Cherry

by Jim P

Fourteen years have passed since the defeat of Majin Buu. Goku, Vegeta and Piccolo are living in peace. Across the Galaxy an evil cult dedicated to avenging the death of their master, Babidi. The old team will have to band together to assure victory and this time doing so may mean risking their very existence.

Cherry By Jimmy P.

Based lovingly on the characters created by Akira Toriyama.

Fourteen years after the defeat of Majin Buu:

A NEW WISH

Like all the dragon balls, the orb could have been mistaken for a simple but beautifully designed amber colored sphere of blown glass, yet now it radiated a phantasmic yellow glow as is it was set in its place next to its six siblings. The two pink stars on its surface shone neon pink. All together, the seven dragonballs pulsed in unison emitting the now familiar eerie sound that brought some discomfort to the ears, as if the barometric pressure in the vicinity could not decide whether to be high or low. But eery did not begin to describe what gathering all seven balls into close proximity (no more than ten inches apart was the rule) was like.

"We should have thought of this years ago!" exclaimed the excited Son Goku, his fists balled up and his smile so broad one would think it'd circumnavigate his head and halve it in two.

"Said the one that can't think!" quipped Vegeta.

Piccolo rolled his eyes and stepped forward, closer to the dragonballs. In all the years he had known his two unlikely comrades little had changed. He looked back at them, neither exactly the epitome of high functioning gray matter. They were all brawn, with minds designed only for the acquisition of combat and the consumption of calories. Yet still, they were friends now nonetheless. Son Goku, mortal enemy turned companion (to one of the persons that composed Piccolo anyway), and Vegeta, "THE PRINCE OF ALL SAIYANS!". Piccolo smiled wryly to himself. They didn't need him here, but Goku had invited him along "for old times sake", "for adventure". There was no longer any adventure left in collecting the dragonballs. Goku could now sense their energy and teleport to them while bringing he and Vegeta along by merely holding onto their shoulders using Shodan Idou. It was a work of fifteen minutes to acquire all seven despite the fact that were scattered about the face of the Earth. And yet Goku still screeched like a highschool girl meeting her prom date every time they found one, pumping his fists, doing a little jig, making peace signs. Every. Single. Time. He relished in the delight of this "adventure" as only one with three brain cells could. "My friends are idiots." thought Piccolo.

"Are you ready now?" he asked them without looking back.

"Wooooo!" yelled Goku.

"We've been ready! You've been standing there for five fucking minutes!" snapped Vegeta.

Ignoring him, Piccolo extended his hands over the dragon balls.

"Shen Ron, come forth from your place of slumber to grant our petitions!" he commanded.

The balls' pulsing quickened and the sky darkened suddenly as if the sun had burst like a stage light. Ambient light was all but extinguished save for the glow put forth from those seven magical spheres which now brightened exponentially. The air became dry and lightning crackled from them and the environment seemed to shift between hot and cold. The pulsing sound became a whine until they released a vertical white beam of energy into the sky with a fantastic thunderous roar. The pillar of light halted several hundred feet in the air and became amorphous for several seconds until it began to take shape, serpentine. The light faded revealing the scaly green skin of the mighty dragon. It was enormous and imposing, at least nine hundred feet long with eyes that glowed like rubies, translucent and back lit by the embers in a kiln. Gnarled almost grotesque antlers rose from just above each auditory meatus. It had four short legs each with a foot like an eagle, complete with talons as sharp as a diamond edged knife. It's head was crocodilian with jaws that were lined with terrible wicked looking serrated teeth. Even though any one of the three that stood there dwarfed the dragon in sheer ki, the dragon's ability to magnify Namekian thaumaturgic abilities was a terrifying, ominous thing. And it sure put on quite a show of revealing itself. Goku, Vegeta and Piccolo gazed up into the air at the monster that would grant them their wish. The tip of its snout was a mere one hundred feet away as its body coiled seemingly endlessly around itself in mid air. As formidable and evil looking as the dragon was it was neither friend nor foe, and its actions were based solely on the wishes of whomever managed to summon it.

"What is it you want with me this time?" the dragon demanded from them in a voice that drowned out the now constant cacophony of thunder that had not ceased since it arrived from wherever it came. Goku stepped forward, eyes wide with childlike excitement.

"Hi, Shen Ron!" he said happily. "How are ya, buddy? I always forget how big you are!"

