Clashing Convergence

by ROGUEFURY

Three years have passed. All the training in the world cannot help the twin stars navigate the chaos, strife and fallout of the bioengineered threats created by Dr. Gero. The battles lead to clashes that threaten to splinter their bond, but will the twin stars converge against the trials and tribulations? Or will their love erode under the pressure. Sequel to A Twin Star.

10. Ebbing Apart

Warning: Even MORE angst, hurt, and frustration in this chapter. Some mild violence as well, but you all knew that by now~. We also take somewhat of a detour? Hopefully it's a fun one!

---

Chapter 10: Ebbing Apart

"Speech" 'Telepathy' Thought *Reminiscing*

"Mmm, Chi-Chi," Goku mumbled drowsily in his sleep, nose twitching comically at the delectable smells that were wafting into the bedroom.

"Huh? Did you say something, hun?" the raven-haired woman yawned as she rolled over to face her still-golden-haired husband, blinking sleepily at him.

"Hmmm, you smell so yummy, Chi-Chi…" the sleepy hero drawled impishly as he cuddled her against him, nuzzling her neck and earning a confused sweatdrop from his wife.

"What're you yammering about—?!" she began to admonish when she sniffed the air and sat up in bed. "Oh that smells divine!"

"Told you…" Goku sighed and rolled over before goofily falling out of bed. "Yikes!"

Rolling her eyes, Chi-Chi got out of bed and went to investigate the source of the smell and was almost knocked into the wall by Gohan, who was floating down the hall, led down to the kitchen by the wafting scent of delicious food.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Shocked to full consciousness, Gohan fell over, blinking up with wide, shocked turquoise eyes at Sofia, who was popping confetti streamers and dancing around the kitchen that was overflowing with plates and dishes laden with treats.

"Whoa!" Goku declared as he and Chi-Chi waltzed in and saw the scene before his stomach immediately growled. "Yay! Birthday breakfast!" he declared merrily as he rushed to sit at the table.

"Wow, is this all for me?!" Gohan balked at the food before staring sweetly up at Sofia.

Pulling him up into a bear hug, she barked, "Who else is 11 year's old today, kid! Of course this is birthday breakfast just for you!" As she cheered, she slapped the fork out of Goku's hand and earned a lame pout from the Saiyan before he chuckled irreverently at her, reminded of the tradition she'd established of cooking a bounty and demanding the birthday boy have the first bite. "Now go on and have at it, kid," she smiled as she placed Gohan into a chair.

"Thanks!" he praised before diving into the delicacies.

"This is such a nice surprise, Sofia!" Goku mused before stuffing his face as well, smiling cheerfully.

"I'm glad. I didn't want to break tradition!" she stated as she smiled and offered Chi-Chi her own plate of food curated from the bounty she'd made for father and son. "I can't stay long though, but definitely wouldn't miss this for the world," she remarked as she leaned down and gave Gohan his birthday kiss on the cheek. "Happy birthday, dude," she smiled.

Hugging her deftly, Gohan earned her comical wide-eyed expression when his grip was far stronger than he'd intended. "Thanks for everything, Sofia!"

"Dohn't mentiohn it!" she wheezed comically, features turning red from lack of oxygen before Goku gestured for Gohan to let go. "Gah! Whew, man, you still gotta work at minding your super strength," she laughed in a raspy tone before ruffling his golden hair playfully.

"How come you can't stay? We were actually planning on going on a picnic and drive later on. You should come along!"Goku inquired and invited, to which Sofia had to muster not to melt under the sweet, jovial stares of duo turquoise eyes as Gohan and Goku smiled at her to reconsider.

"Yes! Come along with us?" Chi-Chi chimed in as well, genuinely hoping she would agree so she could finally apologize to her.

"Sorry, I wish I could, but I gotta head back to the Lookout," she declined with a rueful smile.

"Aww, that's a bummer. Gonna go and wait for Piccolo to come out of the chamber?" Goku inquired, expression curious.

"Yeah…" she responded flatly, the smile she used not reaching her crimson eyes. "Which should be happening soonish, so I gotta run. You guys have a nice day!" she stated before heading to the door and picking up her backpack before offering them a farewell over her shoulder and phasing out through the open door.

"Awwww. Too bad she couldn't stay," Goku pouted. "I was hoping she'd make lunch, or maybe birthday dinner too!"

Scoffing, Chi-Chi shook her head at her husband. "Always thinking about your bottomless stomach."

Gohan giggled, happy and hopeful to spend his special day with his parents.

"A-hoy a-hoy! Anyone home?" Krillin announced as he peeked from the open door. "Hey! Happy birthday, Gohan," the former monk declared as they all greeted the shorter man.

"Hey, Krillin! So nice of you to visit, buddy," Goku smiled. "You JUST missed Sofia. Look at all the food she made for us! You want something to eat?"

"Oh, I did? So I guess things are smoothed over then, huh," Krillin smiled cheerfully, stirring Gohan and Goku's dual looks of Super Saiyan confusion. "Uhh, oh," the shorter fighter stammered when he noticed Chi-Chi's pinched expression. "Me and my big mouth…"

"What do you mean, Krillin?" Gohan inquired, following the fighter's glance towards his mother. "What's there to smooth over?"

"W-well…you see, I sort of let my emotions get the best of me the other day…" the raven-haired woman attempted, frowning at the memory of yelling at Sofia. "I was just so upset—!"

"Huh? What's that got to do with Sofia?" Goku mused, golden brows furrowing at his wife.

"I've been meaning to talk to her about it," Chi-Chi murmured, frowning with a hint of disappointment in her eyes.

Reaching out with his telepathic abilities, Goku peeked into Chi-Chi's mind and saw the memory she was regretting. "What?! Why would you yell at her like that!" he suddenly asked, taken aback by what he'd seen as he stood from the table and balked at his wife.

"You know?!" Chi-Chi gasped. Gohan stared between his parents in confusion.

"I just saw. I don't understand why you would blame her like that!" Goku actually scowled. "She saved my life, all of our lives, and it's not her responsibility to make us do anything."

"But if you'd taken your medicine before—!" Chi-Chi began.

"Exactly! It's my fault I didn't take my heart medicine. Not Sofia's," Goku frowned, not understanding why anyone would lay the blame on her. "She's here to help, but at the end of the day, we're all responsible for our own choices and actions. She couldn't have told me to take my medicine just like she couldn't have told us about Cell. It could've screwed up stuff or made it even worse. It's unfair to put such a burden on someone," Goku stated soberly, glancing over at Gohan. "I'm sorry, son. We shouldn't talk about this now…let's go do something fun. It's your day."

"I didn't mean to cause a fracas, buddy," Krillin attempted, earning Goku's placating smile.

"Nah, it's cool, Krillin! No harm done," the amiable hero mused as he grabbed some fishing gear and gestured for Gohan and Krillin to head out first. "You guys set us up. We'll be right behind you." Krillin and Gohan tensely glanced at each other before doing as suggested, leaving Goku and Chi-Chi alone in the humble home. Once he sensed them far enough away, Goku dropped his amiable expression and frowned again as he turned to Chi-Chi. "I'm sorry for raising my voice," he offered.

"I was just so upset, Goku…I was afraid of losing you," she whispered, eyes welling with tears. "I lost my temper."

"You haven't said sorry yet, have you?" he inquired, crossing his arms and pouting when she diverted her gaze bashfully. "C'mon, Chi-Chi," he admonished goofily, but his eyes were earnest as he added, "You can yell at me all you want. I deserve it a lot of times, but that wasn't fair to Sofia. You need to apologize." Unable to meet his stern gaze, Chi-Chi heard him sigh as he turned and went to the door. "We'll be by the pond. Come join us once you're done packing for the picnic."

When she turned to rush towards him for a hug, he was gone, having used Instant Transmission to ping onto the other's location.

---

Pacing back and forth, Vegeta was impatiently grumbling. "What the hell's taking him so long?!"

"He should be leaving the chamber soon. Please be patient," Mr. Popo attempted, unfazed by the mercurial Saiyan's glare.

Leaning against a pillar, Trunks watched his father pace. "I'm not sure if there's much point to waiting around up here for our turn in the time chamber. Maybe we should go back to Capsule Corp—"

"You can go and tool around that damned building, aimlessly doing the trivial things Earthlings do to fill their time. I'm staying right here," Vegeta snapped before kicking at the Hyperbolic Time Chamber's door. "Dammit, hurry the hell up in there!"

Stoically appraising the tense scene, Mr. Popo suddenly perked up, as if he sensed someone's arrival onto the Lookout. Going to lope down the walkway towards the staircase, the ebony genie excused himself, hurrying in such a way it caught Vegeta's eye. Raising a thick brow, he glanced at Trunks, who shrugged. Rolling his eyes, the surly fighter stalked over and past his son as he went to follow the Lookout's devoted caretaker. Trunks followed suit, curious and grateful something distracted his father away from pacing and grumbling.

When they reached the front of the palace, they noticed Mr. Popo's relieved smile as he gazed up at one of the towers that was part of the sprawling, magical edifice. Following the ebony genie's gaze, Trunks noticed someone was lounging on the sill of the tower. One leg dangling over the edge while one forearm rested over her eyes, Sofia was precariously stretched out along the length of the sill, her other leg bent at the knee and her other arm resting over her stomach.

"Hmph," Vegeta grunted, smirking as he phased out to appear inside the open-air tower. Glaring across from her lounging form, he noticed her trusty backpack was resting on a settee, next to a boombox that had a long wire connected to headphones that were snugly over her ears. Trunks watched tensely as his father loped over and leaned into her personal space and got no reaction. Wrinkling his nose at seemingly being ignored, the Saiyan Prince snickered as he deftly tugged on the long wire, pulling the headphone jack out of the audio port.

