Cosmic Crisis 2 - The Return of Orion

Chapter 6 - Visitor

Natalie raced through the cloudless sky, looking down as the ground raced below her. Her shoulder throbbed with pain, but she tried to ignore it as she pressed onward. It wasn't the fact that Trunks hurt her that angered her, but that he just left her when it happened. She knew he hadn't meant it, but she was bad about bearing grudges.

Suddenly, she detected a presence close behind her. Her heart raced and she stopped abruptly, looking around for any sign of someone. She saw something twinkle in the distance, coming from the same direction that she had traveled from. She squinted her eyes to try and make out a figure. She soon discovered that it was Trunks following her. She rolled her eyes and folded her arms, waiting for him. When he came within 50 feet of her, he slowed down, and stopped when he was within ten feet. He noticed her glaring at him critically with her green eyes.

"So now you decide to see if I'm okay? Nice timing." She said rudely. His eyes widened from her comment.

"I-I was just going to follow you to make sure you went the right way." He lied.

"You think I'm THAT stupid, huh?" she replied, narrowing her eyes.

<What's her problem?> Trunks thought to himself. <I made a mistake, that's all...>

"Yes. I mean, no! No, I don't think you're stupid at all!" he answered. Natalie signed and turned away from him.

"Okay. I'll be going now." She said, and took off again. Trunks raced after her, flying parallel to the girl.

"Natalie don't be angry at me!" he pleaded with her. She ignored him and pressed on. Trunks kept up the pace, making sure that she didn't get ahead. "Natalie?" he said, reaching his hand out to her.

<Why AM I so mad at him?> she thought. His words echoed through her mind. Trunks' hand touched her shoulder softly. She looked over at him and saw the sincerity in his blue eyes.

"Oh, fine. I forgive you, okay?" she said, stopping suddenly.

"Really?" Trunks said, his eyes beaming. "I mean, thanks."

"Yeah. Come on." She said. Her ki flared it's brilliant blue fire and she sped towards Korrin tower, fast enough to baffle the mind, but slow enough to keep her arm from becoming an obstacle for the air rushing by her. After about 30 minutes, Natalie could make out the tower in the distance. Seeing this, she sped up. Trunks followed, and they reached their destination in less than five minutes.

Natalie landed softly on the ledge that led to Korrin's lair. Trunks landed next to her and walked inward. Suddenly, a white cat-like animal holding a wooden staff poked his head from around a corner.

"Trunks! What can I do for you today?" he said, looking over at Natalie. "And who is this lovely lady? Your girlfriend?" he joked. Natalie's face became flushed in an instant. Seeing this, Korrin exploded into laughter. Natalie smirked and spoke up.

"Are you Korrin?" she asked.

"Why yes I am. What have you come all the way out here for?" he asked.

"We need a senzu bean." Trunks interjected. "Natalie fractured her shoulder."

"You mean YOU fractured it." She interrupted.

"Oh, come on. Don't start that again!" Trunks cried in protest. Korrin looked on at the arguing couple with a sweat drop.

"Come now. You two sound like Bulma and Yamcha!" Korrin blurted out.

"What? Bulma and who!?" Natalie said, stunned.

"Heh heh...did I say Yamcha? I meant Vegita!" Korrin said, placing his hand on the back of his head and producing a ridiculous grin.

"You know what you said! What ABOUT Bulma and Yamcha?" Natalie pressed.

"They used to date." Trunks said. Natalie spun around to face him, her eyes wide.

"They what!?" she said, and erupted into laughter. Trunks rolled his eyes and looked over at Korrin with a desperate expression.

"Anyway, Korrin, do you have a senzu bean or not?" Trunks asked.

"I do." Korrin said, and pulled out a small brown bag from the unseen regions of his fur coat. "Here ya are. That will be 200 dollars." Korrin said, handing the bag to Trunks.

"What!?" Trunks cried. "But I didn't bring any money!"

"Just kidding!" Korrin said, laughing at the baffled Saiyan.

"Man, Korrin. You're as bad as Kaio-sama." Trunks said, and walked over to Natalie, who was still laughing. "Here." He said, handing her a senzu bean. She stopped laughing and accepted the gift, inspecting it with her large, green eyes.

"Just eat it." Korrin said. "It tastes like candy."

"Oh no it doesn't! I've had these things before!" she said, looking up at the cat. "Oh well. It's for a good cause." She said, popping it onto her mouth and chewing it. Suddenly, her shoulder healed itself and was back to normal. "Wow, these things are great!" she exclaimed, finishing off the remains of the seed.

"Glad I could be of service." Korrin said.

"Thanks Korrin. We really have to be going." Trunks said.

"No, I insist you two stay. I just made some of my Yederan Stew." Korrin said.

