Beginning With An End

Part 11

Gohan stared out the open window, a distant glint in his eye.  The trees swayed gently in the consistent afternoon breeze… 'Hurry;' the words of his father echoed through his head.  But I don't know what to do, how am I supposed to defeat Nahmi…without defeating her?  How am I even supposed to bring myself to fight her?  Suddenly, the power of two great ki's hit him.  They were quite a distance away, but he recognised them both instantly.

"Trunks!" he cried and ran to the window.  He could sense them clash and drop off, one ki suddenly disappearing.  Just as suddenly, it reappeared stronger than before and the other died off somewhat.  "Trunks has found her," he said urgently, reeling around to Bulma and his mother, "and they're fighting.  Mom, I have to go find them." He looked down at the ground solemnly, and added in a soft voice; "I don't think Nahmi will stop at anything… she liked Trunks."

"Gohan," Chichi began pleadingly, but stopped and changed her tone submissively, "you take care of yourself, Gohan.  And always remember that I'm proud of you, no matter what."

"Thanks Mom," his stern face gave way to a brief, and very slight smile.  He was glad to know that this time, his mother knew what was important and wasn't going to try and stop him; he hated going against the wishes of his mother.  He drew in a deep breath and powered up.  "You don't have to worry; I'll be fine."  He took off through the window, Chichi running after him.  A wave of proud confidence overcame her; her son was the strongest in the universe!

"You can do it Gohan!" she called after him, waving from the window.  If only there were another way…but I know that the universe is in good hands.  But Goku, she pondered to herself, what plan were you talking about?

******

"King Kai!" Goku laughed, "You're the new Highest Judge!"

"Indeed," Guru nodded, "my congratulations!  It seems that you have been chosen to take Hikashi's place.  He proved himself unworthy of his honourable position by ignoring the greater need of the universe, and thus presented his soul as corrupt and no longer deserving, delivering it to…" he cast his eyes downward, "…shadow."  At that word, all in the room bowed their heads gravely.  Guru's voice suddenly cheered; "I do believe that this means that a greater good deems Goku's purpose worthy, and that we in fact no longer have a say in the matter, wouldn't you agree King Kai?"

"I…I…I…" King Kai stuttered and gulped, "…Me?"

"Well who else in the room is called King Kai?" Goku chuckled light heartedly.

"…M-m-m…me?" King Kai stuttered again, still quavering with disbelief.

"It seems he is suffering a little shock, the poor fellow!" The man with the beard chortled; "Though I must say, things are already a little less tense with the lack of one Hikashi!"

Everyone agreed heartily.  The atmosphere was no longer foreboding and the room had acquired a cheerful and pleasant feel.  King Kai, however, was still at a loss for words, and the anticipation of a judging had quickly slackened.

"Well, King Kai," Guru prompted, "All that you need to do now is allow Goku to take the final test, if you believe he is deserving."

"Of course he is deserving!" King Kai suddenly snapped angrily, "I wouldn't have gone to so much trouble if he weren't!"  He was breathing heavily, and had a slightly wild glint to his eye.  "Hikashi wasn't going to let him take the test – stubborn fool!  And then you are asking whether I am going to allow it?  Are you crazy?"

"Calm down King Kai!" Goku waved his arms soothingly.  The old man chortled again.

"The poor, poor fellow indeed!" he chuckled, "It certainly came as a shock, didn't it?"

"Shock!?" King Kai began, "You wouldn't even know the meaning of…"

"King Kai!" Goku interrupted forcefully.

"You keep out of this!" he turned on Goku, "you just go take your final test!  But," his voice finally lost its hysterical note.  He sighed, "it seems that you have managed to make everything turn out for the best…again!"  He waved his hands tiredly, "Go have your soul weighed.  This is your final test Goku, though in my opinion it isn't necessary – apart from the fact that you can't gain your halo without it, of course.  Anubis…" – the Jackal-headed man beside Guru stood to attention – "time to do your thing."

The odd man, obviously from the Egyptian culture, began walking towards a small door in the back wall to his right, barely noticeable in the grandeur of the magnificent hall.

"Goku!" King Kai said shortly with an indicative movement of his hand, "follow him!"

******

And the cat comes out to play…Nahmi purred to herself with delight…and you, my mousy-haired friend, can't do a thing about it!