The dragon squinted and Piccolo thought he heard its breathing pattern change as it seemed to sigh from familiar wariness. Vegeta who had been hanging back and now eager to get a move on things fell in beside Son and met its gaze.

"Dragon," began Vegeta. "we have an unusual wish. Kakkarott and I have nowhere left to train properly on this planet. Our battle powers are just far too advanced. I need a place in which I do not need to restrain myself. The restraints I have here prevent me from defeating this low class pawn." Here, vegeta jabbed his elbow into Son Goku's side in a gesture of long developed friendly rivalry. "He also wishes to have a place to train his own disciple, Uub. And all here insist we cannot just fly from planet to planet causing irreparable damage. Therefore, we'd like for you to make a planet for us with your magic constantly applied to it, so that as often as it is damaged it will repair itself afterwards. This will give us a permanent place to enlarge our current abilities. We would like the planet to be a bit larger than this one, with ample gravity. In fact, it should strongly resemble this one in all other respects except that it have no advanced animal life apart from the bacteria necessary for the life cycles of plants." Vegeta knew nothing formally about bacterial/botanical symbiotic relationships, but Bulma had mentioned that plants needed bacteria earlier in the week and so he decided to throw this bit in for no other reason than to show up Goku in an area he could never hope to grasp.

"This is unusual. So many requests made in one wish. I will need a moment to consider whether this is within my abilities." The dragon hung in the air, eyes closed, and silent for several seconds before going on. "I can do this but I must use two of your three wishes to accomplish it. One for the creation of this planet and another to make it self-healing. Do you need your third wish?"

"No that's it, thanks-" Goku started only to be interrupted by Piccolo.

"Yes! Once you grant these two wishes we would like you allow whatever ki comes from this planet to brand itself into Goku's psyche. Otherwise," he said turning to look at Goku, "he won't have any idea of where in space you are placing it." Perhaps they needed him after all.

"Good thinking, Piccolo!" said Goku.

"Your wishes have been granted." declared the dragon god. "I am certain I shall see you again soon. No one else ever makes wishes anyway." It flashed brightly thrice and then its enormous body split into seven small round pieces: the dragon balls. They floated in the air for only a moment before flying off in every direction many times faster than the speed of sound, and seven sonic booms were simultaneously heard. The sky brightened back into day, and immediately the song birds resumed their chorus.

"Well Kakkarot," said Vegeta, "can you sense the planet?"

"I sure can, Vegeta! Trees, rivers, rivers lakes, the air. I can feel all of it. Let's go see it and try it out!" Then to Piccolo he said, "You wanna come too, buddy?"

"No. Thank you, but I have more meditating to do."

"I'm sorry your training is always so inactive." Vegeta said. "Sounds dull."

"You try having two other guys live inside you and see how well you cope. Even after all these years I am still adjusting to it. Even though I am whole, being a re-fusion of Kami and Piccolo it's still new to me..to us. It'sfurther exacerbated by Nail's soul bonding itself to our's. The further I integrate the ki from each the stronger I become. It's a challenge in itself."

"That's really difficult to follow. So, you have three personalities?" asked Vegeta.

"No, just one. But it's still a confused mixture of three minds. Three lifetimes of memories and experiences to sort out. It could take decades to complete."

"Well, I'd love to see how well you fare against me when you're done. In the mean time, Goku, are you ready?"

"So ready!" said Goku. "Piccolo, it's been fun! Thanks. We're off to...Gee I guess the planet doesn't have a name yet, does it?"

"We can name it when we get there." said Vegeta placing his hand on Goku's shoulder, "Right after I wipe the floor with you."

"We'll see about that, friend." Goku closed his eyes, sensed the ki from the new world and placing his two of his fingers on his forehead, he and Vegeta vanished from where they stood and crossed light years in an instant. Piccolo sighed and sat. After a moment he crossed his legs and entered into the endless chasms of his own mind. Now this was his adventure.

A Friendly Rivalry

To Goku and Vegeta the scene changed in a flash. Piccolo vanished from their view as did the mountain on which they had stood. The new vista of a planet merely two minutes old greeted their eyes. They stood in a clearing perhaps five acres wide. Surrounding the clearing was dense forest. The flora and delightfully mild air suggested they'd arrived in temperate region. It appeared to be mid-morning. Vegeta removed his hand from Goku's shoulder and regarded the sun the planet now orbited. He wondered in a detached way whether the dragon had created the new star as well or placed the world around an existing one that was sufficient for the plant life that it held. Just then, Goku spoke interrupting his thoughts.

