Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Time's Folly; A Bittersweet Symphony ❯ The Deliberation ( Chapter 12 )

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Chap 12*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

The next morning found the same group that had gathered at Capsule Corp the previous day, sans Bulma, assembled at Kami's Lookout. Mirai Trunks was the first to tell Dende of the Augin-jin threat that had come to his time and Gohan followed him with an explanation of the appearance of the three “other Earth-world girls.”

 

When the two had finished relating their stories, there was silence for a moment as both Mr. Popo and Dende digested all of the detailed information just given to them.

 

“Well, I don't really know anything about this Augin-jin race, but I am deeply concerned about all the powers that these creatures seem to be able to wield,” Dende revealed. “And I can't help but believe that all of the events that happened yesterday, as random as they might appear to be, are somehow connected.”

 

“What do you mean?” asked Goku.

 

“When you came back into our timeline,” Dende said, directly addressing Mirai Trunks, “Two seemingly unrelated things happened at the exact same time: one, the three girls appeared here in our world; and two, along with their sudden arrivals, came the presence of a strange, malevolent energy. Around the same time the girls became conscious, there was a surge of it, but then it reduced its self almost to nothing, and it's been that way ever since - just barely, but still there, nonetheless.”

 

Goku rubbed the back of his head in bewilderment, again asking, “But what does all that stuff mean?”

 

Mr. Popo stepped forward to answer. “This dark, magical energy has manifested itself in the form of some kind of barrier force, which is hanging over the two girls, Autumn and Asia, as well as the older Trunks. Its power is preventing them from leaving this world, this dimension, if you will. And I'm afraid that it is even beyond the power of the Dragon Balls to counteract. It's far too strong.”

 

Vegita was unsurprised at the lack of immediate reaction by his older son by this news. Only when some worried looks were cast Mirai's way did he feign any sort of worried appearance, though he never turned around to acknowledge his father's questioning gaze.

 

“And this barrier, isn't it over Azure as well?” Gohan asked.

 

“No, it's not.” Dende could only shrug. “I don't know why.”

 

“Do you have any ideas as to how they got here?” Gohan asked.

 

“That's a much harder question to answer.”

 

Mr. Popo spoke up after a brief pause. “I think I may have a theory about that, Gohan.” Expectant ears and eyes all became focused on the guardian's dark-skinned assistant.

 

“Trunks,” he began, focusing on Mirai, “You said that this race was originally a wizard race. If they have indeed discovered a way to bio-engineer themselves to the point that they now have the ability to fight and manipulate ki energy, they might also have been able to harness enough dark magic power to possibly open some kind of a hole in time and space - a kind of portal - that could allow them to travel into other, alternative universal dimensions.”

 

Dende nodded slowly, starting to understand.

 

“Universal dimensions?” Goku questioned, still not quite getting it.

 

“Take Trunks, for example,” Dende explained. “He's from a different timeline, but he still exists in the same dimensional universe as ours. Even King Kai's place, for instance, lies in a different plane of existence, but is still part of our universe. These three girls, however, did not come from either. They came from an entirely different dimensional universe.”

 

“Oh!” Goku said quietly, as he finally started to comprehend what Dende was saying.

 

“You did state that the girls knew who you were and that their world, which also happens to be called Earth, wasn't like this one, which would indicate that these Augin-jin can rip through universal dimensions and transfer beings from one universe to another. Magic-wise, this is a very bad thing. For now, we can assume that they are more powerful than Majin Buu, who was able to open dimensional rifts, even if he did manage to do it unconsciously. It is nearly impossible to do and takes a great amount of concentrated magic to do so consciously.”

 

“If they can do that with magic alone, that means that they have probably found ways to transfer that strength into ki usage, which is bad for us,” Gohan commented.

 

“And, if they can take energy from you all, especially the Saiya-jin, and use it, this already dire situation will certainly take a huge turn towards the worse.” Dende pointed out.

 

“Not exactly,” Mirai interjected. “Neither I or my mother believed that they can directly use Saiya-jin energy.”

 

“Why is that?” Gohan asked.

 

“Because they tried to draw from my ki and failed. During the battle, I destroyed a little more than half of their copies and managed to seriously injure two of the actual Augin-jin without physically doing anything. After I told her what happened, my mother surmised that they can only siphon off energy from certain species, like humans. Apparently they discovered that humans, especially Earthlings, are perfect power plants for them. The Augin-jin can contain and use human-generated energy to its maximum, to enhance their own natural magical powers and as a source for their use of ki..

