What's the big rush anyway?"

"Please Bulma?" said Gohan. "It's important."

She threw up her hands. "Oh, all right."

They followed Bulma out into the backyard where her mother was reading. Mrs. Briefs looked up when they walked out and immediately insisted that she make them lunch. Kat and Gohan's ears picked up at this but they were forced to follow the others across the yard to a large sphere on stilts. Bulma went to the door and fiddled with a control panel on the side. There was a crash from inside and then the sound of cursing. Bulma retreated from the door seconds before it was flung open.

"What the hell do you think you're doing woman?" yelled Vegeta. "You know not to interrupt my training."

She eyed him coolly. "I'm not interrupting it. They are." She pointed over her shoulder.

He turned on them. "How dare you bakas interrupt me!"

"Calm down," said Piccolo. "You think we would be happy that we brought you one of your subjects."

"I'm not anyone's subject!" cried Kat.

"What the hell are you talking about you green moron? And who the hell is she?"

"That's what we'd like to know," replied ChiChi dryly.

"Guys, guys, truce," said Gohan. "Vegeta-san you really do want to hear this."

"Quiet boy. When I want advice from Kakarott's brat I'll ask for it."

"Kakarott? Who's Kakarott?" asked Kat.

"He means Gokou," said Piccolo. "And if he would shut up then I might be able to explain who you are." He sat down.

Kat and Gohan followed suit and waited for the others to catch on.

Piccolo looked at everybody. "I want to tell this once and only once and that means no interruptions, got it?" Slowly they all nodded and Kat began to feel like she wanted to crawl into a hole.

"Right." He pointed at Kat. "Her name is Kat. She is Saiya-jin. More to the point she is Son Gokou's twin sister."

ChiChi gasped and put her hands over her face. "That's impossible."

"No interruptions," growled Piccolo. Kat noticed that everyone now had their eyes glued to her, especially Vegeta but he was the only one whose face wasn't in complete shock. It had remained blank.

"She didn't know any of this until four days ago when she confronted me after the Cell Games. If you're wondering how I know it's because of…"

"…Kami,' finished Gohan. He earned himself a look.

"Yes. Kami found her, named her and brought her up. She has lived at his place since she was a year old. He trained her but never told her who she was. He brought her up as a human, sent her to school and all that crap. He took her tail so she wouldn't stand out in the crowds." There was an audible growl from Vegeta. "When she…"

Quietly Kat asked, "Why?"

"Don't interrupt."

"No. I want to know why and don't give me that crap about not being able to remember. Selective memories my ass." She fixed him with her gaze.

"He didn't tell you because he believed that it would just cause problems for you. Especially after he found out about Gokou as well and the way the two of you behaved. But you were only a baby and he was a soft old fool. He thought that if he changed your entire environment then you could live a normal life. We were lucky that he was right. He should have just hit you on the head. We can't all have freak accidents like Gokou."

"In other words he should have just killed me."

"Yes."

"Piccolo, that's horrible. She was just a child," said Bulma.

He glared at her. "Remember when he came here?" he nodded at Vegeta. "When she was old enough she would have done exactly what he came here to do. Destroy everything. She would have been out of control. Like I said, we were just lucky that the old fool was right. She was bad enough as it was until she worked out that they weren't going to let her do whatever she wanted."

There was silence as they let this sink in.

"Piccolo-san?" said Gohan. "You said that she was dads twin. Isn't it usual for twins to be the same age? Look at her. She's too young."

This got everyone's attention.

"That's a point," said Bulma. "She's still a kid." She turned to Kat. "How old are you?"

Kat looked at the blue haired woman. "I'm sixteen."

"See, then it can't be true. Gokou was what? Thirty or so?"

Kat sighed and looked away. "That doesn't mean anything."

"Huh? How can you defy a law of nature?"

"You should take over now," Piccolo said to Kat. "This only happened last week for you."

She nodded and turned back to the group. "I don't know what's true about the rest of the story, apart from that Kami did bring me up but I do know why I'm so young." She sighed. "Kami had a vision. It involved me in some way that was really important. He wouldn't tell me what. He said that I had looked about the same age as I am now and I was with some other people he knew and some that he didn't. The only problem with that was that these people were older than me when they shouldn't have been. I remember that he tried for weeks to work it out. Eventually he came to a decision." She looked up at the sky. "He looked so sad when he told me. He wanted to put me in some kind of a time chamber."

"The Hyperbolic Time chamber? But you can only spend two years of your whole life there before you become trapped," said Gohan.

