Magical Girl: The Other Side
DISCLAIMER: The following is a non-profit fanfic written jointly by LSSJ2 Gohan and The King of Soda. We make no claim to ownership over the respective franchises of Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z/Dragon Ball GT, all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, Fuji TV, and Akira Toriyama, and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, A's, StrikerS, Force, and Vivid, all owned by Seven Arcs, Geneon Entertainment, and Masaki Tzusuki.
(1st Edited: 06/13/14)
(2nd Edited: 12/05/14)
CHAPTER 1: A Brush With Destiny
The forest was dark, dimly lit in a withering haze under the pale moonlight, with no sign of life anywhere. Little did anyone know this was the night that would change the destinies of millions of people. With a rustling sound, through the bushes and the shrubs emerged a young girl, no older than nine, dressed in the most peculiar of ways. She wore a black attire which resembled a swimsuit with an attached pink skirt and a number of maroon belts. She also wore a pair of gloves, thick ribbons which held her golden hair in pigtails, and laced shoes worn over long stockings, as well as a dark cape covering her shoulders. In the palm of one of her hands she held a black device that appeared like a small long-bearded axe. In the other hand, she held a small blue gem.
Trailing behind her was a scantily clad orange-haired young woman with some canine characteristics such as fox ears, a furry tail emerging from her lower back, and small fangs. She seemed anxious, tense and nervous, like she was scared that someone or something would swoop down from the skies and get her.
"Let's get out of here," she said in a low murmur.
"Wait, I need to check and see if this is genuine," the young girl said. "Mother will be very... displeased if we don't return with one."
"Alright, but hurry up!" the seemingly older girl said with a sigh.
With a nod, the younger girl grasped the gem tightly, focusing on it. Soon, it began to glow intensely, warm to the touch in her hand.
"T-That's it!" the feral-looking girl gasped. "It's a Jewel Seed!"
"All right. Are you ready, Bardiche?" the golden-haired girl asked her device.
「Yes, sir. Entering Sealing Mode,」 the artifact replied with a mechanical male voice as it began to change. Its axe head flipped up 180 degrees and extended away from the handle, releasing three wings of energy from below the base, looking like a spear.
"Jewel Seed Serial III! Seal it!" the scarlet-eyed girl commanded, pointing her device at the glowing gem in front of her.
「Sealing,」 the device obliged, tendrils of golden energy emanating from it to encase the shining jewel in front of them. Within minutes, its blue glow became gold as the tendrils of energy enveloped it until the glow subsided completely, signaling to all in the clearing that the Jewel Seed had been successfully sealed.
The small girl gave a soft sigh in relief.
"Thank you, Bardiche."
「You're welcome, sir,」 the device answered.
The girl turned to the wild-looking woman and nodded.
"Okay, now we can go," she told her companion.
"Finally!" the older girl exclaimed.
Before they could do anything more, however, a soft sound grabbed their attention. Both girls jumped and jerked around instantly, turning their heads left to right, obviously looking for the source of the noise.
"What was that?" the golden-haired girl proclaimed nervously. "It... it couldn't be... them... could it?"
The feral girl raised her arms and bared her teeth, seemingly very animalistic.
"If it's a fight they want, it's a fight I'll give them!" she said, her voice very unconvincingly trying to mask the terror she felt.
"No, wait..." the younger girl said, holding out a hand. "It... sounded like a voice."
A moment later, the sound came again, and this time, though it was low and barely discernible, they could make out just what it was.
"That sounded like a moan," the orange-haired woman said in confusion.
"It came from over there," the ruby-eyed girl said, pointing.
Before the woman had even turned around to face the general direction she was pointing in, the small girl took off, obviously intent on investigating whatever or whoever had made the sound herself.
"Wait, Fate, don't go!" she yelled. "It could be dangerous!"
But the younger girl, apparently known as Fate, was obviously too engrossed in the mystery to pay her any heed. Mumbling rebelliously under her breath, the older woman followed the girl named Fate. At the same time, Fate had reached the end of her run and found a bunch of trees and bushes blocking her way. Acting on sudden impulse, she pushed through the bushes and poked her head between the two thick tree trunks to discover…
"Oh!" she gasped. "Oh, Arf!"
