Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball, Dragonball Z, or Dragonball GT. Those and the characters were created by Akira Toriyama, so please do not sue.
Chapter 1 - The Departure
She stood looking up at the three-storied police station. Station #11, Precinct #4, her place for the past two years, yet she was still the youngest officer that the station had ever had. Looking back on the previous two years, she wondered just how she had ever managed to get accepted.
She chuckled inwardly to herself. Maybe it was the way she looked was why the police captain had signed her up so quickly. Or maybe it was her various attitudes that were the charm. Maybe it was the sense that wherever she went, people noticed that there was just something different about her. But that didn't matter to her at the moment.
Pushing aside the glass doors of the station and entering the lobby, she casually looked around. Good, she thought. None of the officers that knew her were on duty, and she walked right past the officer who was at the desk. He was apparently asleep, and she made a mental note to herself to report this lack of duty.
Making her way to the elevators at the back of the lobby, she pressed the button for the upper floors. Glancing around at the brightly lit area, she sighed with impatience. Maybe it was better if she had taken the easy way up…but no…she had promised herself years ago that she would never use them except when it was absolutely necessary.
It seemed like an eternity before the elevator doors pulled open, but she was relieved when they finally did. Stepping in, she wondered why she felt such mistrust to this place. Being there for two years, she should've gotten rid of all senses of nervousness and insecurity, yet she hadn't. There was a continuous feeling that someone out there was watching her. She could always sense it, though she never could quite place where it was coming from. Well, she thought, she never was quite normal…
Arriving on the third floor, she made her way to her captain's office. The hallway leading down to it was dark, dank, and had a sense of foreboding. It reminded her of the time when she was three and had gotten stuck in her grandmother's laundry closet. She had banged on the door for about half an hour before she was finally found, and at that time the laundry closet, too, was like that hallway. Dark, dank, and you never knew what was at the end of it.
"Damn those lights…" she muttered to herself. In the 50-year-old building, no one bothered to do anything when things were broken. Half the dim lights in the corridor had been out for weeks and still no one had replaced them.
She finally arrived at her captain's office, and seeing that he was still inside, she rapped sharply three times on the glass pane.
There was a hurried shuffling of papers and the sound of glass breaking. She smiled to herself. He was always clumsy and disorganized.
"Who is it?" The voice from inside was deep and slightly nasal.
"It's me."
"Come in."
She turned the doorknob and entered her captain's office. It was basically the same as the last time she had been there. In a corner of the room were filing cabinets, keeping records on police officers, suspects, cases, and crimes. In the opposite corner stood the bookshelf, stacked and piled with books of various sorts that had to do with crime. In the back of the room, in front of the window overlooking the brilliant lights of downtown, was the desk, cluttered with assorted paper, files, a briefcase, and a nasty brown coffee stain spreading quickly over the latter.
The man madly scrambling to rescue his papers from the furiously spreading brown liquid was in his mid-forties, tall, lean and muscular. He had graying blonde hair and a mustache to match. Looking up, he saw the young woman staring at him in an amused sort of manner and quickly recomposed himself.
"Ah, you came. I'm sorry for the state of my office…ever since Veronica left I never thought that I couldn't organize it myself. Guess I was wrong…" he grinned sheepishly and continued, "Please, take a seat and--"
"No, it's okay David. I came to tell you that I am taking a temporary leave of my job."
There was a silence. She swore that she could hear the pounding of David's anxious heart.
"But…but…" his deep blue eyes reflected the shock that he felt, "you can't leave! You're one of our best officers! Without you, what would this area be?? There will be chaos in downtown Harakatsuma! Criminals won't be caught, citizens will be killed, dangerous operations will continue!"
"I'm sorry David…I truly am…it's just that…" she fingered her long red hair, "it's just that…after two years with the police force…it seems that I'm missing something in my life…I need to find that something David."
"But you can't!" a note of panic rose in his voice. "The crime rate went down by 40% when you joined two years ago! What would the citizens be without you?" He stared into her eyes. His aqua blue ones piercing her red, cat-like ones. "Please…don't leave." Suddenly he rushed around his desk and came up to face her. Taking her by the shoulders, he spoke softly.
"The city is an unsafe place as it is right now. After…after…that last disaster that happened to McMillan, Stevens, and Williams, we can't lose any more officers right now…the rest of them are just incompetent…they still need to go back to training. Please, on my behalf stay. I'll raise your pay, I'll give you a promotion, I'll do anything!"
The look in his eyes tore her heart from her. She didn't want to disappoint him, but she had to go with her original plan. She took a deep breath and started once more.
