Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Return To Me ❯ Chapter Four ( Chapter 4 )

--Chapter Three--

The stranger turned his eyes toward them and flew up to land a few feet in front of the group. Breaths were held and Bulma pulled Hotaru to stand behind Yamcha with her. The stranger raised a hand and…

…waved.

“Hi.” The stranger greeted. "I'm on my way to meet Goku. Would you like to come with me?" He asked.

"Goku?" Bulma and Hotaru looked at each other, confusion and suspicion in their eyes.

"Goku's not here. How can you be meeting him?" Krillin asked.

"I say he's lying." Vegeta declared, glaring at the stranger. The stranger put a hand behind his head.

"You guys sure are a suspicious group aren't you?" He said with a nervous chuckle. "Look, I know Goku isn't here now but he's on his way here. He's two hours away in space. I'm going to where he's going to land."

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Piccolo questioned.

"Well in all fairness, you don't." The stranger said truthfully. Hotaru, who had been watching the lavender-haired stranger from behind Yamcha, started to walk toward him.

"Hotaru! Get back here." Bulma said reaching to pull Hotaru back. Hotaru shrugged Bulma's arm off and continued walking toward the stranger. She stopped right in front of him and looked into his eyes.

"I think we can trust him." She said after a minute. Hotaru backed off a bit.

"What makes you so sure? We don't know anything about him." Yamcha stated.

"I know but something tells me he's not going to hurt us." Hotaru looked at the stranger once more before turning to the rest of the group. "Besides, if he was going to hurt us, he would have done it when he finished off Frieza." Hotaru received critical looks but no one said anything. She sighed. “We can at least follow him and see if Goku really is on his way here.”

“I guess it couldn’t hurt.” Krillin muttered.

“Good then it’s decided.” Hotaru turned back to the stranger. “Show us where Goku will be in two hours.”

“Okay then follow me.” The stranger lifted into the air and waited for the others to join him.

“Hey, I can’t fly!” Bulma shouted. “Yamcha carry me.” She demanded. Yamcha lifted her effortlessly in his arms.

“There, happy?” Yamcha glanced over to Hotaru who was still on the ground. “Hotaru, climb on my back and I’ll take you there.”

“Are you sure?” Hotaru asked.

“You don’t know how to fly?” The stranger said coming down next to Hotaru.

“No I never learned.” Hotaru admitted.

“Well, here I’ll take you.” The stranger said holding his arms out.

“Are you sure you want to carry me?” Hotaru asked.

“Sure.” He answered. “That way Yamcha doesn’t have too much to carry.”

“Okay.” Hotaru allowed herself to be picked up by this stranger she didn’t know.

“Wow, you’re really light.” His comment caused a red tint to spread across Hotaru’s cheeks. The stranger took off into the air surprising Hotaru enough to make her hold on tightly to him. “This way, follow me.”

It was a long flight, at least to Hotaru. Her hair constantly whipped against her face. It felt as her hair had left lashes on her face. The stranger shifted Hotaru in his arms so he could check his watch.

“This is it.” He announced to everyone and descended to land. Hotaru was set to her feet again. She wobbled a bit before she was steadied.

“Are you alright?” The stranger asked, concern written in his blue eyes.

“I’m fine. Just not used to that.” Hotaru explained as everyone landed. Vegeta caught sight of the stranger’s hands on Hotaru and narrowed his eyes, emitting a low growl of warning. The stranger glance at him before quickly removing his hands from Hotaru’s shoulders. Hotaru was oblivious to what had just occurred.

“I don’t see Goku anywhere.” Yamcha said as he, and mostly everyone glared at the stranger.

“He’s not here yet. He’ll be here in two hours.” He replied.

“Two hours?” Bulma questioned. “What are we supposed to do for two hours?”

“Sit around and wait.” The stranger said with a shrug, sitting on a boulder. Everyone around got comfortable for the long wait.

An hour had passed when Yamcha started getting restless.

“How do we even know this kid is telling the truth?” He said after a while.

“He said Goku won’t be here for two hours.” Bulma replied. “And how long has it been?” She asked slowly, as if she was talking to a toddler.

“One hour.”

“Well then, JUST CHILL OUT FOR ONE MORE HOUR!” Bulma shouted at the top of her lungs, making those close to her wince.

“WELL YOU CAN FIND ANOTHER RIDE HOME.” Yamcha shouted back.

“FINE!” Bulma stood up and sat next to Krillin, crossing her arms over her chest and huffed.

Hotaru chuckled under her breath, watching the two. She laid back on the ground when she started feeling drowsy. She used one arm as a pillow and the other to block out the hot sun. Hotaru let her mind wander as time passed. She had the strangest feeling that this stranger wasn’t here. And yet, there was something oddly familiar about him. Hotaru couldn’t quite place it though.

