Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Sister Saga Revised ❯ Going To Earth ( Chapter 1 )
[ A - All Readers ]
Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own DBZ or any of the characters. I do partially own all the characters made up (Mikomi, Asuke, Tiger and Okara).
A/N: I know this is taking a while to update, but I think this story so far reads much better than the original. Enjoy!
“Are we there yet?” Mikomi whined, looking out the window of her spacecraft as stars flew by like millions of tiny white streaks. Somehow, things just weren’t progressing quickly enough for Mikomi’s tastes.
Never looking up from the many dials and glowing panels before her, Asuke absently answered, “According to my calculations, we will be arriving in another…two days.”
Mikomi flopped back against the back of her seat with an exasperated sigh. “Man, this trip is taking forever! I’m tired of training by myself. I want someone I can fight with,” she whined, crossing her arms over her chest like a spoilt child.
“That’s nice,” came the detached reply from Asuke as she continued about her work, not caring for the Saiyan’s complaints. Sometimes, this “savior” of her planet acted like nothing more than a three-year-old child. Then again, Mikomi was built to fight and had spent most of her time training to do so. Maybe that had something to do with her behavior. Maybe the physical aspects of her growth had actually stunned her social growth. Yes, that was a very good hypothesis.
“Fine,” Mikomi almost growled. “Whatever,” she rose from her seat and left to continue honing her skills. Should she meet Frieza on planet Earth, Mikomi knew she had best be prepared. Otherwise, her life would be a very short one.
Walking down one of the corridors of her Musian ship, Mikomi muttered to herself, “I wonder what her deal is.” Entering a room specially designed to take the abuse a Saiyan could give while training, Mikomi turned on music to help her train. A fast beat always made her heart race to catch up with it. “She’s so uptight.” Mikomi continued to set things up for her training. “Come on, why not just relax and have a little fun every now and then?” Mikomi threw her first punch at a bag. “You know, I think giving her brain some time off would do her some good. She certainly wouldn’t be nearly so stuffy,” Mikomi finished her thoughts before making a full assault on her equipment. Anyone who got in that Saiyan’s way had best beware.
Still at the ship’s helm, Asuke mused aloud in a similar fashion. “Why can’t she just grow up and be serious every now and then? To her, this trip is just about fun. She can’t appreciate the scientific marvel of it all and the importance of the information we will gather…how much this one mission could change our planet forever….”
*******
Two days had come and gone since Mikomi and Asuke’s spat. For the most part, they had decided it best to keep their distance from one another, lest they begin their fight anew. While both were strong-willed and believed the other should bow to their thoughts and ways, both also understood they were a team, and to succeed in the mission they were sent on, they must put aside all personal differences and act as one. Otherwise, their home might well be doomed and without way of knowing so.
Asuke pushed buttons, her brow furrowed in concentration. “Mikomi, prepare for our entrance into the Earth’s atmosphere!”
Mikomi frown as she replied, “There’s no need to yell. I’m right behind you,” Mikomi spoke from within five feet of Asuke’s left shoulder.
Smirking, Asuke couldn’t keep her comment to herself. “I thought you’d be training since you’re about to meet your people. You do spend much time training anyway.” Obviously, there were much better things to spend one’s life pursuing.
“No way!” Mikomi replied excitedly as she plopped down in a seat beside Asuke, putting on her safety harness in case of an emergency. “There’ll be plenty of time to train later. Right now, I’m too excited to train!”
“Well, just hang in there and help me land,” was Asuke’s only reply as they quickly approached their destination.
Mikomi grinned brightly, “No problemo. I’ll help you park this ole hunk o’ junk wherever you want it.” She took her side of the controls, landing controls.
Asuke fought with her controls, she and Mikomi acting as one until they had broken the atmosphere and could fly the craft with ease once again before answering Mikomi’s last comment. “I would say, ‘let’s find a major city,’ but it would probably be best to land in the countryside until we learn more about these creatures.”
Unable to keep from rolling her eyes dramatically, Mikomi replied, “Why don’t ya just call ‘em people? That’s what they are, people, not creatures, but peeeople….” she overly emphasized. “You know, I just hope these translator chips you had put in our heads work. Otherwise, we’re up a creek.”
Asuke bristled at the implication of anything but perfection from her brilliance. “Are you doubting my scientific abilities?!” She was quickly becoming fighting mad.
