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."