Yo, I'm back (finally).  I am NOT dead!

                But I did find it rather interesting... Some time ago I purchased a Ranma 1/2 manga, claiming that I had heard that "This stuff is what obsessions are made of!!!"

                And the rest is history.  ;P

                I recently got a much-awaited meeting with Reda, one of my (few) 'serial' reviewers!  I found her account on FictionPress.com, and we kinda found each other.  She asked how my DBZ stuff was going, and I told her I would get this out sometime soon.

                Wherever you are, Reda, here it is!  ^.^  Just like I promised!

                Enough dilly-dallying, on with the... show?  Whatever, you get the idea.

                ~~~~~~***   HYPER-TRAINING   ***~~~~~~

                Trunks was off training, lost in his own thoughts.  He wanted to protect his mother.  He would be there for her, he wanted to beat Majin-Buu.

                Like his dad.

                "Huh?" He was interrupted from his training when he felt a major spike in someone's power.  It didn't feel quite like that new girl's... it was too low.  But it still felt way too strong.

                Motivated by curiosity, he took off after the strange burst of power, which seemed to die off as soon as it came.

~~

                'Go ahead and sleep kid... I won't stop you...' Alex looked down at the fitful sleep of the young girl before her.  She looked so much like Goten that it would have been scary, if she hadn't known that they were, in essence, the same person.

                Alex was about to go out into the chamber again, when she was stopped.

                "Was that you?"

                Trunks was in the doorway, leaning against the wall and looking a lot like his father with his arms crossed the way they were.

                Alex suddenly wondered what Vegeta was like as a kid.

                Smiling a smile Trunks didn't understand, Alex spoke.  "No, you've got the wrong girl." She pointed loosly to Goenta, on the bed and shifting fitfully in her sleep.

                "Her?  She ain't that strong!"

                Alex looked surprised, acting like she was shocked.  "Trunks!!  You surprise me!" He looked puzzled for a second.  "I thought you knew about Super Saiyan 2!"

                "I know about it!  But Gotenks can barely do it!  How could she?"

                Alex smiled cryptically.  "She just needed the right... motivation."

                Trunks just looked confused for a moment, his frustration forgotten.  "Huh?"

                "And about Gotenks, I think you should give it a try."

                "Why?"

                Alex wasn't prepared for him to be so accepting... she wasn't sure how to proceed.  "Well, because it's better that way!" 'Okay, that sounded weak, even to me.'

                Trunks reverted to his defensive posture again.  "How's it better?" He closed his eyes and looked away, as if daring her to change his mind.

                Alex smiled, not really feeling happy, but glad he was reverting to expected reaction.  "Trunks, what do you have against Gotenks?"

                "Nothing!!  When he's a he..."

                "And when she's a she... that's bad."

                "Yeah!  I shouldn't hafta deal with that!" Trunks looked defiant.

                Alex smiled, and crossed her own arms while looking at Goenta.  "But what about her?"

                Trunks wasn't prepared for that one.  "What about her?"

                "What does she think about it?  Same thing you do maybe?" Trunks just emitted intelligible sounds such as 'Uh...' and 'Um?'.  "She's probably more comfortable as a girl, while not so as a boy, right?"

                "Uh, I guess that makes sense?"

                "And yet she wants to keep going?"
                "Yeah?"

                Alex turned back to the young prince.  "Listen, you lost your dad, I know that.  But what if you lost your mom too?"

                Trunks looked at the ground.

                "She lost her mom, her brother too.  Her dad's gone again and she's all alone.  She knows it's because of Majin Buu and wants to do anything she can to fix it.  She wants to make Buu pay!" Trunks nodded sheepishly.  "And you want to, too, don't you?"

                Trunks looked to his right.  He seemed to be unsure.  "But I'd rather not be a girl to do it."

                Alex frowned a bit, but didn't sound unfriendly at all, more like a teacher/master addressing her pupil.  "Trunks, listen to me.  Gotenks is... is like a representaion.  A representation of the friendship between the two of you.  As long as you are both in there, it can't be anything but perfect.  No matter whether Gotenks turns out as a he or a she, that's exactly the way it should be."

