Ari stared up at the ceiling above her bed. Despite all of her tries,
she just could not get to sleep to night. Lori must have heard her stirring,
because a few seconds later she asked: "Ari, are you okay?"
Ari turned onto her stomach and propped herself up onto her elbows. "Yeah
Lori, I'm okay. I'm just…." Ari hunted for the right word. "Restless," she
finished. "I mean, after everything we've done, it feels so strange just to
sit here and do nothing." She sighed. "You don't share my opinion, though, do
you?"
"Well… I mean…" Lori broke off, not wanting to insult Ari, but not
willing to commit to anything.
"How would you like to visit Jenny and Albright?" Ari asked out of
nowhere.
"What?" Lori said, obviously confused.
"I mean, how would you like to visit Jenny and Albright? And Orion? Finn
could come."
"Sure!"
***********************************************************************
"Oh, dangit!" Goten said as he stared out the window. Rain pounded
against of it, a perfect match for Goten's mood. Goten glared at the rain,
and pounded on the bed where he was sitting. "I'm so bored and there is
nothing to do."
"Maybe you could stop complaining?" Trunks suggested as he flipped
through a book, bored.
"You two sure look like your havin' some fun times," Bra joked from where
she was standing in the doorway.
"Oh ha ha," Goten said sarcastically as he turned to look at her. "Why
don't you go do something useful? Like drowning yourself out in the rain?"
Bra frowned at him. "I'm telling Mommy!" she shouted, and ran down the
hall.
"Wonderful Goten, wonderful. You now have successfully gotten my mom,
Bulma, mad at you. I hope you enjoy running very far and fast from her,"
Trunks said, looking up from his book.
"So what? That would at least give me something to do." Goten looked at
his book. "Hey, what are you reading there, anyways?"
"School book," he replied, handing it up. Suddenly, the ground began to
shake. "W what t the?" Trunks said as he tried to stand up.
"AAAHHHHHHH!" Goten shouted as fell off of the bed onto Trunks. There was
the sound of glass breaking, and then the sound of thunder. After that, the
shaking stopped.
"Get off of me, get off of me!" Trunks shouted as Goten tried to untangle
himself.
"Is everyone all right?" Bulma's concerned voice called out.
"Yes!" Everyone in the building called out simultaneously.
What was that, Trunks thought.
*********************************************************************
"Lori, you're supposed to get the fire going before you add the logs to
it," Ari said, half-laughing, half-sighing.
"How come I have to do all of the work?" Lori complained, whipping her
brow.
"Because I'm taking care of the unicorns, and Finn is gathering food and
wood." Ari putt down the brush she had in her hand, and sat down next to
Lori. "I'll trade if you want."
"Okay," Lori said, smiling. As she got up to go take care of the
unicorns, she paused, and said: "Thanks Ari. I know I haven't been the
easiest person to live with, but…"
"I know, I know. Now take care of those unicorns!" Ari ordered, laughing.
The ground began to shake suddenly. Ari pitched forward into what would
have been a fire, and Lori fell down. There was a loud sound, similar to the
tinkling of breaking glass, and a loud crack of thunder. Then, as soon as it
had started, the ground quit shaking. "A-Ari?" Lori asked, her face pale and
her eyes wide with fear. "What was that?"
Ari looked up in the direction of her bonded unicorn, Sunchaser. He
stared back at her. "I don't know, Lori." A shiver went up her spine. "But
whatever it was, I don't think it's good." She shivered again. "Its power
feels too much like…" Her voice trailed off.
"Too much like what?" Lori asked.
"Too much like… Shifter."
***************************************************************************
"Hey Trunks, it's clearing! Let's go out and spar."
"Sure Goten. Just let me go tell my mom where we're going." Trunks pulled
his body up, groaning.
"Getting old, I see," Goten joked.
"Oh, shut up," Trunks snapped.
When he entered the kitchen, he saw both his mom and Goten's mom, along
with Videl, cooking dinner. "Hey Mom, we're going out to spar. Is that okay
with you?"
"Sure honey. Be in for dinner, though," Bulma replied. Videl giggled.
"Like you need to remind them," she said. Trunks stuck his tongue out at
her.
