The Black Plague

by SilentWillow920

When there's no place left to go, when you're the last hope for the world, what do you do? Follow Sakina, Mirai Trunks's daughter, as she searches for herself and a new hope for the world. **Episode 1 is now complete!**

4. Episode 1: Chapter 3: Trust Games

Chapter 3 - Trust Games

"Trust is always the first casualty of war."- Again, source unknown. (I'm going to have to look these up some day...)

I awoke slowly what seemed only an instant later. The room was completely dark except for some light coming from the crack below the door to Gohan's lab. I was feeling quite refreshed and my wounds had completely healed thanks to the high healing rate I inherited through my Saiyin ancestry. I stood up and stretched; I felt absolutely great. I walked over to retrieve my shoes, jacket, and sword and I donned them all. Then I noticed a glowing display on the far side of the room on a wall. It was a clock! Wow! It was so long since I had actually seen a clock anywhere... The time read 9:37 AM. No wonder I felt so great, I had slept for more than 17 hours. What a luxury!

Just then, Gohan burst through the door to his lab and shouted, "Wake up! Breakfast time!" Since only Dianna had stayed in the room over night (besides me), only one groan was heard in comparison to the many that would have followed if everyone had spent the night in that room, but the lure of the smell of food coming from the kitchen and through Gohan's lab got her up.

The tiny glimpse I had stolen before of the lab only reviled a tiny area of the rest of the complex. Two more doors led off the lab and I guessed that many led off of the rooms beyond them too. One of them was the dining room.

"Ah, Sakina. You're looking well. How did you sleep?" Gohan asked after noticing me.

"Really good, actually. I feel better than I can remember... Jeez, almost feels like the poison's gone..." I thought aloud wishfully.

"Well, that's what I need to test right now. I still don't know exactly how this poison would affect the Saiyan immune system..." he told me, uncovering a large needle next to him on a table.

My eyes widened and I had to cover my mouth to keep from shrieking. What would Vegita think, me being a descendant of the Royal Family and all and afraid of needles...

Gohan chuckled as if reading my thoughts. "Most people hate needles, you should have seen how my dad acted... Anyway, I'm not going to poke you with it." I relaxed. "As you see, I can't efficiently do it. Katrine will be my assistant there." I tensed again. "Don't worry, she's a registered nurse and is very good about it. She even got Dad to calm down... I only need your cooperation, and even as it is, it took her almost the entire day to get at him, and Vegita was the one to have to catch him when he tried to run away." He chuckled, remembering something happy. "Katrine won't be able to touch you if you don't cooperate."

I sighed heavily. "I guess I don't have a choice. Can it at least wait till after breakfast though? I guess I missed dinner yesterday, I'm starving."

"Sorry, but that would interfere with the test results. We have to do it now. You're such a strong girl, I'm sure you can handle a little poke after chopping off your own tail-" He assured me, smiling, before I interrupted him.

"Katrine told you about that, didn't she?" I frowned, not very happy that my most embarrassing secret' had been spread so quickly.

"Of course. She told everyone." He told me as if the knowledge was as common as dirt is brown.

"Even Vegita?" I winced at the thought of him finding out. I guess he was the only person I could directly relate to, being what my own grandfather could have been.

"Yes, him too." Gohan confirmed my fears. "Anyway, if you can survive one of Admiral Chu's attacks, you can survive a poke with a needle."

I laughed nervously. "I guess."

Katrine walked in just then from the room she had been preparing in. She was wearing a white coat and gloves and her hair was tied back. She motioned for me to sit down in a seat in one corner of the lab. I did so and held out my arm, palm up

"Hey Sakina. You'll be fine." Katrine told me in a soothing voice.

"Stay calm." I thought. I'm sure I was a comical sight, and let out a nervous giggle as I realized how stupid I was being. Katrine took my arm and dabbed alcohol around the spot she had chosen to use. She then reached for the needle. "Calm... Be calm... Think about something else, not needles. Think about-" I took a peek as the needle entered my flesh and squirmed.

"Don't go berserk on me now, Sakina!" Katrine warned. "With all I'm sure you've been through, this shouldn't even bother you. See?" She removed the needle when she had drawn enough blood. "All done."

