Princess Mononoke Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Singing Mountain ❯ Chapter 1: The Arrival ( Chapter 1 )

I do not own Dragonball Z or Princess Mononoke, or any concepts relating to them. Everything DBZ or PM are © their respectful creators.

And I am © me, so don't steal my character

Masquerade woke up in the middle of the night. Something had slowly stirred her out of sleep. She was having a very pleasant dream of soft colors and soothing sounds too, nothing in the dream could have woken her up. She sat up and clenched the ends of her bed sheets. She didn't feel hungry or thirsty…and her heartbeat was normal. What could have possibly woken her up?

Suddenly, she felt sick. She felt something like…like an invisible force pulsing through her body. It felt like a great power level… and it made her feel sick. Masquerade shook her head to clear it, causing her medium length blond hair to sway over her shoulders. She put her hand to her forehead and felt it pulse in the strange, slow rhythm of the invisible force. She felt sicker as the pulsing continued. Then she felt something leap from her stomach to her throat, and she ran to the bathroom and to the open lid toilet. She tossed her dinner, and coughed her throat sore.

What is happening to me?

She wiped her mouth clean, and walked out of the bathroom. The pulse seemed to stop, and was replaced by a rather high power level. She ran to the front door, and opened it slightly. The sky was dark, even with the faint light of the stars above. The only noise she heard was the singing of nearby crickets and small frogs. The power level was a few meters away from her house, somewhere in the forests on the mountain. She had felt the power signature before, but it wasn't ringing any bells.

Out of the forests trotted a large, human sized brown wolf. Masquerade opened the door a little wider to identify it. It looked like Aman-sama, but she wasn't sure. Then she saw the rider on its back: a young, short woman of twenty-three, wearing white and blue robes of the Mononoke Wolf Clan, faux fir of a wolf draped over her shoulders, and a face mask of red, white, and black resembling a wolf spirit. Masquerade recognized her immediately. It was Aman-sama, and his best friend and life debt:

"San Rhapsody!" Masquerade called out, opening the door all the way, and waving to her. The High Priestess was called Chaos Rhapsody by many of her friends, but Masquerade was just an acquaintance and addressed Rhapsody by her priestess rank: San. Rhapsody jumped off of Aman's back, and walked toward Masquerade.

"Sorry to wake you up so late." Rhapsody called through her mask. Masquerade smiled.

"I was already awake." She notified. "I felt something weird, and it made me throw up. What was it?"

"A large surge of energy just down the mountain." Rhapsody explained, pointing down the hill and into the darkened woods. "It lingered for about one minute then vanished. Other priestesses became ill as well, but quickly recovered. Now I feel a large life force coming from the surge's location."

Suddenly, the woods became alive with loud rattling and clicking sounds. Aman's ears perked up as he turned his head to the woods.

"The Kodama are restless." He reported in his quiet, deep voice. "They seem to have discovered the source of the life force." Rhapsody nodded at Anon, then turned to Masquerade.

"Masq, we came by to see if you were ill as well. You have the closest house to the strange power."

"I'm alright now." Masq chirped. "Thanks for checking up on me, San." Rhapsody smiled behind her mask, and turned on her heal towards her wolf.

"Anytime, Masq. I'm looking foreword to making you an official San tomorrow." She called, waving goodbye.

"Hey wait!" Masq called down to the leaving priestess. Rhapsody turned her head, and so did Aman. "I wanna come with you. I wanna see what that power was. Can I, please?"

"Certainly." Rhapsody nodded. "Get dressed."

/|\

Masq slid out of her light blue nightgown, and wrapped herself in a silk kimono. She slipped on some tatami sandals, and ran outside to the waiting wolf and priestess. Rhapsody was sitting on Aman's back, waiting for the civilian to get ready. Masq leapt onto Aman's back behind Rhapsody, and the wolf stood instantly.

"Let's go." Masq nodded, holding onto Rhapsody's shoulders. Rhapsody grabbed a scruff of fur on Aman's neck, and the wolf bounded into the woods as quick as the howling wind. Masq felt the wind ruffle through her tangled hair and tug at the loose folds of her kimono, wondering what it would be like to ride on a wolf like that every day. She felt so excited that she would finally get to become a Wolf Priestess and everyone would call her San Masquerade. She graduated from high school just to have the honor of moving to the Wolf Jaw mountain range and becoming a priestess of the Mononoke way of life.

The trip was rather short. Aman trotted to a stop by a ditch between six trees. Rhapsody slid off Aman's back, and looked up into the trees. Hundreds of Kodama lined the branches, clacking and rattling away a welcome to the three newcomers. Masq looked up at them and laughed merrily. She was a Kodama fan, and proud of the title. Aman lay on his stomach so that Masq could easily step off of his back, and walk around. Rhapsody slid her mask off of her face to the top of her head, and listened to the kodamas rattling.

Aman turned his head to the bottom of the ditch, and growled. Masq looked at him while Rhapsody ignored her wolf friend. Masq looked in the direction Aman's head was pointed, and peered closely. She couldn't see anything.

