Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Unholy Crusade: Act 1 ❯ In An Instant ( Chapter 4 )

Unholy Crusade

Act 1: Reign of Fear

Chapter 4: In an Instant

She was running…

What for, she wasn't sure…

She was chasing someone…

That someone opened a door, walked through, and closed it behind them…

She opened the door and ran inside…

"Get back here, you son of a bitch!"

She wasn't in a room…

She was in a forest…

The door slammed behind her…

She looked behind her, and the door had vanished into more forest…

It began to rain, and thunder rumbled in the distance…

She felt a drop on her head, and walked foreword…

A drop hit her hand…

She instinctively looked at it…

The drop wasn't a raindrop…

It was blood…

She looked into the sky…

The raindrops were red…

It was raining blood…

She cried in disgust, and ran foreword to find shelter…

She was becoming soaked in blood from the sky…

She didn't like it…

She couldn't accept it…

She wanted to get out…

She screamed…

Soon, she came to a clearing, and the raining blood ceased…

The clouds still lingered, keeping the forest in darkness…

Selena was standing behind the forest, and facing a lake…

She had seen this lake before…

On the other side of the lake was a stone archway that led into further darkness…

On the ground, by the arch, was a small body lying in a pool of fresh blood…

It was the body of a child…

The clothes were familiar…

"Sakura!" Selena cried out with horror. "Sakura! I'm coming!"…

Selena began to run…

Everything seemed so slow…

Her foot touched the water like it was solid ground…

She began to run across the water, slightly disturbing the stillness of the lake with slow ripples…

She looked down at her feet and stopped running…

The water rippled out from her feet, warping her reflection in the lake…

She looked at the reflection…

Something was odd about it…

As the ripples began to calm, the reflection became clear…

The reflection was not Selena…

It was Cell…

Selena's heart filled with fear…

Her face paled…

Her eyes widened…

Her breath was stolen away…

The reflection did not move…

"No!" she cried, putting her hands to the side of her head…

The reflection put his hands to the side of his head…

"No! This isn't right!" she screamed. "Go away!"…

She kicked the surface of the lake with all her might…

The water suddenly burst into strange, sickly yellow flames…

Selena fell into the flames, feeling no pain…

From the flickering fires, human hands, arms, and the faces of skulls appeared…

The skulls were screaming in horror and pain…

The hands grabbed for Selena…

The arms tried to pin her in one place…

Selena tried to struggle out of them, trying to reach the other side of the lake…

The hands scratched her…

The arms pummeled her with lariats…

The skulls tried to bite her…

She swam through the fire as though it was water…

It all felt like strong gravity trying to drag her down into the yellow flames…

Almost to the other side…

"Sakura!" Selena yelled, reaching out her hand…

The tiny hand seemed so far away, yet was so very close…

Selena jumped foreword to grab the hand…

"Sakura!"…

Many hands grabbed her and hoisted her in the air…

Hands from the fire…

Selena was plunged into the flames…

She was dragged down, down, down…

She fell into clawing, biting, yellow emptiness…

"SAKURAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"…

All was black…

^

Her eyes snapped open, and she bolted upright in the bed.

It was just a nightmare…

She was no longer in a dark wood with bloody rain; she was in a hotel room bed and it was dark all around. Outside a window, she could see a starry sky, and she could hear the sounds of chirping crickets outside. Everything was quiet, asleep, and at peace.

She looked on the other side of the twin bed, and she saw Sakura tucked under the covers with her eyes closed. Remembering the nightmare, Selena panicked, and shook Sakura.

"Sakura! Sakura-chan! Wake up! Please wake up!" Sakura stirred slightly.

"What?" she sleepily wondered. "What's going on?" Selena paused, then began crying in relief.

"Oh thank God." She sobbed, hugging Sakura. Sakura was in such a sleepy daze that she didn't know what was going on.

"Mommy, what's wrong? You sound sad…"

"I'm sorry, little one." Selena sniffled, patting the girl's back. "Go back to sleep. I'm sorry I woke you up."

