*DISCLAIMER*: I don't own SM, DBZ, or related characters. I do own Cassidy and if you copy her in any way or fashion, I'll hunt you down and kill you. Eos appears courtesy of Veronica Rose. Ashe, Malik, and basic Crystal Tokyo timeline/concept copyright Phil Farkaly of NextGenSM. Don't own it, don't sell it, don't sue me (you probably wouldn't get much if ya did…). ANYWAY, on with the fic.
The Sailor and the Saiyan (for lack of a better title)
-By: Satan's Little Lawyer-
I'm bored, Cassidy thought as she wondered aimlessly through the halls and corridors of the palace. Pluto had ended lessons early, and Jupiter had just ripped her a new asshole for accidentally putting a hole through the queen's brand new leather couch with her wakizashi. Cassidy and her half-brother Ashe were play fighting in the living room with their swords and she kind of missed- driving the blade through the sofa. After she got reamed, she changed into her kinkiest clothes, stuffed her bag with a change of clothes and her CD player, and stormed out the door. Her mother hated it when she wore that particular ensemble, especially out in public. She knew she was acting rather childish, but with her new job and twenty thousand other obligations to the Moon Kingdom, her fuse had been cut excessively short. Besides, didn't these people have the technology these days to repair a simple tear in leather?
So there she walked, in a black halter, a short leather skirt, brand new boots, her trademark trench coat and sword. Cassidy, in her fit of boredom, remembered what Pluto had shown her earlier that day. Ever since Cassidy had come to this time, Pluto had taken a liking to her, and had begun to show her all the tricks of her trade. Pluto had showed Cassidy the Chronos Vault where she stored most of the time-related relics: a variety of mini-computers and diagnostic equipment, the crystal key, and, most recently added, the multi-dimensional time displacer. Basically, it served the same purpose as the crystal key, the exception being it also went between dimensions.
Itching with curiosity, Cassidy really wanted to try it out, but Pluto emphatically forbade it. Well, why the hell would you have such cool shit and not use it? Cassidy slipped into the closest public bathroom and pulled on her black l.e.i. Jeans. If she was going to screw around with time, she sure as hell wasn't going to do it in a miniskirt. Cassidy realized then how unprepared she was for this trip. She hoped she could go back home and not piss off her mother, or vise-versa. She then recalled something her step dad Malik had just recently taught her to do.
Cassidy closed her eyes and visualized her room the way she had left it minutes ago: bed half-made, books strewn about, stereo blazing Metallica. She suddenly felt the intense cold of the anti-space between here and there, and when she opened her eyes, she stood in her room, exactly the way she had left it. Cassidy exhaled quickly, not realizing she was holding it. The newest of her abilities, teleportation, was one of the hardest to master. She worked at it for weeks, trying to do the simple task of moving less than five feet. It took a great amount of concentration to fix her destination in her mind and actually move herself there. The awful cold of anti-space was unnerving enough. She quietly slinked around her room, gathering what she deemed necessary. She shoved a white t-shirt in her tattered Jansport backpack along with a pair of black shorts. As an afterthought, she also added a white wife beater and a pair of boxers. She pulled off her new boots and put on her old calf-high Dr. Martens; she'd be very unhappy if anything happened to her new ones. She carefully pulled out a few CDs from her rack and slipped them into the portable CD holder, namely Metallica, Linkin Park, Korn, Powerman 5000 and others. Before closing her bag, she looked at her bookshelf to see if she cared to bring any literature. She grabbed her old copy of The Odyssey (she was quite possibly the only person in existence who enjoyed that obscenely long poem), the Ender Quartet and Relic. And, just for shits and giggles, she added her old American history and calculus II books. She had graduated high school as a junior, and had brought all of her college text with her when she came forward to her "home."
After stuffing her bag with various other useless items, she then noticed her henshin wand lying in the middle of the floor. She picked it up and turned it over in her hands. It was one of the ugliest things she had ever had the benefit of owning and had to say the corniest phrase to make it work. Ah, what the hell, she thought, tossing it into her bag. She kicked ass when she was transformed and figured it might come in handy. True, she could still do her same ol' fling-the-big-o-ball-o-electricity-at-the-bad-guy thing out of henshin; it just looked niftier when she was in.
Content she had packed everything necessary, Cassidy began to zip up her bag as quietly as possible. The zipper was halfway up the side when she heard her door creak open. With a rush of adrenaline, she whirled around, hand on the hilt of her blade. Ashe's head poked through the crack in the door.
Relaxing her muscles one at a time, she withdrew her hand from the handle of the sword. As quietly as she could, staying under the music radiating from her stereo, she hissed, "What the hell are you doing in here?"
Ashe, an equally stunned look on his face, entered the room and quietly shut the door behind him. "I came to borrow some CDs."
Cassidy arched an eyebrow. Ashe had openly told her that he thought CDs were outdated and useless, but she knew he raided her collection every once in a while, and permitted it. "Oh, really?"
He nodded. "How did you get in here? You stomped out of here a couple minutes ago and I didn't hear you come back in."
"I teleported," she said simply, zipping up her bag all the way.
Ashe stared blankly. "What…"
"Well, if you actually listened to what your father tried to teach you, you'd know."
Ashe said nothing.
"That's what I thought." She hefted her bag to her shoulder. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go waste time and play with Pluto's time-related goodies."
Ashe looked confused for a moment, but it quickly dawned on him. "Wait a minute…"
"You see, my sibling, you went into the past of this realm using that piece of shit Crystal Key of Rini's. I, on the other hand, plan on using that new fangled multi-dimensional time displacer."
"The whadda whadda huh?"
Cassidy shook her head. "You see, if you were on good terms with Pluto, you'd know these things. It's an advantage of being a kiss-ass. Ever since I took your job, I've been very stressed out. I think I'm worthy of an unscheduled vacation."
"Dude, you're gonna get caught, you know that, right?"
"No I won't. The cool thing about teleportation is that people don't see you going from place to place."
"Pluto and Mom going to notice you're gone."
"Let them." She tightened the laces of her boots, "The magical thing about time and dimension travel is that you can be there for days or weeks and come back to this time five minutes after you left. I won't be gone for too long. And as long as you don't nark on me, this should be rather enjoyable. C'mon, I don't want to be in here for too long." With that, she grabbed Ashe's wrist and teleported to the Chronos Vault.
Ashe's shock was understandable. He had never been in anti-space before, and he was trembling slightly. "Why… did… you… do… that…" he said shakily.
"Because I didn't want Mom to hear us talking." She approached the lighted keypad. Pluto, being the nice, trusting person she was, had supplied her with the access code for the Chronos Vault. Entering it with deft fingers, the door slid open with a soft hiss. "Ashe, I suggest you stay outside the door so it doesn't look like you were the one who opened the vault."
"Since when did you care about what happened to me?" he said, deliberately walking into the vault.
Cassidy looked miffed. "Because you could get in deep shit for coming in here, being unauthorized and having a record and whatnot." She pointed to the air duct on the opposite wall, which still bore the marks of Ashe's prying screwdriver when he went on his Star Hunter escapade.
"And you are more authorized than I?"
Her temper flared slightly. "I am the princess magestrix of the Jupiter-Vegan Empire, you dolt! You're just some spawn of the two who hasn't the responsibility enough to keep a job, prefers to rebel, and bitches and moans when he doesn't get his way!"