The young girl, barely twelve, appeared boldly from behind a building directly in front of her opponent, and bombarded him with a wave of ki blasts – blasts that she deemed weak.  They hit their target at full power and surely took their toll.  Trunks let out a pained cry as his power level dropped dramatically.  She paused for a second, taken slightly aback by her own thoughts…maybe I should ease up a little – Nahmi was shocked that such a pathetic thought had even entered her mind.  Emotion, she scowled, what a weakness!  She began to gather energy for another attack…for that I should kill him!  she scowled.  He should never have come – I didn't need his help and never will!…Why should I spare him just because he is of my race?  Her eyes narrowed.

"Wait, Nahmi," Trunks breathed heavily, clutching his side in agony, "It's me, Trunks…I'm your…f-friend…"  It was an effort for him to even talk and he looked as though he would fall from the sky any second.

Th-that name…Trunks……friend?…Realisation played in Nahmi's confused eyes.  She suddely gasped…w-what have I done?  She found herself overcome with shock at what lay before her eyes – her friend – but she had done it so easily!…like it hadn't even been her…why don't I help him?

All thought paused for an instant, when a harsh wave of emotions overcame her and she gritted her teeth…he was sent to help me – I don't need his help…I need to conquer this planet!  She felt her expression soften slightly…

But why kill him, he is one of us, a Saiyan.

Yes, why waste energy on him that could be used for better purposes?  I will kill him if he gets in my way again!…But for now, he is but a useless waste of energy!  Her eyes narrowed harshly once more as she surveyed the damage she had caused.  A satisfied grin quickly formed…I have inflicted enough harm to stop him from breaching my cause…it may not be important to the mission, but it is – for some strange reason – important to me…She clenched a fist in determination…I must find my ship!…

But…she looked down at the ground with a pained expression, but it quickly hardened gravely…Buts and questions only cause complications…the mission is clear and simple.  Once I have found my ship, the mission will be completed within a matter of hours, so it is of no concern to him as to whether I begin the mission immediately or not…he himself is a danger to the mission and must be avoided at all costs – he awoke weaknesses…but…why-  She felt more and more niggling questions try to corrupt her frame of thoughts.  She winced, and forced herself not to even allow them to enter her mind.  Questions awake weaknesses.  With that, she turned her gaze from the haggard form before her unconcernedly and seemingly disappeared.

******

"Trunks!" Gohan grimaced, as he flew above the outskirts of the city, "don't worry, I'm coming!"

******

Goku shielded his eyes against the light inside the room, if a room it could be called.  Slowly his eyes adjusted, and he saw the source of the brilliant light…a feather.  It was weighing down one side of a giant golden set of scales that floated on a bed of cloud.  If there was anything else in the room, it was indistinguishable beside the splendour of the enormous set of scales.  A certain haziness filled the room, which contrasted greatly with the sharpness of what could have easily been the centrepiece of the entire world, possibly even the source of all the goodness and magnificence.

The Jakal-headed man, Anubis, gestured Goku towards the scales.  Talking seemed out of place here, and Goku replied only with a wide-eyed look of question.  Anubis gestured again, only this time, to a ladder.  Goku was clueless as to what he was supposed to do, so he simply followed the instructions of the strange being unquestioningly.  He climbed the ladder as the Egyptian God held the bottom steady.  It too, was made of gold and intricately engraved patterns intertwined around the rungs. The ladder, strangely, to Goku's surprise, took him to the empty side of the scales.  He looked to Anubis for guidance, and from his movements, seemingly lost in the beauty of the haze that engulfed him, Goku interpreted that he was to step onto the scale.

Everything in this room seemed inexplicable distorted.  As Goku stepped onto the scale, he noticed that he felt as though he had not spent all those grievous hours under immense gravity.  He felt as though all his outside layers had been stripped from him and all that remained was his soul.  He noticed that the scales were moving – ever so slowly – downwards.  He saw the feather rising along with the scale.  Suddenly, he felt as though the entire world had frozen, as though time itself had stopped: the scales were balanced.

The feather began to rise above the scale of it's own accord, and to his shock, so did Goku.  They rose, until they were floating exactly one foot in the air…when the room suddenly lost its mystique.  Goku fell back to the large but shallow basin of the scale, as the feather, no longer radiating light, fell also.  However, to Goku's surprise, the scale remained balanced.

"Goku!" King Kai bustled into the small room; the other judges close behind.  Everything was normal; there was no haze, the feather no longer glowed or floated in the air, talking did not seem out of place.  Goku flew down to the ground– his powers were normal – and the scale tipped in favour of the feather.  Everything was normal; had anything even happened?

