Cosmic Crisis 3 - A New Enemy

Chapter 4 - Day One

Morning came too soon for Natalie who woke with Bra's leg strewn across her chest and Pan's head resting on her stomach. She rolled her eyes and turned to look at the boys, who were still sleeping. Trunks was sleeping on his stomach, with one arm over the edge of the bed, while Goten slept on his back on the other side. She had managed to fall asleep soon after the incident last night, occasionally waking up in the middle of the night for no reason. That was normal for her, though. She was uncomfortable, but she didn't want to disturb the girls.

<How do I manage to get myself into these situations?> she asked herself, looking desperately at the ceiling. She could hear moving about in the rooms next to her, signaling that the others were beginning to awaken as well. Suddenly, Goten mumbled something in his sleep and rolled over, which caused Trunks to stir as well. However they still weren't awake. Pan moved around, digging her elbow into Natalie's ribcage. Natalie cried out involuntarily, waking Bra and Pan in the process.

"Are we there yet?" Pan said sleepily. She looked around the room, obviously having forgotten where she was. Bra did the same thing.

"Where's tousan?" she asked.

"He's in the room down the hall." Natalie replied. Then, she suddenly devised a great plan, and a wry smile spread across her face. "Do you want to go see him?" she asked. Bra nodded. "And I suppose Pan will want to come too." Natalie suggested. She scooped the girls up and opened the door to their room quietly. "You see that door right next to us?" Natalie asked the girls as they stepped into the hallway. They nodded in reply. "Bra, your tousan is in there. Why don't you two go wake him up? I'm sure he'll just love to see your faces first thing in the morning."

"Okay!" Bra said joyfully. Natalie zoomed back into the room and jumped into the bed. Within seconds she could hear Vegeta's cries of annoyance. Natalie laughed silently. She was good. Suddenly the door to their room swung open and Vegeta appeared in the doorway. His hair was messed up and he was wearing only a pair of boxers. Natalie quickly shut her eyes and pretended to be sleeping.

"Who did it?" Vegeta asked, with a hint of insanity in his voice. Natalie feigned sleep and sat up in bed, since nobody could have slept through that yell.

"What's going on?" she asked, adding drowsiness to her voice. She was so good at acting, especially if her life was on the line.

"Don't play innocent, girl. I'm aware of what you did." Vegeta replied. Trunks opened his eyes and sat up on his elbows.

"What's the matter dad?" he said, yawning sleepily. Suddenly his eyes shot open "And why aren't you wearing any clothes!?" He cried.

"Your girlfriend over there had the bright idea of sending these two brats into my room to wake me up!" Vegeta growled.

"Oh, chill out Veggie-chan. It's not like you were asleep anyway." Natalie said, trying to calm him down.

"Don't call me Veggie-chan!" Vegeta cried. Natalie snickered and cowered slightly, to show that she was sorry. "Just for this, I'll put you in charge of waking the others. Including Kakarotto." He said, smiling evilly. Natalie's mouth fell open.

"No, please. NOT Kakarotto!" she cried. "You know how he is in the morning!"

"Do it." Vegeta said in a commanding tone, and then shut the door swiftly. Natalie sat back in bed.

<Kuso. I should have predicted something like this.> Natalie thought to herself. She turned to Trunks for suggestions, but he was trying to smother his laughter. Goten rolled over and opened his eyes, obviously having heard the whole thing.

"Good luck, Nat-chan. You'll need it." He said, smiling sympathetically and sitting up in bed, running his hand through his black mass of hair. Natalie shifted positions, looking out the window.

"I wonder what time it is." Natalie wondered aloud. A quick glance outside told her that it was sometime around midday. She reluctantly dragged herself out of bed and trudged to the bathroom to freshen up. In the middle of washing her face, Trunks walked in, toothbrush in hand. Natalie rinsed her face and dried it with a towel, throwing it at Trunks on her way out. "I suppose I might as well get this over with." She said, and dug through her bad for something to wear. She came across a pair of nylon surf shorts and a white t-shirt. "This will do."

"Hey Nat-chan." Goten said sleepily, throwing his feet off the side of the bed. She looked at him questioningly. "Can you hand be a shirt?" he asked. Natalie realized that he was only in his boxers, having obviously thrown his clothes off the previous night. Not that he looked bad. He and Trunks both were some of the most built guys her age, a fact that she admired with ease.

"Sure" she said, dropping to the floor to search through his bag. She noticed that all of his clothes were perfectly folded and neatly tucked into the suitcase. "Goten I'm impressed." She said. "I didn't think that you had this much talent." She continued to joke.

"I don't. Kaasan packed my things for me." He admitted freely. Natalie let out a quick laugh and continued to carefully search among his things. She finally located a plain white shirt and tossed it to him, proceeding to head for the bathroom to change. She succeeded at kicking Trunks out while she threw her clothes on quickly.

