by Amazon and Masquerade
Chapter 3
As Tansei flew home, Aria had just arrived at Ikuko's house.
"I'm sure she's fine, Mrs. Kageyama...," Aria tried to comfort Ikuko.
The over worried mother was sobbing hysterically, making Aria feel rather nervous.
"She should be home any minute now....really...."
About 20 minutes later, Tansei descended outside the small house and opened the door.
"Mom? Aria? I'm
home!"
"TANSEI!" Ikuko jumped on
her daughter, hugging her tightly. "Oh, thank God you're home! I was so
scared! Aria told me everything! I thought I'd never see you again!"
Aria came from behind Ikuko to look at Tansei.
"Hey, you okay, Tan-chan?
He didn't hurt you, did he?"
"He roughed me up a bit,
but nothing I didn't repay him. Turns out green boy is having some
kind of tournament in 10 days. He asked me to compete in it," she
replied, flopping down on the couch.
"Tournament? Like a Budakai?
Wow, I wonder where that thing has the money for it?" She watched Ikuko
head into the kitchen for the moment.
"There's no money involved,
Aria. But the concept is simple. If bug boy wins, he destroys
the world. If anyone else wins, earth is spared."
"Whoa." Aria gasped. "But....he
can't destroy the world..... I mean, you have to have a lot of nuclear
bombs and missiles and a whole army to do something like that......"
"Aria, you saw how he just
destroyed that mall with his energy. He can do the same to earth.
I fought him, he's powerful enough. That's why I must fight him again
at this tournament. I almost won our little fight today, and I know
with more training I can and will beat him."
Aria smiled.
"I've said it before, and I'll say it again! That's our girl! I know you can do it, Tansei!"
Tansei smirked.
"I should start training as soon as possible....," she begins.
Aria nodded.
"Yeah, ten days is pretty
short. How are you going to get strong enough to beat him in ten days?"
"My dad told me about this
mystical chamber where the kami of earth lives. It's supposed to
help you to get a year's worth of training in only one day. I think
one day should be enough to give me the boost I need."
"Wow, that's incredible.
Uh, where is this place?"
"Several thousand miles
above the earth. I'm not even sure if I'll be able to use it...Kami
needs to approve of me first. If not then I'll have to use conventional
methods, like the gym and intense meditation."
Aria nodded.
"Well, sounds cool. Well,
train hard, then. I dunno about the thought about the fate of the Earth
on your shoulders, but.........I think you can beat him."
"Thanks, Aria. So,
mom...what do you say?"
Ikuko peeked from the kitchen.
"Yes, Tansei? Oh, you're going to train more? That's fine, just don't be gone too long, that's all I ask."
Tansei nodded.
"One day max, mom.
Promise."
"So, Aria you wanna come?
I can teach you martial arts...you always wanted to learn."
"Well....I dunno...." Aria
scratched her head. After a moment she half-smirked. "Ah, what the hey?!
Why not? I've always wanted to knock some bully's lights out. I'll come."
"Cool. Well, time
to pack. Gotta get the requisite spandex. We'll see you tomorrow
mom!"
Tansei grabbed Aria's hand and dragged her up the stairs to her bedroom to pack. Ikuko poked her head out of the kitchen again.
"Don't you want to take something to eat? I worried myself into baking three cakes.....oh, they left already..."
Tansei quickly threw some essentials into a duffle bag and thrust a spare bag at Aria.
"I'm too excited to get to the chamber to take the time to drop by your house, so just borrow some of my stuff okay?"
Aria looked around.
"Okay, I'll take what I have
too. Lesse....make-up, purse, list of cute boy's phone numbers...."
"None of that will be any
good." Tansei sighed.
"So what?" Aria asked. "I
need those to survive."
Tansei smacked her forehead..
"Whatever. Well, I'm ready. Are you about finished?"
Aria started stuffing some of Tansei's clothes into her bag, then zipped it up.
"Yeah, ready as I'll ever
be."
"Okay. Hop back on
and let's go," Tansei commanded, pointing to her back.
Aria's face fell flat.
"Flying again?" She shook her head, and grabbed Tansei's shoulders. "Oh well, it's really high up anyway...."
Tansei helped Aria to get comfortable on her back and walked out her sliding glass doors to the balcony.
"Hang on tight. I'm flying fast and high!!" she warned as she took off like a shot.
Aria squeezed her eyes shut as Tansei flew through the air, and held on for dear life.
"Just tell me when we get
there, okay?!"
"Sure thing!!"
~*/|\*~
Elsewhere, approximately 90 miles outside of East City, Cell looked down at his arena from the air.
"Perfect, naturally. It looks big enough. Now then, to let everyone know about the tournament. Let's see, the biggest TV station would be around......" Too bad that girl, Tansei, won't be able to see me.... As soon as he thought it, Cell quickly shook the thought out of his head. So what if she misses it?! She's just another contestant who isn't Son Goku! Now where was that station?! "I'm fairly sure it was ZTV studios...."
~*/|\*~
Tansei landed softly on the platform, letting Aria slide off her back.
"Well, we're here. You can open your eyes now, Aria."
Aria did open her eyes, and flattened down her hair with her hands.
"Man...that was almost too
much...."
"Hey, pretty soon you'll
be flying around just as fast," Tansei winked.
Aria shook her head.
"Me? Fly? No way, my feet
are staying on solid ground!"
"Oh my!" Mr. Popo exclaimed,
seeing the two strange girls.