"Is there something down there, Aman-sama?" Masq asked the wolf quietly. Aman only gave out a small bark and continued to growl. Masq followed her own lead, and crept carefully to the ditch. Putting a hand on one of the outlining trees, she peered into the small grove and saw a thick circle of Kodama gathered around something. Judging by the size of the circle, it must have been the size of a person. Stepping up to the circle of curious tree spirits, she saw what they were gathered around.

"Oh my God…" she breathed in fear. "It's him!"

Singing Mountain: Chapter 1

It was a large, monstrous being that looked like a cross between a bug, a lizard, and a human. Its skin was green and speckled with small black spots. Its chest and small part of the head had small, shiny, black shells. It had a huge headcrest on its head, strange box-like ears, and a beak of orange muscles for a mouth. It lastly, but most certainly not leastly, possessed a long, muscular tail with a syringe-resembling spike at the end. It was lying on its side, apparently unconscious, and breathing normally. A purple ooze like blood splotched one side of its head.

Masquerade knew this monster.

"Cell…" she breathed. "It's Cell in his energy absorbing form…but it can't be! Mr. Satan killed him in the Cell Game a year ago!"

"Let me see!" Rhapsody called, walking towards the ditch.

"Shhhhh!" Masq worriedly hissed through her teeth and one finger. "You might wake him up!" Rhapsody ignored that, and looked over Masq's shoulder. The High Priestess nodded her head.

"It's him. But it looks like he had gotten into a fight. See?" she pointed at the ooze on Cell's head. "He's bleeding."

"But what…could be so strong as to win a fight with Cell?" Masq wondered.

"Well, Mr. Satan is in the city miles away from here…and I don't think any of the Game's contestants live near here…" Rhapsody dared to walk past Masq, part a way through the circle of gathered Kodama, and kneel before Cell's body to get a closer look. "…he seems to have been left here for dead."

"So…what do we do?"

Rhapsody lowered her head to think. Then he put a hand on his throat. She felt a pulse. Then she bent her ear to his mouth. She heard soft breath.

"He's alive, and he may be alright…" She lifted her head away, and gently touched the blood on his head. "Fresh…" she noticed. "This happened very recently." She stood up, and rubbed her hands together to clean off the blood. "We can't leave him here. We of the Mononoke respect all forms of life, may they be good or evil. Masq, come here and help me lift him."

"WHAT?!" Masq screamed in alarm. "ARE YOU CRAZY?!"

"I am a priestess of the wolf clan, and I make my decisions based on the laws of life. Now come down here and help me." Rhapsody bent back down, and cupped her hand under Cell's head. She looked back at Masq angrily. "If you want to be a priestess, then understand why I am doing this. Yes, Cell was evil, and he killed many people, but he was apparently forgiven for his crimes after being brought back here from the land of the dead. He is a living creature who had been given another chance. How could we give him that second chance if we turn him away?"

"Listen to yourself!" Masq cried out. "You'd help a psychopathic murderer from God-knows-where by nursing him back to health?"

"Yes." Rhapsody answered sternly. "Masquerade, listen to me, because this is an important phrase the Mononoke used for over a hundred generations: 'The good to bad, the bad to good.' Everything in life changes, even the hearts of the people."

"You telling me that a guy like him could change into a better person?" Masq scrutinized.

"Are you going to help me or not?"

"This is crazy." Masq sighed, moving through the Kodama, and to the other side of Cell's body. Rhapsody and Masq turned him on his back, and slowly lifted him up into their arms. They shuffled their way out of the ditch, the Kodama moving away quickly from their careless steps, and headed towards the still growling Aman.

"He's too heavy for us to carry." Rhapsody grunted under Cell's weight. "Aman, can you carry him on your back?"

"As you wish." He abided, letting his fried lift the creature onto his back. Now Cell laid on his stomach on the wolf's back. Aman stood up carefully, and the two girls walked on either side of him as he slowly moved up the mountain.

"Hey," Masq called to Rhapsody, who walked on the other side of the wolf, "how about I make up for my earlier comments by taking care of him? My house is closer than yours is, and when he can walk on his own, I'll send him to your house to recover there. How about it?"

"Very well." Rhapsody agreed, putting a hand on Aman's brown flank. "Take care of him until he is strong enough to walk. I give him a week or two."

"Great." Masq agreed. She glanced at the unconscious creature, and wrapped her fingers around his open, limp palm. "You hear that, big guy? It's just you and me for the next week."

Suddenly, she felt a strong grip on her hand. She gasped and looked. Cell's hand was tightly clutching hers! She heard a soft moan, and looked at Cell's face. His pink eyes were half-open in fatigue, his mouth was slightly parted so that he could breathe. He slowly closed his eyes again, whispering something quietly in his harsh, raspy voice, and his hand once again went limp. Masq gulped in nervous tension.

Did she make the right decision?

/|\

He gained consciousness to a throbbing headache. The pain was so bad, he couldn't open his eyes. He felt numb all over, and his muscles were so tight he could barely move. His throat purred, dry and craving water. Finally, he lifted his arm, rubbed his forehead with his fingers to massage his headache. His entire arm was stiff. How much blood did he lose in that fight? How many souls were taken out of his body? How much power did he lose?