"Okay." Sakura smiled, closed her eyes, and lay back down. "G'night, mommy." Selena blinked once, then smiled sadly as Sakura was instantly asleep. Selena stroked through the girl's short, black hair.

"No…I'm not your mommy…"

She laid back into her pillow, and stared up at the ceiling until her eyes were too heavy to keep open.

She slept with no dreams.

^

Dawn broke through the hotel room window, and Selena slowly awoke. She sat up and stretched her arms and back sleepily. Since that nightmare, she slept rather well. However, she was a little disturbed by it. It all seemed so real, and so strange…

Shrugging that away for now, she climbed out of the bed carefully so that she wouldn't wake up Sakura, and headed for her capsule case on the nearby dresser.

Time to get dressed.

She opened her suitcase capsule that contained her clothes. As soon as she snapped the clasps open, the case flung open. It was overpacked. Selena saw why. She kept the suitcase tidy by putting clean clothes on one side of the case, and dirty clothes on the other side. The dirty clothes side of the suitcase was full. There were no clean clothes left.

Selena made a flat, "oh-I-see," face at that discovery.

"Looks like I gotta go to the laundromat…" she sighed, taking the clothes she wore yesterday. She put those on as she contemplated what should happen now. She glanced at the still sleeping Sakura. The little girl hadn't woken up since Selena shook her awake. She was curled under the covers tightly, breathing softly in her sleep. Selena frowned sadly.

What's going to happen to this wonderful, little girl?

I don't know if I could take her with me, she could get hurt…

She could remember what happened in Pepper City clearly. Cell was clearly after Sakura, not Selena herself.

But why? Why not kill me too? I was right there, getting in his way. Why didn't he kill me?

Is he letting me live?

I don't get it.

Deciding to shrug the monster off her mind, she straightened her pants and shirt, put on her shoes, and took her suitcase with her out the door.

Sakura might still be asleep while I'm gone. Besides, the laundromat is right downstairs, I can come up and check on her once in a while.

^

One lone man flew through the sky over Parsley City, headed for the southern island area several thousand miles away. At the speed he was flying, it would take him half an hour to get there.

I just wanna get to the Kame House as fast as I can. The last thing I wanna do is run into Cell by accident, or have him find me. I'll leave that creep to Piccolo and Tien. They know what they're doing.

He looked up at the sunny, blue sky.

Goku…I hope you're getting better back there. We need you more than ever, bro.

Not watching where he was going, he flew over a huge factory and right into a huge column of black smog.

"GAAK! OH MAN!" he coughed as he flew through the toxic smoke. He came out of the smog black as a shadow. "Damn…" he muttered, trying to wipe it off his face. "I better stop to take a bath…"

^

Selena tossed her clothes into a washing machine, dropped a couple of coins into the coin slots, and pushed the cycle buttons a few times. The machine churned to life, spinning the dirty clothes through soapy water. She looked at her watch. Fifteen minutes had passed since she got here and chatted with the man behind the maintenance counter. She decided to go check on Sakura. She turned to the man.

"Hey, can you watch my laundry for a sec? I'll be right back."

"Sure thing." The man agreed. Selena headed out of the laundry mat, up the elevator, to the fourth floor where her room was. She opened the door to her room and walked inside.

Sakura wasn't on the bed, and the sheets were a mess.

Nothing else looked out of place…

"Sakura-chan?" Selena called into the room, getting a bad feeling. She looked around the room, but didn't see the girl anywhere. Then she heard sobbing in the bathroom. She looked and she saw Sakura huddled in the farthermost corner, crying in fear. Selena walked to her. "Sakura-chan? Are you alright?"

"Selena-san?" Sakura raised her head timidly. Seeing the face of her protector, Sakura burst out bawling. "Selena-san! I was so scared!"

"What happened?" Selena asked, gathering the girl in her arms. Sakura cried on Selena's shoulder.

"I woke up, but you weren't there! I looked everywhere for you! You weren't there! I thought the monster came back! I hid! I was so scared!"

