Hey everyone, Miika's back with a brand new chap! Thank you, readers, for reading this. Makes me supremely happy that people are enjoying this story as much as I enjoy writing it.

To the guest reviewer for the previous chapter: Thank you very much for your input. I'm refraining from adding additional viewpoints in this story so the readers can get better acquainted with Hayashi and watch the Raditz/Hayashi dynamic grow and such. As a small spoiler, there will be more stories in the future that involve them, but will be from other views. Like from everyone's favorite canon couple. Yes. YES. If I were to add other viewpoints in this story, I'd risk overloading the readers and sacrificing quality (not a dig to those who have written them, but I haven't seen any quality stories with POV changes in the middle of the story. If you know of any, please send them to me and set me straight). I hope this makes sense and doesn't disappoint you, or anyone else.

DISCLAIMER: The following is a non-profit fan-based work of fiction. Dragon Ball Z/GT/Super are all owned by Funimation, Toei Animation, Fuji TV, and Akira Toriyama. Please support the official release.

Chapter 35: Need to Breathe

Swirls of red and purple, along with charred battle scars, cover the expanse of Kami's Lookout's tiles. High pitched laughing fills my ears, though I'm unable to find the source. The bodies stare lifelessly into my soul. Krillin, Gohan, Piccolo, Kami… Raditz. They're the only ones I can distinguish. The laughter continues in a mocking way.

"What's wrong? Scared? Don't you want to be with your friends?" It taunts.

I turn around and watch as the sky around me shifts from its pure blue to a blood red with a single dot shining brightly in the sky. It's too small to be the sun, though.

Glowing pink eyes form in midair, along with a toothy, hungry grin.

"It's your turn to die!"

I sit up in a panic. I clutch my chest to ease the thuds against my ribcage, yet does nothing at all. The cream sheets stick to my slick skin, even as I attempt to get up for some water. As I leave through the bedroom door, I take note of the time. Half a moon shines through the window, drowning out the starlight.

For the past few weeks, my dreams have shifted into nightmares to an unsettling degree, much like the one I awoke from. The content of these nightmares change, but the message stays the same: We're in danger, and there's nothing we can do.

I grab a glass and run some tap water into it. I take a few sips before sighing. Maybe this can be my chance to shine, to show the gang that we don't need Goku. We care for him, but we shouldn't need to rely on him for everything.

"Arugelle, come back to bed," I hear my mate groan out from the other room, still half-asleep from the slur in his voice. I stay where I am, by the sink, holding the glass of water. "Come back to bed," he repeats, louder this time. I refuse to budge.

I pick up the faint sound of the bed creaking from the absence of weight, and the footsteps padding down the hall. His hand finds my shoulder, and my body reacts by slowing down my previously erratic breathing pattern.

He releases a frustrated sigh. "What's wrong?" I stay silent, watching the water slosh against the sides of the clear glass. "Fine. If you don't want to tell me, I'm going back to bed, and I'm taking up both sides like I should." His hand leaves my shoulder, and he gets across the kitchen before I say anything.

"It was the nightmare again." His footsteps stop.

"They're just nightmares. It's not like they'll come true; they aren't your visions," he counters. What Raditz says is true…

"But that doesn't put me anymore at ease. I mean, they're based on what I saw in the vision," I defend myself, and put the glass down before I break it.

"You said you saw a hooded figure and a red star. Your imagination's running wild with it, that's it," he tells me as he walks back over to me. Both of his arms wrap around my upper torso in a comforting embrace. "Just come back to bed. We'll deal with it later."

I sigh and give in. "Fine. Let's go back to bed." We walk back to the bedroom without another word. My mate chooses to crawl in bed without pulling the covers over himself. I, however, elect to snag all the sheets and stare at the wall. Sleeplessly. Nothing but my thoughts occupy my mind as Raditz's gentle snore fills the air.

I cannot shake this feeling that something bad will happen, and soon. I just know it'll happen! And when it does, we won't have Goku here to save us like he normally does. But… I shouldn't be freaking out like this. I've trained about as long, and as hard, as him, so I should be able to handle anything to come my way. I should be able to face anything with the same kind of Saiyan strength and determination as him. And yet… I have nerves about it, like some outside force can and will stop me.