                "Nu-uh!  A boy should not be a girl!"

                "And a girl should be a boy?"

                "That's exactly why we shouldn't do the fusion!"

                Alex was about to say 'Forget this!  Let me just kill him and get on with our lives!', but decided that wouldn't solve said problem.  "Trunks, are you two friends?"

                "Yeah, best friends, but that doesn't mean that we should fuse!"

                "And you both want to get Buu."

                "Yeah!"

                "You want to fight, and so does she."

                "Uh huh."

                "So answer me this... What is the best way to fight him?"

                "I still won't do the fusion."

                "Well, at least you're admitting that it's the fusion." As she rubbed her forehead a bit, Alex admitted that she was beginning to feel exasperated.  "Trunks, tell me what it is you have against girls?"

                "Girls are weak!  They shouldn't fight!  And a warrior can't be a girl!" (A/N: Wow, this sounds a lot like Ranma!  O.o Go figure...)

                Alex mumbled to herself, "And I'll bet you got that from your father!" She then looked to the chibi beside her, having sat down for the talk.  "Trunks, you can feel her strength, right?" He nodded.

                "Yeah, my dad taught me how."

                "And how strong was she right then?"

                "Pretty strong, but not as strong as my dad!" He crossed his arms and acted defiant again.

                "But stronger than you?" He didn't say anything to that.  "And even before that she was keeping up with you pretty well, wasn't she?"

                He didn't say anything, but he did nod.

                Smiling, she confided something in him.  "Trunks, let me admit something to you."

                He turned around, curiosity getting the better of him.  "What?"

                Smiling, she went about saying what it was that she had to admit.  "The truth is, Trunks, that there is a difference between boys and girls in combat." She didn't let him go far with the idea.  "But it's not like your father says it is.  Girls aren't the weaklings he makes them out to be."

                She looked at her own hand.  "They lack the raw, physical power that most of the muscle-heads posess.  They don't have the natural boost in strength that boys get as they go on through life." She then smiled and closed her eyes.  "But it takes minimal effort to overcome this.  It is actually quite easy to level them out with the boys."

                She then looked him in the eye.  "But they do have other advantages over boys."

                He was interested now.  "What's that?"

                "They have a better hold on their spirit, they can control themselves better.  Boys tend to depend on their strength or speed to do the job.  But girls will find it easier to control thier movements, and their energy.  They are the ones who can slip in quickly and get back out.  Not just because they have to, but because it is easier for them."

                She looked at him with another tone.  "Hey Trunks... do you want to know something else?"

                "What?"

                "In a lot of places on Earth, and on other planets, there were a lot of civilizations, or villages or whatever you want to call them, that were actually quite balanced in who did what.  But for some reason, as armies marched forth, led by men who wanted power, they switched to this way because it seemed to be more effective.  But the truth is that it was only because the old ones were less prepared, unknowing that war was coming."

                Trunks frowned.  "What's that got to do with fighting?"

                "I'm not sure exactly, since those men hid behind weapons and took power in numbers." She frowned.  "It actually seems kinda dishonorable compared to how we fight." Seeing Trunks' unamused look she went on.  "Well, anyway, the thing is that girls aren't any better or worse than boys, but rather that they're just good at other things!  And in martial arts, a lot of what they're better at is exactly what's studied!"

                "Oh?  And what's that?"

                She suddenly looked thoughtful.  "Well, they're good at wearing down opponents, using strategy, using momentum, and keeping focus, even on several things at once." She then looked rather smug.  "My specialty is energy!  I'm really good at using energy!"

                Trunks looked uninterested.  "Oh really?  How interesting."

                "Listen, Trunks.  Just give it some thought, I'm not asking you to just up and do it." Standing up, she stretched as she walked outside.  "But as for right now, I'm going to stretch out a bit."

