Chapter 8: A Nature Hike And Retrospect
3rd P.O.V.
Day 2
"Mirai, slow down!" Mirai was leading the group north into the HFIL Mountains.
"Why, Goku? The faster we find Cell, the quicker we can help Katie."
"Mirai, we still have two days-"
"Right, that's today and tomorrow to save Katie. It's been twenty-four hours since Drazark hurt her and we aren't any closer to helping her than we were yesterday."
"Kakorot, can't you just teleport us to Cell?"
"It doesn't work that way, Vegeta. Cell technically has no Ki for me to locate since he's dead."
"Katrin has done it, why can't you?"
"The Yardratts explained to me that everyone teleports slightly different. Katie can teleport to a person or a place by thinking of it. I have to have a Ki signature of a living person to teleport."
"That's very interesting, Goku, but we're here on a mission. Let's move."
"We'll save her son, don't worry." Vegeta placed his hand on Mirai's shoulder. Mirai stopped, sighed deeply and nodded.
"Dad, what if we fail her?"
"Don't think like that. The two of you came together through space and time to be together. Love like that couldn't be beaten so easily."
But as Vegeta said this to his son, he thought the same thing. Would he ever be able to forgive himself if he failed her now? Katrin meant a lot to him, as much as a daughter. She looked up to him, and had the courage to fight him when he was still the Dark Prince of the entire Sayjin race. She wasn't scared of him, not really. When he was about to kill her 34 years ago she looked him square in the eye and didn't flinch. He had faced older and stronger opponents than her who couldn't do that.
Goku also thought of his reasoning as to why Katie meant so much to him. She was a brilliant fighter and a brilliant scientist. She surpassed Goku in strength after the Cell games, and when faced against Roxx's tortures she didn't break. Roxx tortured her for a full week and was still strong. She saved reality as we know it, so he owed her at the very least his life, if not more.
Mirai remembered the first time he saw Katie. He was so nervous, being around Vegeta and the other Z Senshi. He heard the stories, but the only people he knew from the Z Senshi were Gohan and Katie. In his time, Katie trained Gohan and him, too. But Katie died then, and in vain. Katie fought the androids in this time, even after he told her that they had killed her in his time. She fought bravely, even though she knew she couldn't win. Just as she had in the alternate future.
Mirai reluctantly remembered back to the events that brought upon her death in his time.
Gohan and Katie were sparing with each other as Trunks watched in bewilderment. The two of them moved like the ocean breaking on the shore against each other. They were both SSJ and the light of their Ki made the sun look dull. Trunks wanted so bad to become a SSJ, but he just couldn't reach the point. He had the strength; he was stronger than Goku had been when he transformed. At the time, Katie was 31, Gohan was 24, and Trunks was 13. They were the last remaining Z Senshi.
They were training out in the mountains, far from the territory of the androids now days. 17 and 18 had killed all the other warriors, except Goku who died before Trunks was born. Vegeta's death prompted Katie's transformation, and Gohan's was brought upon by the death of Piccolo, only days apart. Trunks knew, as the others had, of Katie's curious past, and the fact that his dad was her hero. She realized that she was going to live out this time and that Trunks would travel back to fix it to the one she knew should happen.
Gohan fought in honor of his dad, and Katie fought in honor of Vegeta. Bulma said Katie reminded her of Vegeta at times, as did Gohan of Goku.
"Gatlik Gun!" Katie fired at Gohan, but he counted and threw it back.
"Kamehameha!" Gohan threw a blast at her, but she dodged.
"That's the way, Katie!"
"You don't have to tell me how to fight, I'm your sensei, remember?" she called back to Gohan.
Then there was an explosion in the background, a powerful one.
"You think 17 and 18 got bored?" Gohan asked.
"Yeah, but that came from downtown West City. It's still populated."
"Let's go, my mom's out there!"
"Alright, lets go." Gohan said.
"Wait for me!" Trunks called.
"Alright, but stay back Trunks. We don't want to lose you."
I'd like to see those androids try. Trunks thought.
So the three Sayjins flew toward West City, the last remaining pure-blood in lead of the two boys.
When they landed it was silent. The reason the explosion had been so loud was the fact that the androids blew up a gas station. Fire and smoke filled the vacant area, and their Sayjin sense of smell was a handicap with the gas in the air.
"Where are they?" Trunks asked.
"It's a trap!" Katie went to turn, but 17 was there and he proceeded to throw her into a wall of flames. Trunks figured her SG had gone off, but it was a little too late. He ran to the wall of flames, but he couldn't find a way over. They were too high, and he couldn't find Katie's Ki.
Gohan charged at 17 and the two began a battle. Caught up in the action, Trunks hadn't seen 18 sneak up behind him. He turned when he saw her shadow, but Katie kicked 18 away. Katie was burned and dirty, but okay.
"Trunks, never let your guard down in battle." Katie chastised him.
"Bitch!" 18 hissed at her.
"It may be a cliché, but it takes one to know one…" Katie powered up at her max level and began fighting. Gohan and 17 fought hard, but soon it was apparent that the androids were only playing with the Super Sayjin duo.
