Don't Look At Me Like That
By Moonraker One
A/N: For all you non-science types, metabolism refers to how many calories your body burns doing any particular activity.
CHAPTER TWO – And It Stoned Me
Light streamed in through the tiny slit created by her opening her eyes only very slightly. Once her eyes opened completely, she looked at the digital clock on the wall and immediately noticed she had been asleep for what was the entire school day. Thoughts of what had happened earlier coursed through her mind; what was the anger inside her caused by? Why did she snap? Memories of earlier that morning came to her all at once; she realized what she did; she shattered a bullet midair and hurled a robber viciously into a trash dumpster, leaving a man-sized impression in the metal container, easily injuring his back from only a mild air punch that didn't even come within a foot of him. What was the force that emanated from her tightly closed fist? Then she opened her hand, and saw it bandaged. She'd gripped her fist so tightly she broke the skin on the palm, although the heat of the power that surged through every inch of her frame cauterized the wound. Underneath her hospital robe, she could feel the bullet wound, no larger than an inch in diameter, but not bleeding. She saw, however, that it had healed considerably to an even smaller quarter-inch size. Such cell growth was impossible, she knew from schooling.
The elderly doctor walked in with a look of incredulousness on his face. "Miss Lemke?" he introduced. "My name is Doctor Carter. Your parents aren't gonna be here for a few hours, so I'll go over your condition with you."
Frightened, she replied, "Am I gonna be okay? I mean, I was shot and all!" He shook his head gently.
"Don't worry, the bleeding stopped," he finished. She could tell he had a larger question on his mind. "That's one thing I want to talk to you about. How did you cauterize the wound to stop the bleeding? As far as I know, the only way to seal a wound by cauterization is to touch an extremely hot instrument to the site of bleeding. Didn't you scream?"
"Doc, I remember that I was covered in some glowing light I can't explain. I never touched a hot object to my bullet wound."
He nodded incoherently, and responded, "I know, you've got a dozen witnesses. And there's another thing; in the past two days," she put up her hand to interrupt him.
"Wait, you're saying I've been here two days?!" Slowly but surely, she remembered; for the last two nights, they'd given her medication at night that caused four-hour amnesia—she'd forget everything that happened that day. It was for her exhaustion.
"The medicine has that effect on people, the amnesia and all," the doctor added sharply. "Anyhow, you've been eating almost thirty-seven hundred calories in the past few days, but haven't gained so much as a pound. Three thousand calories is a pound of body fat, and it concerned me. So I had a test done on your blood; sure enough. Your metabolism is four thousand calories in twenty four hours. That's over a hundred sixty-six calories burned in an hour."
The magnitude hit her hard. "H…hold it…four hundred a day?"
"No," he calmly repeated. "four thousand. And that's your resting metabolism. I'd hate to imagine what your exercising metabolism is. You burn more fat doing nothing than most professional athletes working out for hours!"
That would explain how hungry I am now, she thought. "Doc? Can I maybe eat lunch NOW then?"
"No, it can't be her." Vegeta's quietly shrieked as he peered over the curtain into the room of the young white-skinned half-gypsy girl. As far as he could tell, she was only Human, and he didn't believe an Earthling capable of that kind of power. "And, we felt it only a minute; it could have been Trunks or Goten."
Goku looked him straight in the eyes. "Vegeta," he staunchly said. "I forget names and faces. I NEVER forget a ki signature. That definitely was Broly's power coming from this woman."
"But Kakarot!" argued the Saiyan prince. "We killed him almost nine years ago!" Goku's idea, which had remained his theory, slowly dawned on Vegeta, and also made sense. "You think she's Broly reincarnate, Kakarot!?"
Goku shook his head grimly. "The ki from her seems calmer and more feminine, but definitely legendary super Saiyan energy. I won't ever forget that ki signal." Suddenly, as dangerous as the situation was, the third-class warrior smiled and added, "let's introduce ourselves!"
Vegeta wanted to protest, but was too late; already had the two of them entered her E.R. room. Her eyes met Goku's. "Are you Kakarot?" she unexpectedly beckoned. Almost the same instant she clasped both hands over her mouth. H…How did I know that?! Her mind raced for an answer.