 

“The only problem is a human's body can only achieve a maximum level of ki strength and can only contain a finite amount of energy at any given time. What really concerns me is that they might have, if they haven't already, found a way to get around that sticking point. My mother and I believed that their biggest aim is to concentrate their efforts on gathering as much human energy as they can from the outright, especially when they discover the Earth of the present is a lot more populated and healthy than the one of my timeline. Once they do that, and bring back this Super Saiya-jin, which they threatened to do upon their return to this planet, it's possible they'll have all the energy they need.”

 

“Don't forget that you are only half-Saiya-jin, Trunks. There is still a chance, no matter how remote, that they may be able to exploit energy from either Vegita or my dad,” Gohan pointed out gloomily, “Which is the last thing we need.”

 

“In order to put a Saiya-jin, especially an extraordinarily powerful one like Broli, under their control, they would need to draw additional energy from a full-blooded Saiya-jin, even if it's just indirectly,” Dende remarked.

 

“But it would mean that they can't use Saiya-jin energy directly,” Gohan disputed, hoping that would be to their advantage.

 

“Gohan, we can speculate about this all we want, but we won't know until they get here whether they can use Saiya-jin energy, directly or not.” Trunks said, pointedly. “They may not even want to risk drawing energy directly from any of us. It's hard to know exactly what to expect from them, and I only know so much.”

 

“Regardless, we need to remember that the demise of Majin Buu was only made possible by the additional gathering of Earthling human energy in great quantities. For the Augin-jin to have this same ability and combine it with their own powers is something that we cannot ignore,” Piccolo pointed out.

 

“And what about the girls? And this so-called magical barrier thing?” Gohan questioned.

 

“Well, I do have some positive information about that,” Dende began, thoughtfully. “I've been monitoring the barriers' strengths around the girls and Trunks ever since their arrivals and I sensed that the force surrounding Trunks has been decreasing with each passing moment. It would seem that the more ki he has expended, more of the barrier's ability to confine him has decreased. I've also noted that the two girls have a sizable amount of ki within them, for humans that is; so, if they learned how to increase and strength their ki's, and use them to their fullest, their respective barriers will also start to fade. Azure's ki, which is much higher and stronger than the other two, may have something to do with her not having a barrier.”

 

“You mentioned previously that, unlike her companions, Azure didn't arrive with a barrier,” Gohan said. “What does that mean?”

 

“It means that she's originally from this dimension!” Vegita cut in impatiently. “A closer examination of her ki will tell you that!”

 

“Indeed, that would explain much about her, if she was originally from our universe,” Mr. Popo agreed, nodding his turbaned head.

 

“Vegita has made a good point,” Goku observed. “Azure's ki is basically human but it's also made up of something else. But even I can't tell what it is. However, the other girls, while it's slightly different, their ki signatures are definitely human. There's also a very slight difference in power levels between the two.”

 

“Before Azure's ki finally leveled off to where it is now, at its highest spike it nearly matched my own when I'm in my normal state,” Mirai pointed out.

 

“Despite your being from a different timeline than ours, you are still part of our universe. So how did it come to pass that she arrived without a barrier while you have one?” Gohan challenged.

 

“Unfortunately, with the little information we have, the answer to that is going to be hard to come across,” Dende stated.

 

“And it's not at all possible that she could be one of these Augin-jin?” Gohan questioned.

 

Mirai shook his head. “These creatures are not shape-shifters. They can only change their bodies so much, even with the ability to bio-enhance themselves. From what I've observed about them, they are pretty vain and hold themselves in too high of a regard to undergo drastic physical changes, like turning themselves into a humanoid body.”

 

“She might not be one of them, but could she have some knowledge about the Augin-jin?” Mr. Popo ventured.

 

“It's hard to say how much help she would be if she did know,” Goku stated. “She doesn't seem to understand what ki is, or even be fully aware of it. And from what Trunks has told us, the Aujin-jin all have knowledge of ki.”

 

Piccolo spoke up decisively, “The way I see it, the only option we have right now is for everyone, to begin intensive training and be fully ready for them when they arrive. The girls will need to be trained, but we definitely need to keep watch over them for anything specious should it crop up. It will make it easier for us if they have the ability to defend themselves to some degree at least. Trunks, do you have any idea of how many Augin-jin we can expect to face in battle?”