What if it isn't an outside force? It could be I'm overthinking, and not spending enough time on dealing with the issue on hand. Am I not letting my instincts take over? No. I saw, and I remember what happened to Goku on Namek after Krillin… that sheer amount of power scared me. Even if it means becoming more powerful than my friendly rival, I don't know if I could control it as well as he may have.

Back and forth, and back and forth again, these thoughts distract me until the first light of dawn spreads across the clouds in oranges through the window. Oh Kami, it's already the next day.

The body next to me shifts his arm on top of me, his face partially covered by his spiky mane sleeps peacefully still. The position half-reminds me of how Bulma and Goku would sleep when we were younger and still adventuring: sprawled out, limbs falling off the sides, and covers wrapping around their legs. The main difference would have to be how he sleeps on his stomach instead.

His mouth slowly opens for a yawn. "Arugelle," he groans out. "Why didn't you sleep?"

I take a deep breath before responding. "I couldn't."

He sits up and positions me between his legs and his arms wrap around me once more. In all honesty, I sort of enjoy this side of him, but I would feel guilty if I took advantage of it every chance I could.

"Is there anything that can be done about whatever keeps troubling you? Because I know it's not just the nightmares." I stay quiet. What's something I used to do that took my mind off everything? Maybe not so much like hunting the dragon balls since they'd be inactive anyway, but maybe… yeah!

"You haven't seen the sites yet." I don't ask him, but blatantly point it out to him.

His hold on me loosens in defeat. "Are they worth seeing?"

I turn around in his lap and look up into his eyes. His hands now grip at my cotton pajama top, the only barrier between our bodies. "I think they are. You might be surprised."

He scoffs at my statement. "Hah! To think a backwater planet like this would have anything worth seeing!"

I raise an eyebrow. "Really? Because if you had, in some form or another, destroyed this planet…"

"Do you need to bring you up into this every single time we have this argument?" I laugh as his cheeks redden.

"All I'm saying is, not everything about Earth is bad. Think of it like, uh, a quaint farming… planet?" I say with uncertainty. I shrug, but it earns a hearty guffaw from him.

"Fine. But first, I'm taking part in what's mine." His gaze turns into a hungry stare, his onyx eyes piercing through mine as a grin slowly creeps up my cheeks.

"Yeah, good thing the fridge is stocked."

+x+x+x+

With our spirits refreshed from emptying out our fridge in the most Saiyan-like feast, we set off through the door. We fly up, and fly in a random direction in hopes of finding land, yet nothing but water lingers below us after passing our continent.

"Oh, Raditz, what was life like for you before coming here?" I ask as I fly by his side.

"Really?" His head turns to me, baffled at me. "Have you heard about what Vegeta had gone through?"

I think about it a little. "Bits and pieces. Did you have it worse?" His head sways from side to side.

"Depended on the day. If Frieza had beaten him up for one of Nappa's or mine mistakes, then he'd inflict the same thing on us. If it was Vegeta's pride at fault, then we'd only get a tongue lashing." His stares off in the distance with a nostalgic sparkle in his eye. "Ever experience a life so shitty, you end up yearning for it later on?"

I ponder on it. The adventures were a bit dangerous for kids our age, and things did get rough. But as I look back on it, those times were some of the best times I've had.

"It's not so much the life you miss, but the camaraderie, right?"

"How so?"

"Imagine, if you would, going through those same circumstances by yourself," I say with a smile as I reminisce. "Sure the times are shitty, no denying that, but the fact that you had someone there of a like-minded consciousness helped." I turn forward and spot an archipelago ahead. "It did work for me."

He remains silent until we land on a beach with white sand. "What have you done outside of this planet?"

I roll my eyes. "Oh, so you think that I need to do anything off planet to have gone through shitty situations? No, we defeated the Red Ribbon Army, King Piccolo, and saved the world from Pilaf. That was shit for us on our so-called 'backwater mudball', so back off."

I furrow my brows, cross my arms and turn around, not wanting to discuss it any further.

"You were at least one of the strongest in your group, right?" he asks in an oddly soft tone. I glance over to see his expression, only to find it blank. "Imagine being around the last of your species, only for them to call you a disgrace. I didn't do my job for the company; I did it for the job. I've seen amazing places I'll never seen again because I've destroyed so many, like houses made of liquid diamond, or steam that smells like this planet's raspberries."

"Liquid diamond?" That grabs my attention.