"It sure is pretty here!"

"Not for long. What our rules of engagement? I might be pushing Super Saiyan Three, but I'm not there yet. Still...don't go too easy on me. I need to reach it if I'm ever going to catch up with you. Once I attain it, I'll be on top again."

In the years since the battle with Kid Buu, Vegeta had become more accepting of the fact that yes, Son Goku was earth's champion. In the time they'd known each other he'd at first regarded Goku as his sworn enemy, hating him, the low class peon who managed "by sheer fluke" to best him, with every fiber of his soul. He wanted nothing more than to avenge his crushing, humiliating defeat by the one who was born with a battle power reading of only 2, by quite literally tearing him limb from limb...slowly. Over time, he fearfully came to realize the difference in battle power between he and Goku was growing wider with Goku always being superior. Vegeta reached the Super Saiyan form and thought he'd finally be the stronger of the two. Again, after a short while he was outclassed. When the warlock Babidi offered him a permanent increase in power in exchange for his will, he took it without any mental exercise. Vegeta, thus was granted the ability to make the ascension to the terrifyingly powerful Super Saiyan Two. Still it turned out that Goku was holding back vast wells of ki and it was finally shown to him that his rival had not only been able to reach the same level with no assistance from anybody but that he could go beyond even that form and upgrade his body yet again into a Super Saiyan Three. Vegeta eventually had to give his life in defense of his son, Trunks and Goku's younger son, Goten. After a brief stint in Hell, Vegeta was wished back to life, humbled. Kakkarot, his old arch enemy, Son Goku, was better than him. He slowly began to see him as a friend. An unlikely friend, but a dear friend nonetheless. He still dreamed of beating him in a match, but in reality it would have to wait until he too could somehow reach Super Saiyan Three. But here, oh here! he could finally fight and hold nothing back and unleash the full force of his ki. Here he could finally match and perhaps someday even defeat his friend. Then, and only then he could finally feel deserving of the title he already had: The Prince of Saiyans.

"Yeah yeah…put your money where your mouth is." said an eager Goku. "Go right to Two. No groin shots. Don't pull a Freeza. That's about it." He flew a few hundred yards from Vegeta and landing, turned to face him. "Let's get this started." he called to his friend.

Adjusting his footing, he opened up the chambers of ki that resided in his body. The grass in the clearing began to rustle as excess energy flowed from him. His scalp tingled and his jet black hair stood on end. Slowly his muscles swelled larger. With a loud kiai he immediately began the transformation and his excess energy took on a bright yellow hue and his hair flashed from black to blonde. It parted into many thick "spikes" of energized keratin and bolts of electricity sparked around him. His aura welled up around him like a flame and as he continued to unleash his ki the electric bolts increased in frequency. Snap! Pow! Crack! they went. He'd skipped Super Saiyan and gone right onto Super Saiyan Two. Meanwhile, nine hundred feet away, Vegeta had begun the same process. The whole transformation had taken them both less than three seconds. The electricity began to crack between the two of them, like lightning between the ground and the sky. The brush around them was instantly set ablaze. Still, both fighters increased their energy output. They yelled loudly opening up the abyss of ki in the stomach region: the dan t'ian. The ground around them shook frightfully and a rift opened up in the crust of the planet between them. Vegeta, ever the eager warrior, was the first to advance. With shocking speed, the Saiyan prince covered three hundred yards and Goku, still powering up had little time to react. He managed to side step it, but barely. He delivered a swift kick to Vegeta's waist. Weighing only about 135 pounds, he was quickly driven deep into the ground by a kick that could shift a whole mountain. Goku had been gentle however and he was unfazed as he came back up and both exchanged a vast fusilade of punches and kicks, numbering in the thousands before the sonic shock wave of Vegeta's initial attack finally reached them. They were suddenly no longer in that spot but both high in the air five miles away as they continued battering one another. Counter, punch, kick, counter, punch. Four seconds into the fight, Goku had landed a successful 840 blows to Vegeta's 406. The shockwave of each strike, when they fought not far off the ground or on the ground, shattered tree trunks and opened the earth wide. Cracks formed in the planet's crust and large masses of land began to be raised into the air as more and more ki flowed from their super powered bodies. Magma spewed into the air and dark clouds of gas and dust rolled out from within the ruined ground. Putting some distance between himself and Kakkarot, Vegeta quickly balled some of his ki into his hand. Unleashing it at his friend, he screamed, "HA!".

