I groaned as I opened my eyes, my head was beginning throb again.
"You're awake."
I looked up to see Bulma sitting next to me. "What happened?" I asked, trying to focus my mind.
"You fainted."
"Oh." I looked down. I was lying on some sort of sleeping bag. My staff lay on the ground next to me. I tried to sit up, but stopped when the world starting to spin.
"Here." Bulma handed me a glass of water. I thanked her hoarsely and sipped the water.
"Have you eaten anything, besides the fish?" Bulma asked, opening a capsule that sprouted forth a box containing hundreds of bottles.
"Um, no," I began, my mind slightly foggy, "Wait, there was that weird plant by the dome houses."
"Ah, I see," said Bulma, digging through the box, "That stuff's poisonous for humans." She stopped and looked at me. "You are human, aren't you?"
"I think so," I replied, watching her resume her digging. "Where I come from I am." My mind returned to my current predicament... how the hell was I going to get back?
Bulma gave a small cry of triumph as she lifted a bottle out of the box. She took a pill out of the bottle and handed it to me, indicating that I was to swallow it. I looked at the pill, then at her. 'Ah, what the heck,' I thought, downing the pill.
"That does feel better," I said. My mind was clearing and my stomach had stopped kicking me.
"So," said Bulma, her face thoughtful, "Tell me about your dimension."
I looked at her doubtfully. How was I supposed to describe my reality? I studied her. She looked about my age, a red headband seated amid her green hair. I looked down at the cup of water. I decided to start with the main subjects.
"Well, there we only hear of Saiyans and the dragon balls as a story."
"You mean they don't exist?" Bulma looked surprised.
"We don't think they do, but we're a very secular society. Dragons and aliens are mostly fiction to us."
"I see," murmured Bulma, "So what do you look for then?"
"We still try to get wishes granted, only without the dragon balls it takes a different kind of effort than looking for items all over the country. We're all after the same things: fame, fortune… happiness."
"I guess," she said thoughtfully. "So, how do you like this dimension?" She smiled at me, her eyes becoming weird little semi-circles.
"I dunno," I answered, plopping my head back onto the sleeping bag. "I haven't met anyone else… except for Vegeta." I snapped my mouth shut, my eyes wide. 'Uh-oh,' I thought.
Bulma's eyes snapped open when I mentioned the Saiyan prince. "Y-you ran into Vegeta?"
The emotions were beginning to rage again, like a whirlwind through my mind. I turned my head away. What was wrong with me? "H-he was dying," I managed softly, willing my voice not to quiver. My mind felt strange, what was this weird emotion that kept welling up?
Bulma quietly scooted over to me, gently stroking my long hair. She made soft little crooning noises like a mother does to her crying child. "It's okay," she whispered quietly.
"I'm sorry," I sat up, my hand on my forehead, trying to stem the flood of thoughts and emotions in my mind. "I haven't had much experience in dealing with death."
Something in my abdomen twisted, like it did when I lied. 'But I'm not lying,' I thought. Ignoring it, I continued, "I don't really know what to do when a person dies in front of me."
"Don't worry," Bulma laid her hand on my shoulder, "It's normal to hate watching people die."
"I know, I know," I murmured, but that was something else, something deeper. Covering up the uncertainty with resignation, I turned to her and smiled weakly.
"I know how it feels," she whispered, "Krillin died too, and Goku died a couple of times. But the dragon balls brought him back."
'So I might see Vegeta again,' my mind thought. 'Why the hell did I think that??' I thought straight after. My face must have looked confused, because Bulma looked at me questioningly.
"Um, did you know Vegeta?" I asked, trying to continue the conversation, saying the first thing that came to my mind.
Bulma lowered her eyes, her brow furrowed in thought. "Well," she began after a pause, "I didn't really know him, but I met him."
"Oh, you didn't know him that well?"
"Not really. As far as I know, he is one of the most arrogant, stuck-up, egotistical person I know." Bulma's statement was said matter-of-factly, not spitefully.