"It wasn't the Hyperbolic Time chamber. It was a temporary one created around my person. Time inside it would stop while time on the outside would continue as normal."

"Like suspended animation!" exclaimed Bulma.

"Yes exactly."

"But who let you out?"

Kat thought a moment. "Me, I suppose. Kami said that my mind would know the right time to wake. So since I'm walking around now I guess this is it."

"How many years were you in there?"

"Fourteen," said Piccolo.

"Fourteen years," whistled Bulma. "You poor kid."

"Don't feel sorry for me. It was like I just went to sleep one night and woke up the next morning." She paused. "Except it looks like I woke up in the middle of a nightmare."

Bulma caught the sad look that flashed across Kat's face. ~That's not why I feel sorry for you kid. I could not imagine what it would be like to find out you had family after all those years and then to top it off find you had a twin whose death you witnessed but didn't know it.~

"Bull." Everybody looked at Vegeta. "It's all a load of crap."

"But Vegeta, look at her. She looks just like him," Bulma paused. "Except that she's a girl."

"How the hell did the old man know?"

"The tail might have been a giveaway," said Bulma dryly.

"If there was a tail. How do we know the jolly green giant here isn't making up stories?"

"Because," Kat said quietly, looking Vegeta in the eye. "Mr. Popo was there when Piccolo told me the story and he was agreeing with every word."

This seemed to take Vegeta aback. "Hmph. So you say. But even if you are Saiya-jin how did the old fool know that you were Kakarott's sister of all people?"

"He found her in her pod," replied Piccolo. "There was a picture of the two of them."

"Pods don't have pictures in them. They were used for transport only."

"If you don't believe me take a look for yourself. It's hidden in a cave. Not far from here actually." He stood up. "I've told my part and the kid knows the rest so I'm going."

Kat's head jerked up sharply. ~He's just going to leave me here with people I don't know?~

As if he had read her thoughts he turned to her and said, "You'll be fine. Besides you need to spend time with them."

"Are you saying I can't come back to Kami's place?" she asked, wide eyed.

"No but you should be with your own people. Plus Dende doesn't need you distracting him at the moment. He has work to do."

"Fine," she huffed and turned her back on him.

"Brat," he said and took off.

"Bye Piccolo-san!" called Gohan.

"Well," said Bulma. "He didn't leave much room for discussion did he?" Then her eyes lit up. "Let's go find this pod. It should be interesting."

*****

It took them two hours to find the cave that Piccolo was talking about. The Pod was nestled inside with the friction marks of where it entered the atmosphere still visible on its sides. Bulma immediately ran to it trying figure out how the door opened. Vegeta came up behind her and just ripped it off.

Inside on a chair that would have been far too large for a baby was a square of white. Bulma picked it up and turned it over. On the other side was a hastily drawn but very accurate picture of what must have been Kat as a baby, in what must have passed for a crib in Saiya-jin society. Next to her lay what was unmistakably a baby Son Gokou.

"So it is true," whispered Bulma as she handed the tattered picture to Kat.

Kat looked at it for a minute then carefully folded it and put it in her pocket. Her face was devoid of any emotion. "Is there anything else?"

"Nope, just the controls and stuff," Bulma turned around; she was in her element now.

"Move woman," said Vegeta suddenly.

"What? Why? I just want to see how it works."

"I already know how it works, so get out of the way."

"Oh so sorry Mr. I Know Everything."

Kat could see a vein in Vegeta's head start pulsing. "Look it's my pod. Why don't I try and work it out?"

Bulma and Vegeta looked at her, then at each other. Bulma shrugged.

"Fine," snarled Vegeta. "But if you break any of that equipment you'll be sorry."

"Blah, blah," muttered Kat as she walked forward. She heard Bulma suppress a laugh.

She sat in the pods only seat, which was still too big for her even after all these years. ~Must be a one size fits all thing.~ She faced the controls. She was very aware that everyone could see exactly what she was doing through the open door. She hit a couple of buttons. Nothing happened.

"There, you tried. Now get out," said Vegeta.

"Hold your horses, sheesh, I'm not finished yet." She sat back. ~What's the one thing people always forget when they get a new car?~ She looked around. There was a control panel, a screen, two small windows, a hole where the door should have been and…her hand brushed something. She looked down.

Beside the seat was another small panel. She opened it. ~Of course. Even if they're switched on cars won't move unless you take the handbrake off.~ She smiled and pushed at the large red switch that screamed `ON' in all its tacky obviousness.

The screen in front of her came to life. She began typing and watched as mounds of data started filling the screen. She started using commands to sort through it. "Huh. It's no good. It's all been scrambled or something. I can't make out a word."

