Dragonball
Alternate Dimension
by Aoi Kami Sarah
Chapter One
On an island, inside a small house in the middle of a wide clearing, surrounded by juniper trees and the occasional round topped mountain on the planet Cymm, Gohan sat at a table reading a book. The warm climate sent a soft breeze through an open window and tousled his long, wild, black hair. He turned the page. Outside the house, its owner, Master Fukai, a short, elderly, three-fingered native practiced the ancient discipline of tai-chi alone. In the distance a huge, brilliant burst of light flashed. Fukai continued his moves regardless as the sound of an explosion met his ears. Inside, Gohan looked out the window dreamily then back down at his work in the same manner. A few moments after the blast a girl walked towards the house. Her clothes were tattered and her face was grimy. She didn't look happy.
In the few weeks she had been at the camp, Atsuko hardly ever looked happy. She stopped short of the old man and waited until he opened his eyes.
"Yes, my dear?"
With folded arms and knitted brows, she attempted to explain herself. "I can't do it," she hissed through her teeth.
"Yes you can, you just haven't tried hard enough." Her master smiled. "It takes time, patience and practice to master." This bit of advice rapidly turned her face pink.
"I have!" she insisted. "I've pushed and pulled and breathed and held my breath! I've meditated and I've screamed! I've even prayed that it would just farking work!!!"
Her long blue hair, as if caught by a wave of static electricity, seemed to stand at attention. Her master appeared unmoved and waited for her to finish. Gohan emerged from the house to see what the commotion was all about. He laughed out loud at her red face and animated hair.
"What do you think is so funny, hero-boy?" she growled.
"You should see yourself, Atsuko! Ha ha! What's bothering you TODAY?" Gohan leaned on the door frame and flashed an amused smile at her.
Fukai turned to him and explained, "She can't seem to get a hold on the Aphex Shred technique. Perhaps you could give her a hand, Gohan?"
"Sure, I don't see why not."
Atsuko's hair doubled in size. "I'd rather have Heihei teach me to pull my own teeth!"
Fukai's pet pudit poked its big, pink head out the window and made a sad, squeaky sound.
"Aw... It's ok, Heihei, she didn't mean it!" cooed Gohan.
Atsuko shot an icy glare at the creature and it shrank back inside with a short, frightened 'meep'.
"That's not very nice! You should apologize to Heihei. You hurt its feelings!"
"Oh, give me a break! You're a true hero! Even to pudits!" Atsuko gestured in the direction of the empty window.
Fukai furrowed his wrinkled brow and sternly advised his pupil. "Atsuko, I might be one hundred and fifty years old, but your insults do not fall on deaf ears. I want you two to work out your demons, or one of you will have to go!"
Atsuko was shocked speechless and became a little embarrassed that she upset her master. Gohan, feeling he was innocent in the matter, protested.
"Go out to the valley and come to terms with the fact that you will have to play nice if you want to remain here," Fukai commanded.
Atsuko's humility could not stand up to her pride. "You want me to kiss and make up with this mama's boy? I will do no such thing!"
"All right then, spar each other! That will decide who should stay and who should go."
She started to march to the secluded valley. Fukai simply bowed his head to show the finality of his command. Gohan shrugged and jogged after her.
They were silent until reaching the vale, out of sight of the little house and their frustrated master. They came to a clearing and instantly Atsuko began to loose her anger on him. She bent over slightly, hands on her hips and let it out.
"Just because your daddy is some puny planet's strongest fighter doesn't mean that you get to have everything your way! You're going to have to fight me for Master Fukai!"
"Just because I was raised in a good home doesn't mean that I'm any less deserving of Master Fukai's training! And you think I'm spoiled?" He tried to keep a degree of levity in his voice, but it was getting hard to retain his dignity in the face of her insults.
"Oh! You're calling ME spoiled now? That's the last thing you'll say for a week! I'm gonna hurt you good, hero boy!" She placed her palms together and focused the electrical energy out of the air around her hands. When she separated them they glowed white with power.
Gohan set his jaw and clenched his fists, ready for her attack. She screamed and hurled the electricity at him. He blocked the shot, but felt its force reverberate through his body. He growled and recovered. Gohan back-flipped away from her three times and countered her next blow with one of his own. Fukai and Heihei listened to the racket and watched the occasional glow of a power attack from the house.
"They kill each other?" asked the pudit at Fukai's feet.
"I sincerely hope not. I'd be out of a job!"
