Cosmic Crisis 2 - The Return of Orion

Chapter 9 - Encounter

Natalie could vaguely feel her body resting on the bed. To her, it was like floating. Floating in a vast emptiness. She could sense Trunks' presence next to her.

"I have to protect them." She thought, the world flowing through her mind like water. "I can't let this evil consume their world." She knew what she had to do. She would leave this place. She would find Orion, and she would destroy him. She loved Trunks dearly, but she couldn't ignore this threat anymore. She would sacrifice her life for him. Natalie could feel a tear run down her cheek and land on the pillow resting beneath her head. She slowly opened her eyes, bringing her body back to reality. Trunks lay next to her, sleeping. She stroked his hair, looking at him sorrowfully.

"I'm so sorry." She said, sadness consuming her soul. But she had a mission. She had to protect them. She arose slowly, making sure now to disturb the sleeping Trunks. Dressed in nothing more than her back training clothes, she pulled her flowing brown hair into a ponytail. Another tear slid down her face and landed softly on the ground. Her nylon pants rustled when she moved, causing Natalie to use more careful movements. She couldn't let them know she was leaving, for they would try to stop her. When she had pulled on her training shoes, she walked towards the balcony door. She looked back at Trunks, still sleeping, and kissed him softly on the forehead. With that, she slipped outside quietly, shutting the door behind her. She stood out on the balcony, looking up at the night sky. She inhaled the cool, night air, preparing herself. Her nerves shook, telling her to turn around and go back inside.

"No." she said. "I have to do this." She leaned over the railing, looking down at the ground. Her ki flared, forming a yellow aura around her body. Her tail twitched in anticipation, and she lifted herself onto the rails. She stood, looking out at the sleeping world. Slowly but surely, she floated into the air, her hair blowing in the mild wind that her ki produced. When she had reached a safe distance from the Capsule Corp. building, she allowed her aura to expand, energy surging through her body. She then took off across the sky like a comet, leaving a blazing trail of power behind her. She didn't know exactly where she was heading but she knew her senses would guide her. Orion was nearby, and she could feel it. She had felt ever since that day, when she sat alone in her room. That's when she knew he was alive.

Natalie stopped when she reached the rural area. Making sure that there was nobody around, she shot straight up, towards the sky. The wind surged past her, giving her a feeling of incredible freedom. Freedom that she couldn't possess. When she was a good 3 miles above the earth, she slowed her pace, continuing on until she stopped, looking down at the tops of the clouds. She then allowed her whole body to relax, or as close to relaxation as she could maintain. She closed her eyes and concentrated.

"Orion! Show yourself!" she cried out. She could feel an evil presence about her. Then there was the laughter. The laughter that had caused so many nightmares, so much terror.

"So you've finally decided to join me Carina." The evil voice said. It echoed through the sky, sending a chill down her spine. She looked around, trying to locate the source.

"Orion you can take me, but leave the earth out of this!" she said in response. Suddenly, a shadowy figure emerged from the cloud, talking on the form of Orion himself. As he approached her, she fought to keep control of her body. She so desperately wanted to get away, to return to the safe haven of Capsule Corp, but she knew that she couldn't abandon this now. Orion stood, a mere two feet away from her, his arms folded and an evil smile on his face. Natalie forced herself to look away.

"What's the matter, princess?" he asked, reaching out a hand and pulling her chin towards him. Her eyes were full of fear as she looked at him. "Do you fear me?" he said. She trembled as he held her chin in his hand. Her tail twitched nervously and Orion's eyes widened when he saw it. "What is THAT?" he asked, looking down at it menacingly.

"It's a -" she broke off. "It's a tail." She replied. Orion growled angrily.

"So you have a tail?" he asked, looking back into her eyes. She nodded her head fearfully. A gust of wind blew past them, blowing her hair around while it passed. Orion laughed softly. He grabbed her hand suddenly and his brilliant aura appeared, enveloping his body in it's bright light. Natalie closed her eyes, awaiting whatever fate had in store for her.

Vegita awoke with a start. His heart was pounding so loudly that he was sure it would awaken his wife. He put his hand to his forehead, wiping off the beads of cold sweat that had appeared in his sleep. He could sense it. The power was intense. Suddenly, the thought registered in his mind.

"Oh shit! The girl!" he cried, jumping out of bed and racing down the hall to Trunks' room. Seeing it empty, he headed to Natalie's. He swung open the door to reveal Trunks sleeping on the bed. Natalie was nowhere to be seen. Vegita clenched his fists and cursed under his breath. His sharp increase in power caused Trunks to awaken as well.

"Huh? What's going on?" he said, sitting up. He looked up at is father, who was looking out at the balcony. Noticing the absence of Natalie almost immediately, he opened his mouth to speak.