"I guess that's what comes with being a Saiyan prince," I mused.
"Which he mentions every three statements," said Bulma, then she lowered her voice to try and sound like the conceited Saiyan prince. "I am the high and mighty prince Vegeta. How dare you be taller than me, Kakarrot?"
I giggled, then seeing Bulma's exaggerated scowl, I burst out laughing. Bulma couldn't hold the scowl and joined me in a giggling fit.
It was then Gohan wandered over. "Whatcha laughin' at?"
"N-nothing," giggled Bulma, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, beginning to calm down. "I'll go check on the dragon balls."
"Will you be all right?" She turned back, looking at me worriedly.
I smiled, "Yeah, thank you."
She grinned and walked away. I turned to Gohan.
He was looking at me intently, and grinned bashfully when I looked at him questioningly. "You're very pretty," he said, looking at me with big kiddy eyes.
My mind sniggered. 'You should see some of the other girls in my reality, kid,' I said in my head.
I smiled at him. "You're kinda cute yourself," I replied, patting the ground next to me. Gohan walked over and sat down.
"Really?" He tinged pink.
"Yeah, I'll bet you'll be a real lady-killer when you grow up." He definitely was going to be one, as far as I knew. I'd seen more than enough pics of a grown Gohan.
Gohan grinned a weird grin and held his hand to the back of his head.
"And with those huge Saiyan muscles, the girls won't leave you alone," I leaned over and tapped his nose with my finger.
Gohan went bright red and looked down. "I'm only half-Saiyan," he mumbled, trying to be modest, "The other half is human."
"And you better be damn proud of it." I pretended to frown, waving my finger in his face. He laughed then leaned back on his hands to look at the sky.
"Are you human?" he asked, "Cause I can't sense you."
"Where I come from I'm human," I answered, turning my own head to the sky. "But I don't know why you can't sense me. What does it mean if you can't sense me?"
"Usually it means that you're not alive," answered Goku, walking over the join his son. "But you look alive enough to me." He smiled as he sat down next to Gohan.
"Oh." I mumbled, quietly staring at the sky. I wasn't sure what to think, I already had too many things to think about as it was.
Suddenly, an explosion rocked the ground. 'Not again,' I thought, but stopped short as a flying pod landed nearby.
A figure stepped out of the pod, his tail thumping onto the ground.
'No,' I thought, my heart crawling back into my throat.
"So, Kakarrot, I've finally caught up with you," a weird voice said, and my heart dropped down to my belly.
'Freeza,' I thought, 'but this isn't where he was supposed to meet Goku." My presence must have slowed them down. What other drastic events could I have changed just by being here?
Goku calmly stood up. "What can I do for you, Freeza?"
Freeza laughed. My spine chilled and my heart stopped beating for a second.
"What do you want you overgrown lizard?" Bulma yelled, but whimpered when Freeza turned to look at her.
"Annoying human." Freeza narrowed his eyes, "I might have to kill you, too."
Bulma yelped and ran behind a rock, but Freeza sent a chi blast at the rock, disintegrating it easily. He stretched out a hand towards Bulma, and I could see the power crackling around his fingers. She looked frozen in fear.
"No!" The yell escaped my lips before I could stop it.
Freeza turned to look at me. I forced my knees to lock so I wouldn't collapse under his gaze.
"Another human," he said, his black lips curling in a sadistic smile. "Maybe I'll start with you."
"Leave them out of this," growled Goku, powering up.
"Don't worry, I won't forget you, saiyan," Freeza's voice dripped with malice as he spit out the name of the almost-exterminated race.
Before I could react, Freeza stretched out his other hand to Goku while snapping his already outstretched hand towards me. I opened my mouth to scream as I watched a chi blast heading straight for me.
My feet refused to move, but my mind was racing. 'No.' The single thought echoed through my mind as the world seemed to slow down. 'No, no, no, no, no!' As my mind pronounced each syllable I felt an anger begin to build up in my belly, a rage burning in my chest. How dare this despicable lizard presume to end my life? It was my life, dammit! My parents always said I needed to control my temper, but there was no parent to stop me now. The rage began to course through my veins as teeth clenched in hatred.