“Hey Hotaru.” Bulma called, breaking Hotaru’s line of thought. Hotaru sat up and looked over the boulder she was behind to Bulma. “Come here.”

Hotaru used the boulder for leverage and stood. She took a few steps before she suddenly felt weird. Hotaru felt light-headed and dizzy. Her skin broke out into a cold sweat and she felt hot on the inside. Spots began to fill Hotaru’s vision as her legs buckled and the ground rushed up to met her. Hotaru heard shouts calling her name before she felt strong arms catch her before she hit the ground. She blinked as her vision cleared and looked up to see Vegeta holding her up. He helped Hotaru back to her feet as strength return to her.

“Thank you Vegeta.” Hotaru whispered quietly before he let her go and Bulma came rushing up, checking her for injuries.

“What happened Hotaru? Are you okay?” Bulma frantically asked. Hotaru lightly batted Bulma’s hands away from her face.

“Bulma I’m okay. I just got a little dizzy.” Hotaru replied.

“Are you sure that’s all it was?” Yamcha asked, coming to stand with Hotaru. “The last time that happened out of the blue was when…”

“I’m fine Yamcha.” Hotaru quickly interrupted. “The heat just got to me is all.” Yamcha opened his mouth to say something else but a look from Hotaru made him close it again.

“Here, maybe this will help.” The stranger reached into his pocket and pulled out a capsule. He pushed the button and threw it to the ground, revealing a miniature refridgerator. He opened it and pulled out a root beer soda and handed it to Hotaru. “This should help you with the heat.”

“Thank you.” Hotaru accepted the can with a small blush on her face. The stranger smiled and turned to everyone else.

“You’re all welcome to get soda if you would like one.” Gohan, Krillin and Bulma took him up on his offer.

Soon after, an alarm went off on the stranger’s watch. He re-capsuled the mini-fridge.

“That’s it. Goku should be arriving right about now.”

Moments later, a cloud of dust emerged from the crater created by Goku’s space pod.

“He’s here!” Gohan shouted happily and ran for the crater. Everyone followed his lead and stood at the edge of the crater waiting for Goku to come out. They stayed still until the pod door opened and a black mess of hair came out.

Goku took one step out of the pod and look up at them.

“Hey guys.” He said, surprised. Everyone except Vegeta and Piccolo erupted in cheers.

“Yeah!” Bulma and Hotaru shouted excitedly. Bulma jumped up and down with Krillin.

“Check him out!”

“What took you so long Dad?” Gohan shouted.

“You the man Goku!” Yamcha shouted as Goku ascended to their level.

“Hi you guys.” He greeted. “How did you know I was going to be here?” He asked, confused.

“This guy told us.” Hotaru said turning her head to look at the stranger. “He knew exactly where and when you were going to be here.”

“I think he’s a fan of yours. He’s a mystery man.”

“He knows all about you Daddy.” Gohan mentioned. Goku looked the stranger over.

“But how? We’ve never even met before.” Gohan and Bulma looked surprised and Yamcha and Tien looked at each other. Hotaru narrowed her eyes at the stranger. This entire scenario seemed familiar. She knows she heard of this before.

“Maybe he was tracking your ship in space.” Bulma offered. Goku brought his hand up to his chin.

“I don’t know. Frieza tried to that but I could sense him as he passed me. He sure was in a hurry. But wait,” Goku looked around, “who defeated Frieza?” He looked at everyone. “Was it Piccolo?” He looked around Gohan to Vegeta. “Or was it you Vegeta?”

“It was neither of us.” Piccolo said gaining Goku’s attention. “This guy did it.” He was talking about the stranger. “He did it with ease. He turned into a Super Saiyan and picked Frieza apart.

“What a Super Saiyan?” Goku looked at the stranger in awe. “That’s amazing. A boy his age already a Super Saiyan. That’s outstanding.”

“Hey aren’t you forgetting something?” Vegeta yelled at him. “You, your son and I are the only Saiyans left. There’s no way he can be a Saiyan.” Hotaru noticed the stranger glance at Vegeta and then look at the ground; like there was something he wanted to tell Vegeta. Hotaru didn’t know what though.

“Hm, well if he says he’s a Super Saiyan then that’s good enough for me.” Goku replied, crossing his arms over his chest. Bulma put her hands on her hips.

“Honestly Goku you take things way to lightly sometimes. You and Serena are just alike.” Bulma said.

“No we’re not.” Goku said.

“Goku,” The stranger finally said, gaining Goku’s attention from Bulma’s comment. “Can I speak to you, privately?” Goku looked at him for a moment.

“Alright then.” Goku and the stranger began to walk to the other side of the crater.

“Hey what’s this guy trying to say?” Yamcha demanded.

“It’s okay guys. I’ll be right back.” Goku said reassuringly before they took off to the other side.

