4
Over the next couple of weeks, Ryoko had gotten to know Trunks better and better with the flying lessons, and was happy to say that she had almost learned the technique. She knew, now, that she loved Trunks and not Kotori, and she still had not talked to Kotori since that day.
"You're not telling me something." Trunks said during one of their lessons. "You have to clear your mind to bring out your energy for the first time, so just tell me what's on your mind." Ryoko dropped her eyes to the side.
"If I could say what I wanted to say..." She paused. "I'd say I wanna blow you away, be with you every moment." She blushed, and then laughed a little. She had never told anyone that she loved them in front of them, either they found a note saying it, and she told them online. Trunks blinked a couple of times.
"What do you mean?" Ryoko sighed.
"I love you, Trunks." She said. Trunks laughed a little, the blushed lightly.
"Well, uh…" He started. "I love you, too." Ryoko was shocked, but then smiled.
"Really?" She asked. He nodded, blushing deeper. Ryoko laughed then jumped at him, hugging him tightly. Trunks hugged her back, and Ryoko felt happier than ever. She leaned back and kissed him lightly, and he turned bright red. Ryoko laughed again, and then he kissed her.
5
"You want him to go, right?" Mai asked about two weeks later. She was a little upset that Ryoko was going out with Trunks (seeming as she wasn't with Gohan yet), but she was over it in a matter of seconds.
"Yeah…" Ryoko said.
"Then call him." Mai said. "It's not that big of a deal."
"I haven't talked to him all summer." Ryoko sighed, but picked up the phone and dialed Kotori's number.
"Hello?" Kotori had picked up.
"Hey, Kotori." Ryoko said, Kotori paused for a second.
"Hey." He said.
"How's your summer been going?"
"Good." He said. "You?"
"Great." She said, smiling a little to herself. "Hey, my birthday party is Friday, do you
want to go?"
"Yeah, sure." He said.
"Okay, it starts at three and ends at like, eleven at the earliest. It's a pool party."
"Okay." Kotori said. "Bye."
"…bye." Ryoko hung up the phone.
"Is he going?" Mai asked.
"Yup."
"So who's going now? Me, you, Kotori, Trunks, Gohan…?"
"I dunno. Other people." Ryoko said. Mai rolled her eyes.
"Is Amy going?" She asked.
"I think so." Ryoko replied.
"We should tell Gohan and Kotori to come early." Mai said.
"And Trunks." Ryoko added. Mai nodded.
"You want me to come…now?" Trunks asked on the phone Friday morning. During the week, Ryoko had finally learned how to fly. It was like a dream come true, but she slightly missed just flying in Trunks' arms.
"Yup. Gohan and Kotori are on their way over, now." Gohan knocked on the door. "Oh, there's Gohan now."
"Okay, I'm coming." Trunks said. Mai sprang off the couch and opened the door for Gohan.
"Hi!" She cried.
"Hi, Gohan!" Ryoko said. "Okay, see ya soon."
"Okay, bye."
"Bye." Ryoko hung up. Gohan handed Ryoko a box with a card attached to it.
"Here, happy birthday." Gohan said with a large smile. Ryoko grinned, said thank you, and put it on the table beside Mai's gift, which was in a medium sized black bag. Ryoko saw Trunks' silhouette through the door, and opened it for him.
"Hey." Trunks said. "Happy birthday." Ryoko hugged him, and then took the large box from him. She wondered what the three got her, but didn't want to even peak inside, she wanted to wait.
"When's Kotori getting here?" Mai said with a large sigh. "Let's wait outside for him." They walked into the front yard. "Do you think he got cuter?"
"Mai…" Ryoko said, sighing.
"Kotori!" Mai yelled, seeing a boy coming down the street on a bike. She waved with a large smile on her face.
Kotori arrived at the yard, and handed Ryoko a card in a white envelope.
"Hi!!" Mai cried.
"Hi." Kotori said, much less enthusiastic.
"Where were you all summer?!" She asked. Kotori shrugged.
"Having a life…? I bet you were calling me every five seconds, huh?" He asked. Mai's eyes went up and she tried to suppress a smile.
"No…" She lied.
"Yeah, sure!" Kotori cried, nodding.
"What time is it?" Gohan asked.
"Two thirty." Ryoko said. "People are coming at three."
"Yeah, I wanted you and Gohan to come at like, twelve." Mai said to Kotori. Kotori shrugged.
"I had to go get Ryoko's card." Kotori said.
"Nice, get it on the day of my party." Ryoko said, laughing. Kotori shrugged, laughing a little.
"Heh…yeah." He said. "You gonna be playing music?"
"Naw…" Ryoko said, rolling her eyes.
"Oh, why not?" Kotori asked. Ryoko laughed, knowing that he was being sarcastic.
Ryoko felt so different being around Kotori now that she was with Trunks, she didn't feel so sad and hopeless.
"The radio's in the backyard." Ryoko said, turning around and walking through the gate, the others following.
"Can I be the DJ" Kotori cried, sitting on one of the chairs around the table.
"…sure." Ryoko said. Kotori put on a radio station. Ryoko sat down on a lawn chair, and stared up at the sky, having and incredible urge to use her new ability. She turned her eyes to Trunks. "Trunks?"
"Yeah?" He asked, looking at her. Ryoko stood up and stood in the door frame.
"Come 'ere a minute." She said. Trunks got up and they went into the house.
"What is it?" He asked.
"Where…where did you ever learn to fly?" She asked, suddenly amazed that she hadn't asked him sooner. "And how come when I found out you go 'secret's out'?" Trunks blinked a couple of times, and then scratched his head.
"Pretty much everyone I know knows how to fly. I think we learned it from a guy named Tien. But I don't know, my mas- um, Gohan taught me." Trunks said. "And by keeping it a secret, I meant that we didn't want anyone to find out because it's kinda weird, you know?"
"Yeah, I guess." She said. "You don't want anyone else to find out?" She asked, getting ready to walk out the door. He nodded. "Okay." They went back outside.
"What?" Mai asked.
"Nothing. I just had the ask Trunks something." Ryoko said.
"What?"
"Nothing!" Ryoko cried. Mai sighed. Ryoko looked at Trunks again. "Hey, what time is it?" Trunks looked at his watch.
