Cosmic Crisis 3 - A New Enemy

Chapter 9 - A New Ally...The Story of the Past is Revealed

Trunks and Goten stared in incredulity at the three warriors who stood before them. The middle one, who had spoken, looked to be about their same age and build. He had short spiky black hair with a chunk falling in his face, and icy blue eyes. As they studied him, he spoke again.

"You must be wondering what we're doing here." He said. Trunks and Goten, at a loss for words, nodded simultaneously. "We were sent here to help. It's about the princess, I assume you know who she is." Trunks' eyes widened.

"What do you know about her!" he demanded, taking on a defensive position. The two remaining figures stepped up to his side, revealing themselves. They were both female, and they both wore the same armor. The one on the left had dark purple hair pulled back into a tight ponytail, with loose pieces resting on the sides of her face, and eyes the shade of blue. The one on the right had short blonde hair with eyes such a light shade of blue that they almost looked grey. Both girls looked to be quite young as well, and judging by their appearance, they couldn't be older than eighteen.

"Don't worry, we aren't enemies. Like he said, we're here to help." The blue haired girl spoke. She eyed Goten and Trunks before looking back at the male in their group. "I don't sense her ki. She must have already disappeared from this time."

"You did this, didn't you!" Trunks shouted angrily. Goten pulled him back to avoid a confrontation. The male spoke up.

"What do you know about this?" He asked calmly. Trunks straightened himself up and regained his composure, but he still kept his eyes on the three of them very intently.

"We know that something has caused a disturbance in time." Trunks replied. The two girls exchanged glances and nodded. The male then stepped forward.

"My name is Sirius." He said. "This is Reena," he continued, pointing to the blue haired girl, "and this is Ceres." He said, and pointed to the blonde. "We come from the planet Vela."

"That's Natalie's home!" Trunks said. Sirius looked at him with a confused expression.

"We know nobody by that name." He said.

"But you said you knew the princess." Trunks argued.

"We do. But her name is not Natalie." Ceres interjected. Trunks looked perplexed, trying to figure out what they were talking about, when it hit him.

"Of course." He said. "You're talking about Carina?" The three warriors tensed slightly.

"You know her?" Sirius inquired. Trunks nodded.

"But here she goes by Natalie." He explained. "Nobody ever called her that...besides Orion." Sirius grey wide eyed.

"Orion!?" he said. "How do you know him!"

"He came here!" Trunks said, challenging Sirius. "Don't you know him?"

"We do." Sirius replied. "What did he want?"

"He came for Natalie...er...Carina. He said that it was her destiny to be with him or some bullshit like that." Trunks said. "We...well, Natalie killed him." Sirius had an intrigued look on his face.

"That's strange." He said. "But that's beside the point. We came here to tell you about the disappearance of the princess and what you can do to help."

"Why do you care so much?" Goten asked suspiciously. Reena looked over at him.

"We're her guardians." she answered. "Our parents were the guards of the royal family, and naturally, we took on the job of protecting princess Carina. We were raised together." She explained.

"What about Orion?" Trunks asked. "Was he from planet Vela too?" Sirius nodded.

"Yes. He was...his father was a supposed ally of the monarchy." He said. "But he was a traitor in the end."

"We've heard all that before. Nat said she had a dream and someone told her." Goten said. Reena continued to study him curiously, much to his embarrassment.

"Anyway, her mother sent us here. She wanted us to find the Saiya-jins that had resided here and ask for their assistance." Sirius continued. Suddenly, Trunks could feel two power levels headed their way.

"Tousan..." he muttered under his breath. A few seconds later, Vegeta and Goku appeared on the scene.

"What's going on here?" Vegeta demanded. "I felt three strange power levels over here," he said, and looked at the tree warriors, "do they belong to you?"

"P-prince Vegeta?" Ceres said, staring at Vegeta. Sirius and Reena had also become transfixed on him. Vegeta just eyed them.

"How do you know of me?" he asked. Sirius spoke up.

"You must not remember us. I'm not surprised; we weren't around then, but we know who you are. Planet Vela had an alliance with planet Vegeta before it was destroyed." He explained. Vegeta's eye twitched.

"Planet Vela? Are you talking about that girl's planet?" he asked.

"Her name is Carina." Sirius corrected. "And yes, that is the planet we speak of. The king of Vela was a Saiya-jin."

"Aries!" Vegeta said. "He was one of the elite class. He was sent to that planet as a representative." He continued, recalling his memories. "I remember...he was only a few years older than me."

"You remember the king?" Reena asked. Vegeta nodded, still deep in thought.

"If he was the king...than that means..." he started. "That girl is his daughter!" The three warriors eyed him strangely.

"She is. She is the daughter of King Aries and Queen Melina." Sirius said. "She was of great importance."