 

“It's hard to say,” Mirai answered thoughtfully. “In my time, they came as a large-numbered army, but when they saw my true strength, they altered their original strategy and pulled back on their numbers. This time, their forces will probably be in a smaller-sized group; using lower level fighters as a nuisance, a distraction, to herd up what humans they can for the battle - since they will be anticipating one of some kind - while the main fighting unit will be made up of the strongest of the copies. I discovered that the more injuries that are dealt to the main Augin-jin, the less power they have to generate copies on the spot. In my opinion, we will need to get the lower and mid-level fighters out of the way, before they can spread their numbers and start collecting humans for their use, before dealing with the stronger copies and the original Augin-jin themselves.”

 

“Then we need to get the word out to our friends so that they can join in and train along with these girls,” Gohan figured.

 

“If the strength of the Augin-jin copies is not too different from last time, then yes, they should be able to hold their own,” Mirai added and nodded affirmatively.

 

“Any help should do us some good,” Gohan stated optimistically. “Although, I don't know how I feel about training Azure. Something doesn't feel right about that”

 

“What other choice is there, Gohan? Call me crazy, but I do have a feeling she'll be the one most wanting to train,” Goku countered. “And the more people on our side that know what they are doing, the better.”

 

“She has a big drive for fighting,” Mirai added and continued, “She'd end up training and learning it anyway. If we're watching over it, at least we'd know where she stands skill and ability wise. Plus, the other two might protest against not training her as well, and if we don't get those two trained, then the situation overall is not being helped at all.”

 

“Yea, I suppose you're right” Gohan conceded.

 

“I understand the concern Gohan, but for now, unfortunately the best course of action is to observe,” Dende stated, before posing a new question to Mirai. “How certain are you about this two-year window we have to prepare, Trunks?”

 

“It's really only an estimated range of time. Before the Augin-jin retreated, my mother was able to hack into their ship's computer and get a hold of some information about their plans. She told me that their return would most likely occur within six months of my arrival here up to two years' time. But the statistical data that she had gathered pointed towards a little less than a year.”

 

“Then there's no time to waste!” Piccolo said with determination. “Dende, we need you to make telepathic contact with Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien, and tell them what's going on!”

 

Dende nodded affirmatively. Suddenly, the chibis, who had earlier escaped their mothers' watchful eyes to come with the adults, emerged from their hiding places in some nearby shrubbery as soon as they saw that the meeting was over.

 

“It's time for some serious training again,” Goku declared as he, Vegita and the two chibis lifted off. Gohan nodded a courteous, but silent good-bye to Piccolo and Dende before he and Mirai followed seconds later.

 

<><><><>

 

“Those boys of ours have been gone for quite a while,” Chi-Chi exclaimed with some annoyance. While the others were at the Lookout, she and Bulma had been sitting and conversing inside the living room. The three girls were upstairs in their rooms.

 

Bulma had nodded at Chi-Chi's statement. “You're right about that! They have been up there for an awfully long time. One would think that with all that happened yesterday, Dende would already have some idea as to what was going on,” Bulma mused.

 

“Oh, Bulma! You do know what that means, don't you? It means that something really, really awful is going to happen! And, of course, all of my boys will be pulled right in the middle of it all, just like when that horrible Majin Buu came and tried to destroy us!” Chi-Chi groaned, wringing her hands. “My dear, sweet little Goten, your Trunks, and those poor girls, too!.....

 

<><><><>

 

“This was too cool of her!” Asia said excitedly as she entered Autumn's room as she finished putting away the few garments that Bulma had generously bought for her. Autumn nodded in response, as she thoroughly agreed.

 

“Feel better now?” Autumn asked with a chuckle, now finished with her task as she made way to her bed.

 

“Oh, much better!” Asia moved to sit, and then lay, on the bed next to her best friend.

 

“Hey! You're getting my pillows wet!” Autumn protested, laughing.

 

“Sorry!” Asia giggled as she sat up. Asia's long hair, which she wore down, was still damp from her shower. She then leaped up from the bed and made way to stand in front of the body length mirror attached to the opened closet door. Dressed in black capri leggings and a slim, overlong peach colored one-long sleeved top secured with a wide sash, she looked over herself with a comfortable smile.

