Cosmic Crisis

   
Cosmic Crisis
Chapter 7 - Progress

    Two weeks had passed. Natalie and Trunks continued to train together every day. Trunks and Vegita noticed how fast Natalie picked up on things. They had even showed her how to ki blast. Natalie continued to visit her mother, who was still in a coma, every other day. Since Natalie's school had let out for the summer, she stayed at Capsule Corp. most of the time, but occasionally she would return home. One particular day, Natalie had more energy than usual.
    Trunks shot a ki blast at Natalie, who easily dodged it and repeated with a blast of her own. They continued to fire at each other while Vegita trained in the gravity room. When he finished his training, he shut off the gravity and walked outside, calling the teenagers over.
    "It's time for you two to train in the gravity room. Natalie can start at two times normal gravity, and Trunks can start at one hundred.
    "Good god!" Natalie exclaimed. "One hundred G's?" she cried out. Bulma called the three in for lunch. Natalie watched as Trunks and Vegita inhaled the food that Bulma had prepared. "The pigs." She chuckled to herself as she ate. She had begun to grow rather fond of Trunks. She watched him as he ate. He brushed a piece of his purple hair out of his face. Natalie's mind began to wander, returning to the pit of despair in the back of her mind and her stomach began to churn. She had begun to get used to the feeling. Occasionally she would go into fits of panic and terror, but would recover almost immediately. Suddenly, Trunks snapped her out of the daze.
    "Natalie's coming with me, mom." He said. Natalie looked up at hearing her name.
    "What?" she inquired.
    "We're gonna go into the city today. Just to take a break from training." He replied. They finished their lunch and ran up the stairs to shower.
    "Just be back in time for gravity training." Vegita called after the two. Natalie called shower first, as usual. She turned on the water, while grabbing a towel from the linen closet. While Natalie was showering, Trunks called Goten.
    "Hello?" the boy answered into the phone.
    "Hey Goten it's me." Trunks answered.
    "Oh hey."
    "We're going into the city today, you wanna come?"
    "Nah I can't. My dad's making me train today." He said with disappointment in his voice.
    "Oh okay. Well see ya."
    "Bye." The two hung up the phones. Trunks looked out his window. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and a warm breeze blew throughout the land. Trunks took a deep breath.
    "FINISHED!" a shout came from the room next to his. He knew it was Natalie announcing the end of her shower. He jumped in his own and the warm water ran down his back. Meanwhile, Natalie slipped into a white strappy tank top with a pair of flare jeans and wrapped a towel around her wet hair. She picked up the phone to call the hospital, but heard buzzing and static instead of a dial tone. No more than 30 seconds later, a shout came from downstairs.
    "Who cut off my modem connection!?" Vegita yelled throughout the building. Natalie set the phone on the cradle and tiptoed into the bathroom.
    "Not me." She whispered to herself. She unwrapped the towel and combed her damp hair.
    "Natalie was is you?" Vegita shouted outside her door.
    "Heh heh. Oops." She said. Vegita grumbled and walked away. "Stupid human" he thought. Trunks shouted at his dad through the bathroom door.
    "I need some soap!"
    "Get it yourself, boy!" Vegita said, walking back downstairs. Trunks sighed to himself. This meant he would have to freeze while he searched for another bar of Dove. He wrapped a towel around his wet body and walked out towards the linen closet next to Natalie's room. Without thinking, she swung the door open to discover him struggling to keep the towel around his waist. She gasped in surprise and ran back into her room. Trunks shuffled back into the shower, completely red in the face.
    "Sorry..." Natalie's voice came in on Trunks' intercom.
    "Heh, don't worry about it." He replied. Natalie blow-dried her brown hair while Trunks put on some clothes. When the two were finished getting ready, they headed out the door for the afternoon. Natalie walked outside and inhaled the fresh air, stretching her arms above her head and exposing her midriff. Trunks playfully slapped her stomach.
    "Hey!" she laughed and jumped on his back. Intending to surprise her, he launched into the air. Natalie let out a yelp of surprise, and gripped his shoulders in fear. "Let me down! Let me down!" she laughed.
    "Sure." He said, dropping her from ten stories in the air. She fell towards the earth, screaming in terror. Just before she hit the ground, Trunks swooped down and grabbed her, setting her down.
