Cosmic Crisis 3 - A New Enemy

Chapter 29 - Orientation

"Natalie!"

The girl slowly opened her eyes and met a bright, blinding light. She immediately squinted and looked around. Blue sky. White clouds. She inhaled deeply. Fresh air.

"She's awake!"

She brought her hands up to her face and looked down at them. She felt her arms, and then her legs. She was alive.

"Natalie are you okay?"

She raised her eyes and met with the calm, sincere blue eyes of a purple-haired boy.

"Trunks..." she whispered, making sure that she was still able to speak. The boy smiled happily and embraced her. She then looked around and met with the faces of four others. Goten...Sirius...Ceres...and Reena. "Guys..." she said, sitting up shakily. She reached behind her back and felt for white wings, but there were none. She then felt just below the small of her back and grasped a brown, furry object. Her tail. As her senses slowly came back to her, she realized that she was on the beach, still in her bodysuit. The others were in theirs as well, with holes in the fabric of Sirius and Reena's.

A gentle breeze rustled through her hair. Her hair was shorter...and brown. She was back to normal. She was back to normal!

Natalie jumped up onto her feet and looked down at herself.

"Thank Kami you're okay. We were so worried." Trunks said, looking into her eyes. Her green eyes.

"I'm okay!" she cried happily, and then turned to her three guardians. "And you three...how did you get here?"

"We came here with the two Saiya-jins." Sirius replied. "This is the way it ended up."

Natalie was so happy. She was alive, and safe, with her friends.

"And...and what happened to Hermes?" she asked.

"He's gone, for good." Sirius said.

"Sirius..." she said and stepped closer to him. He just looked at her. Suddenly, she jumped forward, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head on his shoulder. Pulling away, she smiled.

"Thank you." She spoke. "You've always been like a brother to me."

The others looked at each other and tried to hide their amusement. She still didn't know.

"Carina..." he started, but she shook her head.

"I know, Sirius." She interrupted. "I know."

She then turned to Ceres.

"Listen...about what happened with-"

"Ceres, don't apologize." Natalie said interrupted once more. "You know I don't hold grudges. I forgive you. You risked your life to save mine. That is the ultimate payback."

"Th...thank you." Ceres said, her eyes widened.

Finally, there was Reena. She looked into the blue eyes of her friend and then cried out happily, embracing her best friend. The two girls finally parted and Natalie, grinning, turned to Goten.

"You had better take good care of my best friend, Son Goten." She said in a serious tone, but she broke her concentration and giggled. Goten blushed furiously and laughed nervously, placing his hand behind his head and sweat dropping.

Natalie turned her head and looked at Trunks once more. Without a word, she leaned forward and tilted her head, bringing her lips to his. Trunks' eyes widened momentarily before Natalie placed her hand on the back of his head, drawing him closer as she continued to kiss him. Finally, she broke the kiss and stood back, looking at Trunks, who had gone red.

"That's for being my hero." She said. Goten grinned and made whistling noises in the background while the three Sidra-jins stood in the background and laughed.

Natalie broke away from Trunks and stood before them all.

"Guys?" she queried. They all looked at her expectantly. "Where are the others?"

"Right here." Came a voice. Natalie spun around and saw Vegeta, Bulma, Goku, Chi-Chi, Gohan, Videl, and even Pan and Bra, standing in a semi-circular group. Natalie almost fell backward with embarrassment.

"W...were you here the...whole...time?" she stammered, blushing. They all nodded simultaneously. Natalie's breath caught in her throat. That meant that Vegeta saw her...kissing...Trunks.

"Trunks, is Natalie a good kisser?" Bra laughed while Pan giggled along side of her. "Because I think you liked it."

Natalie shunned herself for appearing to be so embarrassed.

"Well now I know where Trunks gets it." She said, smirking, and looking at Vegeta. "At least that's what Bulma tells me."

Vegeta facefaulted and Bulma blushed.

"Why you little brat!" Vegeta snarled threateningly. Goku slapped Vegeta on the back, grinning.