"Three."
"Really?!"
"Yeah." Ryoko looked at everyone.
"Okay, then we gotta go in and wait for everyone." They all went into the house. Kotori sat on one of the chairs, Mai sat on the other one, Gohan sat on the floor, and Ryoko and Trunks sat on the couch.
A couple minutes later, Ryoko rubbed her eyes and leaned her head on Trunks' shoulder.
"I'm bored." Ryoko said. She picked up Trunks' hand and looked at his watch, seeming as there was nothing else to do. Trunks let his hand lay limply in hers, and also stared at his watch. "Where did you get this?"
"My grandpa made it for me." He said. Ryoko looked at Mai, putting down Trunks' hand, but holding it still. "Mai, what did you get me?"
"A CD player." Ryoko threw her free hand in the air and rolled her eyes.
"You're not supposed to tell me."
"Well you asked." Mai said with a giggle. Kotori looked oddly at Ryoko and Trunks.
"Are you two goin' out?" He asked. Ryoko rubbed her eyes again.
"Yeah... Where have you been?" Mai said, staring at Kotori.
"I haven't talked to you people for like a month!" Kotori cried.
"Yeah, we are." Ryoko said, still rubbing her eye. "Ugh. When are they going to get here?"
"I'll be right back." Kotori said, getting up and walking into the other side of the house. Gohan looked at the door.
"Someone's here." He said. Ryoko jumped up, letting go of Trunks' hand, and opened the door. Caitlin was just getting out of her car. Ryoko waved.
"Hi, Caitlin!" She cried. Caitlin waved and walked up to the door, handing Ryoko a box.
"Thanks." They went back in the house and Ryoko closed the door.
"Hi!" Mai cried. Caitlin waved and said 'hi', also.
"Okay, so you know Kotori and Mai." Ryoko started. "Now, this is my boyfriend, Trunks, and our friend, Gohan."
"Hi." Caitlin said, waving to them. "I heard about you, Trunks." She said with a smile. Trunks blushed a little.
"Stop!!" Kotori cried, sitting back down in his chair. Trunks looked at him. "You blush too much!"
"It's not his fault." Ryoko said.
"But still!"
6
The party had been going on for about four hours, and everyone was having a good time, that is, except for Kotori. He seemed a little upset, but no one asked him what was wrong.
It was seven o' clock, and the sky was darkening. Everyone had just gotten around the pool and was standing together beside the house, talking and listening to the music.
Someone walked into the backyard, spotted Gohan, Trunks, and Ryoko, and walked over to them.
"Hey!" Ryoko turned around.
"Oh, hey, Goku." Ryoko said. Goku smiled widely.
"Hey!" He repeated. "Ryoko? Gohan? Can I talk to you two for a minute?" Ryoko and Gohan blinked.
"Uh, yeah, sure." They both said at the same time. They started walking into the front yard, when Ryoko heard Mai's high pitched voice.
"Where are you going?!" She cried, to Ryoko and Gohan.
"We'll be right back!" Gohan called back, and then they went into the front. Standing in Ryoko's front yard was a woman that Ryoko didn't recognize, but she looked like Gohan's mother. "Mom? What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to see Ryoko." She said, smiling. "Have you noticed that your family hasn't been home all day, Ryoko-chan?" Ryoko blinked.
"Come to think of it, I haven't." She said, a bit confused that her family wasn't home for her birthday party.
"This is going to be kind of hard for you to believe." The woman said. "By the way, my name is Chichi."
"What's going to be hard for me to believe?" Ryoko asked. Chichi sighed.
"You're actually Goku and my daughter." Ryoko's eyes widened and she laughed.
"What? You've got to be kidding." Chichi didn't look like she was kidding.
"I'm not. You see, Gohan and you are twins. When you two were born, even though Goku promised me that Gohan would not be a fighter like his father, but I knew that Gohan would, not that I liked it. So I suggested that we gave you to a normal family, so you would be normal." Chichi said.
"So…why haven't my parents been home?"
"They moved. We live there, now." Chichi said, smiling.
"What?!" Gohan cried. "Why didn't I ever know this?!"
"We wanted to keep it from you." Goku spoke up. Ryoko blinked a couple of times.
She had always hated her brother, and her alcoholic step father, and her real father that she had not seen for ten years. She thought her mom was okay, but most of the time she hated her, it seemed like her mother didn't care about her at all, so Ryoko was not devastated about the news.
"Oh…I see." Ryoko said.
"We have already changed your name to Ryoko Son in school and all." Chichi said, then smiled. "Okay, go ahead and get back to your party."
Gohan and Ryoko started walking back.
"Why are you acting so...calm about this?" Gohan asked as they went through the gate. Ryoko shrugged.
"My immediate family wasn't too great, anyway."
"I see." Ryoko walked back to Trunks, he had been leaning up against the house.
"What was that all about?" Trunks asked.
"Well...I guess that Chichi and Goku are my real parents." She said. Trunks' eyes widened.
"What?! Really?!" He cried. She nodded. Gohan walked up to them.
"Trunks, now that we know that she's my sister, we need to tell her some things." He said. Trunks nodded.
"Tell me what?" Ryoko asked. Gohan grabbed her arm, and in a matter of seconds, Ryoko was in Trunks' back yard. "What the- how- how did you do that?!"
"I'm fast." Gohan said with a smile. Trunks sighed. They were going to explain to her about her heritage, how she was a saiyan, and about their lives. Trunks was feeling hesitant to tell her his past.
"What do you have to tell me?" Ryoko asked.
"You're going to find this hard the believe." Gohan stated. Ryoko didn't answer, so Gohan started explaining everything. When it came for Trunks to explain, he sighed.
"I did not grow up in this time." Trunks said. Ryoko stared at him, blankly. "I grew up in the future, and androids had taken over my time. Many of the world's people were dead, and it wasn't much better for those who were alive. My master Gohan and I were the only fighters left. Goku, Piccolo, my father, Tien, Yamcha, and Krilan were all dead. So when I was seventeen, I came to this time, seven years ago, to warn them of the future." Gohan explained the rest, about the androids of this time, and Cell.