Cassidy's comment had cut Ashe deeper than he had anticipated. His ego stung slightly. "I'll leave you, then," he said, about-facing and striding out the door.
"Ashe," she said remorsefully, "I'm sorry. You see now why I need this so badly? I'm cranky all the time and I'm constantly biting people's heads off. Just, please, don't tell Mom and Malik, okay?"
Ashe shrugged. "Whatever," he strode out the vault, door closing behind him. Cassidy sighed, she knew he forgave her, and he was usually aloof like that on a regular basis. At least he didn't say anything snide or sarcastic.
Shaking her head slightly, she turned and examined her choice of wares on the opposite wall. She grabbed a mini computer and carefully put it in her bag-lest she damage it somehow in the transaction. Odds were she'd need it in this particular escapade. She then walked over to an adjacent wall, which shelved the infamous multi-dimensional time displacer.
She picked it up and examined it. It looked relatively simple, easily fitting in the palm of her hand and somewhat resembled a graphing calculator. The screen dominated its small mass, displaying a typical moon kingdom screen saver. She had seen it so many times- this type usually meant the device was locked down by a million passwords. Pluto had also- being the nice, trusting person that she was- supplied Cassidy with a universal password that bypassed most security codes. Pleeease work, she thought while imputing the code.
"Access approved," stated a sickeningly sweet female soprano. "Which sector of space and time do you wish to go to? Please say it loudly and clearly."
Cassidy stared blankly at the screen. You mean I actually have to make a choice? "Uh… dragon?" she said it more as a question than a statement. She knew 'dragon' wasn't a specific location, but she figured the computer could put two and two together. The computer beeped a couple times, displaying over twenty dimensions with the word 'dragon' included with the title. She cocked an eyebrow, reading the descriptions. "Dammit, can't I just GO somewhere?" she demanded of the inanimate object.
"DragonbllZandrdcll chosen," she computer sung, " have a nice trip and thank you for choosing the Multi-Dimensional Time Displacer,"
"No, wait!" Cassidy cried, hitting buttons in a futile attempt to cancel the procedure. Suddenly the air around her glowed, growing warmer with every passing second.
"Demolecularization process initiated. Transport in progress."
Cassidy felt like she was melting. In a flash of blinding light, she shut her eyes and could actually feel herself being swiftly shifted through the very fabric of space and time.
When she opened her eyes, she found herself standing in the middle of a plain. Not a big plain, for it was surrounded by plateaus, but it did seem real plain-y to her at the time. She looked around, taking in her surroundings. She could tell this was the Terra she was used to, but there was something about it that just didn't feel right. She could almost feel the earth radiating its past. This poor planet was constantly plagued by evil, quite possibly worse than that of her mother's generation, and she was a sailor senshi. Cassidy could also tell this place was protected. It was the same way it was when she lived in the twenty-first century, when the senshi kept the planet from being destroyed by the various evils of the galaxy. Nonetheless, it was the same old Earth.
After turning almost completely around, she was aware that she was being watched. She jerked her head around, ready to kick some ass if necessary. Before her stood two obscenely muscular men. One was wearing a baggy white long-sleeved tunic with decorative padding on the front, one side extending to a bulky shoulder pad-like projection, and had black hair that splayed every which way. The other, not much older than herself, wore black pants and shirt, with a blue jacket and a large sword slung across his back and stringy lavender hair. She did catch him as a looker, surveying his muscular physique. I wonder what he'd look like with his shirt off… She quickly shook her head, shoving her hormonal urges to the darkest corner of her mind - for now. She locked eyes with him. He had quite possibly the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen; they even rivaled those of Venus. Suddenly the ramifications of her arrival – along with an angry image of Pluto – danced through her mind. Cassidy's eyes widened, realizing what she had just done.
"Oh, shit."
What he hell?! Trunks thought at the sight before him. He had just finished telling Goku of his origins and of the potential future. He was just about to return to his time machine when a brilliant flash of light and a poof of dust revealed this stranger.
She seemingly appeared out of nowhere, hunched over a small device in her hands, obviously unaware of her surroundings. He sensed there was something special about her; something special, something mysterious, and he couldn't quite put his finger on it. She turned about, taking in her surroundings, momentarily becoming very interested in the dirt at her feet. Abruptly she fully turned around and saw he and Goku gawking at her. She had the most surprised look on her face, looking at Goku then at himself. She looked at him up and down, and then caught his gaze. Her eyes were the prettiest shade of forest green with little lime green flecks radiating from the pupil. Her eyes were large, not quite as immense as his mother's, but were very expressive. Her eyes suddenly widened, muttering something he didn't quite catch.
Oh, shit, Cassidy thought, oh shit oh shit oh shit. Pluto's gonna KILL me!! She fiddled with the multi-dimensional time displacer, praying to God it would take her back. The saccharin voice returned once more.
"Are you enjoying your trip?" it asked sweetly.
"Fuck no!" she practically yelled, "I want you to take me back, err, forward, ugh, whatever, just TAKE ME HOME!!"
"Request cannot be fulfilled," the computer responded, "insufficient energy."
Fuck. The damn thing had the same glitch as the Crystal Key. Sure, it will take you back and forward easily enough, but the problem was to get the piece of shit to take you home.
"Then where CAN you take me?!" she shrieked.
"These are your travel options; enjoy!"
Cassidy didn't pay any attention to what she was doing. She was frantic and scared shitless at the prospect of the Guardian of Time pissed off, so she chose the first option on the list. She felt the same sensation she had mere minutes ago, and blurred through space and time once more.
This trip wasn't nearly as long as the first. When she opened her eyes a second time, she found herself standing exactly where she was after her first jump, lacking the two bizarre people it had earlier. "Well, what the hell?" she demanded to no one in particular. She looked down at the screen of her travel agent. "Where'd you take me?"
"You are approximately three years from your prior location."
"Same dimension?"
"Affirmative."
Cassidy sighed, annoyed, "Gee, that got me real bloody far."
Cassidy was screwed; and she knew it. With the energy shortage of the device she might never get home. She took out the mini computer and scanned the area; evidently the satellites of this Terra worked with her equipment, and she was thankful for that. It turned up with a cluster of people about then miles from her current location.
She thanked God Pluto had showed her how to fly. It was a relatively simple procedure; since she could control electricity and related matter, she was able to manipulate the earth's magnetic field- and defy it, much like trying to put two magnets of the same polarity together. She jumped in the air until she could clearly see the landscape and flew in the general direction of where the people were.
She scanned the ground, looking for any distinct movement. She didn't need to look far. Just ahead of her, she saw a small battle raging, one side losing horribly. A man with blonde hair that stood straight up was getting a serious ass kicking from a young blonde woman. They both looked rather tattered, the woman more so than the man, but she didn't seem to notice. Cassidy could sense the other life forms- more like bodies- strewn across the small bowl the battle was taking place at. She could tell they were still alive, though not by much, at least they were still breathing in and out. Well, she thought, might as well chase them off.
She flew in a little closer, landing just beyond the bowl. She figured an advance on foot would be a little stealthier. She approached the woman, creeping quietly behind her. She noticed there were two others nearby, one very tall in a black and yellow outfit and red hair; the other was a spitting image of the woman- nix the hair, for it was black.
