Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Time's Folly; A Bittersweet Symphony ❯ Status Update ( Chapter 23 )

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*chap 23*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

- 3 days later; daytime -

 

Goten lay belly-down on the grassy ledge, his elbows steady on the ground, his chin resting in his hands, while his legs swung lazily up and down behind him. His eyes cast downward as he casually watched the sparring of the “new humans” going on below his vantage point.

 

“I heard Gohan say that they are getting stronger,” he said, turning his head slightly to look at his companion. “What do you think, Trunks?”

 

A pensive Trunks sat cross-legged, his arms crossed tightly in front of his chest. Unlike Goten, he was not particularly interested in watching Autumn and Asia spar. Rather, the little chibi was more occupied with other thoughts.

 

“I don't know, Goten,” Trunks finally answered with some exasperation after a few seconds. “If you're so curious about it, why don't you go down to spar with them and find out?”

 

“Well, I don't know…”

 

“What's the matter?” taunted Trunks. “You scared of `em, Goten?”

 

Goten frowned at Trunks. “No, I'm not scared…” he began to say, but Trunks cut in.

 

“Well, then go do it…right now!” Trunks goaded, pointing at the girls below them. “No one is around to stop you.” Then he paused as a new idea crossed his mind. Glancing around quickly, just to make sure no one else listening in, he uncrossed his arms and leaned downward. “But if you don't want to do that, I've got something fun in mind that I'll share with you,” he offered in a low voice, “and I know you'll like it.”

 

His eyes now wide with curiosity, Goten cautiously looked at Trunks. “Tell me.”

 

<><><><><><>

 

- Late night -

 

“Okay, okay, time for a break,” Autumn announced to her sparring partner.

 

“Sure thing `A',” her friend agreed as she also relaxed her stance.

 

A few minutes later found both near a stream of water situated within a broad grassy plain. Stretching out her post-battle muscles, Asia stood a few feet away from Autumn, who was laying down on her back in the soft grass. Once her stretching was completed, Asia walked over to her friend and sat down next to her.

 

“I think I'm really starting to get used to the feel of it,” Autumn said after a few moments of silence.

 

“I think I can agree with that. Still don't know what `it' is, though,” Asia remarked back.

 

“Well, there's definitely some telekinesis-like energy usage. I don't really know what else to call it. But, it almost seems as if it's more than just that, you know?”

 

Asia nodded in response, which preceded a wide yawn. “I'm starting to get tired, Autumn.”

 

“Wanna head back then?”

 

Asia nodded, rubbing her eyes a little. “Yea, before I get too tired to fly back. We came out really far tonight.”

 

Autumn gave a slight chuckle. “Yea, okay. Let's get out of here.”

 

The girls stood up and stretched their arms and legs briefly before taking off into the sky and heading back towards their adoptive home.

 

From a point high in the sky and far enough away so that their human eyes would never detect him, Piccolo watched the two girls leave. He headed up towards the Lookout moments later.

 

<><><><><><>

 

- Next day; mid-morning -

 

“Heya there, Goku!”

 

Krillin looked up and cheerfully waved up at his lifelong friend. Autumn and Asia also turned their heads upward to see Goku, who was waving back at the group below. They also noted that he was accompanied by his two sons and Chibi Trunks.

 

“I'm surprised to see you here,” Goku said to Krillin, as he and his companions touched down.

 

“Yea well,” Krillin replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with one upraised hand. “I've gotta get some practice in some time. And 18, man, she's still pretty tough!” Save for the two chibis, everyone else laughed. “So, what brings you guys out here?”

 

“To chart their progress,” Gohan answered, motioning towards the girls, “Since they've decide to abandon my training,” he added with a playful smile.

 

“Well, who wouldn't? You're too strong for any of us,” Yamcha chuckled.

 

“Yea, Yamcha's right,” Krillin laughed.

 

“Hey, I'm a good teacher,” Gohan said mock-defensively, still smiling.

 

“Of course, you are,” Autumn agreed with a smile.

 

The earth warriors continued in their light-hearted banter.

 

“Okay, this time won't be quite so easy,” Yamcha declared. “I've been doing some extra training on the side.”

 

“Sure you have,” Krillin smirked, before rolling his eyes, which made everyone grin.

 

“Yea, yea,” Yamcha said, dismissing his friend's skepticism. “Besides, it'll look bad if some girl could kick my butt,” he conceded with a chuckle.