"My friends call me Son Goku, but my birth name is Kakarot" he extended his hand after introducing himself; uneasily she shook it and withdrew her grip. "Anyway, do you know anything about…"
"Broly?" she pronounced, then quickly gasped and covered her mouth again. What the hell? Broh-lee? Where'm I getting this stuff? And what's.. "What's a Saiyan?"
"We Saiyans are the survivors of a brutal race of human-like warriors. After Freeza destroyed our planet, we fought for good. Broly, however, was an evil Saiyan. To protect the galaxy, I had to kill him." His answers took a few seconds to sink into her mind. All her life she'd been a human, or had she? Did these two have answers?
"I'm this…this Broly reincarnated?"
"You hit the nail on the head right there. At least we think you are."
A piercing worry shot through her mind.
"You're…not gonna kill me, are you?"
"You haven't hurt anyone yet."
"I almost killed a purse thief." She immediately wondered, Why am I arguing over my life?!
Goku smiled and patted her on the non-injured shoulder. "That's okay, you were protecting yourself." A confusing thought came. At the end of his sentence, he said "yet." You haven't hurt anyone yet, he'd said, as if she were destined to hurt people. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a single bean, and handed it to her calmly. She took it in her fingers, examined it, and smelt it. Why was he giving her a bean? "This's a senzu bean," he finished. "Eat it." Doing as instructed, she swallowed it. Her stomach felt full, and she rubbed her wound; the hole was gone. Quickly she tore her gauze off her hands, and almost recoiled in shock; the wound there was gone. Looking up, and seeing the two strangers gone from her sight, she pulled the I.V. out of her skin and watched the tiny needle hole seal itself up. Pulling off the equipment, she got off the table, hastily dressed herself, and tore off down the hall like a banshee. This isn't true, she kept thinking as her pace increased with every minute. None of what they'd said could be true, she believed. She had been born a human, no aliens or special powers involved.
But then how'd you do that "air shockwave" thing, her right brain argued her left.
I don't know, her left brain pressed, but it doesn't matter! I'm no alien!
Running on, a few minutes' time brought her to the Orange Star high school. She'd run from the hospital without even letting her parents know, and came to the one place she could hide. Her classes had long since been out for the day, but she could at least have a few hours to herself in the gym, for it never closed until about midnight when all the facility had left. Sure enough, when she went to push the door, it flew open and the gym was abandoned. She took a few steps out onto the middle area of the court, and gripped her fists tightly. She had to prove herself either right or wrong regarding her blood and genetics.
Anger, need angry thoughts. That's what caused me to go off on that robber. She brought together all the horrid memories of her past. Her grandmother's funeral, her great-grandfather's funeral were choices. She recalled all the verbal torture her great granddad Taduz Lemke endured. How he'd lost his daughter to a fat lawyer who ran her down. How he'd suffered at the hands of the ignorant white population. Nakia found herself wanting to kill, wanting blood. Damn the society and its picture perfect supermodels! Damn the corrupt officials trying to put the gypsies out of existence! DAMN THEM! THEY NEED TO DIE! Her arms were trembling back and forth, she was gripping her fists so tightly. Not enough to break the skin, but enough to shake her arms. A few seconds later, and the darkness of the gym seemed illuminated.
She was glowing again.
With her teeth gritted, and raw power surging through every centimeter of her frame, she found bloodlust to be the only thing on her mind. The next white person to walk through the door is going to die, she thought. Blood would indeed be spilled today. She'd been so caught up in anger at the Caucasian population that she didn't notice a trash can next to her. Delivering a single kick to it, it flew across the gym, tore a hole in the foot-thick concrete wall, and kept blasting as far as she could see through at least a dozen classrooms until it escaped from the building by ejecting out the outside wall. Looking on, she marveled at the sheer level of damage she'd done merely by kicking a trash can that was plastic. She furiously tried to calm her bloodlust.
No, I mustn't kill anyone. No one deserves to die. With that single thought, she fell to her knees, panting, desperately gasping for air. The glow was gone, as was the illumination. Crap! I gotta learn to control this! One important fact had been proven; she understood what had been said earlier by the two strangers was correct. How it came to be that way she didn't understand, but at least it was proven. Clenching her fists, she rose to her feet again.