                Trunks watched as she went outside.  He suddenly felt curious.

~~

                "AAAUGHHHH!!!" Alex launched another ball of energy to the ground, where it produced another gigantic explosion.

                She could feel the youngster's presence.  The fact that he was trying to hide his energy didn't help much as he still needed to resist the gravity of the chamber.  And the white piece of stone, which he had taken from the house-building, that he was hiding behind wasn't exactly hard to find.

                'Alright kid, if you want a show, I'll give you one.' Smirking, she went about a few exercises to get warmed up.

                Letting her energy drop she charged the ground at breakneck speed, leaning forward she brought one fist back and then drove it into the ground.

                Trunks was speechless.  He didn't know that the ground here could crack!

                Alex watched as the ground re-formed.  Yes, the almost liquid planet was both durable and quick to fix itself!

                Bringing her right foot to the ground she used the leverage to swing her arm back up to the sky, where she launched another attack into the white emptiness.

                This one was different, however.  It seemed like it was two different attacks, mixed together.

                One red and one blue, spiralling around each other in an incredible dance of light.

                In the sky, Trunks realized that Alex had somehow appeared directly in the path of the two attacks.

                She smiled in an unseen joy as she went about doing what she was about to do.

                Sweeping both hands behind her as if they were wings she charged forward, directly down the center of the two attacks.

                Once she got to the right place she batted both lights off to the side as she trailed a stream of green energy behind her.  The two attacks seemed to curve back in toward the center as they fell back toward the ground.

                The final look was that of a giant... heart?

                'Hehe, he doesn't have to know I didn't actually invent that one, does he?'

~ Far Away ~

                "ACHOO!!" Begonia sneezed for some weird, unknowable reason.

~ Back in the Time Chamber ~

                Alex slowly floated back down to the ground, allowing the residual effects of 'Formation Hearts' to wear away. 'Shoot!  I had no idea it was so hard to break white light into its three parts!'

                Looking over to where Trunks still sat behind his slab of stone, Alex tiredly called out to him.  "You can come out now, I know you're there."

                Trunks waited for a few seconds before finally coming back out from behind the stone. "That was... really girly."

                Alex smiled sweetly. "So?"

                Trunks rolled his eyes.  "So it's flashy, big whoop!"

                Alex laid on her back to look at the white sky.  "That doesn't sound like the Trunks I know!"

                "I don't know you!  How can you know me!?"

                "I said I know Trunks.  I didn't say I know you." Alex suddenly frowned, as if she was angry or annoyed about something. {Alright... I guess it can't hurt...}

                Trunks was still trying to consider what Alex had said, as well as why she seemed upset, when she suddenly turned to him. "Go Super Saiyan."

                Trunks was confused, but he complied, thinking that maybe she would do what she had done to Goenta.

                "YAAAAAA!!!!" His power came off of him in a sudden wave of shimmering air, pulsating with yellow energy and blowing Alex's hair around her head.

                But Alex barely noticed as she held her head.  She was hunched over now, in a position similar to when Babidi was attempting to invade Vegeta's mind.  But Trunks didn't know that, he only knew that Alex seemed to be in something similar to pain, like she couldn't withstand feeling his power!

                Smiling smugly, Trunks powered down.  "Yeah.  I know it's too much, I'm too much!  Ain't it great?" The girl still, however, seemed to be fighting something.  Approaching closer, he tried to call out to her, "Are you alright?  It wasn't that bad, was it?"

                As he got closer, he reached out his hand to touch her shoulder, but was suddenly hit by a bolt of static-electricity that arced through his arm when it hit his wrist.  With wide eyes he rubbed his wrist as he backed away.

                It was then that he reached forth his senses to see what was happening.  The levels of her power hadn't risen since she stood up some minutes ago, but now it seemed to be trembling much like her body, like she was fighting with herself.

                Back in the chamber-house Goenta slowly opened her eyes.  Rubbing her eyes, she moved out of her bed, the one she didn't actually remember getting into.  Her first thought was wondering if Gohan had made it away from Buu alive or not.  But she then stomped that thought into the ground as silly. 'Gohan's dead, I don't know why I dreamed of him like that.'