Instantly, the sound he could on describe as the chaotic wails of hell incarnate blasted out of the speakers of the boombox and blared raucously across the entire Lookout. Trunks recoiled and flinched as he tensely cringed at the sound while Mr. Popo winced. Gritting his jaw as his eyes went comically wide, Vegeta stiffly stared in horror at the musical contraption and resolved to blow it up, when Sofia suddenly sat straight up and grabbed his wrist. Opening her eyes and sliding her seething stare towards him, Vegeta had to suppress the impulse to recoil at the malevolent, glowing gleam in her searing red eyes as the sounds from the boombox finally registered to him to actually be a song.

"What in the hell are you listening to…?!" Vegeta groused as he yanked his hand out of her grip and stared at the device as if it was possessed.

Swinging over the sill to reach and turn the boombox off, she crisply tossed the headphones onto the device as she stood and gave him a composed, stoic glare. "It's my easy listening. What're you doing up here fucking with my tune time?" she muttered in a level tone at him, delicate eyebrow sarcastically quirking at him when he just blinked at her answer.

That is what she listens to in order to relax?! The usually laconic prince balked to himself as he snapped out of his bemused reaction and leveled a scathing glower at her. He watched as she encapsulated everything and tossed it back into her backpack before going to the tower's banister and hopping down without giving him a second look. Not liking her aloof airs, Vegeta sped down to get in her path.

Eyes narrowing at him, she scoffed, "What? Want me to make you a mix tape?"

Trunks blinked at the exchange before clearing his throat and remarking, "That's some music."

"It scared all the butterflies away," Mr. Popo lamented goofily.

"Sorry. Someone jerked my cable," she drawled before sidestepping around Vegeta and loping towards the palace entrance.

"What happened to that salaciously chipper mood of yours, stealth," Vegeta jab acerbically as she walked away while Trunks frowned when he continued, "Something's got your panties in a twist."

Pausing mid-step, she glanced over her shoulder at him, crimson eyes flaring garnet when she grunted at him. He had that damnable smirk on his cocky features, and for some reason she sensed he was trying to goad her into a fight. Tossing her backpack onto the palace entrance step, she turned and stared across at him before cocking her head to the side, deliberately sizing him up. "Is the prince sulking cuz he has to wait his turn to get into the chamber?" she sweetly purred, eyes sharp as she watched his smirk pinch at the corners. "Oh, it's that you're spoiling for a fight, and since Kakarot ain't around, I'll do, is that it?"

"Hah. Presumptuous little girl—"

"I might be a girl, but I'm clearly not little, bub. Cell ain't around to distract me from taking you on this time. If you're looking to pick up where we left off, I'm happy to oblige," she gave him a condescending smirk when his expression darkened with appalled rage.

"Whoa! C'mon you two, let's not do that shit again," Trunks snapped and stood between them with one arm extended outward, in gesture for them to stay right where they stood. "Our fight is at the tournament against Cell, NOT with each other."

"That fight is days away, boy. I'm in the mood for one right now, so step aside and don't get involved," Vegeta remarked in a hard tone and sized Sofia up. "Just do us a favor and get into proper battle attire, stealth. I'll wait," he condescended and crossed his arms as he gave her a derisive once over.

Glancing down at herself, Sofia pouted. "What's wrong with this?! It's no different that your spandex suit!" she barked at him, a temper vein coming to life on her temple.

"I don't know if you're going to a Yoga class or speed walking to get yourself one of those overpriced hot beverages with caffeine shots in them, but that is not an outfit that will hold up in battle against me," Vegeta cynically shot at her, snickering when she tensely sweatdropped.

She was wearing ribbed grey leggings, a blue sports bra underneath an asymmetrical formfitting lavender sweatshirt, and black Chuck Taylor sneakers. Lips pressing together into a thin line, she realized his critique wasn't that far off. "Ugh. FINE!" she hollered with a sneer before snapping her fingers and materializing her own female version of a Saiyan battle suit, but instead of it being navy blue like Vegeta and Trunks', hers was charcoal-color with the white and gold-tipped boots only. Glove-free, the thumb-holed fabric contoured to her palms, smoothly. "So damned bulky," she huffed, patting the formfitting armor as she tossed her long dark hair out over her shoulders and posed with her hands on her hips. "There, does this pass your fashionista requirements?"

Trunks was flummoxed as he nervously laughed and backpedaled out from between them, eyes comically wide while Vegeta assessed her appearance with an appraising glare. "No gloves?" was all he tisked, earning her snarky expression.

"Nails are too long," she explained simply as she materialized a glove on her left hand and quickly pierced through the fingertips of the fabric after clenching her fist, exposing her wickedly pointed black nails, for effect.

"Hmph. Fine, that'll do, stealth," he snickered gruffly and fell into stance.

"Oh my, please do not get carried away. After all, this is still a sacred place," Mr. Popo beseeched, hands wringing idly as he fretted.

"The only damage we're gonna do is to each other, right Vegeta?" she smirked with a wicked gleam in her eyes.

"Now that, we can agree on," Vegeta chuckled gruffly at that.

Trunks gulped. "Well hell…this should be interesting…"

---

Sitting up slightly, Goku cocked his head to the side and quietly honed in on what he was sensing while Gohan, Krillin and Chi-Chi chatted.

"Something wrong, buddy?" the former monk inquired, causing the others to pause as they snacked over the picnic offerings.

"I don't think so. For some reason I can sense Vegeta's power level spiking for the last few minutes," the golden-haired Saiyan retorted, amiable wide eyes blinking at the confused faces of the others before he smiled and waved it off. "I'm sure it's nothing!"

"Well, it's getting late, and we promised Master Roshi we'd stop by later before heading back home," Chi-Chi attempted delicately, still feeling her husband's good-natured-yet-admonishing demeanor every time she even came close to reaching her normal, overbearing pitch.

Just as Goku was about to respond, his attention was distracted upwards to the sky, where a fleet of fighter jets were crossing the distance in formation. They all watched as the jets made course across the blue, tranquil sky.

"Huh. I wonder where they're off to…" Goku mused, scratching the back of his head idly.

---

The punch connected with her side with enough force to make her grit her teeth as the surge of pain laced across her torso. Using the momentum to her advantage, she spun a kick that caused him to deflect with his forearm, but not dodge her open-palm blow to his chest that sent him skidding back across the center of the courtyard they were sparring in.

Vegeta sneered, finding her fighting style odd and disarming. With her height, he should've had the advantage in being able to dodge all her blows, but for some reason, the red-eyed woman fought as if she was of short stature as well. When he'd get low, she'd match him and deflect most of his combos. The last one that connected with her side was one of the few he'd managed to land, and it was vexing him to no end.

From the sidelines, Mr. Popo and Trunks fretted, in their own ways, over the tit-for-tat session between the two fighters. They'd only been fighting for maybe minutes, but it felt like an eternity for the lavender-haired demi-Saiyan. He knew intervening in any battle his father was participating one-on-one in would result in the man's irrevocable ire, but he'd quickly gathered that Sofia would not take kind to any interruption either.

"Thank goodness they agreed to sparring strictly hand-to-hand. I'd hate to see the damage they'd do to the place if they used ki," the ebony genie ruefully mused, tracking their speedy combos and tussles while Trunks frowned.

"He's getting angry though, so that might not last for long," he groused, blue eyes sharp on his father's deepening scowl when his blows weren't overpowering Sofia. He knew his father wouldn't deign to transform into a Super Saiyan just for a spar session against a non-Saiyan. It would've said too much about Sofia's stamina and prowess – how she was doggedly formidable to hold her own and require him to level up just to put her in her place.

Sofia's muscles were aching, but there was no way she would show that outwardly after years of training and honing a true poker face in battle. This was no way a friendly spar session either, so when Vegeta sped full force at her, she deliberated about using her more damaging strike patterns, but braced herself and curled her hand back into a fist instead. Just before he reached her perimeter, he skid to a halt and sneered at her. "Quit holding back!"

Narrowing her eyes, she barked, "I'm not! Don't get outraged because I'm holding my own—"

"You hesitated just now. What ever fighting technique you were going to use clearly is one you think can do actual damage, so quit holding back and fight me for real before you make me really angry," Vegeta interjected, his surly tone crisp as he sized her up.

Huffing at that, she went into her more predatory stance and unfurled her hands from fists into Crane-style pose, her hands configured in striking pattern with her lethal nails pointed deftly towards him. The sun gleamed across the sharp talon-like nails just before she advanced with her super speed straight towards Vegeta, aiming her palms to strike at key pressure points along his torso. The mercurial Saiyan dodged each strike, but was unable to counter without chancing coming dangerously close to being sliced or pierced.

Suddenly, she phased out and phased in at his side, managing to successfully strike a hit just under his armpit that pierced through his armor to send a jolt that startled him more than pained him. Reflexively striking his arm outward, he clipped her and caused her to spin away before she recovered and barreled right back at him with her fist pulled back for a decisive blow that would've connected with his cheek, but she suddenly halted and turned towards the palace when she sensed Piccolo.

Taking advantage of her distraction, Vegeta spun around and punched her across the face, his fist large enough to connect with her cheekbone and catch the corner of her mouth before her head was whipped to the side.

Mr. Popo and Trunks gasped at the blow and watched when Sofia seemed to shudder before she planted her foot firmly to her side to prop her from spinning further and falling to the ground. Turning slowly to face Vegeta, instead of the stunned expression he coveted and expected, he was disarmed by the ferocious look in her crimson eyes as they gleamed with a fiery zeal to accompany the wicked smirk that pulled across her lips. Shocked, he watched as her hair tussled wildly while her tongue darted out to lick the blood from the gash his punch had caused at the corner of her mouth. Grin widening to show off her fangs as the gash knitted shut, she returned his blow with a stunning uppercut punch to his jaw, which snapped his head backwards and caused him to slightly waver.

Jaw dropping, Trunks stared in awe as Vegeta shook the punch off and glared back at her. Sofia was beaming now as she fell back into her predatory fighting stance after tossing her long, dark hair back and out of her face.

Absently caressing his jaw, Vegeta couldn't help the gloating smirk pull at his lips as he drawled, "Now that's more like it, stealth."

"Heh, a compliment from the Prince of all Saiyans, eh? I must've punched you harder than I intended," Sofia quipped, smirking back at him.

