Here is chapter 3 and the introduction of an original character! I hope you all are enjoying the story so far. Like I said me and CelestialMageLucy have been working on this in our off time for the holidays. We thank you for your support and comments as they are fuel for us to keep it going.
Chapter 3: A Gift from the Future
~Cooler Planet 243 (Earth 5 years after Human extraction)~
Hurling through the early morning sunrise on the horizon, a small ship crashes in the vast desert lands where oceans used to be. With most of the planet's water transported and sold off to races offering the highest bid, the Earth has now become mostly desert and devoid of inhabitants. Life is scarce on the surface but there are still pockets of resistance. Although minuscule, their numbers dwindled over the past few years. The ship is of a custom design of a circular shape with a small window facing out. Unfortunately, for the traveler, the door of the craft is jammed against the sand. The window was cracked badly as the glass scattered on the sand like tiny crystals that glimmered in the rising sun. Inside, was a small hybrid girl that appeared to be around the age of 10. Long pink locks coated with debris and tangled in parts, slightly swaying from the top of her head.. Various abrasions and lacerations covered her small body; deep cuts covered her arms and visible parts that were exposed during the crash, while a nasty gash adorned her forehead and blood trickled down from it. Her vision was still blurry as she hung upside down from inside the metal ship. She can feel pressure in her head from the blood pooling. Her worn eyes moved towards the amount of blood pooling on the ground. How much had she truly lost? How long had she been knocked out? God everything hurt.
"Ini. . Initiate flip procedure," she rasped out. Her mouth felt dry as the desert around her. It hurt to think, it hurt to breathed, hell, it hurt to even be. On command, the computer flipped onto the sound of her voice. The ship begun to run the programed procedure that flips the ship upright. Her head pounds as she slowly recovers from the flip. As she straightens herself, she begins to wrack her mind to remember the recent events that brought her here into this predicament. At first, as she attempted to go through her mind, there is nothing but a sad light and reminance of a terrible nightmare. The pounding in her mind only begun to worsen. Bringing her less injured hand up, she rubbed her head and began to undo the straps holding her in the seat. The pain she was feeling resonated all over every fiber of her being and it concerned her child mind, but with the dim light it was impossible to know how bad it was.
"Computer... give me a damage report and information on-on where we landed." She struggled to stay coherent.
"As you command Sanshi, all flight and transportation systems heavily damaged and offline. Communication systems offline, external reading equipment online, life support systems damaged but online, universal positioning system online. We are currently on the planet Earth in the center what they call the atlantic ocean." The sound of the external scanner goes off scanning the surface and nearby areas. "It appears the planets water has gone dry. Air quality levels on the surface are acceptable for habitation." As the computer prattled on about the checks on the ship, she began to straighten herself out and take in her own damage. The small girl wiped the blood from her forehead and started to pop the joints that would while fixing herself.
"Open the door," She commanded eagerly. With a slight jerking motion, the latch of the door popped and hissed slowly open. The metal scraped against the damaged frame. Into the morning sun, she stepped out onto the cool Earth's surface. The sand that surrounded her was fine grain that shimmered in the sunlight, and the sun burned brightly above her as she took in her surroundings. Large skeletons of large sea creatures were littering the once plentiful ocean turned desert. Somehow she realized how small, and perhaps insignificant, she was in this vast place. Once over the initial shock, the little one closed her eyes to search for nearby Ki signatures. From what she could gather, there were about 10,000 or so on this scarce planeet. All too sudden, she felt a sharp pain shoot up her right leg when she quickly was reminded the aching damage of her body she was feeling. With this sudden reminder, she began to quickly assess herself better in the sunlight. The results her brilliant mind deciphered was that she had a large cut on her right leg, her head is also bleeding-mostly likely from the crash, and finally her arm is broken in two different places. A grimace showered her mouth as she gazed back among the graveyard of bones and sand; there was no one here to help her; much less anyone for millions of miles at this rate.
"Just my luck." She bitterly scoffed. Her head was spinnings as she turned around and made her way back into the small ship. All she could think to do was to sit down and alleviate some of this pain. Her head pounding was turning into a migraine; and gods all she wanted was some water. But her needs would have to wait as she assaulted her mind prying into her memories that wouldn't stop evading her. Suddenly in an overflow of memory and the emotions that came with it came back to her. A sobering reality hit her already disheartened heart, the universe, her universe was no more. She had a father...she had parents...all memories of them came to her. Her mother was gone when she was so small by an unstoppable force that took her from them. But her and her father remained for many years in the danger that took her mother from them. But then . . .tears brimmed her eyes as she remembers her father's last moments.
