Author's Note: I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who still continued to support me in this project. You guys are really great, and I truly appreciate your assistance. Thank you. And so, as some sort of Christmas present, I bring to you three new chapters of this fic. Enjoy!

And yes, if you would be so kind, please do review. I'm short on inspiration right now. :p

Act Two, Chapter Eight
The Z-Senshi and the Ryuujins' Second Encounter! Destruction and Death Await the Losers!

A gun was fired, and the spectators screamed, panicking.

But it was not the gunshot that was supposed to end Honoo Shidoosha's life, as the Prime Minister willingly stepped down from his position when the citizens of Japan requested him to. He earned himself a new degree of respect from the people, but it was too late for that to change anything, because someone else had already been chosen by the people to put their crumbling nation together.

The gunshot they all heard was the shot that was meant to end the life of Yumi Kaname, the 18-year-old daughter of the greatest Prime Minister their country had ever produced, who was brought into the position of President through the revolution that harnessed the power of the Japanese civilians. She stumbled backwards, a hand over her wounded chest.

Videl Satan, the Chief of the Tokyo Police Force, felt that something bad was going to happen to their new ruler, but she didn't know what that something was nor when it was going to happen. As much as she tried to prevent the young woman from being shot by the assassin who had followed them all the way from Capsule Corporation, she was unable to save the other in the nick of time.

Lying on the cold, concrete floor, she felt so alone. Not only was the pain gobbling her up from the hollow in her chest, the darkness was beginning to engulf her as well. She was slipping from the dainty balance of life, and into what was waiting below it. She no longer knew what was going on around her; the only thing she knew was that she was falling into something that she might not be able to get out of.

She screamed. Trunks!

Then, to her surprise, she saw white.

-x-

The hospital door slid open, and the two demi-saiyajins slipped in as quietly as possible. The older of the two was gazing at the patient with extremely worried expression on his pale face, his sad sapphire eyes fixed on her repose features. As hepulled out a chair and sat by her bedside, however, she groaned and fluttered her green eyes open, turning to the young man who by then was sporting a huge smile.

"Hey, Miss President, nice to see you again!"

"You finally come to," Trunks said with happiness. "How are you feeling?"

She smiled in return, although weakly, flashing the said smile from one demi-saiyajin to the other. Her watchful eyes rested on the purple-haired young man, and with a soft sigh, she replied, "Numb. I'm not used to getting shot, you know." She took a glance at the bandages, then back at her friends. "But I'm fine now. There's no need for you to worry."

"I should've been there-"

"It wasn't your fault," she chided lightly, meeting her boyfriend's gaze. She knew that he cared for her so much, but she wanted him to know that it would be useless to blame himself for what happened, as it was beyond his control. "Things like this happen. You do have the power to save the world, but that doesn't mean you can do everything."

He seemed to be angered by that, although it was most probably due to the fact that he had lost so many loved ones because he simply wasn't strong enough. The wrong words came out of his mouth, however, and the moment those slipped through him he knew they were going to be in another war of words. "If you only told me that you were leaving-"

Anger erupted in her all of a sudden, making her emerald orbs light up in flame. "Now it's my fault?!" she half-screamed in a frustrated tone, her hands clamped into fists. By the doorway, she could see Goten gesturing for her to calm down, but it was too late, as the trigger had been pulled. "Don't you dare yell at me like that! Just because you're very much capable of taking care of yourself, just because you're very much capable of catching a bullet with your bare hands doesn't mean you can shout at me just like that!"

The demi-saiyajin panicked. "No, I'm not blaming you! I'm just-"

The young woman wasn't buying it at all. "Yeah that's right, you're not! Why don't you tell me what you're doing anyway? Praising me for my idiocy?" she snapped, glaring at him fiercely and doing her best to ignore her other friend who was waving his arms frantically for her to put an end to their argument.

That was when the black-haired demi-saiyajin decided to interrupt, although he was hesitant in doing so. It was evident in his ebony eyes that he didn't want to cause any more trouble than there already was. "Um, guys," came his soft, somewhat shaky voice, "we're in a hospital, you know."

To his shock, they both fell silent.

And it was just in time that they did, for a few heartbeats later, the door once again slid open, and the Chief of Police stepped in casually, followed by her best friend, Erasa. The latter was looking at Yumi with a proud smile on her bright features, as she was a supporter of the Kaname faction, when she noticed the purple-haired young man who was at her bedside. She could not help but allow her mouth to hang open in surprise. After all, she didn't think she'd see him again.