Vegeta grunted dryly at that before turning his cocky gaze from her to just over her shoulder. "About damned time, Namek."

Freezing, Sofia fell out of stance and turned sidelong to follow Vegeta's glance and saw Piccolo standing at the threshold of the palace entrance. He was glaring across at them, eyes narrowed and expression etched in stone while his tattered clothes hung on him.

"Whoa…" Trunks muttered as he marveled at Piccolo's heightened power level.

Snickering, Vegeta loped across the distance to climb the stairs and pass Piccolo for direct course to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. "All this time, and it seems you haven't changed a bit. I take it you spent the year napping in there?" the brash Saiyan shot snidely as he walked by Piccolo, pointedly glancing over his shoulder and smirking derisively when the warrior only stewed at having stalked out of the chamber to witness the spar's conclusion. "That was a nice little session, stealth. Maybe we'll do it again sometime," he snickered and made an aloof gesture that could be considered a wave over his shoulder as he phased out of sight.

Tensely glancing after his father, Trunks cleared his throat as he remarked, "At least that went pretty well."

"Hmph," Sofia huffed wittily at that and glanced over at Mr. Popo. "Sorry for stressing you out."

"No harm done. Vegeta's entered the chamber, so his year has begun. I'll go get you all some refreshments," the ebony genie smiled as he turned and went about to complete the errand, leaving the lavender-haired fighter to stand between Piccolo and Sofia.

Sizing her up, Piccolo couldn't help but let his gaze wander over her luscious form. She was in the accursed Saiyan battle uniform he hated so much, but now found so damned alluring on her. She looked like a ferocious hellion as she stood there, eyes burning a shade of garnet when they finally focused on his. Before he could think to say anything, she turned, as if sensing something happening below on Earth, and stalked away without so much as a greeting.

Trunks picked up on her guarded demeanor the moment she'd seen Piccolo, and chalked it up to whatever upset had happened the day before he'd entered the chamber. He must've rebuffed her from entering to train with him, just like Dad did to me. Sighing, he turned and tried to diffuse the awkward tension by remarking, "Your training in the chamber worked out great I take it. I only hope I can ascend in strength to the degree you've managed the next time I go in—"

"You can spare the chit-chat," Piccolo grumbled tersely, sliding his cold stare over at Trunks before glancing back to follow Sofia, who'd trudged over to the closest edge of the Lookout.

Blinking at him, the longhaired fighter nervously nodded and sat at the stoop of the palace entrance, abandoning all attempts at conversing with the brooding warrior.

'No need to be so rude towards him, Piccolo,' Nail muttered tersely. 'If you're still nursing that jealous streak—'

'I'm not in the mood for your commentary.'

'When are you ever?' Nail condescended back, adding, 'And don't be obstinate with us because you've spent a year in a rut of your own making.'

'We warned you of this, but you didn't take us seriously. It's high time you go to her now and apologize before things just get more tenuous—'

'Kami, I won't tell you this again. She and I will be fine. I do not have to go and have a powwow about our feelings right now!' Piccolo snapped brusquely.

'At least say SOMETHING to her then? Go over there and acknowledge that you want to talk to her and daresay, APOLOGIZE to her for the way you treated her before you entered the chamber?' Nail pushed, tenor tone teeming with aggravation towards the stubborn Namekian.

Brooding, Piccolo ignored his counterpart and watched her tensely before he registered the happenings down on Earth that had distracted her away.

Sofia was sensing Cell's onslaught on the Royal Army's military forces that had gathered to take him out, only to be decimated in several offensive attacks. Was that supposed to happen today? I could've sworn they attack much later… Her skin was crawling at the feeling of so many low energy signatures dim simultaneously as hundreds of lives were taken by the conceited Android. Frowning, she shut her eyes and tried to detach from her ability to sense such devastation, but failed, feeling useless and complicit. Standing here while people die…what the hell am I even doing here?!

Turning, she treaded away from the edge and reached out for Goku's ki signature. She hoped he'd come up to the Lookout soon and progress the next necessary sequence of events in order to have an advantage against Cell and bring back all those lost since the bioengineered Android surfaced on Earth. Before she could lock onto the Saiyan's energy level, Mr. Popo appeared around the corner from the palace, carrying a tray of refreshments. "Oh, Sofia! Please come relax and have something to drink."

Skidding in her pace, she turned and smiled meekly. "I'm ok, Mr. Popo. I'm not really thirsty—"

"Just humor an old genie?" he smiled and held up the refreshments. Relenting, Sofia walked over and took a glass of water, and drank it down. "I meant to speak to you earlier and apologize."

"Huh?! For what?" Sofia blinked at him, disarmed and not sure what the ebony genie would need to be sorry for.

"Well, I should've checked on you yesterday…but I just haven't seen you so upset, and didn't really know how to be helpful in the moment," the genie frowned. "I know now it would've been nice to have someone to talk to."

"You have nothing to apologize for," Sofia stoically sighed, and placed her empty glass on the tray. "I appreciate you caring though. I'm going to take your advice and relax," she smiled and turned to walk back towards the center courtyard, avoiding glancing at the palace's entrance, where the others were.

Humming sadly, Mr. Popo took the other refreshments over and offered them to Piccolo and Trunks. While the demi-Saiyan guzzled his down, Piccolo declined and just kept staring at Sofia. 'She's ignoring me…' he telepathically muttered.

'After the way you behaved? What else did you expect?!' Nail chastised.

'I expected her to be rational and put personal feelings aside for later,' Piccolo grumbled.

'She's clearly doing that, Piccolo,' Kami huffed. 'Otherwise, she would have verbally eviscerated you by now…'

Grunting, Piccolo realized he had a point. Crossing his arms, he watched as she went into her kata stances, but unlike the typical sequence of training combos, her eyes were closed as she honed her inner aura and energy outwards. The radiant, pulsating tendrils of ki framed her and flickered like a molten glow that reverberated and danced around her. He realized this was her attempt at centering her psionic powers before controlling the impressive energy to her whims. When she took a deep breath and centered her psionic energy to move at her whim, he remembered the time she'd showed him the training sequence. *"It's a technique Kyouran learned during her demon slayer training—well, actually her title was Demon Destroyer, but that's only cuz she was groomed to be more ruthless—"

"Sofia, you're going off track," he'd playfully interrupted, causing her to pause in mid inhalation of breath. "So this is how you've gotten so damned quicker."

Nodding proudly, she showed him the technique. Taking in a measured inhalation of breath, she suddenly sped across to him and instantly put him on the defensive in their spar session. Before he could even assess how she was able to move so quickly, he realized her strength and stamina were boosted to their upmost level, and she wasn't even powered up. Smiling, she let out the charged exhale of breath, and it steamed out of her mouth as if her system was scalding. Her body's hidden aura seemed to vaporize the air around her. Blinking at the sight, he fell out of his stance and let her pose in that gloating, cheeky way of hers as she chirped, "Cool, huh? The other priestesses were human, and to have any kind of chance fighting demons, they used total concentration breathing to boost their heart rate and blood flow. The concentration of oxygen into the blood stream fueled an increase in speed and burst in fighting prowess. For Kyouran? It made her even more formidable! She barely ever powered up to fight, but was insanely quick and never tired!"*

Watching her now, he couldn't help miss how she'd looked at him then, full of excitement and pride, brimming with love in her eyes for him. Instead, she practiced at a distance, her guard up and her aura leaking around her as she exhaled a charged breath that made her look even more like a furious sprite who was teeming with resentment.

Hands undulating and flexing to channel and direct the energy around her, Sofia tried to drown out all her anger and just find the calm that the particular training sequence always provided her, but the thoughts in the back of her mind were fixating on the simmering resentment and anger that had been piling up for days.

Why not just do what you wish?

The thought annoyed her, and caused her aura to spike, simmer and scintillate about. Just when she was about to turn the question back around on herself, Goku suddenly phased in, right in front of her. Startled, the Saiyan backpedaled when her palm strike came inches away from his nose.

"Yikes! Sorry about popping in like that. It's such a pain that I can't sense you, Sofia," Goku lamented and nervously grinned at her. "Saiyan suit?! So you were the reason Vegeta's power level kept spiking, eh?"

Shaking off her thoughts, she let her aura go dormant as she scoffed at his supposition. "It was just a friendly spar, but yeah, we killed some time until Piccolo got out of the chamber."

"Oh yeah, speaking of Piccolo," Goku chortled as he turned and rushed over to the palace, where Trunks and Piccolo were surprised to see the Saiyan still in his relaxed, powered-up state. "Hey guys! So Piccolo, you knocked out some great training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, huh?"

"Yeah, but you already knew that," Piccolo huffed, eyeing him crisply.

"I can tell it did wonders! You got way stronger than you were before—"

"Stop with the idle banter and get to the point. I'm stronger, but you don't think I'm strong enough to be a match against Cell," Piccolo groused, curt with his former archrival.

"Nope! You don't stand a chance," Goku pleasantly declared, earning a grunt and smirk from the Namekian while Trunks gaped at the admission.

"I can at least count on you being honest," Piccolo muttered aloofly, glancing over at Sofia when she loped over. "So what brings you up here? I know it's not to shoot the breeze."

"Well I was thinking," Goku began before sobering to ask, "Can you and Kami split apart again? That way, the dragon balls will reactivate and we can use them to wish all the people back to life that were killed by Cell!"

Scowling, Piccolo replied, "It's not possible. Once two Namekians fuse, they're permanently joined. That's the reason why I was so hesitant to merge with Kami to begin with. We can never be separate entities again."

"Ah man…" Goku pouted.

Sofia was still ignoring Piccolo's gaze, but he watched as her eyes narrowed on Goku, as if she was expecting a follow up.

"Damn, it would've been great to have the dragon balls working again, if not to have them handy if things with Cell don't go in our favor," Trunks murmured, scowling thoughtfully.

Clearing her throat, Sofia raised a brow at Goku when he looked over at her with the child-like, wide-eyed turquoise gaze of his. "Is that it?" she prompted, hands on her hips and foot beginning to tap idly.