"Yederan stew!? We're outta here!" Trunks said, grabbing Natalie by the arm and rocketing out of the tower.

"Gullible little Saiyan." Korrin laughed to himself.

Trunks and Natalie sped across the sky, away from Korrin Tower. Natalie was still being dragged along by Trunks.

"Whoa! Where's the fire?" she cried. Trunks looked back at her, preparing to slow down.

"Oh, sorry." He said, letting go of her arm.

"Hey, no problem. Saves me the energy." She said, and then joined Trunks on the journey back. Her shoulder felt better than it had before she fractured it. Those senzu seeds were really impressive.

They reached the cabin in half an hour, landing on the warm sand simultaneously. The walked inside and saw that nobody was on the main floor.

"Mom? Dad?" Trunks called throughout the house. Seeing that nobody answered, they walked upstairs to search for someone.

"Hello?" Natalie called down the hall while looking in all the rooms. "That's weird. You think they would have at least left a note or something." She commented.

"No, they're not really like that. They tend to be 'spur of the moment' type." Trunks said to her.

"Oh?" she asked, turning to him. "Well nobody is here, obviously. What are we going to do now?"

"Just sit and wait I guess..." Trunks trailed off.

"Yeah right, Trunks! If there's one thing you'll never see me doing it's gotta be sitting around boring myself to death." She said, crossing her arms. She walked into her room and slipped out of her shorts and tank top, revealing the bikini underneath, then ran back downstairs and out the door. Trunks sighed and took off his shirt and shoes, leaving him in his swimming shorts. He followed the girl outside, where she was already heading for the water.

"Come on!" She shouted back at him. Before he could reply, she dove into the water. She came to the surface and floated on her back, looking up at the sky. "Ah, this is the good life. Nothing on your mind but sand and sea." She said, letting out a sigh. Suddenly, something grabbed her from underneath. Before she had a chance to scream for help, she was submerged in water. She swung her arm around, impacting it with something hard. She returned to the surface and took in a huge breath of air.

"Trunks!" she cried, looking around for him. "Trunks!?" she called frantically. She noticed air bubbles rising to the surface. "Oh shit!" she cried and dove underwater, grabbing onto the limp body and pulling it about the water. "Trunks! Don't tell me I knocked you out!" she cried, dragging him to shore. "Oh I can't believe I was so careless!" she said, putting her head on his chest to check for breathing. "What the-" she said, looking down at him. "He's breathing...but -"

"SURPRISE!" Trunks shouted, sitting straight up. He frightened the girl so much that she fell backward.

"Damnit Trunks don't ever scare me like that again!" She shouted, hitting him in the chest.

"Sorry!" he said sheepishly. "I was...just checking to see if you knew CPR." He said.

"Why...?" she asked wryly.

"Um...in case I REALLY needed it." He replied with a cheesy grin on his face.

"Yeah right. Well you can sit here on the shore while I go have fun then." She said, and ran back into the water. She swam near the floor of the ocean, causing the sand to occasionally brush up against her body. Trunks swam up beside her, pushing her aside mockingly as he sped up, passing her.

<He thinks he's so great> Natalie thought to herself. <Just because he can swim faster than I can. Well I'll show him.> and with that, she used her ki to propel her though the water, just as she did when she would fly. <Wow, this is so cool!> she thought as the water surged past her. She caught up with Trunks, surprising him. They both returned to the surface for air.

"Hey, you got the hang of that quickly." Trunks said, filling his lungs with air.

"And that surprises you?" she said, smirking at the saiyan boy.

"Well actually...' he said, teasing her.

"Hey!" she cried, pushing his head underwater. He retaliated by grabbing her leg and jerking her under. She floated to the surface where Trunks was laughing at her and spit out a mouthful of water in his face.

"You're too easy." Trunks said, still laughing. This annoyed Natalie, who punched him in the arm in response. She then dove under and shot back towards the shore. She pierced though a school of fish, causing the fish to spread out in all different directions to avoid her. Unfortunately, some of them weren't fast enough and went down her suit. Natalie shrieked under the water and shot above the surface and into the air on reflex. She looked down and saw fish wriggling about in her swimsuit, trying to get free. She screamed and jumped about frantically, trying to remove the fish from her swimsuit, while Trunks watched on and laughed hysterically. When all the fish had slipped back into the ocean, Natalie turned and glared at Trunks.

"So you think that's funny, huh?" he shouted at him. Trunks just backed away like a frightened child while Natalie charged a ki blast and hurled it towards him, hitting the target dead on.