Not a very good hiding place… Selena noted to herself.

"I'm sorry, Sakura." Selena apologized. "I should have told you where I was. I was downstairs, washing my clothes. The monster didn't come."

At least, I don't think he did… Selena checked out the window, and saw the bustling, crowded streets of the city. No, he didn't come.

"It was scary!" Sakura cried. Selena smiled, and used her shirt to dry Sakura's tears.

"It's alright now. Nothing happened. But I thought you would still be asleep when I got back." She smiled sweetly at the little girl. "Let's make this a lesson for the two of us. Let's tell each other where we're going when we split up like that again. Okay?"

"Okay." Sakura nodded, not quite understanding what Selena meant.

"Now, let's get you dressed. We'll go downstairs together."

^

As Sakura and Selena waited for Selena's clothes to come out of the drier, a man walked in that caught Selena's attention. He was a very small man, possibly as tall as Sakura, with a bald head, no nose, and very dirty skin. He was wearing a tank top, shorts, and Chinese silk shoes. He was holding clothes as dirty as his skin under one arm.

"Can I use one of your machines please?" he asked the maintenance man behind the counter.

"Sure." The man agreed. "Go ahead."

"Thanks." The short man nodded, then walked to a washing machine, reaching into a shorts pocket for spare change. Selena tried not to stare, it was a rather unusual sight. However, she took note of the six dots on the man's head. He was a monk from the Orin Temple in Tibet. She had run into one or two Orin monks before, and she was rather good friends with them. She decided to strike up a conversation with him. She got up from her chair.

"Hey." She greeted.

"Oh hi." The monk greeted, looking up at her then turning away. Then he looked at her again, up and down, then started blushing. Selena blinked at his behavior a couple times.

"What?"

The man turned his head away.

"Sorry. No girl ever talked to me on her own before…" he explained. "I'm a loser. I dunno if you wanna talk to me anyway." He started chuckling nervously, throwing his dirty clothes into the washing machine. He looked at the controls for it, and chuckled more nervously. "See…I don't even know how this thing works. I'm a loser…"

"Relax." Selena smiled, pushing the appropriate buttons for him. "It took me a while to figure this out too. This is a pretty advanced model." The machine soon kicked into the water cycle, and the man blinked at the machine in surprise, then he looked back to Selena.

"Wow." He marveled. Selena laughed.

"It's nothing really. But it did take me a long time to figure it out for myself." She turned to the man behind the counter. "Ain't that right?"

The man laughed in agreement.

The short man blushed, and walked towards the sink in the very back of the room. He began washing the dirt off his face and arms. Selena followed him and stood next to him.

"So, what's your name?" she asked. "I'm Selena."

"Krillin." The man introduced, scrubbing his face with his wet hands.

"So Krillin, how'd your clothes get so dirty?"

"I don't think you wanna know."

"Oh. Okay."

^

Selena invited Krillin to breakfast, the meal was on her since she was going to get money from the hotel ATM machine. Krillin decided to accept. After picking up fifty more zeni for her wallet, Selena took Sakura and Krillin to an outdoor café for something to eat. Selena ordered Sakura a short stack of pancakes while Selena requested a small sushi roll. Krillin asked politely for a rice bowl. As they feasted, they chatted for a little bit. All three tried to stay away from the Cell subject.

"A martial artist, eh?" Krillin asked Selena.

"Yeah." Selena admitted. "I've been training since I was eight. I'm not too shabby."

"She fights real good!" Sakura proudly announced. Selena beamed.

"But I don't exactly consider myself the best. I know there's people out there stronger than me, but I still have plenty of advantages."

"Like what?" Krillin wondered.

"Like I'm very well educated and I have a pretty high IQ. In my experience, the smartest comes out on top, rather than the strongest."

"That's pretty interesting. Where'd you come up with that?"

"Actually, Kami told me that."

"Kami?" Krillin blinked. "You know him?"

"You know him too?"