"Look…David…I know that these are tough times, but the city does not need me. It got along fine before I joined…and I'm only going away for about two weeks…in the meantime…" she paused and thought. What was the best way? "In the meantime…get some of the reserves to cover for me…and I promise I'll be back soon…" The pain she was feeling towards him ached at the bottom of her heart. She didn't want to leave, yet it was the best for everyone.
The pain on David's face was difficult to look at. She turned her head away so she would not have to look when he spoke his next words.
"Fine…I…I know there's no way that I can stop you once you make your mind up on something…" his voice suddenly became serious, "when you come back I expect you to be 100% dedicated to this precinct again, do you understand?"
She looked back into those radiant blue eyes of his. "Yes, sir. I promise that I will."
"Good. You may leave now. And…I hope that you will find what you are looking for…" David trailed off.
She nodded and made for the door. "Thank you for understanding, David." She turned back around. "Your officer at the front desk is asleep again. You should really wake him up."
"Don't worry. I will."
"Good-bye David. I will return in about two weeks." The door closed silently behind her.
Once out in the hall again, she did not head for the elevators. Instead, she made her way to her own office. Turning right at the forensics' lab, she noticed that the light in her office at the far end of the hall was already lit.
"Strange, I don't remember leaving it on when I left this afternoon…"
Silently making her way to the office, she pressed herself flat against the wall, cautiously turned the doorknob and peeked inside. There was no one, and everything was in the exact order that she had left it in a few hours earlier. Stepping inside, she headed for the wooden desk.
"What was that?" Her senses on alert, she detected a faint whirring sound. It got louder with every passing second, and seemed to come from the roof above her.
"Oh my God…" The ceiling was enclosing in on her, a swirling mist of darkness, a vortex into a place unknown. The blackness crept nearer and nearer until the entire office was engulfed and obscured in shadows. Clawing at the desk to support herself, she could not feel it. There was nothing around her. It was empty. She tried to stand but could not, as her legs had turned to stone and would not move. A sudden movement under her felt like the floor had just collapsed. She could feel herself falling, deeper and deeper into the vortex; her brain was in a whirl, senseless, she could hardly feel anything anymore.
As soon as it had happened, it all ended. The darkness was replaced by the brightness of what she thought was an afternoon sun, and the ground underneath her felt solid once more. She tried to get up, but her arms had little strength to raise herself. She was too weary. Slumping back onto the ground, she fell into unconsciousness.
Chapter 1 - The Departure
She stood looking up at the three-storied police station. Station #11, Precinct #4, her place for the past two years, yet she was still the youngest officer that the station had ever had. Looking back on the previous two years, she wondered just how she had ever managed to get accepted.
She chuckled inwardly to herself. Maybe it was the way she looked was why the police captain had signed her up so quickly. Or maybe it was her various attitudes that were the charm. Maybe it was the sense that wherever she went, people noticed that there was just something different about her. But that didn't matter to her at the moment.
Pushing aside the glass doors of the station and entering the lobby, she casually looked around. Good, she thought. None of the officers that knew her were on duty, and she walked right past the officer who was at the desk. He was apparently asleep, and she made a mental note to herself to report this lack of duty.
Making her way to the elevators at the back of the lobby, she pressed the button for the upper floors. Glancing around at the brightly lit area, she sighed with impatience. Maybe it was better if she had taken the easy way up…but no…she had promised herself years ago that she would never use them except when it was absolutely necessary.
It seemed like an eternity before the elevator doors pulled open, but she was relieved when they finally did. Stepping in, she wondered why she felt such mistrust to this place. Being there for two years, she should've gotten rid of all senses of nervousness and insecurity, yet she hadn't. There was a continuous feeling that someone out there was watching her. She could always sense it, though she never could quite place where it was coming from. Well, she thought, she never was quite normal…
Arriving on the third floor, she made her way to her captain's office. The hallway leading down to it was dark, dank, and had a sense of foreboding. It reminded her of the time when she was three and had gotten stuck in her grandmother's laundry closet. She had banged on the door for about half an hour before she was finally found, and at that time the laundry closet, too, was like that hallway. Dark, dank, and you never knew what was at the end of it.
"Damn those lights…" she muttered to herself. In the 50-year-old building, no one bothered to do anything when things were broken. Half the dim lights in the corridor had been out for weeks and still no one had replaced them.
She finally arrived at her captain's office, and seeing that he was still inside, she rapped sharply three times on the glass pane.
There was a hurried shuffling of papers and the sound of glass breaking. She smiled to herself. He was always clumsy and disorganized.
"Who is it?" The voice from inside was deep and slightly nasal.
"It's me."
"Come in."