She was right, I hadn't even felt it. I smiled at my idiocy, though that did nothing for my needle-hate.

Just then, another thought hit me. "If you're such a good nurse, then why weren't you treating anyone's wounds yesterday?" I asked her.

She chuckled. "While you were unconscious, your ki kept flaring and pushing me away. It was impossible for me to get closer to you than I was, even close enough to get at Dianna. I wouldn't have been able to work on you if I tried, so I called her to do it." She told me, laughing as if it were the best joke she'd heard in a long time.

I was satisfied with that. "Can I go eat breakfast now?" I asked, sounding completely unlike myself.

"Sure." Gohan winked, then began blabbing. "You'll be happy to know that I've identified the toxin that the Rodents exposed you to. I've never encountered it before in this universe, so it must belong to one of the other worlds. It was actually very simple for me to figure out a way to convert the poison into an antitoxin with a large enough dose to affect someone, but I would require the use of a chemical agent that I once used at my old high school and don't have here. That is, if we still need it. I don't know how your immune system would handle such a toxin. I know you're part Saiyan, but being mostly human may work to our disadvantage."

"Well, hopefully we won't be needing it." I told him as cheerfully as I could sound, totally unlike myself. I walked through the door that led to the dining room and sat down with everyone. Katrine and Gohan joined a while later.

There wasn't much for food considering how many Saiyans we were feeding, but it was food nonetheless, and cooked!

"Ki-ki, would you pass me the fruit bowl?" Dianna asked politely.

"Sure thing..." She first emptied what was left of the washed fruit onto Dianna's plate (which would have happened irregardless), and then placed the bowl on top of Dianna's head, in the process, emptying the content of water and fruit stems.

"Thanks a lot, baka." Dianna rolled her eyes.

"You're welcome, Dee-dee!" Ki-ki chided mockingly.

"I told you never to call me that, baka!" Dianna scowled at her best friend.

"Well, if you can call me baka, I can call you Dee-dee!" Ki-ki stuck her tongue out.

Gohan sighed as the two went at it. "You can really tell that they're their father's children..."

"Where are my pancakes?" Vegita yelled. I passed them to him after taking *only* two myself.

We all continued to eat our breakfast in anything BUT silence. Gohan, with help from Max and Sarah, managed to finish his meal first and floated to the lab to study the sample he had taken from me. Dianna and Ki-ki "renewed old bonds." In other words, they pulled pranks, each other's hair, the table cloth... and acted like total kids. I couldn't blame them, they were. I almost felt jealous, but stopped that train of thought dead in its tracks. Katrine had a fun time talking to everyone, even though no one was listening to her seemingly pointless chatter, and Vegita stole a few glances between Ki-ki and I between scowls. We all had a fun time together and totally forgot, between mouthfuls of skillfully prepared food, that we were in the middle of a war that we seemed to have no chance of winning.

"Sakina, you have absolutely no fashion sense! Ki-ki informed me, awakening me from my daydream.

"Ah, well, where I come from, it's hard enough to get wearable clothes at all now, especially in my size, let alone fashionable ones. I mean, it's only been what, somewhere around fifteen, twenty years since my father defeated the androids, and the people have more important things to worry about than what's going to be the next fashion." I lifted one corner of my mouth for her to let her know I kept the subject lightly.

"Well, I know. But we're really going to have to do something about those pants!" She continued. "I mean, the jacket and shirt combo really works for you, but I bet I have something in my closet that's better than those old things!"

"Thank you." I told her.

"Don't sweat it! We're like sisters!" I had enough time to snatch a last mouthful of breakfast before being dragged out of the room by a more than eager duo of teenage girls. Vegita mumbled something about crazy kids on our way out. Ki-ki led me down a straight hallway and past many rooms where machines hummed sweetly--a room with a generator in it was the largest--and into a room completely overrun by everything pink and fluffy, her room.

Ki-ki shut the door behind Dianna and I and opened her closet with a dramatic, "Tada!" She rummaged excitedly through the closet, which looked to be organized in the style of the aftermath of a nuclear explosion. Her tail flicked around happily while she held up various styled of pants to me.

"Hmm..." She sighed thoughtfully as she held up each one. "Well, if you're going to try them on, you'll have to take off that sword, it'll get in the way." She lectured me. "You look like you're about to march into a gang fight!"