An hour into the fight, Gohan started to get tired. Atsuko took a few hits to the back and legs, but her anger and resolution fueled her. "I have to train with him!" she shouted in reply to Gohan's occasional plea for a truce. "If I beat you, he'll see that I'm the better student and you'll be sent packing!" She dodged a Kamehameha and moved in after the attack quicker than Gohan could defend himself. She slammed her elbow into the groove between his should blades and he crunched to his knees. She back flipped out in front of him and left-hooked him under the jaw. He fell heavily backwards with his feet still tucked under him. He groaned loudly. Atsuko put her foot on his neck and powered up. A sphere of electric energy surrounded her right hand.
"Say good-bye, hero boy!"
"I thought you were here because you felt bad about killing someone. Why do you want to kill me now?" Gohan managed to croak.
"Huh?" She held her place.
"You let that thing go, I'm toast! I know you don't want to kill, Atsuko, please, don't do it!"
She screamed at him defiantly and prepared to let her manifest anger fly. Suddenly, she stepped off of his neck and her scream mutated into a wail. She hurled the blast skyward and it exploded miles up like fireworks. Spent, she sank to her knees facing away from the fallen Gohan.
"What am I doing..?" Atsuko hung her head. Her hair wafted around her in the early evening air. "I just need his training so badly. I'd do anything.."
"Talking sometimes works more effectively than punching and kicking." Gohan pushed himself up on his elbows. "Please, Atsuko, work with me rather than against me.."
She turned her head toward him a bit. "Why are you so nice to me? I'm a monster!"
"No, you're not! The rough times you've had have made you think that's what you are. Talk to me. Trust me. I don't want to make you go."
She looked at the ground with a lost expression. "I've been alone my whole life. I don't know how to deal with other people. Most people take one look at me and treat me like garbage just because I'm an alien." She pulled at her hair. "You're lucky you look kinda normal. The people here aren't too friendly towards aliens..."
This was the most Gohan had ever heard her say at once to him. He became engrossed. "It's not your fault that they can't look deeper. I know there has to be an Atsuko in there who no one has given a chance yet, who just needs a chance to breathe."
"This is my chance, then?" she scoffed.
Gohan groaned and slowly stood up. "You decide that. It's up to you." He walked around to face her. He offered her his hand.
Atsuko pursed her lips and sighed. "All right, hero..." she stopped herself. "...Gohan." She took his hand but used her own strength to stand.
Fukai was anxious when they returned from the valley walking leisurely side by side in silence. He was surprised yet pleased to see that it had only taken them than an hour to come to an understanding.
*
Almost a year went by, and every day Fukai was a little surprised to see the young people who had such different backgrounds become close friends. In almost a year under his expert care and in cooperation with each other, their powers greatly increased.
*
Fukai sat one afternoon at a small round table on the lawn and sipped his tea. He watched his proteges spar in the distance. His pet pudit, Heihei rolled in the sun and prattled to itself like a large, pink baby. Heihei rolled over on its back and watched Atsuko and Gohan upside down.
"They are real good! One cannot beat the other!" It resumed its frolicking.
"Mmm, yes. But neither has even come close to their potential. They have many more trials before them."
"You think this is good as they get?" The pudit stopped once more, this time on its stomach, facing Fukai.
"No, certainly not. Gohan, son of Goku, the Earth's greatest champion, has far more power than his legendary father, regardless of his being half Earthling and half Saiyan." Fukai put his tea cup down and leaned towards his students.
"And Suko?"
"Because she is an orphan, I cannot be sure. Let us say I have a strong feeling about her."
"You usually right." Heihei continued rolling, his curiosity satisfied.
"Mmm."
As they day wore on, Atsuko and Gohan fought farther and farther away from the house until they were in the secluded vale. Atsuko stood panting, bent over with her hands on her knees.
"Getting tired?" wheezed Gohan.
"Ha! Far from it!" She straightened up, jumped backwards onto an outcropping of rock and came at him again. The following series of attacks also ended in a draw. The two warriors-in-training sat a few feet from each other and gathered their strength for another round.
"Lets rest for a while," Gohan breathed. They sat in silence for a minute.
"Gohan? Do you ever think that maybe you've reached your fullest ability?"
"Nah, I'm still too young to have mastered everything yet."
With her back to him, Atsuko tried to make herself clear. "No, I don't mean techniques and skill, I mean ability, power. Like, is there much more you can actually DO."
"Obviously you think so?"
"Sometimes."
