Cosmic Crisis

Chapter 4 - Discovery

After finishing their apple dumplings, the trio headed up to Trunks' room. The two boys sat on the bed, while Natalie sat on top of his desk.

"What am I doing here? I just met you today, and already I'm wearing your clothes and sitting in your room!" Natalie commented.

"Um..." Trunks started.

"Oh well. I guess I have nowhere better to be. It's not like I'm going home anytime soon..." she trailed off. "So what were you guys talking about earlier today, anyway?" she inquired. Trunks and Goten had decided not to tell her about it right away.

"Oh, nothing." Trunks said quickly. Natalie just rolled her eyes.

"You guys, I'm really worried about my mom. Can I call the hospital?" she asked, reaching for Trunks' phone.

"Sure." Natalie quickly dialed the number.

"Room 316 please." She said into the phone. She sat and waited for a while, but hung up. "There's no answer." She said, with worry in her voice. Trunks glanced at the clock next to Natalie.

"6:00. Time for training." Trunks said, standing up and stretching.

"I guess I'll go too." Goten said, getting up as well.

"Can I come?" Natalie asked.

"I guess...if you really want to. I don't think dad will mind." He said, walking out of the room. He ran down the hall, followed by Natalie and Goten.

"DAD!" Trunks called down the hall.

"WHAT!?" Vegita answered from the first floor. The three ran down the two flights of stairs to the bottom, where Vegita stood.

"Do you mind if Goten trains with us today?"

"As long as he doesn't mind getting dirty, fine with me." He replied, crossing his arms once again.

"Can Natalie watch us today?"

"Her?" he asked, glancing over at the girl. "Do you think that allowing a human into the training area would be a GOOD idea?" he asked, looking back at the two boys.

"I'll be fine." She said. Vegita didn't outburst, seeing that this was a week, human female.

"I don't think that you should." Vegita said, keeping his temper under control. Bulma walked into the room.

"Honey, give her a chance. If she says she'll be fine, she'll be fine." She said.

"You humans are all the same! You think you're invincible." Vegita said, raising his voice.

"It's not a big deal. I won't go..." Natalie said, turning around to walk away.

"No, wait! You can come...just stay out of the way, ok?" Trunks said, grabbing her arm. Vegita started to comment, but Bulma shot him a glare. The four walked out into the training area, which was a huge room at least 100 meters long and 50 meters high. The floor was made out of artificial grass, and there was an artificial light source. In one corner, there was a gravity chamber.

"Just sit here for now." Trunks said, and pulled up a chair. "Goten, I'm going with dad first, and then you and I go second." He said, pulling up another chair for his friend. Trunks and Vegita walked out in the middle of the floor, and began stretching their muscles in preparation.

"So what are they doing?" Natalie asked Goten.

"They're stretching. In a minute, things are going to get really exciting, you just wait." He said, smirking.

"Dad, did you set the forcefield?" Trunks asked.

"No, go set it." He replied. Trunks flew over next to the gravity chamber and punched a few buttons on a panel in the wall. Right after, a transparent wall of energy shot over the area where Natalie and Goten were sitting, startling them.

"Don't worry, it'll keep you safe." He said, and flew back to Vegita.

"Safe from what?" Natalie asked, confused.

"Just watch." Goten repeated. Natalie sat and waited for them to finish their stretches. They stood up, bowing out of respect, and then standing up straight again. Vegita made the first move. He rushed at Trunks, who just dodged. Vegita spun around and sent his fist flying at Trunks' back, but Trunks blocked it with his arm and flipped Vegita over him. Trunks attempted to punch Vegita in the face, but was blocked and then kicked in the side. He retaliated by grabbing Vegita's leg and flipping him again. Vegita just used his hand to bounce back and charge at Trunks, who dodged and got a few punches in. All this was happening too fast for Natalie to follow, but she could sense where they were. She sat in amazement as the two saiyans battled. Soon, the ki blasts started. Any missed shots were absorbed into the walls.