On a planet called Rahgnor, in the east solar system, a group known as The Darkness were tracking her and her father down. Her and her father would go from planet to planet cleaning up all the evils of the universe; which in turn earned them quite a reputation. Restoring peace and balance to planets who could not protect themselves was their mission. To Sanshi, her father Trunks Briefs was like a god; her protector and the parent she was closest to, but these dangerous people did not like it. It seemed like no matter how many people her father saved or rescued, more would join The Darkness and give chase to them. Most of her life was just running, saving, and more escaping. She and her father never really did find a place to settle; not that she minded. After all, it was a grand adventure and her father loved her more than anything in this world. She learned everything from him as he was not just her parent, her teacher, but also her greatest hero and she was his daughter; his pride and joy.
The way he used to look at her always with such pride. She lived for those moments. Which is why, her life was devastated when not only a few weeks ago, he had looked over at her by the campfire they made to prepare their meal and began talking about a balance that was being thrown off, and how he was running out of ways to correct it. At first it was confusing to why he was even talking about something as abstract a balance of life and death. She didn't want to believe what he was saying, because she knew what it meant, he would have to die. She was always a bright child, and her father always protected light in the universe; it was natural that in order to get rid of darkness you would need a bright light.
"Sweety, the balance of light and dark has grown too far out of balance, there is only one thing left I can do this time." He looked at her with those knowing eyes. He always had such cold calculated eyes when he talked about things such as this; like he had seen every possible scenario, and knew exactly what was going to happen every time. He was always calm no matter the situation even now speaking to her about his coming death it felt just like ever briefing they had before.
"What do you mean? What's going to happen Dad?"
"Sanshi, this universe is done for. It needs to be wiped clean so that life can rebalance itself and begin again,. We both know what needs to happen if I want to give you your best chance." He sighed. His eyes couldn't meet her trembling gaze, and instead only looked at the fire between them. He couldn't bare to look at his child's weeping face. He was never good at the sentimental situations. His mate was much better at it than him in that regard. He had taught his child everything he knew. He knew no matter what, from this point forward, she would find a way and survive on without him."I am going to send you to a different timeline." He abruptly finished still not glancing up at her.
He didn't miss the look of sheer confusion ripple across his child's face, "Dad what . . what does that mean? I don't want to leave you. What are you even saying? I want to stay and protect you. We can do this together. No one has to die." she asked foolishly speaking out. Knowing he would not allow this. No, she couldn't lose another parent. She couldn't, no she wouldn't lose her hero. Her father was everything to her. Didn't he see that? He can't abandon her? Things were fine the way they are! Couldn't he see that? Wasn't she strong enough? She didn't want to live in another timeline if it meant her father was taken away from her! He couldn't be serious, could he?
"Little one, we talked about this scenario. You know that in order to reset the universe's balance a great sacrifice must be made." He moved himself closer to her and wrapped an arm around his upset child's shoulder's, "you know the only one in this universe with enough power to do this is me. There is no other way, and I would never forgive myself if you ended up being part of that sacrifice as well. I promised your mother I would protect you when she died" He tried, in his own way, to console her. He needed her to see reason. His time had come and past now. She was strong enough to stand on her own feet now; she could survive without him now.
Tears, unwilling, fell from her cheeks as she refuses to believe him. "Dad there . . there has to be another way! Why must you always shoulder all the burden it . . . it isn't fair. Promise me you won't do this! Promise me, you'll stay with me forever." Her hiccups came in violent waves, but she refused to back down and took her firm stance gripping his shirt with her shaking fist. She bunched the fabric of his his shirt in her fingers and refused to wail out. He couldn't do this to her. He wouldn't abandon her like this! He always promised to be here! He promised to stay with her! Why was he trying to leave! What had she done wrong? She did not turn him away when he placed a hand on her cheek just like he always does when she cries.
"I can't make a promise that I can't keep." He pulls his only daughter into a hug. He allowed her to soak her tears into his chest. He could feel her shaking against him as she wailed out her pain. All he could manage to do is a sad smile. She was so much like her mother full of emotion and inner strength she didn't realize she had. That was one of the many reasons he fell in love with her so long ago. She was so beautiful, and that channeled into their beautiful girl. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. He let her have this moment to take in this information. As he began to open his mouth to calm her and make her see sense, his body stiffen up. His senses could feel the danger on the horizon and approaching quickly. His eyes widen and, without hesitation, he brought them up to standing as she looked at him with those watery eyes. "Hurry sweety they are coming. You remember what to do right?"