"But- you're seventeen now." Ryoko said, confused. "How were you seventeen seven years ago?"
"Yeah, I've been wondering that, too." Gohan said, and they both looked at him.
"Before my mother sent me back to this time, she said that when I came here, I would be nine years younger from all the time traveling." Trunks said.
"Nine years? But you would have been twenty four, not twenty six." Ryoko said.
"Yes, but I spent two years inside the hyperbolic time chamber." He said.
"So...I'm not human?" Ryoko asked. The boys nodded. "How do you become a Super Saiyan?" Gohan and Trunks looked at each other.
"Well..." Gohan started. "You have to have a great pain. Becoming a super saiyan comes from a need, not a desire. Like I went super saiyan when I picture Cell killing my family and friends."
"And I became a super saiyan when Master Gohan died." Trunks said, his fist clenched and his eyes filled with anger.
"And dad became one when fighting Freeza." Gohan said. "And Vegeta achieved it from needing to be stronger than dad."
"I see." Ryoko said. "So I must be very weak to you guys." They laughed and shrugged, then started walking back to Ryoko's party.
"Where'd you go?" Kotori asked, coming over to Ryoko. People had left, and only Mai, Kotori, Amy, Ryoko, Gohan, and Trunks remained.
"Where'd everyone else go?" Ryoko asked.
"Home, we couldn't find you." Mai said.
"Oh." Ryoko looked up at the sky, and saw something blue quickly dash across it.
7
Ryoko had been living with the Son family for about two months now, and they had just started school. For the rest of the summer, Kotori had avoided her again. In school, it was hard to avoid her, but he managed.
Ryoko stood in her homeroom, staring angrily at the clock. It was nearly time to pass, but it seemed that the clock was going slow just to annoy her. The intercom clicked, and everyone knew that someone was about to talk.
"Excuse me SCS." The principal said. "But we have just gotten news that Ginger Town and Central Capital have been bombed by unknown attackers, officials are assuming terrorists. Estimates of two thousand people have been killed, and they are still looking for survivors."
One of Ryoko's classmates stood.
"My mom was on a business trip in Central Capital!" She cried, running out of the room. Ryoko's eyes widened and she looked at Gohan, then Trunks.
"Two…thousand?" She said in disbelief. Gohan smiled.
"Hey, why don't we all go on a search for the dragon balls and wish them all back?" He suggested. Ryoko smiled.
"Yeah! Good idea!" She cried.
"Hey, can I come?" Videl asked, walking over to them and smiling.
"Yeah!" Gohan cried. Ryoko put her hands together.
"It can be like a rode trip!" She cried out.
"You in, Trunks?" Videl asked. Trunks smiled and nodded.
"Alright, let's all meet in the air above our house after school." Gohan said. "We should pack our stuff into Capsule Corp. suitcases so we can turn them into dino caps."
"Good idea." Ryoko said.
Ryoko pressed the button on her suit case and put the dino cap into her pocket and walked into the kitchen where Gohan was waiting for her. Her mom frowned.
"You be careful." She said, then sighed. "The whole point of you living with normal people was so that she wouldn't turn out like her father…"
"Hey, she's a saiyan!" Goku cried, throwing a fist in the air with a large, dopy grin.
"She was born to fight!" Chichi's eyes turned into slits and she groaned.
"She was not born to fight! She was born to go to college with her brother and become a doctor or a lawyer!"
"Aw…Chichi…" Goku said, the smile disappearing.
"Mom?" Ryoko asked. Chichi looked at her. "Gohan told me that when dad was off fighting, you kept pressuring him to study…but…if they needed him to fight, how would he become a lawyer or whatever if the world was overtaken by evil?" Chichi blinked.
"That doesn't matter. And if you noticed, he always went off, anyway." She said, folding her arms.
"Yeah but-"
"You'd better be off!" She said with a smile. "See you soon!" Gohan and Ryoko were shoved out of the door.
"Bye! Good luck!" Goten cried, waving to his older siblings. Ryoko and Gohan waved back, then leapt into the air, joining Trunks and Videl.
"Do you have the dragon radar?" Ryoko asked. Trunks nodded.
"Then let's go!" Gohan cried. They started flying north, Trunks looking at his radar. It took them about an hour of flying, and they came to a desert. They landed, and Trunks looked confused.
"It should be right here." He said, then looked up at Videl. "Actually, you should be standing on it." Videl looked down, then back at Trunks.
"All I'm standing on is sand." She said with a blank look. A man in a jeep rode up to the four.
"Hey, you kids better be careful. There's a sandstorm coming." He said, driving away. Trunks smirked.
"Of course. The dragon ball must be buried under sand." He said, then looked at the girls. "You might want to back up." He said, so they rose into the air and back up.
Trunks put his fists out, and in a burst of energy, wind flew up from beneath him and spiraled up, mixed with sand, to the sky.
He powered down, leaving Videl and Ryoko in awe, and grabbed the sandy dragon ball. He smiled.
"One down, six to go." He said.
"There's one." Ryoko said, landing in the forest and eyeing a dragon ball. A pack of monkeys were crowded around it, one particularly large monkey holding it. Ryoko crept toward it, then grabbed it from the head primate.
The other monkeys 'ood' and 'eed' and jumped on her.
"Get off me!" She cried. Trunks, Gohan, and Videl laughed at her. Ryoko was struggling to get the monkeys off her, and felt ridiculous. One pulled her hair. "Oh that's it." She said, then raised her energy level, sending the monkeys flying into all sorts of directions.
Ryoko jumped into the air, breathing hard.
"Ha, was that hard for you? To knock a few monkeys off you?" Gohan asked, still laughing.
"Shut up!" Ryoko cried, hitting him playfully on the arm. Gohan stopped laughing and ran his finger under his nose. Ryoko handed Trunks the dragon ball, and he put it into his bag.
"Tru-u-u-nks.." Ryoko groaned about three days later. "Gohan…"
"What?" Gohan asked.
"I'm tired of sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag!" She cried. "Can we please go to a hotel?"
"I didn't bring any money." Gohan said.
"Me neither." Videl agreed.
"I'll pay for it." Trunks said.
