Chapter 8
The heat continued to bear down on her neck, the ki dagger threatening to cut through it like a knife through warm butter. She realised she'd lost the fight, every bone in her body in agony after being tossed around by Zar as if it belonged to a rag doll rather then the Kalroo warrior woman. Her thoughts flashed to her family; to Trunks and Eli. She'd never see them again... To hell with the 'life flashing before your eyes' bit, I'm not about to go out on a bad cliché! She berated herself, attempting to shake Zar off only for the sinister Kalroo to forcefully shove Zara's head into the ground and start grinding it into the dirt.
Over in what was left of the rebel base, Lauren growled as she forcibly broke free of Nappa's grip. Without warning, she charged at the battle scene.
"Leave her alone you Psycho!" She screamed, aiming a punch at Zar's head. Zar simply began laughing as she watched Lauren's attack press ever closer, releasing a powerful psionic burst at the last possible second, sending the child sprawling to the floor.
Lauren began to pick herself up when she was suddenly jerked up, being lifted by the back of her shirt as a sinister chortle sounded behind her.
"Now, now kiddo: don't you know it's rude to interrupt someone?" The dark prince asked her as he lifted her off of the ground. She began to squirm in a lame attempt to shake him off.
"Let me go! I'm warning you!" Lauren growled.
"Or you'll do what?" Trunks sneered, raising her up to make her eye level with him, "you can't do a thing to hurt me and your little gaggle of friends over there are too weak to do a thing about it! It'll take a lot more than your empty threats to take me and my girl down."
The moment Trunks finished his sentence, the space beside the partially demolished building exploded in a startling bright white light. Figures Could be seen on the other side, followed by a very familiar voice yelling "Lauren!"
"What the hell?" Trunks muttered as the first shadow stepped forward; it was Emily with Princess Emi in her arms.
"Babe, as much as I hate to spoil your fun, I think its tactical retreat time!" The dark prince called to Zar as the other members of the Z gang followed the two Emily's through. The odds were dwindling out of the dark counterpart's favour.
"E…Em?" Zara wheezed through eyes that were struggling to stay open with her face still being grinded into the floor. Zar's head had raised and she was loosening the grip she held on the Kalroo, her face showing of a look of bemusement.
"You get away from her right now!" Emily yelled as she took in the state her friend was in and the frightening creature perched on top of her.
"Make me," Zar returned, smiling sinisterly, a hungry look in her eyes.
"Zar…" The dark Trunks shot, the Kalroo pausing then conceded, the dagger dispersing. She made to get off of her counterpart but paused midway before lifting Zara's head up then slamming it into the ground, knocking her out. Emily made to rush forward but was stopped by the Dark version of her temporal brother-in-law.
"Uh-uh, one wrong move and I remove the kid's head," He called, gripping Lauren tightly with a hand firmly holding her throat. Zar laughed as Emily came to a dead halt upon seeing her daughter, the other warriors coming through the rift doing the same, the good Trunks going pale as he took it in.
Zar dropped out of her transformation as she dragged Zara over her shoulder and telekinetically brought the unconscious 'Ten with her. The dark Trunks sneered at the group before him.
"We'll be back for the Princess," he stated as the his girlfriend formed a ki blast and fired it infront of them, effectively creating a smokescreen. When the smoke cleared, the group had vanished.
"We'll get them back," Trunks stated, clearing his throat as he scanned the skies for any sign of his counterpart. Emily was about to agree when she spotted Radditz edging closer whilst holding onto a struggling James. The minute the boy saw his mother, he pulled out of the Saiyan's grip and sprinted to her, The blonde scooping him up the moment he was near enough, tears of relief in her eyes.
"Thank goodness you're alright! You had us all so worried," she cried as Mirai Trunks, Jake and Alex joined her. A low cough caught everyone's attention and the owner stepped forward.
"I hate to break up the reunion, but if you want your friends back, I suggest you make plans now. Who knows what King Vegeta has install for them," Radditz chimed in. What he wasn't expecting was the reward of Emily using her free arm to send a bone-crushing blow to his jaw. He stumbled backwards as she rounded on him.
"It's your fault they were taken in the first place! What the hell were you thinking bringing young children into this? If you needed our help you should have come to us!" Emily berated him, her face going red from anger as she threatened to hit him again. Radditz frowned as he inspected the damage.
"I guess I deserved that," he muttered, Nappa deciding to answer the blonde's question.
"We had no choice Emily, Radditz was against it for years himself, but they're the only children born across the time divide were born in your world and not here, so the prophecy stated that they were our only answer," he explained, stepping between the father-daughter reunion.
"Time divide?" Mirai asked, a brow raising.
"The thing you created by meddling with the time stream. Here You travelled back in time to prevent an assassination attempt on King Vegeta that would have fractured the Saiyans down the middle and would have ultimately led to a civil war that would destroy the empire. I believe in your world you instead tried to save my brother from a heart virus so he could defeat some robots?" Radditz explained, still rubbing his jaw.