Gohan crawled over to her and seated himself with his back against hers. "What are you really thinking about, Suko?"
"Home."
"Where's home?"
"I have no idea," she paused and bit her lip. "The only thing that could help me find out, I don't like to show anybody. But, I guess I have to face it sometime." She touched her forehead. "I trust you Gohan. Don't tell anyone else about this."
Atsuko stood up and began to remove the head-band she always wore. Gohan looked up at her. A large purple star was situated in the middle of her yellowish forehead. Gohan got to his feet to get a closer look.
"Wow. I never knew you had that..."
"I keep it hidden. Most people on this planet don't seem to like it very much." Atsuko bowed her head. "It's the reason I'm here in the first place. Remember, I blew a guy away who wanted to kill me because of it."
"Oh yeah, that explains it.." Gohan looked at her with pity in his eyes, but quickly changed the mood. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, as a Sayian, I used to have a tail."
"Really?" she smiled a little and put the band back on.
"What are you doing?"
"Covering this hideous thing back up."
"Hideous? I think its beautiful." Gohan reached up and kept her from tying the band back on.
"You.. you do?" Atsuko stood her ground and let him invade her personal space.
"Yeah." He touched it with his index and middle fingers carefully. "Does this hurt?"
"Mmmm, no..." Her eyes closed and a smile crept over her lips. Gohan didn't realize as he was petting the soft star that she was floating until she was several inches off the ground.
"Um, Suko?" He stopped touching her. "I don't mean to disturb you, but you seem to be losing contact with the ground."
"What?" she replied dreamily. She opened her eyes. "What!? How am I doing that!?!"
"You don't know? How am I supposed to know?! You're not using your ki energy at all!" Gohan stared wide eyed at his friend. She thrashed her feet and hands in the air uselessly. He laughed at her movements.
"This isn't funny!" Atsuko curled into a ball and stretched out gingerly till she was in an upright position.
"No, its amazing! You're not even trying!" He used his ki to propell himself into the air and flew around her in order to observe her levitation from all sides. Her ability was clearly innate, but any instincts she might have had didn't seem to be coming to her.
Atsuko slowly squatted down, just inches from the ground and leapt up towards the clouds. She rocketed away from Gohan with a nervous scream. By the time she came back down, it appeared as if she had flown all her life. She made several swoops around Gohan, laughing and plucking at his spiky hair as she did so. The last time, he was ready for her. He swooped up and caught her in mid-air. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him up into the sky with her. Their eyes met, ecstatic and gleaming. Their lips followed. Hovering in the air, thirty feet over the vale, Gohan and Atsuko fell in love.
Night came and went on Cymm, and the students had still not returned to the dojo. Fukai woke early to find his pudit waddling back and forth just outside the front door.
"What's got you up so early, Heihei? I didn't forget to feed you did I?" The old master scratched his practically bald head.
"No no. I was fed. Suko and Gohan not back yet." The little pink creature stared up at its master with glistening, sharp, beady eyes.
"I'm sure they're fine. Probably fought their way far out and slept in the valley for the night."
The pudit did not look re-assured. It continued to pace back and forth on its flipper-like legs. Fukai went back inside to fix breakfast. Finally, Heihei gave up his post for a snack. Just as he turned his back, Atsuko and Gohan appeared on the horizon; approaching quickly; flying in each other's arms. They landed just before the house and walked in the open door.
"Good morning!" piped Gohan.
"Oh! There you are. You had Heihei worried. How was sleeping in the valley?" Fukai flipped breakfast meats in a wok as he spoke.
"Uh.. kinda cold, but ok!" Atsuko smiled at Gohan and twisted the large man's ring Gohan had given her on her thumb. Heihei squinted at them and circled Atsuko. Gohan smirked back and turned his new pinkie ring (formerly Atsuko's) in answer.
"Something different about Suko." Heihei pushed his face at her crotch and sniffed.
"Stop that! It tickles!" She giggled nervously and jogged around the table to avoid him.
"Oh, leave her alone, Heihei! Can't you see she's had a rough..." Fukai slammed down the wok and began bellowing at Atsuko. "Ah! What's that!?!"
Huge sweat drops appeared on both Gohan and Atsuko's heads. They jumped and began explaining themselves awkwardly, hiding their newly-wed hands. Before they could inform their Master that they had gotten married behind his back he continued to yell.
"Have you always had that or is it just a clever tattoo!?" he pointed at Atsuko's head. "Come closer, let me see!"
"Well, actually, I've had it all my life." Relieved, she allowed her master to examine her star up close.