"Hey!" Cassidy called out to the blonde one, "I think you have sufficiently beat these people to a pulp. Perhaps you should leave now," she narrowed her eyes with the last few words.
The woman turned to Cassidy, "Who are you?" she asked, brushing some her mishappen hair out of her face.
"Currently, I'm prepared to come over there and open up a can of whup-ass on you," Cassidy replied briskly, folding her arms.
The woman stared back with a pair of cold, lifeless ice blue eyes. "Just try and stop me," she smirked, planting her shoe firmly into the blonde man's side at her feet. He made an audible sound, and then was silent.
The man with black hair spoke up, "18, I think you have had enough fun for today," he grinned maliciously, "You don't want to kill them all at once, now do you?"
18 sighed, "Fine, 17, but I was having fun," she said with an odd rendition of a whine. She first walked over to a short bald man Cassidy hadn't noticed before, possibly because he was cowering in the corner, and pecked him on the cheek.
Eh? Cassidy thought, arching an eyebrow, how peculiar. She looked at the bizarre trio a little more closely. They had a familiar body structure, and the same creepy blue eyes. "Get out of here, androids," she said sternly, pointing to one of the openings in the bowl.
"How would you know what we are?" 17 said in a flat tone. The big one behind him twitched slightly.
"Because where I come from, I have destroyed two androids very similar to you, and in a training program," her lips curled into a sneer. This was partially true; she had killed a couple androids in a training session no less than a few weeks ago, except they were not of an organic base and obviously didn't have a personality chip. They were relatively simple to destroy; all she had to do was fry their circuitry with one of her attacks. Though now that she thought about it, the organic properties of these androids might present a problem in decimation. "See this?" she said, holding out her right hand, palm up. She gathered some energy and pushed it down her arm to form a sphere of electricity about the size of a baseball. "This is about ten thousand volts of concentrated static electricity. Now, I can make it active and fling it at you. Even if you dodge, anything electronic within a two mile radius will be fried, even through a surge protector." she tossed the ball from one hand to the other, slowly. "So, you should be thinkin' 'Do I feel lucky?' well, do ya, punk?"
A stunned look passed over all three of the androids faces. "Let's go," 17 said quickly, and they all left the bowl with a new spring in their step.
Cassidy reabsorbed the sphere and wiped the sweat from her brow. "Damn, I always wanted to do that," she said to herself, turning around to her audience. "So… y'alls still alive?" she called.
She saw various piles of rubble shift, revealing those she had sensed earlier. One of which was a young man with lavender hair. "Hey!" Cassidy exclaimed, "I remember you, you're the guy I saw the last time I was here!" She jumped down from her ledge to help him up. He staggered a little when he stood, but otherwise seemed unphased. A glint of metal under some rocks caught her eye. Sifting through it, she found a long sword, one that resembled the one Trunks had the last time she saw him. It was a fine piece of work, constructed of a steel alloy and very sharp. She dusted it off, fingering the large chunk missing from the tip. She withdrew her own sword and carefully, gingery, widdled at the tip of the opposing sword. Her wakizashi was basically indestructible, able to cut through almost anything-even the strongest steels- like a hot knife through butter. She hacked away at the chipped end until it was smooth, then worked at the opposite side to make it symmetrical. She sharpened it to a fine point, and blew off the metal flecks. She swished it around a couple times, then held it out in front of her and tossed it in the air. When it came down, she caught the sword by the handle and thrust it into the ground. "There ya go," she motioned to his blade, "Good as new."
Trunks bent to retrieve his pride and joy, eyes trained on Cassidy the whole time. "Uh, thanks," he said, deftly thrusting his sword back in its sheath.
"No prob," she said, looking around, "So, ah," she replaced her sword, "What happened here? No, wait," she self-corrected, holding up a hand, "I think I already know." she extended that hand to Trunks. "I'm Cassidy," she said.
He looked at the hand dubiously, and then took it. "Trunks." He looked into those stunning green eyes of hers again, concentrating on keeping his face straight and colorless.
"Can you do what you claim to do?" A grizzly voice asked suddenly. Cassidy turned to the inquisitor, greeted by the face of the vicious blonde man. His eyes were an unnatural blue, pupils and all. By what his scowl told her, a few anger management classes would do him good.
"Beg pardon?" she said, facing him.
"I SAID, can you actually destroy the androids with one blow?" he demanded, balling his fist and shaking it in her face.
Cassidy grabbed his fist and forcibly shoved it back in its rightful place. "Sure, given the right conditions and circumstances. But I've been taught to screw with time as little as possible," she crossed her arms. "I have no clue where I am or how I got here, for that matter, and I know Pluto will have my entrails for breakfast if I so much as wrinkle the future of this dimension." she sighed, "trust me, if I could rid this place of these bad guys, I would, but that's not my responsibility nor my job." She turned around to address the rest of the slowly emerging group. Before she could open her mouth, the petite man behind her smugly replied, "You're bluffing."
Cassidy brows furrowed in annoyance and slowly turned around. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me," he sneered, "I bet you couldn't manipulate ki if it came up and slapped you in the face."
"You know, o vertically challenged one-"
"Vegeta," Trunks muttered, idly kicking some stones at his feet.
"Vegeta," Cassidy corrected. Vegeta as in vegetable? Ooh, she'd have fun with that one later. "You're pretty ballsy for just having your ass kicked," she bent over and flicked Vegeta between the eyes with her thumb and middle finger, smirking.
Vegeta's energy flared, a few veins popped out of his forehead. "I am Vegeta, prince of the Saiya-jins, and I will NOT be mocked by a mere woman!!"
"Mere WHAT?!" Cassidy roared, clinching her fists at her sides. "Why, you stupid chauvinist…" she didn't allow herself to finish the sentence, but rather backhanded Vegeta smartly across the face.
She slapped him pretty hard; he recoiled slightly, more from shock than pain. Had this stupid child actually challenged him? "How dare you!" he rubbed his now rosy cheek. His sneer remained intact. "That was a cheap shot. You couldn't hit me again."
"Is that a bet?" she growled, staggering her stance.
"Yeah."
Cassidy took off her tattered backpack, realizing how heavy it was, and handed it to Trunks, who stood nearby. She also peeled off her trench coat and removed her waki from its wide belt. "Hold this," she said, handing them to Trunks, "I think Vegeta wants to die," she smiled evilly.
Cassidy could feel the breeze on her bare shoulders. Perhaps she shouldn't have left her halter on before she left, but then again she hadn't anticipated getting into a fight. Momentarily she played with the idea of transforming, but them decided to save that little talent for a later time. By first impressions, she knew Vegeta was no fool. Usually she could outsmart her opponents, but she might actually have to use brute strength with this one. She squared her stance and folded her arms. "So, what do ya want to see, Vegeta? Your ass beaten into the ground?"
"Show me what you got," his sneer remained intact, assuming a defensive stance. His left arm lay limp at his side.
Cassidy gave him a sideways glance, walking up to him. "First of all," she said, eyeing the arm, "if I'm gonna fight you-" she gripped his upper arm with her right hand and lower with her left. His arms were almost overly muscled, she felt as if she were gripping tightly rolled carpet. With a swift jerk, she pulled on his arm until it cracked. Vegeta let out an involuntary yelp and took his arm back, cradling it. "-I'm not gonna do it against someone with a dislocated shoulder," she finished, turning and walking back to her original spot. "Okay," she said, taking a fighting stance, "let's get it on."
