Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Time's Folly; A Bittersweet Symphony ❯ The Opening ( Chapter 13 )

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Chap 13*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

The Saiya-jin landed on the grassy lawn just as the girls, Bulma, and Chi-Chi walked out of the outside kitchen door.

 

“Well, here goes,” Gohan murmured more to himself than anyone, though Mirai heard his muttering quite clearly.

 

He glanced at Gohan momentarily when he saw first Azure, then Autumn and Asia come through the door. Azure stepped to the side to lean against the building, but continued to watch the two boys intently, as the two other girls stopped a few steps in front of her. With questioning looks on their faces, Bulma and Chi-Chi stood to the opposite side of Azure, near Autumn and Asia. Ignoring the fact that their two youngest boys had snuck away with the group to the Lookout, they both glanced at their oldest sons trying to read their expressions.

 

“So?” Autumn asked, looking first at Gohan then switching to Mirai and back to Gohan.

 

“Well,” Gohan started. He hadn't really thought about how he was going to say everything. “It seems that you will be here, in our world, for quite a while.”

 

Both Autumn and Asia looked at each other, but each of them interpreted his announcement differently.

 

“A while?” Autumn repeated softly. For her, the delivery of Gohan's statement was laced with something not exactly comforting.

 

Shrugging off any uneasiness she initially felt, Asia said blithely, “I can deal with that.”

 

“How did we get here and how are we getting back?” Autumn posed.

 

“We still don't know exactly how you got here, and unfortunately we can't really return you to your world safely until we figure out how you got here. The other alternative that we discussed was to use these things called Dragonballs, which hold an ancient and magical power within them. But they won't work in this case,” Gohan explained apologetically.

 

Autumn sensed that wasn't the entire story and she decided to press on. “So then, why won't the Dragonballs' magic work?”

 

Mirai stepped forward to explain further.

 

“Dende told us that there is some type of magical force or energy blocking you from leaving. And that magic, what ever it is, is too strong and beyond the power of the Eternal Dragon - the entity that has the power to grant you what you need - to counteract. This strange magic is also blocking me from leaving this timeline,” Mirai added.

 

Both girls' faces held expressions of some disbelief, mixed with a bit of curiosity.

 

“Stop trying to be soft about it! If you don't explain the details, it will only continue to lead us in circles!” Everyone turned around to look at the speaker. “It'd be a lot easier, too,” Azure added bluntly, looking directly at Mirai, who frowned back at her, slightly annoyed. Azure made a flicking motion with her hand, a signal for him to continue.

 

As rude as that was, she does have a point, Autumn thought to herself. She nodded briefly at Asia, before they both returned their gazes towards the two Saiya-jin standing in front of them.

 

Gohan turned around to glance back at his father, who just shrugged, and at Vegita, whom he could see was slowly starting to lose patience. Just to the side and back of Mirai, Chibi and Goten sat on the grass watching the scene curiously. He cleared his throat a bit, before turning back to address the girls.

 

“We don't know all of the details, but here is what we believed to have happened: An alien race of people, called the Augin-jin, is planning to invade to Earth in the very near future. As part of this impending invasion, they used magic to put some kind of spell over your heads when you passed into our world. We think that they also are responsible for bringing you three into this universe. So, until they come to Earth, and we can convince them to undo their magic, you are stuck in our world. But, there might be a way to counter at least the block, although you still will not be able to leave until they arrive and we discover how you got here in the first place. Unless, of course, we manage to somehow figure that part out by ourselves,” Gohan said, ending his explanation with a hint that the last aspect was highly improbable.

 

-which would be nothing short of a miracle, Gohan added silently.

 

Catching the unspoken hint, Autumn prodded, “And just how do we do that? What could we have to do to counter the block?”

 

“We counter it by building up your inherent ki, by training you.” Gohan answered.

 

Both Autumn and Asia looked at him skeptically. “I don't see how that would really help us,” Asia said a little flatly.