“Nooo. Of course not!” Mikomi replied with more than a fair helping of sarcasm. “Just the abilities of everyone else in the universe. That’s all” Onyx eyes rolled once again. One thing she could not stand was arrogance, especially when it was implied by that person at the time or previously, that she was far less intelligent simply because she was of another race. You’d think a planet would be happy and treat their guardian with at least a little respect. But no, many members had always assumed that simply because she was a Saiyan, a warrior, she must be far less mentally developed. Other, less prejudiced Musians had made Mikomi’s stay not only comfortable and welcoming, but worth the ignorance and snide remarks of their people.
“That’s enough for now,” Asuke snipped. Pointing toward an icy area about a mile away, she spoke again. “Help me land in that clearing,” which Mikomi did without even one smart comment, though it was not an easy task.
Moving to look out a window, Mikomi was floored by the landscape. The ground was white and the ship was surrounded by giant trees just outside of their small clearing. “So, where are we?” Mikomi turned to ask the all-knowing Asuke.
“This map says the humans call it…” Asuke paused as she located the spot on her rough map of the planet, bought from another race of explorers. “Siberia.”
“Wow! Sounds cool,” Mikomi threw over her shoulder, heading toward the ship’s door in excitement. “I’m going out to explore!” Mikomi pushed the buttons to open the door, not expecting the icy blast which hit her upon the door’s immediate movement, prompting her to quickly re-close said door.
Looking over at her partner, currently covered in snow, Asuke frowned. “Mikomi! Quit goofing around! We have work to do!”
Feeling slightly offended and extremely cold, Mikomi shivered, “I’m not goofing around. It’s COLD out there!” as she brushed snow from her person.
Asuke sighed a weary sigh, her patience running thin, as usual. “It is not cold,” she stated matter-of-factly. “My sources say the average temperature on this planet is between 70 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit.”
“Fine, Miss Know-It-All! If you’re so smart, then tell me why it’s cold out there!” Mikomi retorted.
Frowning, not happy about the delay, Asuke rose from her seat and crossed to exit the ship while Mikomi quickly ducked for cover. “Watch! It is NOT cold on this planet,” were Asuke’s famous last words as she opened the door and was instantly covered in snow.
Unable to keep from laughing hysterically, Mikomi finally found the breath to ask the salted Asuke, “Now…do…you…believe….me?!?!”
G rowling, Asuke yelled in reply, “That is not funny!” She was cold; more importantly, she had been proven wrong. Asuke was definitely not the proverbial happy camper.
“Of course it is,” Mikomi finally got her laughter under control. “You thought you were soooo smart. Well, look at you now!” Mikomi finished just before hearing a peculiar sound. “Asuke, what was that?”
Suddenly scared, and irritated at being so irrationally, Asuke stammered, “I-…I don’t know.”
A determined look on her face, Mikomi pulled a heavy coat from the ship’s storage and double checked her gun-type weapon. “Well, in that case, I’m going to check it out.”
Soft words of guidance, “Be careful,” barely able to be heard by most normal ears came from Asuke. Mikomi’s Saiyan ears heard quite plainly.
“Don’t worry about me,” Mikomi gave Asuke a reassuring smile from the open doorway before disappearing into this new and strange world on a quest to find the source of the odd noise she had heard.
Mikomi covered a few yards from the ship before the mysterious noise sounded again, causing her to freeze in her tracks. Sure, she had seemed awfully brave in front of Asuke, back in the safety of the ship, but now, out in the open, she was beginning to rethink her decision to be so brash. What if what they had heard was the illusive Freiza after all? Was she ready to face such an enemy yet? Was she even ready to face another angry Saiyan? Mikomi simply did not know.
Once again, the noise was heard, strengthening Mikomi's resolve to find the source as she followed the sound. No matter how scared she was, Mikomi could not let Asuke know.
Topping a nearby hill, hidden from the ship by the thickness of the surrounding forest, Mikomi finally caught sight of the creatures causing the disturbance. Two large, long and lean bloodied animals with reddish-brown and black stripes were fighting over a fresh kill. The smaller of the two was standing defensively over the kill, while the other circled; trying to sneak in an attack to dislodge what appeared to be the rightful owner of the meal.
Without thinking of the consequences, as usual, Mikomi pulled out her gun and shot the larger, more aggressive of the two animals, leaving the defender with its rightful meal. The aggressor, unfortunately, was none too pleased to have its abdomen injured. With great annoyance and anger, the larger of the two beasts dashed toward Mikomi, intent on making her its next meal after losing the first one. Using her lighting-like Saiyan speed, Mikomi was able to unsheathe her sword as the great animal leapt toward her and was immediately impaled on the blade as it sliced cleanly through its heart.
