Cosmic Crisis

Chapter 12 - Doomsday

Natalie tossed and turned in her sleep, mumbling a slur of words. Outside, the breeze blew and rustled the leaves on the tree. The earth stood still, as if it was the calm before the storm.

Trunks was lying awake in bed. He couldn't get any sleep, and his heart was beating so loudly that he thought it would wake someone up. He could detect the extremely high ki on its way to earth. He feared for Natalie's safety, as well as the safety of his family. The fact that this alien was after an innocent girl enraged him, but he kept his power down. He closed his eyes and tried to get to sleep, but it was no use. He had been lying in bed for hours, and his body wouldn't comply with him. He just sat in bed and stared out of his window at the glittering stars...

Natalie awoke on the warm Thursday morning with a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. She assumed that it was from the nightmares that she'd had the previous night. She stretched in bed, and looked out the window at the overcast sky. The thought of a rainstorm made her sleepy, and she settled back into her bed. No more than five minutes later, the door to her room swung open. She sat up in bed, startled, and saw Vegita standing in the doorway.

"Time to get up girl. You need to do some more training today." He said, and waited for her to get out of her warm safe haven. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell back onto the bed with a thud.

"You heard me! Get up!" he said, using telekinesis to lift the covers off of her. Her cold body curled up into a ball. Eventually, Vegita had to walk over to her and physically lift her out of the bed. "Why do you have to make things so difficult?" he asked, carrying her across the room by the back of her shirt. She just mumbled. He carried her out into the hallway and dropped her on the ground.

"Now go get ready. We begin in 10 minutes." He said, and threw something at her. She picked it up off the ground and examined it. It was a tiny seed with an off-white tint to it.

"What the - " she said, staring at it with a look of confusion on her face.

"Senzu seed!" Trunks proclaimed, walking out of his room. He popped one of the little beans into his mouth and chewed on it.

"Huh?" she asked. "You want me to eat this?" she looked down at it. "Don't you guys have any real breakfast food?"

"This is breakfast. Go on, eat it." He said.

"Okay, but I hardly doubt that this little seed is going to satisfy my growling stomach." She said, and tossed it into her mouth. Almost instantly, she felt alert and her stomach was no longer sending pangs of hunger through her body. The soreness in her muscles went away also. "Wow!" she said, and looked at her hands, not believing the miraculous change in her body.

"Oh, those aren't even the strong ones. We only use those in battle. These are just for the purpose of giving someone the equivalent of a day's worth of food. The other ones are ten times as strong." He said, and helped her up off the ground.

"So are there anymore wonder-beans around here?" she asked.

"No, those are only found at Korrin Tower." He explained, realizing that she didn't know what Korrin tower was.

"What's - " she began, but Trunks was ahead of her, and began to explain it before she could even finish her question. When he was finished telling the story, they went downstairs to wait for Vegita's orders. He came out of the master suite with two sacks. He walked down the stairs and tossed the bags to the two teens. Natalie caught hers, but the weight was more than she expected and she fell down to the ground with them. Trunks caught his and almost dropped them, but held on.

"Weighted clothing?" Trunks asked. "But can't we just use the gravity room?"

"No. Those chambers give you a limited amount of space to work in. These clothes will duplicate the effects of G-Training, without actually using the rooms." He said, and walked outside. "Go put those on, and meet me out here in five minutes." He grumbled. Natalie and Trunks walked to their rooms with the clothing. Natalie was having a hard time carrying the things up the stairs. They changed into the clothing and Natalie inspected them as she put them on. There were weighted boots, a weighted tank top, and wristbands.

"Oh man. These things weigh 10 pounds each, alone!" she cried while lifting the wristbands, and slipped into the clothing. The boots fit snugly, but she could barely walk in them, and the tank top was a little loose, but otherwise worked out pretty well. She struggled out of her room, grasping onto walls and various tables along the way. She saw Trunks casually walk out of the room as if he hadn't even put the weights on.

"Hey!" she cried at him. "Didn't you change?"

"Yeah, see?" he said, showing her the boots and wristbands. She just grumbled and attempted to walk down the stairs. They walked...er...crawled out the door and into the yard where Vegita was waiting for them.

"What are you doing, girl?" Vegita asked, looking at Natalie with an annoyed look on his face.

"I...can't...walk..." she said, doing her best to get into the training area.

"Well you'll get used to them. You'll have to." He said, and fired a weak ki blast at her. She couldn't dodge it, so she created a ki shield to absorb it instead.

"No ki shields!" he said, and fired another one at her. She tried to get away, but it grazed her arm, sending pain through her body.

"Hey! Don't take advantage of my situation, ok!" she shouted, and struggled to her feet.

"This is how you learn." He said, and charged at her. She managed to dodge his attack, but he blurred and appeared behind her, slamming his fist into her back which sent her flying a few feet forward. She turned around to counter-attack, but the weights slowed her down and Vegita blurred out of sight once again. He appeared behind her with his arms crossed. She swung around and held her arms out in a fighting stance.