"I . . I don't want to go! Daddy p-please don't leave me! D-don't send me away..." she cried into his chest. As her father cradled her in his arms, the four leaders of The Darkness had appeared visible in the short distance from them.
"Saying your precious goodbyes before we cut your head off, pretty boy?" The tall female one spat while watching them both with disdain filled eyes.
"Sanshi," he used the tone that instantly made her look up at him, " It is time. You must go as we planned. I will protect you as long as I can, but you need to hurry!"
"B-But"
"I SAID GO NOW!" He roared when he set her down. Without hesitation, she bolted off running towards an opening where she could pull out the ship her father had made. The female Darkling sprinted off following the little girl while the 3 males keep her father busy with their fight.
It had taken almost all of Sanshi's strength to fly off when she is knocked to the ground feeling the bones in her arm snap. The chilling feeling of warm blood trickling from her arm and the gash above her head as she quickly scrambled to her feet.
"Just what is your hurry little one, you'll miss the big moment when we finally win and remove your irritating father's head from his body", she approaches just as the child turned to face her.
"SOLAR FLARE!" A blinding light engulfs the hated female as she screamed out in pain as the little Saiyan hybrid dashed out to a clear spot, she yanked out a capsule hidden on her body and popped the top. She threw it in the air and the ground was suddenly filled with smoke. In the smoke's clearing, was the time machine ship her father had created all those months ago. She had worked on it with him that she had recalled. But now wasn't the time for memories; as the female was up and quickly on her feet. Already she could feel the energy blasts she was firing barely missing her as she zigzagged her way protecting the ship. She had pressed the release lever that opened the door and she rushed to close it. Out the window she could see the female rushing towards the ship, and towards the sky was her father being outnumbered and beaten by the three male leaders. She yanks the straps around her as her tears and blood are blurring her vision. The door locks with her inside. She slammed the go button as the ship begins to kick on. She wipes her face looking through the small window as the ship takes off into the air.
The last thing she can remember before the ship takes off in a series of lights was her father catching her eyes for a moment with a face that expresses that everything will be alright. She takes it in remembering every detail while wishing it would last an eternity and then some. But just as quickly as it came, the moment passes and he focuses his energy which ripples across the planet surface as he lets it build up. Space and time rushes past as the planet below his feet begins to crumble and crack under the pressure. The members of The Darkness watch him helplessly while they are bathed and burned in the star like glow he gives off. Her ships alarms start beeping and flashing at the sensation of her father's immense energy overtakes her ship. The ship shakes from the pressure when it finally activates the time travel device. The last she saw of her father was a blinding light then instantly she was in an entirely other time in an empty part of space. She saw it all; the death of her hero-her beloved father.
She cried to herself to sleep as the ship flew through the blank open space searching for a preprogrammed planet to land on. She didn't care, nothing mattered, well not anymore. She had just lost everything that she truly cared about, and what's worse, she was now alone with not a kind soul to help her find her way to stabilizing herself. Her father, her last remaining relative in the entire universe, just gave his life to protect it. He was gone. She was now an orphan, and had no one left to take care of her. She was alone in this whole, new universe, and all she wanted to do was to go back an hour and prevent this from ever happening. In what world did he ever think it was okay to do this to her! Why hadn't he listened to her and they had just escape before getting caught? All those other times had worked out just fine, so why was it different this time! Her world slowly getting darker after that last thought, and it wasn't until she woke up after she had crash landed on a desolate Earth's surface. Where was here? She had never heard of Earth, or anything about it, until that is what the computer had stated she was located. Why would her father send her here, of all places, in their last moments together? This was but just a small, nearly lifeless planet in the middle of nowhere.
Either way, she would need to repair herself, the ship, and find some food relatively soon. After all, their dinner was interrupted by pretty much the worst reason in her entire life. With some limited resources that she acquired, she made a makeshift splint for her arm, wraps her leg as best she can, and cleans the cut on her head with the first aid kit; all before heading out again in search of food and supplies this time. At least with the medicine she administered, she was able to dull her headache for now. As she flew along the planet's terrain, it was strangely quiet and void of visible life. She closed her eyes again, there are clearly weak ki's coming from this area, but also a few more powerful ones. She slowed her flight significantly, and began searching around more thoroughly. What she suddenly did find was little odd spots poking out from the earth. She recognized that it was small communications antennas sticking out from underground. They, those Earthlings she supposed that is what they were called, must be living underground due to the harsh environment. She decided to ascend down to those communications antenna to only find a small camera near a relatively large hidden door.
