All the same warnings and disclaimers apply here that did in the last chapter, so don't you dare sue me or anything!
Chapter 2: Shenlong?
Amy sat Indian style on the soft rug of the Son family's living room; she was helping Goten with a jigsaw puzzle her belly totally stuffed with a slice of toast, half a hash brown and several forkfuls of scrambled egg. Chichi had looked at her with a worried expression, yet somehow Amy had managed to get away without insulting the fiery woman.
"Are you a good fighter?" Goten's sweet little voice piped up, she tilted her head in questioning "you've got lotsa scars, like Vegeta, he's a good fighter, only not as good as Dad or Gohan, you smell kinda like him too." Amy looked down at her bare arms, the criss crossed angry scars she had inflicted upon herself, she swallowed.
"Nah, I'm not very good, that's why I've got scars, I've lost a lot…" which was not a complete lie, and she could not very well tell this innocent boy she had inflicted most of the wounds upon herself. She leaned back, resting on her palms watching the little boy fondly.
"I could teach you to fight! I'm not very good, but Daddy and Gohan and Vegeta are teaching me and Trunks nearly every day" he grinned excitedly "you could train with us when you get better!" he jumped on her lap "please Amy pleeeeeease train with us!" then he looked down and Amy found her t-shirt lifted up as he stared at her stomach then ran round behind her to look at her back. "WOW!" he exclaimed lifting up the front of her t-shirt again "How come you've got Shenlong on your tummy, are you really a dragon?"
Amy frowned as Goku walked in to hear what the excitement was about "Oh, you know about Shenlong and the dragonballs too?" he questioned rather than stated.
"Is that what this dragon is? I just dreamt about it, I have no idea what it is…" it was Gohan's turn to enter and stare in wonderment at her stomach.
"Wow, nice tattoo Amy." An exclamation of 'Tattoo? Gohan don't you dare even think of getting one!' causing the teen to cringe as Amy let her t-shirt fall back down to cover the design. Gohan lowered his voice "Heh, mum hates all tattoos and piercings, she went mad when I asked if I could get my ears pierced."
"Guess she doesn't like how I look much then" she managed a smirk, the ring in her lip was not the only one she possessed, several brightly coloured studs decorated her ears and a bar with three lilac stars hanging from it graced the lower piece of skin from her navel. "Who's Vegeta, your bro's mentioned him, said you train together and apparently I smell like him?" She raised a brow.
Gohan smiled warmly "well, I guess you smell like him 'cos he smokes, not that any of us let on that we know, but it's not like we can ignore the stink" Amy blushed, she knew she probably reeked of stale smoke, it was a horrible habit she'd picked up recently "But he's an old family friend I guess you could say… He and Dad used to be sworn enemies, well; he hated Dad and Dad's always up for a good fight. But over the years Vegeta's mellowed out, especially since he and Bulma, another family friend, got together and had Trunks, this little squirt's best friend…" he ruffled Goten's hair affectionately "Now there's definitely a mutual respect and though Vegeta refuses to admit it, Dad's probably his best friend." Gohan flashed a smile to his father who returned it cheerfully "They're pretty evenly matched and the strongest outta the lot of us, the number of times they've saved the world" he grinned proudly "oh and they're the only two full saiyajins left."
"Saiyajins? Saved the world?" Amy looked puzzled for what must have been the hundredth time that day; she absentmindedly wandered for a moment if she'd be stuck with the expression for the rest of her life after this.
Gohan placed his hand on the back of his head and laughed, Goten decided it was his turn to talk "Dad's an alien called a saiyajin, so's Vegeta which makes me and Trunks and Gohan half saiyajins, 'cos our mums are both human… We're the only ones of our species left 'cos this guy Frieza blew up our home planet when Dad was a baby. They killed Frieza though, Daddy and Vegeta… Oh yeah, Dad's saved the world loads though, first time was from Pilaf, but he was a bit rubbish so it was easy, but then there was Demon King Piccolo, he was really tough and he was Piccolo's daddy, sorta and Piccolo was Gohan's mentor for ages! Oh, Piccolo's Namekian, you might meet him soon he's really REALLY tall and green and he's got antennas, but he's kinda grumpy so don't stare at them."
Gohan grinned "and there's my family history in a nutshell, thanks squirt" Goten grinned up at the much taller form of his older brother a look that seemed more than simple brotherly love but great respect and almost awe. Amy smiled, she'd always wished for a younger brother, often becoming good friends with her friend's younger siblings and even working in a kindergarten over one summer vacation. Another question suddenly poked at her mind.
"So, what's with this Shen…?"
"Shenlong? He's the eternal dragon, created by Dende, earth's guardian. He kind of bursts from the dragonballs once you get all seven together and say the correct mantra, then he can grant you any one wish…"
"Are you sure it's a good idea to be telling a complete stranger all this?" Chichi appeared looking somewhat flustered, Amy bit her bottom lip nervously as Goku placed a hand softly on his wife's shoulder.
"Amy-chan's got a good heart, she's not going to go do something evil, I know it" He smiled down at her "Remember Chichi, it's not always about what people look like, it's what they feel like and Amy-chan feels loyal and kind." He suddenly looked up and slightly to the right "Gohan, go get dressed, Vegeta and Trunks are on their way."
The teen sprinted up the stairs with a somewhat excited expression as Amy felt a little hand tugging on her pant leg "you coming to train with us?" he noted her slightly worried expression "or you could watch, pleeeeease will you watch?" Amy smiled and with a moments hesitation ruffled his hair.