    "DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT TO ME AGAIN!" she yelled at him. His eyes widened and he muttered an apology, trying not to laugh.
    "You're beautiful when you're angry." He joked. She took a pitiful swing at him, but he just blocked it. "I'm just kidding, Nat. I'm sorry. Really." He said, still holding her wrist. "I should teach you how to fly."
    "Really?" she asked, her eyes sparkling.
    "I don't see why not. You have potential." He said. "It's simple, really. You just have to will your ki to life you off the ground and thrust you in whatever direction you want." Natalie thought it would be easy, and began to jump up into the air but would fall back to the ground almost immediately. Trunks laughed.
    "Well it's not quite like that." He said. "You kinda have to use your mind. Concentrate on moving through the air." Natalie stood in a semi-crouched position and concentrated. A gold aura appeared around her body.
    "Now think about moving through the air." He said, hovering a few feet away from her. Slowly, Natalie's figure began to lift. She looked upwards, with determination in her eyes, and shot up into the sky. Once there, the surprise of it all broke her concentration and she fell back to the ground. Trunks caught her easily.
    "Not bad. Just keep practicing." He said, taking her by the wrist, and raised both their arms to the sky. "Soon it'll be no trouble at all and you'll be able to do it with ease." He said, and dropped her hand back to her side.
    "I hope so. It's gonna come in handy." She said, thinking back on the dream she had. She wondered if why Orion was after her.
    "Stop thinking about that. We're supposed to have a carefree day, remember?" he said, looking at her with a grin on his face.
    "You have that look in your eyes..." she said, her eyes narrowing. Suddenly, Trunks grabbed her waist and propelled them both into the air. Natalie screamed with delight. Suddenly, Trunks dropped her again. This time, however, he didn't go after her. Her body froze, and her instincts took over, causing her to shoot back up to where Trunks was hovering. He grabbed her arm and the aura around her body disappeared again.
    "I knew that would work." He said.
    "Wow! I just did that!" she said with excitement in her voice. "But don't EVER do that again, understand!?" She shouted. She continued to practice, and eventually got the hang of it, but wasn't able to match Trunks' speed quite yet.
    "Come on, let's walk from here on." She said, lowering herself to the ground. She ran down the sidewalk with Trunks in pursuit. Soon they reached the city and slowed to a walk. They looked around at all the shops and stores amongst them. Natalie was enjoying the scenery with Trunks by her side.
    "Well, well. If it isn't Natalie." Natalie spun around to see a girl her age standing with her hands on her hips. She had wavy black hair that fell halfway down her back.
    "What do you want, Akari?" she asked, rolling her eyes.
    "I thought you were too sick to go anywhere, and suddenly you're running around the town?" she asked with a stuck up voice. "And who might this be?" she asked, looking Trunks up and down.
    "This is Trunks." She said, grabbing his arm. "My boyfriend." Trunks played along.
    "Yep. We're together!" he said, placing his arm around her shoulder. Natalie gave her the look that said it all.
    "Hah. I don't see what the big deal is anyway. He's not that great." She huffed, and walked down the sidewalk with her hands on her hips. Trunks and Natalie held in their laughter until she was out of earshot, and then exploded into a fit of giggles.
    "What an idiot." Trunks whooped out. Natalie continued to laugh as they both walked into the city on the bright summer day.
    "Kamehameha!" Goten shouted as the enormous blast of raw energy erupted from his hands. Goku blocked the attack with a ki shield for all his worth. When the dust cleared, Goten stood a few feet above the ground breathing heavily. Goku was seen with his hands still out in position with singe marks on his clothes.
    "Great job son! You're improving!" he said cheerfully.
    "Thanks. That was all I could take for right now." He said, and lowered himself to the ground. He began to walk towards his home.
    "Wait. We're not finished yet." Goku said, chasing after his teenage son. "You still have to do your cool-down stretches."
    "Come on, dad. Give me a break." He said, slowing his pace and shrugging his shoulders.
    "You heard me. Now come on, it isn't that bad." Goku said and hopped onto his right hand in position for one-arm pushups. Goten rolled his eyes and joined in.
    "One...two...three..." Goku started as the two saiyans exercised in the large field while the sun began to set and a cooling breeze blew across the plain.