"Why didn't you tell me before? Are you ashamed that you're a Rasha?"
"A what?"
*
At that same moment, on the other side of the galaxy on Rashan, (a dark bluish planet a bit smaller than Cymm) eager, mostly middle-aged Rasha men watched a display screen. A 3D star map of the known universe glowed, illuminating their stern faces. One face was smooth. The map shifted on its axis revealing the best view of a point on the map that blipped with hope.
"That is not very far away," croaked one of the elders.
"Not very well hidden, I should say," quipped another.
"Why has it appeared now?"
"Who cares," the younger man interjected, quelling the prattle of his elders. "The sooner we obtain the heiress, the sooner our position will be secure."
*
"My dear, I'm sorry. I'm yelling aren't I? I get so excited over things like that, I'm sorry. Here. Sit." Fukai pulled a chair out for Atsuko at the table in the kitchen and sat beside her. Gohan stood just behind his new bride and listened attentively to his master.
"I was actually going to teach you about alien cultures today, Gohan, and I was going to skip over the Rasha because no one knows much about them, including me!"
"Well, what is known?" Atsuko practically whispered.
"The people called Rasha live on a planet called Rashan. Despite its being only on the other side of the solar system, only a handful of visitors have brought back information about it. They say the Rasha are a very private people. They are easily identified by a large purple star mark like yours." The master paused.
"That's it!?" Atsuko cried. "That's all anybody knows?"
"Anybody but the Rasha themselves." Fukai squinted at his charge. "Unfortunately, I can't even tell you if it accounts for your powers."
"Well, it explains at least one..." Gohan remarked.
"Oh yeah. Check this out Master Fukai!" She levitated effortlessly over her seat.
"Oh! Well now that's something!"
"Come on, Suko, let's show him what you can do!"
Atsuko smiled. She zoomed quickly through house and out the door.
A short distance from the house, the master and his students tested Atsuko's ability. Gohan attacked her first. She could feel the oncoming attack more intensely than she could see or hear it. She was not only able to detect his moves out of her line of vision, but ultimately beat him. Fukai took her flight into consideration and altered his famous Aphex Shred technique for her.
She did a series of back flips, the last of which was a higher jump than the previous. At that point she enabled her power. Instead of the natural progression of the attack, which entailed halting the flips suddenly and blasting the enemy with an unexpected energy beam, she would spin in the air and shoot down attackers in all 360 degrees with her signature electric blast. Their practice was going extremely well until the space ship arrived.
A boxy, grey, smallish, ugly ship winked in not twenty feet above them and 200 yards to the south. The air crashed around it, blowing Heihei clear across the lawn. Gohan, Atsuko and Fukai put their guard up and prepared for the worst.
"Let me guess, we're not expecting anyone, are we?" Gohan bared his teeth.
"Not the last time I checked!" The master crouched down a bit in an attack position.
The hovering, unpainted craft slowly inched its way closer. It stopped with a jerk and a draw-bridge type door yawned open. Standing at the top of the revealed stair-case were three men in regal attire. Atsuko took a step forward. All three men had blue hair and purple stars on their foreheads.
"Lona Chogung, Rasha greets you!" exclaimed the middle Rasha. He was younger and dressed more elaborately than his cohorts.
"You mean me?" She pointed at herself weakly. "My name's Atsuko Aoi."
The leader laughed lightly. "You may be called Atsuko, but your name is Lona." He slowly descended the stairs. "Beloved of the people, Heiress to the throne of Rashan."
Gohan and Fukai's guard began to droop, but their attention was unwavering.
"I am Beksha Chonekken. We have come from the other side of the solar system to bring you home."
The other two Rasha joined their leader at the bottom of the stairs. They did not stand on the ground. Chonekken gestured to the ship.
"Our technology is a bit crude, so we would like to recommend that if you wish to join us, you decide soon. We do not know how much longer our ship will be flight worthy," he smiled thinly.
"You want me to come with you? To go home?" She could hardly believe this was happening. "When can we leave!?"
"We? Oh. I'm sorry my lady, but, we only have room for one more passenger." Chonekken extended his hand to her.
Atsuko clenched up. She looked from the Rashamen to Fukai to Gohan.
"Can we talk about this, Atsuko?" Gohan furrowed his brows.
Chonekken folded his arms. "All right, but do try to hurry."
Atsuko held up her index finger. "Excuse us." The two walked into the little house, leaving their master with the aliens.