"No!" The yell was more a shout of defiance rather than fear, and I saw surprise on Freeza's face.
I stretched out my hands and disintegrated the two chi blasts. Gohan, who was running towards me, stopped short, staring at me. Goku and Bulma looked at me in shock, but it was nothing compared to the shock on Freeza's face. I grinned spitefully at Freeza, and I felt the familiar rage taking hold. But this time I felt a power behind the rage, it was no longer plain anger. I felt the power accumulate in my outstretched hands.
Turning to Freeza, I let out a shout of fury as the raw power exited my hands in red streaked beams. They impacted Freeza, throwing him onto the ground.
"No," I heard him wheeze as he tried to get up. I walked over to him, the dust settling around me. I actually saw fear on the pitiful lizard's face.
"No… more… killing… for you," I said, enunciating each word in his face. My hands began to glow again as I stretched them over him. The glow lit up his terrified face as the beams shot out again, and in a second, he was no more.
As the rage began to seep away from my veins, I felt my knees weaken and I slid to the ground.
"Are you all right?" said Bulma, rushing to my side.
"Whoa," said Gohan, staring from me to the spot where Freeza had been.
Goku walked over and helped me up. "Sorry I ruined your fight," I mumbled, collapsing against him as my knees refused to lock.
"What do you mean?" he looked surprised. "You just saved us a lot of time."
"I guess that's the end of Freeza," murmured Bulma, popping open a capsule. Goku's ship appeared with a cartoonish "poof".
'Never ceases to amaze me,' I thought, but my mind wavered unsteadily.
"H-he might be back," I whispered, remembering the Dragon Ball Z series. I saw Bulma's lips move in a question, but her voice drained into a receding whirlpool along with my surroundings as I let the darkness slip over my eyes.
__________________________________________________
Next chapter: On the way home... home?
"You're awake."
I looked up to see Bulma sitting next to me. "What happened?" I asked, trying to focus my mind.
"You fainted."
"Oh." I looked down. I was lying on some sort of sleeping bag. My staff lay on the ground next to me. I tried to sit up, but stopped when the world starting to spin.
"Here." Bulma handed me a glass of water. I thanked her hoarsely and sipped the water.
"Have you eaten anything, besides the fish?" Bulma asked, opening a capsule that sprouted forth a box containing hundreds of bottles.
"Um, no," I began, my mind slightly foggy, "Wait, there was that weird plant by the dome houses."
"Ah, I see," said Bulma, digging through the box, "That stuff's poisonous for humans." She stopped and looked at me. "You are human, aren't you?"
"I think so," I replied, watching her resume her digging. "Where I come from I am." My mind returned to my current predicament... how the hell was I going to get back?
Bulma gave a small cry of triumph as she lifted a bottle out of the box. She took a pill out of the bottle and handed it to me, indicating that I was to swallow it. I looked at the pill, then at her. 'Ah, what the heck,' I thought, downing the pill.
"That does feel better," I said. My mind was clearing and my stomach had stopped kicking me.
"So," said Bulma, her face thoughtful, "Tell me about your dimension."
I looked at her doubtfully. How was I supposed to describe my reality? I studied her. She looked about my age, a red headband seated amid her green hair. I looked down at the cup of water. I decided to start with the main subjects.
"Well, there we only hear of Saiyans and the dragon balls as a story."
"You mean they don't exist?" Bulma looked surprised.
"We don't think they do, but we're a very secular society. Dragons and aliens are mostly fiction to us."
"I see," murmured Bulma, "So what do you look for then?"
"We still try to get wishes granted, only without the dragon balls it takes a different kind of effort than looking for items all over the country. We're all after the same things: fame, fortune… happiness."
"I guess," she said thoughtfully. "So, how do you like this dimension?" She smiled at me, her eyes becoming weird little semi-circles.