Where was that damned Surreal?!

He moaned, and finally attempted to open his eyes. He opened them part way, and saw a ceiling of a house. He quickly closed his eyes again. He was in a house?! Then he remembered the voices of two young women, and the face of the one walking next to him. But, how did they carry him all the way to a house from the middle of nowhere? They must have been very strong…

Wait a minute…who's house am I in?

Suddenly, he felt a presence by his side gently take his arm and lay it back down.

"Hey there." A voice of a young woman greeted. "Are you awake finally?" He opened his eyes again, and turned his head slightly to see a young woman with a fair complexion and blond hair smile at him. "Good morning, Seru."

"Hmmm?" he moaned. Then he remembered the woman! She was the face he saw! She…she held his hand…and carried him to the house! He vaguely remembered her from somewhere else, but he was too weak to think.

"Are you feeling alright?" she asked, the smile was cut into a concerned face. "You lost quite a bit of blood last night. What happened?"

"What happened?" He was about to respond when he remembered the one named Surreal. He had to find and kill that bitch! And he had to find and kill her now!

I've got to get out of here!

/|\

Suddenly, Cell grabbed Masq's wrist and leaped out of the bed on top of her back. Masq screamed in surprise but quickly got a hold of herself. She sharply jabbed his stomach with her elbow, knocking the wind out of him, and she threw him back onto the bed with her other arm. He lay on the bed in pain and confusion as Masq proceeded to yell at him.

"I TRY TO HELP YOU RECOVER FROM YOUR INJURY, AND THIS IS THE THANKS YOU GIVE ME, YOU UNGRATEFUL JERKOFF! I SHOULD THROW YOU TO THE WOLVES SO THEY CAN BITE YOUR HEAD OFF!"

Cell covered his ears and cowered away in fear. Masq stopped before she could start swearing, and looked down at him. She smirked and put her hands to her hips.

"Well, well, this is Cell? He cowers at my loud voice and falls at my mercy in battle? Ha!" she boasted. Cell's eyes snapped open in shock. How could she have easily over powered him?! Why did he get scared at her screaming?! This wasn't right! What was going on?! Could he have been that weakened by Surreal?

"You be lucky that I am not yet healthy to fight you, human wretch!" Cell snapped at the woman. "Next time, you won't be!"

"I dunno." Masq doubted. "I don't think you'll hurt me."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm the one who's helping you get healthy." Masq announced. Cell looked at her in surprise.

"But…why? Why would a human…even think of helping me? After all I've done to your kind…"

"Let's just say you have friends in high places." Masq chuckled. "It's a long story, and I don't have time to make it short. I have to leave for a little while. Just relax and make yourself at home." She started walking towards a door and opened it. It was a closet, filled with clothes hung on wire hangers. She picked out a white and blue outfit: blue cotton pantaloons and a white cotton long shirt with no sleeves. He recognized the outfit.

"You're a Mononoke!" Cell exclaimed, sitting up where he lay, which was a very comfortable bed. "No wonder why you would help someone like me."

"Yep." Masq answered, heading for another room of the house. "Oh, and I almost forgot! My name's Coral, but everyone calls me Masquerade." She disappeared behind another door, which apparently lead to the bathroom.

"Masquerade?" Cell wondered.

"I go by a lot of nicknames." She explained.

"I see." Cell understood, looking around the room he was in. It was a small bedroom with two separate beds, and one door that led to a small living space. He must be in a cottage close to the woods. There must have been more close by, or a village where other Mononoke priestesses live. He turned back to the bathroom door. "Where am I?"

"You don't know?" Masq asked in surprise.

"I was transported from the underworld by someone else, and I fell here, unconscious."

"Well, that would explain the wound to the head. You're in the Wolf Jaw mountain range, a thousand miles from East City."

"So, you're a priestess of the Wolf Clan?"

"I will be today. They're initiating me."

"I see." Cell nodded, then lay back down. He closed his eyes again, feeling his headache grow worse.

My strength seems to be gone…I feel weak as a kitten. The girl is right, I'm at her mercy until my strength returns. I have no choice but to stay here and grow healthy again. Then, after that, I'll leave here and finish off Surreal once and for all.

The bathroom door opened, and the Mononoke uniformed Masquerade stepped out. She walked past Cell's bed and stopped by the door.

"I'll be back sometime in the afternoon," she notified, "so hang out. Oh, and don't try to escape. One of the wolves will find you, and they aren't as forgiving as we Mononoke are."

"So I've been told." Cell answered dryly. "Even if I wanted to escape, I don't think I have the strength to walk."

"Okay, get some sleep then." Masq offered. "Bye."

"Goodbye." Then he settled his head into the pillow underneath him. He wanted to curl up like a cat and sleep that way, but he barely had strength to move. He stretched out his arms and lay them back at his side.

It took a couple of minutes, but he fell asleep.

To be continued soon!