"There's something fishy about this." Gohan put his hand on her shoulder.
"Gohan! 'Fishy'? Unbelievable yes, but fishy? This is great! I'm finally going to know my heritage!"
"Are you sure?"
She put her arms around him. "Yes. I have to know. I won't be away long, how could I with you here on Cymm?" They hugged each other and kissed good-bye.
"I love you," he breathed.
"More than anything, I love you, but I have to do this."
"If you're not back in three months," he added as they left the house, "I'm coming after you."
"You'd better. If I'm gone that long, something's wrong."
Atsuko shook her master's hand, patted the cowering pudit on the head and hugged Gohan one more time. The Rasha escorted her into the ship wordlessly. The door closed and the ship winked out of the atmosphere.
The inside of the ship was just as bleak and ugly as its exterior. Everything, including the seats and control panel was grey and functional in appearance. Chonekken and Atsuko stood at the bridge while the other two Rasha manipulated the over-simplified controls. Atsuko began to blurt out several questions at once but before she got an answer, Chonekken gently placed his hand on the nape of her neck. Her defenses were slow to react to the apparently gentle intention of his hand, and so he was successful in arming the debilitation device. She cried out briefly and slumped into his arms.
"I'm sorry I had to do that, but if I told you the real reason we need you, you wouldn't have come quietly." He lowered her to the ground.
Atsuko groaned lightly, her eyes half open. She attempted to right herself but found that all her energy was gone. She tried to speak, but the device prevented her from doing so.
"Let me turn it down a little. It's terribly difficult to communicate with you in this state." He adjusted the settings on a fob he wore on his belt and she pushed herself into a sitting position.
"Why...?"
"Because the truth would surely result in a battle, and we really do not wish to harm you."
"What.. truth?"
Chonekken squatted down in front of her. "You, my dear are the last of your kind. We Rasha are an endangered species, so to speak. There are no more female Rasha. We need you to survive." He pressed his index finger to her nose playfully.
She attempted to jerk her head away. "To survive? I'm not even royalty, am I?"
"No, not really. I am the Emporer, last in line of the House of Hoshi. When we reach Rashan, you will be made my wife. From this point on, I am your lord and master."
"I'm already married, Chonekken." Atsuko spat at his face, but missed. The spittle landed just between them.
He turned the fob back up again and her head lolled to the side. "So what?"
*
Atsuko arrived on Rashan unconscious. She was dressed in a royal blue, antique wedding gown and wed to Beksha without ever even waking up. Later that day, she awoke in large bed in a large room which glistened with jewels and precious metals. Even the bed clothes were adorned with glittering, priceless gems. A woman wearing a simple, brown dress and white headband sat next to the bed with her hands folded. She had light blue skin and thick, dark violet hair. She was staring at Atsuko.
"Ugh.. this has gotta be a nightmare..." Atsuko struggled to focus on the woman.
"You are awake?!" She wrung her hands.
"Unfortunately. Where am I? What's going on?"
"You're in the royal bedchamber. Lord Chonekken will be back tomorrow night."
"To marry me?"
"You've already been married."
"I know, but.. Oh," Atsuko sighed and felt for Gohan's ring. "Where is it?"
"You mean this, ma'am?" The woman produced the ring from a string around her neck. "I'll keep it safe for you."
"Thanks," she sighed more deeply this time. "Wait a sec. Who are you?"
"My name is Mira. I am your handmaiden."
"But Chonekken said that I was the only one."
"You are. I am not Rasha. I am Minzokuuenijimenshitanisora, the native people of this planet, and we are all slaves to you."
Atsuko blinked at the strange word. "Slaves? Not to me you're not."
"Thank you, Lona. That alone proves to me that you are not like them."
"You know it. I'm not Lona anymore. I'm Atsuko."
*
Gohan woke the next day very early and began training with the dawn. Fukai was surprised to see his bookworm uninterested in the studies he began every morning. He found him out in the yard bench-pressing Heihei. The two hundred pound pudit was still asleep.
"What on Cymm are you doing, Gohan?"
Fukai caught him off guard. Gohan stopped mid push-up and woke Heihei, who was equally confused about his whereabouts. He looked over the back of Gohan's head upside down into his eyes. "What you doing, weird Earthling? Put Heihei down!"
"Sorry! I thought you wouldn't mind if I didn't wake you up," he laughed nervously and took Heihei off his back. He laid down and started sit-ups.
"What's gotten into him?" Fukai asked his pet. He raised his flipper-like limbs in a shrug-like gesture.