"Uhhhh, what did I miss?" Goku comically blinked at her.

Nose crinkling in impatience, she actually scoffed in a very Vegeta-like manner before she ruefully shook her head at him. The fact she was in her Saiyan-inspired battle outfit punctuated her demeanor's resemblance to that of the mercurial prince. "C'mon, Kakarot, think! What other options would be possible in achieving the reactivation of the dragon balls?" she barked, giving Goku a searing stare when he only hummed and crossed his arms as he began to focus with all his might.

"Oh wait!" the Saiyan suddenly shouted. "I remember Gohan telling me that the surviving Namekians had relocated to another planet out in space. All I gotta do is track them down and convince one of them to become the new Guardian of Earth – then they can bring back the dragon balls!" Goku declared triumphantly, earning a relieved sigh from Sofia.

"What?! How're you gonna manage that?" Piccolo grumbled. "We don't know where they relocated to, and there's definitely no time to go charting across the universe in search of them. That could take years!"

"Not at all! I can use Instant Transmission to get to them," Goku remarked. "After all, their ki signatures are a lot like yours, so I'll just try and ping onto them."

"Oh, that would be wonderful! I would love to have a new guardian to keep me company here," Mr. Popo remarked, smiling ear-to-ear.

"You can sense energy that far away?! They could be on the outer edge of the universe for all we know," Piccolo reasoned, taken aback that the man was so confident in his abilities.

"Well he won't know unless he tries, now will he," Sofia snapped, getting very irritated. "Go on, dude."

"Sure thing!" Goku declared and raised his index and middle fingers to his forehead and began to concentrate. As he reached out with his mind to hone in on a similar ki signature to Piccolo's, the Namekian glanced sharply at Sofia as she stood defiant and trained her fiery stare on Goku. Suddenly, the Saiyan purposely glanced around and declared, "Nope…no dice!"

Balking at that, Piccolo and Trunks faltered into comical stares while Goku laughed nervously.

"So much for that then," Trunks muttered flatly.

"Ugh!" Sofia huffed in exasperation as she grabbed the lapels of Goku's casual black and orange varsity-styled jacket and railed as she shook him, "I can't take it anymore so I'll speed this shit up. Go to King Kai's place! You'll be able to hone in and sense the Namekian ki signatures from there way better, and you can ping onto them and leap frog to their planet, then back to King Kai's and onto Earth!"

Goku let her shake him as he goofily yelped, "Yeah-that-makes-sense!"

Letting him go and exhaling her impatience, she tossed her head back and huffed, "Good! Now go before I really lose my cool, Kakarot!"

"Okie-dokie! I'll be back in a flash," Goku laughed before using Instant Transmission to wink out of sight.

"This seems like a stretch…do you really think he'll pull it off?" Trunks inquired dryly.

"He's either a secret genius or a complete lug-head, so I say you shouldn't rely on it if that's what you mean," Piccolo grumbled.

Sofia turned on her heel at that and pointed admonishingly at him as she barked, "Ye of little faith! Why don't you just shut the hell up and give Goku the respect he deserves for ONCE and stop your salty quips at his expense."

Eyes shrinking to pinpoints, Trunks nodded vigorously in compliance while Piccolo tensed and inwardly fumed as his cheeks began to burn with a violet, consternated blush. Mr. Popo stared in awe at the exchange. Storming off, Sofia went and sat off to the side by a line of arborvitaes, arms tightly crossed over her chest and head bowed.

'How DARE she speak to me like that?!' Piccolo was furiously growling telepathically at his counterparts, who were unmoved.

'You act as if she's still your trainee,' Nail drawled.

'She'll speak to you just as you spoke to her,' Kami rumbled curtly.

'Oh, you two are just enjoying this—!'

'We are not!' Kami and Nail shouted back at him in unison.

Before Piccolo could retort, Goku suddenly appeared, with a small Namekian at his side. "Hey guys! Here's our new guardian," he declared jovially.

"Dende?!" Piccolo gasped, surprised that the healer-class Namekian was the one chosen to take the leap and travel back to Earth.

"Oh how wonderful! I'm so happy to meet you," Mr. Popo remarked pleasantly as he greeted his new companion.

"You stay right here while I go grab Krillin and Gohan. They're going to be so psyched!" Goku chimed before winking out of sight.

Sitting from where she was, Sofia watched as Trunks greeted Dende as well just as Goku returned. Krillin and Gohan were so happy to see their old friend, merrily greeting him and congratulating him on being the new Guardian. The endearing scene softened her demeanor, so she stood and loped over.

"Oh! Have you met Sofia, Dende? She's our friend," Gohan announced and grabbed Sofia to pull her over to greet the shy Namekian.

"Hello, Dende," Sofia kneeled down and extended her hand congenially. "It's very nice to finally meet you."

The wide-eyed Namekian stared at her and was taken aback by her appearance before he shook her hand sweetly. "Hello. Are you a warrior too? I cannot sense any ki from you," he inquired curiously.

"Yep! It's a very long story, but maybe we'll chat once you've settled into the job," she smiled serenely, earning a nod and kind expression from Dende.

"So, what's with the outfit?! Did you take a trip to New Namek with Goku or something?" Krillin inquired sardonically at Sofia as he eyed her attire.

"Nah, but hey, this is better than brief underwear, arm and leg warmers, right?" she quipped, earning goofy laughs from Gohan and Krillin at the Zarbon reference.

"Alright, enough with the chatter! Are you really up for the challenge, Dende? Tell me you have the training necessary to become Guardian of Earth and revive the dragon balls," Piccolo gruffly inquired.

Goku chimed, "Ease up, Piccolo! That elder guy said Dende is the best and totally the right candidate for the job. That's enough for me."

Sofia stood and shot him a searing glare. "Seriously. Being so snide about his qualifications when Nail can obviously vouch for him. Dende is legit, and will make a fantastic Guardian of Earth," she muttered standoffishly at him.

Gohan and Goku sensed her temper towards Piccolo and didn't understand it, but knew better than to ask, while Krillin and Trunks were just gawking at the exchange until Mr. Popo cleared his throat and asked, "Dende, do you think you can revive the existing dragon balls? They're currently turned to stone, but I'm sure that would be easier to handle than having to create new ones from scratch."

"Huh? Oh, yes! If the current ones are still around, I just need a model of your dragon so I can revive them,"Dende explained.

As the others chimed in wonder about the kind of ritual Dende would have to perform, Sofia reined her temper in and knew she needed to take a breather, so she walked away from the group and headed for the archway around the palace steps where she knew a small, inner courtyard with a fountain was, and didn't realize Piccolo had tailed her.

Just as she took a cleansing exhale and stood in front of the fountain, she sensed Piccolo storm up behind her. When she pointedly ignored him and tried with all her might to keep her anger bottled down, he telepathically attempted, 'Sofia, I will not have you behaving petulantly in front of the others, so if we need to tal—'

'How DARE you presume to come and lecture ME!' she bellowed over their rapport. Disarmed by her sudden psychic strength after days of barely being able to speak over their rapport, Piccolo was struck by her overwhelming and palpably turbulent response. Her psychic energy was such that she was not only telepathically shouting, but projecting her inner state as a furious astral form of herself enveloped in a fiery aura, her eyes blazing rancorously at him. 'Who the FUCK do you think you are to DEIGN telling me what to do—thinking I will be spoken to and treated like a useless NOBODY?!' The telepathic onslaught completely astounded Piccolo as he stood in the astral plane of their rapport and gaped at the furious Amazonian being that was radiating pure fury as she pointed at him and shouted, 'YOU ARE OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND TO THINK I WILL BOW TO YOUR DISRESPECTUL BULLSHIT AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! If you EVER disrespect me like that again—!'

'ENOUGH!' Piccolo roared back at her, having snapped out of his stupor.

In an instant, they were both just standing in the small courtyard again, glaring daggers at each other. The chatter from the others was off in the distance, and the sound of the water fountain was the only murmur around. Hands clenched into fists at his side, Piccolo was staring irately at her while she was glowing with a subtle, red aura, eyes blazing still.

'Listen to me. Whatever feelings you have towards me right now are not important enough to derail things. You and I will talk about it once we're done with Cell, and things go back to normal—' Piccolo's stern commentary was cut short when Sofia turned away from him.

'Who are you to tell me what's important?!' she hissed acrimoniously. 'You don't know ANYTHING that's supposed to happen, but yet bark orders at me and presume to lecture me on my involvement in events you have NO UNDERSTANDING of.'

Becoming enraged, Piccolo snapped, 'I'm so sorry I'm not from another realm where this world is just a trite entertainment franchise I glibly watched and know EVERYTHING about, but since you're so goddamned all-knowing, either actually contribute more than your reckless battle know-how or just stay the hell out of it!'

Turning slowly to stare at him over her shoulder, Piccolo expected a murderous look from her, but instead saw something that crushed his flaring anger and wrenched his heart.

"Fine."

In the blink of an eye, Sofia had sped out of his sight. Kami and Nail were shouting at him to run after her, but it wasn't until he heard, '—she's going to LEAVE—!' that he propelled himself to follow her. He caught sight of her at the palace entrance as she grabbed her backpack without stopping and headed into the magical edifice. Confused, he went after her, not realizing the others had paused in their convo to see him rush into the palace.

Confused, Gohan went over and followed, feeling a sudden worry resonate in his mind.

'Where the hell is she going?!' Piccolo shouted as he tried to follow after her through the halls of the sprawling palace.

'She's going to the mirror!' Kami shouted at him, and projected the memory of Sofia standing in the room where he'd stored her mirror years before.

"Sofia!" Piccolo shouted after her as he rounded the corner and saw the wide door to the room ajar. Speeding towards it, he entered just as she was stepping through the mirror's surface before disappearing. "No!" He ran to face the standing mirror's reflection and saw it calm and go dormant, only displaying his own bewildered, disarmed expression.

"Piccolo, what's going on?"

