More Trouble

Illia awoke to see a white ceiling. She sat up and heard a bang as the door at the end of the room was thrown open to reveal a yellow streak as Mira threw herself at her sister.

"Are you okay?" the blond asked, "You just sort of disappeared. I followed our bond and found you here."

"What do you mean?" Illia asked, "Didn't you see..." She stopped when she realized that her twin probably hadn't. Shin had the ability to freeze time at will, for short periods of time, and had probably used it when he stopped her rampage. She hung her head in shame. She hadn't meant to lose her temper but, she was just so hotheaded, and she knew it would happen again.

"Illia?" Mira's voice brought her out of thoughts, "Your not angry anymore are you? You were earlier and I kept wondering what I had done to make you angry at me and, and..." Mira's eyes started to fill with tears.

"No Mira," Illia said pulling her twin close, "I wasn't angry at you, not at all. I could never be angry at you." She didn't want to see her sister cry, and held her in hopes of quelling the tears.

The door at the end of the room banged open again, and the Z-fighters rushed in. They looked frantic and out of breath. They bombarded her with questions about what had occurred and she simply said she didn't remember. She felt foolish about her actions. Her anger had been irrational and uncalled for and she knew it.

"Well if you feel up to it there is a restaurant here at the stadium that serves great food," Goku said, "We were going to head there after the Junior Tournament anyway, and I bet you're hungry."

Illia grinned. She was always hungry. She had the sayian appetite, as much as it annoyed her father, and she hadn't eaten since that morning.

"I'm starved!" she proclaimed loudly.

Piccolo groaned. He had seen her eat and knew that her table manners were about as good as Goku and Vegeta's.

They walked to the restaurant and, sure enough, Illia started wolfing down food at a rate that rivaled the two adult sayians. While they were eating Gohan and Videl arrived.

"Hey guys," Goku said through a mouthful of food, "How was Trunks' fight."

"He took out Mr. Satan with one punch," the young man informed them, "but everyone thinks that he took a dive."

"Wow, he should get an Oscar for that performance," Krillin quipped.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Videl asked him threateningly.

"Nothing!" Gohan told her, "You just don't know Krillin. He's a real comedian."

Illia tuned out the rest of the conversation as she continued to scarf down her food. When the four sayians were done eating they set out to the arena. The had only been walking a few minutes when the encountered someone.

"Hello, you must be Goku," Shin said, causing Illia to look up. He had a thin smile on his face, like he was planning something.

The conversation was short and the group proceeded to the arena. The twins sat with Chi-Chi and Bulma, and though the sun was out, Illia felt cold. Mira felt it too and they looked at each other, wordlessly telling each other, 'Something bad is going to happen. I can feel it.' They decided to keep their guard up, just in case.

The twins watched as it was announced that Piccolo had forfeited his match. Mira was shocked at the act, their father never gave up. Illia on the other hand was fairly sure why her father had given up. He had probably been matched against Shin, and no one in their right mind would have been dumb enough to try that.

They continued to watch as the fights began, when Illia felt a chill run down her spine. She looked at the arena to see Videl facing off against a large, very muscular opponent. It may have been a trick of the light, but it seemed as though he had the letter M tattooed on his forehead. Illia saw a man not that much different waiting on the sidelines.

"Illia, are you alright?" Mira asked, worry lacing her tone.

"I'm fine," the brunette replied, "but I'm not sure about Videl."

"She'll be fine," Chi-Chi told the girl, "She's tough."

Illia was about to reply when they heard a battle cry from below. Illia wanted to look away as the fight started, but it was like a train wreck. You couldn't watch, but you couldn't look away.

The man systematically beat Videl to a bloody pulp. She tried to counter, but he was just to strong. As he went for the final blow his companion stepped in.

"Stop Spopovitch," he said, "This isn't what we came here to do."

The man withdrew and Gohan rushed forward and grabbed Videl. He cradled her protectively.

"Hey you," he said to the retreating figures, "You'll pay for this, every last bit of it."

The audience was in shock, but Mira shook hers off long enough to look at Illia.

"How did you know?" she asked, shaken.

"I just did."

The next to take the stage, (After much running back and forth between Goku and Gohan, and a short intermission for news on Videl), were none other than Gohan and Kibito. Illia could see that her friend had some sort of plan.

Kibito goaded Gohan. He demanded to see Gohan's sayian powers. Illia was growing more uneasy by the second. This wasn't like Kibito at all. Gohan began to power up and as the power built Illia saw the two creepy guys on the sidelines move. When gohan hit the peak on his power, in full super sayian form, the charged him, with some sort of vacuum looking device. Gohan should have dodged, but he seemed frozen in place.

Illia should have stayed put, but she didn't. She shot into the air, going on instinct, and powered up to super sayian herself. The sudden spike in power caused the attackers to halt, and when they did, she struck.

"Apocalypse Cannon!" she yelled as she shot the beam at the two figures. They turned just in time to catch it full in the face. Illia was relieved that Gohan was safe, but she didn't drop her guard as the men got up. They shot into the air after her their weapon at the ready. Her small body was no match for them, and she knew that, so she was counting on her speed.

They moved forward, trying to catch her, but she was small and light and a lot faster than them. She dodged them over and over, moving too fast for the human eye to follow. She didn't know who they were, but there was no way she was going to let them hurt her family.

Form the corner of her eye Illia saw Mira rising from her seat to try and come to her sister's aid.

"Mira stay down," Illia yelled at her twin, "This is my fight, not yours, so stay out of it."

However the damage had been done, the fighters knew her weakness. They turned and shot toward the stands, toward Mira and Chi-Chi, and Bulma.

Illia curses her careless shout and flew to intercept them, realizing too late what they were planning. They stopped and she shot past them. She stopped and, before she could react, Spopovitch had his arms around her upper torso. She struggled against his grip, but was unable to break his hold.

She continued to struggle as the strange weapon pierced the skin of her side. She felt it draining her energy and struggled harder, not noticing when the sharp tip of the weapon sliced through an artery in her side.

Her struggles began to weaken as the weapon drew more energy from her. Eventually, after what seemed like a lifetime of fruitless struggles, her eyes glazed over and she slumped forward. Spopovitch let go, and he and his companion flew off.

Illia fell towards the ground as blood began to stain her clothes. The only one who could react was Gohan who shot into the air and stopped just underneath her to catch her. She landed in his arms and he cradled her as protectively as he had cradled Videl. He lowered her to the arena only to be met by Piccolo, his green face nearly white.

Goku stepped up behind him and handed him a senzu bean. He took it and tried to give it to her, but she was losing blood to fast, and she had no strength. Piccolo was on the verge of panic when he felt a hand on his shoulder. There was the sensation on movement, and suddenly he was at the lookout. came out and, after one look at the situation, called out Dende. Dende took the girl and began to work on her.

"Goku," said, "Take Piccolo and go back for the others. We can't have him hovering, or nothing will get done."

And with that, Goku grabbed his friend and they returned to the tournament. When they got there the group bombarded them with questions. Goku answered each one patiently, but stopped to ask a question.

"Where's Mira?"