"I suppose..." I wondered as I laid my sword on her bed hesitantly after a short mental debate with myself. I never liked to put that thing down, and you can understand why. Immediately, Ki-ki snatched a black pair of jeans and showed them up to me.

"Perfect!" She squealed at her own genius.

"Oh brother..." Dianna sighed.

"Now try them on!" Ki-ki instructed me while pushing Dianna out of the room. "Call when you're done!" she shouted before closing the door.

I changed into the pants (A.N.: those perverted guys out there thought they were going to see something? HAH! I don't write that way! And nothing even CLOSE to that happens for a loooong time yet!), then modeled in front of the mirror. The brand new pants actually did go with my current outfit from what little fashion sense I had.

"Okay! I'm ready!" I shouted, still inside the room. I expected Ki-ki to jump in, but after waiting a few seconds no one did. "I'm ready, you can come in!" I shouted, my second attempt. Still no response. I opened the door and peeked down the empty hallway. "Girls?" I whispered to the still air. I was getting a bit worried. I had discovered earlier that ki couldn't be sensed beyond the walls and the only exception to the rule seemed to be the dining room. Speaking of which, I could see a light coming from the translucent window of its closed door. I began to walk tentatively toward the door, and heard voices when I came close. It seemed that everyone was having a conference. Without me. I went into major stealth mode and listened through the decorated wooden door.

"Alright, second thing on the agenda," it was Gohan, "I have some terrible news about Sakina. The poison seems to still be in her body, alright."

"What? She is a Saiyan, is she not?" Vegita yelled. "No poison has ever been able to affect a Saiyan!"

"Quarter-Saiyan, Vegita. Far from pure-blooded, and just like your own granddaughter and my niece. They all may have received some of the Saiyan attributes, but their 3/4 human heritage doesn't lie. Unless we get the antidote by noon in two days, both she and Ki-ki will die."

Ki-ki began to cry and Vegita let out a forceful "Humph."

"Please, don't tell Sakina about this yet. We need to see if we can get that chemical agent first. Dianna? You will go on the mission to recover the jar of the chemical. You will leave in a little bit, but we need to distract Sakina first. Here is a remote alarm system. If you get into trouble, press this button and we will automatically be alerted to your situation and be able to track you." Gohan continued. Why didn't they want me to know? Why be so secretive about everything? My question was to be answered by Katrine.

"Why can't we tell Sakina about all this? She's a nice young lady, despite the fact that she's Vegita's grandchild."

"Watch it, woman!" Vegita snapped.

"She's also the second strongest warrior among us, next to Vegita of course. That is, from what you tell me. Because of the fact that she lived with Mirai Trunks, she may also be emotionally unstable. We need to be sure that she's not a time bomb before we trust her with anything all too important." Gohan explained. I was *slightly* miffed by that remark.

"A descendent of mine? Unstable? Unheard of! Gohan, you were around when Mirai was here. You know he was a good kid! He was traumatized since birth and his composure still did not waver in our presence!" Vegita argued.

"Except that time when he destroyed Gero's lab in a fit. Other than that, yes, he was a great man. But she isn't him, and if you'd get down off of your selfish pride for one moment and actually think, you'd realize you're not her real grandfather, only a shadow of what your counterpart could have been. Neither is Ki-ki really Sakina; they're counterparts. She's not even close to being Trunks. She's Sakina. No one here really knows what she's really thinking, what goes on in her head. She's a wildcard, and a dangerous one at that." Gohan protested. "We need to be careful."

I broke away and ran back to Ki-ki's room, trying not to think about what I had just heard, but the concept was clear and simple: they didn't trust me. I guess I couldn't blame them, after all, their reasons were good, and I had to admit, a few correct. Not that I'd ever explode like that, ever become a danger to them. No, the only danger I pose is to myself and to whatever poor, inanimate object that happens to cross my path at just the wrong moment. I was no threat to them. I sat on the bed and waited, thinking about nothing in particular. I had cheered myself up enough, however pathetic my conclusion was, the result was the same.

A few minutes later, Ki-ki bounded in, cheerful as ever. It was an obviously fake smile she wore, but she was trying. I stood up and showed her the outfit in my best supermodel pose.