"Hello? Is anyone there? . . . . I need food and medical attention if you can spare some. I promise I haven't come to cause any trouble." She attempted to call out in her dry voice. But all she could do now was wait for some kind of reply, and to her dismay, nothing happens. A few more agonizing minutes tick by that couldn't help but make the air around her feel heavy. "Please . . ." She pleaded again, "I am only 10... I need food and medical supplies. Won't you even talk to me?" She couldn't help but think back to the last time her and her father found a race that had dwelled underground. She smiled in spite of herself by remembering her father forcing the door open with a huge, signature grin on his face, saying, "Don't worry I am here to help!" She wondered if, perhaps, she should do the same for this situation. or if it would even workout the same way?
With herself hyperfocused on the door, she hadn't noticed a small, dark creature silently approach from behind until something was pawing on her good leg. The small pinkett about jumped out of her skin with her heart racing and her skin crawling. "Kyyaa!" She screamed so suddenly that even the tiny creature was just as skittish as her. The little girl whipped around so fast, and yet came to the sight of nothing there. Confused, she hadn't seen anything until a soft mewling by her feet had gotten her attention. She peered down and was surprised to see a small, black cat with wide eyes and a soft 'mew' coming from it. She had to blink once. She had to blink twice. That was until a soft blush crossed her cheeks and her heart melted at the sight of the black fluffball. "I never thought I would actually see one." She gently tried to lower herself with her good hand outstretched. Without hesitation, the little cat hopped up on her hand and sped his way to her shoulders. Once upon his perch, he began to lick her cheek in appreciation. Elicit giggles escaped the once sullen child. She had once heard about kittens and puppies from her father, but never thought in all her years she would hear, much less see one. But here was one; a tiny kitten she saw in her dad's stories. Mostly his were about how he hate cats, but how could someone hate something so cute!
"You are kinda cute." She cooed as she scratched under his chin. He was thin, probably not enough food, but he was adorable nonetheless; and well mannered. She had looked away from the camera as she had become distracted. But even with this cute little guy suddenly taking her mind off the situation, the reminder of her predicament still came either way. In her mind she could hear her father, whom was always right, and somehow knew exactly what to do no matter the situation, speaking to her. He would often state the best possible options to her before telling her the right one. 'Now Sanshi, in this situation you have three real options: one is you walk away and abandon the mission given to you, but you will have to take the consequences. The second is that you wait for the natives of the planet to warm up enough to allow you to meet with them, but that could take time. So you need to ask yourself just how much time are you willing to sacrifice for this option? Or three, you force your way in with a smile and take whatever is thrown at you. All the options had their good and bad points she did remember, but only one would complete the mission in a timely manner that they needed to have happen. It would also be the one that was best for the race we were dealing with at the time. Even with all her training, she had barely been able to manage simple projects; let alone situations like this. She was never a very good fighter either, which frustrated her since her father had learned from the best and became someone so amazing.
She seemed to do that, always comparing herself to her hero. She always seemed to never be able to reach the level he had. She was always out of reach, out of energy, or out of time. He always knew how to beat her at all the mind games he set out for them, and always knew the answers to every problem whether it be something simple to the most complex. Honestly, it never was fair and she knew he was cheating . . . she just couldn't prove it. But wasn't it always unfair in the end? He was the stronger. He was the smartest. And, in the end, he abandoned her just like everyone else in her life had. She was in this situation because she wasn't smart, nor strong like him. She looked towards the ground with her bangs covering her eyes. The cat seemed to think her loose strands were something to play with, but only stopped when small tears glistened down her cheeks. Gods she was stupid. How could she just fall apart again like this? Hadn't she wasted enough tears already? Tears never solved problems, and didn't help her in this situation. She attempted to wipe her tears fervently. She had to continue to be strong...or else she may not honor her father's sacrifice.