"She's just a little brat." Vegeta commented. "Why was she so important." Sirius scowled.

"The princess is not an insignificant brat, Prince Vegeta." He said. "This is why we have come here. Vela was a planet of impending scientific utopia. Our race was one of intelligence more than strength, which was the Saiya-jin race's predominant attribute. However, the royal family possessed the strength that kept the Sidra-jins together and invincible. When Melina married Aries and they assumed the throne, they bore one child. Carina."

"What does this have to do with why you came?" Vegeta asked impatiently.

"I'm going to explain that if you'll be patient and listen." Sirius said. "Carina, though she did not, and still doesn't know it, has a great underlying strength in her. On planet Vela she was too young to utilize it. Here, she is limited. The queen made it so, because she knew that if Carina could in fact use her power, she would either break apart this world, or she would be taken advantage of by power hungry enemies."

"Like Orion." Trunks said.

"Right." Sirius said, nodding. "Hesperos knew of her power, which is why he sent Orion after her when he died. Though Orion and Carina grew up together as well, Hesperos corrupted his son into believing that the monarchy was evil and that his mission was to rid the universe of the king and queen so that he could ascend the throne with Carina by his side."

"And so what's your point?" Goku asked, finally speaking up.

"My point is, that someone else knows of her strength. His name is Hermes. He was one of Vela's most brilliant scientists, but he was also corrupted. He was a genius on the borderline of insanity, which often caused him to question the meaning of life." Sirius went on. "When planet Vela was destroyed, it was thought that he had been killed along with it, but, like Orion, he had escaped. However, he was beginning to age, and he knew that he could not continue on much longer. So, he cloned himself using his very own DNA, and he incubated the clone, which grew at a fast rate, until it was the equivalent of 20 Earth years old. Hermes went on to die, but before he did, he loaded all of his knowledge and memory into his clone. It was like he was being reborn. Hermes went on to create a time travel device, which he used to go back in time and destroy the princess Carina when she was vulnerable."

"Why would he want to do that?" Goten said. Trunks was now becoming greatly upset at hearing this.

"He rendered her defenseless. But, as Carina disappeared from this world, he preserved her energy, life, and body." Reena added in. Trunks narrowed his eyes.

"He what? You mean that he has Natalie, Carina, in his possession as we speak?" he said, outraged. The three warriors just gave him a look of affirmation. "What is he planning on doing with her!"

"Our guess is that he will allow her to access her full power, and brainwash her so that it will be his for the taking." Ceres spoke. Trunks slammed his foot into the ground, creating a miniature crater.

"Why didn't you stop him!? Why did you come here?" Trunks cried. Goten stepped up to Trunks.

"Stop it." He said. "They're trying to help." Sirius focused on Trunks.

"You're attached to the princess, are you not?" he asked. Reena and Ceres looked at Sirius, and then at Trunks with looks of shock. Trunks didn't answer, confirming his question.

"I see." He said. "Then you will want to help us as well, right?" Trunks nodded.

"How are we going to do that?" he asked, trying to keep his ki level down.

"We have to go back in time, to the day that Hermes killed Carina. Then we can map his energy output and track it." Ceres explained.

"Can't we just stop him?" Trunks cried. Ceres shook her head.

"No. We can't interfere with these events or it could cause a time confliction catastrophe." She said.

"Wow, she sounds just like Bulma." Goku commented. Vegeta slapped himself while Ceres just looked at him with a puzzled look on her face.

"Who is Bul-" she broke off as Goku interrupted her.

"Bulma is a genius." He said. "And Vegeta and she are married." Goku added, grinning, and causing everyone to face fault.

"And when we find this Hermes ass hole, what do we do then?" Trunks said, trying to get back on the subject.

"Then we will have to return to the future, calculate his whereabouts, and find the princess." Sirius said. "There is a good side to this, though." He continued.

"What?" Trunks demanded.

"Hermes cannot brainwash her unless she is willing. Otherwise it won't work." He answered.

"Well then we don't have to worry about that." Goten said. "Wall we have to do is find her and get her back, and kill that Hermes guy."

"It's not that simple. He could use the concept of manipulation to trick her into it. We cannot be sure." Sirius said.

"But, in short, we came here for help, since we aren't able to carry out his mission alone." Reena said. "So we're asking you to do this for us, and for the princess."

"Of course we'll do it." Goten said. Trunks nodded in agreement.

"I don't believe we know your names yet." Reena said. Goten introduced the group.

"This is Trunks, Vegeta's son." He said, pointing to his friend. "And I'm Goten. This is Goku, my father, but he also goes by Kakarotto to the remaining Saiya-jins, including Natalie and Vegeta."

"How did you know that the princess was a Saiya-jin?" Ceres inquired. "Her tail was removed at birth to prevent controversy."