"So, what do you think?" I asked her, twirling around.

"Perfect!" She squealed. "Absolutely perfect!" She was jumping for joy. After a few gleeful moments of wallowing in her own self-satisfaction, she calmed down. "You know, grandpa and Gohan want to take you up on your offer to show them what you can do, and after that, you and I can have a training session in the Gravitation Room that my grandma built. I hear your grandma was a genius too. Did she teach you anything?" Ki-ki said as calmly as she could. This was the diversion they had planned out.

"She taught me everything I know. Well, academically at least. I just hope I don't rip these pants." I picked up my dirty brown pair. "What should I do with this?"

She took the pants and sent them down a chute which I previously hadn't noticed. "The wash room will clean them and fix them up as good as new for you. This entire complex is shielded from the outside world so you can't pick up anything inside from outside with a scouter, and it fools the senses too. Grandma built it as a bomb shelter and added those features just in case."

"Looks like they come in handy. Well, what are we waiting for? Lead the way!" I shouted. Ki-ki led me down many twisting, winding hallways until at last we reached our destination. There were two doors at the end of the sparsely-lit hallway. One of them was left open a crack and the other was barred shut.

"This one is the Gravity Room." Ki-ki indicated the door that was left open a crack. "It's not like the building that was at Capsule Corp, it's more like the Room of Spirit and Time, or ROSAT as we like to call it." I looked at her and cocked an eyebrow, wanting to be prepared more. "Actually, it basically is a doorway to the ROSAT, only a slightly altered version of it. There are buffer zones around a comfortable lobby'--if you could call it that--for about a twenty foot radius around the door. When you go past the buffer zones, you start out at 1g, but every 100 feet you go beyond that, 10 more g's are added. The actual room goes on forever for what I know, no one's really gone out past 1,000 g and that was grandpa that did that, so we really don't know how far out it goes, but it seems like forever. Time flows the same inside and outside the room."

"This one us an actual portal to the ROSAT, but the g's here start at 1000." Ki-ki continued. "No one has gone in there since Goku tried it and was so shocked, I'm surprised he got out at all. Grandpa and Gohan are already in the Gravity Room. Shall we join them?"

"Of course." I said as I indicated for her to lead the way. We walked in and I closed the door behind us. Gohan and Vegita were positioned against the wall to my left, both sitting down.

"You two princesses better have something good for us to see." Vegita growled out as he raised one eyebrow and frowned.

"Excuse me?" I asked Ki-ki, wondering. "Did he just say princess'?" I wasn't sure I'd heard that. Vegita would never use any term of endearment!

"Of course." Ki-ki nodded as if it were no big deal. "Technically, we are the heirs to the Saiyan throne. If there was an empire to speak of right now, Vegita would be king and we would be the competing princesses. If either of our fathers were around, they would be princes. Actually..." She gave it some more thought. "I would be the only princess for this universe, and you would be the princess of yours. You'd have to get married to become queen, even though your father is already gone. That's just how it is, or at least how Grandpa explained it to me." Ki-ki passed the information on.

"That clears things up. I guess Dad never knew because he never met his real father." I caught Vegita's ki flickering at the word "real". I mentally kicked myself for that; the last thing I wanted to do was to make this Vegita feel as awful as me.

"Well, Sakina." Gohan interrupted my thoughts. "Time for you to show us what you can do. Here, from what I've heard, you have already reached the first Super Saiyan level. Is that true?" He inquired of me.

"Of course." I told him.

"Do you mind showing me?" Gohan asked as if he didn't quite believe me. After all, my counterpart was apparently not even close to that level.

"No problem." I stepped a few yards outside of the buffer zone and felt the extra gravity take hold. Not that it mattered, I could take far more than a simple 2 g, or whatever it was. I concentrated for a moment and powered up to SSJ1 before letting my feet leave the "ground" to allow me to float slightly in the air. My hair flashed from the limp lavender locks of my father to the spiky, windblown, ki-glazed mop of a Super Saiyan. My normally water-like eyes changed from their rippled appearance to that of a mono-toned turquoise. The yellow aura that surrounded me ran up in waves, tugging at my clothing like I had been caught in a wind storm. I was a Super Saiyan.