Turning to stare at the doorway, Piccolo saw Gohan's bemused look. When he didn't know what to respond, the pre-teen stared at the mirror he was in front of.

"Where's Sofia?"

---

"She's GONE?! What do you mean she's gone?!"

Piccolo winced as Goku hit an octave he'd never heard before. The Saiyan's turquoise eyes were perplexed while his facial expression was the combination of confused bewilderment.

"So wait – you're saying she went back to her dimension, through some mirror?" Trunks inquired, flummoxed by the sudden turn of events. "I don't understand, why would she do that?!"

'Because Piccolo is a pigheaded MORON!' Nail shouted vehemently in frustration, as if anyone but Piccolo could hear him.

"Wait a minute, guys! Just because she went back doesn't mean she's gone for good, right?" Krillin reasoned, adding, "After all, she's done so much to help keep stuff from going completely off kilter from their intended sequence, so I doubt she won't come back."

Goku pouted as he hummed lamely at that. "Well, I guess you're right…but why would she—"

"I know she'll come back."

Everyone paused and looked over at Gohan, who had a reassuring look in his turquoise eyes as he looked at everyone else.

"Look, no matter what the reason, Sofia will be back. I know it," Gohan firmly declared. "In the meantime, we have to keep focused on the upcoming tournament against Cell, and with Dende here now, he can restore the dragon balls."

Proud of his son, Goku patted him affectionately on the shoulder. "Well said, Gohan. You're right. Let's worry about what we can control for now. Dende, with the model of Shenron Mr. Popo has, is that enough for you to restore the dragon balls? Oh – and can we get way more wishes too? That would sure come in handy!"

"Yeah! Can you make it so the dragon can grant three wishes, like the one on Namek?" Krillin inquired to the young Namekian.

Piccolo was thankful that Gohan managed to redirect the conversation to pressing concerns. "And while you're at it, can you make it so a single wish can resurrect multiple people at the same time? For example, wishing that all those killed by Cell can be brought back to life?" he suggested.

"Sure, but the total number of wishes would drop down to two," Dende responded, awing the others.

Once Mr. Popo retrieved his model of Shenron, Dende was able to begin his recitations in resurrecting the dragon and the magical orbs. While he did so, Piccolo found himself stewing again. He still couldn't shake the worry that he'd lost Sofia forever. As the others watched Dende undertake the ritual, the brooding warrior felt lonesome for the first time in years. It was a hollowing feeling that he only had himself to blame for. He felt suffocated by the thought of never seeing her again suddenly, and had to grapple with that panic in that moment just before the ritual was completed and the energy beams scattered across the Earth to revive each of the seven dragon balls.

"It's done. If everything went accordingly, the dragon balls should be ready to be used now," Dende declared, earning the other's cheers and astonishment.

'At least I get to see Dende being the selfless, kind Namekian I always knew he'd become. The Earth has found itself a noble guardian,' Nail mused proudly.

'He's already helped right my wrongs with the dragon balls and given the others the hope they need to face that monstrous Cell. Very well done,' Kami agreed, very pleased with his successor.

"Now that they're active again, it's probably a good idea to gather the dragon balls now so we have them when we need them. I'll go get the dragon radar from Bulma," Goku reasoned. "Since you're all set with your training, you can hang out up here with Dende," he mused to Gohan, who was surprised at the suggestion.

"Good idea, Goku! We'll chill up here and catch up," Krillin gave his friend a thumb's up.

"Sounds good! Oh, and when Sofia comes back, let me know," Goku remarked jovially, but before he could use Instant Transmission to disappear out of sight, Trunks stopped him.

"Wait, Goku. Can I ask you something? How're you so calm still about fighting Cell? Does he have a weakness you know about?" the long, lavender-haired demi-Saiyan inquired.

"Nope! I'm pretty sure he's practically invincible," he amiable retorted and flummoxed the blue-eyed fighter before comically waving and winking out of sight as he said, "See yah later!"

"…Well shit," Trunks huffed wryly, not sure what to make of the flippantness of the hero's demeanor. Turning to ask the others if they had any idea why Goku was so unworried about their prospects against Cell, Trunks didn't notice how Piccolo was only half listening to them.

Dende and Mr. Popo were so immersed in the conversation that they didn't pick up on the surly energy the brooding warrior was putting out until he declared suddenly, "Maybe Goku's already accepted defeat…or is just in dense-headed denial."

Everyone paused to absorb that, so when Piccolo turned and stalked off, they figured it was just his antisocial way of saying he was uninterested in doing anymore surmising of his former archrival's motives. In reality, he was creating physical and emotional distance from the chaos that had managed to monopolize his every waking moment for the last few days. His tenacious focus had caused him to neglect and alienate his twin star, and his rage was turning into a furious self-loathing he couldn't bare to duel with around others.

'What if she never comes back...'

Nail didn't know what to say to his stubborn counterpart. Kami, on the other hand, delicately mused, 'You just have to believe that she will, Piccolo.'

Unsure he could do anything else but brood, the Super Namekian turned his sights to the horizon ahead, and stared off until his mind was blank.

---

As soon as she stepped through the mirror, she instantly regretted her impulsive decision.

Standing in the room she barely recognized, Sofia realized she had no clue what she potentially just walked into after years of being in another dimension. Staring about the now vacant bedroom, she realized it was night, and the room was eerily lit from the lamppost light out on the street at the front of the house that filtered through the slightly ajar window blinds. All the posters, furniture and belongings that had been in her old bedroom were gone, only leaving the outline of where each had been on the walls or stood on the carpet. Stepping into the center of the room, she whirled around slowly and closed her eyes, using her senses to reach out and detect whether she'd alerted anyone else in the house of her return.

I don't sense anyone… she thought to herself before gingerly approaching the door, which was slightly ajar. Peering out into the hall, she didn't hear or see any activity that indicated anyone was in the house. Walking out into the carpeted corridor, she glanced into the other bedrooms, and found them equally vacant. Nearing the staircase, she peered into the master bedroom and found errant boxes and what looked to be discarded bubble wrap strewn in the room. Blinking at that, she glanced down the staircase and noticed all the photos that used to be hung along the wall were gone. Just the outline of where they'd hung remained. Quickly descending to the first floor, she saw how the lower level was vacant of all furniture and appliances. On the kitchen counter were other discarded packing items, and she noticed a pink slip copy of what was a moving company's invoice. Heading over to read the paper, she noticed the signature and lingered on the 'move to' address listed. "Huh…they left the island," she murmured to herself before absently glancing at the French doors that led out to the patio. Going over and finding them locked, she unlocked one of the doors and went out onto the tiled patio. Frowning, she realized she had hoped to see Prince, but shook her head admonishingly at the ridiculous notion that the black and white dog would be waiting for her still.

Walking onto the grass, she saw the whole where she'd discovered her necklace years before was now covered; the sod was greener than the rest of the lawn around it. Kneeling down, she caressed the blades of grass and ruefully smiled, suddenly overwhelmed with a flood of memories.

"What the hell am I doing here," she whispered to herself as she glanced up at the night sky, staring up at the moon as it peeked out from behind dark clouds. "I can't go back now…but there's literally nothing here for me…"

Standing, she sighed, struggling to not let her despair swallow her up as she found herself alone in the place that represented the past she'd fought to let go of. Huffing at herself suddenly, she decided that instead of going down dark memory lane, she should take advantage of her abilities and see what she could do in this realm after years of honing her extraordinary powers. Levitating upwards, she smiled at the thought of being able to fly and see the world the way she'd always fantasized about when she was a kid. Ascending to hover in the sky, she glanced around and saw the neighborhood and others beyond dimly lit. Taking flight to jet across the night sky, she surveyed the island below as she flew around, tracing the coast before going higher and higher above the clouds. Bursting through the clouds with a laugh, she admired the glowing moon before she let herself descend like a skydiver back through the clouds before she propelled her ki to blast her across towards the horizon she saw bleed into darkness just beyond the lights of the island. "Hah! Let's do some globetrotting," she chimed to herself before blasting across the sky towards the east, flying at a breakneck speed that cleared her from the Caribbean and the Atlantic over the large continent of Africa in minutes. As she flew, the rays of the sun were creeping ahead of her along the horizon, and she chased them until she crossed the globe towards what looked like parts of Asia below. Smiling she did a couple of barrel rolls and drops as she laughed and flew gracefully in the air while being mindful not to let her ki leak into her aura and create a contrail.

"Wait! After all these years, I can finally check out Japan," she cackled as she now flew across a sunny sky filled with fluffy clouds around her. Dipping below the column of clouds ahead, she heard the rumble of something approaching before narrowly missing flying into a jumbo jet that was bustling past. Hovering and watching the plane jet by, she caught sight of one passenger looking out their window and balking at her. Cringing, she phased out to quickly descend out of airspace and was more careful with how she was coursing through the sky. Seeing a series of islands ahead, she flew towards them and scanned the terrain until she could see towns and cities come into focus the closer she got. "Oh wow," she gasped as she saw the sprawling cityscapes woven along the magnificent geography created by the archipelago. By the height of the sun, she could tell it was noon in the closest city below, so she phased out to land on the nearest skyscraper so she could get a better look at where she was.

The streets were bustling with vehicles and throngs of people below, and all the buildings were impressive monoliths along avenues, with parks, railways and shrines dotted throughout. It wasn't until she noticed the tall, red tower in the distance that she realized she was in Tokyo. "Cool!"

Descending down to a lower building, she used her agility to parkour across the urban landscape high above the streets below as she neared the center of the metropolis. As she zigzagged along the tops of buildings at a decent speed she knew the human eye would not be able to detect, she looked around in awe, admiring the sites and trying to guess just where in the city she was. By the looks of my orientation and where Tokyo Tower is…I must be near Shibuya! She zipped along until she phased out to land in a crouch on top of a quaint looking train station. Glancing avidly about at the streets that intersect around the station, she noticed a circuitous district ahead of her that was practically bumping with activity. Holy shit—Harajuku?!