"This is Erasa Ruberu, my best friend," Videl flashed a knowing smile at the other woman's direction, "and one of the newswriters of Satan City Times. Erasa, this is - well, you know who they are. Yumi Kaname, newly-appointed President of the New Republic, and Trunks Briefs-Vegeta, former CEO of Capsule Corporation."

But by then, the journalist was staring at someone else. "Who's he?" she asked, gaping at the black-haired demi-saiyajin.

Videl and Goten looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes, and swallowed. "Goten," he replied, deciding to answer her with honesty.

"Oh, hi!" Erasa winked. "You're cute, you know?"

Same old Erasa, the demi-saiyajin told himself with a smile, his raven eyes suddenly expressing nostalgia. He missed his timeline a lot, and yet he could not return until his best friend's counterpart would build him a time machine, which would most probably take place after the invasion. He was snapped out by his reverie, however, when Yumi coughed lightly, apparently in interruption. As her half-alien friends made her gaze, she gestured towards the clock at her bedside with a slight tilt of her head.

It was only a few minutes untill ten.

"Oh no, I'm not going!"

The policewoman immediately knew what they were going to discuss, so she quickly pulled her companion away, excusing themselves. As the door slipped shut, Yumi and Goten were looking at the third member of their alliance with surprised expressions on their faces. "Why not?" they chorused, not understanding why the other demi-saiyajin changed his mind all of a sudden.

He sighed. "I have to stay with you," he reasoned out, standing up and looking at his girlfriend in the eye. His voice had a stubborn edge, and they knew it would take them a lot of time – and a lot of luck – to change his mind and convince him to move on with their original plan. "What if someone's going to try to kill you again? I failed you the first time; I can't fail you again!"

"Trunks," the young woman interrupted, exasperation evident in the tone of her voice. She was looking at the demi-saiyajin with equally stubborn green eyes, trying to convince him, and convince him fast. "We're going to be invaded in two hours. Go, please."

He sat back down by her side and reached out to enclose her hand in his, caressing it lightly. He seemed to be in deep thought, and his friend did not dare to interrupt him as he made his decision on the matter at hand. After what seemed to be a long time, he let out a sigh, defeated. "Why don't you oracles see the bad things that are going to happen to you anyway? It's not fair."

She shrugged in response, but forced a smile. There was no use worrying him even more than he already was. "Well..." she began, rather uncertain of what to say, "what fun would it be to live life knowing what would happen to you and what your future would be like? Please, Trunks."

Again, he let out a sigh, this time meeting her pleading gaze. "All right," he told her softly, before he let go of her hand and smiled. "But only because you asked." He then stood up, but his deep blue eyes narrowed drastically as he thought of the other problem they had in their hands. "And now, we need a decoy."

He looked at Goten and smirked.

-x-

"Why, of all people, do I have to do this?!"

The older demi-saiyajin only smiled, before he pressed the button that dropped their starfighter into standby mode. "Because those alien invaders will want Trunks Briefs-Vegeta and Yumi Kaname," he answered, turning to face Goten who was dressed up like a girl, hair and all, "and she's down there at the hospital, injured. Don't worry, it'll be a wonderful experience."

Goten snorted, looking at his reflection on the viewscreen and frowning at how ridiculous he looked. "Some experience," he muttered with clenched teeth, obviously not in favor of what has transpired, but was left without a choice. That was then when something blinked from the control panel, followed by the sound of cackling static. "Um, Trunks, I think we're being hailed."

He flipped the switch and they listened. "Unindentified starrfighterr, this is Commanderr Rryuuuuki of the Drragonwing Squuadrron. Trransmit youurr identification code immediately and state youurr buusiness, orr we will shoot youu down. I rrepeat, unindentified starrfighterr, this is Commanderr Rryuuuuki of the Drragonwing Squuadrron. Trransmit-"

"I hear you, Commander Ryuuki," the older demi-saiyajin replied coolly, suppressing a grimace that might alter the tone of his voice. Goten, who was beside him, did not even dare to hide his scowl. "I am Trunks Briefs-Vegeta, pilot of Kismet. With me is my co-pilot, Yumi Kaname." At that, his companion's scowl deepened. "Actually, we are here to negotiate."