"No big deal." Vegita crossed his muscular arms and rolled his eyes at me. "I reached level 4 when I was younger."

"You only have enough left in you for USSJ now, possibly SSJ2 in a pinch, old man." Gohan glared at him. Vegita scowled back. "And as for level 4, you needed that machine to attain it. Level 1 is very good for her age. Remember, most Saiyans never reached even close to that level, and here you have 3 generations in a row to get there and some beyond. Even if she's not really your granddaughter, just stuff it and watch." A grumble from Vegita. Gohan then turned back to me. "Can you go any further?" He asked.

"I've never tried. Sorry." I told him almost sweetly. More grumbles from Vegita. After all, I was "his descendant", in a sense, and I was being nice. Ki-ki was leaning against the wall. She looked almost jealous...

"I see. Then we won't have you strain yourself then. What about that sword of yours? You look a lot like your father with it, I could almost swear you were him right now..." He spaced off slightly, looking almost nostalgic, then shook it off and continued. "Are you as great a swords-person as he was?"

"I honestly don't know. He never showed me what he could do. I know I'm good with it now, but I have no grounds for comparison."

"Hmm. Now you are, I suppose." He considered my statement. Vegita smirked.

I blushed, embarrassed, and changed the subject away from my accident. 'I can show you a few of my moves, if you'd like." I offered, still Super Saiyan, but I had let the yellow aura dissipate to nothing.

"That would have been my next request. Please do." Gohan nodded and Vegita rolled his eyes.

I drew my sword and proceded with the display. Gohan watched intently, taking mental notes, and Vegita looked on as if something crawled up his butt and was chewing its way out. Ki-ki didn't watch at all.

"That's enough play." Vegita grumbled at me. "Step it up a notch, I can follow you. You don't have to hold back for these weaklings." By the way he said that last word, I could tell that he had contracted a tenacious distaste for anyone or anything that couldn't hold its own against the enemy.

"Funny." I thought. "What's he angry about? He can't do anything either. For that matter, neither can I." "Alright, Vegita." He was right about one thing, I was definitely holding back.

So I stepped it up a notch, then another, and another when I had received a hard glare from Vegita. Then jumped the remaining levels when he promised to teach me what real pain felt like if I didn't show him everything I had. (A.N.: Yeah, so what if this sounds Mary Sue-ish? For that matter, the entire story may sound like that now, but later on, you'll find out that's not the case at all. Just wait and save your flames for the BBQ.)

Finally, satisfied (or as close as he could get), Vegita relinquished control back to Gohan.

"Jeez, Vegita. You didn't have to push her that hard." The demi-Saiyan rolled his eyes him along with that statement. He immediately wished he hadn't said that.

Vegita glared daggers at the younger man. "She can take it, and if you would have noticed, quite easily also. If you never push yourself beyond your comfort level, you will never get better. You of all people should know that!"

Gohan didn't reply to that and soon Vegita was leaning against the wall again, arms crossed. "Alright, eh-em, so." Gohan recovered from his encounter with Vegita. "Vegita, Sakina, would you mind sparring? I'd like to get to know your fighting style, Sakina."

"Alright, alright." The prince reluctantly agreed. "I'll spar with the brat." He flew up and out and took a fighting pose in front of me. He grumbled, but there was a faint glimmer in his eyes as he grunted and powered up to SSJ1. "Damn." He swore. "This just gets harder and harder. Well, little girl, show me what you've got. I'm going to take you down." He barred his teeth and made the first move, a stupid mistake and one I never would have expected from him. He sent a kick at my face which I caught and mock-punched him in the gut.

"Checkmate." I looked him in the eye and said unemotionally. Had I followed through with that punch, it might have killed him.

"Two out of three." was his reply as he backed off and tried it again. This time, he began by firing a ki-ball which I blocked, but the blast had been half-hearted and before I could recover from the previous move, he was in my face delivering blows. He delivered a nice amount before I regained my composure and shoved off. He followed and tried to aim another punch which I dodged, but he used the half-hearted technique again to get me into a melee. This time, I responded with a few blows and blocks of my own, and we went around exchanging blows for the better of 5 minutes (which seems like a long time moving at that speed). At which time, I got slightly irritated that I hadn't gained any ground while he was simply beginning to overpower me.. I shoved off again, prepared this time, and drew my sword, keeping it still out of Vegita's sight. Gohan's eyes widened. Vegita flew at me in a rage and I dodged around, slapping the front of his neck with the flat of the blade.