                Looking around, she noticed a lack of a boy named after swimwear.  'He must be out training... Huh, I don't remember going to bed; oh well.' She then ventured out to look for her friend.

                Extending her senses, she noticed that Trunks was with someone else.  Getting curious, she ran after him

                Alex noticed the arrival of Goenta, but it didn't change anything for her.  'I shouldn't show them how strong I am!  They might want me to fight for them!'

                {But if you show them how strong we are, it might inspire them to get stronger!}

                {I can't just do that!  For one, they have to know that they can depend on themselves, and even each-other!  I won't, can't always be there!  Now, or in the future!}

                'Why do I feel this way?  What's going on?'

                "Goenta!  Stop!  Don't get near her!"

                As her tail seemed to coil and uncoil, Alex's ears twitched back and forth with nervous tension.  Her whole body seemed wracked with spasms that she did her best to hold back.

                "What's wrong with her!?  Trunks, what's going on?"

                "I don't know!  She just told me to go Super Saiyan, and then started freaking out!"

                The two chibis backed away another step when a shadow of the girl they were watching seemed to leap off of her and then disappear.  Her eyes were open now, rather than closed.  And yet her power still did not rise, even to what they already knew was possible for her.

                For a moment, she simply stood there, stuttering; and then she attempted to say something. "Ch- chi... energy..."

                She then suddenly stretched out and started shouting to the sky as an aura of brown energy (an unfamiliar color for energy to the chibis) enveloped her completely.  Behind its intensity the two of them could only see the glow of her eyes, all the rest was shrouded behind burning maelstrom that was her energy.

                As they tried to retain their footing, they sensed another wave of energy even more powerful coming from just beneath the surface, and they transformed to Super Saiyan just a moment before they were blown back forcefully by the power of Super Human 1 and 2 in quick succession.

                The power they were seeing was phenomenal, enveloping the entire sky of the Time Chamber so that for as far as they could see all was the bright gold-yellow of the Super form.

                Alexandra, in her higher-powered state, found enough self-control to take her fight to the sky, so as to not destroy the only building in the area.

                On her way there, she still fought the urge to go farther.  It was like an itchy feeling that she couldn't resist scratching. {Stop!  Stop already!}

                {Not yet!  I need to feel that feeling again!  To know it wasn't a fluke!}

                {But you're bringing me with you!}

                {I can't help that!  Besides, you've got to be curious too!  Right?}

                {Yes... but not that curious!  Not now!  Later!}

                {But I'm so close!  I can feel it!  I can taste it!}

                In that other realm, Alexander, the other side of Alexandra, was so close to breaking the barrier between the Mega and Ultra levels of power.  Having already transformed to their previous highest form of power, he was now pushing his power, and consequentially Alexandra's power to the limits.

                At that point, if only for a moment, his need to feel the completness of the Ultra stage was more than simple curiosity; it was a need, an obsession.  And there was nothing Alexandra could do or say that would stop him from trying.

                "AAAAHHHH!!!!" With another wave of power, substantially more forceful than any before, the power of Mega Human was unleashed before the eyes of Trunks and Goenta, two demi-Saiyans who had never before seen anything of the like from even their own fathers, let alone from someone who apparently was not Saiyan (the ears were their first clue to that).

                The orange glow that shrouded the sky became more and more intense as the girl above them fought to stay calm.

                {Trunks!  Goten!  Can you hear me!?}

                Trunks looked to another part of the sky. "Huh?  Piccolo!?" He was still guarding against the winds of power that Alexandra was putting off.

                When things went silent again, Trunks and Goten forgot about Piccolo's call and went back to watching the girl in the sky.

                "Do you think she's alright, Truinks?"

                Trunks didn't say a word.

                Behind her veil of light, Alexandra was fighting the power-up with all her will-power.  It was taking everything she had!