"Gee, you never run out of money, do you?" Gohan asked.
"Well, you don't when you're the richest person in the world." Trunks said with a smirk. Ryoko laughed.
"You look like your father when you do that." She said. Ryoko had met Vegeta one night when Bulma had invited her to dinner, and found that he had the same appetite as the males in her family. Trunks smiled.
They landed at a hotel, and Trunks rented out a large room. They went into it, and Ryoko smiled.
"Wow. A lot better than the ground." She said. There was a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and four bedrooms. Also, in the living room, there was a door leading to a balcony. The rooms had been expensive, and they were all kept very clean.
Ryoko went into a bed room, and jumped on the bed. She lay down, suddenly feeling very tired, and her eyes closed, she drifted to sleep.
Ryoko woke in a different room, and sat up. She was in an all-white room, no doors, no windows, and just white eeriness. She suddenly felt a terrible pain in her wrists, and looked at them.
Deep, bloody gashes were going through both of them, and spreading throughout her arms in a spider web pattern. She screamed as her skin fell to the white ground in thick, bloody chunks. She stood up, and watched her blood drip into a large pool at her feet. She fell to her knees, half in shock, half in pain. She felt numb.
But Ryoko was suddenly sitting up in her bed. She still felt a little numb, and she raised her hands in front of her face. Her skin was there, and it was fine. She shuddered at the horrible dream, and suddenly didn't feel safe alone in the darkness.
She looked at the clock, it was twelve thirty two. Ryoko felt like someone was watching her, and watch she didn't know, was that someone always was.
Ryoko got out of the bed, jumping to a far distance near the door as she did when she was a child. She was always afraid that someone was going to grab her leg from under the bed, and the same, childish feeling came back to her.
Ryoko opened the door, slowly. The whole apartment was dark, and Ryoko crept across the floor and slowly opened Trunks' door.
"Ryoko? What's wrong?" Trunks asked, and from the light of the window, Ryoko saw that he sat up. Ryoko closed the door and leaned up against it, suddenly uncomfortable.
"I…I had a bad dream, and I'm scared to be alone." She said, then walked over to his bed and sat next to him. Trunks sighed and rubbed the back of his head.
"Okay…I guess it's okay if you stay in here…" Ryoko lay her head down on the extra pillow and pulled the sheets over her. She shuddered again, remembering the dream.
"You okay?"
"Yeah…"
"What happened in the dream?" Ryoko shrugged.
"All my skin fell off." She said. "And it felt…real." She rubbed her arm with her other hand. She could feel Trunks wince. "Trunks?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think that…you could train me? So I can be strong like you guys?" She asked.
"Sure." He said. "You should go to sleep, it's late."
8
Videl stretched out on the couch, flicking through the channels. It was about two in the afternoon, and Trunks and Ryoko had left about three hours ago to train. Gohan had fallen asleep on the floor, having nothing else to do.
A phone started to ring, surprising Videl. It was not the phone from the hotel, and the sound drew her to the kitchen table. Ryoko's cell phone was ringing. Videl picked it up.
"…hello?" She asked.
"Uh, hi, is Ryoko there?" A boy asked.
"Um, no, she went out with Trunks." She said. Gohan sat up and rubbed her eye.
"Who is it?" He asked, yawning and stretching his arms into the air.
"Oh…okay…" The boy said. "Can you tell her that Kotori called, and to call me back as soon as she gets back?"
"Sure." Videl said.
"Thanks, bye." He hung up, and Videl pressed the red hang up button on the phone.
"Who was it?" Gohan asked, getting up and walking into the kitchen. He walked to the fridge, and pulled out a piece of chicken and started eating it, cold.
"Kotori." She said. Gohan blinked, then swallowed his large mouthful.
"Really? That's weird."
"Why?"
"Well…" Gohan started, scratching his head. "They used to be like, best friends. Then after one day during the summer, he didn't talk to her until her birthday. Then he totally avoided her again, even in school. It's weird that he's calling her." Videl nodded, and looked down at the phone.
"He sounded…sad, or something." She said.
Ryoko swung another fist at Trunks, and he easily dodged her. She landed back on the ground, breathing hard. She kneeled, and cried out in anger, slamming a fist onto the ground.
"Why am I so weak?!" She cried. Trunks smiled.
"You're strong." He said. "You don't become a Super Saiyan in a day. It's going to take you a while." He extended his hand, Ryoko grabbed it, and he helped her stand up.
"We should get back, now." Ryoko sighed and fell into his arms, exhausted.
"I don't think I have enough energy to fly." She said, her eyes half closed.
"That's okay." He picked her up, and in a matter of minutes, they were walking back into the apartment. Gohan turned around and smiled at them.
"How'd it go?" He asked.
"Good." Trunks said, smiling. Ryoko sat on the couch next to Gohan, feeling less than half awake. Her eyes closed, and her head fell onto Gohan's shoulder.
Ryoko woke on the couch of the apartment, around her was silence. She stood, and started calling for her friends.
"Trunks? Gohan, Videl?" She called, nothing but the silence answering her. "Hello?"
"Hey." Ryoko turned around and gasped, Kotori was standing in the doorway of Trunks' room.
"Kotori? How did you get here?" She asked. He shrugged.
"Flew."
"Where is everyone?" Kotori smirked, his teeth showing. An evil look lingered in his usually dancing blue eyes.
"Why don't you look for yourself?" He asked, stepping forward and to the right. Ryoko walked into the doorway, staring at Kotori.
"What do you m-" Ryoko gasped in horror at what lay ahead in Trunks' room, and pure terror struck through her body. Lying on the bed was Trunks' corpse, his sword dug into his chest. The mattress was stained with his blood, his eyes were wide with terror. "What did you do?!" She screamed. "Where's Gohan and Videl?!" She cried, fearing the worst. Suddenly, the closet door open, and two carcasses fell out, her brother and Videl. Ryoko looked at Kotori, tears spilling onto her cheeks. "Why did you do this?!"
Kotori only grinned and grabbed her shoulders, shoving her against the wall. Ryoko struggled to try and free herself, and even with the training that Trunks had given her that day, Kotori was too strong for her. He held her with one hand, and with his free one, he took a knife and slashed her arm.