 

“You might wanna get used to it from these two,” Krillin smiled. Yamcha continued to throw out a few more mocking teases at him as Autumn and Asia laughed along.

 

Right before all four settled down to begin another round of sparring, Autumn and Asia quickly looked at each other, seemingly saying something without actually saying it aloud. Gohan caught the look that briefly passed between them. What was that all about?

 

He, along with his companions, soon moved back, now watching carefully as Yamcha and Autumn attacked each other, while Asia and Krillin went head-to-head.

 

<><><><><><>

 

Far enough away from the fighting but close enough to observe, Goku and his firstborn sat next to each other on the grass. A few feet away from the older Saiya-jin, sat Goten and Trunks.

 

After pretending to show interest in the sparring for what he felt was a long enough time, Trunks suddenly nudged Goten. “Come on, Goten, it's time to train on our own for a while…”

 

“Okay.” Goten slowly stood up, nodding and absently brushing off the loose blades of grass from his pants.

 

Trunks looked at him sternly for a few moments with his hands on his hips. “Don't you remember?”

 

“I remember, Trunks,” his friend replied, reproach creeping into his voice.

 

“I'm just making sure. You tend to always forget things,” Trunks pointed out as he raised himself into the air.

 

Annoyed, Goten launched himself upward so that he was right next to Trunks. “You're wrong! I wouldn't forget about fighting A-”

 

Trunks quickly got in front of Goten and covered his opened mouth with both hands. “Shut up, dummy!” he hissed lowly, leaning into the other boy's face. ”We don't want everyone to know where we're going. It's secret training, remember?”

 

Once Goten gave a short nod, Trunks lowered his hands. The two of them then glanced warily down at the seated Goku and Gohan, but neither had seemed to notice their aerial exchange. Relieved, both boys nodded to each other before flying off.

 

<><><><><><>

 

Gohan pulled his attention away from the spar just long enough to notice the boys' departure. “And there they go.”

 

“Huh?” asked Goku distractedly.

 

“Trunks and Goten. They flew off. They probably got bored.”

 

“Hmn,” grunted his father, whose focus intensified on the spar at hand after noticing something of particular interest.

 

“Gohan, you really should teach the girls how to sense ki signatures,” he suddenly announced. “Their fighting would improve greatly if they knew how to do that.”

 

Gohan graced his father with a perplexed look. “But I did, Dad. A couple weeks ago, at least.”

 

“You sure?” asked Goku, frowning in puzzlement. “As far as I can tell, it doesn't look as if either of them can. Or, maybe it's just taking them a really long time to get a hang of it?”

 

“But…are you sure they can't sense it?”

 

Goku looked at his son incredulously. “Gohan, haven't you been watching? You were training with them up to a week or so ago.”

 

“You're both right,” said a deep voice coming from behind them.

 

Gohan twisted around just as the Namek touched ground, his white cape fluttering around his form. “Piccolo!”

 

“Hi, Piccolo!” greeted Goku, who waved at him over his shoulder.

 

The Namek walked forward a bit and crossed his arms over his broad green-and-pink chest. “Gohan did teach them how to sense ki, but neither of them ever fully developed the skill,” he stated simply, coming to a stop next to his former pupil. “Now, they can't sense it at all.”

 

“What?” Gohan looked at Piccolo with a confused raised eyebrow.

 

“They lost the ability to sense ki not long after you had taught it to them.”

 

“What exactly do you mean by `lost', Piccolo?” Goku asked curiously.

 

“Does this have to do with your energy source theory?” Gohan ventured

 

Piccolo nodded and then continued: “I've been noticing that every so often a strange sort of presence has appeared since the three girls have come into our world. When it does appear, this presence has been centered within Capsule Corp. And I also suspect that it's been having an effect on the girls. Whether or not its inherent nature is malevolent or benign is unknown, but this presence does seem to be the energy source from which the girls are taking energy, unconsciously.”

 

“So, this sporadic presence is giving them other abilities; like being able to use attacks that aren't ki-based,” Goku pointed out as he recalled a particular moment in the current spar that had caught his attention.

 

“Precisely, Goku,” Piccolo confirmed.

 

“You've never noticed this, Gohan?” his father asked with some surprise as Gohan returned his attention to the girls.

 

“No,” Gohan frowned, shaking his head. Just then a realization hit him. “That must be why the two of them have wanted to train by themselves recently! So, they do know!”