    Meanwhile, in the city, Natalie and Trunks passed the hospital. Natalie made a turn to go in and see her mom.
    "Do you want me to come along?" Trunks asked, his arms full of bags.
    "Yeah." She said, and they entered the lobby. They went up the elevator and down the hall to room 316. As she opened the door, a nurse rushed by her into the room.
    "I need a doctor in here, now!" the nurse yelled. They could hear machines beeping as they stood in shock outside the door. Natalie cautiously cracked the door and took a few steps in. The young nurse turned her head around.
    "What are you two doing here?" she snapped at them.
    "W-we're relatives." She stuttered.
    "She can't be bothered, ma'am. Come back later, please." The nurse continued.
    "But this is my mom. I have to see her!" Natalie said, stepping forward, but was restrained by Trunks' arm.
    "She's very unstable. We can't have visitors at this time, now please leave!" she shouted at the quivering girl. Trunks escorted her outside the dark room and onto a bench down the hall.
    "What are they doing to her? Why can't I see her?" Natalie asked in a panic.
    "Everything's fine. Just stay calm." Trunks reassured her. A team of doctors rushed by and ran into the room where her mother was being held. She could hear them yelling commands at the nurses. When all the noises and commotion quieted down, a doctor about Trunks' height emerged from the room very slowly. When his eyes met with Natalie's, his head dropped. When he looked back into her fearful eyes, he knew what he had to do.
    "Are you Miss Natalie Holmes?" he asked, cautiously stepping closer.
    "Y-yes. Yes I am." She said.
    "Your mom - " he started.
    "What?" she asked frantically. "What happened to her? She's fine now, right?" she began to shout.
    "She's - " the doctor broke off once again.
    "She's WHAT!?" Natalie said, grabbing hold of the doctor's jacket, but was restrained by Trunks.
    "She has passed away." He said, and closed his eyes. Natalie's body went numb, and instead of screaming, she just went limp in Trunks' arms, but remained conscious.
    "I think she's in shock. We need to admit her to a room where we can monitor her." The doctor said, reaching for the girl.
    "No. She'll be fine." Trunks reassured the doctor.
    "Sir, I think she had better stay here." The doctor pressed on. Trunks grabbed her limp body and charged up. Before the doctor could even blink, Trunks was down the hall and out the door. He raced through the skies, holding Natalie in his arms. Just before he reached Capsule Corp., Natalie snapped out of her daze and jumped from Trunks' arms.
    "Natalie!" Trunks called after her. But instead of falling, she remained in the air, her ki flaring a brilliant blue fire. Her fists clenched, tears began to stream down her face.
    "Come on. Let's go home." Trunks said and reached for her.
    "I don't have a home. I am no longer wanted!" she screamed. "Nobody loves me!"
    "Natalie calm down!" he said. Natalie's ki began to grow to extreme heights.
    "NO! Just leave me!" she cried, and shot through the air in a vertical line. She continued to stream into the sky. Trunks went after her.
    "Come back to Capsule Corp." He tried to persuade her. She just put her arm in front of her and continued on, the wind whipping through her hair. Seeing that this wouldn't work, Trunks grabbed her arm. She turned at him with menacing eyes and sent a blast through her arm that connected with his body. The force was so powerful that it knocked him back. Electricity surged throughout her body and her ki flared again. Seeing no other way out, Trunks faded out, and before she could react, he reappeared behind her and knocked her out. He grabbed her falling body and flew down to Capsule Corp.
    "Dad!" he shouted, rushing into the front door. "Dad!" Vegita appeared in front of him with his arms crossed. When he felt Natalie's ki, he jumped.
    "What the - " he said, his eyes wide.
    "Dad we need to get her to the medical wing, fast!" he said. Natalie began stirring. Wasting no time, they ran through the building. When they reached a hospital-like room, Trunks laid her down on the bed and Vegita put a restraining device on her temples that sent a beam across her forehead. It sent subliminal messages into her brain that calmed her nerves and helped her to rationalize. When she came to, her eyes opened slowly and she looked up at Trunks with confused eyes.
    "Where's mom?" Trunks asked his dad.
    "She's tending to your sister on the other side of the building. She's not feeling very well." He said, concentrating on the young girl's ki. He was amazed at the amount of power that she had, and frustrated that he hadn't noticed it earlier.