Over the next couple of weeks, Ryoko had gotten to know Trunks better and better with the flying lessons, and was happy to say that she had almost learned the technique. She knew, now, that she loved Trunks and not Kotori, and she still had not talked to Kotori since that day.
"You're not telling me something." Trunks said during one of their lessons. "You have to clear your mind to bring out your energy for the first time, so just tell me what's on your mind." Ryoko dropped her eyes to the side.
"If I could say what I wanted to say..." She paused. "I'd say I wanna blow you away, be with you every moment." She blushed, and then laughed a little. She had never told anyone that she loved them in front of them, either they found a note saying it, and she told them online. Trunks blinked a couple of times.
"What do you mean?" Ryoko sighed.
"I love you, Trunks." She said. Trunks laughed a little, the blushed lightly.
"Well, uh…" He started. "I love you, too." Ryoko was shocked, but then smiled.
"Really?" She asked. He nodded, blushing deeper. Ryoko laughed then jumped at him, hugging him tightly. Trunks hugged her back, and Ryoko felt happier than ever. She leaned back and kissed him lightly, and he turned bright red. Ryoko laughed again, and then he kissed her.
5
"You want him to go, right?" Mai asked about two weeks later. She was a little upset that Ryoko was going out with Trunks (seeming as she wasn't with Gohan yet), but she was over it in a matter of seconds.
"Yeah…" Ryoko said.
"Then call him." Mai said. "It's not that big of a deal."
"I haven't talked to him all summer." Ryoko sighed, but picked up the phone and dialed Kotori's number.
"Hello?" Kotori had picked up.
"Hey, Kotori." Ryoko said, Kotori paused for a second.
"Hey." He said.
"How's your summer been going?"
"Good." He said. "You?"
"Great." She said, smiling a little to herself. "Hey, my birthday party is Friday, do you
want to go?"
"Yeah, sure." He said.
"Okay, it starts at three and ends at like, eleven at the earliest. It's a pool party."
"Okay." Kotori said. "Bye."
"…bye." Ryoko hung up the phone.
"Is he going?" Mai asked.
"Yup."
"So who's going now? Me, you, Kotori, Trunks, Gohan…?"
"I dunno. Other people." Ryoko said. Mai rolled her eyes.
"Is Amy going?" She asked.
"I think so." Ryoko replied.
"We should tell Gohan and Kotori to come early." Mai said.
"And Trunks." Ryoko added. Mai nodded.
"You want me to come…now?" Trunks asked on the phone Friday morning. During the week, Ryoko had finally learned how to fly. It was like a dream come true, but she slightly missed just flying in Trunks' arms.
"Yup. Gohan and Kotori are on their way over, now." Gohan knocked on the door. "Oh, there's Gohan now."
"Okay, I'm coming." Trunks said. Mai sprang off the couch and opened the door for Gohan.
"Hi!" She cried.
"Hi, Gohan!" Ryoko said. "Okay, see ya soon."
"Okay, bye."
"Bye." Ryoko hung up. Gohan handed Ryoko a box with a card attached to it.
"Here, happy birthday." Gohan said with a large smile. Ryoko grinned, said thank you, and put it on the table beside Mai's gift, which was in a medium sized black bag. Ryoko saw Trunks' silhouette through the door, and opened it for him.
"Hey." Trunks said. "Happy birthday." Ryoko hugged him, and then took the large box from him. She wondered what the three got her, but didn't want to even peak inside, she wanted to wait.
"When's Kotori getting here?" Mai said with a large sigh. "Let's wait outside for him." They walked into the front yard. "Do you think he got cuter?"
"Mai…" Ryoko said, sighing.
"Kotori!" Mai yelled, seeing a boy coming down the street on a bike. She waved with a large smile on her face.
Kotori arrived at the yard, and handed Ryoko a card in a white envelope.
"Hi!!" Mai cried.
"Hi." Kotori said, much less enthusiastic.
"Where were you all summer?!" She asked. Kotori shrugged.
"Having a life…? I bet you were calling me every five seconds, huh?" He asked. Mai's eyes went up and she tried to suppress a smile.
"No…" She lied.
"Yeah, sure!" Kotori cried, nodding.
"What time is it?" Gohan asked.
"Two thirty." Ryoko said. "People are coming at three."
"Yeah, I wanted you and Gohan to come at like, twelve." Mai said to Kotori. Kotori shrugged.
"I had to go get Ryoko's card." Kotori said.
"Nice, get it on the day of my party." Ryoko said, laughing. Kotori shrugged, laughing a little.
"Heh…yeah." He said. "You gonna be playing music?"
"Naw…" Ryoko said, rolling her eyes.
"Oh, why not?" Kotori asked. Ryoko laughed, knowing that he was being sarcastic.
Ryoko felt so different being around Kotori now that she was with Trunks, she didn't feel so sad and hopeless.
"The radio's in the backyard." Ryoko said, turning around and walking through the gate, the others following.
"Can I be the DJ" Kotori cried, sitting on one of the chairs around the table.
"…sure." Ryoko said. Kotori put on a radio station. Ryoko sat down on a lawn chair, and stared up at the sky, having and incredible urge to use her new ability. She turned her eyes to Trunks. "Trunks?"
"Yeah?" He asked, looking at her. Ryoko stood up and stood in the door frame.
"Come 'ere a minute." She said. Trunks got up and they went into the house.
"What is it?" He asked.
"Where…where did you ever learn to fly?" She asked, suddenly amazed that she hadn't asked him sooner. "And how come when I found out you go 'secret's out'?" Trunks blinked a couple of times, and then scratched his head.
"Pretty much everyone I know knows how to fly. I think we learned it from a guy named Tien. But I don't know, my mas- um, Gohan taught me." Trunks said. "And by keeping it a secret, I meant that we didn't want anyone to find out because it's kinda weird, you know?"
"Yeah, I guess." She said. "You don't want anyone else to find out?" She asked, getting ready to walk out the door. He nodded. "Okay." They went back outside.
"What?" Mai asked.
"Nothing. I just had the ask Trunks something." Ryoko said.
"What?"
"Nothing!" Ryoko cried. Mai sighed. Ryoko looked at Trunks again. "Hey, what time is it?" Trunks looked at his watch.