*
Atsuko tried to learn all she could from Mira while they waited for Chonekken to return.
"How did I get to Cymm? If I'm the last one, you'd think they'd treat me a little better!"
"Hush," Mira comforted her. "If you want to get out of here, there are some things that you should know about your situation that will help you."
Atsuko smiled. "Tell me anything that'll help US get out of here."
Mira smiled back. "Perhaps then, I should start with me. My family has been in your family's hands for centuries. The Chogung treated us so well, we felt like a part of it. Most Rasha wouldn't condescend to touch us, much less befriend us."
"Why is it that the natives are subjugated like that?"
"According to legend, the Rasha came here to Uenijimenshitanisora half a millennia ago and were so much more powerful than we who have no innate abilities that they easily conquered us. Eventually we discovered how to get the upper hand, and only seventeen years ago, overthrew them."
"Which didn't work..."
"No. It did. But for less than four years. The coup is the reason you were sent to Cymm. "
Atsuko shifted her body to more easily make Mira's eye contact.
"We knew that if we did gain power it wouldn't last. My people eliminated all female Rasha so eventually there would be no more of them to destroy worlds like ours. My mother learned of this plan only months before it was to be carried out. She told your mother and father. They worked together to send you to a place where they could find you after the coup and escape Rashan forever."
Atsuko wept silently as her story was told. "What happened to them? Why didn't they just escape before the coup?" Tears ran down her cheeks.
Mira held her hand. "They would have been followed and executed for it."
"But, if the Rasha are like that, why weren't they killed for sending me away?"
"They didn't know." Mira's voice wavered. "At the same time, my baby sister, Kiko died. You were, for all intents and purposes, dead." She stopped and closed her eyes.
"They did this for me? And now they're all gone?"
Mira nodded. "Your parents and older brothers were killed in the uprising. My mother was killed when the Rasha regained control."
Atsuko squeezed Mira's hand tighter. "I came here to find my family, and they're all gone."
"You have me, Atsuko. I care about what happens to you as much as my mother did."
*
Gohan trained all morning. He wore Fukai out by lunch. His Master suggested Gohan try tai chi to calm himself down. Gohan sat down against the side of the house, disgruntled. Fukai guessed that his zeal was inspired by Atsuko's departure.
"You ought to focus, Gohan, or you're apt to do something crazy. She'll be back soon."
"I'm worried about her, Master Fukai. I can't help it..." He tried not to meet his Master's eye.
"Well, after the three months she gave you, we'll hire a ship and go after her ourselves." Fukai patted his shoulder in fatherly fashion and went in for lunch. Gohan rose to follow him and looked up at the sky.
"Three months, nothin'. I got a bad feeling about this."
*
Atsuko slept through most of the afternoon. Cranked to full drain, the will harness tired her. She woke as the second moon set.
"Mira? You there?"
A dim, bluish light faded on to show Mira curled up on the lounge next to the bed. She stretched and yawned. "Here." She looked to the enormous windows. "No moons..." Mira gasped. "Chonekken will be here shortly!"
"Great." She struggled and tried to sit up.
"No! Atsuko don't! It will only make you feel worse to fight the will harness. I am surprised to see that you can do what you can, but please, do not push it." Mira reached out and held Atsuko's arm down gently. She obeyed her handmaid.
"Yow, that smarts. What am I supposed to do to beat this Beksha jerk if I can't even gather energy?"
"I'm afraid that's the point," Mira picked up a satchel from the floor and began rummaging through its contents. "And I'm also afraid that in your current state, he can do just about whatever he pleases to you to assure the continuation of the Rasha race." She produced a small, folded piece of paper.
"Oh no he won't!" Atsuko made to sit up and was unable to do so again. "I gotta think of something." She could feel the teeth of the will harness digging into the back of her neck. "Can't we just turn this thing off or take it out or something?"
"If I touch it without Chonekken's access fob in my hand it will explode and kill you. We designed it that way."
"We? You mean, your people made this thing?"
"That little device is what enabled us to thwart the Rasha for those couple of years. We engineered and built all of their technology, actually. They wouldn't dirty their hands with such things unless their lives depended on it, which they now do." Mira unwrapped the packet. "I want you to take this." She showed Atsuko the small, greenish pill the paper contained.
"What is it?"
Mira's head jerked to the right suddenly as the bedroom doors were flung open. Chonekken entered, flanked by two burly guards. The pill was successfully hidden in her hand.