Only after retrieving her blade from the slowly cooling corpse did Mikomi notice the first and smaller of the two animals had eaten its fill of the carcass they had been fighting over and was giving Mikomi a most curious look. Deciding to ignore the creature, Mikomi began her trek back to her ship to tell Asuke what had just happened.
It only took a few yards for Mikomi to realize, she had company. Turning, she saw the creature still watching her from a small distance, having followed, still gazing with an intrigued expression. Frowning, Mikomi waved her arms at the beast. "Shoo! Shoo! Get out of here! Go back to your kill!"
A couple of more stops and shoo-ings and Mikomi gave up, allowing the animal to follow her all the way back to the ship. As the Saiyan princess opened the door to her ship, the animal that has slowly been closing the distance between them for quite some time, leapt inside before Mikomi could stop it, still looking as innocent as ever. Giving up, Mikomi simply sighed, closed the door and headed for Asuke.
Asuke was found to be at the ship's bridge, as expected, and was busy looking over several read-outs when Mikomi entered. "So, did you find what was causing that racket?" Asuke asked without turning to look at Mikomi.
The Saiyan could not help the smirk the crept unbecomingly onto her face. "I certainly did."
"Well," Asuke started impatiently, "What was it?"
"I don't know," Mikomi simply answered. "Why don't you tell me?"
As Asuke's chair slowly turned around, it was obvious the scientist believed other things to be much more important. As she placed the read-outs on a countertop, Asuke's eyes slowly drifted up to land on the large, orange and black beast beside Mikomi. The moment Asuke fully recognized the situation was priceless as her eyes bugged out of her head, her mouth dropped open and she began to yell at Mikomi, "Do you know wh-...what the thing IS?!?!"
Grinning, Mikomi simply shook her head. "Nope, but it's pretty and tough, too. I like it. Besides, it followed me home."
"That's a Siberian Tiger!" Asuke screamed, looking at Mikomi as though she were an idiot. "That is only the largest member of the cat family on this planet! She's a natural born KILLER!!!!"
Though her first thought was bitterly, "Then I guess that means we'll get along fine," Mikomi chose to bite her tongue and reply in a more simplistic manner. "So, does that mean we get to keep her?"
"Keep her?!? Of course not! She'd kill us in our sleep for a midnight snack! Have you lost your mind?!"
Mikomi looked down at her newest friend, who in turn was looking back at her. Both wore identical expressions, believing Asuke to be insane. "No. She doesn't look that mean to me. Besides, if she's as bad as you seem to think, we need her on our side for power since we don't know what else we'll find. Let me keep her, pleeeease," Mikomi begged Asuke as she and the cat both turned huge, begging eyes toward the stubborn scientist.
With a long sigh, indicating her decision was against her better judgment, Asuke relented. "Oh, alright then. But she's your responsibility."
"Yay!" Mikomi grinned gleefully. "I have a pet! Now...what am I going to name you?" After a few moments of thought while looking down at the tiger, which was looking back at her, Mikomi decided. "I know! I'll call you Tiger, since that's what you are!"
Looking back up from the read-outs Asuke had once again buried herself into, she replied, "Tiger!? That's the dumbest name I’ve ever heard."
Mikomi, beaming about her new pet as she scratched the cat's head, retorted with, "So? No one asked you, did they?"
"I still think it's a stupid name," Asuke softly muttered to herself, receiving a growl from Tiger. Looking at Tiger's size, physique, and estimating the size of her teeth, Asuke quickly rethought her position. "You know, now that I’ve had a moment to think about it, Tiger is a really nice name, if you like it that is."
Mikomi grinned widely. "I thought you'd see it my way. So, when are we going to find some people?"
"Tomorrow," Asuke did not even look up from her work. "It's going to take that long to locate a Saiyan. Until then, why don't you go train or rest?" Her nerves simply could not take anymore.
Nodding, Mikomi agreed, "Okie dokie," as she and Tiger left the bridge to take a nice long nap until they were needed again.
*******
"Mikomi! Are you going to sleep all morning?" Asuke called from the doorway to the sleeping princess’s bedchamber.
Groaning with the effort, Mikomi managed to lift her head, blurry-eyed from her pillow. "What time is it anyway?"