"You have to learn to be quicker." He said, looking at her with narrowed eyes.

"Yeah well I'm trying! These weights aren't exactly helping me!" she said in reply to his remark.

"Well try harder then!" he said, and surged forward again. This time, instead of dodging, she blocked his attack with her arm and punched him in the side. He came back at her with a kick to the stomach, but she grabbed his foot and pushed him backwards, and then sent a ki blast flying. He blocked it, and stood up, wiping the dirt off his armor.

"That's what I expected to see. Now Trunks will be sparring with you this time. Don't hold out, he can take it." He said, and Trunks stepped in. He came at her with a punch ready, but she grabbed his arm and threw him backward, sending a weak ki blast at him. He merely dodged it and sent one flying back at her. She deflected it and tried to run at him, but was having trouble moving her feet with the weighted boots on. Seeing this weakness, he blurred out of sight and reappeared behind her and attempted to punch her in the back, but she ducked and his hand flew over her head. She reached up and grabbed it, and flipped him over her body, sending him into the ground. He used his hands to spring him upwards, and came down at Natalie with his foot flying towards her face. She swung her head to dodge it, but on his way down, Trunks grabbed her arm and sent her flying into the air, and sent a ki blast after her. She retaliated with one of her own, and they met in mid-air while she hovered in the air at a 45-degree angle from him. Trunks poured more energy into his blast, and it was pushing hers back toward her. She struggled to stay in the air with the weights on, but was slowly falling downward. She let go of her energy, and she fell toward the ground while Trunks' ki blast surged right by her. She landed on the ground with a thud, and struggled to get up. Trunks blurred next to her and stepped on her back with one foot.

"Looks like you've been beaten!" Vegita said, amused, and hovered over to where the two were. Natalie looked up at Vegita with a smirk on her face, and then her ki flared a brilliant blue color, sending Trunks and Vegita flying backwards 10 feet.

"What the - " Vegita said as she stood up, with a gold aura around her. She put her fingers to her forehead and closed her eyes, as her hair and clothes began to rise into the air. She opened her eyes and sent an enormous blast towards the two saiyans, and before they could even react, the energy slammed into them, sending them flying back further. When she finished her blast, they lay on the ground about 25 feet away from her with singe marks on their clothes and smoke coming off of their bodies. They had surprised expressions on their faces as Natalie walked over and stood on *their* backs.

"So who's been beaten now?" she said, grinning. The two just grumbled and put their heads in the palms of their hands. Bulma peered her head out the window and a sweat drop appeared on her forehead.

"Uh...time for lunch." She said, and went back into the building. Natalie and the two scorched warriors walked into the house for lunch. Since they had eaten senzu seeds earlier, Bulma just fixed some hors d'oeuvres for the three. Trunks and Natalie munched on the tiny finger-foods while Vegita drank some juice. Bulma couldn't help but stare at the scorched saiyans as they ate.

"What happened to you guys?" she asked, inspecting Vegita's armor and body suit. Vegita just made a grunting noise and looked up at Natalie, who just grinned innocently. Bulma smirked, and then looked at her singed son.

"Well I'm glad you helped to deflate his ego, hun." She said to Natalie, and then ran her hand through Vegita's hair several times, causing it to flatten. Vegita grumbled and pulled away from her while Natalie shot a weak, electric blast at his hair, making it stand up again. Trunks cracked up, but stopped immediately when he saw the look of death in Vegita's eyes. Vegita shot a weak blast of his own under the table at Natalie. She jumped in her seat, and this time Vegita laughed. She narrowed her eyes and returned fire. Soon they were having a battle of the super-powers while Trunks and Bulma watched. When the smoke cleared, Natalie and Vegita were standing in the middle of the kitchen with half-eaten scraps of food, as well as cups and plates, lying all over the floor. They looked reluctantly at Bulma, who had her hands on her hips.

"Well I guess you know who gets to clean this mess!" she said, glaring. Natalie bent down and gathered a few scraps into a plate at threw them away. Soon Vegita joined her, while Bulma escorted Trunks up the stairs to prevent him from helping. The two worked in silence until Natalie spoke up.

"Well at least you got your hair fixed!" she said, tossing a paper cup into the trash. Vegita grunted and continued his work. He wasn't about to speak to that earth girl. "Hey how come you never talk to me, unless you're giving me orders?" she inquired, ceasing her chore. Vegita stood up and put his hands on his hips.

"Why should I waste my breath on an insignificant little human girl?" he said.

"Maybe because I waste my breath on you." She replied, crossing her arms. Vegita stood in shock that someone had the nerve to talk back to him. He ran at her with his fist out, intending to scare her, but she stood her ground when his fist stopped an inch away from her face. Vegita's glare alone scared her, but she didn't give in.