"And your saying you kidnapped my kids because of a prophecy?" Emily barked, temper building. Radditz took a deep breath, pacing himself.
"It's more complicated then that! The saiyans run everything, the humans are enslaved, King Vegeta kills anyone who threatens the crown and lets not go into my brother's side of things! We've been trying to take Earth back for years in hope that in doing so, the rest of the empire would eventually fall as well! And when it looked like we were finally going to succeed, your husband comes and makes everything even more complicated!" Radditz explained, raising his own voice to try and press the bleakness of the situation onto his daughter.
"So you kidnap my kids?" Emily yelled back, her anger blocking out most of Radditz's argument.
"Borrowed! I borrowed them! I wasn't going to let anything bad happen-"
"Then where the hell is Lauren!"
"That was unfortunate! I didn't mean for that to happen! But you don't understand what its like everyday to see the ones you love terrorising a planet and heading down a self-destructive spiral! I had to take the risk, if only so I could save them! To save you!" Radditz's determination looked Emily's glare dead in the eye until she gave way, looking away first and taking to hugging her son, blocking out the presence of her birth father while his words echoed in her mind. Vegeta – who had been hanging around the back of the group as usual – decided to take this opportunity to ask an important question.
"You keep referring to my counterpart as 'king' while also mentioning plural saiyans. I take it you mean more then just Kakarot and his brood?" Vegeta asked, an odd twinge to his voice that stuck out in both Mirai and Trunks's minds.
"You're king of all saiyans here, crowned many years ago. The other saiyans are who fled Vegetasei when the asteroid ploughed into it. It couldn't be stopped, so your father evacuated most of the Saiyan populace and new Vegetasei was founded here on Earth," Radditz explained.
"Asteroid?" Vegeta barked, stepping forward now and pushing through in order to talk to Radditz properly, "that was a lie told by the one who truly destroyed the planet in order to keep the surviving few loyal! Frieza destroyed the Saiyan home world, not an asteroid!" Vegeta argued, level with Radditz now. Radditz didn't get to reply though.
"Oh heavens no! I have trouble killing one man, never mind an entire race!" Frieza cut in, gently pushing past Nappa in order to interject himself into the conversation.
"You traded planets for monitory gain! You were a tyrant that destroyed the planet you were standing on simply because you were losing a fight!" Vegeta exclaimed in shock of seeing a version of Frieza opposed to murder and anger over having to be in such close proximity to something that resembled the destroyer of the saiyan race.
"Maybe your Frieza was, but the only crimes I ever commited were against fashion and not life! I was a member of a force out to prevent such travesties!" Frieza shot back, looking insulted at the very insinuation of having done wrong.
Vegeta huffed but didn't get a chance to continue with his little tirade.
"Hey, come on now Vegeta! Bulma said this is an alternate reality! Maybe that just means things happened a little differently around here," Goku chimed in, indicating the other members of the resistance, namely Babidi in his hawaiian shirt and Buu in his mad-hatter style clothes.
"Now how about we find out exactly what is different around here and go from there, ok? So far it looks like things are opposite so I guess everyone here are the good guys," he smiled at Radditz and extended his hand, "so if that's the case, lets start over, ok? I'm Goku," he introduced himself and made a point of getting a few of the other resistance members to introduce themselves. Vegeta found this tedious and complained throughout, Goku ignoring him. After they had established that the androids had been created to infiltrate the royal palace and poison the king, just for the Evil Mirai to interfere, Cell had been created to take out the saiyan general Kakarot and prevent any interference in plan A, Babidi had summoned Buu after plans A and B had failed, and that Frieza had only ever been aggressive towards the Saiyans when they started attacking other planets, they moved onto finding out what happened before the Z gang had arrived.
"…The mean Zara transformed too mom! Zara couldn't fight her, and I've never seen Zara lose a fight," James told everyone after a lengthy explanation.
"I didn't even know Kalroo's had a transformation, Zara never even mentioned it to me," Trunks frowned, staring at Emi on the floor. It was clear that these alternate versions of themselves were capable of so much more then the regulars.
"Ok Radditz, is there anywhere we can throw The princess? I have a new bag of sedatives in case she starts coming round. Then you can explain to us all why the hell you dragged us into this mess in the first place," Emily stated. Radditz nodded and lead the gang into the remains of the building, neither Emily nor Radditz noticing the four additonal people that had slipped in with them…
A storm was brewing over the mass complex of spires and domes that was the Saiyan royal palace in the heart of what was once West City. Saiyans milled around, guarding the complex while human slaves ran errands, keeping the palace clean and keeping the day to day humdrum going.
Lauren found herself being transported through vast corridors, vast portraits and tapestries depicting saiyan life on display as well as ornamental weaponry and shields.
She was dragged through set after set of massive oak doors until she was faced with a grand throne room with two ornate stairwells leading up to four thrones, only three of which were occupied.