"Nine."
"Nine?!" came the inevitable reply. "Are you nuts?!? No sane creature wakes up before noon!"
Using a motherly tone, Asuke answered, "Well, you are today. So, get your lazy butt out of bed and get dressed. You're about to meet another Saiyan for the first time since Okara."
Mikomi's head immediately lifted from her pillow again. "You found them?"
"Well, kinda," Asuke admitted. "I found one true Saiyan, but there are four other readings that were not exactly Saiyan, nor were they human, but since they're all in the same area, I figured we'd just drop in on all of them at once."
During the last, Mikomi had managed to drag herself from her bed at the prospect of meeting others of her race, her people. Almost dressed, her mind moving on to the more important matter of food, Mikomi replied, "Yeah, whatever," as she pushed past Asuke and headed straight for the food supplies.
Asuke frowned as she followed Mikomi to the kitchen. "I swear; sometimes, all you seem to do is eat and sleep."
"And fight. You can't forget fighting," Mikomi added as she prepared herself a meal worthy of any Saiyan. Well, not necessarily worthy, but large enough rather. "Besides, all the doctors said it was because I have a high metabolism."
"That and a bottomless pit for a stomach," Asuke snorted. "Just hurry up and get to the controls. We need to get going."
Too busy to reply, Mikomi simply nodded as she shoved food into the black hole that is her mouth.
"Pig," Asuke muttered as she headed to the ship's bridge to wait the ten minutes it would take Mikomi to finish her meal and make her way to her side of the controls.
Entering the brain center of the ship which had carried she and Asuke from their home planet of Muse to the strange world known as Earth, Mikomi yawned deeply, her stomach finally full, and propped her feet up while leaning back in her chair comfortably. "So, where are we headed?"
Asuke rolled her eyes at her partners' uncouthness. "I've already set our coordinates. All you need to do is push your button."
"This button?" Mikomi asked, pointing to a large red button in front of her.
Sighing, Asuke asked, "How many buttons are there on your control panel?"
"One."
"Then I guess that's the one," Asuke replied.
"Whatever. I'm still a-," Mikomi yawned longly, "sleep." Pushing said button, the ship lifted into the air, headed toward their predetermined destination.
A/N: So, how’s the story going so far? If you’re enjoying reading this as much as I’m enjoying rewriting it, let me know! Leave a review!
A/N: I know this is taking a while to update, but I think this story so far reads much better than the original. Enjoy!
“Are we there yet?” Mikomi whined, looking out the window of her spacecraft as stars flew by like millions of tiny white streaks. Somehow, things just weren’t progressing quickly enough for Mikomi’s tastes.
Never looking up from the many dials and glowing panels before her, Asuke absently answered, “According to my calculations, we will be arriving in another…two days.”
Mikomi flopped back against the back of her seat with an exasperated sigh. “Man, this trip is taking forever! I’m tired of training by myself. I want someone I can fight with,” she whined, crossing her arms over her chest like a spoilt child.
“That’s nice,” came the detached reply from Asuke as she continued about her work, not caring for the Saiyan’s complaints. Sometimes, this “savior” of her planet acted like nothing more than a three-year-old child. Then again, Mikomi was built to fight and had spent most of her time training to do so. Maybe that had something to do with her behavior. Maybe the physical aspects of her growth had actually stunned her social growth. Yes, that was a very good hypothesis.
“Fine,” Mikomi almost growled. “Whatever,” she rose from her seat and left to continue honing her skills. Should she meet Frieza on planet Earth, Mikomi knew she had best be prepared. Otherwise, her life would be a very short one.
Walking down one of the corridors of her Musian ship, Mikomi muttered to herself, “I wonder what her deal is.” Entering a room specially designed to take the abuse a Saiyan could give while training, Mikomi turned on music to help her train. A fast beat always made her heart race to catch up with it. “She’s so uptight.” Mikomi continued to set things up for her training. “Come on, why not just relax and have a little fun every now and then?” Mikomi threw her first punch at a bag. “You know, I think giving her brain some time off would do her some good. She certainly wouldn’t be nearly so stuffy,” Mikomi finished her thoughts before making a full assault on her equipment. Anyone who got in that Saiyan’s way had best beware.
Still at the ship’s helm, Asuke mused aloud in a similar fashion. “Why can’t she just grow up and be serious every now and then? To her, this trip is just about fun. She can’t appreciate the scientific marvel of it all and the importance of the information we will gather…how much this one mission could change our planet forever….”