"Checkmate." I said nonchalantly.

Vegita roared in frustration. I was sure his head would be rolling across the floor right now had I not stopped. "Three out of five." was his half-choked answer through gritted teeth as he powered up further. I waved a hand at him.

"You're much stronger than me, I'll give you that, but powering up more won't help you in the speed category." I turned my back to him and began to slowly float down toward the others.

Vegita wouldn't have it. He attained USSJ and rushed at me. Gohan gasped at the potential that he might catch me off guard and deliver a killing blow. After all, what was a mere Super Saiyan level 1 when faced off with an Ultimate Super Saiyan?

But I had expected this. I moved aside to dodge the blow and then sped ahead to snatch Vegita's shoulder and pressed an extremely focused ki-ball to his stomach. His eyes widened at the realization that I had still beat him even when he, to his knowledge, had the advantage. Gohan and Ki-ki gasped--their suspicions where fact in their minds at that moment, the timebomb had blown.

But that wasn't the case. I crushed the ki-ball with my hand, letting it flicker from existance before their eyes before releasing the shocked Vegita and floating down the rest of the way. I powered down and simply said, "Checkmate" before taking a seat a ways past Ki-ki, alone. Gohan floated over to me after a while. I knew what he wanted to ask, so I began to answer before he could without taking my eyes off the floor.

"I couldn't care less about causing more pain, about fighting more battles. Vegita only wants to prove his strength when there's really nothing left to prove. I just want to go back to my peaceful world and if I become bloodthirsty somewhere along that path, I may just end up becoming the next Black Plague." The monotone calmness of my own voice almost shocked me as I spoke, remembering my now hazilly recalled peaceful childhood. I continued nonetheless, staring Gohan in his eyes while tears threatened to well up in mine for that reason, though unknown to him. "That's not what I want, I'll never want that."

He merely shook his head and floated out the door with Vegita. As they left, I heard Vegita whisper just loud enough for my Saiyan ears to catch (though that wasn't Vegita's intent), "My test worked. I told you she was a good kid." And then they shut the door, leaving me with Ki-ki. They were playing a game with me, and I was beginning to dislike it.

To be continued...

So what do you think? Like it? Hate it? Feedback, everyone! Ok, I admit, it's not the best quite yet, but it starts getting REALLY good somewhere around chapters 5-7, depending on what kind of action you like. One more thing, You know how I said that I had the entire thing in draft form? Well, while writing this chapter, I discovered that somewhere along the line I had completely changed my outlook, that is, how the story ends. Now I have two sepperate endings, two sepperate timelines worked out. ...And two more that start at around chapter 5. ...And 2 more that are comming up afterward. Ouch. Maybe all those sleepless nights I spent drafting this monster caught up to me... Anyway, hons, it will be up to the readers as to which timeline this story follows!

In your reviews, tell me:

1A: Should there be a little romance budding for Sakina early in the story or

2A: Later in the story, as in midway through? (we're looking at something around chapters 25+, and I may not even get that far until I graduate... **uneasy look**)

1B: Should I mix in a real brain buster thing with the connected timelines that results in Chibi Trunks, Mirai Trunks, and Goten comming back or...

2B: Not confuse everyone with mixing 2 stories together later on (but not so far off)

1C: Should I make the way that the group defeats the Black Plague a real brain buster that they figure out at the last minute or...

2C: A huge sacrifice that leaves the door open to a sequal?

I need feedback before I go much further! Actually, before I start chapter 4 because I have to "set the stage" if you know what I mean. Feedback, people! If you want to see what happens to Sakina and the rest of the 4 worlds, I need feedback for each of these possible "timelines"!

Another thought before you go...

If I feel up to it and everyone wants it, I could do a multiple ending kind of thing where you chose your own ending/story. That would be cool too, but it would mean re-typing 30+ chapters 9 times for me. I dunno... 'Till I get going again... Bai-bai!

Feedback: e-mail me at willow920@hotmail.com!