The Jadzia Files Part Four

by ZechansAngel

This chapter has everything from a trip to the future to a cameo from everyones fave. red-headed scientist, Washu! Again, I used scripts from the America DBZ, so don't yell!

Part seventeen: What's Going on?


Jadzia groaned as she came into herself again. What happened? She wondered, reaching up with her left hand to touch her aching head. A few feet away she could hear Kuririn and Bulma talking about something.
"Does it work?" Kuririn asked, his voice echoing painfully in her head. There was a pause as Bulma did something, then she answered.
"I think it's been damaged. I'm going to check the circuitry." There was another pause, and some clicking sounds. Jadzia opened her eyes, thankful for the silence. It didn't last long. "Wow. This is pretty cool stuff. There's definitely a short here, but I can fix it. I'll reprogram it. I think we can get it to display numbers in our language."
Raditz's' Scouter. Jadzia realized groggily. "Kuririn." She managed to croak.
"Bulma, you're a genius." He said, apparently not hearing Jadzia.
"Well, it's what I'm good at! As a matter of fact, I want to be the first woman in my field to win the Nobel Peace Prize!"
"Kuririn!" Jadzia called, using some of the energy her pain lent her. This time he heard her.
"That sounded like Jadzia!" He said, looking around. Bulma looked up.
"You're right, it did!" She said. "Where did it come from?" Jadzia tried to raise her head but didn't have enough strength. So she cried out again, more of a gasp then a cry, but it worked.
"Here!" The others ran over and gasped when they saw her.
"Jadzia!" Kuririn gasped, kneeling down beside her and grabbing her hand. She tried to smile and failed, it came out as a grimace.
"Hai." She whispered. Concentrating, she managed to squeeze Kuririn's hand before her eyes closed again. Kuririn and Bulma looked at each other, then back at her.
"She's in pretty bad shape." Bulma murmured. They looked up as Roshi approached, carrying Gohan, who was also unconscious. He frowned when he saw what a mess Jadzia was.
"Hey, we gotta a lot of work to do. Let's get going." He said softly.
"You're right." Bulma admitted. "Someone's got to bring Gohan home, and we've got to get her to a hospital."
"You said it. We've got to find the other Dragon Balls to wish Gokou back!" Kuririn added.
They turned to Piccolo and Master Roshi spoke. "Well, Piccolo, I'll guess we'll see you...huh?"
"YEOW!!" The three cried in unison, looking at the green warrior. Piccolo was grimacing and straining, grasping his right arm. Then, with a mighty grunt, a new slime-covered arm popped out of the stump of the old one.
"My god!" Bulma said weakly. Piccolo just growled as he flexed his new arm.
"Man, that's handy." Kuririn murmured. No pun intended. He added in his mind. Piccolo was still rubbing his shoulder.
"Before you leave," Piccolo started, "I have a request I'd like to make. This will seem strange, but try to put your emotions aside." He paused. "I want Gokou's son to come with me for special training."
"Ha! Special training, my ass!" Kuririn squeaked. "You just want to gobble him up!"
"Are you nuts!?" Piccolo screamed.
"But why a boy?" Asked a confused Bulma.
"Earlier today this 'boy' showed signs of being the most powerful person on this planet." Piccolo told her. "I think I can teach him to control his power, so he can help us defend the Earth when the other Saiya-jin arrive. It's a long shot; he might just be too young."
"Yeah, he's probably too young." Kuririn said, jumping on the chance.
"Yeah, I wouldn't chance it if I were you." Bulma added nervously.
"That's something I'm going to have to ask the boy's mother!" Roshi told the green warrior sternly.
"I'm not asking, I'm telling!" Piccolo yelled. "Nothing else matters right now except beating the other Saiya-jin in one year!" He grinned. "The boy's in...good hands." He raised his new arm and pointed his index finger upward. Little radiating bursts of Ki sparked from his finger and Gohan floated out of Roshi's hands, the Dragon Ball hat falling to the ground. Piccolo grabbed the sleeping half-Saiya-jin and tucked him under an arm. "When you wish Gokou back, tell him he can look forward to seeing his son one year from now. I'll do what I can with this pampered kid. Hopefully our work will bear fruit." Piccolo raised off the ground. "Remember now; tell him one year." He flew away and was soon lost in the colds.
"I never was a good babysitter." Bulma said weakly.
"Now we're done for!" Kuririn cried. "Who's going to tell Chi-Chi? I couldn't do it. Gokou, where are you?"
"Come on, we'd better get going." Roshi said, walking over to the car and dragging out a stretcher. "I was kinda hoping we weren't going to have to use this, but lets get Jadzia onto it." Bulma looked up.
"Right." She said. "Kuririn, get her feet, I'll get her shoulders."

Kuririn, riding in the back of Bulma's air-car, bowed his head and sighed. He was looking at Gohan's cap, which was in his lap. "Guess one of us will have to tell Chi-Chi about Gokou and Gohan." He said again.
"You and Gokou have always been best friends. You tell her!" Roshi said sternly. Kuririn looked up and blanched.
"Me!? I'd rather die!" He squeaked, but Bulma was nodding.
"But, Kuririn, you're definitely the best man for the job." She told him. Kuririn looked down again and gulped.
"Where are we going?" A voice suddenly asked from the back of the car. Kuririn and Roshi turned around and Bulma asked, "What?" at the sound of Jadzia's voice. She was sitting up, her eyes as wild as her hair.
"What is it?" Bulma asked again. Everyone ignored her.
"To the hospital." Kuririn said. Jadzia blanched and lurched toward Bulma, trying to grab the controls. "Hey, Jadzia, calm down!"
"No." She growled. "No doctors, no scientists." She swallowed back a lump of fear and sunk back to sit beside Kuririn. She clenched her hands to stop their shaking. "Absolutely not."
"What's the matter?" Roshi asked. Jadzia looked at him and to his surprise he saw fear in her eyes.
"No doctors." She repeated. "No scientists, no tests." Her eyes blazed silver again, and she started glowing a light pink color. Kuririn put a hand on her shoulder but wasn't surprised when she jerked away, so he placed it on the seat beside her.
"Calm down Ze-chan, your powering up." He said softly. Jadzia glanced over at him, took a deep breath and when she let it out, her anger evaporated with it.
"In case you've forgotten, guys, I'm a Saiya-jin. If I go into a hospital they'll want to chop off my tail and stick me with," she shuddered, "needles." Kuririn couldn't tell which scared her more, the thought of her tail being removed, or the thoughts of needles.
"Oh yeah. Forgot about that." Roshi muttered. Jadzia grinned sheepishly.
"Besides, Saiya-jin heal fast. 'Specially me." She crossed her arms and the smile faded from her face. "So, who's going to tell Chi-chi what?"

Later, a nervous Kuririn in his best suit and tie stood before Chi-chi's door practicing how he was going to tell Gokou's wife that her husband was dead and her son was unavailable for the next year. "Okay. Now. Here it goes. Okay. Now." Kuririn took off his hat and bowed to Chi-chi's front door. "Chi-chi, you're not going to believe this, but Gokou is-gone and Gohan, well, we sort of let Piccolo borrow him for a while." He sighed. "Grrr! Okay, how about this way?" His face brightened. "Gokou's trapped in another dimension and Gohan's been kidnapped again! Ha-ha!" Kuririn was still laughing heartily at his own wit when Chi-chi suddenly opened the door.
"Oh, hi, Kuririn." She said, surprised. Kuririn started, then recovered rapidly.
"Hi, Chi-chi. Guess what?"
"Kuririn, I thought Gokou was with you."
"Oh, well, he was, you know how plans get changed by, er, unexpected-" His sentence dropped off as Chi-chi's father, the immense and physically powerful Ox King, stepped into the doorway.
"Hi, Kuririn." He said brightly.
Kuririn bowed again. "Hi, Ox-King. Nice to see you."
"Kuririn, why isn't Gokou with you?" Chi-chi asked, becoming suspicious.
"He's late. He's not coming back."
"What do you mean by that? Of course he's coming back." Chichi said cheerfully. "Kuririn, what in the world are you talking about?!" She took one threatening step toward him; Kuririn cowered back.
The Ox-King grabbed his daughter by the shoulder. "Chi-chi! Kuririn, come on in. Chi-chi's got some good dinner cooking."
Kuririn was flabbergasted. Dinner? Oh no, I'm in for it now!

After dinner Chi-chi was washing dishes, and muttering to herself. She was so angry that she was breaking every third dish. "Oh, I can't believe those two aren't back yet. Grrr! It's way past Gohan's bedtime, and he hasn't even called. And then Kuririn comes over here acting all weird and everything, grrrr-- I'd really like to know what's going on. If they think they can hide anything from me, they're crazy. Doesn't he know that this is the most important time for Gohan in establishing good study habits? Humph! Goodness, all this worrying is going to give me wrinkles."
In the bed room, the Ox-King was snoring loudly on one of two twin beds while Kuririn knelt on the other thinking. Oh, man. He turned to the Ox-King. What am I going to do now? His gaze shifted to a picture next to the Ox-King's bed showing the Chi-chi, Gokou, the Ox-King and Gohan. I really blew it! I don't know where you are Gokou; I don't know what you're doing, but it couldn't be as hard as what I'm doing. I'm going to get out of here... Kuririn started to tip-toe toward the window, but the Ox-King suddenly spoke.
"Wait! Where are you going?" Kuririn froze. "Mommy said we can't go there any more..." He settled back down to sleep. Kuririn sighed, and finished sneaking away.




Part eighteen: Where are you, Gokou?


