Chapter
Three
Serena gave a loud shriek of delight as she fell through
the sky like a skydiver except without a parachute. A wave of
exhilaration washed over her as a beautiful countryside filled her
vision when she plunged through a cloud.
"Wow..."
Her mouth was set in a small 'o' as she looked around at the hover
cars and astonishingly pollute-free lakes. This new world was quite
different from hers, only slightly though. The houses still looked
the same and the animals were pretty much the same. Well, that was
what she thought until some large flying animal blasted passed her,
causing her to spin in the air full circle.
"Oh, my God!"
she exclaimed in shock as she got a good look at it. "A
dinosaur!!!"
She simply stared after its shape for a long
while until something caught her eye. "Uh-oh," she said
softly as the countryside came up to meet her. She'd forgotten about
that. 'This is gonna hurt!' she thought, closing her eyes
automatically.
Her eyes widened in astonishment when she did
crash. Yet, the thing she crashed into seemed unusual soft and was
not quite stable.
She heard a cry of "ow!" as she
tumbled with whatever she'd collided into.
"Ow!"
She
looked down in surprise and laughed nervously when she saw black
hair. "Sorry!" she quickly blurted out, jumping to her
feet. 'Strange though, an impact like that would've killed any
normal human and I would have a lot of broken bones right now.'
"Who
are you, woman?" a harsh voice belted out from behind her.
She
spun around and came face to face with an unhappy looking man with
spiky black hair that completely defied gravity.
She was quite
taken aback but quickly put on a game face and replied calmly, "My
name is Serena Tsukino," she answered, deciding to use her old
surname.
"Why were you falling out of the sky?" he
demanded.
For that she had no answer that she could give him.
To change the subject, she spun around to face the person she'd
fallen on. "Are you all right?"
He laughed
good-naturedly. "Hi, I'm Goku. I'm fine. I'm kinda curious, too.
Why were you falling out of the sky? Oh, and this is
Vegeta."
She simply stared at the young man, dumbfounded.
This was her father? She was finally meeting her real father! She
eyed him up and down and suppressed a laugh as she took in his
untamed black hair and childish grin.
'He looks a little
young though. I wonder how old he is,' she thought
wistfully.
Her calm mask slid into place again and she asked
him a question in response though inside she was bubbling with other
questions that she couldn't ask him. "Are you Son Goku, the
legendary fighter of Chikyuu?"
"Uh... Yes?"
Goku answered uncertainly. "Am I legendary?" he asked
Vegeta in all honesty.
The shorter man scowled. "Yes, you
are," he growled in reply, clearly not happy about it.
"Oh.
Ok then. I guess I am. Is there something you need?"
Serena
gulped unnoticeably and nodded, seemingly calm. "I want you to
train me."
At that, Goku took a step back. "Why?"
he asked, eying her curiously.
Vegeta snorted. "Don't
make me laugh, woman. You wouldn't last a day."
"Things
aren't always how they seem," she replied, barely concealing her
anger.
Goku grinned at her spirit but then took on a serious
expression. "But how do we know that you're a good guy?"
That
was a question that caught her off guard. Serena's eyes narrowed
slightly as she tried to think of something that would show her
abilities but wouldn't exploit her identity as Cosmos.
"I
don't know," she replied slowly, looking back up at Goku so that
they were looking eye to eye. "How can I prove that I fight for
justice?"
Goku put a finger to his head as if he was deep
in thought and then finally opened his mouth. "Ahhh... I
dunno."
Needless to say, Vegeta about fell over.
Serena
laughed mentally but simply smiled in reality. "I see."
Vegeta
regained his composure quickly and glared at Goku. "You have no
brains, idiot." Then he glanced at Serena. "You, prove
yourself by telling us why you want to be trained and who you
are."
"As I have told you," she answered,
choosing her words wisely, "my name is Serena Tsukino. I want to
be trained so that I might protect the innocent and fight for my
beliefs. I want to be strong and I will not let that dream slip away.
You will find that I never give up."
Vegeta laughed
scornfully at her words. "That is the stupidest thing I have
ever heard. I'm sure you recite that speech all the time. Tell us why
we should train you. What is different about you and other
humans?"
"I have potential that you have never even
dreamed of," she replied calmly, though she eyed him
distastefully. 'This guy needs a serious chill pill.'
"How
do you know that?" Goku asked curiously.
She smiled
slightly again. "You don't want to know."
"We will
not train you for no reason!" Vegeta suddenly snapped, far too
irritated by her slight smiles and hidden reasons to remain
calm.
"Fine," Serena replied coldly. "I won't
bother you then. I hope to see you some time, Goku. I can't say the
same for your hotheaded friend though."
With that, she
turned on her heel and strolled calmly toward the village, every step
graceful and poised.
Vegeta glared after her and Goku laughed
again.
Serena glanced back as she reached the city, sighing in
relief. "That was close. I don't think I could've kept up that
face for another second. That guy, Vegeta, he's so annoying.
What's with him? Did someone bite him or something? I swear."
She shook her head and then continued walking.
'Where am I
gonna sleep tonight?' she wondered as she wandered the streets
aimlessly. 'And I have to figure out how to get close to Goku. The
only thing I could think of was to ask him to train me. It's obvious
he's not going to unless I show him some of my power, but then I'll
have to tell him everything. Darn. And I can't let my mom and dad
here know that I'm their daughter. They wouldn't believe me and then
I'd have to let them know everything. I can't do that. Never mind.
I'll think about it tomorrow. I'm sure they'll figure out that I'm
their daughter sooner or later if I change the papers back. Then I
don't have to tell them anything. Good. Now to find a place to sleep
so I can wake up nice and early tomorrow.'
Nodding at her
perfect plan, she used the Disguise Pen to change herself into a
hotel worker and then snuck in, changing a few hotel papers and then
sneaking into an empty room for the night.