"Bulls eye!" She cried victoriously. Trunks looked up at her, his hair singed and his face scorched. He appeared to have been baked in an oven. She took one glance at him and laughed so hard that she fell back into the water by accident. When she returned to the surface, she noticed that Trunks was nowhere in sight. "Oh crap!" she cried and shot out of the water faster than they human eye could see. She looked back and saw Trunks shoot out of the water after her. She squealed and fled so fast that she was afraid her suit would be peeled off her body. She flipped in the air and did several loops for fun. When she looked back to see if Trunks was following her, she slammed into a brick wall and fell into the water, dazed. She came to the surface, choking on water and gasping for air. She looked around and saw that the brick wall was actually Trunks. He floated in the air with a surprised expression on his face. Natalie hovered into the air rather slowly, trying to catch her breath. She flew to the shore and slumped onto the sand, still trying to cough up seawater. Trunks flew over and joined her.

"Sorry." He said.

"That's twice you've done something like this to me today." She said. When she finally caught her breath and stopped coughing, she sat on the sand and looked out over the horizon.

"Tired of swimming?" Trunks asked, sitting down next to her.

"I guess you could say that. Let's go back." She said, getting up and heading into shore. Trunks followed her and they went inside, running up the stairs and towards their separate rooms. "I call shower first!" Natalie cried, running into her bathroom. Trunks grumbled and went into his room, slumping onto the floor to wait. He tried to lock on to his dad's ki to locate his whereabouts, but he had obviously pushed it down to keep it concealed.

Natalie finished, 20 minutes later, and stepped out of the steam-filled bathroom.

"Man that feels better." She said, taking a deep breath and falling onto her bed. She had a towel wrapped around her hair to soak up the extra water. She lied back and closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth of her bed. Suddenly, the door to her room swung open, letting in a draft of colder air. She sat up in annoyance. "Don't you know how to knock?" she asked, looking up at Trunks.

"Oh, come on Natalie. It's not like you were in a towel." Trunks said, leaning against the wall and folding his arms, just like Vegita always did.

"Well you didn't know that until you came in!" she replied, sitting up.

"Man, I'm sorry then." Trunks said, shutting the door behind him on his way out.

<Oh man, I did it again!> Natalie thought to herself as she fell back onto her back. She looked up at the ceiling, thinking about her reaction, when something hit her like a ton of bricks. She sat up, wide eyed, and looked around the room frantically. Her stomach churned and her head pounded tremendously. "Ow, ow, ow..." she said softly, placing her hand over her forehead. "It's that stupid headache again!" she said. She willed it to go away, but nothing happened. She sat on her bed, holding her head in her hands, her face twisted in pain. "This feels just like the pain I got from -" she broke off. "It couldn't be...Orion is dead..." she said, her eyes wide with fear. "Oh I'm just imagining it. Orion couldn't possible be causing this." She said aloud and dismissed the thought immediately. A few minutes later, when the pain had subsided, she got up from the bed and went into the bathroom to dry her hair. As she ran a brush through it, she remembered her encounter with the Trunks and Goten clones the previous day.

<It doesn't make any sense. They came out of nowhere!> she thought, trying to figure out the source of all the confusion. <What did they want?> she wondered. When she was done with that, she walked out onto her balcony and looked around, still seeing no sign of Bulma or Vegita. Bra was also gone, but Natalie figured she was with Pan anyway. She went back inside and put on a pair of jeans and a white tank top, and went downstairs to throw the towels in the laundry room. When she spun around to return to the second floor, she smacked straight into Trunks.

"What the -!" she cried, jumping back in surprise. She looked up and saw an equally surprised expression his face.

"Man Natalie. You sure know how to scare yourself." Trunks said jokingly. Natalie didn't see the humor in the remark and continued to look horrified. "What?" Trunks asked with a questionable tone. He followed her glance and turned around, seeing his father standing over him.

"What are you doing boy?" Vegita asked with a scowl on his face.

"Nothing. I'll be going now. Trunks said sheepishly and retreated up the stairs. Vegita glanced over at Natalie. "And you?" he repeated.

"Why do YOU care?" she said, crossing her arms. Vegita was taken aback.

"Excuse me?" he said, almost shocked at her remark. "How dare you talk back to me!" he shouted and slapped her across the face with incredible force. She regained her composure and looked up at him with such an expression on her face that she burst into tears. He had never hit her before.

"W-why?" she said, her voice quivering. She had a knot in her throat and found it incredibly difficult to speak.

"You deserved it, girl." He said and shoved her backwards.

"Stop!" she cried, becoming enraged. Instead of fighting back, she shot into the air and raced towards the door. Vegita appeared in front of her and caused her to slam into his chest. Intending to get out, she pulled her hand back and snapped it forward, sending her fist flying into Vegita's chest.

