PART 1: ACIES
Tempest Chapter 1
Takes place between the end of Dragon Ball Z and the start of GT so everyone is the age and appearance the have in GT (except I skipped Vegeta's mustache phase lol).Obviously I don't own any rights to the Z Fighters.
.X.X.X.
The sun shone bright on a peaceful valley. It's floor was covered in lush greenery. The sloping sides rose high into snow tipped mountains above. A lazy stream fed a lake where ducks swam. A spotted doe dipped her head to the crystal clear water to drink. Blue birds chirped happily from both air and trees. There was not a cloud in the sky or a care in the world for this secluded piece of paradise.
BOOM
An enormous crash echoed through the valley. The birds screeched and flocked away. Deer and other wildlife followed suit. A gaping crater had appeared, and in it was a shining metal object. Dark clouds built from no where into huge thunder heads. An ominous roll of thunder seemed to bubble up from the depths of hell as great streaks of lightning tore the sky.
The shining object in the crater, a ship, burst open and two slender hands gripped the opening as lighting and thunder raged wildly.
.X.X.X.
Trunks was the youngest CEO of Capsule Corp in the history of the company. He often felt stifled by the job but soldiered on in memory of his mother. Bulma had passed a few years ago after losing a long, hard battle with cancer. She had fought on bravely with a smile on her face, instilling her vast knowledge to her son as she underwent chemo (among other) therapies. But nothing could be done, it had just been too far advanced by the time they caught it.
They had tried to bring her back with the Dragon Balls, but being a natural death, there was nothing Shen Long could do. Trunks had never seen his father so angry. Vegeta retreated into training after that. He often went days on end without food or sleep, isolating himself in the gravity chamber or some distant, uninhabited stretch of land. He slowly began to stay around longer over the years, mostly for Bra's sake. After it first happened she would often bring food to him and alternate between begging and commanding Vegeta to eat.
Trunks had given up on helping his father long ago. It didn't take him long to realize that Bra was the only one Vegeta allowed to help him, and even then it was more for Bra's sake than his own. Instead Trunks devoted his time and attention to his sister and Capsule Corp.
It had recently been the fourth anniversary of his mother's passing and today the paperwork was overwhelming. Truly overwhelming. Really, a comically large stack of papers kind of overwhelming. He needed some air. Completely tuning out his secretary, who had been rattling off his schedule for the day, Trunks opened the top floor office window and flew out, leaving behind a tornado of paperwork and one flustered and very annoyed secretary. He would have to give her a raise or a gift basket later. But at the moment he was free.
Soaring happily through the clouds, he let his business attire drop to the sea below as he changed into his casual wear in the cover of the clouds. He was long clear of Satan City and the Capsule Corp building when he came to a grinding halt. An enormous Ki had come out of nowhere. It wasn't a Ki he had ever felt before, and though it didn't seem particularly malevolent, it was growing wildly.
.X.X.X.
Goku was fighting wildly with Oob, who was nearing the end of his training. He had improved greatly since first meeting Goku and Goku had had a blast watching his strength and skill improve, making each sparring session more challenging than the last. Both fighters stopped abruptly when they felt an alien Ki surge on the other side of Earth. They exchanged a quick look before taking off full speed towards the anomaly.
.X.X.X.
Gohan busied himself organizing the new book selves he and Videl had recently installed. He could hear his daughter Pan attacking Goten, ordering him to get off the phone and fight. Gohan smiled and rolled his eyes. He was standing on a ladder, putting a particularly large text on the top shelf when he felt the Ki. He froze and tried to focus on it. It was definitely unfamiliar and didn't seem evil… but still…
Goten burst in the front door with Pan protesting and yelling, "Come on! Tell me! What is it, Goten!" Goten and Gohan exchanged looks, they both felt it.
.X.X.X.
Vegeta, in the gravity chamber, had a towel tossed over his shoulder and was in the process of chugging a bottle of water. It was day six now without sleep in 400x gravity. He tended to regress to solitude around the anniversary despite the progress he had made since Bulma's death. He crumpled the bottle in his fist and tossed it over his shoulder where it landed with a ridiculous thud.
He wiped the sweat from his brow with the towel but stopped when he felt the power surge. He smiled. Perhaps here was a worthy opponent. With Kakkarot training that Oob child, he hadn't had a decent fight since Majin Boo. With a smirk on his face he bolted out of the chamber and took off, happier than he had been in a long time at the thought of a good fight.