    "Is she going to be okay?" Trunks asked.
    "She'll feel groggy for a while, but after that she should be fine." He said, and then left the room, pondering his next plan of action. Trunks stroked her hair with his left hand. Natalie came to her senses and sat up, placing her hand over her forehead.
    "W-was I dreaming?" she asked, her voice on her verge of breaking down. Trunks just shook his head. Natalie hung her head and tears began to fall once more. Trunks felt badly for her. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up, her legs shaking. Vegita returned to the room where she stood.
    "It's time for gravity training." He said to Trunks.
    "What? She can barely walk, let alone train under multiple forces of gravity!" Trunks said.
    "You heard me." He said, and turned to walk out towards the gravity room.

Cosmic Crisis
Chapter 8 - Changes

Natalie and Trunks were suited up in their training clothes and were preparing to undergo gravity training. Vegita opened the door to the main gravity room, where he began to set the controls for Trunks' training. Then, he opened a second door from inside the first room, which led to a second gravity room. There was a thick glass window in the door, so they could see each other. Vegita stepped into the second room with Natalie, and explained the controls to her as he set them for two times Earth's gravity. When he was finished, he walked out of the two rooms and pressed the "Begin" button on the outside. There, he could monitor their progress through a series of cameras located all over the inside of the structure. As soon as the gravity doubled, Natalie could feel the change instantly.
    "This isn't so bad." She thought, as she did a series of sit-ups. However, when she was on her third set of push-ups, she began to feel the effects of the gravity increase. Suddenly, Vegita's voice came through on an intercom, and his face appeared on a screen on the wall.
    "It's time to train." He said, and pressed another button. Then, two small robots came out of a sliding door in Natalie's chamber and powered on. "You must destroy these in order to proceed to the next level." He said, and then shut off the talk-screen. Natalie began to prepare herself for the battle. She powered up just enough to shoot ki blasts. The robots began to shoot electric beams out of their eyes, which Natalie either dodged or reflected.
    "Hyaaa!" she shouted as she shot a blast at one robot, destroying it, leaving only a pile of scorched scrap metal in it's place. The second robot retaliated and doubled its energy output. Natalie easily dodged the attacks, but was beginning to tire. As the robot continued to pour out more and more energy, Natalie was having difficulty keeping up under the increase of gravity. When she thought that she could no longer take the pain, her ki flared and formed a shield around her body. Her hair and clothes began to rise from the enormous increase in power. She closed her eyes and brought her left hand above her head.
    "Akiyah..." she said, as blue energy surged through her arm to her hand. Suddenly, she clenched her fist and screamed, "...Meh!" and brought her hand down, aiming her attack at the robot. The energy slammed into it and vaporized it instantly, leaving no evidence that anything was even there, aside from the burn marks. All of the sudden, Natalie's ki powered down and she returned to a normal state.
"Where did that come from!?" she said, looking down at her hands. She turned and looked through the window that connected the two gravity rooms together and observed Trunks looking at her with a surprised expression on his face. Vegita was standing outside the rooms looking at a control panel, observing Natalie's energy levels. He came in on the talk-screen in her chamber.
    "Well done. Now it's time for the next level. I'm increasing your gravity to three times." He said, and increased the gravity, which Natalie could feel.
    "Please..." she said. "Let me take a break. I'm too worn out to continue."
    "That's why you train like this, no that next time you won't be worn out. Now go!" he said, and switched off the screen.
    "Jerk." She muttered under her breath, and sat down, stretching her muscles.
    Trunks was training under one-hundred times normal gravity, and he was fighting five of the same robots that Natalie had previously destroyed, with the exception that these were much more powerful.
    "Kamehameha!" he shouted, and blasted one of the robots. It shielded itself for the most part, and came back for more. "Guess I'll have to use brute force." He said, and shot at the bots with amazing speed, fists first. "Hyaaa!" he said as he punched the robots. He destroyed one and badly damaged another, which he took out with a ki blast. "Two down, three to go." He said, rubbing his hands together. He battled the droids as Natalie prepared for her second round of robot destroying. She was doing a series of sit-ups, when the door opened in the side and three robots appeared. She gathered her strength and stood to face them. One began to power up and fired a blast, but she shielded herself with her hands and reflected the attack right back at it.