Smiling broadly, she realized she stumbled onto the iconic district that was filled with tourists, locals and otakus, renegades, edgy teens and shops bustling with everything kawaii. She was about to phase down to try and blend into a large crowd that was leaving the train station below when she picked up on angry shouts from the back of the building.

Peering over the ledge, she saw a group of teens heckling and hassling a kid, surrounding him as they shoved him and caustically jeered his outfit. He was gripping something in his hands for dear life, and they were obviously trying to snatch it from him.

"I told you to give me that pass, but if I gotta bash you into the ground for it, I will!"

"No! Just leave me alone—!"

The teen suddenly opened his eyes when he felt his personal space freed from the oppressive bullies that had circled him. Staring in shock as they each were scattered on the ground in bewildered shock, the teen barely realized there was a tall woman standing next to him until she barked, "Back off, jackasses!"

Getting up and dashing away, the group of teens ran off shouting, leaving the disarmed teen to stare in awe at her before blinking at her outfit. "…Ehhh?"

"Sorry! Just thought you needed help," she responded and smiled at him before turning to walk away.

"W-wait! How'd you do that?! I didn't even see what you did to get those assholes off my back," the teen inquired passionately.

"Nothing! But I gotta go—" Sofia began to dismiss.

"Are you going to the convention too?"

"Convention?" she blinked at him, cocking her head at the question.

"Well, yeah! Your cosplay looks really awesome. Did you make it yourself?" the teen asked as he marveled at her outfit, and Sofia slowly realized she was still wearing her version of Saiyan battle wear. "The fabrication must've taken you months!"

"Uhhh…yeah," Sofia mused, taking the time to eye the teen more closely to realize his outfit was part of some kind of cosplay too. "Who're you supposed to be?"

"Oh c'mon, isn't it obvious?!" he protested and stomped his foot. "I'm Kamado Tanjiro! From Kimetsu no Yaiba?"

"…Haven't seen it," she genuinely shrugged, and earned a deflated reaction from the boy. "But hey! I've sorta not kept up with stuff for a while, so don't mind me."

"Well, I was heading to the convention, but that jerk's from my school. He's always bugging me, and had his douche friends follow him just to hassle me and try and take my pass," he held up the convention pass attached to the lanyard securely fastened around his neck. "It took me a whole year to save up for it!"

Leaning close to read the pass, Sofia's eyes went wide. "Whoa, Anime Japan?! Nice!"

"Right?!" the teen smirked, before inquiring, "But aren't you going? Or is this Harajuku cosplay just for the hell of it?"

"Uh, well—"

"Yuuto! What the hell, man!"

Both turning, Sofia saw as a group of teens in wild outfits rushed over to them. "We're going to miss the train! We've been waiting on yah," one teen styled with fake freckles, wearing a green bodysuit and green-styled hair frowned at the boy next to her.

"Sorry! Reo was hasslin' me again," the Tanjiro cosplayer muttered. "Anyway, let's head out—wait, where's Kenjiro?"

"He got grounded, dude!" another boy wearing a white-haired wig and black facemask that obscured his features from his nose down exclaimed. "His parents went mental on him for flunking that last chem test, so he's stuck at home. He gave us his pass. You should've seen him, tears in his eyes—"

"Ugh, can we go?! We're going to blow seeing the main panels, and I'm not going to miss out on the bonanza contest!" the female friend dressed as what she was guessing was some version of a Naruto character barked at the others, before noticing her and raising a judgmental brow. "Who's this?!"

"Oh, that's right, I didn't even catch your name," the Tanjiro cosplayer, Yuuto, mused as he stared up at her.

"She's hella tall for a chick," the first friend whispered over to the white-haired teen.

"It's cool, it sounds like you gotta go to the convention ASAP, dude. I'll just head out—" Sofia began jovially, gesturing aloofly for him to go about his way.

"Sorata, didn't you say Kenjiro gave you his pass?"

"Uh, yeah," the teen held up the prized lanyard with the laminated badge hanging off of it.

"Hey, if you're not doing anything, why not come along with us to the convention? You can use this pass to get in," Yuuto declared, snatching the pass out of his balking friend's hand and offering it to Sofia. "I mean, I don't think your DBZ cosplay is retro enough to be cool for Harajuku," he quipped, earning Sofia's startled expression.

"That's really sweet, but I…I don't have cash for the train ride there."

"I can cover you! It's the least I can do for saving my ass earlier," Yuuto offered, eyes exuberantly staring almost into her soul as he shoved the pass into her hands. "C'mon, let's go before the next train takes off!"

---

"So, how long did it take you to fabricate the Saiyan armor?!"

"And where'd you get your contact lenses? They're super-realistic!"

"And what's your cosplay? Some DBZ OC from one of the RPG's?"

"Uhhh," Sofia's head was spinning from all the questions each teen hammered her with as they walked towards the convention center, pass around her neck and her trusty backpack securely fastened to her back as she slightly towered over them and earned stares from other groups in the crowd around the plaza. "The armor I made in one day, the lenses I ordered special, and…sure," she answered carefully as she smiled sheepishly.

"Ooo, and the teeth?! Those fangs are the best I've seen!" the green-haired boy inquired, marveling at her. "Are you an exchange student or something? Your Japanese is flawless—!"

"Dude, that's rude," Yuuto huffed.

"What?! It's just a question."

"Thanks," Sofia snickered before glancing at the other girl, who was staring down at her phone. Impressed, she glanced over her shoulder and catalogued how advanced the mobile device was. "What's that?"

"I'm checking the hashtag for the contest. It looks like teams are already posting stuff!" she grumbled, shooting the boys a glare as she drawled, "I told you guys I would tag along if we participated in the contest, and we just blew most of the day away!"

"What contest?" Sofia inquired as they entered the admissions line and waited their turn to go through security.

"The organizers did a huge sponsorship and are giving away hella-crazy prizes for the team with the most Likes using the festival hashtag! The team with the most Likes nominates 1 member to run the gauntlet of prizes, where you can take home as much as you can carry from all the sponsor swag you can get your hands on and cross the finish line under 5 minutes," Sorata explained, eyes twinkling as he whispered, "I need to get me a big, flat screen monitor for my gaming~!"

"Dude, you can barely do a sit up, and you're going to walk out of there with a flat screen under your arm?" the green-haired teen muttered, earning a frown from the boy.

"So what're the rules? You just post stuff?" Sofia inquired again, eyeing the crowd and seeing cosplay she actually recognized. "Wow, that's a sick Sephiroth…"

"Oh, THAT cosplay you know," Yuuto pouted goofily at her.

"Hell yeah. Don't judge me for being old school," Sofia grinned.

"The point is to do the most zany, viral stuff and post it using the hashtag. It can be anything as long as it's not raunchy or gross," the girl, Hamiko, replied, adjusting her Konoha headband after they cleared security.

As they continued to explain the premise of the contest to Sofia, they entered the massive and sprawling convention center. It was wall-to-wall exhibits, booths, people, and screens displaying anything and everything anime.

Yuuto pointed his fabricated black nichirin sword over at a group of cosplayers doing goofy dances in front of a booth. "See? They're uploading that Boomerang, and if it gets tons of Likes, they can qualify for the main event!"

"Huh…so, as long as it's something 'viral', we'll qualify?" Sofia pondered, not noticing the leers a group of older cosplayers were giving her thanks to her formfitting Saiyan bodysuit.

"Yeah!" the boys shouted in unison while Hamiko rolled her eyes and nodded along.

"Hmmm, alright then…"

---

Staring in flummoxed awe at her phone, Hamiko and the others gaped as they watched all their uploads surge in views and Likes while Sofia chatted congenially with an Ichigo cosplayer just behind them.

"Holy shit, dude. We're…gonna qualify?!" Togarashi, the Deku cosplayer, wheezed out in a breathy pitch.

Scrolling through each upload, they watched as Sofia's impressive stunts and fanciful encounters with other cosplayers she turned into iconic gags and loops managed to propel their team to the top of the leaderboard, which was displaying along the main screen in the center.

"So? Are those good?" Sofia asked as she wandered back over to them and peered over their shoulders.

"Good? We're NUMBER 3 on the leaderboard!" Yuuto exclaimed and stared at her when she glanced up at the board and hummed, as if it was a quaint notion. "We have 10 more minutes before the submission period closes!"

"Alright, so one more?" she grinned, and looked around the room. "Oh, how about I do that obstacle course and do the Floss, then the Benny Whip before going into a breakdance at the top of the buzzard board?" Sofia propositioned as she pantomimed her plan out for them.

Staring at her as if she was insane, the teens looked at each other before Yuuto said, "One of us will have to run the course with you to get the shot."

"Yeah, but just make sure you get to that spot, and you're golden. I'll get to the top, so all you gotta do is time it right," Sofia explained simply before clapping her hands and declaring, "Alright, c'mon!" and running towards the course.

"…Can it really be that simple?!" Sorata inquired, incredulous.

Grabbing Hamiko's phone, Yuuto declared, "Only one way to find out!"

---

The entire convention center went wild when she spun in her breakdance to freeze in a one-handed handstand before she flashed the peace sign with her free hand. Yuuto's jaw was still dropped as he continued to record her flipping back onto her feet and pose as she dramatically hit the buzzard of the obstacle course, while the other runners clamored at the bottom, in shock.

Staring down at the screen, Yuuto quickly typed in the hashtag and uploaded the video.

"That should do the trick!" Sofia assured, startling him to jump and look over his shoulder at her appearing so quickly at his side.

"Y-yeah! How did you do that?! Where'd you learn—?"

"YUUTO! Look!" Togarashi shouted vehemently from the sidelines and pointed at the screen.

With 2 minutes to go, their team account had bumped to second place before zooming to the top of the leaderboard and flashing brightly.

"The Shibuya Soba Crew are #1!" the announcer shouted exuberantly over the speakers, heralding shouts and cheers to go up all around them.

"Holy shit…" Yuuto gasped as the others swarmed around him and Sofia, shouting and losing their minds with excitement.