Tansei turned to the short genie man and raised a brow.
"Are you kami?" she asked.
"No, I'm not. Kami
is gone I'm afraid. May I help you, young lady?"
"What in the...." Aria gasped
at the sight of Popo. "Who are you?"
"My name is Mr. Popo.
I'm the caretaker of this place."
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Popo.
I'm Tansei Kibito and this is my friend Aria Benson."
"Hi." Aria waved.
"A pleasure."
"We're here to ask if we
may use the mystical room of space and time. There's a powerful creature
that calls himself Cell. We need to use the room to become stronger
so I can beat him in the tournament he's having. My father, Kibito,
told me about this room. He's a kaio."
"Kibito? That name
sounds familiar...a kaio?! Ah...well...I suppose you can use the
room," the genie stated, "Do you know of it's limitations?"
"Yes. We'll only be
in there a day. Thank you, Mr. Popo."
Aria nodded in thanks.
"You're welcome. Give me a few minutes and I'll stock the food for you."
Mr. Popo walks off, waving at them to follow. Aria turned to Tansei.
"Limitations?"
"If we stay in there more
than two days, we could be trapped forever."
"Yikes!" Aria squeaked.
"Well, at least we'll be in there for one day, right?"
"Right."
Aria nodded.
"Well, let's get going. I can't wait."
Several hours later finds the two women in the vast whiteness of the room, staring in awe at the nothingness. Tansei recovers quickly and steps out into the void, barely affected by the gravity change, since she expected it.
"Whoa......" Aria gasped,
looking around her. "There's absolutely nothing here! How can this exist
in one room?"
"Don't ask questions for
which there is no answer," Tansei replies in a whisper, "This is amazing,
however. Well, let's set up our rooms and get started."
~*/|\*~
Vegeta speeds up on his way to the lookout, for what he considers his chance to finally show Kakkarot who is the strongest super saiyajin.
"Hey, Vegeta! Slow down!"
Goku called up to his rival. "I thought we were all going together!"
"Unlike you, Kakkarot, I
am anxious to get my training done so I can teach that pompous android
not to mess with this mud ball of a planet."
"Leave him alone, Son."
Piccolo said. "You know how he is during times like these."
"Actually, I know how Vegeta
feels." Krillin admitted. "I wanna get this over with too. At least I'm
in no hurry."
Tien just flew alongside Krillin, busy with his own thoughts.
"Hey, we're almost there.
Are we going in first, dad?" Gohan asked.
"No! I will go in
first!" Vegeta declared.
Goku had to laugh.
"Actually, we'll let Vegeta and Trunks go in first. We've got time."
Trunks huffed slightly.
"Father and I again? All
right, I guess."
"We'll go in next, okay
Gohan?" Goku offered.
"Sure thing, dad.
How about you, Mr. Piccolo?"
"I'll go in next." Piccolo
decides. "And I don't need anyone else going in with me."
"I guess it's me and Tien
afterward?" Krillin decided.
"Whatever you fools want
to do is fine as long as no one...no one," Vegeta repeated pointedly at
his future son, "gets in the way of training."
"I'm not getting in your
way, father." Trunks grumbled.
"Don't worry about Vegeta."
Goku nudged Trunks with his elbow. "He just wants what's best for you and
him. Isn't that right, Vegeta?"
"Hn."
Vegeta lands on the lookout first and bellows for Popo.
"Coming, coming!"
"Is that infernal chamber
ready for my use?"
"Uh...I'm sorry, but there
is currently someone using the room of spirit and time...two young ladies
to be precise," Popo replied.
"What?!" Piccolo snapped.
"Who were they and what are they doing here?!"
"Ahh!" Popo yelped, backing
away, "S-she's the daughter of a kaio! They're going to fight Cell."
"The daughter of a kaio?"
Krillin asks.
"Yes. She mentioned
his name was Kibito. It sounds familiar to me. Piccolo would
know since Kami knew all the kaios."
Piccolo nodded.
"I suppose it can't be helped.
We'll wait for these two girls to come out. Mr. Popo, how long will they
be training for?"
"One day."
Piccolo nodded.
"Then, we will wait."
"Argh! Some weak onnas
are taking valuable training time away from me! When they come out..."
"Father?" Trunks wondered
to himself, seeing Vegeta getting riled up.
"Take it easy, Vegeta."
Goku calmed. "It's only for one day."
"Hmph."
"So, what do we do in the
meantime?" Krillin asked, scratching the back of his head.
"I know!" Goku announced.
"Let's eat! I'm starving!"
"Oh! I have a roast
in the oven! I'd be happy to cook you more, Goku," Popo answered.
"Yeah, I'm hungry too!"
Gohan piped up.
"Sure, why not?" Trunks
shrugged.
"No, thanks." Piccolo and
Krillin shook their heads.
"You're always hungry, Kakkarot,"
Vegeta muttered.
"Eh? Don't you want any,
Vegeta? I'll bet you're hungry too."
Vegeta's stomach does the talking with a hefty grumbling noise.
"Agh, fine! Can't train
on an empty stomach anyhow," Vegeta agrees.
Disclaimer: We don't own DBZ or any related characters or entities. DBZ is © Akira Toriyama. The characters of Tansei Kibito, Ikuko, Aria, and Masaru are however our intellectual property and we reserve the exclusive right to use said characters.
Tansei Kibito, Ikuko, Aria, Masaru © Amazon and Masquerade, 2003.