    "Hah!" she shouted, and blasted the already damaged robot. It blew up and charred bits of metal flew everywhere. She began to attack the second one physically, taking it down with one swoop of her leg, and then beating it over the head with her fists. She grabbed the neck of the machine and pulled up, ripping the head off, and then destroying the remains. Trunks watched in awe of her amazing agility and speed.
    "She could pass as a saiyan." He thought.
    Natalie blasted the third droid, but it reflected the attack and sent it flying back in her direction, which she blocked with another blast. She flew at it and kicked it in the back of the head, sending it hurling to the other side of the gravity chamber. As it began to get up, she stomped on it's head, causing it to mal-function and then sent a ki blast at it.
    "Take that you piece of scrap metal." She said, wiping the sweat off her forehead. She was hot, so she removed her tank top, and was left in her sports bra and gym shorts. She pressed a button on the control panel, and Vegita's face appeared on the talk-screen.
    "Can I please take a break?" she begged, mopping her forehead with her shirt.
    "Fine, but make it quick." He said, and informed Trunks so that she could pass through his chamber without getting hurt. She walked through the sliding door and reached Trunks, who was sweating profusely. She tossed him her shirt, and then left the room, grabbing a bottle of water out of Vegita's hands.
    "Thanks." She said, taking in a gulp. Vegita just grumbled. Trunks wiped the sweat off of his body with Natalie's shirt. He noticed that it smelled like her, fragrant but fresh.
    "Dad, can I take a break as well?" he asked, poking his head outside where Vegita and Natalie stood.
    "Fine." He said, and allowed him to pass. Trunks and Natalie sat on the ground with their backs against the building, sharing a bottle of water between them. When the bottle was passed back to Natalie, she finished it off, just to annoy Trunks.
    "Hey! Thanks for leaving me some!" he laughed and grabbed the bottle from her hands, running inside to refill it. When he returned, he had packages of rice crackers for them to eat.
    "Thanks." She said, taking a package and ripping open, devouring the contents. Vegita looked at his watch.
    "It's 6:45. I guess we can call it a day." He said, and switched off the gravity chambers. The three headed back into Capsule Corp. to shower and get ready for dinner. Natalie called the shower first again, and hopped in before Trunks or Vegita could even protest. But while she was in, they hatched an evil scheme. They turned on the other showers in the house to "hot", causing Natalie's water to run cold. They soon heard an ear splitting shriek from upstairs, signaling that their plan had worked. They both laughed at her fate, while Bulma walked into the sitting room with an apron on.
    "Oh, so you think that's funny, huh?" she said to Vegita.
    "Uh...well..." he sputtered.
    "Fine. Since you don't seem to be busy, why don't you help me with dinner." She said, grabbing him by the ears and dragging him into the kitchen. Trunks watched while Bulma dragged his helpless father into the cooking room and forced him to stir the rice.
    "What are you staring at!?" she shouted at Trunks. "You're helping too!" she said, and grabbed him by the arm. Soon, dinner was prepared, and the three fighters had been showered. Natalie kept glaring at Trunks across the table, while he tried his best not to make eye contact with her. When they had finished, Trunks and Vegita began to get up from the table, but were stopped by Bulma.
    "Where do you think you're going? You still have to do the dishes!" she said, and got up from the table. Natalie got up as well, shooting Trunks and Vegita a look that told them she didn't pity them. Natalie walked up the stairs while Trunks and Vegita argued about which dish detergent to use. Tem minutes later, when they had finished, Trunks walked upstairs towards his room, passing Natalie's on the way. She had her door open, and Trunks peeked in. She was lying on the bed on top of the covers, obviously exhausted from the day's events. Intending to get back at her, he ran in and jumped on the bed, startling the girl. She inhaled sharply, and was about to let out a scream, when Trunks covered her mouth and eyes with his hands.
    "Guess who?" he asked. A muffled sound came from her mouth. "What was that? I can't hear you!" he teased, and the sound was heard again. Suddenly, Natalie bit his hand as hard as she could, causing Trunks to jump back.
    "Ow!" he said, holding his hand.
    "That's what you get for scaring the life out of me!" she said angrily.
    "Oh I don't know, you look alive to me." He joked. Natalie sighed with disgust, and narrowed her eyes, looking at Trunks with an evil glare on her face. Without warning, she pounced on him, forcing him onto his back. When she had him pinned, she chuckled to herself.