 

Understanding their misgivings, Mirai nodded and again took over the explaining. “The barrier over me has disappeared a bit each day because I have expended my ki. And you two should know that there is no barrier over Azure.” That got him twin looks of shock and surprise from Autumn and Asia. “And she is pretty strong in ki energy, too. We concluded that, if we trained you all to be stronger, then the barriers would start to disappear. But even if that doesn't work, you did mention that you have some skill in fighting; we still need to build your strength. That way, you'll stand a much better chance just in case you guys need to defend yourselves. At the very least, you'll be able to watch out for those who may need your help.”

 

A few moments passed before either of the girls spoke.

 

“Well, it's not like we have much of a choice, do we?” Autumn said resolutely, looking at her friend for confirmation.

 

“No, not really,” Asia answered back in the same tone.

 

There is still more to this than they are letting on, isn't there? Autumn asked herself, but she only shrugged instead. “Well, this should be quite interesting.”

 

Asia gave a half-laugh/half-snort to her friend's comment. “Sure will be,” she agreed. Then they both turned around to look at Azure, who shrugged in a noncommittal “whatever” type of way, before turning back to look at Bulma.

 

“Well, all the stuff you bought us will come in real handy now,” Asia said with an ironic smile.

 

“I'm so sorry, girls,” Bulma replied apologetically, shaking her head. Both girls shrugged it off.

 

“Ah…we will be staying here, won't we?” Asia then asked a little uncertainly.

 

“Of course, you will!” Bulma adamantly declared, looking at Asia with some surprise. “Given the circumstances, it would be better if you stayed where we know that you would all be safe, and we do have the room.” Asia's shoulders sagged with obvious relief, while Autumn looked at her with a raised eyebrow and then just chuckled to herself.

 

“So, I don't suppose we can go and train ourselves?” Autumn observed.

 

Gohan shook his head. “No, not exactly. Since you do have strong ki's; for full-blooded humans, that is, and you have some martial arts skills, it will not be as difficult as starting from scratch. At the very least, we would be training you to be proficient in the use of ki itself,” he continued to explain.

 

“`We?'” Autumn echoed, puzzled. “Who are you referring to?”

 

“Trunks and myself,” Gohan clarified as Mirai gave a nod.

 

“Starting when?” Azure piped in.

 

”Oh, not today!” Asia whined under her breath.

 

“Asia!” Autumn gave her a quick nudge and a stern look.

 

“Sorry, but I think the sooner we get started with this, the better it will be in the long run,” Mirai stated with an apologetic look at Asia.

 

“Enough of this!” Vegita interrupted in a loud, commanding voice. “I want that brat against the wall over here, right now!”

 

Heads spun around to look at Azure, who slowly tilted up her head to stare straight at Vegita, whom was staring her down in the same fashion. A second later, she moved off the wall, strolled lazily past Gohan and Mirai a couple of paces, then stopped, defiantly crossing her arms over her chest.

 

Vegita narrowed his eyes slightly and barked, “Trunks!” All four demi-Saiya-jin's heads turned to look at him in puzzlement, before Mirai nodded and began to walk towards him. “Not you, boy! The younger one!” A very perplexed Mirai stopped in his tracks and shot his father a skeptical look as his younger self grinned, got up from his seat in the grass, and practically skipped over to where his father was.

 

“You are sparring with her,” Vegeta instructed, pointing towards Azure, “Now!”

 

“Vegita?” Goku questioned, a befuddled look on his face.

 

“What do you think you are doing, Vegita?” Bulma demanded, her voice sounding almost hysterical. That was the same question was going through most everyone else's head.

 

“Vegita, Trunks doesn't have the control needed for something like this - ” Goku began to say, but Vegeta cut him off.

 

“Shut up, Kakarott!” Vegita said sharply. “I know what I am doing!”