 

“Undoubtedly, they've both discovered that they have something other than ki that they must learn how to control. But I'm fairly certain that is the extent of what they know,” Piccolo clarified. “They are trying to keep it under wraps, but it won't be able to stay hidden for much longer.”

 

“But what is this presence? What is this other power that they have?” Gohan puzzled aloud. “And should we be worried?”

 

“I do recognize the energy this presence seems to exude. I've felt it before. It's similar to the power make-up of Majin Buu.”

 

“Majin Buu?” both Goku and Gohan repeated simultaneously.

 

“But, Piccolo,” Gohan challenged, “their ki signatures are human. I don't sense anything remotely like Buu in them!”

 

“They are human and they do have their own unique signatures; however, Majin Buu also had his own, very distinctive ki signature, as well. But it is also something else, closer to the energy source which only more mystical beings possess. It's the same type of presence that I picked up on back when we first encountered the Supreme Kai back at the 25th World Tournament, before he eventually revealed his identity. It's not easily detectable, and it might be that there aren't many species in the universe that can detect it. I've also noticed recently that you, Gohan, slightly have this presence.”

 

“It was probably because of the power-up I received from the Old Kai,” Gohan guessed, with a surprised look on his face. “But this presence doesn't seem to affect me. I would've sensed it by now, right?”

 

“Perhaps it was not meant to.”

 

“So, what do you think is it meant to do?” Goku asked. “Just give the girls extra abilities?

 

“I can only say with absolute certainty is that it is affecting those two girls, giving them abilities that they wouldn't normally have. But the most curious thing is that, unlike ki, this presence isn't inside of them. It hovers around them like an aura. And it's not present all the time.”

 

Both Saiya-jin frowned at this.

 

“Are you sure this presence isn't affecting you too, Gohan?” Goku asked with a hint of worry.

 

“I'm fine, Dad. I have the same abilities as I've always had. And I don't feel any different.” Gohan took a quick look over at the girls sparring. “But why go through all the trouble to hide it?” he asked quietly.

 

“Not mentioning this new power to you wasn't done out of some sinister plan,” Piccolo assured him. “Dende is of this belief as well. Autumn and Asia aren't sure of it themselves and have only really begun to try to figure it out,” the Namek added, fully aware of Gohan's discomfort over the entire situation. “Unless your worry is concerning something else you have found out about them…” he prodded.

 

“Well, no, I have actually eased up on watching them. Even so, after learning this new piece of information, and knowing what I know about them, I'm not really overly worried about them becoming a huge danger or enemy to us. Plus, they did willingly tell Trunks and me about how they learned about us from the stories they'd seen and read back in their world.”

 

“I'm glad you finally asked about that. What did they say?” Piccolo asked, intrigued.

 

“Well, as for the Saiya-jin stuff, they know about our heightened senses in comparison to humans and overall toughness as born-and-bred warriors, and our ability to transform into different Super Saiya-jin levels. They are aware of Vegita being the prince of Vegeta-sei and the destruction of the planet by Frieza. They also had a pretty solid background of the major events that have happened since I've been alive; including our encounters with Radditz, Nappa and Vegita, Frieza, the Androids, Cell, and Buu.”

 

“And what about each of us individually?” Goku asked.

 

“Most of what they know about us are fairly general; nothing incredibly deep or personal. Neither knows too much more than that about our world, other than random knowledge in bits and pieces. But there's something else,” Gohan said, before pausing. He then looked directly at Piccolo. “The girls also mentioned that Azure knows almost nothing about anyone or anything. Apparently, despite being exposed to the same stories and information over the years, she was never as attentive as they. I'm not sure if that should mean anything or not.”

 

“It's not exactly comforting to realize that they know as much as they do about us, but, if they volunteered this information willingly… but, could they be protecting Azure, by insisting that she didn't also have knowledge about us?” Piccolo questioned.

 

“I would say no, judging by what I've seen and what Trunks has found out about them. On that day Vegita had her fight the smaller Trunks, the two of them were just as shocked as the rest of us were, and maybe even a little nervous at what she was able to do,” Gohan explained. “Bulma has also mentioned that, in the days that followed, Autumn and Asia appear to have distanced themselves from her company, which, she added, isn't all that difficult since Azure's been making herself scarce lately.”

 

“What do you mean by that?” Piccolo asked, his brow furrowing with concern.

 

“Goten says she's been gone for almost a week-and-a-half.”