Jadzia was dreaming.
She was in a pitch-dark space, save for a single spot light shining on her. She was floating above what she figured was the ground, from the glance downward she gave it. It was white, yet it offered no reflection as to what was around her. She reached out with her cybernetic hand toward the dark to have it seemingly dissolve as it entered the blackness. She snatched it back to find it was whole without any damage. Stupid me. She thought. The thought rang as loud as if she had spoken, and she touched a finger to her lips to make sure she hadn't. No breath had recently warmed them; they were as cold as her fear.
"Just think how much the others would laugh if they knew how you fear the dark!" Jem's voice, hauntingly real, came back to her. Anger toward Frieza swamped her so strongly that she hissed.
"I don't fear the dark."
"No, you don't, do you?" The familiar voice taunted. "Just Frieza, and the death of your precious Prince."
"Leave him out of this!" Jadzia screamed, her anger making a flaming vortex around her. The voice laughed, taunting her again. Her Saiya-jin pride combined with her fury and her Ki level rose drastically.
"He's already in far too deep." Another spot light suddenly snapped on, revealing the boy prince standing, head down, wrists and ankles in chains. No longer afraid of the hellish black, Jadzia reached out toward her prince...only to have her hand collide with it as if it was solid. Experimentally, she touched another spot on the black wall to find it solid too.
"Highness!" She cried, trying to catch his attention. The twelve-year-old boy looked up, his eyes empty of the silver sheen that marked him in top form. When he saw her, his face hardened.
"You!" He hissed in a voice so harsh that Jadzia barely recognized it. She recoiled at the anger in him. "Bitch!" He spat. "You deserted me at the time of my greatest need! You were so consumed with your search for your low-class father and your need to gain control of powers you did not have that you completely ignored my needs!"
"Highness, no!" She whispered hoarsely, the force of his very words bringing her to her knees. "Your training was complete, you had all you needed in your grasp, save the power, to defeat Frieza, and that will come in time! I hadn't the control of my emotions necessary to continue serving Frieza when I hated him with every fiber of my being!"
"You could have vented your anger in the Training Room, you could have at lest tried! For my sake!" He howled, straining against the chains toward her. Jadzia recognized the words the voice in her head had said when she had first left.
"Princeling-" Her cry was interrupted by the sound of his voice.
"You never should have left! We needed you! I needed you!"
"VEGETA!" With that desperate wail Jadzia sat straight up in bed, gasping and shivering from a cold sweat. The Saiya-jin prince's last words echoed in her mind, causing tears to stream down her face. She buried it in her pillow to muffle her sobs. We needed you. I needed you.
"Vegeta!" She sobbed, pummeling her fists on her pillow beside her head. "I loved you! I still love you!"

It was early the next morning, dew was still reflecting rainbows onto a near-by dirt road. Kuririn sped away from Chi-chi's house in his hover-car, thinking. Oh, great. Now I have to tell Bulma and Master Roshi that I couldn't break the news to Chi-chi. He looked up to the sky. I hope you're having better luck than I am, Gokou...

Jadzia opened her eyes to the sight of a large furry green-framed-cream face. She shrunk back, growling, before she recognized her cat Juzohky. "Hello, Juz." She croaked, she cleared her throat and spoke again. "What are you doing here?" The cat replied in a series of meows that Jadzia didn't understand in the slightest, and she laughed. "Never mind!" She sighed, sitting up. The cat started to lick her cheeks, cleaning them of last nights dried tears. Jadzia laughed again and moved the cat off her chest.
"Rowl mrow mrow!" The cat said, protesting. Jadzia smiled.
"I can clean my own face, thank you very much." She said, peeking under the covers to see what she was wearing. It was an annoying habit humans had, she had found, of undressing their unconscious and injured guests without their permission. Relieved that she was still in the outfit she had worn to the party the day before, she tried to get up, and woke up for real. Unnerved, she got up and made her way to the restroom. Splashing her face, she looked up at her reflection and grimaced. After twisting around and removing all the bark and pieces of grass from the back of her shirt, she realized her hair had been sheered off at ear-level and now was sticking up in the hereditary Gokou-style that, among other things, she and Gohan shared. Shuddering, she splashed some water on the do, to try and weigh it down, but it just popped up again. Gokou's hair did that too, and we all just laughed at it. Who's laughing now?
"Jadzia?" A familiar voice called from the other room. Reaching for a towel and drying her face off, she poked her head around the corner.
"What's up?" She asked. "Who killed Raditz?" Was her second question. Bulma was obviously taken by surprise and stammered a bit as she answered.
"Uh, P-P-Piccolo did. Why do you ask?"
Jadzia shrugged and walked out of the bathroom. "I can't feel his Ki anymore. For that matter, I can't feel Son Gokou's Ki anymore, either. Did Pic kill him, too?" With a look of resolution on her face, Bulma nodded. Jadzia shrugged again and started looking for her boots and gloves. "'Bout time." She muttered. Bulma gasped.
"What? How can you say that-" Jadzia looked up to see tears in the older girls eyes.
"About my father? Well, lets just say that unlike my esteemed sire, I am a true Saiya-jin. Where are my boots?" Bulma stiffened and pointed to the foot of the bed, the one place Jadzia hadn't looked.
"You are certainly not the Jadzia I grew up with." She sniffed. Jadzia grinned, shrugged and pulled on her gloves. Tapping the side of her glasses, she removed the illusion that had been there for the last five earth-years. The orange tint she saw everything with intensified and she laughed in Bulma's surprised face. Her tail once again wrapped around her waist, making Bulma back away. "Y-you lied!"
"I did not! You guys always assumed that I was human, and even if I did, so? Look, princess, I wasn't brought up on this planet, even though I was created here. Sooo...if you'll kindly tell me what happened after that son-of-a-bitch uncle of mine knocked me out, I'll leave." She looked around and peered out the only window in the room. It was dark out. "It's late anyway."
"The short of it is that Gokou and Piccolo didn't have enough Ki to defeat that jerk, so apparently Gohan did something and gave Piccolo the chance he needed to get Raditz. And, before he died, Raditz said that two more Saiya-jin are on their way." Roshi said from the door way. Jadzia grinned.
"I knew any brother of mine would have enough power to take Raditz out." Her grin widened and she clenched her fist. "Too bad Kackarotto had to die, but..." she shrugged. "Something tells me that he's not going to be gone for long."
"We're going to use the Dragon Balls." Bulma said quickly. Jadzia scowled at her.
"I wouldn't. I'd save your wish for when you really need it, like when my pals arrive. But anyway, I've got to go." She started to shift, then changed her mind and became solid again. "How long 'till the other Saiya-jin arrive?"
"One year." Roshi answered. Jadzia winced.
"That doesn't give me much time. Where's Gohan? With Chi-chi?"
"No, Piccolo took him."
"Good. We're going to need all the help we can get." Jadzia slowly disappeared, deep in thought. Bulma sighed and collapsed against the bed.
"I forgot to ask her how that thing works." She smacked herself in the head. Roshi shook his head.
"What makes you think she'd know?"

"How did she take it, Kuririn?" Bulma asked early the next morning. He didn't say anything. "Kuririn..." She added sternly. Kuririn was standing before her with his head down
"I, uh, didn't tell her..."
"What?" Bulma squeaked. "Kuririn, I can't believe you! What took you so long?" Kuririn started to squirm.
"Well...we ate dinner...and it started getting late...and they asked me to spend the night with them..."
"You'd better march right back there and tell them what happened." She scolded, sounding like his mom. He jerked his head back and blanched.
"No! Anything but that!"
"Well...I can't blame ya." Roshi cut in glumly. Bulma crossed her arms over her chest.
"Why not? I just did." They both ignored her.
"I'll write a letter to Chi-chi instead." The fighting master finished. Kuririn breathed a sigh of relief.
"Wow, I'm off the hook! Thank goodness."
"What about the Dragon Balls? There were two at Gokou's. Don't tell me you forgot to bring those with you." Bulma looked down at him pointedly. Kuririn gaped for a moment then looked down again.
"Ah...I forgot."
"You're such a dweeb."

Jadzia appeared on the edge of a wooded area and began flying toward where her Scouter told her the pod was. A sense of urgency she couldn't explain pushed her to her top speeds, so that she didn't notice when she passed a tall spire of rock with a little sleeping boy on the top. She did notice, however, Piccolo, who was meditating near by. She stopped and watched him until he noticed her and scowled. She flew over and patted him on the back, hard.
"Nice work! Killing my father and his big brother in one blow! I'm impressed. I didn't think you had that type of power, Green Man." She said as he recovered.
"Thanks." He said gruffly. "What are you doing out here?"
"Looking for my ship. You know, the one I came to this planet in?" That caught his attention.
"What?" He cried. Jadzia nodded.
"Youp. Kackarotto, er, Gokou was my father. That means that I'm a Saiya-jin, born and bred." Piccolo looked at her more closely, saw the hair and paled.
"So, you're Gohan's sister. Hmmm...must be where he gets his power from."
"Half-sister." She corrected. "Chi-chi never was and never will be my mom. I was created by the Dragon Balls in another dimension." Jadzia shrugged then grew serious. "I know Gohan's real Ki. Let me help you train him." Piccolo shook his head.
"No. The boy is undergoing a survival test."
"Piccolo, you don't know what you're doing!" She snarled in his face. Suddenly she stopped and shook her head. "I've got to get going." Jadzia reached out and grabbed him by the collar of his cape. "Never let him see the light of the full moon or he might just destroy the earth himself." She hissed, then threw him aside and continued on her way. "I'll be watching you."
"Watch all you want!" He yelled, then looked down at the sleeping Gohan. "He's just a boy. Why is she so afraid of his Ki?"




Part nineteen: Can I leave a message?