"Not a bad idea, boy." Trunks turned around to see his father and Goku
standing behind them.
"Hi Dad!" Goten stared happily. Trunks stared apprehensively at his
father. He knew that his father's opinion of him was not very high, and
living with that for 15 years was not that easily. Still, he wanted to do
everything possible to impress him, to maybe change his opinion about him.
"We were just thinking about going out and sparring ourselves," Goku
said, smiling.
"Any room for me to join?" Gohan asked room the room over.
"Sure!" Goku shouted to him.
"Goku, please!" ChiChi scolded him. "This isn't our house. You don't want
to knock it down with your loud voice."
"Relax ChiChi," Bulma said, laughing. "If this house was going to fall
down, it would have already with Vegita living here."
Vegita glared at his mate, then stalked away.
"Hey, can we come too?" Bra and Pan appeared out of nowhere, smiling
hopefully.
"Fine," Goku said. "Can we just go before everyone else decides to join
us?"
***************************************************************************
"Ari, where are you going?" Lori asked as Ari jumped upon Chase.
"I need to find out what caused that earthquake." She saw the concern in
Lori's eyes. "Don't worry, I have the sword Bren gave me with me. Hey, I
fought Shifter and Kraken and won. A little earthquake will not stop me.
"No Bra! You don't do it that way. No, No, NO! Put your hands down now.
Why? Your doing it wrong. No! Stop that and pay attention! No, don't point
that at me. Bra. BRA!"
Goten stared, rather amused as his older brother attempted to teach the
two young girls how to fight. Pan was sort of off by herself, imitating her
father while Bra was being a little terror. Which wasn't that unusual.
"Hey Goten! Are we going to spar or watch?" Trunks' voice snapped him
back to reality. "Yeah, sure whatever!"
"KAMEHAMEHA!" Trunks shouted, sending a large blast of energy towards
Goten. Goten dodged, then dove forward and punched him in the gut. Trunks
grabbed Goten's arm and flipped him over his head.
"Look at the big horsie in the sky!" Pan shouted suddenly.
"What!?! Pan, there is now big horse…." Vegita's voice trailed off as he
stared up. Towards a big horse. Standing there. In the sky.
"Wh What the?" Gohan said. The horse moved slightly, then turned to face
them. It was black, and it's mane and tail seemed to be made of fire. Its
eyes glowed red.
"Look!" Goku shouted. "It has a horn!"
Goku was correct. The horse did have a horn. The horn seemed to be made
out of ebony, or onyx. As it turned towards them, it seemed that it was
getting bigger.
Trunks gasped, and fell to his knees. A sudden wave of nausea went over
him. He felt like he was spinning, that he was turning over and over, when he
wasn't moving at all.
After a time, the feeling stopped. Trunks slowing got up, and looked
around. The land looked different. He couldn't see the Capsule Corp. building
anywhere. Goten was next to him, on the ground. Farther off, Gohan and the
girls were on the ground. And near them were Goku and his father.
"Unng," Goten groaned as he tried to get up. Trunks went over to him.
"Hey, you all right?" Trunks asked as he helped him to his feet.
"Yeah, I guess I am." Goten also took a quick look around. "Where are we,
anyways?"
"In Balinor."
Goten and Trunks jumped. "Who said that," Trunks asked.
"I did."
Both of them turned around to see a girl, roughly around the age of 14,
standing there. She had bronze hair that went down to about waist. Behind her
was a horse the same color as her hair. Except, there was something odd about
the horse. Something they couldn't quite place…
"He has a horn."
Trunks and Goten turned around and saw Gohan slowly getting up.
"The horse. He has a horn," Gohan said again.
"Yes, I know," the girl replied. "He is a unicorn." Suddenly, her eyes
opened wide and her hand went up to her mouth. "Oh how rude of me. I forgot
to introduce us. I am Arianna, although everyone calls me Ari for short." She
stopped and gestured towards the unicorn. "This is Sunchaser, Chase for
short." She stared at them. "Your from the other side of the Gap, aren't you?"
"Gap? What Gap?" Goten asked, confused. Ari shook her head, then smiled
at them.
"Welcome to Balinor."