"I dunno," I answered, plopping my head back onto the sleeping bag. "I haven't met anyone else… except for Vegeta." I snapped my mouth shut, my eyes wide. 'Uh-oh,' I thought.
Bulma's eyes snapped open when I mentioned the Saiyan prince. "Y-you ran into Vegeta?"
The emotions were beginning to rage again, like a whirlwind through my mind. I turned my head away. What was wrong with me? "H-he was dying," I managed softly, willing my voice not to quiver. My mind felt strange, what was this weird emotion that kept welling up?
Bulma quietly scooted over to me, gently stroking my long hair. She made soft little crooning noises like a mother does to her crying child. "It's okay," she whispered quietly.
"I'm sorry," I sat up, my hand on my forehead, trying to stem the flood of thoughts and emotions in my mind. "I haven't had much experience in dealing with death."
Something in my abdomen twisted, like it did when I lied. 'But I'm not lying,' I thought. Ignoring it, I continued, "I don't really know what to do when a person dies in front of me."
"Don't worry," Bulma laid her hand on my shoulder, "It's normal to hate watching people die."
"I know, I know," I murmured, but that was something else, something deeper. Covering up the uncertainty with resignation, I turned to her and smiled weakly.
"I know how it feels," she whispered, "Krillin died too, and Goku died a couple of times. But the dragon balls brought him back."
'So I might see Vegeta again,' my mind thought. 'Why the hell did I think that??' I thought straight after. My face must have looked confused, because Bulma looked at me questioningly.
"Um, did you know Vegeta?" I asked, trying to continue the conversation, saying the first thing that came to my mind.
Bulma lowered her eyes, her brow furrowed in thought. "Well," she began after a pause, "I didn't really know him, but I met him."
"Oh, you didn't know him that well?"
"Not really. As far as I know, he is one of the most arrogant, stuck-up, egotistical person I know." Bulma's statement was said matter-of-factly, not spitefully.
"I guess that's what comes with being a Saiyan prince," I mused.
"Which he mentions every three statements," said Bulma, then she lowered her voice to try and sound like the conceited Saiyan prince. "I am the high and mighty prince Vegeta. How dare you be taller than me, Kakarrot?"
I giggled, then seeing Bulma's exaggerated scowl, I burst out laughing. Bulma couldn't hold the scowl and joined me in a giggling fit.
It was then Gohan wandered over. "Whatcha laughin' at?"
"N-nothing," giggled Bulma, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, beginning to calm down. "I'll go check on the dragon balls."
"Will you be all right?" She turned back, looking at me worriedly.
I smiled, "Yeah, thank you."
She grinned and walked away. I turned to Gohan.
He was looking at me intently, and grinned bashfully when I looked at him questioningly. "You're very pretty," he said, looking at me with big kiddy eyes.
My mind sniggered. 'You should see some of the other girls in my reality, kid,' I said in my head.
I smiled at him. "You're kinda cute yourself," I replied, patting the ground next to me. Gohan walked over and sat down.
"Really?" He tinged pink.
"Yeah, I'll bet you'll be a real lady-killer when you grow up." He definitely was going to be one, as far as I knew. I'd seen more than enough pics of a grown Gohan.
Gohan grinned a weird grin and held his hand to the back of his head.
"And with those huge Saiyan muscles, the girls won't leave you alone," I leaned over and tapped his nose with my finger.
Gohan went bright red and looked down. "I'm only half-Saiyan," he mumbled, trying to be modest, "The other half is human."
"And you better be damn proud of it." I pretended to frown, waving my finger in his face. He laughed then leaned back on his hands to look at the sky.
"Are you human?" he asked, "Cause I can't sense you."
"Where I come from I'm human," I answered, turning my own head to the sky. "But I don't know why you can't sense me. What does it mean if you can't sense me?"
"Usually it means that you're not alive," answered Goku, walking over the join his son. "But you look alive enough to me." He smiled as he sat down next to Gohan.