"She's gone." Vegita replied, as if he had read Trunks' mind. Trunks felt the sudden surge of power in the distance and his eyes widened.

"Oh no..." he trailed off and jumped up from the bed, powering up.

"Don't!" Vegita shouted at his son. "We don't even know what's going on yet...let's wake up your mother." He said and ran down the hall for Bulma. A few moments later, Bulma was awakened and dragged to the science wing where she groggily searched for the enhanced scouters.

"I don't know what you want these for..." she said, poking her head into a cabinet. "It isn't going to tell you WHAT the source of the power is."

"Just get them, woman." Vegita said hastily. Bulma rolled her eyes and continued, locating a green-tinted one. Pulling it out, she tossed it to her husband.

"Here." She said, standing up and brushing herself off. Trunks stood in the corner, hardly keeping himself still. Vegita put on the scouter and pressed the main button on the side. The scouter bleeped and displayed several numeric readings.

"No, stupid piece of junk!" Vegita shouted at the scouter. "I don't want to see Kakarott's power level!" He continued to press the main button on the side until it displayed two powers. One was fairly strong, the other enormous. "I've found her." Vegita said, staring into the tinted piece of glass.

"Let me see!" Trunks said, jumping up and ripping the scouter off of Vegita. The Saiyan prince was about to protest when he caught a glance from Bulma that warned him not to. Trunks put on the scouter and located the two ki's. He almost fell over when he saw the power reading on the second ki. If his mother hadn't enhanced this scouter, it would have surely exploded by now. Before Bulma or Vegita could protest, Trunks tore off the scouter and took off, not even bothering to open the door before he flew through it. Vegita cursed under his breath and followed, leaving an annoyed Bulma behind.

"Oh well. I guess you get used to it when you marry the prince of an extinct warrior race." She said, and slumped onto one of the chairs.

Trunks hurled through the sky at an amazing speed, with only one thing on his mind.

"Why did she do this?" he thought to himself as he whizzed through the clouds. He was angry with her for leaving, but he knew she had reasoning behind her motives. Suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks. He could see the blinding light at a distance, and knew she was there.

"Natalie!" he cried, racing towards the scene.

Orion sensed Trunks presence at once. He snapped his head around, locating the light of his ki.

"So you set a trap?" Orion said, turning back to Natalie.

"No! I had no idea that he knew where I was!" she said, trying not to get the boy killed. "Please don't harm him. Just take me." She said desperately. An evil smile appeared on Orion's face and he grabbed her by the shoulders, sending out a huge shock wave of power. The wave tried to knock Trunks back, but he persisted, getting closer. He could see Natalie. But who was that with her? Trunks sped up, making out a figure. No...It couldn't be! Trunks narrowed his eyes in rage, increasing his speed. When he was within 20 feet of the two, the light began to grow infinitely, becoming painfully bright. Natalie looked over at him with horror in her eyes as she was enveloped in the bright light. Just before she disappeared, she reached up a hand and ripped off one of her silver star earrings, throwing it to Trunks. Then, she screamed an ear splitting scream and disappeared into the night sky. The light exploded, hurling outward several miles. It lit up the entire sky and then subsided just as quickly, leaving behind no evidence that it was ever there. Trunks blinked several times, trying to focus on his surroundings. When his sight returned, he saw that Natalie was gone. He thrashed about, trying to locate her presence. He couldn't even feel her ki. Enraged, Trunks let out a deafening yell, exploding into a huge ball of energy. His hair turned gold, his eyes green. The massive surge of power knocked back the stunned Vegita. He looked up to see his son, fists clenched, exploding into USSJ.

"Shit. This isn't supposed to happen!" Vegita cursed and headed towards Trunks. The young Saiyan boy didn't even notice his father approach as anger filled him, causing him to become insanely powerful. Vegita faded out and appeared in front of him.

"Trunks! Stop!" he shouted. Trunks didn't even acknowledge his words and continued to emit an enormous amount of energy. Seeing no other alternative, Vegita powered up to super Saiyan and confronted Trunks once more. This time, the boy noticed his father and looked on, eyes narrowed in complete exasperation. He saw the look in Vegita's eyes and calmed himself down considerable, yet still remaining in the super Saiyan stage.

"Boy there was nothing you could have done." Vegita said, putting a hand Trunks' shoulder. "Now we have to focus on finding her." Trunks clenched his fist and then opened it to reveal Natalie's earring. Seeing this caused Trunks to break down again. He was positively angered,

"It was Orion." Trunks said through clenched teeth. His rage was boiling inside of him as he fought to stay under control. Vegita looked as his son in doubt.

"He's dead." was the only thing that escaped Vegita's lips. Trunks looked at his father with a reassuring look.