Vegeta appeared in the doorway. "Let me see."

Kat got up to allow Vegeta to sit in the pod. "Hmph. Stupid girl. It's in Saiya-go." He started scrolling through the screens.

There was silence for a few minutes as Vegeta read the screens. Bulma started tapping her foot impatiently. It grated on ChiChi's nerves. She hadn't said anything in a while and it had just occurred to her that she was in shock. Her father hadn't said much either but he only felt that it wasn't his place.

Gohan had stopped watching Kat like she was going to attack them at any moment and was listening with great interest at what was being said.

Vegeta finally spoke. "Well. It seems as if the Namek was telling the truth. You are Kakarott's sister." He frowned. "According to this you shouldn't be here."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"The weakest of our race were always sent away when they were babies; for their `protection'. You weren't have supposed to have left until the day after Kakarott but someone saw fit to send you early and to the same planet. Either someone was a complete fool or you are the luckiest Saiya-jin alive."

"Why? Because I happened to get sent to the same planet as my brother?"

"No," Vegeta looked at her. "Because on the morning of the day you were to be sent out, Frieza destroyed the planet. That means you join a short list of survivors. Five of whom are now dead."

Kat paled. "How…how many survived?"

"Seven. Including you."

Kat sat down. "Seven?" she whispered. Her heart sank. For years she had hoped that one day she would find her parents. Now with discovery that she did have some family her hopes had unceremoniously been thrown out the window.

"Kat? Kat are you OK?" asked Bulma, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Kat jumped at the touch and her face immediately returned to her impassive blank mask. "Yes. I'm fine."

Vegeta meanwhile had been ignoring the whole thing. He was still typing through the screens of data. "Baka woman. Stop calling her Kat."

"What? Why?" Bulma poked her head into the pod.

"Because that's not her name."

"What the hell do you mean that's not my name?" Kat's head appeared next to Bulma's.

Gohan spoke up. "I get it. It's like how dad has a Saiya-jin name and the one that Grandfather Gohan gave him."

Vegeta looked at the young half-Saiya-jin. "Sometimes I wonder if your mother didn't have an affair boy. I find it hard to believe that that just came out of the mouth of Kakarott's brat."

Before ChiChi could say anything Kat cut in. "As much as we love to hear you making fun of my brother, do you mind telling me what my name is supposed to be?"

Vegeta glared at her then turned back to the screen. "Your name…is…" he pressed a few more buttons, "…Karete." (Author's note: pronounced ca - reet )

"Karete?" she snorted. "I think I'll stick to Kat if that's OK with you."

Vegeta got out of the pod. "Your name is Karete so that is what you will be called." He walked past her as if that was the end of the conversation.

"What gives you the right to tell me what to do?" she yelled after him. This was getting to be too much. "How do we know that you didn't just make all of that crap up?"

Vegeta froze. He slowly turned and walked back towards her. He sneered at her and she glared right back. The cave had gone unnaturally quiet. They were almost nose-to-nose when he hit her. A backhand across the face sent her crashing into the solid rock wall of the cave. She fell to the floor and tried to raise herself on her arms. She looked up to see Vegeta standing over her looking murderous.

"I have the right," he said in a whisper. "You third class piece of shit, because I am the Saiya-jin no Ouji."

She slowly got to her feet and looked him in the eyes. "So what do you expect me to do?" she snarled. "Grovel at your feet, O Prince of a dead race?"

She didn't see the fist that hit her. He moved too fast. She was on the ground again and in a world of pain. She wanted to fight back but he was too strong. She tried not to cry put in pain. Against the background of muffled thumps she could hear people calling out and she felt Vegeta being pulled off her. It had finished as almost as soon as it had begun. She slowly raised her head. Gohan was holding a fuming Vegeta while Bulma screamed in his face. ChiChi and her father were staring silently back and forth between Vegeta and herself. Shakily she got to her feet. She immediately fell down again. Bulma was suddenly at her side.

"Don't try and move, he roughed you up pretty badly."

Kat tried to push her away. "I'm fine. Just a bit shaky," she stood up again and immediately started coughing. She could feel a small trickle of blood travel down the side of her mouth. "Heh," she said with a small smile. "Won't be trying that again in a hurry. I …" she stopped as she felt a wave of dizziness wash over her. "I should've taken Piccolo seriously. Heh."

Bulma helped her out of the cave and into the car. The Sons joined them. Bulma had another heated discussion with Vegeta which resulted in them traveling back to Capsule Corp. while Vegeta flew. Kat tried very hard not to bleed on the seats.