This puzzled Vegeta. Why would she do such a thing when she would have clearly had an advantage over him? Ah, I see, he thought, she wants a fair fight. He rotated the lame arm. It hurt like hell when she popped it back into place, but he was a Saiyan, he would recover in due time. By what he had seen of this girl so far, she vaguely reminded him of his own race. Just her pure audacity and complete fearlessness was a common female Sayian trait. Either way, she was no match for he, Vegeta, Prince of the Saiyans, of elite blood.
Trunks stared at his father and the new girl in utter amazement. He still had her stuff piled in his hands. He looked down at it, shifting the tangled mass to one arm, trying to get a better look at what exactly he was holding. He picked up her sword with his free hand. It was relatively lightweight for its mass, and had an intricately carved oriental dragon on the lacquered oak sheath. It seemed to be a normal decorative weapon, a fantastic piece of work, though he did identify bloodstains on the cloth-bound handle. He carefully set the sword on the ground next to him, examining the other objects. He slung the backpack on his shoulder, deciding not to be too nosy. Instead, he held the coat out before him and surveyed it. The coat was made of high-quality leather, and looked as if it had been around the block a few times. In the left pocket he found a large brown leather wallet, the words "flaming bitch" scribed in Japanese kanji on the front. In the billfold were a few pieces of currency; he paid them no mind, they were probably useless here. There was a transparent cardholder on the left side of the wallet, which held an ID. It was for someplace called California, and after much scrutiny, he decided it was a driver's license. Driving at her age? Trunks thought. To him she looked on the sunny side of sixteen, and he was pretty sure the legal age was more than that. They must have pretty loose laws where she came from. Trunks replaced the wallet and searched the other pocket. From the right pocket he withdrew a curious-looking wand. Before further curiosity could ensue, an irate voice said:
"Why must you go through my stuff?"
Trunks' head snapped up, met by the fierce green eyes of Cassidy. He tried to stammer an apology.
She snatched the wand from his hand. "If you wanted to look through my stuff you coulda just asked," she waved the stick in his face. "You break my henshin doohickey, I'll break my shoe in your ass," she stomped back to her postponed battle.
Trunks was suddenly aware of the scrutiny of others around him, mostly that of Piccolo. He turned his head and grimaced meekly at the Namek. Though he had seen many images of these aliens, he still could not get over seeing one in flesh and blood. He felt his face start to get hot, and he then became very interested in the dirt at his feet.
"What's this about henshin?" Vegeta said, pouncing on the ever so appealing subject.
"Huh? Henshin?" Cassidy looked at her wand, then back at Vegeta, "Yeah, I can transform."
"What to?"
"A Sailor Soldier."
"A what?" Vegeta's face temporarily assumed a blank stare of stupidity. In a pathetic attempt to cover himself, he coughed. Sneering once more, he said, "I assume you are more powerful in this form."
"Well, yeah, isn't that the point?" she idly fingered the wand.
"Show me," Vegeta crossed his arms, obviously disbelieving the young stranger, "I prefer to fight when my opponent is at their strongest-" his sneer got cockier, "Not that it will assist you in any fashion."
"Okay, whatever you say," Cassidy shrugged, "If you really want to have your face rearranged, I would be happy to oblige." She squared her shoulders and thrust the stick above her head, calling in a moderate, disinterested voice, "Jupiter Planet Power, Make Up!"
Out of nowhere, a large lightning bolt streaked from the sky and contacted Cassidy's wand, shrouding her in electricity. It concentrated and covered her now nude body skin-tight. It pulsed, and exploded into thousands of tiny shocks. The explosion revealed Cassidy in a tight black teal-hued buckle vest, above-elbow leather gloves, an excessively short pleated teal skirt, and thigh high lace-up chunky heeled boots such a deep shade of teal they were almost black. To accent it all, a v-shaped gold tiara encircled her forehead with a small oval emerald in the middle. After striking the obligatory corny pose, she relaxed her stance and sighed, "I need to figure out how to get myself not to do that stupid wannabe vogue shit at the end."
Needless to say, her audience was stunned. For the first time she got a chance to look at the group in its entirety. There was a short bald man with six incense burns on his forehead and an orange karate gi, another bald man with three eyes- wait, she blinked, three eyes? Yep, he definitely had three eyes. Also included in the crowd was yet another bald man (what is it with hairless people?) who was extremely tall, green-skinned person with pointy ears and two short antenna. Where prominent muscles were located, the green was replaced by red-rimmed sugar pink. God, he was one ugly mofo… and, of course, there was Trunks.
She faced Vegeta once more. "Satisfied?" she folded her arms.
The same skeptical look remained on his face. "That's it?" he said flatly, "I would have expected more out of Krillin-baka."
"Hey!" the short bald one exclaimed.
Ignoring the commentary, Vegeta continued, "that is the most impractical transformation I've ever seen. A skirt in battle?" he pointed at the garment in question, "Even the females of the weakest species were intelligent enough to wear pants."
"Ya think so?" Cassidy said in a quizzical tone. "Yeah, I suppose you're right," she smoothed the skirt; hem barely surpassing the base of her rump. She slapped her thighs. "I think I can fix that." Thanks to another little trick Pluto showed her, she could alter her fuku. This was how she changed from her traditional, even more impractical fuku to her present state.
She closed her eyes and imagined herself in her fuku, though with a few minor alterations. With that, her skirt literally melted around her legs, tucking itself into the tops of her boots. The now-pants also assumed the same coloration as her vest, adding pockets in the same pattern as a pair of jeans. In addition, her tiara changed from gold to a stainless steel, riveted on the edges. Alteration now complete, Cassidy put her hands on her hips and twisted her waist this way and that. "Hey, I think you're right, Veggie-man," she let her legs slide apart until she assumed the fully split position. She leaned foreword until her nose touched the ground. She bent her legs and jumped up, dusting off her fuku and the very tip of her nose. "Thanks!"
The men shifted uncomfortably.
Vegeta arched an eyebrow. "I'm still not convinced. There's no difference in your power level. In fact, I can sense no power level from you whatsoever," the corner of his mouth twitched.
"I've had just about enough of your shit, Vegeta," Cassidy said in a tight voice, "It's time to end this."
Vegeta threw back his head and laughed. "It'll be a cold day in hell when a girl-" With the speed of her element, Cassidy firmly planted her fist in Vegeta's face. To the surprise of everyone, Vegeta's body was thrown like a rag doll two hundred feet back, colliding with the wall of the bowl. "HA!!" Cassidy crowed, "HOW'S THAT FOR A CHEAP SHOT?!" Giddy with her achievement, she giggled maniacally. After a few moments her giggling subsided. She would have expected Vegeta to get up by then.
She turned to Trunks, whose mouth was hanging open and her stuff piled at his feet, "Dude, is he really that weak?" she thumbed in the direction of his trajectory, "'Cause seriously, I didn't hit him that hard."
"Well, uh, technically, he's the most powerful one among us," he scratched his head, also perplexed.