*******
Two days had come and gone since Mikomi and Asuke’s spat. For the most part, they had decided it best to keep their distance from one another, lest they begin their fight anew. While both were strong-willed and believed the other should bow to their thoughts and ways, both also understood they were a team, and to succeed in the mission they were sent on, they must put aside all personal differences and act as one. Otherwise, their home might well be doomed and without way of knowing so.
Asuke pushed buttons, her brow furrowed in concentration. “Mikomi, prepare for our entrance into the Earth’s atmosphere!”
Mikomi frown as she replied, “There’s no need to yell. I’m right behind you,” Mikomi spoke from within five feet of Asuke’s left shoulder.
Smirking, Asuke couldn’t keep her comment to herself. “I thought you’d be training since you’re about to meet your people. You do spend much time training anyway.” Obviously, there were much better things to spend one’s life pursuing.
“No way!” Mikomi replied excitedly as she plopped down in a seat beside Asuke, putting on her safety harness in case of an emergency. “There’ll be plenty of time to train later. Right now, I’m too excited to train!”
“Well, just hang in there and help me land,” was Asuke’s only reply as they quickly approached their destination.
Mikomi grinned brightly, “No problemo. I’ll help you park this ole hunk o’ junk wherever you want it.” She took her side of the controls, landing controls.
Asuke fought with her controls, she and Mikomi acting as one until they had broken the atmosphere and could fly the craft with ease once again before answering Mikomi’s last comment. “I would say, ‘let’s find a major city,’ but it would probably be best to land in the countryside until we learn more about these creatures.”
Unable to keep from rolling her eyes dramatically, Mikomi replied, “Why don’t ya just call ‘em people? That’s what they are, people, not creatures, but peeeople….” she overly emphasized. “You know, I just hope these translator chips you had put in our heads work. Otherwise, we’re up a creek.”
Asuke bristled at the implication of anything but perfection from her brilliance. “Are you doubting my scientific abilities?!” She was quickly becoming fighting mad.
“Nooo. Of course not!” Mikomi replied with more than a fair helping of sarcasm. “Just the abilities of everyone else in the universe. That’s all” Onyx eyes rolled once again. One thing she could not stand was arrogance, especially when it was implied by that person at the time or previously, that she was far less intelligent simply because she was of another race. You’d think a planet would be happy and treat their guardian with at least a little respect. But no, many members had always assumed that simply because she was a Saiyan, a warrior, she must be far less mentally developed. Other, less prejudiced Musians had made Mikomi’s stay not only comfortable and welcoming, but worth the ignorance and snide remarks of their people.
“That’s enough for now,” Asuke snipped. Pointing toward an icy area about a mile away, she spoke again. “Help me land in that clearing,” which Mikomi did without even one smart comment, though it was not an easy task.
Moving to look out a window, Mikomi was floored by the landscape. The ground was white and the ship was surrounded by giant trees just outside of their small clearing. “So, where are we?” Mikomi turned to ask the all-knowing Asuke.
“This map says the humans call it…” Asuke paused as she located the spot on her rough map of the planet, bought from another race of explorers. “Siberia.”
“Wow! Sounds cool,” Mikomi threw over her shoulder, heading toward the ship’s door in excitement. “I’m going out to explore!” Mikomi pushed the buttons to open the door, not expecting the icy blast which hit her upon the door’s immediate movement, prompting her to quickly re-close said door.
Looking over at her partner, currently covered in snow, Asuke frowned. “Mikomi! Quit goofing around! We have work to do!”
Feeling slightly offended and extremely cold, Mikomi shivered, “I’m not goofing around. It’s COLD out there!” as she brushed snow from her person.
Asuke sighed a weary sigh, her patience running thin, as usual. “It is not cold,” she stated matter-of-factly. “My sources say the average temperature on this planet is between 70 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit.”
“Fine, Miss Know-It-All! If you’re so smart, then tell me why it’s cold out there!” Mikomi retorted.
Frowning, not happy about the delay, Asuke rose from her seat and crossed to exit the ship while Mikomi quickly ducked for cover. “Watch! It is NOT cold on this planet,” were Asuke’s famous last words as she opened the door and was instantly covered in snow.
Unable to keep from laughing hysterically, Mikomi finally found the breath to ask the salted Asuke, “Now…do…you…believe….me?!?!”