 

“VEGETA!” Bulma protested, her voice rising in agitation. “You are not going to make my son fight her! There's no way she can go head-to-head with him!! Have you lost your mind?”

 

“Shut UP!” Vegita harshly shouted back. “I know what I'm doing, so stop interrupting me!”

 

“Dad? You can't believe that this is a good idea!” Gohan protested uneasily as he looked back at Goku. Trunks is still too immature to be able to hold back; Vegita has got to know that! he added in his mind. Goku only offered a shrug in reply.

 

It seemed to Goku that Vegita knew something that everyone else didn't; it was a feeling that he also had been harboring since the appearance of the girls. So Goku decided that he would let this happen, plus he was curious to see what Vegita was planning. However, he promised himself, if things got too far out of hand, he would not hesitate to step in. The sharp look he flashed to his oldest son told him not to interfere.

 

Gohan sighed, a little defeated but obeyed. Not completely confident of what was about to happen, he could only give an apologetic look to Autumn and Asia, both of whom kept looking to him for some kind of answer.

 

Chibi didn't mind the attention at all; instead, he smirked slightly and turned around to face Azure directly. In turn, Azure curiously studied the child as the two positioned themselves so that they were standing only a few feet opposite from each other. Everyone else automatically moved back to give them plenty of fighting room, with Goku, Vegita, and Goten on one side, and Gohan, Mirai, Chi-Chi, Bulma, Autumn, and Asia on the other.

 

Unafraid, Chibi stood and looked straight at his opponent, who didn't appear to be too nervous, or bothered by the fact that she was about to fight him. Now, I get to see how strong you really are, he said to himself, snapping into a fighting stance. A second later, she did the same thing. He could tell that she was outwardly calm and he sensed a bit excited, too. Then they locked eyes for a moment.

 

A streak of blue flashed across the surface of her eyes, making her blink briefly in surprise. Huh? What the hell was that? The blur of motion was too fast for a human's eyes to see, but not a Saiya-jin's. That - am I seeing things?

 

Vegita watched as the two got into their fighting stances. Then, as he saw them staring intently at each other, he started to wonder: What does my son see? Does he see what Gohan saw? He also noticed that Azure's composure remained calm and steady.

 

“Well, come on!” Chibi challenged, wanting to see what all she could actually do.

 

Azure closed her eyes then reopened them very slowly, panning upwards from the ground over his body. Chibi blinked, looking at her weirdly. She held the gaze a second longer then quickly took a couple steps towards him before throwing a punch straight to his head and stopping the fist within an inch of connecting. Startled by the speed of her attack, Chibi was taken off-guard and that was all she needed. She jumped upwards, sending her bent knee right into his gut and pushing him into the air. She threw her upper body backwards as if she was doing a back flip, using the momentum of her kicking legs to send Chibi flying past her.

 

The strength of her blows surprised him. It took Chibi a couple of moments to re-orient himself. He braked his fall in mid-air, spinning around to face her as she came out of her flip.

 

That actually, kinda hurt - well hell, at least she knows how to fight, and it won't be so boring! he smirked to himself, his own excitement growing. Alright… let's see, now… He looked down at her. She turned to face him and was standing calmly, one hand resting nonchalantly on her hip, the other hanging at her side.

 

Chibi Trunks floated the last few feet towards the ground, but as soon as his right foot touched down, he shot towards her. She moved out of her calm stance as he came closer. When he was right in front of her face, he faded out then faded in right behind her, ready to land a kick, but his blow was greeted with air.

 

Huh?!

 

The second he faded from view, Azure had dropped onto the ground into a split position. She tilted her head up at the again surprised Trunks and gave him a small smirk. She quickly drew her legs in, turned around and flipped back up into a standing position. She stepped in to deliver a high kick, which he blocked, and followed that with a punch that he also blocked.