    "Heh. Weakling." She said, her face inches away from his.
    "Weakling, huh?" he said. "I'll show you!" He jumped up with amazing speed, and before she could react, he had her on her back, with her arms pinned to the bed. "Who's the weakling, now?" he said with a playful smirk on his face. Natalie leaned up and planted a playful peck on his cheek. Trunks' eyes went big and Natalie got a serious look in her eyes.
    "Trunks! Natalie!" Bulma called from downstairs. They both jumped away from each other immediately.
    "Oh...heh heh. I g-guess I'll go see what mom wants." Trunks said, turning bright red.
    "Trunks!" Bulma said, walking into the room, almost smacking straight into Trunks. "What's going on here?" she asked, observing the two teenagers.
    "Nothing!" Natalie said, sitting up. "We're fine!" she reassured.
    "Okay...well I just wanted to tell you that I made apple pie. Feel free to have some." She said, and walked out of the room. Natalie stood up and made her way out of the room, bumping into Trunks on the way.
    "Sorry!" she said quickly, and left nervously to go downstairs. The two teens ate slices of apple pie while Bulma and Vegita were upstairs in bed.
    "Good pie." Natalie said quietly.
    "Yeah." Trunks said. Neither of the two looked at each other.
    "Oh Trunks this is so stupid!" Natalie said, frustrated. Trunks looked up with crumbs on his face. Natalie began to giggle at the sight. She flicked a piece of pie at his face.
    "Hey!" Trunks said, and did the same, smacking it right onto her chin. The both laughed and threw pie at each other until there was no more on their plates. They both cleaned up and ran upstairs to wash the sticky pie off their faces. When they had finished, Trunks wandered into Natalie's room, where she was lying on the bed with no lights on, looking out the window at the stars.
    "Hey." He said, lying on the bed next to her.
    "Hi." She replied softly. Her eyes were halfway closed.
    "What's the matter?" he asked.
    "Oh, I don't know...I'm just afraid."
    "Of what?" he asked, scooting closer to her.
    "Of him." She said. Trunks knew that she was talking about Orion.
    "Don't worry. I won't let him take you." He said, running his hand through her soft brown hair. Natalie rested her head next to his chest, and they both lay on their backs, gazing out the window at the stars above.
    "They're pretty, aren't they?" she whispered.
    "Yeah..." Trunks replied. Natalie looked up at the heavens, letting the light of the stars embrace her soul. Before she knew it, she had fallen asleep in Trunks' arms. Trunks watched her as she slept, stroking her cheek. He gave her a soft kiss on the forehead, and then drifted off to sleep under the stars.


        Cosmic Crisis
Chapter 9 - Nightmares

Natalie sat alone in her room. She could hear the pitter patter of rain on the roof of Capsule Corp. The grey skies were somehow soothing to her. A breeze came out of nowhere and blew through her hair. She felt so relaxed and calm. Just as she looked out at the grey sky, a clap of thunder sounded in the distance, and the skies began to grow darker. The wind picked up, and the rain fell harder. Soon, the skies were black, and Natalie's room was so dark, that she could barely see. Suddenly, an evil laughter echoed through her brain.
    "Who are you? What's going on!?" she shouted as the wind blew debris all around the building.
    "Do you not know who I am, dear princess?" the voice said. She began to get up to run, but the bed fell from underneath her. The floor dissolved and there was nothing left but a black void. She floated around, trying to gain a sense of direction, when a giant hand reached out for her. Her clothes were transformed into a long, flowing gown with white wings on her back.
    "Stay away from me!" she screamed in terror. The laughter just persisted, ringing through her skull. She grasped her head and began to shake. The hand reached and grasped her body, closing in on her. Before she could scream, it closed and she was in total blackness.
    "You're mine, princess." The voice laughed. She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. Her body was paralyzed.
    "Someone help me!" she screamed in her mind, but nobody could hear her cries. She reached out for Trunks, but there was no one there. She could feel strong arms around her. She was trapped. Just as she thought her body was going to explode, she jumped and woke up in her bed, breathing heavily.
    "Natalie, it's okay." Trunks said. "You were having a nightmare." He said. She could feel his arms around her. Before she could say anything, her body gave way and she slipped into a deep sleep. Trunks looked at her with worry on his face. He knew that her dream was a vision of things to come. He closed his eyes, and relaxed.