Suddenly the ground under her feet begins shaking as the familiar hum of a deep space ship kicking to life fills the air. "A spaceship!" She flew up with the cat in her good arm up, and watched the layers of dirt and dead trees rumble off the sides of the large Ice-jin styled spaceship. It was large, maybe the largest she has seen in her life with is circular dome containing different areas with the signature purple and white metal. The engines hummed as the ship once again landed on the forest type terrain. Growing up, her father always drilled her in knowing where the ship came from; because it could mean life or death. However, she couldn't remember if the Ice-jin were friendly or hostile towards them. Not that she had time to go through her mind considering how close it was. Honestly with all her injuries; especially her head, she was glad not to have amnesia. Besides, right now, she didn't have a choice as she needed food and medical attention desperately. Since her and her father had been running for weeks, at this point, they hardly had enough time to stop; much less eat-and she was starving.
The big bay doors slid open and the first few men flew out of the ship looked basically like her with the exception for their horns. If Sanshi had to guess, she would bet they were Garians. Garians are a low power level race usually sent as a placeholder to guard planets that will soon be demolished or sold. They tend to be bulky and not very bright in the intelligence department, so rarely did they manage to purge a planet alone. There had to be an actual soldier from the Ice-jin's on the ship acting as captain. Her eyes scan the ship until finally a leader wearing blue armor and a cape signifying that he works for the Kold army steps out of the ship. He is a tall man around 6'7" with orange hair and features like her and her father, and green skin. His face is well defined and would be considered handsome if it wasn't for his coloration.
"Who are you and what do you want? We don't normally accept visitors" He demanded while looking her up and down. She could honestly feel her skin crawl from his eerie gaze. Subconsciously she felt herself gulp, before coming back to reality. By now, the cute cat had already climbed into her clothes and was hiding on her back under her long hair.
"As I said before, I need some medical attention and something to eat. . . please. . ." She cleared her throat best she could, and spoke clearly in the same language he spoke to her in. Deep in the recesses of her mind, she was hoping that there wouldn't be any problem; that this creature would be an ally. The group of men around the leader laughed at her desperate request. However, the green skinned male lifted his right hand to silence them and gazed at her with a cruel smirk.
"Sure, we'll help you out. It's bad manners not to help a child in need. Are you alone, or are there others?" He took notice her tail that had unwound itself from around her middle and was swaying slightly beside her.
"I am . . . I am alone. I only crashed here recently, if you need credits for this. I think I have some, or if you would prefer I could pay you back a different way. I am good with machinery." She spoke up innocently. God, she must appear so dire in this situation. She was close to relief, close to some form of help. She just needed a break.
"Well, let's get you healed up and worry about payment later hmm," He said while turning to open the ship door. Sanshi did not hesitate to fly down and stand before him. The leader of the group of Ice-jin purgers turned and began to lead her inside the ship. The men follow confused and close the door once they are all inside. She was escorted down a long hall to a medical room with an old school regen tank. Shock suddenly filled her; she really was in the past. But, regardless, the child was more than happy to see one knowing that this pain would end. Her pain reminded her just how bad of shape she was really in.
"I'll just give you a quick shot for the pain, then we will get you in the regen tank. You said you crashed recently, huh? Would you want us to collect your ship for you?" He says preparing the needle. With his back to her, the cat snuck out from her shirt and took refuge atop the cabinets where no one could see him clearly sensing something bad was about to happen. Sanshi sees but pays no mind.
"Would you do that for me that would be awesome. It's about 6 clicks north and 2 clicks east of here. It's in pretty bad shape, but it's all I have left." The young Saiyan looked away as this stranger takes this opportunity to stick her with the needle. "HEY!, . . . That's . . not . . . pain-" All too soon her world goes black her and she didn't even feel her poor, broken body falling hard on the table.
"What universe are you from little girl; where you can be so overly trusting?" He laughs to himself as he clamps a ki damper around her neck, and then he, not to gently, tossing her into the tank. "Men, lets collect that ship and scrap it for money! I am going to report this find to Lord Cooler".
"Why would Lord Cooler be interested in a little girl?" One of the tall one's says looking into the tank at the small girl.
"Yeah, she's kinda young for him, isn't she my lord". They all laugh with a snort.
"You fools! This is not just any little girl. She's a little Saiyan girl. Cooler has been looking for the perfect tool to manipulate those stupid monkeys, and this girl could be that key." He laughs, "And I am the one who will bring her to him". They all laugh together for a moment, and then with a glare from the leader they quickly get to work.
The leader launches their ship into orbit around the planet, so that they can make a clear connection to Lord Cooler who is off in a different quadrant of the universe taking over other planets. The leader makes the call in the communication (comms) room with almost a sadistic smile on his face. That Saiyan girl is his meal ticket to getting everything he ever wanted in life; praise, money, and most importantly power.