 

Both of them pushed each other back two paces. Azure charged at him, striking out with a roundhouse kick that he easily avoided by ducking down and swiping her leg from underneath her, knocking her on her back. She threw her legs together and immediately flipped back up to her feet only to find a smiling Trunks waiting for her. She cocked an eyebrow, pulling her head back, barely missing the leg that came at her head. The momentum of his swinging leg turned Trunks almost 180 degrees around, leaving an opening for her. She quickly laced her fingers together, brought her arms back and slammed her fists hard into the center of his back, sending him flying away from her and into the ground.

 

Trunks skidded through the grass a foot or two before he put out his arms to affect a front-flip. He paused for a moment to take inventory of the result of her hits thus far. His arms were marked with a few long streaks of blood on them due to minor cuts, and he could feel that his right cheek was badly bruised. He raised a hand to the right side of his face, touching it gingerly. The look on his young face quickly changed from one of surprise, to one of annoyance, then to one of determination.

 

Trunks frowned then sped at her again, but this time, she sped at him also. She raised her arm in an attempt to knock him aside but Trunks caught her arm and used it to lift her in the air…

 

“Trunks!!” Gohan shouted disapprovingly just as Trunks let go to slam her into the ground.

 

“Don't move, Gohan!” Vegita snapped at him as he prepared to move to intercept the throw. Gohan stopped his progress but, just the same, he threw a nasty look at Vegita. I can sense that last flair of ki eased her fall a bit, but Vegita - you're insane! And I'm starting to think my dad is too for letting you have your little fun!

 

The other humans gasped as Azure hit the ground, the impact creating a shallow crater. Sympathetic looks crossed both Mirai's and Goten's faces; that had to be quite painful, despite her strength and the brief flair of ki, which was slowly on an upwards surge as the spar progressed. But, she wasn't moving…and, she was human, after all.

 

Goku looked at Vegita with a question in his eyes. “She's fine,” Vegita simply stated.

 

“Being alive and being fine are two different things, Vegita,” Goku stated, concern furrowing his brow.

 

However, Chibi wasn't worried or bothered at all, as he descended to land on the far side of the crater and peered inside curiously.

 

That was when Azure sprung into action, lunging towards Trunks' feet and grabbing hold of both his ankles. She jumped upwards and swung his body in an arc above her head then slammed him into the crater he had made with her, deepening it. She finished out her jump by landing on one knee and holding her forearm. Judging by her facial expression, she was in a fair amount pain. She also had a cut on the side of her face and minor cuts on her arm that were lightly bleeding.

 

But Trunks didn't stay down long. A couple of breaths later, he launched himself out of the crater towards her, causing her to move back a few paces. Before long, the two combatants were in the middle of a stalemate battle, neither one gaining the upper hand, while each switched from defending to attacking and vice-versa.

 

“Her ki is rising again,” Gohan warned.

 

“So is his,” Mirai answered back. “It's amazing, but she's actually keeping up with him,” he added a second later, in disbelief.

 

“Until he either loses control and gets serious, goes Super Saiya-jin, or even just using ki attacks,” Gohan cautioned.

 

Mirai looked at Gohan; he did have a point there. So far, Chibi had not used any ki attacks, but he had the feeling that the boy might start using them, especially since his own ki was rising, which to Mirai, was a definite warning sign.

 

“Okay, I knew that Azure was strong and everything; but I mean, she's not supposed to still be able to actually fight after being thrown into the damn ground and making that crater, right?” Asia said in astonished disbelief to Autumn. “I mean, the fact that she can move like that, and her hits can connect like that, and she can jump in the air that high… she's not supposed to be able to do any of this! Or is that little kid just faking all that?”

 

“He is a little kid, Asia, but I really doubt that he could fake something like this to such a degree,” Autumn answered back, “Which only means that she really is a lot stronger than either of us believed. She did look like she was hurt when she came out of the crater.”