Darn it! I NEED to control this! Bringing back the sad and angry thoughts, she could feel the power welling up inside her as her fury boiled. Soon enough, the illumination of the room caused by her glow returned. Also did her thirst to spill innocent blood, so she suppressed herself again. At least an hour of bringing the power out and suppressing it due to bloodlust frustrated the hell out of her. Shaking her head, she calmly left the gym.
A paper plane swooshed through the air and gently landed by her feet. Nakia looked to the left to see who the sender was, but saw only the outline of hair as the sender strolled away down the safety of the dark hallway. She picked up the plane and unfolded it.
You need something to wrap your mind around… Some of the ink was smudged, so she could only make out parts of it. …then…power…under control… It made only a bit of sense as she put it into her pocket and headed for the door. Whatever it meant could wait for tomorrow; right now, she had to get back to the hospital before her parents began to get worried. The city life was hard because of the cramped populous, and the crime, but at least she could walk very short distances to everywhere she needed to go. One thing keeping her family here was the ability to travel everywhere within the city without the need for a car, which they couldn't yet afford. The hospital and her recent acquiring of power were two thoughts plaguing her mind at that particular moment in time, and as she proceeded to get closer to the hospital, she saw her parents walking as well.
"Nakia!" her father shouted, trying to get her attention. The looks on their faces told her right away that she had given them quite a worry, so she carefully planned her words. "I thought you'd been shot!" She took a moment to make sure what she would shortly say was what she needed to get across.
"No," she lied, "I just got nicked by the purse robber. Wasn't anything that a few treatments couldn't get fixed right away." Her father seemed satisfied by her lie, but her mother kept some of the worry she had earlier. She knew the right words to say for any particular moment, and she'd gotten out of being grounded before just by being able to say the right thing at the right time. Talents like this came in handy in occasions like this one.
"That's good to hear," her mother said in a slightly worried tone. "I'm glad you didn't get hurt. So, I guess you can go back to school tomorrow, huh?" Just at that particular moment, she happened to look behind her, and saw a classmate leaning against a building a few blocks down the street. She knew his name to be Gohan, but where she got that information from she didn't know. The instant her eyes met his and he noticed the gig was up, he dodged between two buildings and was gone before she knew it.
"Let's get home," her father said, and both her and her mother agreed.
That night saw her having the most unusual dream she'd ever had. There she was, high in the air over a planet, just floating in the air as though nothing seemed different. Although the air was heavy, she could see across to the right where an intense battle was going on. Several warriors were unable to take to the sky to help their comrade, instead lending him their powers in order to vanquish the enemy. In front of her was the tall guy she'd met earlier, the one that gave her the bean that healed her instantly. His hair was golden—and he had the same glow that she had in the gymnasium—but she remembered faces and it had to be him. A huge mass of a person floated directly in front of him, and he struggled with all his might to fend off the mighty one. She recognized the villain…almost subconsciously.
"Broly?" she whispered. "BROLY!" Startled, she began to shout his name and float towards the battle site. Answers were what she wanted. "I need to talk to you!" Her words seemed to be spoken in vain as the warrior turned to her as an afterthought then back to Goku. However, he did say one thing.
"Kill…Kakarot…"
All at once she felt a powerful force taking hold in her mind; gripping her head in agony, she viciously sprung out of the dream, out of bed, all at once. Looking around her, her dark room was illuminated by the brilliant glow of…super Saiyan—she realized. That's what it was called. I must kill Kakarot…it's my only mission…
Not fully aware of her own thoughts and emotions, she pushed open the window to her room, and pushing her ki out through her feet, took off like a bottle rocket into the sky. Furiously looking left and right revealed few ki signatures to her, and the nearest one was three hundred miles to the west, in the middle of the western desert. Angrily, a burst of ki from her feet gave her a jolt in the direction of the desert. Her only mission, kill Kakarot, burned deeply within her mind. If this ki wasn't her target, she'd just have to go on a search.
"You're looking for me, aren't you?" She whirled around in midair to see who the voice was, and her eyes dimmed. The target decided to make his presence known and come to her over the eastern forest. He looked calm and quiet while she had her teeth gritted and her fists clenched.
"I didn't think you'd be this easy to locate," she grunted, her aura flaring up every minute or two. Her muscles began to grow as her anger pushed her towards Ultra Super Saiyan, breaking through the sleeves of her pajama shirt. Her pajama pants—although bulging from her increased muscles—seemed as though they would hold. "You…know why I'm here." He did. Although she didn't precisely know (she wasn't controlling herself), he did.