"Three."
"Really?!"
"Yeah." Ryoko looked at everyone.
"Okay, then we gotta go in and wait for everyone." They all went into the house. Kotori sat on one of the chairs, Mai sat on the other one, Gohan sat on the floor, and Ryoko and Trunks sat on the couch.
A couple minutes later, Ryoko rubbed her eyes and leaned her head on Trunks' shoulder.
"I'm bored." Ryoko said. She picked up Trunks' hand and looked at his watch, seeming as there was nothing else to do. Trunks let his hand lay limply in hers, and also stared at his watch. "Where did you get this?"
"My grandpa made it for me." He said. Ryoko looked at Mai, putting down Trunks' hand, but holding it still. "Mai, what did you get me?"
"A CD player." Ryoko threw her free hand in the air and rolled her eyes.
"You're not supposed to tell me."
"Well you asked." Mai said with a giggle. Kotori looked oddly at Ryoko and Trunks.
"Are you two goin' out?" He asked. Ryoko rubbed her eyes again.
"Yeah... Where have you been?" Mai said, staring at Kotori.
"I haven't talked to you people for like a month!" Kotori cried.
"Yeah, we are." Ryoko said, still rubbing her eye. "Ugh. When are they going to get here?"
"I'll be right back." Kotori said, getting up and walking into the other side of the house. Gohan looked at the door.
"Someone's here." He said. Ryoko jumped up, letting go of Trunks' hand, and opened the door. Caitlin was just getting out of her car. Ryoko waved.
"Hi, Caitlin!" She cried. Caitlin waved and walked up to the door, handing Ryoko a box.
"Thanks." They went back in the house and Ryoko closed the door.
"Hi!" Mai cried. Caitlin waved and said 'hi', also.
"Okay, so you know Kotori and Mai." Ryoko started. "Now, this is my boyfriend, Trunks, and our friend, Gohan."
"Hi." Caitlin said, waving to them. "I heard about you, Trunks." She said with a smile. Trunks blushed a little.
"Stop!!" Kotori cried, sitting back down in his chair. Trunks looked at him. "You blush too much!"
"It's not his fault." Ryoko said.
"But still!"
6
The party had been going on for about four hours, and everyone was having a good time, that is, except for Kotori. He seemed a little upset, but no one asked him what was wrong.
It was seven o' clock, and the sky was darkening. Everyone had just gotten around the pool and was standing together beside the house, talking and listening to the music.
Someone walked into the backyard, spotted Gohan, Trunks, and Ryoko, and walked over to them.
"Hey!" Ryoko turned around.
"Oh, hey, Goku." Ryoko said. Goku smiled widely.
"Hey!" He repeated. "Ryoko? Gohan? Can I talk to you two for a minute?" Ryoko and Gohan blinked.
"Uh, yeah, sure." They both said at the same time. They started walking into the front yard, when Ryoko heard Mai's high pitched voice.
"Where are you going?!" She cried, to Ryoko and Gohan.
"We'll be right back!" Gohan called back, and then they went into the front. Standing in Ryoko's front yard was a woman that Ryoko didn't recognize, but she looked like Gohan's mother. "Mom? What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to see Ryoko." She said, smiling. "Have you noticed that your family hasn't been home all day, Ryoko-chan?" Ryoko blinked.
"Come to think of it, I haven't." She said, a bit confused that her family wasn't home for her birthday party.
"This is going to be kind of hard for you to believe." The woman said. "By the way, my name is Chichi."
"What's going to be hard for me to believe?" Ryoko asked. Chichi sighed.
"You're actually Goku and my daughter." Ryoko's eyes widened and she laughed.
"What? You've got to be kidding." Chichi didn't look like she was kidding.
"I'm not. You see, Gohan and you are twins. When you two were born, even though Goku promised me that Gohan would not be a fighter like his father, but I knew that Gohan would, not that I liked it. So I suggested that we gave you to a normal family, so you would be normal." Chichi said.
"So…why haven't my parents been home?"
"They moved. We live there, now." Chichi said, smiling.
"What?!" Gohan cried. "Why didn't I ever know this?!"
"We wanted to keep it from you." Goku spoke up. Ryoko blinked a couple of times.
She had always hated her brother, and her alcoholic step father, and her real father that she had not seen for ten years. She thought her mom was okay, but most of the time she hated her, it seemed like her mother didn't care about her at all, so Ryoko was not devastated about the news.
"Oh…I see." Ryoko said.
"We have already changed your name to Ryoko Son in school and all." Chichi said, then smiled. "Okay, go ahead and get back to your party."
Gohan and Ryoko started walking back.
"Why are you acting so...calm about this?" Gohan asked as they went through the gate. Ryoko shrugged.
"My immediate family wasn't too great, anyway."
"I see." Ryoko walked back to Trunks, he had been leaning up against the house.
"What was that all about?" Trunks asked.
"Well...I guess that Chichi and Goku are my real parents." She said. Trunks' eyes widened.
"What?! Really?!" He cried. She nodded. Gohan walked up to them.
"Trunks, now that we know that she's my sister, we need to tell her some things." He said. Trunks nodded.
"Tell me what?" Ryoko asked. Gohan grabbed her arm, and in a matter of seconds, Ryoko was in Trunks' back yard. "What the- how- how did you do that?!"
"I'm fast." Gohan said with a smile. Trunks sighed. They were going to explain to her about her heritage, how she was a saiyan, and about their lives. Trunks was feeling hesitant to tell her his past.
"What do you have to tell me?" Ryoko asked.
"You're going to find this hard the believe." Gohan stated. Ryoko didn't answer, so Gohan started explaining everything. When it came for Trunks to explain, he sighed.
"I did not grow up in this time." Trunks said. Ryoko stared at him, blankly. "I grew up in the future, and androids had taken over my time. Many of the world's people were dead, and it wasn't much better for those who were alive. My master Gohan and I were the only fighters left. Goku, Piccolo, my father, Tien, Yamcha, and Krilan were all dead. So when I was seventeen, I came to this time, seven years ago, to warn them of the future." Gohan explained the rest, about the androids of this time, and Cell.