"What the —?! Fate! What's going on?!" the feral woman, who Fate had identified as Arf, replied, rushing in Fate's direction, before turning to look at what had her so horrified. The sight made her blood freeze.
Right in front of both girls laid a boy, apparently no older than Fate herself. He looked like he'd been sent through hell and back. He was dressed in what remained of purple-colored martial arts attire, with multiple holes and tears in the fabric, the top being practically blown away entirely save by a few threads that stubbornly clung to his left shoulder. His right arm hung outward at an unnatural angle, blood pooling from multiple gashes and cuts along the muscled bicep, and the boy's messy black hair was stained red from all the blood on it.
"Who...? What...? When...?" Arf was barely able to form a coherent sentence at the sight. She'd seen many dead or wounded animals during her time on Mid-Childa before Fate had found her, but she'd never thought to see a human in such a state, particularly such a young child.
"It's a boy," Fate observed softly, kneeling next to the broken youth. Her gloved hands slowly moved to touch the young boy. Upon making contact with the boy's skin in a delicate, ghost-like caress, he suddenly tensed up, eliciting a pained moan. Fate's hand recoiled at the sound.
"What happened to him? It looks like the kid's been blasted with a full-on bombardment spell," Arf commented.
"He's in pain..." Fate stated, clenching her hands tightly.
The sharp snap of a twig breaking caused Arf to jump quite high and frantically swivel her head in search of the noise. After several seconds of looking, she concluded it was probably a stray pet and that no one was near them, but that could change at any minute.
"Fate, we've got to go!" Arf said urgently.
Fate looked up, shocked at Arf's words. How could she expect her to leave this strange boy all alone? He might not be found for days!
"What about him?" Fate asked, gesturing to the boy lying on the ground.
"Leave him!" Arf said quickly.
"I can't!" Fate said defiantly. She turned to look back at the boy. "He's really hurt... we're the only ones who knows he's here!"
"Well, what CAN we do?" Arf demanded, crossing her arms and leveling a skeptical look at the determined girl. "We can't take him with us, and you know we can't bring him to the authorities because they'd ask too many questions. What else do you propose we do?"
"I-I don't know..." Fate said. "But we can't just leave him here to die. I-It'd be like we were killing him ourselves."
"Fate, nature is tough," Arf said gently. "You can't always save every bird that falls out of a tree. To try is foolhardy."
"I know, but I still want to try," she said softly, placing Bardiche aside and focusing mana into her hands.
"Fate, what are you —?"
"Physical Heal," the girl chanted softly, placing her hands directly on the boy's back and focusing her mana into healing him. She had never performed the spell before now — in fact, she could just barely grasp how the spell actually worked! However, seeing the boy in such a state had tugged at her heartstrings, and she decided to risk it all in a vain effort to help him.
Arf blinked as she saw the girl perform the spell.
"I had no idea you knew healing magic," the feral woman said.
"I'm not very sure how to properly perform it, to be honest," Fate said, worried. "But I have to try, otherwise he's not going to make it."
Arf could only watch, strongly reminded of the reason she followed Fate. Fate just couldn't ignore someone in pain. It had been the same when they had first met, and after helping her and giving her a new purpose to live, Arf had vowed to faithfully remain at Fate's side until the day she died. Now she was seeing the burgundy-eyed girl perform a similar deed for a boy she had just met. She was truly remarkable.
If only her mother would see her for the wonderful person she is... Arf thought bitterly.
The boy was suffused in a soft white glow, but when it faded, he looked considerably better. The blood had vanished and the cuts along his arms and face had disappeared too, yet he still had many bruises and scrapes, and while his arm had quit bleeding, it was still bent at a slightly awkward angle.
Before Fate or Arf could comment on any of this, however, Fate pitched forward, almost falling on the boy herself as the world spun in her vision and her head swam with an overwhelming mosaic of sight and sounds and voices.
"Fate! Fate!" Arf cried. "Are you okay?"
Fate blinked once, then twice, and the world came back into focus, but she felt... extraordinarily weak, drained to the point of exhaustion.
"I-I think I'm okay," she said. "I feel so weird, though. Like my body's got nothing left in it."