G rowling, Asuke yelled in reply, “That is not funny!” She was cold; more importantly, she had been proven wrong. Asuke was definitely not the proverbial happy camper.
“Of course it is,” Mikomi finally got her laughter under control. “You thought you were soooo smart. Well, look at you now!” Mikomi finished just before hearing a peculiar sound. “Asuke, what was that?”
Suddenly scared, and irritated at being so irrationally, Asuke stammered, “I-…I don’t know.”
A determined look on her face, Mikomi pulled a heavy coat from the ship’s storage and double checked her gun-type weapon. “Well, in that case, I’m going to check it out.”
Soft words of guidance, “Be careful,” barely able to be heard by most normal ears came from Asuke. Mikomi’s Saiyan ears heard quite plainly.
“Don’t worry about me,” Mikomi gave Asuke a reassuring smile from the open doorway before disappearing into this new and strange world on a quest to find the source of the odd noise she had heard.
Mikomi covered a few yards from the ship before the mysterious noise sounded again, causing her to freeze in her tracks. Sure, she had seemed awfully brave in front of Asuke, back in the safety of the ship, but now, out in the open, she was beginning to rethink her decision to be so brash. What if what they had heard was the illusive Freiza after all? Was she ready to face such an enemy yet? Was she even ready to face another angry Saiyan? Mikomi simply did not know.
Once again, the noise was heard, strengthening Mikomi's resolve to find the source as she followed the sound. No matter how scared she was, Mikomi could not let Asuke know.
Topping a nearby hill, hidden from the ship by the thickness of the surrounding forest, Mikomi finally caught sight of the creatures causing the disturbance. Two large, long and lean bloodied animals with reddish-brown and black stripes were fighting over a fresh kill. The smaller of the two was standing defensively over the kill, while the other circled; trying to sneak in an attack to dislodge what appeared to be the rightful owner of the meal.
Without thinking of the consequences, as usual, Mikomi pulled out her gun and shot the larger, more aggressive of the two animals, leaving the defender with its rightful meal. The aggressor, unfortunately, was none too pleased to have its abdomen injured. With great annoyance and anger, the larger of the two beasts dashed toward Mikomi, intent on making her its next meal after losing the first one. Using her lighting-like Saiyan speed, Mikomi was able to unsheathe her sword as the great animal leapt toward her and was immediately impaled on the blade as it sliced cleanly through its heart.
Only after retrieving her blade from the slowly cooling corpse did Mikomi notice the first and smaller of the two animals had eaten its fill of the carcass they had been fighting over and was giving Mikomi a most curious look. Deciding to ignore the creature, Mikomi began her trek back to her ship to tell Asuke what had just happened.
It only took a few yards for Mikomi to realize, she had company. Turning, she saw the creature still watching her from a small distance, having followed, still gazing with an intrigued expression. Frowning, Mikomi waved her arms at the beast. "Shoo! Shoo! Get out of here! Go back to your kill!"
A couple of more stops and shoo-ings and Mikomi gave up, allowing the animal to follow her all the way back to the ship. As the Saiyan princess opened the door to her ship, the animal that has slowly been closing the distance between them for quite some time, leapt inside before Mikomi could stop it, still looking as innocent as ever. Giving up, Mikomi simply sighed, closed the door and headed for Asuke.
Asuke was found to be at the ship's bridge, as expected, and was busy looking over several read-outs when Mikomi entered. "So, did you find what was causing that racket?" Asuke asked without turning to look at Mikomi.
The Saiyan could not help the smirk the crept unbecomingly onto her face. "I certainly did."
"Well," Asuke started impatiently, "What was it?"
"I don't know," Mikomi simply answered. "Why don't you tell me?"
As Asuke's chair slowly turned around, it was obvious the scientist believed other things to be much more important. As she placed the read-outs on a countertop, Asuke's eyes slowly drifted up to land on the large, orange and black beast beside Mikomi. The moment Asuke fully recognized the situation was priceless as her eyes bugged out of her head, her mouth dropped open and she began to yell at Mikomi, "Do you know wh-...what the thing IS?!?!"
Grinning, Mikomi simply shook her head. "Nope, but it's pretty and tough, too. I like it. Besides, it followed me home."
"That's a Siberian Tiger!" Asuke screamed, looking at Mikomi as though she were an idiot. "That is only the largest member of the cat family on this planet! She's a natural born KILLER!!!!"
Though her first thought was bitterly, "Then I guess that means we'll get along fine," Mikomi chose to bite her tongue and reply in a more simplistic manner. "So, does that mean we get to keep her?"