"But- you're seventeen now." Ryoko said, confused. "How were you seventeen seven years ago?"
"Yeah, I've been wondering that, too." Gohan said, and they both looked at him.
"Before my mother sent me back to this time, she said that when I came here, I would be nine years younger from all the time traveling." Trunks said.
"Nine years? But you would have been twenty four, not twenty six." Ryoko said.
"Yes, but I spent two years inside the hyperbolic time chamber." He said.
"So...I'm not human?" Ryoko asked. The boys nodded. "How do you become a Super Saiyan?" Gohan and Trunks looked at each other.
"Well..." Gohan started. "You have to have a great pain. Becoming a super saiyan comes from a need, not a desire. Like I went super saiyan when I picture Cell killing my family and friends."
"And I became a super saiyan when Master Gohan died." Trunks said, his fist clenched and his eyes filled with anger.
"And dad became one when fighting Freeza." Gohan said. "And Vegeta achieved it from needing to be stronger than dad."
"I see." Ryoko said. "So I must be very weak to you guys." They laughed and shrugged, then started walking back to Ryoko's party.
"Where'd you go?" Kotori asked, coming over to Ryoko. People had left, and only Mai, Kotori, Amy, Ryoko, Gohan, and Trunks remained.
"Where'd everyone else go?" Ryoko asked.
"Home, we couldn't find you." Mai said.
"Oh." Ryoko looked up at the sky, and saw something blue quickly dash across it.
7
Ryoko had been living with the Son family for about two months now, and they had just started school. For the rest of the summer, Kotori had avoided her again. In school, it was hard to avoid her, but he managed.
Ryoko stood in her homeroom, staring angrily at the clock. It was nearly time to pass, but it seemed that the clock was going slow just to annoy her. The intercom clicked, and everyone knew that someone was about to talk.
"Excuse me SCS." The principal said. "But we have just gotten news that Ginger Town and Central Capital have been bombed by unknown attackers, officials are assuming terrorists. Estimates of two thousand people have been killed, and they are still looking for survivors."
One of Ryoko's classmates stood.
"My mom was on a business trip in Central Capital!" She cried, running out of the room. Ryoko's eyes widened and she looked at Gohan, then Trunks.
"Two…thousand?" She said in disbelief. Gohan smiled.
"Hey, why don't we all go on a search for the dragon balls and wish them all back?" He suggested. Ryoko smiled.
"Yeah! Good idea!" She cried.
"Hey, can I come?" Videl asked, walking over to them and smiling.
"Yeah!" Gohan cried. Ryoko put her hands together.
"It can be like a rode trip!" She cried out.
"You in, Trunks?" Videl asked. Trunks smiled and nodded.
"Alright, let's all meet in the air above our house after school." Gohan said. "We should pack our stuff into Capsule Corp. suitcases so we can turn them into dino caps."
"Good idea." Ryoko said.
Ryoko pressed the button on her suit case and put the dino cap into her pocket and walked into the kitchen where Gohan was waiting for her. Her mom frowned.
"You be careful." She said, then sighed. "The whole point of you living with normal people was so that she wouldn't turn out like her father…"
"Hey, she's a saiyan!" Goku cried, throwing a fist in the air with a large, dopy grin.
"She was born to fight!" Chichi's eyes turned into slits and she groaned.
"She was not born to fight! She was born to go to college with her brother and become a doctor or a lawyer!"
"Aw…Chichi…" Goku said, the smile disappearing.
"Mom?" Ryoko asked. Chichi looked at her. "Gohan told me that when dad was off fighting, you kept pressuring him to study…but…if they needed him to fight, how would he become a lawyer or whatever if the world was overtaken by evil?" Chichi blinked.
"That doesn't matter. And if you noticed, he always went off, anyway." She said, folding her arms.
"Yeah but-"
"You'd better be off!" She said with a smile. "See you soon!" Gohan and Ryoko were shoved out of the door.
"Bye! Good luck!" Goten cried, waving to his older siblings. Ryoko and Gohan waved back, then leapt into the air, joining Trunks and Videl.
"Do you have the dragon radar?" Ryoko asked. Trunks nodded.
"Then let's go!" Gohan cried. They started flying north, Trunks looking at his radar. It took them about an hour of flying, and they came to a desert. They landed, and Trunks looked confused.
"It should be right here." He said, then looked up at Videl. "Actually, you should be standing on it." Videl looked down, then back at Trunks.
"All I'm standing on is sand." She said with a blank look. A man in a jeep rode up to the four.
"Hey, you kids better be careful. There's a sandstorm coming." He said, driving away. Trunks smirked.
"Of course. The dragon ball must be buried under sand." He said, then looked at the girls. "You might want to back up." He said, so they rose into the air and back up.
Trunks put his fists out, and in a burst of energy, wind flew up from beneath him and spiraled up, mixed with sand, to the sky.
He powered down, leaving Videl and Ryoko in awe, and grabbed the sandy dragon ball. He smiled.
"One down, six to go." He said.
"There's one." Ryoko said, landing in the forest and eyeing a dragon ball. A pack of monkeys were crowded around it, one particularly large monkey holding it. Ryoko crept toward it, then grabbed it from the head primate.
The other monkeys 'ood' and 'eed' and jumped on her.
"Get off me!" She cried. Trunks, Gohan, and Videl laughed at her. Ryoko was struggling to get the monkeys off her, and felt ridiculous. One pulled her hair. "Oh that's it." She said, then raised her energy level, sending the monkeys flying into all sorts of directions.
Ryoko jumped into the air, breathing hard.
"Ha, was that hard for you? To knock a few monkeys off you?" Gohan asked, still laughing.
"Shut up!" Ryoko cried, hitting him playfully on the arm. Gohan stopped laughing and ran his finger under his nose. Ryoko handed Trunks the dragon ball, and he put it into his bag.
"Tru-u-u-nks.." Ryoko groaned about three days later. "Gohan…"
"What?" Gohan asked.
"I'm tired of sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag!" She cried. "Can we please go to a hotel?"
"I didn't bring any money." Gohan said.
"Me neither." Videl agreed.
"I'll pay for it." Trunks said.
"Gee, you never run out of money, do you?" Gohan asked.
