Chika – Near, to be close to

Takara – Treasure, precious object

Kiyoshi – Quiet

Leiko – Arrogant

Kane – Tribute, warrior, the eastern sky, beautiful

Chapter 3

Takara took a deep breath as she looked into the faces of the warriors around her. They all looked expectantly at her.

"Okay … a long time ago, Kane; the spirit of the Earth was completely at rest, but because his heart was un-pure, he decided to rid himself of his un-pure side, but it seemed as if his un-pure side had control over most of his power, so he decided to isolate his negative energy"

She turned away from them, and continued. "It seemed as if the energy formed itself into a being, and came back to overpower him as her own being. She called herself Leiko, and the past warriors along with my help defeated her." She said.

"Then who's the enemy now?" asked Trunks. Takara looked back at him.

"Well, we thought we had defeated her, but it seems that she had only been weakened. She had probably hidden, and now she's back, and she's stronger than ever. That's why we need to defeat her"

Vegeta looked at her. "Then we start training now. They faster we start, the stronger we'll be when this Leiko comes along"

Takara shook her head. "It's not what you think, Vegeta. Leiko can't be fought. She doesn't exist … or at least not here … or anywhere"

Everyone stared at her, totally lost. If their enemy didn't exist, then what was the problem?

"What do you mean she doesn't exist here?" asked Android 18.

"She exists between dimensions, and if we allow her to gain access to the gateways of these dimensions, she'll merge them, and all chaos will start, so right now, she doesn't exist, because she is not currently in our dimension, and she does not exist in any other dimension either"

Goten had to say that he was thoroughly interested. Maybe if he got involved in this, it could take his mind off whatever it was that was bothering him.

"So, if you we can't defeat her with strength, then how are we going to do it? Can we travel between dimensions?" he asked.

"Well, yes, we can travel through dimensions, but that's not an option. If we do that, we might get caught in another dimension, and warp the events of that dimension, and quite possibly destroy life. A chain of events can lead to anything, Goten, and we can't do that. Our only choice is to go through a certain type of training"

"If you know Kane, then maybe you can get his help to defeat her" he said.

"That's another problem. We have to do this without Kane's help. Currently, nobody knows, not even King Yemma knows who Kane is. We do know he is here, though"

"So, how can we find out who he is?"

"Well, we know that he is reincarnated as someone here on Earth, but we don't know who he is. It could be anyone"

Vegeta scoffed. Well, this was different. "What do you know?" he asked.

"Well, we need a special type of training to deal with Leiko. As you know, she isn't a normal enemy. She had a way of fighting. She doesn't attack her opponents physically, but emotionally. She drives her enemies insane, before taking their souls"

She looked down at her feet, trying to find Kiyoshi's ki. He wasn't far from them, but Chika had gone back now. She had gone in her place, she knew.

"Look, I don't want to scare you. It's the absolute last thing I want to do in this position, because you'll need all the confidence in the world to defeat her"

There were a few moments of silence before she turned to look at them all again; all of them wearing a serious, determined looks on their face. She seemed almost proud of all of them. They had been through so much, and now they were about to go through another ordeal.

"I have to leave now. I don't have the energy to start the training today, but I will start it as soon as possible"

Takara then flew off without another word as the Z-warriors were left to themselves to think about what was soon to take place.

Goten sat alone in a secluded clearing, thinking about what had taken place the day before. It was all so strange how everything could come crashing down on their lives this way; first his dreams, then the impending enemy. He wondered idly if the two had anything to do with each other. No … it couldn't be. It was only a dream, and what did anything happening in his dream have to do with Leiko anyways.

He wondered, too if he was prepared to fight. I mean, it was years that he had fought. He was very rusty when it came to that. It would be better if they fought Leiko without him, because he was just going to get in the way.

"Don't worry, Goten. You can fight alongside the others"

Goten sat up suddenly, not expecting to meet anybody here. This had been his 'spot' for years, and he doubted he had told anyone about it.

He turned around to see Takara herself standing behind him, a look of worry written on her face.

"I'm sorry I disturbed you. Do you want to be left alone?" she asked him softly.

"No, it's okay. You just surprised me … that's all. How did you find this place?" he asked.

"I don't know. I guess I'm drawn to places like this. I like the peace. Also … you invited me here"

Goten looked at her, confused. "Not being rude or anything … but I didn't really invite you"

Takara only smiled at him. "You did. You just don't remember doing it. You were only a child when you invited me. You said that I could come here as long as I stayed on Earth"

"Oh. I see" Goten looked at her. He had forgotten. She knew him, but he didn't really know her. What else did she know about him?

"Don't worry. I don't know that much about you" she said. Goten wondered to himself if she could read thoughts.

"No, I don't read thoughts … at least I choose not to"

Goten looked at her once more in confusion.

She only laughed at him. "I don't read your mind. That's an invasion of privacy. I am really good at reading facial expressions, though"

Goten nodded in comprehension. He didn't exactly feel comfortable around her now. She could read him too easily, and he found it very hard to mask his emotions.

"I have to go now, but I'll see you … whenever you're ready to begin training" he said getting up.

Takara nodded. "Okay. I'll see you, Goten"

Goten flew of and disappeared out of her view.

Takara frowned slightly. Goten was not acting like himself. He wasn't this quiet and secluded. Maybe she was just making him uncomfortable. She tended to do that to people, though she didn't know why. She sighed softly. Well, she hoped that he got over anything that was bothering him soon, because with the battle coming, he would have to have a clear mind.

Goten flew the air, his thoughts focused solely on Takara now. There was something about that woman that was intimidating, but he just couldn't put his fingers on it. She seemed nice, but still … he would have to keep an eye on her for the time-being.