"I knew it," Arf replied. "You must have depleted all your mana reserves. Your body wasn't used to this spell or performing it at this level yet, and in order to compensate, you subconsciously drew on your entire supply to make your intentions a reality. It's a miracle it didn't kill you. That was very reckless, Fate. You could have died!"
Fate was shocked.
"W-What?" she exclaimed, eyes wide. "Y-You mean... I've lost my magic?"
Arf nodded gravely.
"But that's not good!" Fate exclaimed. "If Mother learns of this, she... she won't be happy..."
But before Arf could speak, the boy moaned again, and his eyes slid open. He immediately shot upright, but Fate, still concerned about the boy, laid a warm, gentle hand on his right arm, and the boy blinked. With a confused expression, the boy glanced over and saw a girl with long, flowing golden pigtails, and a weird, seemingly human woman with animalistic features.
"W-Who are you?" the boy asked weakly. "Where am I? Am I... dead?"
Fate just looked into his eyes. She was struck by how honest and clean they looked, as if there was some inner light to them that made them shine brighter than other people's eyes. Yet they also seemed somehow... troubled, as if the boy had gone through something that was incredibly painful to him and still hung on his soul, like chains.
"No," Fate said. "You are still alive."
"But then... what happened?" he asked desperately. "Where are all the others? And..." His face darkened as he finished. "Where's Cell?"
"Listen, boy, I think you're a little confused," the orange-haired woman explained to him. She smirked in a superior way. "When we found you, you were in a terrible condition. Fate saved your life."
"Y-You did? Really? W-Why would you do something like that for me?" he asked in disbelief.
"I had to do it. You might have died if I didn't. And you were in such pain..." Fate trailed off, noticing how Gohan winced as he attempted to move. "And you still are... I'm sorry. I wasn't able to completely heal you, I... I am not very good with healing spells. I am sorry..." she said apologetically, with the faintest traces of unshed tears in her eyes.
"Oh, that's okay. I-I guess you saved my life. Thank you," the boy said, before a realization hit him. He looked around and noticed that he seemed to be in some kind of a forest. "But... where am I? Am I still on Earth?"
"Well, I think that's how the locals call this world. So yeah. You are on Earth," Arf answered.
"Then how did I get here...?" the boy wondered.
"I hate to break up this tender moment, but we need to be getting back home, Fate. There's a bowl of ramen waiting there with my name on it!" the young woman suddenly exclaimed, eyes shining over with excitement at the idea of her favorite dish.
"Yes, Arf is right. We really have to leave. But, before we go... please, tell me your name," Fate said, her tone slightly hesitant.
"Oh... well, I'm Son Gohan. And your name is Fate, right?"
"Yes. I am Fate Testarossa."
"That's an unusual name, but I like it. It fits you," Gohan told her, managing a weak smile, which Fate returned shyly.
"Take care of yourself, Gohan," The girl told him, standing up and turning to leave with Arf.
Gohan had no intention of saying what he did next. It was something... deep down, inside his heart, that wanted to put what he felt into words, and he just knew he couldn't let this girl leave him forever. What if he never saw her again? For some reason, that was very painful to him, and he knew he never wanted that to happen.
"Wait!" the raven-haired boy called out to them.
Both mage and familiar turned back to look at him, expressions of curiosity on their faces.
"C-Can I come with you?" the onyx-eyed boy asked hesitantly.
Fate felt so much in that one instant. Hope, that there truly was somebody out there who actually wanted to be around her. Sadness, because they were destined to never be together. Finally, crushing disappointment, because as much as she wanted friends and someone to care for her in her life again, their mission took high importance. Her mother came first, even over potential friends.
"W-We can't. I'm sorry..." the girl replied sadly, attempting to put so much into those few simple words, trying to explain the exact reasons she couldn't bring him along with her, that her mother would be mad, how very badly she wanted it not to be her choice, wondering whether he would get mad and hold it against her.
"O-Oh..." the boy muttered, his head dropping sadly.
"Hate to tell you this, kid, but you heard her. We have important business here, and we'll be leaving after it's done. So good luck to you and have a good life!" Arf told him hurriedly, hurrying Fate to leave.
"It's okay. I understand," Gohan told her, even though in his heart he really couldn't. "Goodbye. I-I hope we can meet again!"
And Gohan watched the duo leave until they were out of sight.