 

“Perhaps Vegita has her on some kind of survival training mission,” Goku speculated aloud. Although, it could also be some sort of test…

 

<><><><><><>

 

Autumn released a volley of spiked strips of ki from both her hands at Yamcha, who put up a block of ki to shield himself from the attack. When she stopped, Yamcha used it as an opening to charge at her. Seeing this, Autumn leaped several feet into the air before flipping over her opponent with a ki blast ready in hand. Yamcha whirled around and automatically positioned himself into a blocking stance as she blasted him. The force of it pushed him backwards a bit before it finally exploded in front of him, propelling him some feet back and into the ground.

 

Man, she's gotten a lot tougher! Pretty dependent on ki though…If I can get past that, I should be good to turn this around easily.

 

Yamcha paused a few seconds. He could tell from Autumn's expression that she was unsure if he would continue or not.

 

I'm not quite done yet. Yamcha stayed as he was, watching as Autumn began walking over to him.

 

Alright, I don't think I overdid it. I'm think I'm keeping this power in check pretty well, she said to herself as she advanced on him. At least, I hope so.

 

With only a foot or so remaining between them, Yamcha jumped up unexpectedly and sent a fast kick into Autumn's midsection, knocking her away a few feet before charging at her again. Autumn quickly recovered her balance and the two renewed their spar with an exchange of kicks and punches.

 

Meanwhile, Krillin and Asia appeared to be standing in a stalemate position; facing each other with arms outstretched. Krillin had Asia's grasped tightly within his own, while both of them tried repeatedly to apply just enough physical force to push back at each other.

 

Asia suddenly relaxed her stance, which made Krillin go off-guard. With his balance lost from pushing against her, his body leaned forward only to be greeted by the force of Asia's readied knee. She then pushed him slightly backwards before jumping back a few feet to wait for his next move.

 

“Man! You've improved a lot over the past couple days!” Krillin noticed with a chuckle as he straightened up from the kick.

 

Asia smiled. “You could definitely say that.”

 

During their brief pause, Autumn unsteadily landed on the ground in between them, right in front of Krillin. Her sudden arrival was quickly followed by her current sparring partner, who landed perfectly in front of Asia. Autumn brought herself to full height as Yamcha readied for her attack.

 

“Well, this is interesting,” Krillin commented lightly.

 

“Oh yea, it is,” Autumn remarked with a slight smirk, right before she looked at Asia. Her friend nodded discreetly, although Krillin picked up on it.

 

In an instant, Asia dropped down and swung her right leg in a quick arc, taking out Yamcha's legs beneath him as Krillin skillfully kicked away Autumn's attempt to do the same. Yamcha jumped back up and caught Asia's leg when she tried to nail him with a follow-up high kick. He swung it away, forcing her body to turn in the same direction. He tried countering with a kick of his own but Asia managed to block it after completing her forced rotation and then pushed it away. More punches and blocks ensued between the two, as Krillin and Autumn began a round of ki exchanges.

 

<><><><><><>

 

Azure hovered, gazing with some amusement upon the scene below her. She watched as quite a few random blasts of ki were being spewed into the sky, some heading in her general direction, which was hardly a matter. From her high vantage point, she observed an interesting maneuver being played out by the two girls. They managed to trick their two male opponents with enough skill to eventually them take down, causing the battle between the four combatants to stop for a few seconds.

 

Calmly, she descended onto the ground, not immediately being noticed by any of the fighters. However, her entrance was immediately noticed by the watching aliens, though she did not pay any heed to them at all.

 

<><><><><><>

 

Krillin and Asia rapidly jumped out of the paths of twin ki beams unexpectedly coming from both Autumn and Yamcha. The beams crashed together and held steady, pitting the two humans against one another to see which one would outlast the other. After a few moments, Krillin leapt into the sky with Asia following him. In the brief volley that followed, the former monk triumphed, knocking Asia back to the ground.

 

A presence came into view from the corner of his eye, taking his attention away from his recovered opponent. As Asia sprung back into the air, Krillin raised a hand to halt her from any action.

 

“Wait, someone's watching us from over there,” he said with a hint of caution. ”Who's that?” he asked more to himself than Asia.

 

“What?” she asked as she turned her head. Then she took a moment to process who she was looking at.

 

“Azure?” she pondered with surprise in her voice.

 

“Who?”

 

“It's the other girl that came with us; her name is Azure,” she explained.

 

“Oh, so that's her, huh?”

 

“Yup,” she confirmed as she glanced over at the other fight taking place.