Staring up at her, he was at a loss for words, so she winked at him and chimed, "Now, let me run the gauntlet. Just be sure to give me a list of all the stuff you want me to grab, cool?"

---

Sofia nodded sagaciously as the event staff explained the rules while she filled out her release form, allowing them to stream her bonanza gauntlet prize run and absolving them of injury liability while the others stood on next to the event announcer and watched on. She'd memorized a list of all the offerings each of her teammates requested after they showed her the catalogue of sponsor prize donations. With just 5 minutes to run the prize room course, she had to follow a prescribed pattern in the room, running it clockwise and not backtracking sections of swag. If she dropped anything, it was forfeit and she'd have to wait until the next pass to grab the item again.

Most of the prizes were the latest in tech and media, and by definition, heavy and packaged items that most would not be able to double up on, let alone carry to the end of the course. There were a few items she'd spotted on the catalogue that she'd totally wanted for herself, but figured she'd concentrate on grabbing all the prizes she could for the others.

"Here we go! #RedEyes is about to run the course, and with just 5 minutes, does she stand a chance of taking home the top swag items in the bunch?! Let's find out!" the announcer hyped up as the camera feeds went live, streaming video of her and the radius of the sprawling prize-filled room. Everything was arranged along a loop, with the finish line being the same as the starting line. "Can the Shibuya Soba Crew walk away with the glory? It's all on you, Red-eyes!"

Sofia snickered at her nickname as she got in place at the starting line.

"There's no way she can pick up the amount of stuff we asked for in 5 minutes. You guys are being jerks," Hamiko huffed at her friends as she held up her camera phone and hit record, hoping to capture the run for her blog.

"Uh, you're the one who cares the most about this damned contest, so why don't you just cheer her on! I'll be happy to walk away with an external drive," Sorata grumbled while Yuuto and Togarashi nodded along.

"Whatever," Hamiko mused and hushed them as the lights overhead began to blink, initiating the countdown.

As soon as the light flashed 'Go!' Sofia was in the sprawling hall. The cameras weren't quick enough to capture her advance, but by the time she was at the top of the loop, she had items under each arm. The officials were scrambling to keep up with her on the monitors, but had managed to focus the streaming camera on her as she walked across the finish line with boxes of gadgets propped under her arms, and it'd only been 25 seconds. Balking, they watched as she placed the haul on her designated drop off table before she turned and ran back into the hall. She did 6 more trips through the gauntlet before the first minute was up, and each time she had a bounty of items that should've been too heavy and bulky for one person to carry, let alone to stock up on and haul with ease.

"HOLY SHIT!" Sorata and Togarashi shouted in unison while Hamiko recorded and gaped. Yuuto's jaw hung open as he watched Sofia waltz to the finish line again, with a stack of flat screen TV's and computer monitor boxes balanced in each arm. She had yet to drop a single item due to weight or haste.

The judges and event organizers were scrambling to keep track and validate her run. Looking up at the clock, she realized she had a minute and a half left, so she hustled back through and picked up even more items, the bulk of which were things she'd wanted and some gifts she planned to take back with her. The most coveted items in the bunch were the external hard drive pre-loaded with Terabytes of music and media, the latest model mobile devices, and the bundle pack sound system, equipped with latest generation mp4 player. Snatching each up with ease, she juggled them seamlessly in her grasp as she picked up more bonus items before crossing the finish line just as the light flashed red and the siren blared overhead.

"SHE DID IT!"

Sofia flinched as a raucous cheer roared through the building and everyone seemed to lose their minds with excitement. Her team rushed her and practically tackled her with joy and exuberance at the ridiculously impressive showing while the judges and event sponsors freaked out in the corner.

Once the promoter had begrudgingly squared away all arrangements to transport and deliver the insane abundance of prizes the team divvied up, Sofia was left with a decent haul of her own that she'd managed to store away after the others preoccupied the officials with their delivery info, allowing her to sneak off to a green room and encapsulate all the items she'd picked up for her portion of the prize bounty.

The food sponsors hustled them into another room where they were treated with all sorts of goodies and snacks, all to Sofia's delight. As she helped herself to takoyaki and ramune, she and the team posed for sponsor photo-ops and did mini interviews to be streamed throughout the festival. Once the press calmed down, Sofia had Yuuto and Hamiko show her how to load her first-ever iPod, and she was overjoyed to scroll through the music library of literally thousands of songs, both old and new. They were amazed at her excitement about getting what they considered the tamest prize in the bunch, but kept it to themselves even when she opted to use the standard corded headphones instead of the latest model cordless airpods.

"This is the best day of my life!" Togarashi yelled fanatically as he bounced around, cheering along the steps around the others.

Shaking his head at his rambunctious friend, Yuuto chimed, "Safe to say, we're gonna be the talk of school next week."

"Who cares! We got all the swag~!" Sorata celebrated and shook Hamiko playfully. "Best blog content ever, right!?"

"YES! I just posted it, and it's already trending," Hamiko smiled beamingly.

Sofia laughed before she took a long sip of the bubble tea from the food sponsor smorgasbord earlier. "Ah, well I had tons of fun. I'd totally intended to just wander around today—check out all the spots I'd read about and researched back in the day, but this definitely was a cooler way to spend the day," she mused genuinely.

"Who knew I'd be glad to have gotten hassled, otherwise none of this would've worked out," Yuuto chuckled.

Sitting on the steps of the plaza, they chatted for a bit more before each teen had to head home. When Yuuto and Sofia were left to say their goodbyes, the teen offered to pay for her ride back on the train, but she politely declined. When he pushed for them to exchange phone numbers, she smiled sadly and explained, "I don't live here, dude. I actually left home abruptly and don't have a place to stay. It was great to have the distraction, but hanging out with you guys made me remember everything I left behind, so I'm gonna leave and head back as soon as I can."

"I figured you were dealing with something, but didn't want to pry. I get it, though," the cosplayer smiled and bowed in farewell as he said, "It was awesome meeting you! Thanks for dominating the contest for us!"

"Hah, anytime, dude," she bowed and smiled. Waving as she walked away, Sofia used the throngs of traffic to fade out of sight.

---

Once she'd touched down on the dewy grass of the backyard, she felt a sense of exhaustion and anxiety hit her at the same time. Dawn was quickly approaching, meaning she'd spent a lot of hours away, which she knew converted to being days gone back at home.

"Home." She focused on the notion, and realized that yes, that was her home. It had been her place of refuge and belonging for a long time, and the sudden ache in her heart caused by her mind flashing to all the most cherished moments she'd experienced back home inundated her then. Wiping the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand, she rushed up to the patio and into the house. Making sure to lock the door behind herself, she raced up to the second floor of the vacant house and went back into the bedroom where the sliding door mirror was waiting for her. Before she could even think of mustering up the preternatural ability of summoning the mirror to change, she caught a quick glance of her glowing red irises in the reflection. The surface began to ripple and gleam at her before reverberating to reveal the other dimension just beyond it.

Taking a sobering breath, she hopped through the mirror's surface and appeared on the opposite side, back in her home dimension.

The room she was in was dark and only had the standing mirror in its center. Turning, she watched as the surface went dormant, only reflecting her image and surroundings now.

Exhaling, she contemplated her reflection, and with a snap of her fingers, conjured a brand new outfit for herself before she swung her backpack strap loose from one shoulder and posed.

He's our twin star, but he doesn't deserve our forgiveness…

The thought caught her off-guard for some reason, so she shook her head and tried to clear her mind of any anger.

*—since you're so goddamned all-knowing, either actually contribute more than your reckless battle know-how or just stay the hell out of it!*

The reminder of the last thing Piccolo said to her flashed across her mind like a solar eclipse and reverberated resolutely within her.

"Tch!" she gritted her teeth and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind herself.

---

"Kakarot is still idling around looking for the damned dragon balls?!"

"Yes."

"And you're all just what – standing around being even more useless than usual?"

Piccolo's temper vein was beginning to get defined at his temple as he continued to try and ignore the pompous, exasperating Saiyan.

"C'mon, Vegeta! There's plenty of time until the tournament, and my Dad will get all the dragon balls collected before then. No need to be edgy—" Gohan attempted to interject jovially as he stood between the former villains-turned-allies.

Vegeta cut the demi-Saiyan's retort short by giving him a measured glare and grunting low in his throat before snapping, "I wasn't talking to you, brat! Don't think we're equals just because you've become a Super Saiyan."

Dende and Krillin were watching on from the center of the courtyard, where they'd been camping out the last few days. After the mercurial prince had exited the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and his son from the future had gone in for his last turn, Vegeta had been absolutely insufferable. Not that the former monk would ever have the guts to say as such to the other fighter.

"Why don't you go be insufferable somewhere else, Vegeta. You look as bad as your goddamned temper. Not to mention smell worse than that," Piccolo suddenly shot in a dark, laconic tone over at the shorter man, crossing his arms and staring down at him for good measure.

Vegeta actually sputtered for a moment before his features darkened with dangerous outrage and his eyes blazed for a moment before he suddenly glanced around Piccolo towards the entrance of the palace. Piccolo was confused for a second, especially when the pompous prince's expression went from livid to smug so suddenly.

"Well, look who wandered on back," Vegeta grunted in a drawl.

Turning, Piccolo locked eyes on Sofia, who'd just emerged from the entrance of the majestic palace after days of being gone through the mirror.

"Sofia!" Gohan shouted and ran over to her. "Whoa, nice threads!"

"Hah, thanks! Harajuku street wear don't look half bad on me, huh?" Sofia joked and did a silly spin for her friend.

"No idea what that is, but sure! Why'd you take off though?" Gohan earnestly inquired, his still-turquoise eyes wide and guileless.

"Hey Sofia! Nice to have you back," Krillin remarked as he and Dende walked over. "And dare I say, not a minute too soon. Your arrival just diffused a possible skirmish between those two," the shorter man conspiratorially muttered to her and gestured towards Vegeta and Piccolo.

"Oh, is that a fact?" she snickered dryly as she glanced over at Vegeta, ignoring Piccolo completely. "How long has he been out of the time chamber?"