Continuing deeper into the wilderness, Jadzia frowned. Piccolo doesn't know what he's getting into. Gohan may only be a half-Saiya-jin, but he has a tail. And a Saiya-jin tail loans us special powers... She shook her head again and flew on.
A while later Jadzia was getting impatient as she flew, knowing that the wilderness didn't stretch on forever. Her Scouter beeped and the arrow pointed downward. She stopped and floated down, looking around. She spotted a shallow crater and walked toward it, her mind on other things. Stepping down into the crater, she was surprised to see that her pod was gone. She growled and reached into her pocket for the pod remote she always carried with her. She pressed the recall sequence and smiled tightly as the ground started to shake beneath her. Problem solved. She thought.
"This is where you kept it all these years?" A voice asked from behind her. She looked up and behind her to see Piccolo standing at the ridge of the crater. She scowled and floated up to him.
"Yes. Why?"
"Not a very good hiding place." He answered.
"Yeah, well." She said as way of explanation. "Shouldn't you be keeping an eye on Gohan?"
"If the kid can't survive, then he doesn't deserve to." They fell silent as they watched Jadzia's pod lift out of the ground and float over to them, shedding dirt like a second skin.
"On Vegeta-sei, my home planet, at age eight kids have to live a few weeks in the Che'kla Motvkh. It's a part of the planet that's so brutal that if you don't have the power, you don't survive." They fell silent again as Piccolo digested this information.
"Explains a lot about you." He said quietly. Jadzia grimaced.
"I never went through it. At that point I was guarding the Prince." She walked over to her pod and knocked dirt off the top, ignoring the look on his face. She removed the remote from her pocket once again, pressing another sequence of buttons. The pod door hissed as it opened, the heated air from inside clouding as it came in contact with the cooler air out side. The pods system came on with a faint humming sound as the door opened as far as it could. "I have to make some private calls, so if you'll excuse me, Piccolo," she called over her shoulder as she climbed into the pod. The door closed again and the pod lifted off, leaving the green warrior standing alone in the middle of a forest clearing.

On another planet far away two figures are surrounded by a similar clearing, except that the light came from two different suns, one red, one orange. The trees where different, too. Instead of pines and cedars, they had thick trunks, many branches and round clumps of leaves on the end of each branch. In one direction was more forest, in the other was a smoldering city.
"Raditz stinks." A voice said, braking the silence of aftermath. The owner of the voice was a big bald Saiya-jin wearing a battle uniform. He was sitting on a log in front of a fire, insect-like bodes scattered around.
"What an idiot!" His companion complained. This one was sitting on one of the bodies and eating a peace of it at the same time. He was smaller than his comrade, but had an aura of power around him. He took a bite of the chunk of insect he was holding and spit it out. "How the hell could he let himself be destroyed by men with such low Ki's?"
The big guy shrugged and leaned back. "I don't know. Should we go destroy those earthlings?" He leaned forward again, looking at the smaller man as if he was in charge, which he obviously was.
"I don't think so. I want to stay away from that sector of space." The small man spat again, riding his mouth of the taste of charred flesh.
"That's where she went, isn't it?" The big guy asked, watching his companion closely. "Vegeta, she might not be on that planet."
"And she might have died in the crash as we told Frieza! I don't think so." Vegeta, Crown Prince of the Saiya-jin, now seventeen years old, paused, then smirked. "But then...I guess we could."
"Huh?" His big companion asked, confused. "Are you thinking about what Raditz said?"
Vegeta chuckled. "Exactly. Those Dragon Balls caught my interest." He stood, ignoring the awed look on the other man's face, and walked around the fire. "Just think about it Nappa! If we can get our hands on those seven Dragon Balls, then we could wish for anything we want." He walked to his pod and leaned against it. Nappa stood, too.
"So, would we wish Raditz back to-"
"No, that would be a wasted wish." His pod opened. "I'd wish for something grand. So, how'd you like to be immortal, my friend, and fight forever?"
Nappa popped his pod open. "Now that's something I could live with for the rest of my life." He climbed in.
"Then it's settled." Vegeta said, climbing into his own pod. "We're off to the planet Earth, Nappa!" The two pods closed, then rose up and blasted off towards earth.

What am I going to do? Jadzia wondered as her pod entered orbit. I've changed so much, I'm not the Saiya-jin I used to be. "Computer, show me the last recorded picture of me."
"Yez, Idzia." The computers' female voice said patiently. Jadzia gritted her teeth at the use of her old name, and refrained from smashing the console just as a picture of her popped up. Looking at it closely, Jadzia realized that she looked almost nothing like what she used to. Her face was now thinner, her hair was short and spiky and she looked more tired. She also had a large bloody slash along her hair line from the top of her forehead to her left temple. Using a cloth from her pocket Jadzia swiped at the dried blood, trying to make herself more presentable. But her hand stopped half-way through as a thought surfaced from the recesses of her memory.
"Wait." She murmured. Her hand slowly dropped from her forehead as she let the thought surface completely and grow. How much of what I am now is human? Just how much like Gokou and the others have I become? With that thought she tapped a couple of keys on the keypad and the pod dropped a couple thousand feet, stopping so that she could make out the features of the land below. I need to really stop looking to the stars and focus right here, right now. She opened the pod door and stepped out onto it. Looking down, her expression hardened and her left fist clenched. Vegeta is coming. The training begins, now. She sat back down, closed the door and keyed a transmission.
"This message is directed toward Vegeta, Prince of the Saiya-jin. This is Jadzia Izirah, former Guardian. Your Scout, Raditz has been killed on the planet Sol Three, known by its inhabitants as Earth. I had no hand in his death, but I did not help him either." She leaned closer to the screen and narrowed her eyes. "The planet Earth is under my protection. Do not try to collect the planet for Frieza, the warriors here are more powerful than you think. Jadzia out."
Refusing to sit tamely in the pod on her way down, she grabbed her armor and jumped, laving the craft in orbit transmitting the message. Instinctively, Jadzia hoped it would fall and crush someone. Noticing this instinct, she smiled to herself. The road to healing may be a long one, but at lest I've started. Now...to find Gokou...And to do that, I've got to find Piccolo. The Saiya-jin scowled and then keyed her Scouter. Hopefully Piccolo was still where she had left him. If he wasn't, he would be close by.




Part twenty: Who's King Kai?


Okay, now I've got to run that thing and catch up with Gokou. Jadzia thought to herself as she looked at Snake Way. Shouldn't be too hard. She turned and waved to the little man who had showed her the way. "Thanks!" She called.
"No problem! He shouldn't be too far ahead, he just left yesterday." The man called back. Jadzia nodded, jumped over the huge snake head and began searching for her father.

At the Kame House, a yawning Bulma put down a cup of coffee as she worked on Raditz's Scouter. "Oh...man. I don't think I've pulled an all-nighter since I got out of college...I hope that did it." Droopy-eyed, she put the Scouter on and tapped the side. She perked up as symbols started beeping at her. "Hey, everyone! Hop to! I got this thing working!"
Sleepily, Roshi and Kuririn looked up, then got off the sofa. "Hop who?" Roshi asked.
"C'mon. Stand up so I can see what your Ki level is." Bulma insisted. She looked at Roshi through the green lens. At the top of the lens Bulma saw the word 'fight' and an arrow pointed at Roshi. Numbers underneath the arrow scrolled up until they reached 139, then stopped. "139!"
"One-thirty-nine, eh?" The fighting master mused. "Seems a little low to me."
"It's probably a good rating, considering you're an old man." Bulma said mater-of-factly.
"I don't know what's worse...the power rating or the commentary that goes with it." Roshi muttered.
"Read mine, Bulma! I'd love to know what my power level is!" Kuririn cried impatiently. Bulma looked through the lens again as another arrow appeared and numbers scrolled and stopped again.
"Two-hundred-and-six! Not bad!"
"Wow! My power rating's higher than yours, Master Roshi!" Kuririn grinned.
"That settles it. The gizmo's busted."
"Hello?!" A voice called from out side. The three looked at each other. "Hey, open up! I don't have all day, y'know." At that Kuririn went to the screen door.
"What visitor could possibly be so vulgar?" He asked sourly.
"Besides Jadzia?" Bulma muttered under her breath. Outside was a small, round man with shaggy black hair and samurai sword strapped to his belt.
"Hey...I remember you." Kuririn said. "You're Hokey-Pokey...aren't you?"
"You know I'm Yajoribe, you near-sighed cue-ball!" He shouted. "Anyway, I'm suppose to tell you to report to Karin's Tower for special training, and to bring your friend Yamcha with you."
"Who told you to tell me that?" Kuririn asked.
Yajoribe looked smug. "Kami himself, you bird-brain." He bragged. "I told him I didn't want to fight those aliens, but that's what he's training us for. What could I say?"
"I hear ya! You can't turn Kami down!"
"I'm through." Yajoribe turned and walked away, looking scornfully over his shoulder. "I gave you the message." He walked to his own air-car, parked outside the house.
I can't believe it. Kuririn thought gleefully.
"Oh, yeah; almost forgot." Yajoribe called from his car. Kuririn looked up. "Don't wish Gokou back to life until the Saiya-jin arrive, one year from now."
"But why?" Bulma asked, coming up behind Kuririn. Yajoribe shrugged.
"I'm just telling you what Kami told me. He's not even giving me anything for doing all this for him. It's such a rip-off!" He got into the car and took off.
"That was weird." Roshi said. Kuririn nodded, watching the air-car speed away. He glanced away for a moment, then looked back. To his surprise the black spot that used to be Yajoribe's air car was getting bigger instead of smaller.
"Look, he's coming back." He said, pointing.
"I don't know. It looks like a different air-car to me." Bulma said skeptically.
"Ahoy, there!" A familiar voice called from the air-car.
"Huh?" She asked, looking at it more closely. The Ox-King waved madly as his glowering daughter headed straight for the island.
"Permission to come aboard! Hello, my friends. Long time, no see!" He called happily. Bulma Kuririn and Roshi suddenly where filled with dread.
"It's the Ox-King with...Chi-chi!" Master Roshi cried.
"Let's vamoose! What d'you say?" Kuririn urged.
"No. It's better to meet life head on, Kuririn." The Ox-King got out of the car and bowed to Roshi.
"Master Roshi. My finest memories are still when you taught me as a boy!" He said, still bowing.
"You were a good pupil." Roshi answered. Under his breath he added; "Crazy, though." He cleared his throat. "Ox-King, I'm glad you're here. There's something I need to talk to you about."
"All right, where are they!? I've had about enough of this." Chi-chi asked, looking around suspiciously.
"Well, you see, it's like this." Roshi started talking really fast. "An alien landed at our get-together yesterday and he told Gokou that he was his brother-"
Blah blah blah...
"And that's the whole story!" He finished fifteen minutes later. The Ox-King and Chi-chi looked horrified at the news.
"Aieee! You're saying that you let that green monster take my son!?" She screeched.
"You mean, Gokou-Gokou-"
"Yep, he's gonzo." Roshi said, rather cheerfully. Chi-chi turned blue and passed out. Immediately the Ox-King was at his daughter's side.
"Chi-chi! Get the smelling salts, Kuririn!"