"I was a student of his once."

"Hey, me too! How cool!"

"Oh, is that how you got so strong?" Krillin chuckled. "He taught you to be a smart one too?"

"Absolutely. I trained with him for about two years. He trained my mind more than my mussels, and I guess that's why I'm so smart. I'm a tech wizard now, but I'm hoping to become a doctor one day. I'm pretty good with medicine."

"Cool." Krillin admired. "So, what are you now?"

"A nomad, mostly." Selena confessed. "I travel. I see the world. I meet new people. Sometimes I'll find myself on some crazy adventure. Rarely do I take a job, cause that means I have to settle down in one place for a while."

"I know the life." Krillin nodded. "I had to live that myself. I know a couple of guys who live like that too."

"Wow, we've got so much in common…" Selena noted. "This is just too cool."

"It's a little weird…" Krillin confessed. Selena finished another bite of sushi before speaking again.

"It feels like…I dunno…we were meant to run into each other, or something." She smiled at him. "Hey, uh, do you have anywhere special to go right now?"

"Not really." Krillin shook his head.

"Why don't you join me?" Selena invited. "I don't mind having company with me. And I could use some protection."

"Protection? From what?"

"Well…lately, Sakura and I were attacked by a mon…"

…ping…

A blip of energy silenced Selena. She knew where it came from…

Cell…

She stood up and looked around. She didn't see any sign of him, everything seemed normal. A bad feeling suddenly welled in her heart, and it began to beat very quickly.

"He's here…" she whispered.

"Who?" Krillin asked. Then, he felt the energy too. He stood up. "It can't be…but where is he?"

"Huh?" Sakura wondered, looking up at Krillin and Selena. "What's going on?"

"Hey, wait a minute…" Krillin stopped, looking up at Selena. "Can you sense…what I think I sense…?"

"Cell…" Selena whispered, walking away from the table. Krillin's eyes went wide.

"You can sense him…" he gasped. "But how…he keeps his power level so low…"

"We've got to get outta here…" Selena deducted. She quickly flung a few zeni on the table for the bill and tip. "Sakura, let's go. We need to go back to the hotel room and get our stuff."

"But I'm not done eating!" Sakura complained.

"Sorry, but we gotta go now." Selena insisted. "C'mon, hurry."

^

After packing up the capsules, and strapping her ki staff on her back, Selena decided to keep Sakura in a safe place. She left Sakura with the man in the laundromat to keep her safe. Krillin joined her out into the streets. They looked around, trying to spot the monster.

"I'm pretty sure he just wouldn't walk around in public." Selena theorized. "He'd hide in back allies or somewhere people don't go…"

"Yeah, you're right." Krillin nodded. "From what I've been told, Cell's a smart one. But how do you know so much about him?"

"I ran into him a couple times." Selena explained. "Y'know Sakura?"

"The little kid?"

"I saved her from Cell in the last town we were in. That's how we met."

"And you're still alive?!" Krillin shivered.

"It creeps me out too." Selena admitted, spying a dark ally to her left. There was nothing there. "I don't know if I'm just lucky or what, but so far, I've survived every attack." She decided not to tell him Cell might be letting her live. She wasn't sure of that herself.

"So, how can you sense him? I mean, no matter how much experience you have, Cell is way too…"

"I felt his aura…" Selena explained. "It's pure evil. You never forget the feeling of an evil aura." Krillin blinked a few times.

Who is this kid?

^

"There." Selena pointed. She was pointing at an abandoned building, boarded up with wooden planks. Krillin looked.

"He's in there?"

"I can just barely feel him, but he's in there." She nodded. She stared down at the ground below her feet. "My first instinct is to run away…but…"

"But what?" Krillin asked in worry. "Running away sounds like a pretty good idea."

"But…I'm a guardian. It is my duty to protect these people from monsters like Cell. I dunno about you, Krillin, but I'm going in." She headed for the door.

"Hey wait!" Krillin exclaimed in surprise. "A guardian? You can't be! Guardians are Nameks."