Why does it make me so sad if I never see her again? Gohan wondered. There was just something about her... something special,yet something buried too. Gohan had a realization.It's those eyes. They're buried with emotion,emotion that she's repressing. But why would she do that? Gohan thought of something. Maybe... maybe she's a broken soul.
Gohan looked up into the night sky.
Like me...
And then, recent events came to mind... Cell, watching Goku fight him, being called up to battle next, Sixteen's death, ascending into a new, uncontrolled level of Super Saiyan, hitting Cell so hard that he actually vomited Seventeen and Eighteen, and Goku, his daddy...
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Gohan cried, flaring his aura in agony and dropping to the forest floor. "DADDY!"
And then the tears began flowing, a barrage of intense emotions flooding the broken, emotionally damaged child.
"It's all my fault!" Gohan raged. "It's all my fault... Daddy!"
And for an immeasurable amount of time, Gohan just knelt there, crouched over the soft pine-needle strewn forest floor, awash in a sea of his own emotions. So much coursed through him in that moment: Pain, regret, sadness, grief, and most of all, an overwhelming sense of shame, deep personal guilt that would haunt him forever, till the day he died.
"No, I can't just keep kicking myself," Gohan said. "I have to make sure Cell is dead." He looked down at his injured arm. "But first, I have to tend to this."
Moving up into a sitting position, the boy managed to rip what remained of his gi top and, with the assistance of some sticks and twigs he found lying around, used it to create a sling by which to hang his broken arm, after painfully popping the damaged limb back in its place. Working his way onto his feet and drying his tears with the back of his good hand, Gohan closed his eyes and stretched out with his ki senses to try and track the location of the others. What he found surprised him so much that his eyes shot open in shocked astonishment.
"Cell's ki signal may be gone, but so are all the others!" Gohan thought wildly. "What in the world is going on? Arf-san said I was on Earth, but I can't feel any significant power levels anywhere on the planet!"
A new thought entered his mind, and he paused in confusion.
"Forget the Earth! I can destroy the entire solar system with my ki now!" Cell had said.
"Is it possible... I'm not on the same Earth anymore? The force of our last two Kamehamehas... both clashing together with the force of a supernova each..." Gohan said, remembering the overwhelming power both he and Cell had accessed, as well as the physics book he'd read throughout his childhood about the force required to open holes in the time-space fabric.
"Is it possible our blasts tore open the gap between realities and sent me into another dimension?" he wondered out loud.
If that were so,that would mean I'm stuck here! Gohan thought.
Before he could ponder this thought much, he heard a voice screaming in pain somewhere in the general area around him.
"W-What was that?" the boy wondered out loud, walking towards the area he'd heard the cry originate from.
He was suddenly startled when the image of an amorphous beast leaped forth, landing centimeters away from him before lunging in the opposite direction. Looking farther, Gohan's eyes went wide when he saw the beast's target: a boy, no older than he was, with soft features, determined green eyes, and shoulder-length blonde hair. He wore a green and cream tunic over a pair of tan shorts, a dark brown T-shirt, a tan cape, brown armbands, cut-off gloves, and tan boots.
As the creature flew in the boy's direction, the boy pulled a small, glowing red pearl from a pouch at his side. Extending his hand at the monster, the pearl began glowing red and a large green circle with runes around it formed in front of him.
"Ancient resonance, turn into light! Put the unforgiven inside the ring of sealing! Jewel Seed, sealing!" the blonde-haired boy chanted, pointing the small gem at the beast. As the creature clashed against the energy ring, it was seemingly sucked into it like a vacuum. The monster howled and shrieked, struggling against the sealing spell the boy was emanating.
An explosion suddenly sent the blonde boy flying away, crashing against a tree as the beast, now freed from the spell and apparently injured, as the drops of blood falling to the ground beneath it showed, backed up slightly before charging at the fallen boy again. Gohan let out an involuntary gasp at the image. The other boy was weak, and it looked like the monster was actually going to try and finish him off.
I can't let that happen! Gohan thought.
With a fierce war cry, Gohan summoned what little remained of his strength and charged headfirst at the creature. As he did so, his body was engulfed in a blazing golden aura, his hair acquiring that very same color as his eyes became a deadly teal.