"Wait, can it be...yes it is! It's the end of Snake Way!" Gokou cried, running faster. He laughed as he ran, used the tail end of the road as a spring-board and jumped with his arms out off of the path toward the tiny green planet. Half-way through his flight, he felt a definite gravity change and started pin-wheeling his arms as he fell with increasing speed towards the planet. He landed face first on the hard ground, letting out a hurt sound. Jadzia, still on the tail-end of snake way shook her head and sighed.
"Will he never learn?" She grumbled, and leapt off of Snake Way toward him and pitched her Ki and strength against the gravitational pull. Thus doing so, she had a chance to survey the planet. It had a single road going around it's girdle and a single car on the single road. There was a quaint little house with a garage and both together looked like a pair of bubbles sitting on a large beach-ball.
Gliding down and landing gracefully, she looked around again. There where several trees, and one, she could smell, grew fruit. Gokou was currently standing and looking up at it, trying to figure out how to get to it. "Just climb the damn tree, father." Jade muttered, walking over beside him. He looked at her in what she thought was astonishment.
"How can you say that with all this gravity weighing us down?" He asked incredulously. Jadzia glanced at him, hopped up, grabbed a fruit and started to eat it.
"What gravity?" She asked, throwing the core behind her. There was a loud boom as it landed and formed a small crater. Jadzia whirled around and gawked at the shallow pit. Hmm, she thought. I guess that's how they tell how some one's been here, all the holes in the ground.
"That gravity." He replied, uncharacteristically sarcastic. Jadzia glared at him, then shrugged, surveying the house though half-closed eyes.
"It was the same on Vegeta-sei."
Gokou turned around again and spotted the monkey he had seen before in the tree. While he was trying to coax it to throw a fruit down, she walked around the edge of the house. Noting a long thin window that led to a little red door, she went over and peered in.
"Hello!" She called, keying her universal translator. After over six years on the planet she could speak pretty much any language she had been exposed to, but who knew who lived in this house, on this miniature sized planet. A little blue man came to the door and opened it, obviously surprised to see her there. She bowed and introduced herself. "I am Jadzia Izirah, daughter of Son Gokou."
"I am King Kai. What are you doing here? I didn't invite you, I only invited Gokou." He asked, the look on his face serious. Jadzia shoved down the anger that rose in her, forced a grin and shrugged.
"I am a traveler. I go pretty much where I want to. Right now, I want to be here. Is that a problem?" She shot back pointedly. He seemed startled, then, surprisingly, began to laugh.
"I like you." He said, smiling. "You've got a sense of humor!" He looked past her, obviously thinking. "Hmmm....Jadzia....You know, I've heard of you. You used to be one of Frieza's people, didn't you?"
She stiffened. "No, I didn't. I was part of the Saiya-jin force that survived Vegeta-sei's destruction. I was never one of Frieza's people." She spat the hated name out with a venomice that surprised King Kai. He took a step back, then nodded.
"So you were one of the survivors. How many are left?"
"Four." That I know of. They both turned as Gokou walked around the house, copying the monkey in its walk exactly. Jadzia groaned and put her head in her hand but King Kai just seemed amused.
"He's Gokou?"
"Unfortunately." She said, her voice muffled by her hand. He walked over to the tall warrior, catching his attention. Jadzia peeked out from behind her fingers as they had a conversation that involved Gokou looking blank several times. Running her hand through her hair she sighed. He'll never change.




Part Twenty one: Voices and dreams.


"Come on, make a move!" Jace's voice said, knocking Jadzia out of the astral fight with Gohan she had been participating. She jerked her head up and around, ignoring the stair from her friend.
"What's up, Ze-chan?" The young half-Saiya-jin asked, looking around too. Jadzia shook her head and closed her eyes again.
"Come on, kid, you've got to learn this." She said gruffly. Gohan looked at her, noticing the sweat that was running down her face.
"Alright."

"So what do you want to do, dance, or fight?"
Gokou's voice startled Jadzia. She twisted around in her seat, trying to spot the tall Saiya-jin warrior. I thought he was still at King Kai's. She was just about to call his name when she remembered where she was. She faced forward again, ignoring the strange look she got from Kuririn, who was riding next to her.

"Gokou!" Kuririn screamed, trying to break free of an invisible grip.
"Kuririn!" Gokou cried back, reaching for his friend. Too late. Kuririn's chest exploded, leaving nothing but a cloud of red-colored smoke that scattered into the atmosphere as Frieza's laugh echoed through the air.
"Yah!" Jadzia cried, jerking out of her sleep. It was only a dream. She told herself shakily. It was only a dream.

"Their monsters. One good, one evil."
It was the next day. Jadzia stopped mid-punch, her fist inches away from Yamcha's unprotected face. She dropped her hand and shook her head, trying to keep Piccolo's voice from coming back. Seeing the confused look on her sparring partner's face, she grinned and banged her hand on the side of her head.
"I guess Raditz hit me harder than I thought." She told him. "I'm going to go sit down."
Walking away, Jadzia was hit with a dizzy spell when a bright flash blinded her for a brief second. She shook her head again, blinking her eyes to clear them. What's going on? She wondered.
"What do you mean?" Gohan's voice sounded older, rougher. Jadzia looked wildly around, trying to locate the source of both voices. To her dismay, neither Piccolo nor Gohan where anywhere close.

"What...what are you?" Frieza asked in a terrified voice.
"Danmit!" Jadzia screamed back, glad she was alone. "Stop bothering me, you ass-holes! I can't get anything done!" She tried to complete the schematics drawing she was making of her right arm, but it was useless, her concentration was shattered. She sat back to think instead. What's going on?

"Kackarotto, you've got to listen to me!" A voice that sounded scarily like Vegetas gasped. Startled, Jadzia crushed the fragile circuitry she was working on for the third time that day.
"THAT'S IT!" She shrieked. "I'm getting sick of this!" The Saiya-jin warrior slammed her metal fist, bare of any skin coverings, down onto her work station. Crumpling down form the force of the pain from the blow, she gave a half-hearted whimper, then looked out her window. "Vegeta..."


"I'm from the future." This time, she didn't recognize the voice, but it threw her into the grips of her ever-surmounting anger anyway, causing her to release a Ki blast so powerful it caught even Piccolo and Gohan's attention. Her chest heaving with every breath, she gasped as sweat dripped down her face. "I need to get to the bottom of this before it drives me insane." She told herself.
With a hand that was shaking, she reached out at grabbed a pencil, only to have it break in her to-tight grip. Growling, she steeled herself to calm down, and gently take hold of another pencil. Carefully, she wrote out a note to Krillin, who was coming in a few minuets to spar with her, explaining that she would most likely be gone for the next month or so. Leaving both pen and paper on the table, she Shifted herself to the up-stairs section of her apartment and grabbed a bag.
Wondering where she would end up, she wandered around the room. Grabbing a Capsule Container, (with seven of the ten capsules still in it), several lengths of anistetic bandage, her armor, some uniforms and as an after thought, the capsules containing her computer/portable developing station and her digital camera, she threw it all into the backpack and put it on. Seeing some batteries and her disc-man, she grabbed both and shoved them into the pockets of her black leather jacket.
"Food I can probably find there." She muttered to herself, looking around the room again. Her much-used training equipment, including her Watch-Gravity-Adjuster (WGA) beckoned to her from across the room, so she grabbed the WGA too. "All set. And...Time Shift!" Jadzia felt the room around her dissolve, then opened her eyes to see a fist coming straight for her face.





Part twenty two: Future developments


"Who is she?" A voice asked. Startled, Jadzia opened her eyes wide, then narrowed them as she saw nothing but black sky.
"I don't know, but whoever she is, she's got a weird aura. I mean, none of her stuff's been touched!" Another voice answered.
"Hey, guys, check it out, she's got a tail!" Yet another voice cried. She herd collective gasps from all three kids (from the pitch of their voices she judged that they where young), then the sound of someone landing near by.
"Hey, leave her alone!" A semi-familiar voice ordered.
That's enough, I don't need any human protecting me. She thought as she struggled to get up. "Hey, kids, you want my stuff?" She asked, powering up a Ki blast in her right hand.
"Yeah!" The smallest one yelled, joined by his friends. Pointedly ignoring the tall purple-haired boy who was looking at her with a surprised look on his face, she smirked at them.
"Alright, then come get it!" She told them. The three, not understanding, hesitated then charged her with a collective yell. "Kamayamaya-ha!" she cried, catching them all in the powerful blast. Grinning, she turned to the purple-haired man.
"Where'd you learn how to do that?" He asked, his slanted eyes wide. Jadzia glared at him and looked him over, noticing his Saiya-jin like eyes and the sword strapped to his back.
"Who wants to know?" She asked suspiciously. Am I in the future, or not?
"I'm Trunks. Trunks Briefs." He answered. Jadzia felt her jaw drop, then closed it with a snap.
"You're Bulma's kid?" She squeaked. He nodded, uncomfterable. "Gods!" She gasped, sitting down hard.
"You okay?" He asked, kneeling down beside her. She nodded shakily.
"I guess I really am in the future." She said to herself. Looking up at her would-be rescuer, she smiled. "Did your mom ever tell you about a girl named Jadzia, who was a Saiya-jin?" She asked him. Now it was his turn to be startled into sitting down.
"How do you know about Saiya-jin?" He asked. Jadzia nodded, recovering fast.
"I'll take that for a yes. Look, kid, I'm Jadzia." At that, Trunks scrambled to his feet.
"No way! This is great!" He put his hand under her elbow and lifted her to her feet. "Mom's going to want to talk to you! We really need your help."
"Who's 'we'?" She asked warily. He frowned, then sighed.
"I'll let mother tell you about it." His pearcing blue eyes searched her face, so intense they made her giddy.
I think I'm in love. She thought, suppressing a grin. She was concentrating so hard on his eyes so hard she almost missed his next words as they flew off toward Capsule Corp.
"A lot has happened."