Goku maneuvered out of its path and then with a diagonal slashing motion of his hand batted it away into the distance. It cleared the horizon and fell out of sight. The basketball sized sphere of Saiyan ki crashed into the planet's surface 130 miles from where they now fought. It exploded mightily, the fireball it created more than a mile and a half across! The mountains around where it landed had their tops blown off and the material around ground zero was vaporized. The clouds in the atmosphere above the detonation parted like great wisps of smoke as a tremendous shock wave rolled across the land. It was a small, weak attack however and they both knew it. Vegeta used the time in which Goku took to block it and removed the the distance between them. He attempted a round kick to Goku's face. "Nope!" said Goku, blocking it it easily. He then delivered an elbow to Vegeta's jaw. Stopping his, flight from the blow after only two miles, he recovered quickly and again charged his friend. Vegeta had been holding back however and was done with this little warm up. He began to lay into Goku with all his might.

"Now we're talkin'!" yelled Goku above the roar of their own fighting. He blocked two of Vegeta's punches and kicked him hard in the chest. Vegeta again recovered and flew off of about a mile. Gathering his strength he brought both hands in front.

"Final Flash!" Vegeta hollered into the turbulent air. From his palms came a blast of ki that put the brightness of the planet's star to shame. The ground under it was shredded as it came, and the orb of energy at it's head pulsed unsteadily as it ripped forward.

"Kamehame ha!" Goku countered. The twin beams met midway between them. The resulting detonation blew both Saiyans miles apart. Both watched as the explosion widened and they had to flee farther and farther away to avoid the fallout. Their vision was blurred white from its brightness and the atmosphere above it parted so that the stars were now visible. The ground surrounding the ninety mile wide fireball vaporized and dark clouds lept into the sky to blot out the stars that had just made their appearance. Huge waves of land moved along the surface. When Gohan had fought Cell both contenders had kept their power in check to keep Earth from being destroyed. Gohan did so to protect its inhabitants while Cell did it to preserve those same people only until he could gain victory to kill them slowly and in person. Here now, with no souls to worry about the gloves were off. Two super powered individuals stood ready to unleashed the full gauntlet of their power. That quarter of the planet was now coming apart. The environment was in chaos!

Goku was ready to take this further. Vegeta wanted a challenge and now he'd provide it. Having made known to Vegeta the full scope of his ability as a Super Saiyan Two, he closed his eyes and let loose the very last dregs of his might. Gone suddenly were his eyebrows, his muscles swelled further, the electrical sparks around his body became a lightning storm. The yellow flame shaped aura about him was now a huge tornado of ki. His hair grew down his back until it reached his waist. It was then that Vegeta arrived only to stop and grit his teeth when he saw his rival. Son Goku looked at his friend.

"Is this what you wanted, Vegeta?" he asked through a proud smirk. The Saiyan Prince now trembled. Yes, this is what he'd been after. This is what he was here for. If he was to ever match Goku he would have to fight him at his peak. "C'mon and get it. Dinner is served!"

Even knowing it was more than he could chew, Vegeta rushed him, pushing his ki to his very limit. Goku didn't block. Vegeta's punches all but bounced off of Goku's stomach, chest and face. Rearing back he brought all his energy into a single punch which he landed straight on Goku's nose. His head snapped back from the force of it. As expected Goku had nothing more than a trickle of blood from one nostril. A punch that would have put a crater in the ground a mile wide had barely fazed him.

"Well, fuck." said Vegeta as Goku's smile broadened.

"Get desperate! You won't advance if you don't!" He had to make him angry. He could tell he was on the verge of reaching a plateau. So close. "Prince of all Saiyan's? You're more like a court jester!"

Vegeta saw in his mind's eye all the defeats he had suffered at Goku's hands. All the times he'd made advancements and been beaten by those he thought he could take apart; losing to a five year old turned giant ape, forced to surrender at the point of a sword, losing his tail to a hillbilly monk, beaten to death by his father's murderer, having his arm snapped like a twig by a scrawny looking robot woman, giving up his will while errantly believing had the willpower to still hold on to it, blowing himself up to defend his child only to have it do nothing...and now, here...not again. He looked sideways at Son Goku and his energy was renewed. No! Not again!