"Damn Gero and damn you!" Gohan screamed as he went to throw a Kamehameha at 17, who had a smirk on his face as he calmly tossed it aside.
Katie and 18 were fighting even harder than the others, but Katie was tiring and 18's power wasn't even half. 18 tossed Katie aside like a rag doll, knocking Gohan over. As the two tried to get up, 18 moved next to 17.
"You Sayjins and your foolish ideals. Gero may be dammed, but so is this planet." 17 said.
"We lured you out to the open because we were bored and we decided to finish you." 18 continued as the two androids stood back-to-back and began to power up a combined Ki blast.
"We may be foolish to you, but you are fools as well. What are you going to do once all your 'little toys' are gone?" Katie asked.
"We'll go to another planet and begin again."
"You monsters." Trunks hissed. But 18's powerful hearing heard him.
"Well, if it isn't the runt of the litter. Have you come to watch your friends die, or do you wish to join them?"
Trunks charged at the android, but she easily dodged and began to play with him.
"Trunks, get out of here!" Katie called. Gohan was hurt and unconscious, and Katie was barely able to move. She was afraid of what might happen to him if she couldn't help him. Without him, the past was doomed, she knew. She realized a long time ago that only Trunks could go back to the past so her past self could have a future.
18 knocked Trunks away and powered up a disk-shaped Ki blast.
"You're no fun, you aren't even a challenge. Vegeta was more fun than you." 18 threw the blast head on at Trunks.
Katie could barely move, but the mention of Vegeta infuriated her.
I already lost Vegeta, and I refuse to lose Trunks! Katie thought.
She got up and ran between the blast and Trunks, saving the boy. The blast died down and the laughing androids left, losing interest in the Sayjins.
"Katie, are you okay?" Trunks looked down at Katie, but she was unconscious like Gohan. He took Gohan's Zinzu beans and gave one to each of them and then one for him. But Katie didn't wake up for long.
"Trunks…" she said with a smile as she fell back into unconsciousness.
After caring for Katie a few days she woke up, and it was then she was told the terrible news. The blast that she had taken for Trunks had taken her right leg, and sadly Bulma had to remove what was left of it- from the hip and down. Once told, she made Gohan, Bulma, and Trunks leave her room. She didn't want anyone around. She sat in there for days before she would talk to anyone.
"Katie, how are you?" Trunks felt responsible for Katie's condition, so he kept trying to get her to talk, or do anything. He hated the silence. "Katie, please talk to me? I'm sorry."
"You didn't do anything." Katie said, staring out the window. That was the first thing she had said in a long time.
"You're not mad at me?" Trunks asked.
"No, I'm mad at myself. I should be stronger." she replied, tears were starting to form in her eyes. Trunks couldn't remember ever seeing Katie cry.
"You are strong. You lost you leg, and anyone weaker would have died from the loss of blood. That's what mom said."
"I miss Vegeta. I miss Goku. They were born to do this, to fight with all their being. You could say I'm only half-Sayjin, because I was raised human, with no fighting involved at all. Well, there was one, but that doesn't count. Trunks, some bad things are going to happen very soon. You'll have to take the Time Machine to warn the past. And I want you to promise me you'll never feel like it's your fault. We could all be stronger, and I know. There is a level of power that extends past Super Sayjin, and another. You may think I'm crazy now, but you'll see one day."
Mirai's mind jumped to the present to Goku and Vegeta's talk about fighting Drazark. His blood boiled at the mention of his name.
They don't know Katie like I do. She lost her leg in the alternate future and kept fighting. She wouldn't let pride get in the way, that's what she used to beat her depression. Talking to me was easy for her, so she ranted. She seems to do that a lot. Mirai thought with a little smile as he continued to reminisce.
"Trunks, your father was arrogant, and selfish most of the time, but he was still my hero. Do you know why?"
"No."
"He always did what he thought was right. He never doubted his decisions, or regretted them. Well, almost never. He almost killed me once, but that was before he knew exactly who I was. He told me he hoped that a daughter of his could be like me. Too bad that didn't work out, either." she had a smile on her face, but it was a sad smile as a few tears slid down her face.
"Katie, what are we going to do without you?"
"I'm not going anywhere. These past few days I've thought things out. I'm going to train the two of you until I die."
"But you're leg?"
"Only a flesh wound. Your mom's already making me a prosthetic leg. I'll be up and fighting in no time."
And she did. Only a few months later, she was up and fighting and ready to train some more. She was as good as she was before the loss of her leg, if not better.
"Come on, Trunks! Get really mad! You almost got it!… No!"
"Damn it, I was so close!"
"Trunks, you have to transform, or we're done for."
"What… do you mean?" Trunks was out of breath from his near-transformation.
"I shouldn't tell, you know how I blab too much."
Well, a few hours later the androids attacked a city, and the two Sayjins took off to the rescue. The androids had Gohan and were using him as a hostage.