"So, who's your da? Yamcha?" Jadzia called ahead to Trunks. He looked back, startled, and slowed down.
"No." He said hesitantly. Jadzia looked at him curiously. "Look, I really don't want to talk about it."
"Huh." She replied, looking around her. The city she had known was in ruins, fires burning in buildings, people with frightened eyes looking up at them. What happened? Where's Gokou?
A few minuets later Trunks started to slow down and loose altitude. "We're here." Jadzia's head snapped up, and she saw the bulbous form of Capsule Corp. looming ahead of them. It was one of the few buildings that wasn't ravaged by the whatever-it-was that had happened.
"Good ol' Cap Corp." She muttered to herself. "Hey, kid, I don't want to give you the wrong impression, but your mom and I weren't on the best of terms last time we talked. I don't know how glad she'll be to see me."
"Don't worry. She'll be glad." He said, looking over his shoulder. Shrugging, Jadzia swung her pack over her shoulder, attached her dagger to her belt, then followed him in. Looking around, she noticed that the walls where kind of shabby looking, while the floor was worn from boot treads and high-heeled shoes.
Homey, but with attitude. Was the thought that popped into her head. She grinned. Like Bulma.
"Mom!" Trunks called. "Someone's here to see you!"
"Okay, just a second, hun!" A voice called back. "Show them into the conference room and I'll be there in a second!"
"Hey, wait!" Jadzia protested. "If that's how it is, I'd rather see Kackarotto!" Trunks turned on her and she instantly fell back in a fighting stance. "He is my father, you know."
"Jadzia?" A voice from beyond the boy asked. Jadzia refrained from the urge to stand on tip tow to see who it was, then someone shoved him out of the way, then tackled her.
"What the?" She yelped as two strong arms grabbed her in a huge bear hug. "Hey, let go!" Squirming, she powered up and blasted the person, throwing him across the room. Wait, black spiky hair... She thought, stopping. To her surprise, the figure opened his eyes and laughed.
"Same old Ze-chan, just as feisty as ever!" He said. Jadzia growled and reached for her dirk.
"If you know me that well then you probably also know that I usually kill anyone who touches me!" She snarled. The man got up (and up, he was at lest a foot taller than her), still smiling.
"Ouch. That'll bruise tomorrow." He said, rubbing his chest. "Yeah, I know. It's just been so long! Trunks, I'd like you to meet my um, big sister, Jadzia."
"Trunks, Gohan? Why aren't you two in the conference room?" The two turned to the stairs to see Bulma descending like a princess.
"Look who it is, Bulma!" The black-haired man cried, pushing a dazed Jadzia forward. She tried to twist around to see this 'Gohan's' face again, but Bulma caught her eye instead. The woman was at lest forty, and it showed. Her face was lined with worry, and grief. Jadzia's jaw dropped, again.
"B-bulma?" She stammered. "Wha-what happened?!" The older woman was speechless. In her surprise she missed a step and went tumbling down the stairs. Instinct born from a friendship that had lasted far longer than any fight kicked in and Jadzia shifted over to her friend's side, preventing her from hurting herself. "You okay?"
"I'm fine but," Bulma peered at Jadzia's face, "Is it really you?"
"Yeah, it's really me." Jadzia answered, lifting her to her feet. "Why? Has it been that long?" She looked over at the man everyone was calling 'Gohan'. He grinned at her, happy tears in his eyes. What's going on?

"So basically what you're telling me is that I, as of now, am dead?" Jadzia asked Bulma nodded, a strange look on her face. Jadzia pointed to the black-hired man, then at Trunks. "And that's my thirty-five-year-old LITTLE brother, and that's the son of Prince Vegeta who came three months after I left, fought everyone, killed Tien, Choutsu, Youmcha and Piccolo, then left." She took a breath. "I'm not sure that I heard you right."
"What don't you understand?" Gohan asked. Jadzia shook her head and jumped out of her seat.
"Any of it! How the hell did you figure that Piccolo was a Namic? The Vegeta I knew didn't know about Namics." She started pacing. "So, you all went to Namic, fought Frieza and the Ginu, whom no one can beat, beat them, came back to earth, Son Gokou went Super Saiya-jin, something only Vegeta was supposed to be able to do, you all trained for three years, then died at the hands of SOME STUPID ANDROIDS?!" She yelled. "Forgive me if I say that you're all insane! Not to mention that you say that Kackarotto died even before he got to fight from some virus! And you expect me to believe this?!"
"No, actually, we don't." Gohan spoke up unexpectedly, causing Jadzia's silver eyes to snap in his direction. "We expect you to believe this." The half-Saiya-jin started powering up so fast it took Jadzia's breath away. His eyes turned green, his hair blond. Next to him, Trunks did the same, causing Jadzia to collapse into the nearest chair.
"This is incredible!" Jadzia murmured to herself. "Simply incredible." She jumped up, a different look in her eyes. "I have the potential?" She asked. Caught off guard, the two now Super Saiya-jin nodded. She slammed her fists down on the table knuckles first, looking Trunks straight in the eye with an intensity that surprised him. "You know, I'm suddenly willing to help. What do I have to do?"
Releasing his Ki in a single breath, Gohan turned to Trunks. "I told you she'd do it." He said. The purple-haired half-Saiya-jin still looked skeptical. "She won't bail. She never has before."
"If you say so." He replied. Jadzia grinned.
"Gohan, you rule." To her surprise, the tall warrior frowned. "What's wrong now?"
"You never used to call me that."
"Call you what?" she asked, confused.
"Gohan." He gave her a studying look. "You used to call me 'kid' or 'kiddo'."
"Well, it's kinda hard to call a person who's nineteen years older than you 'kid'." Jadzia replied, laughing. His frown deepened. Jadzia stopped laughing and went over to him, concerned. "Hey now, I didn't mean that badly." She said softly. He sighed.
"I know. But Ze-chan, you don't know how it's been sense dad and the others died, I saw it all, right in front of my face!" Jadzia looked over at Bulma to see her nodding. "It's been hell ever sense."
"We have to watch what we do, where we go...Personally I don't know how much longer we can avoid them." Trunks added from across the room. Jadzia glanced at him and was once again startled by the intensity of his blue gaze.
Blue-beyond-blue-eyes. This kid's been though a lot. Jadzia realized. All three of them have. "I don't know what I can do to help, but whatever it is, I'll try my hardest." She said out loud. "Gohan, Bulma, Trunks, I won't let you down. Besides, this Saiya-jin warrior may have been knocked down, but she is far from out!" She cried, jumping to her feet. "So whatdaya waiting for, lets go kick some android ass! With Pretty Boy's sword, my claws, and your Super-Saiya-jin strength, they are in for the time of their lives!"

"Pretty boy?" Gohan asked later as Jadzia was settling into her room. She shrugged as she folded her last uniform shirt.
"He's handsome. I thought it would be a compliment to him. Why, he take it the wrong way?"
"Not really, but he did have the strangest look on his face." He skewed his own face up with the effort of thinking. "Damn, I can't remember the right word for his expression."
Jadzia stopped short. "YOU can't remember a word? Gods, what kind of time frame have I landed in? Last I saw, Chi-chi was treating you like you needed to be all-knowing by the age of ten."
Gohan made a face. "I know. You don't understand..."
"Like hell I do." She stated. "Look, I know how you feel. At least you aren't the slave of those ass-droids. I was the slave of that sonofabitch, ass-hole, bastard fucking-"
Gohan held up a hand. "I get the idea." He interrupted with a grin. Jadzia stuck her tong out at him.
"Piece-of-shit Frieza." She finished quickly. He laughed. "You have no idea what a monster he was. He would-" She paused, then continued, slowly. "Wait. You do know. You fought him on Namic." Jadzia closed her eyes. "And you got to spend so much time with Vegeta...my Vegeta." To his surprise, he saw tears running down her cheeks.
Ze-chan, crying? I don't think I've ever seen her cry before. Abruptly, she got up.
"Jadzia-" He said, placing a hand on her arm, her right arm. To his surprise, instead of feeling cold and hard, like metal, it was hot to the touch, and it almost burned him.
"I've got to get out of here..." Jadzia said, blindly trying to free her hand. "I've got-I need some fresh air." She stumbled heedlessly out of the room and down the hall, shoving Trunks out of the way without a thought. Gohan tried to follow her.
"Jadzia, wait! What did you mean?" He called. But it was already to late, she was out the door and flying into the city. He tried to follow her but Bulma, who had come out of her room at the sound of someone crashing into a wall, stopped him.
"She needs some time." She said, turning him around. "She just needs time." The two turned and went back into the house, leaving Trunks looking after the sobbing girl.