"I'm not a guardian of the planet, but I am a guardian of the people." She reached for the doorknob.

"Hold up!" Krillin stopped, grabbing her wrist. "Just because Kami's gone doesn't mean you can take his position. Don't be an idi…"

"What?" Selena gasped. "What do you mean 'Kami's gone?'"

"You don't know? He fused with Piccolo to become one being with him."

Selena's eyes widened.

"You…you're kidding…"

"I wish I was." Krillin shook his head. "Kami and Piccolo were once one person, but they split into two hundreds of years ago. Now, they became one whole Namek again. Kami's gone. It's just Piccolo now."

"Then…" Selena wondered in horror. "Kami's…dead?"

"I wouldn't say it's like that." Krillin shook his head. "It's like…like…Kami got younger. I guess that's how it's like…"

Selena felt her heart break despite Krillin's words. The kind, old man she came to love as her own father was gone forever. She would never see him again, nor hear his voice, nor share her deepest feeling with him like she once had. It had been years since she'd seen him, and now he was gone. He was dead to her now.

In depressed anger, Selena kicked open the door, and ran inside the abandoned building.

"Whoa!" Krillin cried in surprise. "Hey, Selena! Come back!"

"Shhhhhh!" Selena hissed at him through one finger. "Be quiet, or he'll hear you."

Kami fused with Piccolo to gain more power to beat Cell, didn't he?

No, Kami! We need you as you are!

You didn't have to leave us, Kami…

I'll be sure to kill Cell for you.

Count on it!

^

Inside, the building was dark and dusty. The furniture was covered in white cloth, and dust kicked up from the floor with each step Selena took. She tried to stifle her coughs so that she could be quiet. Krillin was right behind her, covering his mouth, and keeping a watchful eye out for anything big and green with black spots. Selena kept her gaze straight ahead, following the faint ki she believed was Cell.

The ki then led her to a staircase that rose to the second floor. She took very careful steps, trying not to make any noise on the way up. Unfortunately, Krillin was killing the silence all too easily.

CREAK! CREAK! CREAK!

"Krillin!" Selena hissed. "Shhhh! He'll hear you!"

"Sorry…" Krillin moaned. "I can't help it if the stairs are squeaky!"

"Put your weight on the step slowly." Selena suggested. She continued up the stairs slowly and carefully. Try as Krillin may, he was still making too much noise for Selena's ears. They finally made it to the top of the stairs. The second floor looked no different from the first. All the furniture were covered in white sheets, and the ground was dustier than the first floor. One step caused a huge cloud of dust to billow in Selena's face, and cause her to sneeze.

"I can't feel him anymore…" Selena whispered to herself. Then, she sneezed again. "That does it. I'm opening a window…" She walked around the room towards what resembled a window while Krillin looked for any suspicious shapes that looked like Cell in the area. He didn't find any. Selena found the edge of the window, and pushed it up. It took all her strength, because the hinges were rusted shut. When she opened the window, fresh air poured into the room and unsettled some of the dust on the walls. Selena smiled in satisfaction of clean air.

"Alright, that's better…" she decided, straightening her back and taking a big breath of air. "Let's keep looking…"

"Let's just get outta here." Krillin suggested. "If he was here, he would have attacked us by now."

"I dunno about tha…" Selena was cut off by something. She turned to the window. "Krillin? Hear that?"

"Hear what?" he asked as Selena rushed back to the open window. "I don't hear anything…"

"That's just it!" Selena cried. "The town is quiet!" She looked closer at the streets below, and saw what she feared she would see. "No way! We were in here for two minutes!"

"Lemme see!" Krillin demanded. He peeked from Selena's side. The streets were empty except for the mass of scattered clothes. There was not a sound in the city. Krillin backed away from the window in shock. "Oh man…freaky…"

"No…" Selena muttered, slamming the window pane with her hands, then running for the stairs. Before she could even set her foot on one step, the floor gave in and fell beneath Selena's feet. Selena tumbled to the first floor, and curled up to shield herself from falling boards of wood. She shook access dust off with a few coughs and got up to run out the door.