Cassidy's face became a mask of disappointment. "You can't be serious," she said, shoulders slumping. She turned and walked over to the shattered Cliffside. Among the wreckage, she spotted his limp body. She stooped over him, "Dude, are you okay?" she asked, trying hard to control her amusement. Vegeta's lips curled into it telltale sneer. Before Cassidy could question this action, his boot contacted her chin forcibly. She shot like a rocket into the air, flying back to her point of origin.
Wind whistling in her ears, Cassidy tried desperately to slow her speed. Still dazed by the throbbing pain in her jaw, she craned her neck to see which lucky boulder she would smash into. Miraculously, the place in which she was to land was clear of any large, potentially lethal rocks. Mustering all her willpower, she slowly but surely lessened her speed. In a last ditch effort to avoid humiliating herself by crashing into the ground; she extended her arms for the landing. Grimacing and reluctantly absorbing the shock, she shifted her weight backwards and managed to back flip and land on one knee. Wincing at the pain present in her wrists, she slowly looked up at Vegeta, mad as a bat out of hell. "You bastard! What the hell was that?!" she rubbed her sore jaw, " Friggin hypocrite! Yer gonna pay for that!" she sprung to her feet and prepared to charge an attack.
Small electric shocks popped randomly around her figure. A three-inch lightning rod shot out from the vertex of her tiara. Crossing her arms before her, her small frame became swallowed by electricity. Almost rolled into a ball, she cried, "SUPREME THUNDER!" flinging her arms and legs out spread eagle. The electricity that once surrounded her erupted forward, forming a stream, aimed directly at Vegeta.
Vegeta smirked at the attack. "Weak," he muttered to himself, holding his arm out, palm up, to deflect the attack. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out the way he thought it would. With what ease he expected out of the attack became a surprising struggle to stay on his feet. Rather than swat the attack away as a whole, the blast literally engulfed him. Vegeta felt as if thousands of tiny needles were mercilessly stabbing him as electricity coursed through his veins. Though the attack had a death grip on him for only a few moments, it felt like and eternity of relentless agony. He wavered on his feet for a few moments, before sinking to his knees. Gasping for air, body hurting the worst pain all over, he fought desperately against the nausea slowly sinking into the pit of his stomach.
"How do ya like that, Veggie-man?!" Cassidy jeered from a distance. Her tone sickened him to no end. He was a Saiyan Prince, for Kami's sake, how could a girl take him down with one blow?
Once again, Cassidy managed to stun her bystanders speechless. "Oh, Kami…" Trunks muttered under his breath. This stranger had managed to take down his father with one attack. Bulma had told him many stories of Vegeta: his fiery temper, stubbornness, but mostly of his pride. The Z-warriors had dismissed it as arrogance, but somehow Bulma was able to see beyond Vegeta's façade. His pride was his lifeline, as if it were the end of the world if it were maimed in any fashion. Trunks was sure Vegeta's ego had taken a major beating do to this defeat.
"Uh, guys," Krillin said in his perpetually shaky voice, "do you, uh, sense a ki level in that girl?"
He had a point. No matter how much they strained, they found no real ki present in Cassidy. Yet, on the flipside, she was pumping out some form of ki blasts by the truckload. In their minds, this meant only one thing. "Is she a - an android??" Tien shuddered.
Piccolo shook his head. "No, she is definitely human – too animated to be android- though there is something special about her."
Well, to Trunks this was not a surprise. He had caught on early that Cassidy was human; he had far too much experience with androids to believe otherwise, and figured she was a special sort of someone in the first place. Currently, Cassidy was looking pretty proud for landing Vegeta with one shot. Vegeta, on the other hand, looked broken and ready to spit nails. He was pretty sure Cassidy would strike again if provoked, which Vegeta's stature suggested. Just then, conveniently enough, Piccolo decided to intervene. "Wait," he called out to a smug Cassidy. She turned at the waist to face him. "Where do you get your power? You don't have any ki to speak of, and you certainly aren't an android."
Cassidy closed her eyes. Her fuku faded away to nudity, which was quickly replaced by her original garb. She turned around fully, shoved her hands in her pockets, and strode over to Piccolo and company. "Well, that, my friend, is an extremely long and excruciatingly painful story, so I'll give you the abridged version. Basically, where I come from, every planet in this solar system has a senshi, the moon of earth being the most important of all, and each senshi has a specific element. I am the second-generation senshi of Jupiter, and my elements are electricity and nature, though my powers over the latter still elude me. Anyway, it's literally in my blood to manipulate electricity, sot it's not really associated with this 'ki' you speak of."
That cleared up most questions in the minds of the warriors. An irate Vegeta blasting off in the opposite direction abruptly interrupted their train of thought. Trunks was powering up to go after his father when Piccolo laid a hand on his shoulder. "Let him go, Trunks, Vegeta needs to be alone right now. The double defeat today has taken a mental toll on him." Trunks opened his mouth to object. "You don't have to hide it anymore, Trunks," he continued, "we all know Vegeta's your father."
A look of utter surprise passed over Trunks' face, which slowly yielded to acceptance. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you who I was before," he said.
"Well, no offense," Cassidy said, "but how could you expect everybody not to know? The first time I saw you and Veggie-man I knew you two were related. You look too much alike not to be." She sighed slightly, looking in the general direction in which Vegeta fled. "Stupid wuss. He doesn't know how to accept a fair and decent defeat. Egotistical fool doesn't know how to think without his…" her voice trailed off as Piccolo, too, flew off to some unknown destination.
"Where's he going?" Tien asked, baffled.
"Don't you know?" Krillin said knowingly, " He's off to fuse with Kami. They're one in the same, you know. And if they do fuse, Piccolo will become a Super Namek. And we need all the firepower we can handle with these androids."
"Well, in the meantime, we had better move Goku to Kame House so he won't be at home when the androids arrive at his place."
"Good idea, Tien." Krillin agreed.
"And the plot thickens…" Cassidy muttered, picking up her things, which were carelessly deposited on the ground.
It was decided. They agreed to fly over to Goku's house, pack him up, and ship him to Kame House. Cassidy didn't bother to ask what a 'Kame House' was. Hopefully by then Piccolo would finish his fusion and Vegeta would get over himself.
"Okay," Krillin clapped his hands together, "Let's go."
Trunks looked over to Cassidy, who had just shrugged on her trench coat. "So, uh," Trunks said, "we're going to be flying to Goku's, I'll carry you if you want."
A comical knowing grin crept across her face. "On the contrary, my dear," she slid her sword onto her belt and notched it into place, allowing the most quizzical expression sink into Trunks' face. She looked up, "I can fly perfectly fine, thank you very much." She levitated about a foot off the ground, sticking her arms though the straps of her backpack. "How else do you think I managed not to break my wrists with that back flip? Do recall what I can manipulate," she smirked slightly.
Even with the ambiguity of the statement, Trunks actually knew what she was referring to. "Actually, I kinda get it, amazingly enough."
With that, everyone leapt up and began to fly in an easterly direction. Cassidy found their speed excessively slow, and she really, really wanted to get this over with. She slowly inched her way over to Trunks. When her body was almost brushing his, she leaned over and said in his ear, "is this as fast as you can go?" Anxiousness tinged her tone.
"Uh, I think so," he responded.