"Keep her?!? Of course not! She'd kill us in our sleep for a midnight snack! Have you lost your mind?!"
Mikomi looked down at her newest friend, who in turn was looking back at her. Both wore identical expressions, believing Asuke to be insane. "No. She doesn't look that mean to me. Besides, if she's as bad as you seem to think, we need her on our side for power since we don't know what else we'll find. Let me keep her, pleeeease," Mikomi begged Asuke as she and the cat both turned huge, begging eyes toward the stubborn scientist.
With a long sigh, indicating her decision was against her better judgment, Asuke relented. "Oh, alright then. But she's your responsibility."
"Yay!" Mikomi grinned gleefully. "I have a pet! Now...what am I going to name you?" After a few moments of thought while looking down at the tiger, which was looking back at her, Mikomi decided. "I know! I'll call you Tiger, since that's what you are!"
Looking back up from the read-outs Asuke had once again buried herself into, she replied, "Tiger!? That's the dumbest name I’ve ever heard."
Mikomi, beaming about her new pet as she scratched the cat's head, retorted with, "So? No one asked you, did they?"
"I still think it's a stupid name," Asuke softly muttered to herself, receiving a growl from Tiger. Looking at Tiger's size, physique, and estimating the size of her teeth, Asuke quickly rethought her position. "You know, now that I’ve had a moment to think about it, Tiger is a really nice name, if you like it that is."
Mikomi grinned widely. "I thought you'd see it my way. So, when are we going to find some people?"
"Tomorrow," Asuke did not even look up from her work. "It's going to take that long to locate a Saiyan. Until then, why don't you go train or rest?" Her nerves simply could not take anymore.
Nodding, Mikomi agreed, "Okie dokie," as she and Tiger left the bridge to take a nice long nap until they were needed again.
*******
"Mikomi! Are you going to sleep all morning?" Asuke called from the doorway to the sleeping princess’s bedchamber.
Groaning with the effort, Mikomi managed to lift her head, blurry-eyed from her pillow. "What time is it anyway?"
"Nine."
"Nine?!" came the inevitable reply. "Are you nuts?!? No sane creature wakes up before noon!"
Using a motherly tone, Asuke answered, "Well, you are today. So, get your lazy butt out of bed and get dressed. You're about to meet another Saiyan for the first time since Okara."
Mikomi's head immediately lifted from her pillow again. "You found them?"
"Well, kinda," Asuke admitted. "I found one true Saiyan, but there are four other readings that were not exactly Saiyan, nor were they human, but since they're all in the same area, I figured we'd just drop in on all of them at once."
During the last, Mikomi had managed to drag herself from her bed at the prospect of meeting others of her race, her people. Almost dressed, her mind moving on to the more important matter of food, Mikomi replied, "Yeah, whatever," as she pushed past Asuke and headed straight for the food supplies.
Asuke frowned as she followed Mikomi to the kitchen. "I swear; sometimes, all you seem to do is eat and sleep."
"And fight. You can't forget fighting," Mikomi added as she prepared herself a meal worthy of any Saiyan. Well, not necessarily worthy, but large enough rather. "Besides, all the doctors said it was because I have a high metabolism."
"That and a bottomless pit for a stomach," Asuke snorted. "Just hurry up and get to the controls. We need to get going."
Too busy to reply, Mikomi simply nodded as she shoved food into the black hole that is her mouth.
"Pig," Asuke muttered as she headed to the ship's bridge to wait the ten minutes it would take Mikomi to finish her meal and make her way to her side of the controls.
Entering the brain center of the ship which had carried she and Asuke from their home planet of Muse to the strange world known as Earth, Mikomi yawned deeply, her stomach finally full, and propped her feet up while leaning back in her chair comfortably. "So, where are we headed?"
Asuke rolled her eyes at her partners' uncouthness. "I've already set our coordinates. All you need to do is push your button."
"This button?" Mikomi asked, pointing to a large red button in front of her.
Sighing, Asuke asked, "How many buttons are there on your control panel?"
"One."
"Then I guess that's the one," Asuke replied.
"Whatever. I'm still a-," Mikomi yawned longly, "sleep." Pushing said button, the ship lifted into the air, headed toward their predetermined destination.
A/N: So, how’s the story going so far? If you’re enjoying reading this as much as I’m enjoying rewriting it, let me know! Leave a review!