Jadzia roamed the streets of the now-vacant city, remembering. Tears drifted down her cheeks in steady flows, unheeded and unchecked. Vegeta... The word drifted in her mind like a virus, causing all other thoughts to vanish and disrupt. "Damn you!" She screamed. "Damn you!" Falling to her knees, she picked up a piece of rubble and crushed it without thinking.
Worlds beware a depressed Saiya-jin. He is a danger to the universe and himself alike. So the saying went, Jadzia knew. But she couldn't help it. She loved him, or so she had thought. Now, all she felt was cold and empty, like a piece of ice. In a sprit of anger, she reached out and tore the sleeve and skin off her right arm. Seeing the claws made her think of death, and death made her think of the gang. "Krillin, Piccolo, Gokou." The names brought back so many memories, of fights, laughs, injures, wishes. "I wish..." She whispered. "I just wish...That I could see him, once more. Talk to him, tell him how I feel...just once. Just once."
But that's not going to happen. She knew. So many things I know. Well, I don't want to know this! Rising, she vented her anger by punching a nearby wall. To her surprise, to fell to reveal two humans. One was a young black-haired boy, about as tall as her, the other was a beautiful young woman. They both had blue eyes.
"Who are you mourning for, girl?" The man asked without an iota of concern in his voice.
"What do you care, human?" She snarled. "Unless you want to get killed, I suggest leaving me alone." She turned her back on them and was startled to realize that she couldn't feel them with her Ki.
"It's her." The woman said. "She's younger, and less powerful, but it's her." At that, she whirled around.
"What the hell are you talking about, you bitch?" She asked. "What do you know about me?"
"Everything." The man said, taking a quick step forward. Jadzia frowned and released one of her daggers from it's spring sheath. It sprang to her hand with lightning speed and she brandished it in front of her.
"Look," she said. "I don't know who you are, but you're messing with the wrong person. I'm not even human."
"Oh, we know that, Jadzia Izirah, daughter of Gokou." The man told her. Caught completely off-guard, Jadzia lowered her dagger an inch and seeing this, the two moved forward and attacked.
The androids! She thought franticly. I don't have the power...wait, against them, I don't need it! Smiling suddenly, she let them grab her by the neck.
"Something is wrong, Seventeen." The woman said. "She's not resisting." Jadzia's smile widened. The man narrowed his eyes.
"Beat me up as much as you want." She said pleasantly. "I'll only get stronger."
"What?" Android Seventeen asked, his eyes widening. Jadzia nodded stiffly.
"Oh, yes. You see, Saiya-jin get stronger every time we recover from a life-threatening situation. Kinda puts a wrench in the works, don't it?" She smirked as Eighteen-she had remembered her name from the lecture Bulma had given her-loosened her grip.
"Eighteen, don't let her go! It's a diversion!" Seventeen hissed.
"However!" Jadzia raised her voice to bring their attention back to her. "You don't need to go though all the trouble. I can destroy you right here and now, no sweat! I won't even charge you." She raised her right hand and slowly extended her wrist claws. "Like this. Watch carefully because you'll only get to see this-"
"Jadzia watch out!" The cry came from above the three, causing them to all wrench their heads in that direction.





Part twenty Three: Talks.


"I had it all under control, thank you very much!" Jadzia yelled fifteen minuets later as Bulma was wrapping her right wrist in an ace bandage. She turned on the older woman. "You know that isn't going to help." She said in a completely different, almost friendly voice. Bulma nodded.
"I know." She answered. "But it's the principle of the thing. And you don't have to yell at him like that."
"Yes, I do. He almost got us both killed!"
"I was trying to rescue you!" Trunks yelled from across the room. Jadzia snarled at him.
"How many times do I have to tell you, I do not need rescuing!" She jumped off the table, ignoring Bulma's protests. "I was about to slice her arm off! Which, I believe is something that would have helped you tremendously, Vegetasra!"
Trunks stopped short. "Vegetasra, what does that mean?" Jadzia snorted.
"It means Vegeta's son, in Saiya-jin. But that's beside the point. I was about to do you a big favor, young half-Saiya-jin, then you distracted me, and caused them to break my claws and get out of there!"
"How was I to know?!"
"I had a dagger in my left hand, and my right wrist-claws where out. What did you think I was doing?!"
"Struggling for you life!"
"Okay, okay, so you where trying to do the right thing. I accept that. We need to stop yelling at each other." Jadzia said, holding up a hand. "I'm not usually the voice of reason, but still, this isn't good. We need to work as a team. Besides, it's not like they got an accurate Ki reading off of me. There was too much silver in the area."
"What do you mean?" Trunks and Bulma asked at the same time. Jadzia grinned glumly.
"Silver interferes."
"What?"
"It's a long story."
Trunks and bulma both pulled up chairs. "We've got time."

"Well, you both know that I'm a dimension traveler, right?" She asked, trying to stall against a story she really didn't want to tell. Instead of asking what that was, like she had hoped, they both nodded. Shit, she swore. Now how am I going to get out of this?! "Okay so when I was younger, in the years that I was in North City I discovered an open portal into another dimension the Northern part..."

"What's this?" Jadzia wondered, looking at the 'door' of light shimmering in front of her. Poking her head through, she saw a black space with a floor, so she walked in. Her skin prickled strangely and she knew she was in another dimension. Startled, she whirled around to come face to face with a small pink-haired girl. "Who are you?" She demanded.
"I was just about to ask you the same thing." The girl replied. "How did you get in here?"
"You have a portal open in the hills of North City." Jadzia replied calmly, taking a tight hold on her anger.
"I do?" She asked, her green eyes widening. At Jadzia's nod, she raised her hands and a black object that looked vaguely like an open lap-top computer she had seen in stores appeared. Pressing some buttons that lit up when she hit them, the red head frowned. "Your right. I do. Hmmm, we're going to have to do something about that..." She turned her back on the Saiyajin warrior, ignoring her low growl of protest. The girl worked for a few moments, then there was a bright flash of light and the portal she had come though vanished.
"Hey now," she growled, "what did you just do?"
"I closed it!" The girl told her, walking away.
"But that was my way home!" Jadzia protested. The girl stopped walking.
"Really? Oh well, then I guess you're stuck here!"

"Wait, wait, didn't you say that you had dimension-shifting power?" Trunks asked, interrupting. Jadzia glared at him.
"I forgot." She snapped. Trunks subsided, a frown on his face.

"Stuck? Here? I don't even know where I am!" Jadzia cried, jumping in front of the small girl. She stopped and turned half away, crossing her arms over her chest.
"That's not my problem."
"To hell it isn't!" Jadzia snarled, grabbing her by the front of her collar. "Send me back!"
"I can't." At that, Jadzia roared and tried to throw the girl across the room. To her surprise, the girl floated a few yards, then settled down on her feet, quite unhurt. "My, you're violent." She said calmly.
"I'm supposed to be violent." Jadzia hissed. "I'm a Saiyajin." The girl started at her in shock and Jadzia straightened proudly. Then, the shock grew to an open glee.
"Great! Would you mind me performing some tests on you?" She asked. Jadzia blanched.
"Absolutely not." The growl tore from her throat. The girl cocked her head to the side, then held out a hand.
"I'm Washuu." She said. "Now will you allow me to do some tests on you?"
"What difference does me knowing your name make?" Jadzia howled, furious. "Absolutely not!" She turned away and was startled by what she saw. A scientific lab had shimmered into existence in the time she had been conversing with the small red-haired girl, complete with places Jadzia assumed where to put her into.
"Why not? Everyone else lets me." The girl sounded like she was whining. Jadzia winced.
"I'm not everyone else." She growled. "I don't like scientists." Half-forgotten memories tried to surface and she pushed them down with a violent push of her mind.
"How'd you know I was a scientist?" The girl asked. Jadzia motioned to all the equipment.
"One, you want to do 'tests' on me, two, the major equipment." The warrior squinted and looked Washuu up and down. "And you look like one. A mad one." She sniffed in disdain, then sniffed again as the scent of cooking wafted across the room, making Jadzia's mouth water and her stomach growl. Turning her head in the direction of the smell, she sniffed again. "Something smells really really good." She said, letting her nose direct her toward the aroma. The red-head scientist watched her with an amused look on her face.
"That's Sasami's cooking. You really have a one-track mind, don't you?" She asked, getting in front of the Saiyajin.
"Hm? Uh, no." She stopped and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm just hungry." Her stomach growled again. "Really hungry."
"Look, I'll get you some food if you'll let me test you." Washuu said. Jadzia frowned down at her, small spark of fear in her eyes.
"Those tests, they don't involve...needles, do they?" She asked. "Or gene resequencing or DNA splicing?"
Wahsuu shook her head. "No, why?"
"Because I hate those. All of them. Alright, you get me some of that, whatever it is, and send me home after, and I'll cooperate." Jadzia said quickly. "For three tests."
"Seven. That's the lowest necessary for all the data I need."
"Four.
"Six."
"Five."
"Done!" Washuu grinned and clapped her hands together. "Okay. I'll go get some of that food."

"And that was it. She did the five tests, I got some of the food, which was really good, and she sent me back here. Meanwhile she found out that my Ki was dampened by silver, I said I wasn't surprised, end of story. Oh, and she also upgraded my arm. But other than that, it was really uneventful." Jadzia said, crossing her arms behind her head.
"The reason you didn't Shift out was..." Trunks pressed. Jadzia shrugged.
"I just plain forgot. Don't look at me that way, I'm not perfect. I've got to have some resemblance to Kackarotto." She grinned. Bulma laughed.
"I guess you do."
"Who's Kackarotto?" Trunks asked. Jadzia stood and walked over to the door.
"My my, aren't we nosy!" She said, winking at Bulma who was still laughing. "I'll tell you tomorrow, kiddo."
"Kackarotto was Gokou's Saiyajin name." Bulma explained. Trunks frowned and Jadzia groaned, leaning against the door frame.
"Watch out, he's got another question." She said dryly. "Make it a quick one, I'm tired."
"What's your Saiyajin name?" He asked. Jadzia stopped, completely caught off-guard. She looked at Bulma, a startled look on her face.
"My Saiyajin name?" She asked. "Wh-why would you want to know that?" The boy shrugged, standing.
"Just wondering."
"You 'just wonder' a lot. Okay, it's Izirah." She stiffened as she saw the same look on his face and held up her hands. "No, no! No more questions. It's midnight!" She said mock-sacredly. He grinned.
"Last one, I promise. What's mine?"
"Sorry to disappoint you, kid, but you don't have one. Now, I'm going to bed! You all say good night to my little bro for me." She said, and left. Trunks and Bulma looked at each other, then Bulma burst out laughing.
"I've never seen that look on her face!" Bulma laughed. "You really got her with all those questions!"
"I'm going to ask her some more, too." He replied. "She knew dad when he was younger, and I want to know more about him."
"I wouldn't." Gohan said from the door way. "Vegeta's a sore subject with her." He entered the room and sat down.
"Why?" Bulma asked, getting up and getting him a cup of tea. He smiled his thanks and took a sip before answering.
"You know she grew up with him, she has always considered him 'her Prince'." He shook his head. "It simply kills her that you are Bulma's son and not hers." He nodded at Trunks who was frowning.
"You never mentioned this, mom." He said. Bulma looked flustered.
"I never knew." She said. "Jadzia certainly never mentioned it to me. Not even after Vegeta came to live at Capsule Corp." The blue-haired woman closed her eyes and leaned back. "Come to think of it, she always seemed to be angry at both of us after she saw you for the first time." She opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling. "Now I know why." Gohan nodded.
"I noticed that too. I just thought she was angry because...well...I just thought she was angry." He shrugged a bit sheepishly. "I guess I accepted it because we had a lot going on at the time." At that moment Jadzia poked her head back into the room.
"Can you guys kindly stop talking about me? I'm getting tired of sneezing." She asked. The three looked at her, startled. Bulma nodded, then Trunks, then Gohan. "Thanks! See you tomorrow!"
As she left, Gohan leaned forward suddenly, his eyes fixed on the chair Jadzia had been sitting in.
"What's up?" Bulma asked. Gohan stood slowly and walked around to the chair, a strange look on his face.
"What happened to Jadzia today?" He asked. Bulma shrugged.
"After she left so much in a hurry, she apparently wandered around and found the androids. Then Trunks, who had been following her, came down and tried to rescue her."
"Was she injured?"
"Yes, her right wrist was pretty much destroyed."
"What about her shoulder?" He asked, placing his hands on the back of the chair.
"No, not that I saw." She answered, frowning.
"What about you Trunks?" The warrior asked again. The boy shook his head.
"I didn't notice anything." He said. Gohan frowned.
"Then...why is there blood on her chair?" He asked, pointing to a small red spot on the back of the chair. Seeing it for the first time, Bulma leaned forward and Trunks shot to his feet.
"Oh man, the androids got her after all!" He cried, slamming his fists down on the table. "Why didn't she tell us? She's so arrogant!" At that Gohan chuckled.
"You know, I remember saying the same thing about your father. They're so alike in so many ways. For now, I suggest you try and see if you can get her to tell you what's wrong with her shoulder." He said, nodding at Bulma. Bulma shook her head.
"Not her. As long as I've known her, and I've known her a long time, she never tells anyone about her injures except for..." The woman stopped, her face suddenly sad.
"Who?" Trunks asked.
"Gokou or Vegeta."
"Damn."