    The next morning, Trunks and Natalie slept on the bed. His arms were around her, and her head was rested on his chest. Vegita walked by the room, wondering why the two hadn't gotten out of bed. He opened the door to Natalie's room, and facefaulted when he saw the two dozing on the bed. He walked over and grabbed Natalie by the back of her shirt, placing her on the floor.
    "What the - " she said groggily, trying to focus on Vegita's form.
    "GET UP!" Vegita yelled in Trunks' ear. The teenage boy jumped off the bed, and fell onto the floor, rubbing his eyes. "What do you two think you are doing?" he said angrily. "Get off the floor, girl." He said, picking her up, forcing her to stand on her feet. "For this, you two are going to work extra today. No breaks." He said, and carried them downstairs to the sitting room, and literally threw them onto the sofa. They were still dressed in the same clothes from the previous night. While they sat and tried to gather their senses, Vegita tossed them each a package of crackers.
    "There's your breakfast. Training begins in 15 minutes." He said, and stomped up the stairs.
    "Gourmet." Natalie said, opening her crackers.
    "Only the best for us." Trunks joked back.
    "Sorry about last night." She said, looking down at her wrapper.
    "What about?" he asked.
    "Waking you up, fighting like that. That dream just seemed so real..." she trailed off. "I don't know what the matter is."
    "Don't worry about it. I'm sure it was just a random thing." He lied, just to comfort her. They ate their rice crackers on the sofa and talked, until it was time to train. Vegita walked down the stairs, dressed in basically the same thing as Trunks.
    "We're going to begin in the gravity chamber." He said, and then looked at Natalie. "You'll start off with five times gravity." He said, and then looked over at Trunks. "And you will start with one hundred and twenty five." Natalie facefaulted. "And there will be absolutely NO complaining." He finished, and walked out to the gravity building. Trunks and Natalie dragged their lethargic bodies out the door and followed Vegita. Natalie's muscles were sore from yesterday, and the new increase of gravity wouldn't help it.
    "Trunks, you get chamber one, Natalie gets chamber two." He said, and began to set the controls for training. Natalie shuffled into the room and shut the door behind her. She sat on the cold metal floor and began to do warm-up stretches. She began sit-ups and push-ups, when a hologram appeared in the middle of the room. She looked up at it. It was a young female, Natalie estimated around 20, with black hair and blue eyes. She was quite built, and was wearing a sports bra and jogging shorts. Vegita's face came in on the talk-screen.
    "This is Tora. You will be sparring with her today instead of the robots you have fought previously." He said, and the screen fizzled out. Natalie turned back to the hologram. She was at least six feet tall. Tora took on a fighting stance, and Natalie did the same. For a few seconds, they looked at each other, waiting for one to make the first move. Suddenly, Tora came at Natalie with her right fist out. Natalie easily dodged it and swooped around the back of her, attempting to kick her ankles to bring her down. Tora leapt into the air and did a roundhouse kick at Natalie's face. Natalie ducked and attempted to send a painful uppercut to Tora's jaw. Tora moved her head out of the way and grabbed Natalie's wrist, twisting her arm. Natalie let out a yelp, but kicked Tora in the shin, causing her to lose her grip. Natalie sent a ki blast flying, but Tora counter-attacked with one of her own. Natalie dodged it and brought her fists together, bringing them down on Tora's back. Tora let out a scream and fell forward. Natalie blurred out of sight, and reappeared in front of Tora's form, bringing her foot around to Tora's ankles, trying to bring her down, but Tora jumped up and punched Natalie in the jaw. Natalie winced in pain, but didn't fall over. She placed her fingers on her forehead and gathered energy, sending it flying towards Tora's chest. It slammed into the hologram, sending her flying backward into the wall. Natalie flew forward with her left fist out, attempting to punch Tora in the face, but she dodged it and Natalie punched the wall instead. She let out a scream and grasped her hand. Tora sent a ki blast flying into Natalie's back before she could dodge it, causing Natalie to slam into the wall. The effects of the gravity were beginning to take their toll on her body. She fell to the ground in a heap, and just as Tora was about to finish her off, Trunks interjected and slammed his fist into Tora's back, sending her flying across the room. Natalie lifted her head in surprise to see Trunks standing over her.