"I'll kill you, you low class piece of shit!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms back he found deep within himself the power to advance. He had to beat his rival, here, and now. He felt it explode like a volcano. Goku suddenly had to shield his face from the torrent of ki that radiated from Vegeta. The glow he put out temporarily blinded him and when it faded there floated Super Vegeta Three. His tantrum over, he looked at his hands. He felt wildly different, empowered as never before. He relaxed and inhaled deeply some of the yellow ki flames he exuded. He looked at Goku and smiled. "I did it." he said quietly.

"You did it, buddy!" Goku said smiling broadly. They laughed together and Goku extended his hand which Vegeta clasped tightly. "Now, were you really going to kill me?"

"Nevermind that. You know, Saiyan aggression, sneaks up on ya. I wouldn't want to kill you anyway. Who would I fight then?"

"Uub, comes to mind." said Goku as he powered down, his lengthened locks evaporating into steam and returning to the black mess he normally had and his muscles relaxing to their normal size.

"Bah! Uub's power is immense, but I don't have any beef with him. Not quite as motivated, not as fun."

"Well, how about the fact that Uub is merely a human of 14 years old and his power could soon potentially rival your own new power? Or Gohan, who doesn't even have to transform anymore to equal me at my best?"

"Okay, okay. Maybe I'll kill you after all." laughed Vegeta. "I'm so glad I...Kakkarot, look!" Goku and Super Saiyan Three Vegeta looked about themselves and saw the ground reassembling itself. The trees and other plant life that was merely dust scattered about the globe now began to reform together again and go from a dead looking brown to brilliant quickening green. Lava and smoke were sucked back into the crust with a whoosh and within ten minutes all was whole again. In awe, Vegeta reassumed his normal form, assured now that he could attain the highest Super Saiyan stage possible. The two of them floated in the air mouths agape. Finally….

"Rejuvinatron…." said Vegeta.

"What?!" said Goku.

"Rejuvinatron. You asked what we could call the planet and I called it Rejuvinatron.

"Aww. That's a stupid name, Vegeta." Goku said in almost a whine.

"No, it's not."

"Yes it is."

"No it's not!"

"Yes it is! I wanna name it! I think we should call it….Lucy!"

"Planet Lucy?"

"Yes."

"You..you're retarded."

Catch

News of the defeat of Babidi and his servant, Majin Buu reached Planet Rouge a few years after it occurred. Since then, reaction among Babidi's followers had ranged from disbelief, to outrage, and finally culminated with a cry for vengeance. Within six months, work was begun on locating a comparable warlock, one just as debased as their former master, and within eighteen months, one had been found. His name was Shaagarith and he had once been associated with Babidi eons and eons ago.

The two evil wizards had once contended with each other and eventually Shaagarith decided that Babidi was "just an immature, self-centered punk", and eventually removed himself from his circle of associates. "Besides," he'd remarked, "what good is a wizard's plans to conquer the universe if he had no other plans thereafter?" No, Shaagarith had plans of his own. Where Babidi was bent on destruction of all that lived, he wanted to enslave them all. He alone would be ruler of all that was, but it was best to wait until, inevitably, Babidi was out of the picture and would not be a nuisance. As he predicted, that day came. Now, in the annals of Rouge it could not be decided if the Cult of Babidi had found him or he had found them. Shaagarith would always say it was he who found them. Six of them; frail, quivering, sniveling wretches in red cloaks, desperate for a new leader and perfectly ready to accept his advent. It wasn't that he needed them, but he wanted them as scribes to record his ascent to glory. And so, over the next twelve years he set to work on spells and incantations and research to produce a creature not so far from the vein that Babidi had taken. Instead of traversing the span of the universe to acquire ki for his "pet" as he called it, he devised a way to tap into the universe's very fabric, flushing life energy to his monstrosity.