"Lighten up, Vegeta." He said. "You of all people should be proud."

"What for!" Vegeta cried.

"Because...uh...well look on the bright side." Goku started. "We can eat birthday cake."

"Nani??" Vegeta barked.

"Hai!" Natalie said, placing her hands on her hips proudly. "I'm sixteen today."

"Sixteen?" Reena said. "Iie...you're 13."

"On Earth Reena." Natalie said.

"Then how do you know your birthday is today if you lost your memory?" Reena questioned.

"I don't really know. I've always known." Natalie replied. "By the way, how old are you now?"

"Well on Vela-sei, I'm about eleven and a half." She said. Goten facefaulted.

"No Goten. She's older than that." Natalie said. "Vela's years are longer."

"She's just over fifteen years on Earth." Ceres answered.

"Whoa...I'm confused." Goten said, placing his hand on his forehead.

"We need to give you Earth birthdays and talk in terms of Earth years." Natalie suggested. "Reena you are about nine months younger than me, so..." she trailed off, subtracting in her head. "Your birthday is in March."

Everyone looked at Natalie strangely.

"Yeah...March. Reena pick a number that you like." The girl continued.

"Oh...um...how about...two?" Reena said, obviously at a loss.

"March second it is." Natalie said. "Now you have an official Earth birthday."

"What about Sirius and Ceres?" Goten asked. "They need Earth birthdays too."

Natalie turned to her older brother.

"Sirius...how old are you in Earth years?" she asked.

"About seventeen." He replied. "The calendar here is on a twelve month system, with approximately 30 days for each month, correct?"

Natalie nodded. Sirius looked at the ground for a few seconds and then lifted his head again.

"Seventeen and five months." He replied.

"Wow, you're only two months older than Trunks!" Natalie said. "Well that makes it January...we'll say January seventeenth."

Sirius just shrugged and accepted it. He figured he was going to be staying on this planet anyway, having nowhere else to go, so a birthday would be useful.

"And Ceres...what about you?" Natalie asked.

"I already worked it out." Ceres replied. "I'm seventeen and two months, and my birthday would be in the fourth month, say, the twentieth, if I have the calendar straight."

Natalie facefaulted.

"That's April, by the way. And Ceres, you really need to go into science or math." She said. "You would be a living goddess."

Ceres just nodded absentmindedly. She really didn't know what she was going to do now. Vela-sei was gone, and she had nowhere else to go except stay here. Though it seemed like a nice opportunity, she really didn't have much to live for on this planet.

"Hey everyone." Goku said, walking toward the group of teenagers. "Let's go back to the hotel and get dressed so we can go get some food."

All six of them produced hungry looks on their faces. They hadn't eaten in a while.

"Ceres and Reena, you two can just wear some of my clothes." Natalie offered. "And Sirius...you can borrow from Trunks, Goten, Kakarotto, whoever."

"Which way?" Trunks asked, looking around. They were still standing on the beach in a group. He also noticed that Gohan, Videl, pan, Bra, and his mother had already departed. Only Goku and his father remained.

"Oh, I'll get us there quickly." Goku said. "But I don't know how I am going to transport so many ki's."

"No problem, Kakarotto-san." Natalie spoke up, stepping toward the Saiya-jin. "At Kaio-sama's, you taught me how to teleport, in case you don't remember."

"Oh yeah!" Goku exclaimed. "Well okay. We'll each take three."

"Hmm ok." Natalie said. "Someone come over here."

Immediately, Trunks and Reena jumped over to Natalie.

"I'll take Vegeta and Goten, and the one of the others can come with me, and one can go with you." Goku said.

"I'll go." Sirius said, and walked toward Goku. Ceres stepped toward Natalie. The two Saiya-jins prepared to teleport, placing their two forefingers on their forehead. The "passengers" placed their hands on the respective shoulders of Natalie or Goku, and they all disappeared, leaving behind some very bewildered pedestrians and passerbies.