 

Autumn gave a light chuckle as she moved towards the mirror. “Let me finish up,” she said, ousting Asia from in front of the mirror. Asia skipped back over to sit on the bed as Autumn approached the mirror, fastening her hair into a half-ponytail. With one last satisfied look-over of her clingy short sleeved green colored shirt and flowing wide-legged capri pants ensemble, she stretched, feeling good, and closed the closet door.

 

Hearing something, Asia turned her head slightly to the side and creased her eyebrows a little bit.

 

“What?” asked Autumn as she approached the bed right before she heard Bulma's and Chi-Chi's raised voices coming from the living room. “Oh, my!” she said, lightly chuckling.

 

“What do you think they are arguing about?”

 

“Who knows?” Autumn said with a shrug.

 

“I'll bet that Chi-Chi was complaining about her `boys' again. Speaking of whom, didn't they all leave to go to the Lookout long before we left to go shopping? I thought they'd be back way before we returned,” Asia observed.

 

“If they're taking this long to be still consulting with Dende, it must be something pretty big they are discussing.”

 

“Do you think that they might've gone out to begin collecting the Dragon Balls?”

 

Autumn frowned back at her. “Don't you think they would come back first and tell us how we got here? And don't you think they would have to come back for the radar? I think someone would've informed us if they were going to searching for the dragon balls,” she concluded.

 

“Yea,” Asia replied sheepishly. “I was kinda hoping we could stay a little longer. Besides, we still haven't met Krillin or 18 or Yamcha or Roshi…” she paused and made a face. “Eh, well, I don't know if I want to meet that one!” Autumn heard that and burst out laughing.

 

“Even so, with all of those guys doing the searching, it probably wouldn't take a whole lot of time to gather them. In fact, I'm sure they could all be collected within a day.”

 

“Oh well, at least we got to meet the principal players. That's a wonder in itself,” Asia stated resolutely. Autumn nodded, although with some slight distraction.

 

“Hey, and meeting Mirai was a definite bonus; according to the show, he's not even supposed to be here!” Asia added brightly.

 

“Yea…I'm really curious as to why he's here. I'd really like to know,” Autumn contemplated as she lay down on her back on the bed. “But we can't assume everything that we have `seen' happen actually happened. It will be hard, but let's just go with it. Remember, they are only stories to us. We should only presume so much.” Asia listened and quietly nodded back.

 

After a moment of silence passed between them, Autumn suddenly bolted up into a sitting position. “Hey!”

 

“What?”

 

“Hear that?”

 

“Hear what?”

 

“They stopped yelling.”

 

Asia strained to listen, but did not hear anything coming from downstairs. “Yea, they did!” she said. “Let's go down and see what's going on, okay?”

 

“Sure,” Autumn agreed.

 

Autumn quickly slipped on a pair of black slip-ons, with Asia putting on her pair of boots. The two walked out into the hall where they were immediately encountered by Azure, in a form fitting sleeveless dark blue shirt and light weight black pants with boots, her hair in a ponytail at the nape of her neck. She glanced at them slightly when she noticed them enter the hallway.

 

“What are you about to do?” Autumn asked curiously of her.

 

“I'm sick of being inside.”

 

“Yea, it's really nice outside. Nice and sunny and warm, just perfect!” Asia commented smiling. “You know, I hoped we could hold off leaving at least till tomorrow. That way we could see what the city is like at night. And then we could see what it's like going to school with Gohan!” she added.

 

“What the hell, Asia?” Azure snorted. “You hate school!”

 

“Well, yea, but it's not like we would really have to do anything, you know? We're not gonna get homework, or graded on anything, either. And it would only be for a day. It would be interesting to really see him in a school environment,” she countered back, wanting to enjoy the short time she'd be in this “new” world.

 

“I really doubt that Gohan would be attending classes, anyway. I mean, he has to deal with more than just us randomly appearing in this world. Mirai is here, and judging from all of their reactions, I really think that something serious is about to go down,” Autumn asserted. “Besides, we don't even know if his school is even in session right now.”

 

Again, Asia nodded. Autumn had made an excellent point. Azure just looked sideways at her and said nothing as the group descended the stairs. Once on the ground floor, they walked into the kitchen and were met by Bulma and Chi-Chi.