 

Yamcha suddenly jumped into the air, dodging the beam and letting it shoot past him directly at Azure. Instead of moving out of the beam's path, she simply swatted it away up into the air.

 

“Wha… who's that?” Yamcha asked, curious about this newcomer, but being cautious just the same. He landed next to Autumn, who was now flanked by both Asia and Krillin.

 

Taking a few steps forward, her eyes fixed on the other girl, Autumn answered, “That's Azure.” She paused in her walking as Azure proceeded towards them. “It's been a while, Azure. You've been away for the past week. You've returned, then?” she asked Azure as she came upon the group.

 

“Happened to be in the area,” the other girl stated matter-of-factly.

 

Quickly glancing her over, Autumn took in Azure's slightly disheveled appearance.. “You don't look so bad, considering,”

 

A small smirk was her reply.

 

“You've been watching us,” Autumn said bluntly.

 

“I was passing by. I said I was in the area,” Azure reiterated, already bored with this conversation. She took a minute to study Krillin and Yamcha before giving them a brief nod. Without saying anything further, she lifted into the air then quickly headed in the direction of the other trio of warriors.

 

“Wait -” Autumn started to say, but by now Azure had already put herself beyond hearing range. She let out a short sigh-puff of frustration.

 

As Azure flew over the alien warriors, she glanced down at Piccolo and Goku, but her eyes locked onto Gohan's. Her eyes smirked at him as he looked upwards, returning her mocking look with an unspoken challenge of his own.

 

“Gohan,” he heard Piccolo say, while he continued to lock his gaze on Azure's departing, airborne figure. “What is it?”

 

Gohan brought his eyes downward, frowning deeply. “I don't like this situation at all. How can we be sure that we're not, after all this time and effort, been training that which will eventually destroy us?”

 

“From what we know about her already, she would've trained herself anyway,” Goku offered reasonably. “It's obvious that she had extensive fighting experience.”

 

“For the past month until now, I could hardly sense her at all. With all these strange variations in her ki level and ki signature, aren't you the least bit worried?” Gohan said almost incredulously, looking at his father.

 

“Not worried, but definitely curious,” Goku said in reply.

 

“Goku, what do you know about her strength and abilities?” Piccolo pressed.

 

“I sense that her power potential, which if I had to venture a guess, is probably near Cell's level at his most powerful. The thing is she can't effectively apply the power she does have. On a more normal level, though, if she ever went up one-on-one against 18, we'd all be witnessing a fairly interesting fight. She's a talented fighter, which is one of the main reasons why she can hold her own in a fight against someone like Trunks, as long as he doesn't get too excited,” he explained.

 

Gohan then looked at his father. “Still no clue about who she might really be, then?”

 

Goku shook his head.

 

Gohan let out a breath. “So there's no telling if Azure's firmly on our side, just as there's no absolute proof that she's not our enemy.”

 

“Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves; there's a lot going on. Soon, we may arrive at a turning point where those uncertainties will be answered. And with any luck, by that time we'll have something solid to use before the Augin-jin get here,” Piccolo stated.

 

“And not be as unprepared as we were for the appearance of the Androids,” Gohan added solemnly.

 

As Gohan and Piccolo resumed observing the activity below them, Goku retreated into his own thoughts.

 

There has to be something behind these changes. Will they lead up to just a strong power potential or is it something more? I don't believe that Azure's one of these Aujin-jin. No, it's something else. And this latest alteration in her ki signature…

 

<><><><><><>

 

“Azure's not too personable, is she?” Krillin commented dryly, as the four took a break in the action.

 

“As far as friendliness is concerned, well, she's a little more so than Vegita,” Autumn informed the two. “Anyway, why don't we think about something else? For now, I vote that we take some time off and tour another town.”

 

“You want to go touring again?” Asia asked in surprise.

 

“Yea, why not?” Her friend's answer made Asia laugh aloud.

 

“Because I'm usually the one that wants to stop training, that's why. You're the one that always wants to keep going and going as if you've fallen into the ol' Saiya-jin training mode,” Asia replied.

 

“Well, I suppose that I've just had my fill for the day,” Autumn admitted with a smile.

 

“I can agree with that,” Krillin added, as Asia and Yamcha both nodded. “We've all been training pretty hard these past weeks.”

 

While the other three were discussing about where they should go next, Autumn quietly stood back and began to rerun the brief, but troubling encounter they just had with Azure through her mind.

 

*~*~*~*~*