"Well, you don't when you're the richest person in the world." Trunks said with a smirk. Ryoko laughed.
"You look like your father when you do that." She said. Ryoko had met Vegeta one night when Bulma had invited her to dinner, and found that he had the same appetite as the males in her family. Trunks smiled.
They landed at a hotel, and Trunks rented out a large room. They went into it, and Ryoko smiled.
"Wow. A lot better than the ground." She said. There was a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and four bedrooms. Also, in the living room, there was a door leading to a balcony. The rooms had been expensive, and they were all kept very clean.
Ryoko went into a bed room, and jumped on the bed. She lay down, suddenly feeling very tired, and her eyes closed, she drifted to sleep.
Ryoko woke in a different room, and sat up. She was in an all-white room, no doors, no windows, and just white eeriness. She suddenly felt a terrible pain in her wrists, and looked at them.
Deep, bloody gashes were going through both of them, and spreading throughout her arms in a spider web pattern. She screamed as her skin fell to the white ground in thick, bloody chunks. She stood up, and watched her blood drip into a large pool at her feet. She fell to her knees, half in shock, half in pain. She felt numb.
But Ryoko was suddenly sitting up in her bed. She still felt a little numb, and she raised her hands in front of her face. Her skin was there, and it was fine. She shuddered at the horrible dream, and suddenly didn't feel safe alone in the darkness.
She looked at the clock, it was twelve thirty two. Ryoko felt like someone was watching her, and watch she didn't know, was that someone always was.
Ryoko got out of the bed, jumping to a far distance near the door as she did when she was a child. She was always afraid that someone was going to grab her leg from under the bed, and the same, childish feeling came back to her.
Ryoko opened the door, slowly. The whole apartment was dark, and Ryoko crept across the floor and slowly opened Trunks' door.
"Ryoko? What's wrong?" Trunks asked, and from the light of the window, Ryoko saw that he sat up. Ryoko closed the door and leaned up against it, suddenly uncomfortable.
"I…I had a bad dream, and I'm scared to be alone." She said, then walked over to his bed and sat next to him. Trunks sighed and rubbed the back of his head.
"Okay…I guess it's okay if you stay in here…" Ryoko lay her head down on the extra pillow and pulled the sheets over her. She shuddered again, remembering the dream.
"You okay?"
"Yeah…"
"What happened in the dream?" Ryoko shrugged.
"All my skin fell off." She said. "And it felt…real." She rubbed her arm with her other hand. She could feel Trunks wince. "Trunks?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think that…you could train me? So I can be strong like you guys?" She asked.
"Sure." He said. "You should go to sleep, it's late."
8
Videl stretched out on the couch, flicking through the channels. It was about two in the afternoon, and Trunks and Ryoko had left about three hours ago to train. Gohan had fallen asleep on the floor, having nothing else to do.
A phone started to ring, surprising Videl. It was not the phone from the hotel, and the sound drew her to the kitchen table. Ryoko's cell phone was ringing. Videl picked it up.
"…hello?" She asked.
"Uh, hi, is Ryoko there?" A boy asked.
"Um, no, she went out with Trunks." She said. Gohan sat up and rubbed her eye.
"Who is it?" He asked, yawning and stretching his arms into the air.
"Oh…okay…" The boy said. "Can you tell her that Kotori called, and to call me back as soon as she gets back?"
"Sure." Videl said.
"Thanks, bye." He hung up, and Videl pressed the red hang up button on the phone.
"Who was it?" Gohan asked, getting up and walking into the kitchen. He walked to the fridge, and pulled out a piece of chicken and started eating it, cold.
"Kotori." She said. Gohan blinked, then swallowed his large mouthful.
"Really? That's weird."
"Why?"
"Well…" Gohan started, scratching his head. "They used to be like, best friends. Then after one day during the summer, he didn't talk to her until her birthday. Then he totally avoided her again, even in school. It's weird that he's calling her." Videl nodded, and looked down at the phone.
"He sounded…sad, or something." She said.
Ryoko swung another fist at Trunks, and he easily dodged her. She landed back on the ground, breathing hard. She kneeled, and cried out in anger, slamming a fist onto the ground.
"Why am I so weak?!" She cried. Trunks smiled.
"You're strong." He said. "You don't become a Super Saiyan in a day. It's going to take you a while." He extended his hand, Ryoko grabbed it, and he helped her stand up.
"We should get back, now." Ryoko sighed and fell into his arms, exhausted.
"I don't think I have enough energy to fly." She said, her eyes half closed.
"That's okay." He picked her up, and in a matter of minutes, they were walking back into the apartment. Gohan turned around and smiled at them.
"How'd it go?" He asked.
"Good." Trunks said, smiling. Ryoko sat on the couch next to Gohan, feeling less than half awake. Her eyes closed, and her head fell onto Gohan's shoulder.
Ryoko woke on the couch of the apartment, around her was silence. She stood, and started calling for her friends.
"Trunks? Gohan, Videl?" She called, nothing but the silence answering her. "Hello?"
"Hey." Ryoko turned around and gasped, Kotori was standing in the doorway of Trunks' room.
"Kotori? How did you get here?" She asked. He shrugged.
"Flew."
"Where is everyone?" Kotori smirked, his teeth showing. An evil look lingered in his usually dancing blue eyes.
"Why don't you look for yourself?" He asked, stepping forward and to the right. Ryoko walked into the doorway, staring at Kotori.
"What do you m-" Ryoko gasped in horror at what lay ahead in Trunks' room, and pure terror struck through her body. Lying on the bed was Trunks' corpse, his sword dug into his chest. The mattress was stained with his blood, his eyes were wide with terror. "What did you do?!" She screamed. "Where's Gohan and Videl?!" She cried, fearing the worst. Suddenly, the closet door open, and two carcasses fell out, her brother and Videl. Ryoko looked at Kotori, tears spilling onto her cheeks. "Why did you do this?!"
Kotori only grinned and grabbed her shoulders, shoving her against the wall. Ryoko struggled to try and free herself, and even with the training that Trunks had given her that day, Kotori was too strong for her. He held her with one hand, and with his free one, he took a knife and slashed her arm.