    "Are you okay?" he asked, reaching his hand out to help her up. Suddenly, Trunks was sent flying into the wall next to Natalie, where he was knocked unconscious. She looked up to see Tora finishing off a ki blast. Natalie was outraged. She stood up, her hair rising off her head. Tora began to charge another ki blast. Natalie's ki began to flare again, as a result of her anger. Tora fired her ki blast, which bounced harmlessly off Natalie's ki shield. Natalie brought her hands down to her sides and began to charge up. Tora looked on in fear and began to fire multiple ki blasts at the girl, all which bounced back just as the ones before it. Natalie's hands began to glow red and gathered energy from all around.
    "Akiyah-Meh!" she screamed and shot an enormous blast of blue and yellow energy towards the hologram. The energy surrounded Tora's body as she twisted in pain. She let out a final scream before she exploded into a million different points of light, which fell to the ground like glittery dust. Natalie, her body exhausted from the attack, fell on top of Trunks' unconscious body and fainted.
    Vegita watched as beams of light erupted from the gravity chamber, and then died down. He checked the status of the hologram, and realized that it had been destroyed.
    "What!?" he said out loud. "How could she possibly - " he broke off. He walked into the chamber where the two lay unconscious on the floor. He picked them up and then threw them on the ground outside the chamber.
    "Wake up." He said, kicking them in the side. Nobody stirred. He picked Natalie up by the arms and shook her to wake her up.
    "Wake up girl!" he said, shaking her repeatedly. "We have to do something about this." He said, throwing her back onto the ground. He sent a small ki blast into Trunks to bring him back to consciousness. He woke up with a pounding headache.
    "Whoa..." he said, holding his head in his hands. He looked over at the unconscious girl, and checked her heart rate. "She is dangerously low on energy. She needs some more, and fast." He said. He held his hand to her forehead, and his body began to glow. He donated some of his ki to the girl, bringing her back to consciousness.
    "Trunks?" she said, looking up at him.
    "Natalie!" he said, hugging the girl. "Are you alright?" he asked.
    "Yeah, thanks to you." She said, looking into his eyes.
    "Yeah enough with the little reunion. You two have more training to do." Vegita said, breaking up the silence.
    "Are you crazy!? You have been pushing us over the limit!" Trunks said, standing up to face his father. "Look at what just happened to us!"
    "Don't talk back to me, boy." Vegita said, stepping closer with a menacing look in his eyes. "If I say you'll train more, you will. Do you hear me?"
    "Well at least let Natalie sit this one out. She needs some rest." Trunks said.
    "She has been rested enough. If we keep giving her breaks whenever her body gets the least bit fatigued, she won't gain anything!" he said, and began to set the controls for more training.
    "Dad, give us a break for once! She just maxed out her power!" Trunks argued back. Vegita turned around and backhanded his son by instinct. Natalie jumped back in fear.
    "Don't EVER talk that way to me again." Vegita said. Trunks glared angrily at his father. Natalie was confused and frightened. She didn't know what to do, so she took off into the sky, heading back for her house.
    "Natalie!" Trunks called out to her. He shot into the air after her, followed by Vegita.
    "Come back here Trunks. I'll get her myself." Vegita said, pushing his son back. Trunks began to object, but retained himself and backed off. He hoped that Vegita would handle things in a calm manner.
    Natalie sped through the sky, leaving a trail behind her. Vegita increased his speed to catch up with the girl. She just fled faster, with Vegita pursuing close from behind. She feared for her safety, and she didn't want to be the victim of Vegita's short temper ever again. She pushed her tired muscles further, and they burned in protest. Her ki was already low, and using all this energy wasn't doing her any good.
    Trunks sat inside Capsule Corp., sensing out the two ki's in the distance. Bulma walked into the room where Trunks was sitting.
    "Where's your father?" she asked.
    "Oh, he went out for a while." He lied. "Natalie went back to her house."
    "Well when you see him again, tell him I need to talk to him. It's about Natalie." She said, with worry in her voice.
    "What? Tell me." Trunks pleaded.
    "Remember her telling us about Orion?" Bulma said.
    "Yeah?" Trunks replied, beginning to worry as well.
    "He arrives in five days."