Relaxing in her room later, Jadzia remembered the details of her time in the other dimension (she had dubbed it the 'Tenchi' universe because all the action seemed to revolve around that one guy) that she hadn't been willing to tell the others. So much has changed. She thought, rolling over onto her stomach. I never imagined a future without Kackarotto.
"What are you thinking about?" a voice asked. It's tone was totally disarming, so Jadzia didn't feel like she needed to challenge the speaker. She rolled back over languidly and sat up.
"My father, and your father." And how much I loved them both, in such different ways. She added in her mind. Her shoulder gave a pull and she winced.
"You're hurt." Trunks replied, ignoring the whispering voice in his mind. Jadzia stiffened, which made her shoulder throb and she winced again.
"I..." She hesitated, undecided. If Kackarotto was here, he'd understand. But Vegeta would just smirk and tell me I was being weak.
"Jadzia, you've got to understand, dad died fighting. Mom says..." Trunks stopped, then went on. "Mom says that that's what he would have wanted."
"Yeah, but what about Gokou?" She asked in return, a tint of bitterness coloring her voice. He frowned.
"There was no way...the virus was unknown at that point." He looked down. "I wish it had been different. I wish I had been there, I could've helped."
"Same here." Jadzia murmured. Trunks looked at her.
"But, you were there." He said. Jadzia snorted.
"Maybe I will be, but I know," she paused, then pushed on. "I know that I won't be in fighting order." She hesitated, then pulled her shirt down to expose her right shoulder, it was a bloody mess. Trunks sucked in a sympathetic breath and Jadzia nodded sharply.
"How did that happen?" He asked, reaching into his pocket for the anistitic spread and bandage he had stuffed into it on his way to her room. Not finding it, he reached into his other pocket. Distracted from the conversation, he didn't notice as Jadzia stopped talking to watch him. Seeing his frustration mount, she started to grin.
"What are you lookin' for?" she asked, starting to laugh. He made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a growl and threw up his hands.
"Some bandages I got for your shoulder." He said grumpily. Jadzia frowned.
"But I didn't..."
"There was a spot of blood on your chair when you left. Sensei Gohan noticed it."
Jadzia was about to protest when what he said second registered. "Sensei Gohan?" She asked incredulously. He nodded.
"What's wrong with it?" He asked.
She blinked a couple of times and then shook her head. "Trunks, you gotta understand, he's my LITTLE brother. He's supposed to be younger than me! And then I hear that he is one of only two warriors left on this sorry excuse of a planet, and he taught you every thing you know?!" Trunks nodded, abandoning his search. "He's-was-four."
Trunks looked down and swallowed. "I guess that makes sense." He started searching his pockets again. Suddenly, he smiled. "Found it!" As he was binding her shoulder, he noticed a small bulge in her pocket. "What's this?" He asked, reaching for it. She immediately withdrew, wrenching her shoulder away from his gentle touch.
"Nothing!" She said fiercely. He grinned.
"Come on, what is it?" He asked, reaching for her hand. After a moment of thought she shrugged and gave it to him. He turned it over in his hands, a puzzled expression on his face. "Well..."
"What is it?" She said along with him. She laughed and he gave her a look. "Okay, okay. Imagine someone as advanced as you not knowing what a digital camera is." She shook her head.
"Well, I've never seen one before. What's this do-wha!" He dropped it, startled by the flash. She lunged to catch it and scowled at him.
"Be careful! You just took a picture of yourself. Here, you want to see pictures of the gang?" She asked. His face lit up.
"You mean father and the others?" He asked eagerly. She shook her head.
"No, I mean Kackarotto and the others. Here." She pressed a button and the screen lit up, exposing the first picture she had taken with it. It was a shot of Gokou holding Gohan in his arms. The next was a picture of everyone at Master Roshi's island, just hanging out. The next was another of Gokou, she had edited the background into white and he was holding up his hand in the 'peace' sign. As the pictures drifted across the screen, Jadzia watched the boy's face. The look of longing there just about broke her heart, and it was at that moment that she found out that she was capable of the emotion called 'genuine love'. Startled, she drew away, but another look at his young face brought her back. Now, there where tears on his eyes and she looked at the screen to see why. He had stumbled across the file she had just recently downloaded from her pod's computer, it was a series of Vegeta. Suddenly, she realized that he had never seen his father before, but somehow he knew who he was. An hour later when the small screen finally went blank he looked up at her.
"Thank you." He whispered. Jadzia nodded wordlessly. The expression on his face turned to a troubled one as he turned away and put the camera down. "The picture I took, it wasn't in there."
"It takes a while for them to register. I have to down-load them from my computer." She took out her capsule case and showed it to him. "These I put together when I was staying at Cap. Corp. in my time." She told him. Seeing the personalized items he gasped.
"You-you built these?" The boy asked. Jadzia shook her head, smiling.
"No, no, you misunderstood. I put them together. Making and putting together are to different things." She bit back a yawn. "Don't you guys have curfew? I'm beat!"
Trunks laughed and stood, still holding the camera. "Jadzia, can I...?" He asked, holding it up. Jadzia smiled gently.
"Of course. Oh, and Trunks, you can call me Ze-chan, everyone else does." She said. He stopped, then slowly smiled.
"And you can call me Trunks-kun."






Part twenty four, action.

"Yaaaah!" Jadzia cried, leaping out from behind a tree at Gohan. He jumped, then dove to the side, almost too late to avoid her extended claws.
"That's cheating!" He cried as he blocked her punches. She smirked and replayed by turning it up a notch. Fighting this fast was exhausting for her, and she knew she couldn't sustain it for more than a few moments. Apparently Gohan knew that too, and he started to grin. Suddenly, Jadzia felt something uncurl within her and then new and stronger Ki was at her beck and call. She used it to promptly punch Gohan in the face, hard. His head snapped back, a surprised look on his face. Seeing that his sensei was k.o.'d, Trunks flew up to join the fight. Reveling in her new-found strength, Jadzia greeted him with a kick to the ribs. He winced, then took out his sword and slashed at her. Parrying with her wrist claws, she released her dagger with her other hand and struck at him with it. It drew a streak of blood from his chest, and she drew back, startled. In that moment of hesitation, he lashed back, knocking her on the temple with the butt of his hilt. Instantly, Jadzia's concentration was shattered. As a last ditch effort she twisted herself in the air and dug her claws into a tree to stop her fall. It worked and she hung from her right hand against the trunk, assessing the situation. Obviously she had wounded both Trunks and Gohan, and she had reached another level in her Ki. She grinned. This was fun!
"Hey, Jadzia!" Trunks called from the other side of the tree. Jadzia stiffened and froze, ignoring the sharp complaint form her wounded shoulder.
Time to lend a new element to this fight. She thought, reaching deep inside herself for her transforming ability. Before she innicated the change, she hauled herself onto a stable branch that her semi-computerized brain told her would support her weight, and Changed.