"Humph. I guess you aren't as cowardly as I thought you were." He said, smirking. He brought his hand down to his side and continued to clean.

"Well you aren't as cold as I thought you were." She said.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"You wasted your breath on me." She said, and threw a piece of tomato at his face. He peeled the tomato off of his face and crushed it, throwing the pulpy remains back at her.

"Gross!" she said, and scraped the tomato smear off of her arm. Vegita sat and laughed at her misfortune while she threw it away. Trunks watched from upstairs and was amazed that someone had gotten his dad to...heaven forbid...laugh. He turned to walk back into his room before he was discovered. When the mess in the kitchen was clean, the two shuffled up the stairs to get cleaned up. While Natalie was climbing stair after stair, she suddenly tripped and did a face plant into the carpet. Vegita was standing behind her with a not-so-innocent look on his face, and then stepped onto her back on his way up.

"Oh I hope he falls!" she thought, closing her eyes and clenching her right fist. No sooner than said (or thought), he fell forward and barely managed to catch himself. Natalie facefaulted and lifted herself off the floor.

"Ha." She said, and walked over him on the way to her room.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't shoot you with a ki blast and cremate your remains!" he said, charging a blast. Natalie knew that he was just bluffing.

"Because you would miss me." She said and winked, shutting the door to her room. Vegita lifted his body off of the ground and walked past her room, resisting the urge to blow the door out of its hinges, just to scare the daylights out of the brat. Natalie changed out of the weighted clothing and let them fall to the floor, making loud noises as they did. She stood in her bra and underwear, enjoying the feeling of her normal weight, when the door to her room swung open and Trunks ran in with Vegita behind him.

"Hey Natalie we're going - " he broke off and the two facefaulted when they realized that they had walked in on her changing. Natalie screamed and jumped behind her curtains, shouting at them for coming in. They ran out of her room like two frightened little boys while Bulma watched with a sweat drop on her forehead. After she had showered and gotten dressed, she walked out of her room. When she made eye contact with Trunks she turned beet red and returned to her room. Trunks knocked on her door and she opened it slowly, peeking around the side of it to see who it was. She opened it when she realized that it was Trunks.

"Natalie I just wanted to say that I'm - "

"It's okay I'll learn to change in my bathroom next time!" She said before he could even finish. He held his hand out to her with a single red rose in his palm. She graciously accepted it and hugged him so hard that he almost fell backwards.

"Thanks!" she said, and put the rose in a glass of water from her bathroom.

"Uh - Natalie?" Trunks started.

"Yes?" she said, looking up from her flower with her big green eyes. Trunks stepped closer to her.

"Natalie...I - " he broke off, and there was a huge explosion heard. It rocked the house like an earthquake, shattering glass and knocking things off of shelves and countertops. When the dust settled, Natalie and Trunks were in a heap on the floor.

"What was that!?" Natalie cried, jumping up. Trunks stood up as well and they raced down the stairs and out the door to investigate. They hovered in the air, scanning the area, when Natalie's heart stopped. There, in the middle of a field, was an enormous crater about the size of a football field with dust and smoke pouring into the sky. One glance was all it took for them to realize what was going on, and she panicked. She was so terrified that she almost fell from the sky, but Trunks grabbed her arm and raced to Capsule Corp. faster than Natalie had ever seen him go.

"Mom! Dad!" Trunks screamed throughout the building. There were coughing noises heard from the living quarters and the two teens ran up the stairs. There was Vegita, still shielding Bulma with his body, with dust and debris scattered all around them.

"What the hell was that noise?" Vegita said, helping his mate off of the ground.

"Th-there is a - " Natalie started.

"A crater! Dad it's a space pod!" he said, frightened. Vegita's head snapped up and his eyes widened. Suddenly he could feel the presence of a ki. The power level jumped dramatically. Trunks and Natalie sensed it as well and it caused the hairs on their necks to stand on end. Vegita and Trunks shot out the door faster than lightning, leaving Natalie behind. Her ki flared and she shot after them with incredible speed as well. They reached the crash site and hovered in the air 100 feet away and 50 feet in the air. Smoke was still pouring out of the crater and the dust began to settle. So far there was no activity, but the ki was still present. It was so large that they had trouble focusing on it. Suddenly, a figure emerged from the wreckage. At first they couldn't make out the form because of all the smoke, but it cleared and they were able to see a person. Out came an intimidating warrior. He was six feet tall with spiky blonde hair and crystal blue eyes. He was extremely well built and just the look on his face caused Natalie to jump back.

"A-a-" she tried to speak, but her voice failed her. The figure produced an item very similar to a scouter and held it up to his eye, scanning their ki's and locating others.

"A-" she tried again, but couldn't. Her body was trembling violently and her ki was jumping erratically. The figure approached the group slowly, hovering at the same height as they were. When he was about ten feet away, he spoke in a commanding voice,

"Well, well, well. You must be my dear Carina. I am Orion."