Versus 3: Eclipse

--All That's to Come--

"Goten...," Bra whispered as she stood in the crater in which she'd left Goten. But he was no longer there. Would she ever get to see him alive again? Would he ever forgive her for abandoning him in his time of need?

She sat in the hole in the very spot where she'd left him. She touched the sand that had been his only bit of comfort. Tears began to blur her vision.

There was really no telling what had happened now. She'd have to find him somehow. Even if she had to search to the ends of the earth, she would find him.

So why in the world was she just sitting there sulking? It was like she couldn't move. Well, actually, her muscles were still sore from the sparring match, but that couldn't be the reason she couldn't move. Something was keeping her there. Some force outside her own will. Could there be something about this place that had taken her over when she fought Goten earlier today? Could there be something about this place that was taking control of her body now?

Suddenly she heard a cry from the woods. Someone was in trouble. And she had a feeling that that someone was the very person she'd been looking for. So maybe being unable to move hadn't come from this place. Maybe she'd somehow felt that Goten was nearby.

She didn't waste time thinking about it. She was up and on the move again, flying at full speed into the woods not far from the crater she'd created. She knew his voice anywhere, no matter what noise he made. And the voice she'd heard from the woods was Goten's. But when she stood at the edge of the forest and looked around, there was no sign of him anywhere. And he hadn't made a sound since that first cry. This was one of those times she wished she'd mastered the art of locating unraised ki signatures. If Pan were here, she wouldn't have much trouble locating Goten.

Bra had to stop and concentrate in order to track him down. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. If she could only zero in on the direction in which he'd gone...

But there were all manners of life in these woods. What if he was too weak to radiate enough power for her to recognize him? She took another deep breath and cleared her mind. Soon she perceived his presence off toward the left. She couldn't really tell exactly how far away he was, but now that she knew which direction to go, she was way ahead of where she'd started. She quickly flew in that direction.

She saw Goten laying on the ground. She couldn't tell if he was breathing or not, but she did see a small trail of blood from where he'd been crawling.

Bra kneeled down beside him. "Oh, Goten Please be okay," she whispered as she turned him over and held him in her arms. She checked for a pulse in his neck. It was faint, but at least it was there. She would have to take care of him soon.

She heard a sigh escape his lips and he furrowed his brow. And she studied his face for a moment. She wanted to kiss those lips, but she knew she would get no response. He was unconscious after all. But at the same time, she wanted to tear those lips from his face. With all of the worrying, she couldn't remember for the life of her why she'd left him here in this state. Now that she was face to face with him, she knew. This man who'd been her friend and trainer had held back during their sparring matches. He who had told her that he would not hold back because she was a girl, or because she was younger, or because she was smaller, or because she was his best friend's sister.

She remembered now how it had struck her pride. And even now that she'd found him, tattered and mangled, she contemplated abandoning him once again. Oh, the dilemma she faced in dealing with someone whom she loved, yet whom she felt had betrayed her trust.

Hoisting the unconscious 24-year-old's body onto her back, she took off toward home...

--soon--

Bra quietly landed at the back of Capsule Corp. Her heart thumped madly as she looked around. If she could just make it through the back entrance and past those security cameras, she'd be in business. Sure, she could just travel at a speed that the cameras couldn't pick up, but she might further injure Goten, who she lugged around like a giant sack of potatoes.

What a hilarious sight it must have been to see the 5'1" teenager carrying a full-grown, hulking Saiyan male on her back. Had she the time to laugh about it, she would have. But the situation wouldn't allow for that.

She decided she would have to be as stealthy as possible. And now was a time she was glad she played video games. She could either put these security cameras out of commission or cover them with something. If she destroyed them or turned them off, her mother would know something was up. So she lay Goten's limp body on the ground and worked quickly.

She took off her blouse and used her energy to burn off portions that were big enough to cover the lenses on the cameras temporarily. She sped around in flashes, placing the pieces of her shirt where they should go. Ha! She was a genius. And the work of art before her was proof of it.

When she turned to face Goten, she saw that he was sitting upright, looking at her strangely. "Bra? What are you doing in your...bra?" He winced at some pain he had suffered while trying to move.

Bra blushed. "Goten, you shouldn't talk." She wasn't sure how she should answer that question anyway. She walked over to him. "You're hurt. I'm gonna just put you in my dad's regen tank for a while."

Goten looked very confused and very much in pain. "I...don't..." And then it looked like something jolted his brain. He looked at her angrily. "I don't want your help. You..." He wrapped his arms around himself and cringed again. "You left me out there... You tried to kill me and you left me out there to die." The poor fool looked like he might pass out from the pain.

But Bra refused to acknowledge it at the time. She just stared at him and laughed a little. She felt like she might be going insane. "And I should have finished you off for what you did to me," she said through her teeth.

Goten thought for a moment. "I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't--"

"You've been pulling punches with me from the start!" Bra shouted. "You held back when I've always asked you not to! Ever since we were younger and even when we started back training together, you've been holding back some of your power!"

"I--" Goten began. He frowned. "Bra, have you lost your mind? Whether that's true or not, that's no reason to leave me for dead." He seemed to be losing balance even as he sat on the ground.

Bra laughed a little maniacally and somewhere in her mind she wondered if her father had somehow taken control of her. "That's MORE than enough reason to leave you for dead. If you even cared at all about me, you'd remember that I pride myself on strength and skill. And when I found out that you've been letting me think you're fighting at full power..." She looked away. "Well, you see what happened."

"Bra, I didn't want to see you get hurt, especially by my hand," Goten stated as he seemed to sway.

Bra shook her head and laughed a sick, sad laugh. "But don't you understand? It hurt me more that you'd do me this way. I'd rather be destroyed by you than to have you do what you've been doing to me all this time."

Goten hmphed. "You're a stubborn as your father." He lowered his head and started coughing.

"Goten, I don't know how to put this. It's like you've been limiting my growth as a fighter on purpose. You could have pushed me harder. You could have shown me all that you had and made me reach for it," Bra said. She walked over to him and squatted down next to him. "I could be so much stronger than I am today..."

She looked at him and noticed that he was coughing up some blood. She gasped and put her arms around him. "I'd better get you to the regeneration tank."

Goten leaned against her and was about to say something, but she stopped him. "Don't talk. Just rest," she told him. And through the anger she felt, she managed to hurry him down the hall and finally to her father's regen chamber.

"Stupid Goten. Why couldn't you just go all out all those times we fought?" Bra asked no one in particular. She did not remove his torn clothes. Not only because she feared her hormones couldn't take it, but she didn't want to see the damage she'd done. She strapped him in and hooked on his oxygen mask. And she watched as the chamber filled with the regenerative liquid.

What she had been asking him to do all her life may have been silly. He was older than she was then. He was much bigger than she was then. He was STILL older and bigger than she. But it really wasn't fair. The least he could have done was tell her that he wouldn't go all out. Nooooooo. Everytime they fought, he said he'd give it his all. He'd lied to her each and every time. And she just wasn't sure if she'd be able to forgive him for that.

--End All That's to Come--

--Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. It's not a very happy chapter. It's also a pretty short chapter. I think the young lady is very confused. And I think the gentleman is a little upset that he was left behind. What's going to happen between them in the episodes to come? Stay tuned to find out. It's true. There are only two episodes left in Versus 3: Eclipse, but a lot could happen in two episodes.

--Thank you for reading this episode. Thank you for reading past episodes. And, of course, thank you for your reviews. It's a strange one, I'll admit. And maybe there as a little less excitement than some people would have liked. And of course they didn't get all lovey dovey when Bra found him. But who knows where these strange chapters may lead.