Versus 4: Temporal Distortion

--Burble--

During lunch Bra found the strangest thing in her locker. A note that read:

Dear Bra,

I was on my lunch break at my new job, which is going great, by the way, and I decided to see if I could pick you up for lunch. Unfortunately, you were nowhere to be found. So, I spent the day with my mom instead. I told her about the engagement and she was ecstatic. She wants to invite us over tonight for dinner. She was even thinking of inviting your mom and dad as well. It's just going to be a small gathering. She wants us to be there around 7:00. It's going to be casual, so don't worry about dressing up. I can pick you up early. Maybe we can do a little sparring. I'll see you tonight.

Love, Goten

Did he just say her dad? Uh, oh...

She hadn't expected for him to be looking for her during his first day of work. She'd cursed herself for not staying in one spot. Her obsession with the song 'Shame in You', by Alice in Chains had driven her to walk around outside the school during lunch. And seeing how on that particular song the music was credited to all the band members, it was no wonder she'd become attached. The lyrics were great, but it was the music and the actual vocalization that impressed her most about the song. It created a strange kind of mood that she couldn't really explain. And it possessed an electrifying beauty that only AIC could provide.

Anyway, Goten had probably searched for her in the halls while she was outside. So they'd missed each other.

But now was no time to reminisce about what might have been for lunch. She had an after school date with an electroencephalograph.

Bra took off for home, knowing that by now Goku was getting his brain wave test done. She would be able to get hers done and would have plenty of time to get ready for this wonderful dinner ChiChi had planned for them.

Since Pan was grounded, she had to go home right after school. Bra wasn't able to hang out with her today. But today it was for the best. It would give Bra a chance to start her brain wave testing early.

When Bra walked into the house, she saw that everything would go as planned. Bulma was sitting on the sofa talking with Goku.

"Bra, hi," Goku greeted, as happily as always.

"Hi, honey," Bulma greeted as well.

Bra walked on inside and set her book bag down by the door. "Hi," was all she could think to say. She was sure that her mother had been spilling the beans about her engagement to Goten. And if she hadn't been the first to tell Goku, then surely his wife had let him know.

"I hear you and Goten plan to tie the knot," Goku said. He stood and hugged Bra. "This is great. ChiChi is so happy."

Bra wasn't really sure what to do, but she was quickly reminded that Goten looked exactly like his father.

"I came over right after ChiChi told me," Goku told her, still hugging her. "I'll bet Vegeta'll be happy to hear the great news."

Bra's heart sank and she could see her mother shaking her head.

"ChiChi's inviting you all to our house for dinner tonight. To celebrate," Goku went on. He finally let her go.

"I look forward to it," Bra said.

Bulma stood. "Listen, I hate to put a rush on things, but I'd like to talk to Vegeta before we come to your house, Goku. I'd hate for him to be surprised by the news." She looked at Bra. "Bra, go on to my lab and I'll set you up in just a minute. I'll show Goku out."

Bra nodded. "Let me just take my books up to my room." She ran to the door and grabbed her book bag. "I'll see you tonight, Mr. Son."

"You can call me dad," Goku said gleefully.

She made her way to her bedroom and tossed her book bag on the bed. She was about to head to the lab when she saw her answering machine flashing. Was it a message from Goten? She quickly ran to the machine and hit the button.

"Bra, hey. This is Nick. Wes has been keeping in touch, but I haven't called since we got to Vegas, so I thought I'd check in with you guys. Things are going great here. The crowds love us. Every time we play a show the crowds get bigger for the next. We've been playing day an night since we got here. We haven't really had a whole lot of time off. We're having a great time. And we love playing for these people, even though it's not like the fans we have back home. Anyway, I'd better leave our hotel phone number. Maybe you could give us a call sometime," the voice on the machine said. He left a phone number and let her know good times to call.

Bra could barely make her only message out. There was a whole lot of extra background noise. She wrote the phone number and the times down. She was glad that they were having a good time. She may even have to call him tomorrow. She kind of missed having him around to bother her about history and various geological things that he would sometimes talk to her about around the house.