"He's alive. I saw him. That bastard is going to pay with his life." Trunks said. He was desperately trying to locate Natalie's ki, but it was nowhere to be found. He would head back to Capsule Corp. for the scouters.

Natalie awoke slowly, her head throbbing in pain. She took in a breath of icy air, causing her to gasp in pain.

"Where am I?" she said aloud. Her voice echoed back to her. It sounded so far away, yet close. A chill ran down her spine. Suddenly, she remembered what had happened. Orion had taken her somewhere. Had she done the right thing? There was no helping her now as she sat alone. The whole world was dark. She could see nothing, hear nothing, only her rapid breathing. Suddenly, something caused her power to surge. The force caused her to claw the ground in pain, trying to keep herself under control. She screamed as the energy surged through her body. Then, the pain left as quickly as it had come. She was now sitting still again, with nothingness around her. No sound could be heard except for her breathing, which had increased. She called out to Orion.

"Miss me?" he said, his voice echoing as well. The sound caused Natalie to jump. She still couldn't see anything, just black nothingness.

"Where am I?" she cried, her tail swishing back and forth. Then, it hit something. Something hard and strong. She spun around in reaction, and though she still couldn't see, she felt around on the ground with her hands until she reached it. "What is it?" she wondered. She felt it, running her hand upward. It was smooth in texture, like metal. Then, it stopped. Next there was some kind of material, like fabric of some nature. Suddenly, she stopped, realizing that it was Orion's leg. She jumped back five feet, grasping her hand as if she had just touched acid. Her eyes darted around wildly, desperately trying to locate the figure.

"Oh, did I scare you?" Orion laughed mockingly.

"He loves doing this to me." Natalie thought bitterly. She struggled to her feet, waving her arms around in the air. She accidentally stumbled forward, falling into Orion's arms. She tried to pull away at once but was kept in place by his strong grip.

"Orion let me go." She said firmly. She wasn't going to plead this time. She wasn't going to be his weak little princess any more. He obeyed, releasing her. She fell backward, inhaling sharply. "Where am I?" she repeated, this time speaking directly to him.

"That's not important." Orion said. She could hear him shifting, probably folding his arms. "What is important is that you're here with me." Natalie shuddered. She wanted so desperately to get out of there. But she didn't even know where "there" was. She forced herself to speak, her voice quivering.

"Why do you want me so badly?" she asked. "Can't you see that I like it on Earth? Why won't you just leave me alone?" Orion narrowed his eyes.

"Princess, you love Earth because it's the only home you've known." Orion started. "If you come with me, you would have anything and everything. With that perspective, Earth would be nothing more than a grain of sand in the hourglass." He said. Natalie was becoming angry with him for taking her home so lightly.

"I don't want that perspective! I have everything I could possibly want." She argued. "If you really want the best for me, you will leave me and the earth alone. There are plenty of other things out there for you to pursue."

"It's your destiny to be with me!" Orion said, almost shouting at the girl. "Have you forgotten your past?"

"I don't want that past! I am Natalie. I'm not princess Carina of Vela or anything else." She shouted back.

"But you ARE Carina." Orion said. Suddenly, the room lit up, startling her. She blinked her eyes and looked around. She could see Orion standing before her, his arms crossed. "Look at yourself!" he said. Natalie looked down at her hands. She was still the same person. Tears began to stream down her face and she looked up at Orion.

"I won't let you do this to me!" she cried. She was finished with trying to negotiate with him. She stood up, preparing to attack him, when her ki surged again, causing her to double over in pain. She gritted her teeth and tried to stand, only falling onto the floor.

"No, no, no, princess." He said. "Not this time. I took this into consideration before I returned to earth." She looked up at him, enraged. Suddenly, she felt something on the back of her neck. She reached for it, her ki surging again. "It's this great little device that locks onto a person's ki and controls it." Orion explained.

"Get this off me, NOW!" she screamed, trying to power up. Unfortunately, Orion wouldn't allow it.

"I'll remove it as soon as you decide to join me." He said.

"Then I guess it's staying on." She said bitterly. Orion laughed at her fate.

"Stubborn, I see. No matter. I'll change that." He said, stepping closer to her. She backed away, looking at him threateningly.

"Don't touch me." She said in a low, menacing tone.

"My, my. Aren't we feisty tonight?" he said. Suddenly, he lurched forward and grabbed her neck. She tried to pull away but there was no use in trying. He then placed his palm to her forehead. Then, his hand started to glow intensely. Natalie's eyes widened in terror and she used all of her strength to try to escape, but Orion held on. Soon, her whole body went numb. One by one, her senses started to dissipate. She couldn't move, even if she had a chance of getting away. Another tear slid down her cheek and onto Orion's hand. He looked down at it and then back into her eyes, smiling evilly. This was the last thing she saw.