"It grew back in the rejuvenation tank as part of the healing process." Trunks said.

"So tell me more about your plans." Vegeta started, talking to Sirius. "You plan to go back in time, am I right?" The three nodded. "Do you know the exact time when the girl was killed?"

"Actually, we were hoping you could help us with that one. We were sent away with no equipment, so we were hoping that your planet would yield the necessary tools." Ceres said.

"Wait just a minute." Goten started. "If Natalie's disappearance affected the planet, then why are you two here?" The trio exchanged glances and smirked.

"We were known for our technology, young Saiya-jin." Sirius said, and placed his hand over his temple, pulling off a concealed device that was no bigger than a thumbnail. "Just like Hermes did with Carina, these kept us alive and free from time's wrath."

"How do you know that we're Saiya-jins?" Vegeta demanded.

"We can tell by your ki." Sirius replied. "There is a certain signature that all Saiya-jins possess. Only those sensitive to it can detect it. The Sidra-jins also have this trait."

"I knew there was something different about that girl." Vegeta continued.

"There is indeed." Sirius said. Trunks stole a glance at Sirius and almost detected a slight affection for Natalie in his emotions. He didn't like the sound of it either.

"Well what are we just standing her for?" Trunks said. Vegeta was having a hard time accepting the fact that Natalie, that brat who lived with him, was the daughter of a Saiya-jin of significance. He also didn't understand why the three warriors had come all the way from another galaxy just to save her. After all, she was just a little brat. Suddenly, Goten began to fade in and out, and he fell to his knees.

"Nani!?" Goku cried. Reena looked at Goten, pulled off her sustaining device, and placed it on his temple. He started to stabilize and his body calmed down.

"Reena what are you doing?" Sirius cried. "If you don't keep it on, you'll start to fade!"

"No, I'll be fine for a few minutes." She said. "We need to start working on our mission right away, or we won't have any help left in this timeline." Sirius nodded reluctantly and turned to Vegeta.

"Vegeta-sama, we need your help." He said. "If you do not wish to be of assistance, then so be it. But we need to act quickly, not just for Carina, but for the fate of this world." Vegeta looked intently into Sirius' eyes.

"I don't know why I'm trusting you." He said. "And I don't know why everyone cares about this girl, but if it affects our world I have no choice."

"Arigatou." Reena answered. "I know that you're a bit skeptical about it, but we're only here to help."

"We need to get back and tell the others." Goku piped in. Everyone turned to him.

"Right." Goten said, who had now stabilized. He then turned to Sirius. "You can come with us to figure out a plan." He then turned and looked out toward the shore. Judging by the sun's position, it was probably around 6:00 or so. "We probably won't be finished before sundown."

"You can stay at Capsule Corp. if you want." Trunks said. Vegeta twitched but did so very subtly. Sirius, Reena, and Ceres all looked at each other and seemed to communicate with their eyes. Sirius then turned to the group again.

"Fine." He said. "But we don't want to get in the way so we'll keep to ourselves." Trunks eyed them for a minute. It seemed like they were hiding something, or that they were just being impersonal.

"No, it's no inconvenience to us, really." He insisted. "If you want, you could even take Nat's room." They all looked at him strangely.

"She lives with you?" Reena inquired. Trunks nodded apprehensively. "Are you two...?" she trailed off suggestively. Trunks stepped back and blushed.

"No..." he said.

"Not yet anyway." Goten added, snickering. Trunks turned to him and shot his friend a glare. The three just stood, looking at Trunks strangely. Sirius just cleared his throat and continued on.

"Let's get to work." He said as he looked at Trunks. "You can lead the way." Trunks looked at Vegeta and Goku for backup.

"Well, we aren't exactly in a position to go now. We have to get back to Japan." He explained.

"Where are we?" Ceres asked. "We set our pods to lock on to the high ki's here."

"We're on vacation." Vegeta cut in. "Kakarotto can teleport us." He said, and looked at Goku, who facefaulted.

"Vegeta I don't know...there are an awful lot of people here." He said.

"Kakarotto you're supposed to be the strongest in the universe! Can't you deal with a handful of people?" he shouted. Everyone was beginning to grow impatient.

"Alright, but let me just go back to the hotel and tell Chi-Chi." He said, and started to fly away, but Vegeta grabbed him by the foot.

"No, you're going to teleport us to Capsule Corp. You can come back for your mate." He said. Goku was about to disagree but caught the looks on the faces of everyone around him and decided otherwise. With a sigh, he motioned for everyone to plane his or her respective hands on his shoulders as he began the process.

"You owe me one, Vegeta." He said.

"I don't owe you shit, Kakarotto..." Vegeta's voice faded out as they disappeared in a flash of light.