Boy, would Nick be surprised when he hears that she's engaged now.

She quickly made her way to her mother's lab, but she didn't beat her there. Bulma was waiting for her when she arrived.

"Goku's so excited about you and Goten being engaged," Bulma told her. "I'm not sure why. I don't remember him being this happy when Gohan and Videl got engaged." She laughed a little.

Bra hopped up on the examination table. "Maybe it's because Goten and I are both Saiyans." She laughed a little.

"That's possible," Bulma said. She stuck the electrodes onto Bra's head and pulled out a fresh needle.

Bra frowned. "I really--"

Bulma sighed loudly. "Don't give me trouble like Goku did. He ran away from this thing for the longest time. I knew he hated needles, but I didn't know he hated them that much. I had to call ChiChi to calm him down."

"I'm not going to run. I just don't like the idea of something forcing me to go to sleep," Bra explained. She sighed and held her arm out to her mother. "I'm ready."

--afterwards--

Bra opened her eyes and the first thing she thought she saw was Goten's face. She couldn't tell if it was really him, though. She rubbed her eyes and looked at him for a while. She noticed he was wearing his training gi.

"Are you awake?" Goten asked.

"Ugh... Do I look awake?" Bra asked. After this, she was absolutely positive that she would never have anyone force her to sleep again. It felt unnatural and it was hard to wake up. She felt around the examination table, not really sure of what she might be searching for.

"To be honest, no, you don't," Goten told her.

"Figures. What time is it?" Bra asked. She would have looked at the clock herself, but she could barely see.

"Around 4:30," Goten answered. He took her hand to help her off the lab table.

Bra hopped down and she slowly began regaining her vision. "What are you doing here so early? The dinner's not till 7:00."

Goten laughed a little. "I know that. But I also said that I wanted to spar, remember?"

"Oh. I thought you meant after dinner," Bra told him. Then she thought for a while. "It would be completely dark by then, wouldn't it?"

Goten nodded. He looked a little confused. "Um, your mom told me that you were retesting. Why'd you do that?"

Bra leaned against him a little. "I think I know what's going on with those tests. Actually, it's just my test and my father's test so far. But I still need to know more before I put together all the parts of my theory."

"I'm totally lost on that," Goten said.

"Don't worry about it. Everything's fine," Bra assured him. She smiled. "Let me change into my training gear and I'll be right back."

--wastelands--

Bra did her usual stretches and watched Goten do his. Her head was now clear of the sleeping agent her mother had injected into her bloodstream. She now felt more alert and more alive than ever. She hadn't really been training lately, so this would hopefully get her back on track. She had her own gravity chamber now. She could train as hard as she wanted whenever she wanted.

Goten watched her do her stretches as well. He seemed to be focused on fighting. He had that fight in his eyes that she'd seen all those years when they were both younger. Powering up to Super Saiyan 2, he smirked confidently. "Alright, Bra. It's time we both go all out right now. From the start. I don't want you to hold back on me. And I don't plan on holding back on you."

Bra transformed into a level 2 Super Saiyan and smirked as well. "All out. No holding back."

They stood only a couple of feet from each other and their enormous auras burned around them, almost as one. Bra could feel that her power was even greater than his. But she learned a long time ago that power is nothing if you don't know how to utilize it effectively.

Since they were both just standing there, she figured it would be a good idea for her to attack first. She punched at his head, but he easily moved out of the way, ducked under her attacking arm and kicked her away. She flew backwards a few feet, then stopped herself. She should have known that he would wait for her to attack and then simply counter it. She looked toward where she'd previously seen him, but he wasn't there.

She quickly did an about face as Goten was throwing little ki balls at her. She deflected the first few with one hand, then tossed the last two back at him. That was when she decided to take to the skies. She watched Goten as he flew after her and threw a couple of ki balls of her own. He deflected the first ki ball, but before he could deflect the second, she had phased behind him and kicked him up higher into the air. Jetting up to where he was, she attacked with a seemingly endless array of punches and kicks, knees and elbows. Goten dodged a few, and then started his own array of attacks.