With his only good arm, Gohan struck the beast, landing a solid chop across the base of its neck, sending it flying with a startled shriek.
Seeing this, the injured blonde boy looked up in shock.
"A-Another mage, here...? No, it... must be... something else..." he whispered weakly, struggling to get to his feet, using the tree behind him as support. He managed to rise into a crouching position, knees trembling as he gazed at the battle taking place.
As the monster got up, Gohan assumed a fighting stance as best he could in his weakened state, preparing himself to fight the beast some more. However, rather than turning back to attack him, the creature simply crawled pathetically out of the area. Once he was sure the beast wouldn't reappear and attack him or the other boy besides him, Gohan allowed himself to relax, his aura fading as his hair and eyes returned to their characteristic charcoal hue.
Then it hit him.
Barely suppressing a cry of pain, Gohan dropped to his knees as a wave of agony washed across his whole body. The Super Saiyan form had always put a huge strain on his body. Even after he managed to fully master it, he still had never quite erased its effects. Now, having transformed after having suffered so many injuries which had been barely patched up, not quite healed, less than an hour ago, the strain took its toll on the boy, effectively reopening all of his wounds.
"A-Are you okay?" he heard the boy ask behind him.
"Yeah, don't worry," Gohan replied, slowly standing up to face him. With obvious trouble, both slowly made their way to one another.
"You're injured," the blonde said, extending a hand to him.
"S-So are you," Gohan replied weakly.
"It got... away," the blonde boy mumbled.
"Huh? You mean that creature?" Gohan said. As he spoke, he could feel the pain start to numb his mind. From the looks of it, he wouldn't be able to remain conscious for too long, and from the glassy look in the other boy's eyes, he was fighting a similar collapse.
"Y-Yes, I must... get... it..." the boy whispered, before his strength failed him and he pitched forward. Gohan tried to catch him as he fell, but his own injuries caught up with him, and he could only grasp the boy's falling form as he collapsed right on top of him, taking him to the ground as well. Not that he minded... he wanted so badly to just lose consciousness right now and sleep forever...
"Hey! Y-You're..."
"S-Sorry... too w-weak..." the boy whispered, trying to pry off Gohan, but finding it harder and harder to move.
"I-It's okay..." Gohan replied awkwardly. "I-I'm Son Gohan, by the way," Gohan managed to say weakly.
"Yuuno... Scrya..." he heard the boy mutter.
As he began losing consciousness, Yuuno was filled with an overwhelming sense of guilt. That beast was still on the loose. It could hurt more people. Worse, that beast was born out of the Jewel Seeds he'd unearthed during one of his digs!
It was all his fault and he alone had to take responsibility for his actions. However, here he laid, beaten and barely alive, with merely the faintest traces of mana left in his body and with an equally injured boy beneath him. That the pearl-shaped device wasn't compatible with him didn't help much either. It was then he realized, he couldn't do it on his own. Yuuno hated himself for admitting it, but he required help! If he refused to accept this inevitable fact not only would he and the mysterious boy he had just met today die, but the Jewel Seeds would kill the billions inhabiting this lonely, unadministered planet!
— Someone, hear my voice, — he said, reaching out with what little mana he had left to make a telepathic message that, he hoped, would be received by someone with enough magical potential. — Help me. Someone, please... lend me your powers... I... I need... magical... powers... — He finished, before his body gave up on him and he finally lost all consciousness. Almost instinctively, his body managed to use leftovers from the mana he used in emitting the message to transform his body.
To Gohan's surprise, the boy shrank in size, changing shape until he was reduced to the form of a small ferret.
"H-He transformed...?" The boy thought in shock, as his consciousness too gave up, falling into a dreamless slumber.
The whip snapped across her bare back, leaving a nasty black and blue welt and adding to the collection already there.
"What?!" the voice of a loud, angry woman roared. "What do you mean you depleted all your mana reserves?! And how come you only found ONE Jewel Seed?! Your mission was to collect ALL of them!"
Fate winced and let out an involuntary scream of pain as the whip slashed across her back once more.
"Aah!" she whimpered. "I'm... argh!" — another whimper as the whip hit her — "I-I'm so sorry, Mother. I didn't... mean for it to happen!"