-x-

The Commander's eyes flashed in satisfaction as he heard the other's response to his call. "Just the people we're looking for," he muttered with a toothy smile, his hands clasped casually behind his back. He then nodded at his right-hand, Shiryuu, signaling him to resume the exchange. "Verry well, we shall negotiate. I shall be expecting youu in my stuudy in half an houurr. My rright-hand man, Shirryuuuu, shall give youu the instrruuctions. Good day."

He turned around sharply to leave, his troops rising up to salute him. As he walked away, Shiryuu began relaying the instructions to the Chikyuujin starship Kismet, earning the affirmation of its demi-saiyajin pilot. The Ryuujin Commander's mind was not completely at ease, however, and as he trudged towards his study, a lot of questions were going through his head, questions that he never thought he would ask himself when they planned out the invasion plot.

Their targets managed to intercept them, and they seemed to know what time the invasion was supposed to take place. But how? He knew that Yumi Kaname was an oracle, but he, too, knew that her vision would not have relayed the time they were going to strike. How, then, did they figure out the Ryuujin's vector and the time they would appear in their system?

His alien eyes, golden and eccentric in shape, narrowed considerably at that. There was something – rather, someone – they would have to look out for, aside from the Kismet's saiyajin pilot, and the future-seeing young woman with him. He didn't know who that was, but he knew it would not be long before he would find out. After all, they were going to negotiate in half an hour.

And once that someone is out of their way, the invasion will proceed as they planned.

-x-

"Look, Erasa, I'm not in favor of what you're trying to pull off here," Yumi said to the journalist who was eyeing her with a smirk, then shook her head. "You're supposed to be a newswriter, so you should stick to what's true and not on some scam that'll serve as Trunks' welcome-back party. Isn't that supposed to be writer's etiquette?"

The other woman smiled. "You sure know your stuff, Miss President," she complimented with a wink, leaning back on the chair she had pulled from the nearby table, before she raised an eyebrow. "But then again, you seem so concerned about Mr. Briefs-Vegeta, and I don't think that's it's plainly friendship, as your eyes tell me something else."

A heavy sigh escaped the teenager's lips. "Is it that obvious?"

"Oh yes," she answered enthusiastically, "and since you practically admitted that it's true, I'm going to write an article about it that'll brighten up the headlines!" Yumi scowled at that, however, so she grinned playfully to soothe her. "I was kidding. I stick to what the public needs to know, thank you, like some policeman's dirty work to frame up one of the most successful businessmen in the country."

Then, she found herself adding, "You two are so much like Gohan and Videl."

"Huh?"

It was the journalist who sighed, this time. "Gohan, Miss Chief of Police's boyfriend," she told the other with a sad look in her eyes. "They loved to deny that they had feelings for each other, they loved to deny that they weren't in a relationship, even though it was really obvious. But he was killed by the androids --- and that was a few days before they were supposed to get married. She was pregnant, too."

A dreadful thought then struck Yumi. What if Trunks is going to get killed by the Ryuujins? She shook her head to drive it away, but she knew that it was possible. Despite the fact that her boyfriend was a powerful warrior, he was not invincible, and that was very true. She told him herself, "You do have the power to save the world, but that doesn't mean you can do everything."

All of a sudden, the oracle's world spun.

A starfighter, small but full of firepower, streaked across the vast expanse of star-lined velvet, and hit the largest ship that led the flotilla of alien invaders that was labeled Dragonwing. Several other crafts broke their formation and circled around the said ship, their weapons activated and ready to fire.

As fire began to eat the Dragonwing, a laugh was heard. Loud, maniacal, and... undeniably female. "This is the fleet that's supposed to invade that mudball of a planet?" she sneered, her figure merely a silhouette against the bright wall of flame that burned at her back. "And you're the warriors who are supposed to prevent the invasion? Pathetic!"

She raised her hand, palm upward, and her ki began to take the form of a ball. As its color clashed with the fierce hues from behind her, her face was illuminated, exposing her sardonic features that were familiar, yet at the same time, new.

"Vengeance is mine," she whispered in a soft yet lethal tone, her turquoise eyes blazing savagely, in almost a crazed fashion. Despite the fact that her hair was clipped short, and that her pale, pointed face had matured considerably, there was absolutely no mistaking who she was.