Cassidy released and exasperated sigh, drooping her head. "Oi," she said. Deftly she reached out, grabbed Trunks' wrist, and blasted off at her definition of 'fast.' The other fighters blurred into small specs on the horizon within seconds. "Oh, wait a sec!" Cassidy cried, breaking her speed as fast as she started it, giving Trunks the worst whiplash of his life in the process. She turned to face him and sweat dropped. "Um, where's Goku's place?" she asked meekly.
"Where's your sister?"
Ashe had barely taken three steps into the house before the interrogation began. His mother stood in front of him, arms crossed and frowning as she waited for a response. Ashe looked past her to see the familiar figure of Sailor Pluto sitting at the kitchen table, watching them expectantly. Shoving his hands into the pocket of his trench coat, he shrugged nonchalantly. "Dunno," he answered simply. "Haven't seen her for a few hours."
"I told you to keep an eye on her," Jupiter seethed. "I've told you time and time again that you're supposed to keep her from getting into trouble."
"Hey, she walked off, not me," Ashe answered. "I've spent the day with Rini." As that alibi escaped his mouth, Jupiter's eyes narrowed even further. "Oh c'mon," he said, hands up in the air. "Eos was with us the whole time. You know Serenity – "
"Queen Serenity," Jupiter corrected.
"Her mom," Ashe continued, "won't let her go anywhere with me by herself. Don't know why, I'm a perfect gentleman." He heard a snort of laughter from the far side of the kitchen where Pluto was chuckling into her tea. "What?"
"Ashe, you have no idea where Cassidy's gone?"
"Not a clue."
"You didn't get into the Chronos Vault again, did you?" This time it was Pluto who spoke, the dangerously calm voice making the hairs on Ashe's neck stand on end.
"Not since the last time, no." He felt both pairs of eyes on him and folded his arms across his chest. "C'mon, I know better. Gimme a break."
Pluto sighed, flexing her fingers about the cup. "I had to ask, Ashe." She stood up and turned to Jupiter. "She could be anywhere. If she's transformed, I could track the energy signature and trace her, but…"
"But what?"
The Guardian of Time looked thoughtfully at the remnants of her tea before responding. "Maybe we should just leave her there for a while."
"WHAT?"
"It might do her some good, being away to work off some of that pent-up aggression," Pluto reasoned, standing up. Both Jupiter and Ashe stared at her in shock.
"You can't be serious," Ashe said, forcing a laugh. "I mean, she's got a bunch of CD's and that stupid sword."
"You don't even know where she is!" Jupiter sat down at the table, head in her hands. "You can't just leave her there."
An expression of annoyance flickered across Pluto's face. Needless to say, she was getting a bit tired of having to rescue the children of the original Senshi every time they managed to get into the slightest amount of trouble. "I think she could benefit from the life lesson," she answered evenly. "If she's anything like the rest of the family," Pluto said, looking pointedly at Ashe, "then she'll manage."
"Couldn't you just go and make sure that she's not getting into too much trouble?" Jupiter pleaded. "Maybe Ashe could…"
"Absolutely not." Pluto's stern tone confirmed Ashe's frantic head shaking. "He's the last person I'd send after her. No offense," she added after a moment.
"None taken."
"Then whom would you send?" she demanded in a no-nonsense voice. "You're not leaving her out there on her own."
"Eos?" Ashe spoke before Pluto could say anything. "Nah, she's just for Rini. Sucks that you don't have another one to use." With a shrug, he made a beeline for the fridge and began to assemble the necessities for a sandwich. Behind him, Pluto's face had contorted into a funny sort of grin.
"Actually, I do."
Ashe choked on the bit of cheese he had shoved into his mouth while Jupiter glanced up in shock. "You what?"
"Well, it's a long shot, and I'd wind up breaking a few rules along the way, but if you really think she can't handle herself…" Pluto gave a long sigh and folded her arms across her chest. "I suppose we can work something out."
Jupiter smiled gratefully at the other woman, visibly relieved. "And you're sure she'll be okay?"
"Of course." Pluto returned the smile before turning to leave. That is, if she and Dawn don't kill each other first.
According to everyone else, they were getting closer to Goku's place. Cassidy had settled for everyone's idea of 'real fast' over normal 'fast' and suppressed her impatience; though if it were up to her they would have been there hours ago.
In Cassidy's humble opinion, Goku couldn't live any farther from civilization if he tried. They were at least a couple hundred miles from the closest city, and her opinion of super duper he's-a-living-Jesus-and-he's-gonna-save-the-world-from-the-bad-ol'-androids-as-soon-as-he-gets-over-this-little-heart-virus Goku on the weird shit-o-meter was slowly increasing. It seemed rather bizarre to her that such a powerful warrior could be grounded by a simple heart virus; but then again, even with the advanced medical technology of this particular version of Earth, it was nothing compared to Mercury's infirmary at home. Supposedly and antidote, which Trunks had provided (she still had a feeling they weren't telling her something about the purple-haired one), was working its magic at this moment, but the idea of oral administration seemed foreign to Cassidy ever since she had been introduced to the concept of hyposprays.
Honestly, she still didn't know anything about this place, and she had an odd feeling that her chaperones didn't quite trust her just yet, and preferred to keep her in the dark about certain details of the current events that were taking place. Oh well, she thought, just act normal and don't make an ass of yourself.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a feminine squeal and a manly yet girly yelp of surprise. Twisting about, she saw the strangest sight before her: Krillin, she was pretty sure that was his name, was literally tangled up with a squirming brunette woman. The stranger's hair fell precariously down to her lower back, as well as everywhere else, obstructing her vision and identity. With the assistance of Tien, Krillin was able to shrug off the disoriented person and hold her upright. Her hair still disobedient, she uttered a few expletives - in English, Cassidy noted - as she pushed the unruly mass out of her face. A hauntingly familiar face, bare of the wild locks which once masked it, now greeted Cassidy. Jesus, where have I seen her before? She thought. She locked eyes with the young woman, who must have been roughly nineteen, and the answer hit her like a Mack truck. Cassidy's eyes quickly grew to the size of UFO's and she almost lost her fixed position in the air. "EOS?!" she shrieked, "What the fuck are YOU doing here?!?"
At the sound of the name "Eos", the young woman twisted to face Cassidy as Krillin hugged her about her waist to keep her upright. "Being groped by the midget at the moment," she shot back in English. "Could you possibly tell him to keep his hands off of the goods?"
Cassidy translated the message to Krillin, who immediately let go of the girl. With a loud shriek, she plummeted several hundred feet before being caught by Tien. Very careful to keep his hands well away from her more sensitive areas, he rejoined the other four. Krillin kept a fair distance from the new member of the group, who shot him a murderous look before turning to face Cassidy.
"I'd really appreciate it if we could keep that from happening again, all right?" She folded her arms across her chest, clearing her throat before continuing. "Now, as for you," she said, nodding at Cassidy. "You'd better have a damn good reason for having me yoinked out of my happy twenty-first century existence to deal with your time-traveling self."
"Twenty-first century? But…"
"Yeah. Something tells me you've got me confused with someone else."
Cassidy frowned once more at their newest companion. "I guess so. You're a little young to be Eos, aren't you?"
"No. And the name's Dawn, Miss Cassidy Makoto Kino." She waited as the blonde's jaw dropped at the sound of her name. The expression of surprise changed to one of annoyance as the four men snickered around her. Evidently, they were misconstruing the literal translation of her full name. She knew sooner or later someone would find "sincerity of wood" worth a dirty chuckle.