Suddenly, the flogging momentarily abated. The older woman held it tightly in her clenched grip.
"And how, pray tell, did you accomplish this gross act of negligence?" the woman asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"I-I..." Fate began, her voice a faint whisper from the pain. "T-There was a boy... I found a boy injured in the woods nearby and — ah!"
Her explanation was cut short as yet another strike from her mother's whip assaulted her already beaten back.
"That was it?!" The woman demanded furiously. Soon, more lashes echoed in the room, followed by the girl's anguished cries of pain. "You abandoned your mission, risked our objectives, all we've worked for, to help a mere child you found?!"
"H-He was — ah! — b-badly injured... ach! I... I needed to — kyah! H-help him or... h-he could have d-d-died! Aaaaargh!"
"I don't have time for your pathetic excuses!" the girl's mother snapped, hitting her repeatedly with her whip. "You... you are selfish... You were just thinking of yourself. I see I still have to discipline you proper, Fate," the woman growled darkly.
"P-Please, M-M-Mother... stop," she pleaded softly, feeling tears fall from her eyes.
Rather than the desired effect, her words seem to anger her even more.
"Don't you dare tell me what to do!" She hissed, again lashing her viciously, this time with enough force to rip her flesh open. Red blood emanated from her wounds, running down her back in dark swaths.
As the horrendous torture continued, outside the room, Arf sat with her knees huddled up into a fetal position as she covered her foxy ears with her human hands, trying to block out the sounds of her master's cries of pain.
"Stop it, please, just stop it... she hasn't done anything wrong... please...!" the wolf-woman whimpered, tears of rage and impotence trailing down her cheeks. "She doesn't deserve this...! Stop it...!"
After what seemed like an eternity, the dark-haired woman finally undid the restraints, letting the golden-haired girl, almost unconscious from the pain, fall with a resounding thud. She looked so helpless on the floor. Her legs instinctively curled up into her torso as Fate locked herself into the same fetal position that Arf had been in a while ago.
"Let this be a lesson to you, Fate. Fail me again, and the consequences will be... unpleasant."
"Yes, Mother..." the girl whispered, her voice barely audible.
As her mother exited the room, the doors slammed open and Arf rushed inside, tears falling from her eyes as she cradled her master tenderly, trying not to touch her wounds as to avoid more unnecessary pain. As the wolf-woman sobbed, carrying the beaten Fate out of the room, the girl couldn't help but think back... think back to those memories, stored deep within her mind, of a time when her mother wasn't the cold, cruel woman that had just tortured her so much, but a kind, sweet woman tending to her daughter's every needs. She craved to see that smile once again, and this doubled her determination to acquire the Jewel Seeds as fast as she could.
However, in another, dark corner of her mind... she found herself longing for something else... a pair of mysterious charcoal eyes, filled with innocence, the eyes of the boy that she'd risked her mission to save...
Hello. King here. Well, here it is. Our first attempt at a joint MGLN crossover. I'd like to thank everybody for all the positive reviews thus far. To be honest, we were expecting to be flamed. The fandom is a little extreme in its devotion. Well, anyway, I figured you all might be interested in knowing the power levels as I currently envision them.
Gohan (weakened): 230,000
Gohan (partially healed by Fate): 380,000
Gohan (Super Saiyan burst): 9,500,000(1)
Gohan (drained even more): 20,000(2)
Yuuno: 70,000
Yuuno (drained): 3,000
Yuuno (ferret): 0.001
Fate: 1,430,000(3)
Fate (mana depleted): 1,000
Arf: 500,000(4)
(1) Gohan was weak, and his Super Saiyan burst used around 20% of his overall power, for a multiplier of 25.
(2) Some of you have brought up good points, and thus we have scaled back Gohan's power in his weakened condition, and the Super Saiyan burst cost him his ki reserves greatly, so he won't be doing that anytime soon.
(3) Fate's power level given in canon.
(4) Arf is rated at an AA rank.
Subject to revision depending on my co-author, LSSJ2 Gohan, although Fate's power level is currently canon. A warning: Flames and outright Yuuno-bashing will result in the user being both blocked and receiving a severe flaming of their own. This is not negotiable and it is something we BOTH happen to agree on. Well, you've been warned.
The King of Soda