It lived in a bulbous pulsating sack of flesh, an unholy writhing uterus that he continually maintained with the darkest of magical spells. What it would look like when it finally "hatched", even he did not know. The day arrived for it's birth and now the six slaves he had procured began to bustle about quickly, confused but holding onto a despairing hope that their disgusting faith would be vindicated. Shaagarith surveyed the chaotic scene before him and smiled in spite of their madness. It was three in the morning when Quellquell, one of the six, scampered up to him and informed him that the Womb, so it was called, was indeed writhing more than usual and seemed to be in the final throes of delivery.

"Are you ready now, my little friends?" he said in a deep sonorous voice. "Are you ready for the Slave of Slaves to make its debut?" Approaching the sack of flesh that was a full eight feet tall he found the slit side. He himself quivered with delight as he began to forcefully pry apart the two deep purple halves that made up the Womb. With a vulgar, nauseating fleshy snap they gave way. Sticky clear fluid rushed out around the group's feet and the cult members hid behind rocks. Shaagarith stepped away from his magnum opus as the two halves slapped to the ground with a loud smacking sound like wet leather. Inside, was a fleshy pod: a large, green, four foot tall amniotic sack. Shaagarith reached with his scaly hand for a sharp, curved knife on his ankle and began to carefully slice the pod down the middle while continuing to mouth incantations. He pulled the flesh away from the top down revealing, strangely, he thought, a small pink flower. A tiny, high pitched almost feminine moan escaped, though it was muffled. He was about to continue when a small delicate, pale hand reached out and began to peel away the remainder of the pod. The flower, they could see now, was a decoration on a white knitted hat. After a few moments, to everyone's shock, stepping out from this disgusting, sinewy pod of evil was a small human looking girl. She smiled softly, and her large eyes were a radiant green. Her soft, shoulder length hair was black with thin highlights of red and her skin was a healthy supple peach. Her fingernails were painted light pink to match her dress which looked as though it was perhaps a light woolen fabric Her clothes were dry even though she's just been encased in a gigantic reproductive organ. All in all, she had all the appearance of a happy, healthy twelve or thirteen year old female.

By now, the six cult members were out of hiding and were looking accusingly at one another. Who thought to use this guy to replace their old master? Only Quellquell stood immediately behind his new leader, Shaagarith. He looked up at his snake like head and tried to read his yellow, emotionless eyes. No good. He had no idea what his master was thinking. The five others still hung back, all hoping to be proven wrong about what seemed to be a rather useless addition to their little family. The warlock looked into the eyes of his creation.

"Good morning, my dear." he began quietly in that same buttery voice. "Do you know who I am? Do you know who you are?". The girl raised her head and slowly looked around at her surroundings, ignoring the question. "Little girl!" demanded the evil wizard, more forcefully after a few seconds of silence from his creation. "Do you know who you are?" Finally, the girl looked at him. After another moment she giggled.

"Of courseI know who I am!" she said happily in an irritatingly cute voice. "I'm Cherry. Did you want to play?" She balled her fists up and grabbing her skirt she spun in a circle and danced while humming to herself, her little pink shoes with the tiny pom-poms squishing in the afterbirth around her feet. Shaagarith, was not entirely sure how to proceed. If she was everything he'd designed her to be she'd easily conquer the universe for him. However, it was evident she was psychotic and this gave him a terribly uneasy feeling. If she was psychotic it was best not to alarm her before he could figure a way to reseal her from whence she came.

"What do you want to play, Cherry?" he asked cautiously.

"Catch!" she said excitedly bouncing on the balls of her feet, as her pupils dilated in wanton childlike glee.

"C-catch?" he asked his voice finally wavering as he realized slowly that things had gone terribly wrong. He shouldn't have made her so invincible. He shouldn't have designed her with no fail-safe. He should have been more careful with-.

"Catch!" she exclaimed as she formed between her hands a bright pink ball of energy. She tossed it in the air and for a moment, dribbled it in front of her, then holding it at chest level she threw it to those before her as she again yelled "Catch!" without ever losing her smile. On contact with the ground it burst and with the force of an asteroid impact. Rouge was knocked off its access and giant chunks of the planet were hurled into space. Her creator and his followers were instantaneously reduced to cations. The entirety of the blast was forced away from her, because she decided it would be so. It left her standing on the edge of a broken planet as she stared down and out into space. Where the ground had been, there were now floating chunks of rocks and stars. As the atmosphere rushed away from that world, out into the ether, she continued to joyously yell, her voicing rising in crescendo until it became a scream, "Catch! Catch! Catch! Catch! Catch!"