.X.X.X.
The Saiyan men, along with Oob and Piccolo, converged on the valley. Winds whipped wildly and howled. The sky was black with thick storm clouds piled high. Thunder rolled and rumbled, shaking the ground with its ferocity. It would have been pitch black if not for the constant strikes of lightning strobe lighting the valley. Intense bolts that struck the ground, exploding their landing point like granades.
"What the hell is this?!" Goten yelled over the noise, shielding his eyes with his forearm.
"I don't know! But it's powerful!" Trunks yelled back.
The Z fighters watched on curiously as a figure slowly rose from the crater at the center of the storm. The figure had arms outstretched with long hair whipping about its face but none of them could make out more than a silhouette. The figure tilted back its head and let out a cry. The storm seemed to respond and flashed more lightning around the figure. No. From the figure.
"That… thing is causing this storm?!" Oob called out. Goku nodded.
"It's going to split the mountains open!" Piccolo warned over the roar.
"Gah! Enough of this!" Vegeta roared out, agitated, and charged towards the figure.
"Vegeta, wait! We don't know what we're dealing with yet!" Goku called out.
Vegeta scoffed and ignored Kakkarot. He pulled back a fist and readied himself to land the first blow as he grew near to the figure. As he was about to strike, lightning abruptly blocked his path. He pulled back and skid to a halt. He growled in irritation and decided to blast his way through. The figure vanished just as Vegeta's bolt was to make contact. He, along with on looking Z fighters, were momentarily shocked that the figure was able to dodge the attack.
The storm figure sent out bolts of lightning towards all the fighters. Each had to dodge wildly as bolt after bolt shot at them. For a moment, none of them were able to attack because they were too busy avoiding the lightning. Goku was the first to break free. He charged full speed at the figure and landed a heavy fist to the gut. He could feel rather than hear the pained grunt that was lost in the thunder. The figure disappeared and appeared behind him. A foot came crashing down on top of his head, sending him plummeting into the ground.
A round of shocked 'dad' 'Goku' 'Kakkarot went out among the warriors. Goku rubbed his head then was back in the air within a few moments. With a flash he went Super Saiyan and charged the figure again only to be stopped by a wall of lightning.
"I don't know why you've come here, but you can't just show up on our planet and start breaking things!" Goku warned.
If they could see the figure's face they would have seen a smile spread across its face.
"I don't get it, Piccolo! This Ki doesn't feel evil… so why is it so destructive?!" Gohan yelled to his friend.
"I don't know, Gohan! But I don't like it!" the green fighter called back.
Goten and Trunks looked to each other and nodded. Both charged the back of the figure simultaneously. A fresh gale stirred and swept up the young Saiyans in a miniaturized tornado. They yelled as the tornado finally spit them out a great distance away.
Vegeta growled as he saw his son tossed like a doll. "That's it," he spat through clenched teeth. "I will not be made a fool of!" He cried out and clenched his fists as he powered up. His Ki skyrocketed as he charged the figure and landed a punch square on the jaw, knocking it's head back and its body followed suit. It crashed into the ground , leaving a new, small crater. The warriors watched a moment before the figure shot out of the crater and landed a sharp blow to Vegeta's stomach. He let out a grunt and a gasp of air. He recovered quickly and in a moment's time they were trading rapid blows. Blow for blow they traded throws, knees, kicks, and elbows faster than the normal eye could follow. The Z fighters themselves were having trouble keeping up.
"Wow, Vegeta's been training!" Goku chirped happily. Vegeta and the figure each got in a few good hits before they locked.
A thick bolt of lightning lit the figure for a split second. What Vegeta saw was a woman with a satisfied smirk on her face. He fell back a moment in shock. "It…it's a woman!"
There was a chorus of surprised words from the Z fighters. Among them was Kakkarot's "I didn't see that coming!"
Vegeta recovered from his shock instantly and charged back at the woman, returning to their torrent of blows. As she grew more focused on Vegeta, the storm began to lessen somewhat. "Keep it up Vegeta!" Goku called out in encouragement. The words barely registered with him as he focused on his opponent. His blood flowed with the refreshing fire of battle. Vegeta smirked as the woman landed a kick to the side of his thigh and his fist met with her bicep. He may actually be sore tomorrow.