"Alright, it's not like this planet's diamond. Non-carbon form diamond that's first liquefied then set in a mould. Shines just like a gem, but that was the only planet that had it." My eyes light up with a yearning. That sounds amazing! But… he destroyed them. Even though I want to see them, it'd be impossible.

I take in our surroundings to imagine these liquid diamond structures when I perform a double-take on the area. I fly upwards to catch the view of the place as a whole, and I grin.

"Raditz, I know where we are!" I shout out without masking my glee. I grab his arms and start jumping for joy. "We're on Papaya Island!" His expression contrasts mine with his flat line of a mouth and his eyebrows furrowed. "So, this place is where our World Martial Arts Tournaments take place. The gang and I have been here quite a few times for tournaments."

"You have a colosseum for fun?" he asks, furthering his confusion.

"Eh, it's not quite like that. We go by various rules, such as no killing, winner is by knock-out or ring out, and no outside weapons," I explain. "I was even a runner-up in the 22nd tournament they held."

"So you lost to someone," he states.

I sigh. "Yes, I did. Was more of a lucky win for him, because we apparently fell at almost the same time. If I had been higher up…" I hold a fist up with a look of determination. "If that fight happened right now, I'd win, for sure!"

"You… are an odd one, for sure," he says, mocking my pattern. I roll my eyes and fly up a ways.

"Do you want to see the arena?" I ask with a grin. He doesn't move for a few moments, but he eventually decides to join me in the sky. We take off in the arena's direction, with me leading the way. The lush green scenery and the various changes in the land's features throw me back to those younger days. The volcanic mountains, the time we had gone diving at Bulma's behest and swimming while in awe at the wildlife.

"What's there to eat here?" Raditz asks rudely.

"Really? First off, we ate not too long ago, and second, human manners!" I scold without turning to face him. I feel his frustration rolling off him through his ki, perfectly matching Gohan's whenever he wouldn't get his way as a toddler.

"Fine, if that's how you want to be, I'm going to grab something anyway!" he shouts back. I look over my shoulder to watch him bolt off toward the coast. Shit, he's going fishing now? I release a growl and follow him to where I can just phase in front of him, only for him to outmaneuver me. He dives into the blue ocean, where I know he'll find some monstrous tuna or shark. I fly after him until I can dive around the same area he dove into.

With the exception of the bright white beams of light filtering through the surface, blue surrounds me. No fish, no life, just pure blue for what looks like miles. I try to focus in on Raditz's ki, and swim in his direction, only to feel my arms restrained. I kick and squirm, and finally wheel my head back too butt whatever's on me, off. I turn around and lo and behold, a curtain of black spikes, floating in weightlessness.

'Why did you think that was a good idea?' I ask through our mental bond. He turns around, and a small stream of blood floats upward. Immediately, I feel bad for giving first blood, but it's his own damn fault anyway! 'Well?'

'I wanted to have some fun,' comes his response. Fighting under the ocean surface with a mate is fun? 'Really, how many more times will we get an opportunity like this? Besides, would you pass up this time knowing your vision will inevitably come true?'

He has a point, unfortunately. I squint to take a better look at his bleeding nose, and look up to a small red fleck on the surface.

'You didn't bleed that much, right?' I ask him. He looks up briefly, and back at me to shake his head slowly. We swim up to the surface, instantly noticing something is wrong. The red fleck grows as we near it, both in size and brightness. Wait. Wait a fucking moment! That… I charge up my ki and bolt through the water. It's the same thing from my vision.

"What the fu-" he stops mid-word. I guess he found the object of interest. "Arugelle, what is that?"

"Shit. We need to go to Kami's Lookout," I say hurriedly.

"Wait, what?!"

"I said," I turn around to show him my face, and the gravity of the situation, "'We need to go to Kami's Lookout.'" I harden my face further and turn my attention northwest. "If we fly in this direction and slowly rise, we should get there just fine." In a rare moment, I thank Chi-chi for letting me sleep in Gohan's room. Otherwise, I wouldn't have rummaged through his textbooks on geography and physics.

We take off, and I spot growing pillows of gray smoke clouds over the lands. What happened while we went under? What in the seven blue blazes is going on now? Cars honking, animals attacking the people and each other with more fervor than usual… it's utter chaos. I bet the problem and the solution are exactly where we're going, too. The faster we get there, the better.