 

“But, she's keeping her own with him. I don't think she should be able to even do that!” Asia pointed out. “I don't get it, `A'! I was watching her when Vegita summoned her to fight Trunks! She didn't appear the least bit bothered by the fact that she was going to fight him; even with the little she's seen, she had to know, assume at least, something of his strength!”

 

“That's if she really bothered to pay the least bit of attention to something like that. Remember, she didn't see much of the show and the few episodes that we do know she watched involved the Majin Buu stuff, most of the parts she saw were filled with talking.”

 

“Do you think she knows something we don't?” Asia asked her after a minute of silence as they watched the spar continue. “What could she possibly know that we don't? And how would that matter anyway?” Autumn replied as Asia, puzzled, continued to watch the spar in disbelief.

 

Autumn tore her gaze away from the fight long enough to gauge the reactions from the Saiya-jin. Both Mirai and Gohan looked concerned, while Goten and Goku seemed amused by the whole thing; although she could see that Goku was watching the bout with something of a critical eye. Vegita also seemed to be studying Azure's moves very closely. As Autumn's eyes scanned from one to the other, a nagging feeling came over her, that they were purposely holding back a lot more information about Azure from her and Asia. And that bothered her, immensely. With those troubling doubts spinning about in her mind, she turned her attention back to the spar.

 

Azure found an opening and took it, leaping off the ground to fling a mid-air chest kick, but Chibi avoided it by flying higher into the air. She looked up and crossed her arms over her chest in annoyance as he hovered above her. Trunks smirked. Azure mouthed a “Fuck you!” in response, but the chibi just kept the smirk plastered on his face.

 

Here I come, try this! he said to himself, before diving head first towards her.

 

Stupid boy, she said to herself, watching as she saw him zooming ever closer to her.

 

Just as Trunks stiffened out his arms, his fists posed to knock her into the ground she shifted to the side and grabbed the child's neck. She used his speed to flip him over on his back, riding on top of his stomach like a boogie board and pushing him a few feet into the ground. Then she jumped up and backwards onto the other side of the newly made crater.

 

Suddenly, Mirai yelled out, “NO!!”

 

At that same moment, all of the Saiya-jin felt the surge of ki coming from Chibi, who suddenly burst from the ground a moment later with his Saiya-jin energy flaring around him. Simultaneously, they both prepared to shoot a ki blast at each other, Trunks with his arms stretched out to the sides, palms open and gathering ki; Azure arms outstretched in his direction, one hand resting on the opened heel of the other, palms opened and facing outward, accompanied by a huge ki surge.

 

Azure fired a second before Trunks, who was stuck with confusion. No way! She's got ki, too? Fine…now, try this! Their blasts met in between them and stayed unmoving.

 

Trunks tapped into his ki again and added it to the blast already heading in the direction of his opponent. The enhanced blast was sustained for a moment; he smirked when he felt it being briefly resisted with the attempt to be pushed back at him. A second later, Trunks was thrown backwards, then he felt two strong hands grab and move him.

 

“Ah!” said a familiar voice behind him. The grip on him was released and he went into hover mode. Trunks raised his arms to shield his eyes from the bright flash that followed.

 

“Careful!”

 

“What?” he asked, confused as to what had just happened. He looked back and saw that it was Goku who was floating behind him.

 

“Wow!” Goku said, impressed, still looking in the direction of the expired flash.

 

Following Goku's line of sight, Trunks saw Gohan standing with two hands pointed upwards. He had canceled out the young chibi's blast. Chibi looked down on the ground and saw Azure lying face down upon it.

 

“Hn,” Trunks grunted as he descended to the ground followed by Goku, landing next to Gohan and Mirai. Chibi gave the downed girl a curious look.

 

Gohan supplied his answer. “She fainted.”

 

“That would have killed her,” Mirai said almost offhandedly. “Good thing you stopped it,” he said, nodding at Gohan.

 

“Yea,” he agreed, giving the chibi, who avoided looking at him, a disapproving glare.