"Where'd she go?" Gohan asked, rubbing his jaw. Trunks shook his head, one hand on the slash on his chest. It was bleading sluggishly and the pain was interfering with his movements.
"I knocked her on the temple, then she disappeared in to the trees." He told his sensei. The older man frowned, then blanched.
"Oh shit!" He swore, flying down. "I hope she hasn't-oph!" Just as he passed her branch, she launched herself at him, keeping her claws carefully sheathed. They landed heavily on the ground, Gohan taking the brunt of the impact. He winced as her weight broke two of his ribs. Snarling for effect, Jadzia brandished her silver claws and threatened him with them. A flicked back ear warned her of Trunks' approach and she spun just in time to catch him off-guard and knock him down too. Sitting on Gohan with her front paws on Trunks, she grinned a cat grin.
"I win!" She said in her growling voice. "And you never said I couldn't transform." She told Gohan over her shoulder. Wincing, he nodded. "I mean, If you two can transform into SS, I can transform into my meta morph."
"You're right. Now, can you get off now? I think you broke a couple of my ribs." Jadzia instantly backed off. In her worry, she forgot to keep a hold on her form, and she became herself again, but this time in her Saiyajin battle armor. The two looked at her in surprise, but she didn't notice.
"Gohan-gods I'm sorry! I didn't know...Geez, kiddo, you should've cried out, or something!"
Of course, her words just made their jaws drop.
"She...she...apologized." Gohan said, closing his mouth and shaking his head. Trunks grinned.
"Well, she said that she wasn't the Jadzia you knew, and this proves it. Being with father has to make her act like him." He replied, still watching her. By this time, she had realized what she had done that had surprised them so much and she had a sulky look on her face.
"How do you know that I didn't go back acting that way? I mean, I could've picked it up from you two. Stupid arrogant half-breeds." She retorted. The two men laughed and Gohan cringed.
"Lets get back." He said. "My ribs could use the caring attention of a Senzu bean." At this Jadzia hung her head.
"Awe, come on bro! Maybe you don't want to fight, but I still do!" She whined. Trunks shook his head.
"You'll never stop." He said. She turned on him, grinning evilly.
"I'm a Saiyajin, what do you expect?" She asked. "Soo, are we going to spar, or do I have to slash you again to get your Saiyajin juices flowing?" Trunks groaned and stood.
"Fine, but only one more session. I really want to get home."
"Yes!" Jadzia yelped, scrambling to her feet and once again ignoring the complaint from her shoulder. "Alright, how do you want to start?"
"Like this." Trunks tossed his sword up and Jadzia followed it with her eyes, keeping a tab on where he was with her Ki. Thinking that she was distracted, Trunks lunged forward with a punch. She blocked without a word, her eyes staying on the sword. Just as it was about to enter it's sheath, she leaped forward over the surprised boy and grabbed the sword. Flipping to re-gain her balance, she landed with her back to him and snaked the sword backward and poked him with it's tip.
"Gotcha." She said, looking back at him. He groaned.
"You move to fast!" She snorted.
"I move to fast? Well, Mister Super Saiyajin, why don't you transform? I'm not even powered up!" She replied. Gohan laughed from behind them.
"She's got a point!" He called. Trunks shot him a dirty look, then brought his attention back to Jadzia who was standing in front of him again.
"Well?" She asked. He groaned, then powered up a bit more. Suddenly, he changed his mind, a grin not unlike his father's coming to his face. Seeing that grin, she swallowed, feeling apprehension for the first time. "Come on, bocchan! Give me your best!" She called brashly. He scowled and went Super Saiyajin. Jadzia swallowed again, regretting her words. She powered up herself, knowing it was a far cry from where he was. Even with the intense training that she had undergone the last two weeks her power level, in the current circumstances was still pathetically low. In her time 13 hundred-thousand was nothing to laugh at, but here...she shook her head. I have to work harder!
"Is that all you think about?" Trunks asked, almost angrily. Jadzia stiffened and lost her concentration again. Seeing this, Trunks attacked in full, partially trying to get his sword back and partially trying to end the bout as soon as he could. Distracted, Jadzia fought off-handedly, and gave Trunks the beating of his life. Without thinking about it, she powered up past Super Saiyajin strength and blocked every move he tried. A few moments later, she noticed something was different. As soon as she did, her power level dropped again, down to one million, which was no match for Trunks' twenty million. This time, Trunks noticed that something was different. She powered up past Super Saiyajin level, but then she dropped back to one million. What's going on? He wondered.
"What's going on indeed." She murmured. Looking at each other in shock, they both stopped. Gohan, who had been enjoying the show from below and hadn't noticed a thing, wondered why.
"Did you just..." Trunks asked. Jadzia nodded slowly.
"I heard you as clearly as if you had said it." She replied.
"That's been happening a lot, hasn't it?" He asked. She nodded again.
"Ever sense I arrived. It's like I'm tuned into your thoughts."
"And I into yours. This is weird."
You're telling me. She thought, as an experiment. He grinned shakily.
"Yeah." He held out his hand for his sword and she gave it to him. As he examined it, she examined his face. It was sad and kind of angry, and she suddenly had the urge to rush over and hug him.
"Trunks-kun..." she said, "I think it's time I went home." She started floating down. Trunks looked at her, startled, and followed suit.
"Why?" He asked. She frowned as her feet touched dirt.
"I think...I just have the gut feeling that I'm needed to help cheer everyone up."
"What's up?" Gohan asked. Jadzia turned toward him, smiling.
"I think I need to go home."
"What?!"
"Yes, I think that's it. Lets get back to Cap. Corp, and I'll explain on the way." She said, rising in the air again. The two half-Saiyajin followed her, exchanging looks.

"So what's this all about, Ze-chan?" Gohan asked. Jadzia frowned, deep in thought.
"Gohan, what do you know about my abilities?"
"Well, I know that you can...um, when are you from exactly?" He asked, not wanting to give her secrets about her future. She smiled.
"Smart boy. Right before Vegeta first came."
"Almost nothing. I think you have your telekinesis but it must be rather undeveloped." He swallowed. "You also have your telekinesis."
"Oh." Jadzia said. "Hm. Well, I think how I could explain it is that my telekinesis is um, unbalanced by me being in a time I'm not supposed to be in, so it's harder to control. Now that my power level is high enough, I feel I could go back to my own time, and help out with Frieza." She explained hesitantly. To her surprise, Gohan nodded.
"I get it." He said. "Well, lets get you home."




Part twenty five: Home again home again.


Trunks frowned as he watched Jadzia back her stuff. "This is because of me, right?" He asked. Jadzia laughed and shook her head.
"No, this is because of me, step-son." She said. He started.
"How did you know?" He asked. She glanced at him.
"Know what?" She asked.
"You just called me step-son."
"So?"
"How did you know?"
"I didn't." Jadzia sighed. "I just guessed that Vegeta never really married your mother. You see this?" She asked, waving her left hand over her right, exposing a silver ring. He nodded. "It's the signal that his father gave me to him. So far both of us have been to young, but I think that things might just develop on Namek."
"How can you tell?" He asked. She reached over and snagged a group picture off the wall.
"By this. Look, I've never seen her before, and she looks like a Saiyajin." Jadzia pointed to a black-hared blue-eyed girl in the back row. She was actually hanging in the picture by holding onto mirai-Gohan's and mirai-Trunks' hair at the same time. They both had painful looks on their faces and she had a happy look on hers. Trunks grimaced at the memory but nodded.
"Yeah, that's Sa-" Jadzia threw the picture at him.
"Don't tell me her name. Don't even think it. Look, here. This is for Gohan, and this is for your mother." She said giving him two capsules. "And this..." she said, rooting around in her bag. "Is for you."
"Aren't you going to say good bye?"
"No. Good byes make me crazy. I'll see you whenever, okay?" She said, giving him the last capsule. At his down-hearted look, she softened. "Look, babe, you'll see me again. Probably sooner than you think." She slid her fingers under his chin. "You are one of the nicest, cutest, bravest and politest guys I have ever met and I will never in my life forget about you. For one thing, you've got fantastic eyes." He grinned and she laughed. "You make your father proud." She said, and vanished. He stood there for a moment, looking down at the capsules in his hand. He popped open the one that she had said was for him and to his surprise, it was a holographic rose. There was a button on the stem and he pressed it. He watched as the rose dissolved into a picture of Jadzia and Vegeta, an older Vegeta, with their arms around each other, both looking happy. They both had one hand up in the 'peace' sign and written on the bottom was 'never give up, you're our hope.' He sighed and closed it up. He was going to miss that girl.

"Um, excuse me, can you tell me what room Son Gokou is in?" Jadzia asked the resoptionest. The woman looked at her strangely and Jadzia fought the urge to look down at herself.
"Do you have any relation to the patient?" She asked. Jadzia nodded.
"He's my father."
"Three floors up and five doors down on your left." She said. Jadzia nodded her thanks and left.
(Three floors and five doors later)
"Son Gokou?" Jadzia asked, peering around the corner of the fifth door. Silence. The tall warrior was sleeping peacefully, wrapped in bandages from head to toe. Smiling gently, she tip-toed across the room and stopped beside the bed. Looking around, she spotted Chichi in a chair a few feet away. I've got to be careful not to wake her. Reaching out, and brushed a strand of hair away from his forehead, and to her surprise he jumped.
"Some one's got really cold fingers." He said sleepily. Jadzia smiled sheepishly.
"Kinowatcha, otousan." She whispered. He started, then grinned at her.
"Hello, Ze-chan. Where have you been?"
"Elsewhere." She said simply, looking at his bandaged form. "Hurt much?" He shook his head, then winced.
"This body has sure taken a beating." Her smile turned gentle again and she sat down beside him, glancing at Chichi.
"You certainly have looked better. How's the other guy?"
"Worse."
Jadzia laughed. "I should hope so. Well, I can help, a little, but it better if you heal normally, your Ki will be stronger that way." He nodded, and she kneeled beside the bed. "Chi chi's going to be furious." She muttered as she got to work.
"Jadzia," he said, jerking her out of her concentration. She sighed and looked up, wiping sweat from her brow. "I have a question."
"What's that?" She asked, standing. He shifted on his bed and Jadzia could tell by his movements that he was feeling better.
"Why do you call me 'Son Gokou'?" She frowned and sat down beside him on the bed. "I noticed you started doing it just after Raditz came."
Wow, he noticed something! Congrats dad! "It's because...you're my father and I respect you." She said. "On Vegeta-sei Saiyajin females are brought up to respect their fathers with titles and undying loyalty. Grampa Bardock never really enforced that but, I picked it up anyway."
"Grampa Bardock?"
"Your father." Jadzia reached into her pocket and pulled out her digital camera, searching for a moment until she found the picture she was looking for. It was an image she had gotten from the palace archives. "Gokou, this is your father, Bardock. He was a great and fabulous warrior." He couldn't see her eyes, they where in shadow. A single tear dropped down her face and landed on his hand. She quickly reached up and wiped the rest away and then smiled at him. "He died protecting your home planet from Frieza."
"Jadzia I-" She held up a hand, interrupting him.
"Don't." There was an uncomfterable silence. "So, where's the rest of the crew?" She asked after a while. He looked down.
"Well, Tien, Yamcha and Choutsu were killed in the fight. Gohan, Krillin and Bulma went to Namek to get the dragon balls there so that they could wish them back." Jadzia stood.
"Right. Namek. Stuffy little planet with green people and no nighttime. Ick." She made a face, then smiled at him. "See you later, kay?" She asked, then vanished.