+x+x+x+

While approaching the lookout tower, I feel unnerved. I'm confident the vision's about to happen, but if the nightmares happen along with it, I don't know how to handle it.

"Arugelle," Raditz draws my attention for a moment. "Breathe. You're not alone in this." I nod in understanding and follow his direction. The white circular platform expands as we draw nearer, and a lone figure stands with its off-white cloak billowing in the winds.

I swoop into the middle of the lookout and Raditz lands beside me, a hand on my shoulder as he does so. I know it as a calming gesture on his part, but those butterflies in my stomach refuse to stop.

"... and in less than twenty-four hours, the whole world will be stuck in disorder, with every living being turned to a demon, and I will claim Earth as my rightful throne!" the being says with malice to an unseen entity. "And you, dear Guardian, can do nothing about it!" Wait, he's got Kami?

So, he's the reason for what we had witnessed. He must be stopped! I step forward without drawing any attention to myself when the small figure turns around.

"What? How did you get here? Who are you?" he asks with an unusual amount of shock. His voice screeches in my ears, and I can tell that it grates on Raditz's nerves as well.

"I should be asking you the same thing," I say with a smirk.

His mouth turns downward. "I am Garlic Jr., the rightful and immortal guardian of this planet, from the Makyo Star. And before long, you'll be one of my demons to do my bidding-"

I point to him with a blank face, remembering that name from when I was brought back to life, and I had run into Goku on Snake Way. "So you were the one that killed Goku then?"

The crimson star above glows stronger at the mention of his victory over one of the world's strongest, but he hasn't faced me yet. The longer I stare at the star, however, the more chills I have running up and down my spine as though something terrible will happen soon. Being on this lookout has always given me a sense of pride for having a chance to live on this planet, and to have a benevolent guardian has its perks. This guy thinks he can just throw away Kami's hard work?

I can barely make out the form of his head, but I know it's the same guy by his toothy grin, the sickly pale green skin, and his vertically challenged height.

His laughter bubbles out, like killing him had been a personal victory. "Yes, before I was sent into the Dead Zone by his pathetic runt of a child-"

My ki surges at the insult to my nephew. How dare he! I launch an attack fueled by rage, to which he expertly dodges all but one punch to his cheek. I hyperventilate as my guts flutter with worry at his next move.

"I hope that's not your full power, whoever you are. Otherwise, that was pathetic," he says before smacking me through one of the stone columns. "Well, she probably wasn't the pillar of strength she claimed to be..." I can barely hear as his footsteps pace away from me.

White dust falls to my face, and I open my eyes in time to watch Raditz attempt to charge at him as well. Fuck! Adrenaline courses throughout my body, and I choose to charge my ki further. I won't allow him to turn this planet, my home, to shit!

With renewed focus, I charge at him once more and pummel him with a volley of kicks and punches. His stance falls apart, especially with the sudden addition of my mate.

He holds his gut while doubled-over and coughs up blood onto the pristine tiles. "Argh! You have my attention! Who are you?!" he bellows out.

"My name is Kin Hayashi, and I will be your destroyer for today," I chuckle. He flings his drapery off, and grows exponentially into a darker green beast, physically and ki-wise.

"We'll see who's destroying who, weak girl!" he spits out with venom.

"Arugelle," I see Raditz beside me, and holds up the bottles containing Mr. Popo and Kami, with a grin no less.

"Get them out of here!" I shout at him, and he flees to the chambers. Garlic Jr. takes a moment and realizes he had indeed lost the bottles. His face lights up with rage and proceeds to aim for Raditz. "Whoa, oh no you don't!" I distract him with a blast across his path. As planned, his attention turns to me, and he snarls.

"You think you can save this planet?" he asks with mirth. "What could a weak girl like you do anyway?"

"You keep bringing that up, and let me spew some facts," I walk up to him with a calm exterior, but my insides twist and churn as I've made my decision- I'd rather go down than have the rest of the planet fall because I didn't do anything. "First off, do you know who the strongest defender of Earth currently on planet is?" I pause for dramatic effect as I slowly rise to meet his face. "It's me. Secondly, and this is more for fun and games, but did you know that even by Saiyan standards, I'm actually a full-grown woman?" I flash a brief smirk before returning to a grimace. "So, Junior, you best step down right now."