They were too late. Gohan was dead before they found him. Furious, Katie went after them. She self-destructed to stop 17 and 18. When the dust settled, Trunks saw that Katie was dead, but 17 and 18 were still alive, barely scratched.
"You, you creeps! You killed her, you killed them both!"
Infuriated at the loss of Katie and Gohan, Trunks transformed into a SSJ.
"Katie dreamed of this day, the day I'd transform. And you took that from her!"
Trunks was still no match for the androids. He still had hope that they could be saved, but it was only a pipe dream. The last pureblood Sayjin had fallen at the hands of a pair of machines. At Katie and Gohan's combined funeral, which comprised of only three people -Chi-chi, Trunks, and Bulma- Trunks said 7 simple words for Katie that still remain with him to this day.
"…On this day, an Angel has fallen..."
From that day forward Mirai No Trunks fought the androids in her honor, even when he came to the present. He might have chosen his words differently if he knew what she would have become. Then again, he might have said the exact same thing. It was so easy to fall in love with her then, and it was going to be more than he could bear if he lost her now.
Katie, don't make me bury you again, not now.
They continued into the wilderness of HFIL, which looked exactly like a forest in the hell Katie spoke of should look like. It was dark, creepy, and down right scary. Even Vegeta had shivers running down his spine. They walked in silence, on a path they had come along.
"Katrin would love this. She loved our survival training in the woods fifteen years ago." Vegeta said, shaking his head.
"You'll have to tell her about this later." Goku said.
"Do you feel that?" Mirai asked as he stopped.
"Yeah, its Cell. Only a lot bigger." Goku replied.
"Why exactly do we need Cell anyway?" Vegeta said, practically spitting on Cell's name.
"I'll explain once we find him. If we can't find him, it won't matter what my plan is."
"Well, if it isn't a troop of monkeys wondering into my training territory!" Cell didn't stop to ask questions, but immediately started attacking the group. He was throwing Ki blasts left and right from somewhere off the path.
"Cell, stop! We-" Goku began, but Cell nearly took his head off with a blast.
"Why should I stop? You walked into my territory uninvited, and I hate all three of you to top it off!" Cell screamed from his hiding spot. His green coloring made a perfect camouflage in the dark hell forest.
"Cell, Katrin needs your help!" Vegeta screamed.
"Then why isn't she here to ask me herself?" Cell halted in his attacks.
"She can't ask you, that's the problem. Cell, I know you care for Katie as much as I do, so lets stop fighting and work together, or she'll die!" Mirai called. Cell jumped onto the path from the woods.
"Good, then she'll be with me! She'd be mine if it wasn't for you!"
"Cell, you know that isn't true. And do you really want her to die? Even if I was dead, I wouldn't want her to be too." Mirai pleaded.
"And don't the rules say that only a fighter who dies in battle gets to keep their body? If she dies now, she'll be another puff of smoke." Goku said.
"Fine, follow me. My camp isn't too far from here, we'll talk there."
So off deeper into the forest they went, following Cell. It was only a few minutes before they reached a clearing, and that was really all Cell needed for a camp. He doesn't eat or sleep, not really, so all he needed was the room for meditation.
"So, what is this all about?" Cell asked as he sat in the dead grass.
Vegeta, the one in the group with the best memory, explained the situation as detailed as he could, explaining the fight and the curse. Vegeta didn't really brag on his memory, but he truly never forgot anything. He remembered the exact day and time when he fought Katrin and he could even remember her scent from then. She smelled powerful, even then, and fresh, as though she had just been born. In essence, she had been.
"And for my plan to succeed, we need your help." Mirai said.
"And what is your plan, runt?"
Mirai ignored the insult and explained.
"Katie told us that you entered her soul before the Cell games."
"Is that how she put it? I'd say I entered her psyche, where we could talk in complete truthfulness and emotion."
"You have emotions?" Vegeta laughed.
"Shut up! Put aside your differences now, or we'll never get to help Katie." Mirai nearly shouted.
"Vegeta, Cell, you may not think it, but all of us here love Katie. And if you two really do love her, then you'll put aside the past and listen to Trunks."
"Thank you, Goku. Whatever you want to call it, we need you to do it again."
"What!" Goku called.
"Goku, I thought you were on my side." Mirai said.
"We're all on your side, right, Vegeta?" Cell said sarcastically. Vegeta just grunted in reply.
"Like I was saying, this curse has her trapped in an illusion of a possible life she could have had. We have no idea what it is, but I doubt you're in it, or any of us, like Frieza said. Maybe if she sees one of us as we are now, she'll remember and be able to break free. And Cell, you're the only one who can get to her."
"You're plan is very well thought out except for one thing. How am I going to get to her? I can't leave HFIL."
"Well, we took care of that." Goku said with him famous Son grin, "Enma said if we keep an eye on you, you can be on parole for the three day period we need you for."
"Two days." Vegeta corrected quietly.
"Well, its not like I could fight you without a lot of trouble, and if my assistance really can help Katie, I'll be good. Lets go."
So everyone grabbed hold of Goku's arm and he teleported them out of HFIL.