"I guess this is it." She said, emerging from the bathroom and throwing her dirty clothes next to her suitcase. "Wish me luck." She said, and with a wink, left the room. She ventured down the hall, passing Vegeta and Bulma's room, since they were surely awake after the previous incident. Next was Gohan's room. She didn't know this couple very well, considering that she preferred her own generation. She knocked on the door lightly, but without reply, she tried again. Finally, a very sleepy Videl came to the door.

"Hai?" she answered, trying to focus on Natalie's figure. Gohan was in the background, lying flat on his stomach, with half of the covers kicked off of him.

"Uh...Vegeta-san wanted me to wake everyone up. I'm assuming we have plans for the day." Natalie said, unsure of how to act.

"Oh. I'll wake Gohan. Arigatou." She said. Natalie nodded in return as Videl closed the door.

"Now this isn't so bad." Natalie thought consolingly. She then reached Goku's room. "Yet..." she said, and cautiously knocked on the door. There was no answer. She tried again, and still received no reply. After a few more tries, Natalie gathered her courage and tried the doorknob, which happened to be open. She walked into the dark room very slowly, almost afraid of what she would find around the corner. As she got closer, the room came into view. Goku and Chi-Chi both were asleep. Natalie approached the bed, leaning over Goku and debating on whether to tap him on the shoulder or hand. She finally nudged him in the side with her index finger. He didn't respond. Natalie repeated her gesture, this time a little more forcefully. Goku stirred, rolling onto his back.

"Just a few more minutes, Chi-Chi. Come on, get some sleep." He muttered in his sleep. He suddenly reached out for her and grabbed her around the waist, bringing her to his chest and causing her to lie on top of him. He wrapped his other arm around her and held her tightly. Natalie, who was still in shock, didn't know what to do. Obviously he didn't realize that it was her...at least she hoped. She tried to escape his grip without waking Chi-Chi, for fear of how she would react. Unfortunately, Goku held on tight and his arms wouldn't budge.

"Kakarotto!" she whispered harshly, trying to awaken him. She knew he was a heavy sleeper, however, and her attempts proved to be futile. Finally, left with no other choice, she buried her elbow deep into the crevice between his ribcage and his abdominal muscles. He yelped and sat up in bed, causing Natalie to be thrown off of him and onto the floor. She stood up, dazed. Goku looked around the room in confusion, finally locating Natalie on the floor.

"Natalie! What in Dende's sake are you doing here?" he asked. Natalie gathered her thoughts, trying to think of a way to explain herself.

"V-Vegeta sent me into wake you up." She muttered.

"Well what did you go and hit me for? You could have just tapped me in the shoulder." He replied. Natalie's jaw dropped, for that was what she did in the first place. Chi-Chi woke, slowly sitting up as well.

"What's going on here?" she demanded. Natalie, growing frustrated, stood up and explained.

"What happened was I came in here to wake you guys up on Vegeta's orders, and Kakarotto here tried to suffocate me with his deadly grip!" she said, taking a deep breath when she finished to replenish her oxygen supply. Chi-Chi looked at her husband.

"Goku! What did you think you were doing?" she said.

"Honest, Chi-Chi, I have no idea of what she's talking about!" he cried in protest. "I-I must have been sleeping, or something."

"Natalie, are you alright?" Chi-Chi asked. Natalie put her hands on her hips and nodded.

<Damn that Vegeta.> she thought to herself. <He's going to pay for this!> She exited the room and stormed down the hall towards her room. When she opened the door, she found Trunks and Goten changing clothes. Shocked, she jumped back and slammed the door shut, but then came to her senses. <They're just my friends. They're wearing cover-up.> she repeated to herself, and then opened the door once more. Trunks and Goten looked at her with confused looks on their faces.

"Nat? You look...irritated." Trunks said, stepping towards her.

"I am irritated. Your tousan," she said, pointing at Goten, "almost tried to kill me."

"Nani?" Goten said, looking even more confused. Natalie explained the situation to the two boys, who tried not to crack up.

"So, you think it's funny, huh?" she said, folding her arms and shifting her weight. "Well I'll show you what's fun-" she broke off. Suddenly, a force overcame her and she fell to the floor. Everything happened in slow motion. She had a flashback to the past, a past that she couldn't bring herself to recognize. Yet, somehow, it all felt familiar. There was a young girl standing in a long corridor. Her face was covered by a shadow. All of the sudden, something grabbed the little girl and pulled her into the shadows. Suddenly, Natalie was jolted back to reality when Trunks shook her violently.

"Natalie! Nat-chan!" Trunks cried. Goten stood next to him with a worried look on his face. Natalie's eyes focused and she looked around, placing herself in reality. "Natalie! Are you okay? What happened?" Trunks cried.

"I'm not exactly sure..." she said. "But I think...that it was trying to tell me something."