"Don't ever touch me again!" she cried and fell to the ground, running out the door and shooting back into the air outside. She looked back to see if he was following, and indeed he was. <This isn't like him at all! Sure, he can be a jerk at times, but he would never hit me.> she thought. Vegita pursued as Natalie's heart beat faster and faster. Suddenly, it came to her. <Of course! This must be some kind of clone, just like Goten and Trunks at the beach. I could tell that his demeanor was a bit off.>

Natalie whizzed around and thrusted herself into Vegita, causing him to fly backwards.

"Who are you!?" she shouted to him, or whoever he was.

"You know who I am stupid girl." He replied, flying toward her, intent on hitting her again. This time, she counter-attacked, sending a ki blast into his chest, knocking him back even more. Before he could level himself again, she was flying towards him, sending her foot straight into his stomach. He cried out in pain, grabbing her by the ankle and hurling her towards the ground below. She stopped herself in mid-air and came back, attempting to punch him in the chest, but he blocked it and hit her in the jaw instead, sending a wave of pain through her. She forced herself to go in for more, continually beating on his body until he began to tire. Seeing the weakness, she erupted into a mass of energy and fired rapid blasts at him. She managed to get a couple of hits in, but he had blocked most of the others. She continued to power up even more, raising her ki drastically. She couldn't sense a ki in him, so she assumed that he was hiding it. She performed an Akiyah-meh on him, managing to hurt him substantially. Right as she was about to go in for the kill, the REAL Vegita showed up.

"What the hell is this!?" he shouted, looking at his clone with a lethal glare. Vegita 2 glanced back, looking fearfully at Vegita 1. He grabbed Natalie's wrist and took off, leaving a trail of vapors behind him. "Why that little..." Vegita 1 trailed off and rocketed after the two. He caught up quite quickly and observed Natalie desperately trying to escape his grip. He merely sat back and watched as she used her energy in attempt to free herself. She screamed and fought like a trapped animal, still unable to budge. Vegita 1 soon realized that sitting back wasn't helping and charged Vegita 2, knocking him backwards. Unfortunately, he was still holding on to the girl and she flew back with him. Vegita 2 turned around in surprise and then flew away from the area so fast that Vegita had a hard time sensing it. He could still feel Natalie's ki and followed it, traveling quite fast himself. He caught up again, but didn't use energy in fear that he would hit Natalie. He shouted obscenities at the clone, having no effect, however. Natalie was still struggling as the clone carried her away from the city. With no way out, Vegita powered up and sent a blast flying towards Vegita 2, narrowly missing him. Cursing at his failure, he tried again, this time catching his arm. Vegita 2 cried out and gripped Natalie's wrists tighter, causing her to cry in pain as well. Natalie managed to get one hand free and began to beat him with it. She punched him dead in the face, causing him to lose his grip on her other wrist. Natalie jumped away from the clone and powered up immediately, going in for the kill. She used both hand-to-hand attacks as well as ki attacks. Vegita 1 caught up and joined in, kicking Vegita 2 in the back of the head. They both fought the replica, managing to get some good hits in. Then, to deliver the final blow, Natalie and Vegita 1 sent a twin ki blast attack at their attacker, sending him into oblivion. His ashy remains floated to the ground as Natalie bent over to catch her breath. She had a few bruises on her body and her lip was split, but otherwise she was okay.

"T-thanks..." she said, breathing heavily. She looked up to where Vegita stood, arms folded and dirt on his face from the battle.

"You okay?" he asked. She was surprised that he even bothered to ask.

"Yeah. I'll be fine." She replied, and looked over to where the clone had once sat, attacking the two. "There's something going on." She said, referring to the recent incidents. "We need to find out."

"Come on." Vegita said, and headed back to Capsule Corp., not even bothering to look back. Natalie hastily followed, and they both reached their destination in five minutes. When they walked in the door, Trunks was waiting with a dumbfounded look on his face.

"What the -?" he said, looking at the two battle-worn fighters. Vegita grunted and headed for his room to clean up. Trunks immediately ran to Natalie, putting his arm on her shoulder. "Are you okay!?" he asked worriedly. She brushed some blood off her lip and looked up at him, smiling.

"Fine. We need to do some investigating." Natalie said simply. Before Trunks could answer, she was up the stairs.

"Wait! What did you mean by -" he broke off. Natalie spun around and looked him in the eye.

"There's something after me, Trunks." She said fearfully. "And I'm scared to death." Trunks longed to reach out and comfort her, but he was confused about what to do. He saw the frightened look in her eyes and felt sorry for her. She had been through more than he could even begin to imagine. What did everyone want from her?

"Look, Trunks. Don't worry about me, okay?" she said and brought her lips to his, kissing him softly while Vegita stood on the balcony, watching them with an angry look on his face.