"Hey, wait!" Krillin called, jumping down the stairs and hovering to the ground. "Where are you going?"

"Sakura!" Selena called in worry, running out the door and into the quiet street.

^

The whole city seemed to have vanished in an instant. She was sure she was in that building for at least two minutes, and the whole city was completely wiped out. She didn't think Cell was so fast and so deadly.

Did he do this all by himself? Nothing is so fast…

This creature cannot be allowed to live…

I made up my mind.

I will not rest until I have hunted down and killed the creature known as Cell!

She continued running down the street, headed back to the hotel, with Krillin right behind her. Selena kept confident that Cell didn't find Sakura, but if he did…

Either way…

He's a dead man!

To be continued…

**End of Chapter Bonus!**

Masquerade: We'll be holding off on the character dress-ups for a while. Meanwhile, the cast of Unholy Crusade would like to bring you a special treat! OUTTAKES!

Unholy Crusade Outtakes!

Chapter 2: Sakura-chan

(Selena looks around the residential block, hearing Cell's footsteps echoing off the walls.)

Footsteps: KT-CH! KT-CH! KT-CH!

Selena thinks: Clever…he's making his footsteps echo across the street. I don't know where he is…

(Suddenly, a quiet voice whispers…)

Voice: Kill, kill, kill, kill…now, now, now, now…

Selena: Huh? **blink blink** What the hell? **looks around** Friday the 13th? **scratches her head** I coulda sworn that's what I heard…

***

Selena thinks: I don't know where he is…

Voice: Kill, kill, kill, kill…now, now, now, now…

Selena: **annoyed face** Cut it out, Cell! That's not funny!

Cell: **enters the set wearing a hockey mask and wheilding a chainsaw** Muahahahahaha!

Selena: …

(Cell and Selena stare at each other for a long time…)

Selena: **aims her staff at Cell and fires a huge ki blast**

Cell: **knocked off his feet** AAAAAAAA! Oof! **gets up and leaves** Okay, okay…

Selena: **blink blink** What the heck just happened?

***

(Cell puts his head on Selena's shoulder as she shields Sakura.)

Cell: **purrs** You don't even know her. Why waste your life over her?

Selena: **wrinkles her nose** Boy, you have bad breath!

(Cell stumbles back a few steps laughing. Sakura starts laughing like crazy. Cell starts to walk away with an embarrassed hand over his face.)

Selena: Yeah, go brush your teeth and we'll try that again.

***

(Attempting that scene again…)

Cell: You don't even know her. Why waste your life over her? No one will know…uh…oh no…

Selena: Forgot your lines?

Cell: **purrs** Hello Clarice… **hissing noise**

Selena: **starts laughing** That's not your line, moron.

***

Chapter 3: Guardian Angel

(Cell takes Selena hostage in mid air. Piccolo growls at the sight.)

Cell: Namek, just turn around and walk away. It's that simple.

Selena: **scared**

Piccolo: **thinks carefully**

Cell: …

Piccolo: **hold out his hand** Gimme fifty bucks.

Selena: !!!

Cell: **a little cross** I'd have to be a complete idiot to give you money!

Piccolo: Cool. Gimme fifty bucks.

Cell: …

Selena: **lol**

***

Cell: Come to me now, Selena. Be part of the perfection.

(Cell slowly pushes Selena up by the forehead with the tip of his tail)

Selena: Oh man, this is gonna leave a mark…

Cell: Huh? Hey, you're not suppost to talk yet!

Selena: I hope it won't be permanent…

Cell: Shut up!

Selena: Uh, is it suppost to hurt?

Cell: Cut! Selena, what is wrong with you?!

Selena: **glares at him** That does hurt, y'know!

Cell: What? You want me to put a pillow on it?

Selena: How about a cork?

Cell: A cork?!

Selena: I'll give ya fifty bucks…

More to come? Perhaps…