 

“Hi, girls!” Bulma said. Both she and Chi-Chi gave welcoming smiles to the girls. Azure gave a small nod at them while the other two responded with cheerful greetings of their own. Autumn moved to a nearby cabinet to retrieve three glasses, then handed one to each of her companions, settling aside one for herself.

 

“I have to thank you again for being so nice to us and getting us this stuff,” Asia stated gratefully, indicating the clothes she and the other two were wearing. Bulma smiled and waved it off.

 

“It's nothing! Besides, a shopping spree was just what I needed!” Asia giggled girlishly as Autumn poured some soda into her and Asia's glasses. Azure, who had already drunk a glassful of water from the tap, headed quietly outside.

 

“Now, this sport you compete in - water polo, is it? Do all three of you play it?” Bulma asked, wanting to know more about it.

 

“Just me and Autumn,” Asia replied.

 

“What kind of sport is that?” Chi-Chi asked, curiously.

 

“It's a water sport,” Autumn started, then went on to explain the rules of the game.

 

<><><><>

 

Vegita and Goku were positioned at the front of the airborne group, while the four offspring flew a little behind, a little slower than their respective parents. Giggling and talking incessantly, the two smaller kids held their tail-end formation behind the two older siblings, who were not feeling quite as untroubled.

 

“You worried?” Gohan asked, turning his head to look at Mirai. The other broke away from his introspective thoughts and looked to the side at Gohan.

 

“Yes, and no,” he confessed softly. He took a quick glance to front of him then returned to look back at Gohan. It had something to do with Vegita, figured Gohan, but Mirai only shook his head, which Gohan translated as a silent request not to press him further.

 

Gohan nodded in understanding and threw a look over his shoulder to check on the two kids, who seemed to be in a world of their own, not paying any attention to the concerns of the four adult Saiya-jin.

 

Mirai followed Gohan's look back and gave a soft smile, which was tinged a small pang of jealously. He hadn't been able to experience the same type of carefree existence as the two boys, but at the same time, he was relieved to see that they were able to retain all their childhood joys, despite what happened two years ago. He turned his attention back at Gohan.

 

“Gohan, you'll have to tell me your version of the Majin Buu incident sometime, and the stuff that happened that the kids didn't see.” When Gohan looked at Mirai, he saw a hint of seriousness to his request.

 

“Of course.” Guess he figured there were holes in their story. That's understandable, considering that they did miss out on a big part of it - the parts I'm sure Trunks would want to know about, Gohan mused to himself.

 

They flew in silence for a couple seconds before Gohan asked, “How do you think they will react to all of this? The girls, I mean.”

 

Mirai could only shrug. “They seemed alright last night, so beyond the basic worrying, hopefully they won't be devastated. Not sure how Autumn and Asia will take to the training part, though. I guess it's up to us to relay this all to them?”

 

Gohan gave a half-hearted laugh. “It kinda did just fall to one of us. As did their training, for now anyway. It's probably the best option for now. We'll trade off, so we have time to train ourselves. Vegita isn't an option, and I don't know how good a teacher my dad can really be for this,” Gohan said honestly.

 

“I don't think I would be that bad,” Goku said slightly defensive, glancing back at them. “I've taught you both plenty of stuff, too, you know.”

 

Gohan had to smile just a little bit. “I know, Dad. But I think it'd be a little better if Trunks and I took charge of their training. It would be a little bit less intimidating for them, too. Besides, you've never trained a human. No offense, but you might just be a little too much for them.”

 

Goku considered this briefly. “Well, you did train some with Videl.” Gohan grinned, remembering his training sessions with Mr. Satan's headstrong daughter. “Well, make sure you and Trunks set aside plenty of time to train yourselves. I could still teach you a few things.”

 

Gohan chuckled affectionately. “I'm sure you could, Dad.”

 

<><><><>

 

“Do you continue to train for this water polo even when you're not playing competitively?” Bulma asked curiously.

 

“Yea, we all like to keep in shape. You know, swimming, working out, and sparring,” Asia explained as Autumn nodded.

 

“Sparring?” Chi-Chi repeated, just a little bothered.

 

“Martial arts are more Azure's thing; she's a lot better than us. We participate just to keep in shape and only in off-season,” Autumn clarified. Azure then walked back into the kitchen.

 

“They're about to land,” she informed them. Autumn and Asia exchanged glances as they got up from the table and followed Azure outside.

 

*~*~*~*~*