It didn't need a warning from her to kick off the battle. Just a wrong look from Goku caused her to rocket towards him and propel her fist in a right hook towards his face, which he effortlessly dodged. Not the very instant after she missed, she attempted an uppercut, which got turned aside by a mere tilting back of his head. He twisted his body to the side, just a microsecond fast enough to avoid a kick, then tilting the other way to avoid another. His flying backwards a bit prompted her to follow him, attempt an axe-handle smash (which easily missed due to his speed), then try another kick. She was so caught up in swinging at him she didn't notice when she threw two fists at his head at the same time, he grabbed her wrists with his hands and held her arms tight. He had the same glow as her.
"If you're gonna kill me, you're gonna have to learn the proper way of fighting," he said, driving his knee upward into her gut. An instant later brought his foot upwards at her face, throwing her at least four feet away from him. He remained calm, avoided getting angry, and corrected her faults; this was not the act of a man protecting himself, this was the act of a martial arts instructor giving lessons. It angered her beyond comprehension. "You have power, but you don't know how to use it right."
"OH YEAH?!" she shouted. "THEN HOW WOULD YOU USE IT IF YOU WERE ME?!" Her vicious yelling did not deter his calm expression.
"Let's see here, since you're trying to kill me," he instructed, "you should at least either go to Super Saiyan two, or remain at Super Saiyan one, because Ultra Super Saiyan gives you additional muscle mass which kills your speed. A transformation that gives you only brute strength is useless. Also, you're so caught up in anger that you forget to predict where your enemy will move next." She'd heard enough; blasting towards him, she anticipated him teleporting behind her to try a finishing blow. Her hunch proved true.
He saw her quickly move towards him in attack position, so thinking she hadn't learned yet, he teleported behind her to hastily finish her off; instead, he got caught off guard with a foot directly on his chin. Rocketing towards her with elbow pointed like a joust, she speared him with it directly at his chest, and flew him into a cliff wall. She then punched him with the back of her left hand, which was to distract him from her ferociously plowing her right fist into his stomach, then using the force of the upswing to drive him through layers of solid rock. Once painfully separated from the rock, He looked down, but she was nowhere in sight. His ki sensing ability caught her an instant before she would have flown straight through him. With her anger causing her power to rise even further, her muscles shrank to her normal size and lightning began to leave the dark clouds overhead and become part of her aura. She'd achieved Super Saiyan two. She looked up at him a second too late. He took the opening advantage.
He was a few inches away from her by the time she saw him. In the space of a microsecond, he charged all the way to Super Saiyan three, drove a mighty fist into her abdomen and powered back down to normal far too swiftly for any normal person to see or feel.
"Sleep," he merely commanded, as she fell limp into his arms. "Our lesson for tonight is completed."
When she woke up, the morning sun beamed in through her open window. Pulling herself to a seated position on her bed took a slight struggle; her entire frame ached as though she were stiff as a board. Yet, strangely, she never felt more alive in the morning. Some euphoria she couldn't explain rattled around in her mind, making her feel livelier than she'd ever been. Then it hit her.
The memories of the night's battle rapidly came back to her as she went into the bathroom and took off her slightly shredded pajamas. Wow, she thought, calling to mind her attacks. I thought I was doing great, but he told me my style sucked. She got in the shower, and went to wash her hair—the fact that it hung more clumped together didn't affect much—when she noticed something new had been added. Something wet that hung from her lower back immediately north of her rear. A…a tail? I've got a tail?
Of course, a quick thought reminded her. Saiyans have tails. Just don't look at the full moon or you'll become a ravaging ape. Calming down, she cleaned herself off and got out to dry herself. She took a hasty peak in the shower—no blood. She checked her panties, and again, no blood. She'd only been on her period for a day? That didn't make sense.
Another Saiyan feature, her thoughts told her again. Saiyan females don't menstruate but one day a year. Very effective, she thought. She hastily dressed and left the bathroom.
"Honey?" called her mother's voice from downstairs. "Are you gonna come down and get breakfast?" she thought a minute.
"No, I'll get it on the way," she said, then grabbed her pack and purse and flew out through her open window.