Chapter 16: Wonderland
Someone was shaking me. I was hurting, but I couldn't think of why.
"Katie, Katie, wake up!"
"Five more minutes…" I said, pushing the hand away.
"This isn't the time Katie, wake UP!" whoever it was squeezed my tail, making me yelp as I shot upright.
"Why I ought to- where am I?" I looked around, seeing unfamiliar settings for the first time.
"We're in bizarre-o-world, Katie." I looked to see Gohan. He was dirty, and when I turned I noticed that Mirai, also awake, was dirty as well.
"What happened?" I asked, standing up. I almost fell back down. My legs felt like jelly.
I noticed my fur was ruffled and muddy, just like Gohan and Mirai. I had an uncanny urge to lick myself clean.
Not in polite company…
"We came through the portal and then, blam!" Mirai said.
"What 'blam'?" I asked, still unsure.
"We were hit with something. I don't know what it was." Gohan said.
"Yeah, yeah, I remember… it wasn't Ki… it was more like lightning." I said, thinking and remembering.
"Maybe it was a side-effect from crossing over the portal." Gohan said. His glasses, which he had been wearing this whole time, were now broken. He noticed this and threw them to the ground, which I also noticed was very muddy and black.
"Then why didn't the darklings get hit like that when they entered our side? Or this side?" Mirai asked.
"Opposite reactions for entry. We get hurt, they don't." I said.
I looked around more closely. It looked so familiar, but I could tell we had crossed into our dark double dimension.
The sky was darker, and not just because of the pollution I could vividly smell or because it was night. The grass was dead, the water in a nearby stream was dark brown, and the nearest city was letting out a lot of pollution.
Cell said there was no crime, but I knew better than to expect some sort of creepy utopia. This looks worse than home.
"Where are Goten, Vegeta, and Trunks?"
"They didn't make it through." Mirai said.
"Well, at least I'm not alone here. And Vegeta is still back home to protect earth. I'm sorry guys, I didn't mean for this to happen."
"We know." Gohan said, glancing at Mirai, "At least this way, there's someone back home to protect earth." Gohan smiled, but it really didn't help.
"Alright, we better find some cover. We can think about what to do once we're hidden."
"Sounds good." Gohan said.
I am the only one with any experience with survival training as in depth as Vegeta taught me. Gohan and I lived in the wilderness for a year, but we didn't have to worry about anyone coming after us to kill us during that time. I can keep them safe, and we will find and rescue Codie.
"Let's try that way." I said, heading south, away from civilization.
"I guess we walk?" Mirai asked.
"Yeah, it'll use less Ki and it'll keep anyone from sensing us." Gohan said. He knew a little about survival training.
"We stay ground level, and we don't use Ki unless absolutely necessary. Vegeta taught me all there is to know about surviving in hostile territory."
We walked in the forest, out of sight and hopefully not known to even be here. I was betting on the fact that none of the darklings knew we had followed them. Actually, I was praying that they didn't know.
We didn't have to walk far compared to the other things we had accomplished, but it was a couple of miles. We found a small clearing surrounded by thick forest. It was the best we could do for the time being.
"This looks good for now." I said, sitting down.
"So, what do we do?" Mirai asked.
"We rest and come up with an idea. It's only the 3 of us against a universe of evil." Gohan said.
"The universe isn't evil, Gohan, just opposite." I said.
"I'm not very good at thinking like that, I guess. And I'm suppose to be the scholar here." he replied, sighing.
Who could help us? Who wouldn't think we were the darklings? How do we get home? How do we save Codie?
Mirai's soft laughter got my attention, along with Gohan's. He was just looking at us, a smile across his face, and his shoulders just barely shaking with the low tone of his chuckles.
"What is it?" Gohan asked. I looked at both of them, and then I looked at the stars above us. I began to laugh too, "Katie?"
"This is just like Mirai's time." I started, "The 3 of us, alone against the androids. We'd go out days at a time camping to hone our skills."
"You should have seen the look on their faces when I went back home. 17, 18, and Cell didn't stand a chance." Mirai's laughter grew a bit louder.
"We never talked like this before. I guess we never saw a situation similar enough to remind us of it." I said, my laughter growing a bit louder too.
"And I have no idea what you guys are talking about." Gohan said, laughing now.
"Mirai lived it, and I remember it because of the whole Angel power crap I went through." Our laughter kept growing.
"That council sure did mess your life up, didn't the Katie?" Gohan asked. His laughter now rivaled our own. You'd think we were all drunk.
"Yeah, but if they hadn't, I would have never met any of you guys." I said, killing the laughter.
"And what was the first thing that happened to you when you returned to our dimension? You were nearly killed by Raditz, your own cousin." Gohan said. He was only a little kid at the time, but he remembered it very well.
"Yeah, my own cousin. Piccolo saw something in me. He trained me even harder than he trained you Gohan."
"That's only because you were older." Gohan replied. Mirai was content listening to us. I lit a fire with my Ki.
"Maybe... but it might have been because I was making him. I told him not to take it easy on either of us. I wanted to be strong, so I worked hard, making Piccolo push himself in fighting me."
"And now, after all we went through, he..."
"Yeah, but it was his choice. Same with Goku." Mirai said.
"That reminds me, Mirai. I never told you, but without you I never became the Angel."