"Can you follow?" Goten asked.

"Not really." She replied. Watching the fighting was beginning to excite her, and Goten noticed that her ki started to rise.

"She has no idea of what she's doing." Goten thought to himself. Vegita noticed the increase in her ki also.

"That girl over there..." Vegita started.

"Natalie?" Trunks asked,

"Yeah. Can she fight?" he continued.

"Actually she can, why?"

"Can you sense it?"

"Sense what?" Trunks asked.

"Her ki. It's rising." They continued fighting, exchanging blows every so often. After a while, they finished. Vegita commended his son. Trunks walked over and turned off the forcefield so that Goten could get up.

"Goten! Your turn!" Trunks said. "I'm gonna take a break. You can go with dad."

"Sure." Goten said, and joined Vegita on the battlefield. Trunks turned the forcefield back on and joined Natalie. He was sweating from the training.

"So what did you think?" he asked, mopping his forehead with a cloth.

"Where did you guys learn to fight like that!?" she asked, stunned.

"Fighting comes naturally to saiyans." He replied, and then remembered that she didn't know what a saiyan was.

"What's a saiyan?" she asked.

"It's a race of beings. The only ones left are us three and five others." Trunks said, gesturing towards Goten and Vegita.

"You mean, you aren't human?" she asked, looking into his eyes.

"Well, I'm half human, half saiyan. My dad is a full blooded saiyan." He explained, and then went into the story of planet Vegita and it's destruction. When he was finished with that, he explained how his dad and Goku had come to earth.

"Wow." That was all she could manage. "Is that why you can fly and manipulate energy as well?" she asked.

"Yeah. Well, if you wanted, you could do that too." He said.

"Huh? How, I'm just a normal human girl." She replied.

"Actually, that's what I've been needing to tell you. Today when I stopped you in the street, I sensed a strong force radiating from your body. I used the scouter to make sure I was right. Sure enough, you aren't a normal human." Natalie's head was spinning. She had just met this boy today, and already he was telling her that she wasn't normal.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, you have an unusually strong ki. Something in your genetics has caused you to be this way." He explained.

"Well how come I don't notice this?"

"You have to be trained to control your ki, as well as how to sense others. If you want, I could show you."

"I don't believe this." she said quietly. Trunks felt a strange feeling wash over him. Suddenly, Natalie remembered her mom.

"Oh, I need to see if she's doing okay." she said, getting up quickly.

"Well the storm hasn't calmed down, so you better just call for now." Trunks replied. Natalie got up and went back inside to use the phone. This time, a nurse answered the phone.

"Hi, this Natalie Holmes. Is my mother doing okay?" she asked.

"Well, your mother is still in critical condition. The doctors are debating on whether to operate or not. Would you like me to do get one for you?" the nurse asked.

"No, no. It's okay." She answered, and then hung up the phone. She got tears in her eyes. Instead of going back out into the training area, she ran upstairs into Trunks' room. She fell onto the bed and started sobbing. A few minutes later, Trunks and Goten came up to check on her.

"Natalie?" Goten asked, putting his hand on her shoulder. "What's going on?" Natalie didn't answer, instead, she just cried even harder.

"Her mother is in the hospital in critical condition. She has nowhere to go." Trunks explained. Vegita was passing by and heard the commotion. He felt sorry for the human girl.

"She can stay here for the night." He suggested to Trunks. The two boys turned around in shock.

"Dad?" Trunks asked.

"What?"

"Care to repeat that?" he asked, just to make sure he wasn't hearing things.

"You heard me. I said she can stay here for the night. She can sleep in the room next to yours." He said, and then left, walking down the hall. Bulma came upstairs, and tried to comfort Natalie.

"I'll go prepare your room." She said, and left. Natalie sat up, wiping her eyes.

"I'm sorry guys. This is really hard for me right now. I don't feel very well." She said, feeling faint. She strained to see, but the blackness took over, and she fell to the ground.