The centre two were the most lavish and seated King Vegeta in all is glory, sporting goatee and adored with armour and a cloak. To his left sat Queen Bulma, her aqua hair cascading around her like a waterfall, her body dressed in the finest silks. To her left sat the princess Bra, the spiting image of her mother and even wearing a matching dress.
Generals were loitering in the room, discussing battle plans and wars in general. Kakarot - blind in one eye and sporting crimson armour - Gohan - covered in scars and a bionic hand replacing his left hand - and Mirai were amongst them.
Bulma poured wine into her husband's waiting goblet as he inspected the kneeling form of the future version of his son as a lion would watch it's prey.
"You mean to tell me that your mate still hasn't appeared?" He asked in a bored yet irritated tone.
"Your Highness, I have searched this entire planet three times now, and there is no sign of her anywhere. I can't even sense her energy signature," Mirai replied, attempting to not make eye contact. King Vegeta nodded.
"Very well, as you appear to lack the sufficient brain cells to find your own wife then maybe your child can. Atleast she shows promise where as you are completely incapable of following the simplest of tasks without your woman holding your hand!" he sneered; Mirai bowed lower before leaving the room. The king sighed then looked to the doors as Trunks and Zar approached with their captives in toe in the arms of armed guards, 'Ten having already been escorted to the medical bays..
"Trouble amongst the ranks?" Zar asked innocently, invoking a nudge from Trunks and a warning look. King Vegeta waved it off then pointed at Lauren and the unconscious Zara.
"What's this you're bringing me now?" he asked, furrowing his brow. Trunks stepped aside mid-bow to allow the king a better look.
"These… interlopers were discovered at the rebellion base, Father. They were hostile and I'd thought you'd like to see them. They're quite the mystery," He replied, nodding to Zar who then approached her counterpart and roughly moved her head up for the king to see the resemblance. Vegeta lent forward in his chair, mouth a gape as he peered at the woman.
"Well, well… rumours of the rebellion experimentation may be true after all…" he muttered. He then brought his attention to the struggling child.
"And who might she be?" He asked, pointing at Lauren.
"A saiyan, and a true one at that," Trunks replied, gesturing for the guard to bring her forward so the king could see. Lauren quickly elbowed her escort in the gut, causing him to drop her as she ran to the side of the room, glaring at everyone.
"I'm not afraid of you. I'll have you know my entire family is here now and they'll soon have both me and Zara outta here!" She yelled, causing King Vegeta to burst out laughing. Leaning forward, he took a better look at Lauren.
"Really, and what makes you think that your family can get to me? Who is your family anyway brat?" He demanded. Lauren smirked.
"My mom is Emily and my dad is Trunks. They're with the best fighters in the whole universe! And I bet she could beat the snot outta you anyday! Never mind all your guards!" she shot back. King Vegeta shot a curious look at Trunks.
"Is that so?" he asked, a smile spreading across his lips. He paused in thought for a moment, Zar deciding to interject for the moment.
"While you're busy being all a gust with emotion for being a granddaddy again, may I point out that the child's parents appear to be doppelgangers of Emi and Mirai? And that they're at the rebel base with Emi as their captive?" This snapped the King out of his thoughts.
"Emi was captured? Why wasn't I informed of this sooner?" He barked.
"Well I would have thought the fact that Zar has acquired a copy and that your have a newly found grandkid would come first," Trunks replied casually, his arms folded over his chest to show he was growing tired of the audience with his father. Vegeta stood and paced in front of the thrones a couple of times in thought before stopping and pointing at Trunks.
"I sent Mirai down to the lab, go and get him then the pair of you go and retrieve Emi. Zar, transport your new friend there to the dungeons. There should be a nice ki repression cell for her there. Go now!" he ordered. Trunks and Zar nodded, bowed then left the room.
"Now I'm curious little one, I know your parents so why don't you exist here?" He stared at Lauren but she stubbornly didn't answer.
"Never mind, I'm sure I'll find out later. Jacob! Alexis! Get your brown tailed behinds in here now!" King Vegeta roared. At this, the king's large oak double doors opened and armour clad two teenagers strolled in. Lauren could only stare as they made their way past her and towards the King.
"What's with the kid?" Alexis asked.
"Yeah, her energy signature feels like mother and father's, but I don't recognise her," Jacob added, causing King Vegeta to smirk.
"That's for you two to find out. You're to be her keepers and if I find out she's either died in your care or escaped then you two will be on human watch for a month, got it?" He demanded. Lauren didn't understand what 'human watch' meant but it seemed to cause a flicker of annoyance across the twin's faces, the same reaction for if Emily had told the regular versions they'd be forced to endure extra chores.
"Don't worry, we can handle it," Alexis replied lazily as she telekinetically threw Lauren at Jacob. The young girl tried squirming again but found her alternate older brother was a lot tougher then some random guard.
"Let go of me! I'm royalty too, you have no right to…" she was yelling as the laughing twins carried her out easily, off to whatever her evil siblings had instore for her…