His eyes, and a singular vein of his forehead, bulge at my sassy comments. His fist comes down to collide with my body, but I hold it back with both palms. Even for his bulky size, he's way faster! It's like Goku when he was a kid, when he'd transformed into his Great Ape form, he'd gotten stronger and faster. But how is Garlic Breath doing it?

"You may be wondering where I get my strength," he chuckles darkly.

"I'm willing to bet you're going to tell me right now," I say through clenched teeth.

His brow shoots upward, and smirks in the most disturbing way. "My, aren't you cheeky!" He grabs the side of my head and slams me into the platform's tiles with a crash. With as much force as he put behind it, I'm mildly surprised that the damage to my body isn't greater. He releases his grip on my head, and aims to kick me into the air. Fortunately for me, I recover in time to dodge away from the attack, enough space to take some time and regroup. A small trickle slides down the point of impact on my head, but I nonchalantly wipe it away. It's not a proper battle without blood from both sides.

"So I've been told," I chuckle out darkly. I fly at him head on, and our hands collide in a storm of power.

"You've no chance against me, as long as I have the Makyo Star to boost my power. Besides, I am immortal!" He laughs out maniacally and squeezes his hands tighter around mine. I can barely make out the chunks of debris levitating as we continue on with our power struggle. Wait, he's mentioned the Makyo Star before.

"Lord Garlic, would you like me to dispose of whatever that is for you?" someone with a gruff voice asks from the side.

"You'll have to get through me, first," I hear Raditz call out in a taunt. I should be focusing on the immortal being in front of me, whose hands slowly crush my own, but I can't help but sense three other power levels aside from the three of us already here. Where are Krillin and Gohan? Piccolo? Where is everyone else?!

The clashing of our two powers overwhelms Garlic Jr. as he opens up something akin to a black hole. Forces pull me toward the deep dark epicenter, in one I can feel the empty vacuum of space. I can barely hear anything, but his voice, as a maniacal laugh, soars above the whoosh of the suction.

"Ha! Still fighting, are you? Pathetic! You're nothing against me, nothing but an ant in size and power!" His cackling grates on my nerves. As much as I'd like to banter with him, I've no idea what or where this thing came from, so I rather focus on the situation at hand.

"I can… beat you," I whisper to myself. So what if he can hear me or not- if I say it, it's more likely to be true. "I will defeat you!" I wriggle out of his grasp with a flip, and wrap my legs around his torso. Soon enough, the black hole draws me in closer. My hands involuntarily position themselves for an attack, one that I've known ever since I'd been small. "Ka… me… ha… me…" The blue of my ki shines brightly, but brighter as I send it off to the red glimmering star in the sky. "HA!" The beam shoots from my hands like a cannon and I cross my fingers mentally as it curves up higher and higher until…

Laughter. "My, how precious! You thought you could- wait, what?" His size shrinks, leaving his scrawnier self without some form of cover. "You filthy bitch! I'll tear you from limb to limb!" With him much smaller, I can manage him! Using my grip around him, I fling him in the hole's direction.

"Not if I can help it," I respond with after my action. I can imagine him cursing my name, my family, and maybe even my race. My mate walks up with four men of different statures by the back of their collars, and tosses them into the black endless opening, which then closes and brings everything back to some semblance of normalcy.

"That should take care of them, right?" he asks with a goofy grin. If it weren't for the long hair, the deep widow's peak, or the added height, I'd have thought he could pass as Goku's twin. But no, definitely brothers. And that's fine.

"What should we do now?" I ask him. "Our trip around the world is pretty much ruined." He shrugs and takes off. "Wait! What about Kami and Mr. Popo?"

"Not my problem. Maybe you should check on your weakling friends," he says over his shoulder nonchalantly. What got into him? Is he disappointed that we didn't finish the trip as well? Actually, he could still be hungry. Or he just doesn't care. I release a sigh of exasperation.

Raditz's attitude aside, I should check on my friends. I focus in on a ki signature and find Krillin in the direction of Roshi's Island. Faint, but still there. They must've encountered those bland warriors. Well, maybe they had a little kick to them if my friends barely feel like they're there. Nothing like a stop at Korin's to grab a couple senzu beans to cure what ails them.

If today has taught me anything, I just need to breathe. Everything will be fine in the end, right?

So, what did you think? Don't forget to let me know in reviews or PMs. I haven't quite yet mastered the art of telepathy yet, so please bear with me. Until next time, Miika, out!