The two became so locked on one another that neither fighter had noticed the storm had faded away leaving only the dark clouds. Still immersed in the battle but with the thunder and wind gone Vegeta just barely heard Kakkarot's drifting voice, "ME…. HAAA…..!" Vegeta bolted backward as Kakkarot's Kamehameha wave blasted the woman who had crossed her arms in front of her to block the blast. It erupted around her, knocking her out and send her smashing into the side of a mountain.
The clouds instantly began to disperse and dissolved away into a blue sky. "You think it's over?" Oob asked.
"It's faint… but her Ki is still there," Goku said relieved. He didn't like to kill.
"After a blast like that?!" Oob said shocked.
"Wonder who she is." Goten said curiously, drifting closer to where she landed. The others followed suit, slowly making their way over.
The Z Fighters had nearly reached the downed woman when they felt a new immense Ki appear suddenly behind them. There was no mistaking the malevolence in this Ki. There was a wooshing noise before the woman suddenly appeared with her back to Vegeta. The others saw she was panting, bloodied and sweating with a black eye and half her jaw swollen. She jerked back against Vegeta, as if struck by something. She raised a shaky arm and pointed two fingers and shot a powerful lightning bolt that struck the chest of a large man, the source of the new evil Ki.
The new man was blasted back. When he emerged from the smoke his chest was scorched and bloody, but she had been too weak to finish the job. She blacked out again and plunged to the ground. Goku caught her just before she hit the ground. He lowered her to the dirt and saw a bright blue dart protruding from her abdomen. The woman started convulsing and shaking rapidly. "There's a dart! It's poison!" Goku called out to everyone as he pinned the woman down to keep her from hurting herself. She had saved Vegeta from the dart, that was good enough for him.
The man chuckled deeply as the woman's mouth started to foam. The warriors' attention turned to the man who was a good head taller than even Piccolo and twice as broad. He had short silver hair and wore a pair of grey, loose pants and a black belt around his waist. His bare chest shook with laughter. "Acies *did *say dead if absolutely necessary," he chuckled to himself.
Vegeta growled and sent a blast to the man. He swatted it aside. The blast erupted behind him when it struck a mountain. Vegeta let out a primal yell as he powered up to Super Saiyan three. The man looked shocked for a moment at the dramatic increase in power then settled into a ready position. Vegeta charged up and threw an all out blast at the intruder. Try as he might the newcomer couldn't hold back the blast and was soon engulfed by it.
"Way to go, dad!" Trunks called out happily.
After making sure the threat was gone, the warriors landed by Goku and watched as he held down the thrashing woman. "I've got to get her to Dende," Goku said as her put two fingers to his forehead. "Goku! You've got to be joking! You can't being her there," Piccolo protested.
"She's gong to die," he said sternly before vanishing with her. "Dammit, Kakkarot!" Vegeta cursed before taking off towards the Lookout, the other Z Fighters followed quickly after.
.X.X.X.
Dende watched from the edge of the Lookout with Mr. Popo standing behind him. They both jumped, startled as Goku and the woman from the storm appeared beside them.
"Goku!" Dende cried.
"You've got to heal her, Dende," Goku said. Dende was about to protest or question but Goku snapped. "Now!" Dende nodded then placed his hands over the woman's stomach. A warm glow flowed over her as the poison left her body and much of the damage dealt by Vegeta. With nothing but scrapes and bruises left, the woman's eyes fluttered open just in time for Vegeta and the others to land on the Lookout.
"Goku, she could have killed us!" Piccolo roared.
"But she didn't," Goku pointed out.
"Hmph. I could have killed her."
"Oh I don't doubt that, Vegeta," Goku noted just how much he had leveled up in his recent excessive training. "But she took that poison dart for you. I want to know what she has to say."
"She's awake," Gohan pointed out. Sure enough large sky blue eyes stared up at them. With a groan she slowly pushed herself up onto her elbows. "Who are you? Why have you come to Earth?" Gohan questioned.
"My name is Tempest. I came… I came to ask your help."
.X.X.X.
Who is this woman and what could she possibly need after attacking the Z Fighters? Reviews ate hughly motivating and constructive criticism is always welcome! Hope you guys enjoyed. -Hel