"It was me?" he asked.
"It had to be. That day I fought Cyborg Frieza, I was waiting for you. You didn't come, and then I lost my knowledge of the future. Without you, Roxx kept going."
"Just one person?" Gohan asked, poking at the flames.
"Isn't Goku just one person? Aren't I just one person? Without your dad, I would have died a long time ago and stayed dead. Without me, Roxx would have destroyed the dimension. This one too." I informed.
"Tiom was only one person." Mirai said.
"Who?" Gohan asked.
"You never told him the Super Sayjin legend?" Mirai asked me.
"No, I didn't. I thought Vegeta would have by now." I confessed.
"Tiom was the first Super Sayjin. Without him none of us would have become Super Sayjins." Mirai told Gohan.
"Actually, Vegeta and I did some research."
"Oh no, books again!" Mirai said, laughing.
"It turns out we don't have Tiom's power. Brolly has-had it."
"Then what do we have?" Gohan asked.
"A cheap knock-off. Tiom had a daughter that was mentioned in the myth and Vegeta is descended from her. Tiom also had a son not known about until recently. Brolly is descended from him. A true Sayjin's genes are passed from father to son. We have a branch off of that power, or else how could Goku and the rest of us also become Super Sayjins?"
"Wow…"
"Dad must have been really disappointed. First Goku beats him to it, and then it turns out to not even be the real thing." Mirai said, poking the fire.
"You guys know how powerful Brolly was from first-hand experience. How could one Super Sayjin be that strong unless it were true?"
"Brolly… he still scares me." Gohan said.
"Yeah, too bad I couldn't go, but I was being held captive by Cell while you guys went off on another adventure!" I said, getting angrier than I ought to have, "Oops, sorry. Good thing my power level didn't rise up just then." I said, scratching the back of my head.
"Well, you do have right to be angry. But Katie, I only went with my father to keep an eye on him." Mirai said.
"And I went because… I didn't want dad to go alone." Gohan said.
"You know, the one thing I always hated was the fact that Goku was always the hero. No matter what, if Goku wasn't there we were doomed. I love Goku, but that was the thing that always bugged me."
"You knew dad would always show up to save the say. We didn't. Why did… why did you still train so hard even though you knew my dad would win?" Gohan asked.
"Robin Hood." I said, smiling at him.
"… Right, Robin Hood." Gohan smiled back.
XxX
That night I slept in a tree, just like in my training with Vegeta. Mirai and Gohan stayed ground level during the night as I stared up at the stars during my watch.
Those stars are set differently… but how? I should know this…
When the sun came up I got my answer. The sky was red and purple, and even some green. The sun was red, and the twin castles in the background were a dead give-away of our location.
I jumped down and ran over to the cold dead fire at camp and immediately discarded any trace of our camp.
"Gohan, Mirai, get up now. We gotta move now!"
"Katie, what is it?" Mirai asked as he woke up, rubbing his eyes and looking like a kid.
"Why is the sky red and green?" Gohan asked, standing in awe.
"I can't believe I didn't think of this before. We're not on earth, duh. Why didn't I think of it sooner?"
"Katie, where are we?"
"Don't just stand there, help me erase our camp!" I snapped, turning to them. They started cleaning up, "We're on Planet Vegeta. Of course Katrin would rule from here, Planet Vegeta was a jewel when it was still around. The sky, the gravity when I first tried to get up, it makes sense." I was ranting as I cleaned up the area. We definitely couldn't leave any traces here, on a planet full of Sayjins and who-knows-what else.
"So the portal opened on Planet Vegeta on this side, and earth on our side?" Gohan asked.
"If I'm right, it's because of me. Roxx and I fought on earth, and then I created Omega Shenron. My double has the Angel Powers. The two of us were-are the cause. It's all my damn fault again." I cursed.
"Maybe it is, but we can't worry about that right now Katie, okay? We save Codie and go home."
"I don't even know how to do that." I said.
"You're more of a Sayjin than either of us, and I don't mean because you're full-blooded." Gohan said, looking me in the eye, "You lived as a Sayjin, even if it was only a fictional reality, you still know. You've been to Planet Vegeta, so use that. Where can we go?"
"We have to stay out of the sun. Planet Vegeta is…" I stopped and looked at the remaining starlight, "In autumn. It'll be hot, hotter than summer on earth. We stick to the forest and to waterways at all times. There are some caves east of here. We can hide there while we come up with a plan."
AS22: so this is Planet Vegeta!
Katie, Katrin, Kakorot, Raditz: HOME!
Cell: yes, yes… home… for me as well as the Sayjins.
AS22: Cheer up, Cell!
Cell: …
Codie: before angel forgets, R&R!
AS22: hey, you're not suppose to be conscious yet!
Codie: well, I'm stronger than even you know.
AS22: No way! I am the author, thus I am your god! Now sleep!
Codie: NO!
AS22: (pulls out frying pan, smirks)
Codie: (shaking) How… how did you get Chi-chi's frying pan?
AS22: I told you, I am your god! Now sleep you I'll put you to sleep!
Katie, Mirai, Gohan, Cell, Katrin: just do it Codie!
Codie: okay! Just don't hurt me! (Zzzzz…)
AS22: I love power… now review!