"Would you do me the favor of not using my full name?" Scowling, she glared at each of the men in turn, reducing the snickers in a matter of seconds. "It's Cassidy. Call me Cassidy."
"Not Ishmael?" Dawn quipped sarcastically.
Cassidy' eyes narrowed into thin slits. "Don't fuck with me, I've had a hell of a day…"
"Fine, fine," Dawn interrupted, getting comfortable in Tien's arms. "You're Cassidy, I'm Dawn. Dawn Therese Connolly, for what it's worth."
"Fine, then. Dawn," Cassidy replied, still hovering in midair. "Call me crazy, but you bear a striking resemblance to Eos."
Dawn shrugged offhandedly. "I'm her great great grandmother… with a bunch of greats in between," she added after a moment. "And I hate to be the one to break it to you," she said, sitting up, "but you're in a shitload of trouble back home, girl."
Cassidy looked down at her shoes that hovered half a mile above the ground. "Figured as much," she mumbled. "So, you're here because Mom thinks I'm as incompetent as Ashe does?"
Dawn let out an irritated sigh, which startled Tien somewhat. She smiled sweetly up at him by way of reassurance, and then turned her attention back to the surly blonde in front of her. "No," she shot back. "I'm here because Pluto figures that you'd be better off hanging around here for a while to cool off."
"What, they thought I needed my own personal Guardian?" She gave Dawn a once over and arched an eyebrow. "I'm not an incompetent wimp like that spoiled brat of a princess you've had to watch before."
"They thought they'd like you back in one piece and they thought you needed someone to make sure that no one else had intentions otherwise." Sarcasm coated the almost-motherly reply. "Besides, if they didn't like you, then they'd just leave you here with these four…" Dawn trailed off as she looked around at the bizarre group. "What the hell are these, anyways?"
Cassidy shrugged. "Beats me."
"They don't understand a word we're saying, do they?"
Another shrug. "Guess not."
Dawn's mouth turned up in a sly grin. "Interesting." She twisted around and smiled sweetly up at Tien, batting her eyelashes as she switched to Japanese. "Thanks for saving me, by the way." She heard Cassidy giggle as the guy holding her went crimson. "I'd offer to fly myself, but I'm not nearly as talented as you are."
"Uh, um, yeah," Tien stammered incoherently.
Cassidy rolled her eyes, clearing her throat to regain a bit of attention. "Shall we continue?"
"Sure, what the hell," Dawn replied in English, amused by the effect she was having on these guys. Perhaps this could be a well-needed vacation. "Maybe we'll find other people who actually speak more than three or four words at a time."
"One can only hope," she answered with a fair amount of sarcasm. Maybe having this other person around might not be such a bad idea. At least she wasn't as dumb as the majority of females that Cassidy had dealt with in her short lifetime. "I guess they're fascinated by our crudeness."
Dawn chuckled to herself. "They haven't heard the half of it." She winked at Trunks, who immediately ducked his head and became quite interested in Cassidy' bag. "Think I could get the cute one to carry me?"
She shrugged in what she hoped was a nonchalant manner. "I dunno. He seems pretty nice, but kinda inexperienced."
"I'd be more than happy to help him with that."
Cassidy reached over and slapped Dawn on the shoulder. "Pervert. I didn't mean it that way." Dawn giggled and relaxed back in Tien's arms.
"So, where're we going?" The question was phrased sweetly in Japanese and directed at the group.
"This guy named Goku has a place," Cassidy answered in a bored tone. "He's gonna save the world." She snorted in disgust as she looked around at the group. "If he's anything compared to the last guy I fought, then this place is doomed."
"Oh good grief," Dawn muttered. "Well, let's hope the rest of 'em at least have a little more personality than these fools."
"Amen to that."
It took roughly a half hour to get to Goku's after Dawn literally fell from the sky. Comfortably seated in Tien's arms, she had her arms crossed, scooping out the area. She still wasn't happy with Cassidy for inadvertently pulling her out of her mental homeostasis, but she hadn't been doing her guardian job for a while and frankly, she kinda missed it. She knew guarding Cassidy wouldn't be as hard as guarding Rini, since Cassidy could easily defend herself and wasn't being hunted by any renegade Star Hunters. Why Cassidy chose this place to vent escaped her, mostly because the inhabitants had the personalities of stumps.
Dawn shook herself from her thoughts as Tien none too gently touched down before a strange little domed structure in the middle of a forest. She flashed a little flirtatious grin at her three eyed chauffer before saying, "Thanks, doll," and jumped down. Cassidy had her arms crossed, eyebrow in its usual upwards quirk. "This is where super duper pooper scooper Goku lives?"
Dawn giggled at Cassidy's euphemism. "'Spose so," she yawned slightly and approached the front door. "Well, what are you guys waiting for? Let's go in."
Dawn, puzzled at the men's hesitation, reached out to open the door. Before she turned the handle, it turned on its own, and a little woman, face framed by stark black hair pulled back in a bun, stepped out. Dawn jerked her hand back, out of the woman's way. She gave a big smile to the stranger. "Hi, uh, is this Goku's place?"
The petite woman's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?" she asked sharply.
Dawn recoiled at her brashness. "Well, you don't have to be rude," she retaliated, "they're the ones who led us here," she thumbed to the men.
The woman's face switched to moderate surprise. "Oh, hey, guys," she said, "what are you doing here?"
"Hey, Chi Chi," Krillin replied, "We just came to move Goku to Roshi's place so when the androids come looking for him, he won't be here."
At the mention of Goku's name, Chi Chi's mobile face switched to worry. "Oh, Goku," she sighed. Chi Chi stepped aside, allowing everyone to enter.
"Oh, by the way, I'm Dawn," Dawn said, offering her hand. Chi Chi took it dubiously.
Cassidy, now behind dawn, also greeted Chi Chi. "I'm Cassidy, pleased to meet you." She bowed slightly. Chi Chi bowed back.
Dawn kicked herself slightly. How is it that I always forget Japanese custom? Chichi lead them to a bedroom in the back of the house. "He's back here," she said. All but Krillin and the girls stayed outside the door, Trunks leaned on the door jam. Upon entry, they saw a broad-chested man in an orange and blue karate gi occupying a bed on the floor. "Hey," Cassidy blurted, pointing," he's that other guy I saw with Trunks three years ago!"
"Really." Chi Chi said suspiciously, "If you've been here for three years and seem to know Goku's friends by name, how come I've never seen you before?"
Cassidy cursed her quick tongue. She didn't want it to be common knowledge that she used trans-dimensional time travel to get here. The less complicated her story, the better. "Well, I, uh," she stuttered, staring down at the boards in the floor.
"Well what?" Chi Chi said impatiently, tapping her foot.
Cassidy went through innumerable scenarios in her head for making this as simple as possible. After the twentieth try, she gave up. Fuck it, she thought. "I'm from a parallel universe and I came here using Sailor Pluto's Multi-Dimensional Time Displacer because I have nothing better to do with my time-" she took a breath, "-besides, the whole responsibility thing was grinding on my last nerve and I really didn't want to kill anyone today."
Chichi accepted that response, but not without her two cents. "So, you are a renegade teen who couldn't handle your simple responsibilities and schoolwork."