"A day. Trunks should be coming out himself soon," Gohan replied. "There's still four and a half days until the tournament, so everyone's kind of getting rowdy, I guess," he remarked to her, earning a nervous laugh from Krillin.

As they continued to chat, Vegeta grunted with amusement as he muttered, loud enough for Piccolo to hear, "She certainly doesn't disappoint, I will give her that. Perhaps the boy will have time before the tournament to seal the deal…" and loped away casually, leaving the Namekian to stew and let his jealousy clamor for supremacy in his mind to fixate on just what the damned Badman meant by that.

"—I'll tell you all about it later," she'd assured Gohan when he inquired on why she'd left.

"So you ran back to your dimension and all you brought back is that lousy outfit, stealth?"

Sofia glanced over at the owner of the gruff, snarky drawl and caught Vegeta's goading smirk. "So says the dude who's been wearing the same busted outfit I last saw him in days ago. Wait—that you wore into the chamber, so you've had the same outfit on for a year!" she playfully grimaced before adding, "I wouldn't expect you to appreciate fashion, but if you must know, I brought tons of goodies back with me, and none are for you," she chortled sardonically before comically sticking her tongue out at him.

Vegeta was about to shoot an acerbic retort back before his attention was pulled to the massive power level that had just exited the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Everyone also turned to admire the awesome ki signature.

"Whoa, Trunks really got strong this time around!" Krillin chimed as Dende hummed in awe.

"Nice. So we're still on track, pretty much. Good," Sofia remarked as she waltzed past the group as she continued, "You all just gonna stay up here until the day of the Cell Games?"

"Cell Games?" Gohan raised a golden brow at the moniker.

"Oh, yeah, that's what he'll end up calling the tournament," Sofia explained, catching Vegeta's pinched reaction. "Cell doesn't have much imagination. He didn't inherit that from your genetics, it would seem."

"A backhanded compliment, eh?" Vegeta grunted aloofly, crossing his arms over his damaged armored chestplate and straining his dingy bodysuit that was struggling to contain his brawny physique.

"Oh, you love it," Sofia purred in a silly voice and gave him an impish grin. "But seriously, are you just gonna stay up here for the next four days? Cuz I sure as hell ain't. We can meet up here day of the tournament, but there's no point in loitering up here until then, so I'm heading out—"

"You're quite carefree after gallivanting off. So what, we shouldn't stay on guard?" Vegeta cut in, eyeing her questioningly.

Rolling her eyes, she half shrugged and leaned her weight on one hip as she made an aloof gesture with her hands. "Do whatever the hell you want. I'm through telling you guys anything, but hanging around up here for a day while your clothes struggle to fit you ain't my idea of a party, unless you're into that sorta thing," she derisively wrinkled her nose puckishly at him.

Instead of taking umbrage, Vegeta scoffed with amusement at that. "You presume to know the kind of things I'm into," he groused with a wicked edge to his tone, one that unnerved the others, but amused Sofia.

"It ain't presumption when I literally know you, Vegeta. There's probably nothing you could do or say that would surprise me, and it sure wouldn't scare me, so why not admit we're just too bad ass for our own good, which means we're gonna be the bestest of buds!" Sofia declared jovially and with charisma after suddenly phasing in close to the mercurial fighter and leaning platonically against his back, with her elbows propped over each of his shoulders as she tilted sideways to grin mischievously at him.

The others face-faulted at the odd display, especially when Vegeta's only response was to scoff in acerbic humor at her brazen and fearless encroachment of his boundaries. "And they say I'm the insufferable one," he chuckled bitingly after she phased away from his personal space and gave him her most winning, fangy smile.

Unbeknownst to them, Trunks was watching the quirky display from the alcove window of the staircase that led up to the walkway of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Seeing Sofia after the year he'd spent training, the blue-eyed fighter recognized now that he was smitten with her. Now if he could only muster up the courage to act on it—

"You should go by the house," Trunks heard Gohan suggest to Sofia once he perked up as he remembered his father telling him to let him know once she'd returned. "Dad's out looking for the dragon balls still, but it'll be great to take a break and spend time—"

"That's ok, bud. Your dad's busy, and we can hang out some other time," Sofia interjected gingerly as she ruffled his golden-transformed hair affectionately. "I actually got some stuff I want to drop off at Capsule Corp, but maybe I'll swing by Mt. Paozu tomorrow, cool?"

"Uh, sure. That's cool," Gohan replied, cataloguing Sofia's demeanor towards the subject for reflection later.

"Come off it, stealth. Are you saying we shouldn't train in the interim, or just that you plan on idling around like the rest?" Vegeta inquired in a gruff tone, eyeing her skeptically.

From the distance, Piccolo watched and heard the conversations. He wanted to avoid any torrid displays of anger and resentment between he and his twin star in front of the others, but also was listening in for the right moment to reach out to her and hash out their differences. Seeing her look so unruffled and confident was a perplexing mix of attraction and bewilderment, for some reason. Wearing a formfitting long-sleeved black peplum top with a peek-a-boo mesh panel that showed off a tease of her midriff and hood that dangled backwards from the square-shaped collar, a distressed acid-blue pair of perfectly tailored joggers with fit and flare in all the right places while showing a hint of ankle thanks to the cuffed pant legs, and black high-top Vans sneakers with the iconic white stripe along the side, she stood out from their group even more than usual. He watched her adjust her backpack from her shoulders and begin to walk towards him while the others offered their "see you laters!"

"I'm telling you, Vegeta, if you're gonna stay up here just to spite me I'm gonna take advantage and try out your Gravity Simulator," Sofia shot over her shoulder at the Saiyan, who barked a laugh at her audacity.

"They'll know not to let the likes of you mess with such advanced equipment, stealth," he dismissively chuckled and turned to see his future son finally lope out of the palace entrance and out to the front steps. Don't disappoint me, boy!

Piccolo's heart was beating fast, for some reason, as she approached his general direction. He was standing near the outer circumference of the Lookout's edge and she seemed to be staring in his direction, but through him. He inwardly gulped, wondering if she was just playing it cool for his sake in front of the others or if she was truly pissed at him still.

"Sofia!"

Pausing, she turned and was surprised to see Trunks rush over to her.

"You're back! I'm glad," the handsome demi-Saiyan remarked in a tense exhale as he fumbled with something in his glove-clad hands.

"Whoa, Trunks! Your power level is serious stuff now. I didn't think you could even get stronger than the last time, but this blows your strength from before completely out of the water," she chimed and smiled at him, taking in his more defined features now and even longer length of lavender hair as the soft strands lingered down his shoulders to graze mid-bicep. His Saiyan armor and bodysuit were equally as battered and well worn as his father's, clinging to his muscular form that seemed even more chiseled than before.

"Heh, thanks. Oh," he remembered what was in his hands and offered it to her. "Here, I'm not sure if I was able to fix it totally, but, I put all the pieces back together."

Trunks placed her once-damaged Walkman CD player in her hands, leaving her startled and speechless as she stared down at her old tech possession. "Oh my god, it's just like it was before," she marveled as she opened up the case and comically flipped it to different angles as she appraised it before pulling her backpack to the side and digging out her old headphones. Plugging them into the player and hitting the 'On' button, the music laboriously came to life before steadying to a normal playing ratio. "This is amazing! I can't believe you where able to fix this!" she beamed and smiled ear to ear for the first time in a long time. At least that's what Piccolo realized as he watched her smile widen and her eyes crest with effervescent joy before she suddenly pulled Trunks in for a one-armed hug, disarming the usually bashful fighter. "Thank you so much! This is the most epic thing ever!"

Piccolo's seething jealousy began to grind through his stoic demeanor as he cleared his throat authoritatively, stirring Trunks to remember how protective the fighter was of his former pupil and pull away rapidly from the hug while a confused Sofia shot an aloof glare over her shoulder at her twin star, letting her gaze linger on his in stark focus for the first time since her return.

"Anyway, thanks, for real. This is one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me," Sofia continued as she glanced away from Piccolo and addressed Trunks again. "I told the others they don't have to hang around up here until the tournament, so if you get bored, head to Capsule Corp and spend some quality time with your mom and grandparents, got it?" she glibly instructed as she punched him platonically on the shoulder and playfully winced as she shook her hand, impressed with his dense muscle mass.

"Hah, that doesn't sound like a bad idea. I just might do that," he smiled.

"Good!" Sofia declared after putting her fixed CD player and headphones into her backpack and securing it over both shoulders before offering him a parting wave and waltzing closer towards Piccolo and the edge of the Lookout.

Now was finally his chance to talk to her and hopefully not rouse her ire or any attention from the others.

'Sofia, look, I'm—'

The irises of her eyes flashed garnet at his telepathic attempt as she slid them furiously at him, and suddenly he felt a reverberating field sever their rapport entirely as she put up her psychic guard against him. The force by which she repelled his telepathy stunned him enough to just end up watching her breeze past him before she leapt off the Lookout's edge and blasted at full speed across the blue sky. The finality of her rejection was like a shock to the system for him.

Trunks had long backtracked to chat with the others, so Piccolo vacantly assumed he at least was spared their attention as he turned to face the horizon ahead, feeling hollow and numb suddenly.

'…She said she would never do that…'

Nail sighed, while Kami tried to be the voice of reason. 'She's upset, Piccolo. Perhaps some space is what she needs—'

'She was gone for days in a completely different dimension. Wasn't that enough space?' he argued, but the anger didn't reach him completely. 'I screwed up…'

'You did, and you have time to make it right with her,' Nail attempted. 'She holds grudges, sure, but there's nothing like an apology to settle her ire.'

'She did tell Gohan about stopping by Mt. Paozu tomorrow,' Kami mused. 'That might be the right time to speak to her.'

Grunting, Piccolo let his gaze get unfocused and faraway as a sense of stoic calm came over him, grasping at that strand of hope, straining not to lose it.

---

Thanks for reading! Please consider leaving a review and sharing your positive, constructive feedback. I would be eternally grateful to receive reader's comments.