She turned the doorknob and entered her captain's office. It was basically the same as the last time she had been there. In a corner of the room were filing cabinets, keeping records on police officers, suspects, cases, and crimes. In the opposite corner stood the bookshelf, stacked and piled with books of various sorts that had to do with crime. In the back of the room, in front of the window overlooking the brilliant lights of downtown, was the desk, cluttered with assorted paper, files, a briefcase, and a nasty brown coffee stain spreading quickly over the latter.
The man madly scrambling to rescue his papers from the furiously spreading brown liquid was in his mid-forties, tall, lean and muscular. He had graying blonde hair and a mustache to match. Looking up, he saw the young woman staring at him in an amused sort of manner and quickly recomposed himself.
"Ah, you came. I'm sorry for the state of my office…ever since Veronica left I never thought that I couldn't organize it myself. Guess I was wrong…" he grinned sheepishly and continued, "Please, take a seat and--"
"No, it's okay David. I came to tell you that I am taking a temporary leave of my job."
There was a silence. She swore that she could hear the pounding of David's anxious heart.
"But…but…" his deep blue eyes reflected the shock that he felt, "you can't leave! You're one of our best officers! Without you, what would this area be?? There will be chaos in downtown Harakatsuma! Criminals won't be caught, citizens will be killed, dangerous operations will continue!"
"I'm sorry David…I truly am…it's just that…" she fingered her long red hair, "it's just that…after two years with the police force…it seems that I'm missing something in my life…I need to find that something David."
"But you can't!" a note of panic rose in his voice. "The crime rate went down by 40% when you joined two years ago! What would the citizens be without you?" He stared into her eyes. His aqua blue ones piercing her red, cat-like ones. "Please…don't leave." Suddenly he rushed around his desk and came up to face her. Taking her by the shoulders, he spoke softly.
"The city is an unsafe place as it is right now. After…after…that last disaster that happened to McMillan, Stevens, and Williams, we can't lose any more officers right now…the rest of them are just incompetent…they still need to go back to training. Please, on my behalf stay. I'll raise your pay, I'll give you a promotion, I'll do anything!"
The look in his eyes tore her heart from her. She didn't want to disappoint him, but she had to go with her original plan. She took a deep breath and started once more.
"Look…David…I know that these are tough times, but the city does not need me. It got along fine before I joined…and I'm only going away for about two weeks…in the meantime…" she paused and thought. What was the best way? "In the meantime…get some of the reserves to cover for me…and I promise I'll be back soon…" The pain she was feeling towards him ached at the bottom of her heart. She didn't want to leave, yet it was the best for everyone.
The pain on David's face was difficult to look at. She turned her head away so she would not have to look when he spoke his next words.
"Fine…I…I know there's no way that I can stop you once you make your mind up on something…" his voice suddenly became serious, "when you come back I expect you to be 100% dedicated to this precinct again, do you understand?"
She looked back into those radiant blue eyes of his. "Yes, sir. I promise that I will."
"Good. You may leave now. And…I hope that you will find what you are looking for…" David trailed off.
She nodded and made for the door. "Thank you for understanding, David." She turned back around. "Your officer at the front desk is asleep again. You should really wake him up."
"Don't worry. I will."
"Good-bye David. I will return in about two weeks." The door closed silently behind her.
Once out in the hall again, she did not head for the elevators. Instead, she made her way to her own office. Turning right at the forensics' lab, she noticed that the light in her office at the far end of the hall was already lit.
"Strange, I don't remember leaving it on when I left this afternoon…"
Silently making her way to the office, she pressed herself flat against the wall, cautiously turned the doorknob and peeked inside. There was no one, and everything was in the exact order that she had left it in a few hours earlier. Stepping inside, she headed for the wooden desk.
"What was that?" Her senses on alert, she detected a faint whirring sound. It got louder with every passing second, and seemed to come from the roof above her.
"Oh my God…" The ceiling was enclosing in on her, a swirling mist of darkness, a vortex into a place unknown. The blackness crept nearer and nearer until the entire office was engulfed and obscured in shadows. Clawing at the desk to support herself, she could not feel it. There was nothing around her. It was empty. She tried to stand but could not, as her legs had turned to stone and would not move. A sudden movement under her felt like the floor had just collapsed. She could feel herself falling, deeper and deeper into the vortex; her brain was in a whirl, senseless, she could hardly feel anything anymore.
As soon as it had happened, it all ended. The darkness was replaced by the brightness of what she thought was an afternoon sun, and the ground underneath her felt solid once more. She tried to get up, but her arms had little strength to raise herself. She was too weary. Slumping back onto the ground, she fell into unconsciousness.