Cassidy ground her teeth against a rebuttal. She'd rather not tell her she graduated in the top ten as a fifteen year old junior with honors and the intelligence of someone twice her age and managed the Royal Jupiter-Vegan Empire in her spare time. Hell, she volunteered for that 'simple responsibility.' "I wouldn't phrase it that way," she said slowly, retaining her anger. "Let's just say I'm overburdened."
Chi Chi still held a skeptical look in her eye.
Trunks had fallen over when Cassidy said she was from another time. He was still stunned, thinking that he was the only person with a time machine. He'd have to ask her how she got here some other time.
"Well," Chi Chi sighed, "If you're going to move him, you better move him now. Yamcha! Yamcha, where are you?"
With a flush of a toilet, Yamcha came out of the bathroom and into the invalid's room. "Yeah Chi Chi?" he looked around. "Hey, guys, what're you doing here?"
"Yamcha, they're here to move Goku to Roshi's place in case the androids decide to drop by. Can you help me with him?"
"Sure, Chi Chi, no problem."
With that, Chi Chi, in a matter of minutes, packed enough bags to last her and her husband months while the men carefully carried the ailing Saiyan outside. Yamaha nonchalantly pulled a small object out of a case. "What's that?" Dawn queried, peering over his shoulder.
Yamcha grinned, "you'll see." With that, he pushed the button on top of the capsule and flung it into the yard. An explosion followed, which sent the girls to the ground out of habit. Yamcha laughed. "You're not from around here, are you?" he asked.
Cassidy was faintly annoyed. "What gave you the first impression?" she said, dusting herself off.
Chi came out of the house, miraculously carrying every single bag she packed. Dawn quickly sprung to help. "Need any help?" she offered.
"No," she grunted, "I got it." She quickly deposited her burden by the box-shaped jet with stubby wings and a number on the side-
"Wait a sec," Dawn said, "Where the hell did that come from?" she looked around.
Yamcha laughed again. "Remember that thing I threw that exploded? It's a capsule. You press the button on the top, throw it, and out come whatever was in it. In this case, a cargo plane for us to move Goku."
"I gotta get some of those to take back."
"You could talk to Bulma about it. Her dad was the one who invented them. She developed quite a few herself."
Dawn's eyes lit up. "I just might have to do that sometime while we're here." Maybe this trip wasn't a waste after all.
At that, Yamcha opened the door to the plane, and the boys, along with Cassidy, were able to carefully set the heavy Goku inside the plane, Chi Chi watching them like a hawk in the process.
Cassidy flopped down on the floor of the plane. "I'm glad that's over with, I was getting kinda tired of flying everywhere."
The guys nodded in complete agreement.
In the distance, Cassidy picked up an adolescent male voice. "Mom! Wait for me!!" it cried.
Chi Chi stepped out of the plane, scanning the sky. A moment later, a short pale-skinned child, around the age of ten or so, landed in front of Chi Chi. "Sorry I'm late, Mom, I had to drop off Bulma and Yajarobi."
"It's okay, Gohan, I'm glad you made it in time." She tousled the child's long, thick mass of hair cascading down his back. She turned to Dawn and Cassidy. "Girls, I'd like you to meet Goku's son, Gohan."
Dawn snickered to herself. These people's names were so literal it was hilarious. "Hiya, my name is Dawn. Nice to meet you." She extended her hand in greeting.
Gohan looked at the hand, slightly perplexed.
Dawn berated herself again. Remember the customs, girl. Retracting her hand, she offered a curt bow as replacement.
Gohan, recognizing the jester, politely bowed back. "It's nice to meet you, Miss Dawn."
Dawn giggled, "You don't have to call me 'miss', dear, just call me Dawn."
"Oh, okay."
Cassidy took her turn. "Hi, I'm Cassidy," she bowed, learning from Dawn's error.
Gohan looked at her warily, and bowed deeper than he did for Dawn. Cassidy could understand why. Her appearance must be slightly frightening to a kid, big leather trench coat and wakizashi and all. She smiled, "It's okay, I don't bite, you don't have to be so cautious." She took off her backpack and jacket. "See?" she said, spreading her arms, "I'm just another girl. A little strung out at the moment, but normal nonetheless."
Gohan smiled, reassured. "That's good to know. I wasn't too scared anyway. Piccolo trained me to be a good fighter."
Cassidy and Dawn looked over to the aloof cross-legged Piccolo in the front corner of the plane, appearing to be in the middle of a bowel movement. The two exchanged glances. A guy like him trained a kid and the little guy wasn't scarred for life? That was unexpected.
Chi Chi pushed Gohan into the plane. "Okay, people, it's time to move out. I don't want those androids finding us here." With that, Yamcha and Krillin fired up the plane and took off for Roshi's.
Cassidy sat against the side of the plane, her knees drawn to her chest. She looked around at the occupants of the strangely shaped cargo plane. Piccolo was off in his corner, Chi Chi was hovering over Goku, eyes expressing her worry, Dawn was socializing with Yamcha – testing the poor guy's control, no doubt – and Trunks was alone towards the front, hands in pockets, staring out the window. Seeking a chance to get to know someone, Cassidy approached him. "Whatcha lookin' at?" she asked, scanning the slow-moving terrain along with him.
"Oh, nothing," he sighed. "It's just that, where I come from, all this has been destroyed by the androids," he spread his arms to imply the vastness of his statement. "Everything, everyone, is living in constant terror. I came here with an antidote for Goku in hopes of altering the past for a better future, though it didn't precisely work the last time I came here."
Cassidy mulled over that for a moment. "I'm sorry to break it to you, Trunks, but coming here won't affect your future in the slightest."
Trunks stared at her, bewildered. "What do you mean by that?" his tone slightly defensive.
She spoke slowly, choosing her words carefully. "By coming back in time, all you have done is create another timeline; a parallel universe of sorts. Your future, the world you know, will not be affected by what you do here. Although," she added quickly, noticing the crestfallen lines in Trunks' young face, "your presence will alter the flow of this timeline. The people of this world will not have to endure what you have your whole life." She smiled reassuringly, "You have, depending on the outcome of any future conflicts, saved the world."
Cassidy's explanation lightened Trunks' mood. "How do you know so much about these kinds of things?" he asked.
Cassidy scratched the back of her head, slightly embarrassed. "Well, where I come from, we have a Guardian of the Gates of Time, her name is Sailor Pluto, or Setsuna, depending on her mood. She observes and controls all the minute fibers that make up the fabric of space-time." From her own explanation, she was hit in the head by something she hadn't thought of yet. "Oh crap, that means she's going to find out where I am! Oh god, she's going to kill me when she realizes what I've done…" She nervously pulled the Multi-Dimensional Time Displacer out of her coat pocket, vainly trying to make it function.
Trunks, noting the fragile piece of equipment, reached for it. "Mind if I look at it?"
Cassidy nodded, surrendering the faulty item to him.
Trunks turned the item over in his hands. If he had a screwdriver with him, he would pull it apart and look at what made it work – or not work, whatever the case may be. Finding the 'on' switch, he pressed it, and the screen lit up with a picture of a crescent moon with the acronym LISA emblazed across it. Noticing a password was required, he began to pass it back to Cassidy, assuming she knew the access code. During the exchange, the dainty device slipped from his slightly trembling fingers. He reached after it, the cursed thing evading his grasp.