"Have her prepared for bed then leave us." He stood looking from Atsuko to the rising of the third moon out the window and sloughed off his oversized, ornate cape.
Mira spoke to Atsuko in the quietest whisper she had ever heard and in a grave and urgent tone. "Swallow. Sleep."
She let her feed her the pill. "Thanks," she whispered back just loud enough for Chonekken to hear. He looked over at the women and grew impatient.
"Leave us!"
"Yes, Lord!" Mira bowed and exited backwards. The large doors closed dully behind her.
"So," Chonekken approached the bed, removing his shirt. "Here we are: the happy couple." His bare chest was lean but un-worked; a sign of royal idleness.
Atsuko's eyes began to close involuntarily. "Please," she breathed. "Don't do this."
Chonekken removed the bedclothes. "Fortunately for me, but unfortunately for you, I have no choice." He hardly noticed that she lost consciousness.
*
A week passed in similar fashion. One day, Chonekken commanded Mira make a physical assessment of his heiress. The high lords and their leader waited outside the bedchamber. Inside, Mira performed the diagnostic. Atsuko lay on the bed, wide-eyed, shivering with anticipation. Mira's knowledgeable hand swept back and forth over her belly, feeling for the presence of an embryo. Both women were silent. Mira pulled her hand back into her lap. Her eyes met Atsuko's for a split second. Atsuko sucked in her breath.
"No.."
Mira went to the doors. She was hidden from Atsuko's sight as her head nodded the prognosis. Chonekken made his glee known.
"Yes!"
*
Gohan sat, lotus style in front of Fukai's house. His eyes were closed, his breath was slow and calm. Suddenly his eyes opened and he ran inside.
"Master, I can't take it anymore. I have to go to her!"
Fukai looked up from his tea. "So. Now are you going to tell me what's been going on between you two?"
Gohan was silenced. "You know?"
"Know? Yes!" he laughed lightly. "I have been waiting for you to tell me, and now you have."
"She's my life."
"Ah, young love..." the master smiled.
Gohan cut him off. "She's the one."
Fukai nodded.
"For a week now I've felt that there's something wrong. I don't know how and I don't know if I'm right, but..."
Fukai stroked his chin. "I do not think that you are wrong. Even if you are, can it hurt to drop in on the planet Rashan, just to see for ourselves how things are?"
Gohan and Fukai began making preparations for a trip to Rashan.
*
Fifty of the highest ranking Rasha nobility lined the semi-circular banquet table in the great hall, and another twenty were seated at the center table which branched off from the middle of the curve. To their backs was a huge bay window; one hundred feet tall and made up of thousands of purple tinted panes of glass in a mosaic of organic and curved design. The landscape, though distorted through the strange glass, was made up of blackish, cragged mountains, silhouetted by the dark blue sky of evening. A fanfare was played by a dozen natives who flanked the entrance as Chonekken and Atsuko entered. The nobility, gathered to celebrate the rebirth of their civilization, stood in unison and applauded the couple to their seats. Atsuko shuffled along on Beksha's arm, her face twisted under the strain of the will harness, turned down slightly for the special occasion. She was seated, with the help of Mira at the head of the annex table. She sat bolt upright because of a strong corset which allowed her to retain composure without having to have the harness turned down dangerously low. The nobles sat down after their leader. Their eyes never left his wife. Mira began to serve the two royals their drinks.
"See, my pet, how they all adore you!"
Atsuko had already noticed. "Adore," she grumbled, "they look like a bunch of vultures."
"How perceptive you are! They know as well as you and I that the only way our race is to survive is through you." Chonekken nodded his ascent for Mira to serve him a dark green beverage and sneered at Atsuko. "Each noble will have his chance, according to rank, of course."
Mira watched Chonekken's face, horrified while he spoke, not the glass she was pouring into and it overflowed, spilling the cold liquid on his hand. He shouted, leapt out of his seat and reached out to grab her. His fingers just grazed her head as she tried to jump out of the way. He came away with only her white head-band in his clenched fist. She lost her balance and fell to the floor. In the middle of Mira's forehead was a pale, purple star-shaped mark. Atsuko tried to bolt out of her seat, but was kept down by the harness. She cried out in pain.
"What's this!!?" Chonekken yanked Mira off the ground by her collar. He might not have been a fighter, but he was strong enough to hold a 120 pound woman several inches off the ground with both hands. Mira's star told all. "Half breed?! Who was your father!?!" He shook her violently.
Mira would have screamed if she wasn't being choked.