 

Vegita landed abruptly in front of the group and announced, “I will train this one.”

 

Mirai snapped his head around and looked at his father with surprise, as did everyone else. Vegita glanced at Mirai briefly before turning around to head towards the gravity chamber. “Take her back into the house until she regains consciousness,” he directed over his shoulder. “Her training starts as soon as she wakes up.”

 

Stunned, Mirai looked at the retreating form of his father. What is it about her that interests you so much? This isn't like you, Father. I've never known you to want to voluntarily train anyone! Not only that, she's not even a Saiya-jin! He looked down at the unmoving Azure.

 

“Well, are you guys just gonna stare at her or take her into the house?” Autumn demanded, annoyed and worried that no one had made a move to help Azure. They all turned around to stare her. Asia just shrugged. “I mean, she's been lying there for close to five minutes and you all are just standing over her looking at her. Is she like growing another head or something?”

 

“She's gonna grow another head?” Goten asked innocently.

 

Chibi looked at Goten incredulously. “No, stupid!” he said, rolling his eyes.

 

It was Mirai who bent down, rolled Azure over onto her back, and gently picked her up. As he straightened up, Mirai caught the uneasy look on Bulma's face. “I'm here. I'll make sure nothing happens.”

 

“She just needs to learn some control,” Goku added, trying to reassure her.

 

Bulma looked at Goku. “Control? After everything we just witnessed, that's all you have to say?” Irked, she swung her gaze over to Autumn and Asia, who stood watching Mirai's back as Gohan briefly walked up to him and the two spoke, before Mirai carried Azure into the house. Oddly, they hadn't moved from where they were to follow him inside.

 

Why didn't they go in with Trunks? I can tell that are just as surprised by this as I am. Aren't they concerned about her? Isn't she their friend? I really don't understand their relationship with her. Wait a minute, if Azure can do all of that, then what are they capable of?

 

“Hey, you two!” Bulma called out to the two girls, who turned when they heard her voice. “Can you do that stuff, too?”

 

“What?! No way!!” Asia replied hurriedly, vigorously shaking her head. “Azure is a hundred times better at fighting than we are. Trust me, neither of us would've lasted against Trunks period!”

 

Nodding, Autumn confirmed Asia's declaration, but added more calmly, “Azure is really into fighting and trains all the time. Then again, I don't know of anyone in our world who can do anything close to that.” She then inwardly frowned as her mind voiced a thought. So, why the hell is she able to do all this?

 

Looking to her side, she saw that Asia held an unsure expression. “Suddenly, I'm at a loss of what to think about this,” she said softly to Autumn as Bulma and Chichi walked up to them. Autumn gave a soft nod in reply.

 

<><>

 

From what we've just seen, it is possible that Mr. Popo was right…which means that Vegita was right as well…but, still, why only her and not the other two? And how are we supposed to find out what exactly Azure really is? And, are we being too passive about all of this? Gohan turned instinctively towards his dad, who was standing there uncharacteristically quiet, as if he was in deep thought.

 

“Dad?”

 

Goku turned to look at Gohan. Goku cocked his head slightly to the side, waiting for Gohan to continue.

 

“You were awfully quiet just then.”

 

“Well, I kinda wanted to train her. That was an amazing show of skill we saw just now.”

 

“Hn.” Gohan nodded slightly. That impromptu spar with Trunks was definitely not something she should have been able to handle. And now Vegita's going to be training her? This should be interesting; maybe even dangerous. But Dad didn't say anything in opposition to Vegita's little decree. What's with that?'

 

Pushing that aside for the moment, Gohan then turned his attention towards the other girls, who were involved in conversation with Bulma and Chichi. From what he could pick up, they were just as astonished as the rest of them at Azure's unusual display of power. Well, guess I'll just start out showing them the basics. Then maybe, as we go along, I can find out more about them and Azure…and see what comes of it.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*