They attacked and dodged and blocked for a long time. The two seemed to be on level ground as they were fighting. It was amazing that they were even fighting like this on the day after they'd gotten engaged. She saw that he was even wearing the ring while they were sparring. In a way, she never would have thought in a million years that she would be getting married to someone who wanted to spar with her. Then again, in a way, she knew that some day she would marry this man who loved to fight as much as she did. He actually put his feelings for her aside enough to pit his strength up against hers. It was what dream relationships were made of.

Okay, from the outside it must have looked psychotic. There were marriage counselors out there who preached against couples physically fighting each other. But this was training. This was different. Their sparring was out of respect for each other. It was an honor to test herself on this level with him. And as Bra moved her head slightly to the right to get out of the way of one of Goten's elbows, she hoped that he found it to be an honor as well.

She finally got a clear shot at Goten's stomach and shot a knee to it. In the time that he was stunned by that, she decided to clasp her hands together and slam him down to earth. WHAM! She sent him on his way. She immediately followed up with at least 20 ki balls.

Before the smoke could even clear, Bra felt a foot being planted into her upper back. She gasped for air and before she could stop herself, Goten had phased in front of her and kicked her up into the air. She didn't have a chance to stop herself from flying upward before he appeared beside her and kicked her off to the side.

To her surprise, she had quickly been slammed into the side of a mountain. Since when had they gotten that far away from the middle of the wasteland? "Uuugh..." she groaned as she tried to peal herself from the imprint in the mountain. Bra expanded her aura violently to crumble the rocks that once imprisoned her.

"...HAAAAMEEEEEE!" was all she heard of Goten's technique. "HAAAAAAA!"

She turned toward him as the ki blast blinded her. She held out her hands to block the beam as best she could. She could feel the force of the blast pressing against her.

Goten added pressure to the blast. "It's over!" he called out to her.

"Oh, no, you don't! I'm not done yet!" Bra shouted back at him. The blast was burning her hands, but she had to keep going. She slowly started flying toward him, pushing the blast as best she could.

"Huh?" she heard Goten ask.

In mid air, she was moving his Kamehameha wave and herself back at him.

She had a feeling that she was about to lose this fight no matter how hard she tried. No matter what impossible feat she was pulling off. She gritted her teeth. If she could just get close enough to him...

"I'm not stopping this Kamehameha no matter what you do!" Goten shouted.

Bra smirked and started to glow. "You won't have to stop it. I'll still win," she said confidently. Once she got close enough, she set off her trigger and created a self-explosion that engulfed everything in the area...

Nothing but smoke could be seen at first. Then two bodies crashed landed from high up in the sky. They remained silent for a long time...

A very long time...

The smoke and dust slowly started to clear...

"Goten?" Bra could barely get out. She coughed. "Goten?" She looked over at the body that lay in the distance. She was much too weak to move. But she started crawling anyway. She slowly made her way over to Goten and put her hand on his. "Go-ten," she said breathlessly.

Goten turned to look at her. Much like hers, his face was covered in dirt and parts of his clothes were damaged beyond all recognition. "Bra..." He took a deep breath. "When did you...learn to do that?" He smiled at her.

Bra smiled back. "My dad...told me about it...a long time...ago. It's really hard to...control. I just figured I...would try it one...day... Back when I was 11... And I've worked on perfecting...it from...time to time." She took another deep breath and sat up. Every part of her ached.

Goten sat up as well. "Will you...teach me to do that?"

Bra laughed and held her stomach. "Ouch!" She looked at Goten. "No... Go learn the Spirit Bomb from...your dad."

--End Burble--

--That's another chapter. Not quite the Goten and Bra action you would have liked? Oops!

--Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You've all been so kind.

--Not chatty today. So, I guess I'll see you next time.