"Sure kiddo, I'll watch you guys, as long as your mum doesn't need any help with the dishes or anything?" She ended it like a question and turned her head toward Chichi who rolled her eyes and disappeared into the kitchen "Hm, I guess she's ok then…"
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Goku opened the front door just as what looked like to Amy as a fairly short man with incredible hair gel and a relaxed enough attitude to allow his son to dye his hair purple appeared. Gohan practically tumbled down the stairs and thrust a pair of black boots into Amy's hands "noticed you only had your socks on" he stated with a smile "they might be a bit big but they're better than getting wet feet"
"Who's this Kakarot?" the short man spoke in a deep almost chocolaty voice that sounded like he should be making speeches to entire nations and commanding respect.
"Vegeta, this is Amy, I found her this morning, she's from England nearly two hundred years ago, isn't that cool!" Goku grinned and turned toward her "Amy this is Vegeta" He gestured to the man who must have only been two inches taller than herself "and his son Trunks" Amy stuck out a hand for Vegeta to shake, for some reason it seemed appropriate to show this man a good deal of respect, but he ignored her gesture.
"Taking in strays, she looks diseased Kakarot." One of Amy's eyebrows rose and her lip curled in distaste "Hm, at least she has some attitude" his brows furrowed slightly "and some dormant power"
"Yeah I thought so too" Goku grinned then made his way out of the house saying goodbye to Chichi and hurrying his sons "she's just watching today, she's ill you see, hardly ate anything at breakfast but once she gets better I think we should see what she can do." Then suddenly Amy felt something like static around her, then she was alone, blinking and confused.
"Oh, sorry" she heard above her, lifting her gaze and spotting the group some hovering some actually flying away, her knees buckled and she found herself kneeling on the grass as Gohan landed beside her "I guess no one can fly in England…" Amy shook her head, hardly believing what she was seeing but confirming in her head that these guys had to be something special, even if they were not really aliens "hold tight" she hardly registered what was happening when Gohan's arm was around her waist and the ground was disappearing below her feet. She let out a little yelp of surprise and gripped onto the navy blue fabric of his top.
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Amy watched in amazement as Goten and Trunks sparred, in the air with balls of pure energy flying between them, her fingers tapping against the grass when she felt the air move beside her. "Got a light?" her fingers delved into her pocket to pluck out the stainless steel lighter before her automatic response slipped out.
"Only if you've got a ciggie" she felt the small metallic object being plucked from her fingers then something light and papery replacing it in her palm. She glanced up to see Vegeta lighting his own with a tiny charge of energy from the tip of his finger, twisting her lighter this way and that before flicking it open and regarding the flame, sniffing it then dropping it back into her hand.
"Nice and simple, I like it" He smirked down at her, nervously Amy lit the cigarette he'd given her then slid the lighter into her pocket while taking a drag.
"Wow, these are smooth" she raised both eyebrows.
"Non-carcinogenic too"
She nodded "cool cool, shame it means I can't call them cancer sticks any more though."
Vegeta smirked at her then sat down one leg relaxed, bent out to the side, the one nearest Amy bent up to his chest with the hand holding the cigarette draped lazily over it. "You're not really ill are you, you don't smell of disease or anything" his dark deeply knowledgeable eyes fixed on her own pained blue "you are this way because you choose to be, you have some strange desire to disappear, and somewhere in your slightly damaged mind you believe you do not deserve the luxury of a decent meal."
"Damaged mind, I resent that slightly Vegeta-sama" She rose the cigarette to her lips and took a drag, drinking in his surprised expression.
"H-how do you know to call me that?"
"We're in Japan aren't we? Just because I'm English, doesn't mean I can't speak Japanese."
Vegeta raised his eyebrows "This isn't English we're speaking, this is Japanese, what you spoke just then, 'sama' that's saiyajin"
Amy frowned "But, it's Japanese, I learnt it by watching anime and by doing a language course…"
"Have you ever heard of Kami?" Amy shook her head "and I'm assuming Piccolo is a new name for you too, and Roshi?" Again she nodded "You see, Kami was earth's guardian before Dende, and he has been around several hundreds of years, Piccolo, well, more precisely Demon King Piccolo was also around when your time should have been if you were simply from the past you must have heard of them, their battle that Roshi the Turtle hermit as he's now known took part in, not to mention the languages…"
Amy frowned "then what are you suggesting?"
He shrugged "Perhaps you're from an alternate timeline, like Mirai Trunks was, you must be aware of the phenomena of alternate universes all folded over each other or laying side by side."
"This is an alternate universe, nearly two hundred years ahead of mine?" He nodded "So, how am I here?"
"That I believe only you can answer, Goten was babbling about Shenlong just now, what do you know of the dragon?"
"Only that he exists within some dragonballs? Created by Dende and he can grant wishes… And apparently I have him tattooed on my stomach." She blinked "actually, that might make sense, my closest friend looked almost exactly like Goku only with less wild hair and less muscular but he was big on martial arts…"
"You speak about him as though he no longer exists."
"He might as well not do, how am I supposed to get back?"
"May I see the tattoo?" With a little reluctance Amy lifted her shirt slightly frightened by the way Vegeta leant in towards her "Were the dragon balls always like this?" she shivered as his gloved fingertips lightly touched the portion of the tattoo next to her hip.
"Huh?" she glanced down to see them glowing a faint orange as her eyes opened wide "What the…?"