"Tell me!"
"Ch.. ch.. ch.." Mira sputtered as she was shaken.
"Tell me now!!!"
"Cho.. gung."
Both Chonekken and Atsuko said 'what' at the same time. Atsuko repeated the name and clenched her teeth.
"Ramesh Chogung?!" Beksha became enraged at this and freeing one of his hands, he threatened Mira. "If he was still alive, I'd have him executed! For this disgusting impurity you will die!"
Atsuko screamed and forced her arms to obey her. She ripped the harness out of her flesh and threw it as far from herself she could. It exploded in the middle of the banquet table, blowing several feet of food, candles and guests away with it. Instantly, she recovered her power. Before Beksha could react to her scream she had him sprawling on the floor from a quick blast to the back. Mira fell from his grasp and reached up to her. She held on to Atsuko's waist as she faced the remaining 60 some-odd guests who were all preparing to fight.
"Nobody messes with my family!" Atsuko powered up immensely with her arms crossed over her chest. She screamed and uncrossed them. The blasts that emitted from her hands looked like waves of power. It took the waves a fourth of a second to crash into the furthest targets. All 71 Rasha were zapped by the waves; stunned by the first one and floored by the second. The sisters took a moment to assess the scene.
"Aw yeah! I wasn't sure if it would actually work!" Atsuko beamed.
Mira was slack-jawed. "How did you do that?!"
Chonekken twitched on the floor just in front of them. The native servants cheered.
Mira let go of her and floated. "We have to get out of here, it is our only chance. Follow me!" Her sister zipped through the doorway they had come in. Atsuko followed, a little bewildered but excited. They darted through fortunately vacant hallways to the hangar. Mira chose the small ship that had brought Atsuko to Rashan.
"Wait!" Atsuko stopped before getting in. She began powering up and glowered in the direction of the five other ships in the hangar. Mira yelled down from the ship's door.
"No! The disruption in the magnetic field will be so great it will render our ship useless!"
"Oh. Thanks for the info." She leapt up into the cockpit and closed the door behind her. "Know how to fly this thing?"
"Sort of. We designed the tech fairly user-friendly for the Rasha." Mira pressed a large red button and the ship performed several tasks including starting the engines and opening the hangar door. She shrugged.
"Well, that's a relief!"
The ship winked out of the atmosphere and hurtled itself towards Cymm.
*
Gohan paced near the speaker of the telecom. Really bad hold music twittered out of the tinny device.
"I can't believe I've been on hold for a half an hour! I want to be there now!"
Fukai nodded his head. "Yes, but we can't. People just don't go to Rashan. I must say I'll be surprised to find anyone willing to risk taking tourists to such a mysterious planet." He fed Heihei a large, fleshy, yellowish fruit and leaned in the door-frame. "You know, I am almost as interested in finding out about Rashan as I am in Atsuko's safety."
A low buzzing sound entered their earshot. Gohan looked at the telecom. Fukai looked up out the door at the sky. "Hang up. She's here."
"What?!"
Both men and pudit ran out to see the same ship which visited them almost two weeks ago wink into the sky and make an ungraceful landing, nearly crashing into the house. The men protected their faces from the debris and approached the vessel. The door jerked open.
"Gohan! I'm home!" Atsuko smiled wildly and flew out of the door practically knocking him over. They talked at once, explaining how much one missed the other until Mira tapped Atsuko on the shoulder.
"Atsuko, I hate to interrupt, but.."
"Oh! Gohan, Master Fukai, Heihei, this is my half-sister, Mira."
"Hello, pleased to meet you." Fukai bowed to her. Heihei hid behind him and waved a flipper.
"Um, well, yes, but.. Atsuko.. The Rasha.." Mira bounced on the balls of her feet.
"Oh yeah. The entire Rasha army will probably be here in ten minutes or so to try to take me back and I don't think they'll ask nicely."
"What? What have we gotten ourselves into!?" Fukai staggered and spun around looking in all directions.
"Well, at least we have ten minutes to get ready for them!" Gohan clenched his fists.
"I don't know about that, Gohan." Fukai pointed to the sky. "Looks like they sped."
Mira grabbed her sister's arm and panicked. "We are doomed!"
"Relax, Sister Mira." Gohan rubbed his hands together. "I have been waiting for this for weeks!"
Atsuko ripped her ceremonial corset off with one hand and powered up. "Here we go!"
End Chapter One
Glossary:
Minzokuuenijimenshitanisora = People above Ground below Sky