                After all... she had never needed to practice holding her power down!

                In that other realm, Alexander was pushing his power higher and higher by the second, fueled by the desire to feel that feeling once more.

                The very planet of the Time Chamber seemed to be reaching forth to him as light bent to his will.  Electricity laced the air as wind and fire freely moved through the air so violently that Alexander was glad that there was no one in the chamber with him (he had checked).  Not that it would have stopped him, he would have been even more urgent if he had had an audience.

                Opening his eyes, he saw and watched his energy move around him, despite that he already knew what it was doing and could even see it without opening his eyes.  But it was like an added bonus when he did open them.

                With a smile, he seemed to grow even more exited. "Yeeesss..."

                Alexandra also looked at her energy, but she was more filled with panic and something akin to embarrasment.  She was not exited, she was determined.  "NOO!!"

                Together, at the same time in different realms, the two of them simply stretched out and screamed in their efforts, one going forward, and the other going back.

                "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                With one more flash, it was finished on both ends.

                Alexander stood there, his energy pulsing crimson.  He looked at his hands as if he had never seen them before.

                Then, idly reaching behind him, he found his tail.  There was something akin to a burning feeling along both sides of his back, that was the wings that he only now noticed, bat-like in build but heavenly in look.

                The feeling was incredible, it was warm, it was safe, it was... complete.

                Wrapping himself in his own arms, Alexander basked in the feeling of his Ultra form, of the power of being complete in himself.

                He would hold this feeling for as long as he had the energy.

                Trunks and Goenta watched as Alexandra suddenly seemed to simply... stop.  She just stopped powering up, and started descending to the ground.

                In an instant, she had gone from pulsating with orange power, to falling from the sky while barely glowing with that same orange power, and even powering down to the normal stage once more.

                Having hit the ground, she seemed to have fallen asleep, but in reality she was basking in what she perceived to be success.

~~

                In Eternal Realm, far away from where either of the two Alex's were, Merlin grew a smile as he watched the occurences in two crystal balls.

                "An old man's heart leaps with pride as he watches his children take great bounds from his nest.  He knows that there will be more time with them, in the future; always in the future.  But to know that, in all the world, they are more than ready, he is filled with joy and elation.  He is proud, and they are legends..."

                Kanoovf looked annoyedly at the no-longer-aging man's back before him.  "You do know you're saying that out loud, don't you?"

                "Yes, I should write that down.  But I think I'll do that later, I want to see how they react to their new development.  But I don't think they'll notice for a while, as Buu is coming to one of them at this very moment."

                Kanoovf simply remained annoyed. 'Always with the poetry.  What's with the poetry?  ... Old man...  No wonder I don't spend much time around here...'

~~

                Alexandra lied there on the ground, paying no attention to her surroundings, and giving no heed when Trunks started talking to the sky.

                It took a while, but she eventually regained enough calm energy to get back up off the ground and walk to the chamber-house.

                'What next... what next... what next...'

                Without noticing the sounds of one of the two chibis taking a bath, or of the other of the two sleeping, Alexandra began thinking about what would come next.  What would she do now?

                What was the next step?

                ~~~~~~***   End of Chapter 21   ***~~~~~~

                ...

                ...

                ...

                I... that... COOL!

                I honestly was surprised by how that chapter ended!  And now I already have an idea of how to start the next one!

                I must say that the #1 thing holding me back on this one was a lack of inspiration that hit me half-way through.  But now that I'm finished... COOL!

                Don't you agree? ^.^

                Oh, and to those of you who are bound to ask questions, here's the answer before the question.  Seeing as there was a lot of time between when I started obsessing with Ranma 1/2, the fact that Alex and Ranma are practically like twins, and the fact that for some reason Alex hasn't been visiting me any more, she no longer shows up often enough in my Author's Notes to take a constant position in the signature.

                So whenever one of my muses do show up, they get a bit of recognition at the end.  But other wise it's just:

Alex Ultra: Creator of Eternal Realm (Catchy, huh? ;))

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