"Oh." I mumbled, quietly staring at the sky. I wasn't sure what to think, I already had too many things to think about as it was.
Suddenly, an explosion rocked the ground. 'Not again,' I thought, but stopped short as a flying pod landed nearby.
A figure stepped out of the pod, his tail thumping onto the ground.
'No,' I thought, my heart crawling back into my throat.
"So, Kakarrot, I've finally caught up with you," a weird voice said, and my heart dropped down to my belly.
'Freeza,' I thought, 'but this isn't where he was supposed to meet Goku." My presence must have slowed them down. What other drastic events could I have changed just by being here?
Goku calmly stood up. "What can I do for you, Freeza?"
Freeza laughed. My spine chilled and my heart stopped beating for a second.
"What do you want you overgrown lizard?" Bulma yelled, but whimpered when Freeza turned to look at her.
"Annoying human." Freeza narrowed his eyes, "I might have to kill you, too."
Bulma yelped and ran behind a rock, but Freeza sent a chi blast at the rock, disintegrating it easily. He stretched out a hand towards Bulma, and I could see the power crackling around his fingers. She looked frozen in fear.
"No!" The yell escaped my lips before I could stop it.
Freeza turned to look at me. I forced my knees to lock so I wouldn't collapse under his gaze.
"Another human," he said, his black lips curling in a sadistic smile. "Maybe I'll start with you."
"Leave them out of this," growled Goku, powering up.
"Don't worry, I won't forget you, saiyan," Freeza's voice dripped with malice as he spit out the name of the almost-exterminated race.
Before I could react, Freeza stretched out his other hand to Goku while snapping his already outstretched hand towards me. I opened my mouth to scream as I watched a chi blast heading straight for me.
My feet refused to move, but my mind was racing. 'No.' The single thought echoed through my mind as the world seemed to slow down. 'No, no, no, no, no!' As my mind pronounced each syllable I felt an anger begin to build up in my belly, a rage burning in my chest. How dare this despicable lizard presume to end my life? It was my life, dammit! My parents always said I needed to control my temper, but there was no parent to stop me now. The rage began to course through my veins as teeth clenched in hatred.
"No!" The yell was more a shout of defiance rather than fear, and I saw surprise on Freeza's face.
I stretched out my hands and disintegrated the two chi blasts. Gohan, who was running towards me, stopped short, staring at me. Goku and Bulma looked at me in shock, but it was nothing compared to the shock on Freeza's face. I grinned spitefully at Freeza, and I felt the familiar rage taking hold. But this time I felt a power behind the rage, it was no longer plain anger. I felt the power accumulate in my outstretched hands.
Turning to Freeza, I let out a shout of fury as the raw power exited my hands in red streaked beams. They impacted Freeza, throwing him onto the ground.
"No," I heard him wheeze as he tried to get up. I walked over to him, the dust settling around me. I actually saw fear on the pitiful lizard's face.
"No… more… killing… for you," I said, enunciating each word in his face. My hands began to glow again as I stretched them over him. The glow lit up his terrified face as the beams shot out again, and in a second, he was no more.
As the rage began to seep away from my veins, I felt my knees weaken and I slid to the ground.
"Are you all right?" said Bulma, rushing to my side.
"Whoa," said Gohan, staring from me to the spot where Freeza had been.
Goku walked over and helped me up. "Sorry I ruined your fight," I mumbled, collapsing against him as my knees refused to lock.
"What do you mean?" he looked surprised. "You just saved us a lot of time."
"I guess that's the end of Freeza," murmured Bulma, popping open a capsule. Goku's ship appeared with a cartoonish "poof".
'Never ceases to amaze me,' I thought, but my mind wavered unsteadily.
"H-he might be back," I whispered, remembering the Dragon Ball Z series. I saw Bulma's lips move in a question, but her voice drained into a receding whirlpool along with my surroundings as I let the darkness slip over my eyes.
__________________________________________________
Next chapter: On the way home... home?