******

"Nahmi, wait!" Trunks struggled between painfully drawn breaths, but he was too late.  She was gone.  He had just lost possibly his only chance of deterring her from her evils before she caused any damage.  And now he was weak, he could barely comprehend – she had done it so effortlessly!  He scowled and descended toward a near rooftop; he doubted she had even been trying.  If that was what she could do while she was playing a game…he shook his head roughly as he touched down on the smooth cement of a skyscraper – he dared not even dream of her capabilities if she were truly provoked.  He felt the fool for even trying to help, because there was no chance that he could make a difference.  He sat carefully on the edge of the building, still holding his aches.

But you did…Trunks looked up, startled by his own thoughts…Yes, that's right, you saw the doubt on her face when she realised that it had been a friend that she was attacking.  She's not entirely evil yet – you could still turn her.  He slammed his fist on the concrete as he pushed himself off the side of the building.  He plummeted several stories before barely pulling himself to a halt.  I can still save her!  He gritted his teeth…I have to try.  With that, ki waves lapped at his hair, and he forced himself upwards to look over the city.  Wind whipped at his clothes and he pushed his pains to the back of his mind.  Perched in midair like some oversized – if not slightly wounded – bird seeking its prey, he resumed his search.  He shook his head; sometimes he even surprised himself at the strength and abilities that will and necessity awoke.

******

Gohan suddenly breathed again – Trunk's energy had seemed to rekindle, though Nahmi had disappeared once more.  By now he was very near the city, flying over the outskirts, praying that no poor unsuspecting human should see this amazing feat. 

He gulped – he could have sworn that he had sensed Nahmi's power!  He suddenly kicked it up a notch – he didn't want Trunks to have to face this danger alone again.

******

A tingling chill suddenly raced up Trunks' spine.  Someone was watching him.  He peered cautiously around, trying to view his watcher.  There was no one.  He continued carefully on his path, pretending to be preoccupied with his search, when in fact he was concentrating heavily, desperately reaching out to catch even the slightest trace of the ki of his watcher.  There was no use, only surprise could catch them off their guard – they were even more careful than he. 

He quickly swerved in midair – there was a snatch of ki, just for an instant, and then it was gone.  That instant, however, was more than long enough to suffice.  Trunks schooled his face and actions to show that he was continuing with his search, dismissing the 'watcher' as pure coincidence.  His true thoughts, however, were quite different…he allowed a slightly questioning but satisfied smirk to surface…She's following me?

******

Damn, Nahmi cursed, diving behind the safety of a building…that was close.  She pressed herself against the wall, wiping her brow with worry…I can't let him catch me!  She waited a few seconds and quickly concluding that she had remained undiscovered…but she had to be sure; only his actions would tell.  She heaved a sigh that was heavy with determination and pushed herself away from the wall slightly.  Cautiously she peered around the corner of the building at the distant figure hovering in the air. 

He knows!  She gasped, and slammed herself against the wall again.  Don't be stupid, she scolded her foolishness…you were far too quick – he is inferior!  There's no way he could have seen you even if he did catch you by surprise while you were in mid-flight!  She peered around the corner precariously, and sure enough he was continuing with his search.

Is he searching for me though?  She gulped, waiting for him to become a slightly smaller dot in the sky.  With a quick breath she burst into flight, landing nimbly on the side of another building, taking the force of the landing with her legs.  She gazed at him, careful not to reveal herself – she was even near enough even to see the shade of his mousy hair…Lavender.  She bit her lip.  Trunks?…She knew that name…from somewhere… But where?  Her questions were too much to bear and her mission was at stake – they were clouding her thoughts; she had to find out

What did he mean…

Friend…?

By Lolli

Phew, that sure took a hell of a looooong time, huh?  Sorry that was so short – I still don't know exactly where I am heading with this .  I'll let the story guide me, because I do know where I want to end up, and that's what counts, right?  Well, the journey is actually what matters, but this is a journey, isn't it? lol, a journey for you and me alike ^_~ …Y'know, I actually started writing this way-back-when, beyond even the spans of my memory…so that is anywhere between two weeks and six months ago =P…Hmm, I think it was nearer the latter to be honest, though I wrote bits and pieces at odd intervals in between _…So yeah, sorry if this is jumpy and doesn't make much sense – there's no flow, I know that much…What I did is a baaad way to write a story!  The ideas just don't gush like they used to though, I'm afraid…not like when I was a young pup *pulls face*…Okay, I write too much I know!  Feedback please! lollirulz@hotmail.com or fanfictiondotcom@yahoo.com.au Thank you!  And visit my site www.geocities.com/fanfictiondotcom … oh, BTW, thanks to those who reviewed –much appreciated ^_^…Oakies, bye!