“I wonder what they’re going to talk about?” Hotaru wondered out loud.

The rest of the group was pretty restless while Goku talked with this mysterious stranger who saved their lives. Piccolo was the only one who didn’t move at all. The conversation lasted a while before the stranger took off into the sky waving back at Goku who returned to the group.

“So what’d that guy want?” Krillin asked immediately.

“Well…” Goku scratched the back of his head. “Nothing important.” He answered.

“Really? It sounded pretty important to me.” Piccolo said.

“You heard?” Goku asked, looking and sounding shocked.

“My ears are for more than decoration Goku.” Piccolo retorted. “What I heard sounded like something we all need to know.”

“But if you heard everything then you know that…”

“Don’t worry. I won’t say anything that would endanger your friend. But we all deserve a fighting chance if we’re going to survive.”

“Survive what?” Hotaru asked curiously.

Piccolo told everyone what he had heard. Leaving out the details of who the stranger was and where he came from. Not a word was said as the story continued and faces grew paler with each sentence.

“How can there be such a power that even our combined power can’t beat it?” Hotaru whispered in slight fear. Her voice trembled slightly.

“I don’t know. But in three years, it’ll be here so tell the others to train and prepare.” Piccolo told Hotaru. She nodded, hugging herself. Bulma came up and wrapped her arms around Hotaru.

“Everything will be fine. There’s nothing to worry about.” She comforted. Hotaru relaxed and smiled slightly.

“You’re right.”

“I guess it’s time for everyone to start training.” Tien and Chaiotzu bid goodbye and took off. Vegeta then took off, spouting something about being the strongest and eventually beating Kakarot.

“Hey Piccolo, wanna come with us?” Goku asked. “Gohan could probably use the extra training partner.”

“Sure.” Piccolo answered.

“Cool.” Gohan exclaimed. They took off into the sky. Goku turned to join them before he stopped and turned back to face Hotaru.

“Hey Hotaru hope you have a healthy baby.” He said before flying away with Gohan and Piccolo.

“WHAT?” Hotaru shouted after him but he was too far to hear. Hotaru felt eyes on her and looked at Yamcha and Bulma, both of whom were looking at her with disbelief.

“Hotaru…” Bulma started.

“Are you going to have a baby?” Yamcha finished.

“I wouldn’t know how. I haven’t done anything that would even come close to causing a baby to form.” Hotaru ranted, a bright red spreading across her cheeks. “Goku must have been a little confused.”

“Obviously.” Bulma said. “Really. Goku must have hit his head on that landing.” Bulma shook her head.

“Can we just get back to Capsule Corp? I still have to finish an experiment today.” Hotaru said, her blush finally starting to lessen.

“Might as well.” Bulma pulled the capsule of the plane out of her pocket and activated it.

Bulma drove the way back. Hotaru spent the time in the back seat, thinking about the stranger. If he came back in time to warn Goku, his world had to be horrible. Hotaru felt sorry for him and found herself wishing she could do something to help him. But he was already gone, according to Goku.

“You can’t do anything to help you little weakling.”

Hotaru jerked and looked around for the voice. She wasn’t on the plane anymore. Hotaru was now in a black room, the only light was on her like a spotlight.

“Who’s there?” Hotaru asked the darkness. She saw no one.

“You know who I am.” The voice answered. “I’ve been gone for a while but now I’m back. And the silence will soon reign supreme.” Hotaru was grabbed from behind. She was turned to look into the cold, emotionless eyes of Mistress 9.

“No, it can’t be.” Hotaru whimpered as the long nails of Mistress 9 dug into her flesh, drawing beads of blood.

“Oh it can and it is.” Mistress 9 smirked evilly. “You will be in my control soon enough. I’ll make you kill all of your friends and destroy your own world.” Mistress 9 cackled loudly. Hotaru fought out of her grasp.

“It won’t happen.” She declared. “I won’t let you.”

“Please spare me the drama you pitiful girl.” Mistress 9 shrank back into the darkness. “It’s only a matter of time.”

“Hotaru!”

Hotaru gasped and looked around. Bulma was standing in front of her and Capsule Corp was behind her. She had fallen asleep on the ride.

“Hotaru are you okay?” Bulma asked, seeing Hotaru’s pale face and shaking hands.

“Yes I’m fine. It was just a bad dream.” Hotaru calmed her breathing. “I’ll be in soon.” Bulma nodded and walked into Capsule Corp. Hotaru leaned back in her seat.

“It was just a dream.” Hotaru said to herself. “Wasn’t it?”

--I cannot believe how long it took me to get this chapter out. My publishing class is taking up a lot of my writing time. I’ve already had to do two memoirs and two short stories and that’s not including all the writing prompts and reports. I hope it’s helping my writing. Well until next time.--