"Wha..? Who..who's there?!" Ryoko stood in darkness, and had suddenly felt something move behind her. "Where am I?" She turned, and begun looking around. Suddenly, a flash of light filled the sky. It was so bright compared to the darkness her eyes had just gotten used to, and she held her hands up to shield it. There was a loud boom, followed by a crackling sound. It looked like fire was falling down from the sky. Ryoko finally realized where she was - she now stood on a cracked road in the middle of the city. The surrounding buildings were burning as explosions sounded in the distance. "What the hell is going on?!!" There was fear in her voice as she began shouting and searching frantically. "Where did everybody go?! Trunks! Ryan! Minagi! Bulma!...Vegeta?! Where is everybody?!!" She began running hopelessly down the street. Nobody was there. She couldn't sense a single human life. But she felt something else as a chill ran up her spine, and she stopped running, panting hard.
Suddenly, she looked up, and everything had stopped, as if she were in a virtual reality game and the battery had just died. There was complete silence, until a cry caught her ears, and they poked up. "Mom! Please, help me!!" "What?! Ryan!! I'm coming!!!" She began running down the streets again, following the sound of his voice. She turned a sharp corner, and her feet screeched to a halt as she was utterly horrified. "RYAN!!!" Three rather large and completely disgusting looking androids were now grabbing him and beating him into the ground. "GET THE HELL OFF OF HIM!!!" Ryoko ran full speed at the androids, not taking her sight off of her beaten son. "HAAA...!!!!" She kicked one with all her strength, and sent it flying into a nearby building, demolishing it on impact. She turned to attack the other two, but something else suddenly caught her eye.
"Oh no....." She had finally found her family. Vegeta was covered in blood, and he sat on the ground. His leg looked like it had snapped. Next to him stood Trunks, who wasn't in much better shape than his father, and was facing down an army of androids. Bulma lay motionless on the ground, Minagi near her leaning against a cracking wall. She was cradling her arm, or what was left of it; her eyes fixated on Trunks who seemed to be the only one who could stand. "This can't be happening....there's no way..." A combination of pure pain and hatred was coursing through Ryoko's body. The army that had stood motionless now began movement as it headed swiftly toward the fallen warriors like a plague. "N..n.nno......" Her body was shaking all over as she stood facing the ground. She clenched her fists so tightly that her nails were digging into her palms, making them bleed. "I...c-can't...I...this pain...this misery........I JUST WANT IT ALL TO GO AWAY!!!!!"
Ryoko was now sitting straight up in her bed; her eyes wide open and sweat covered her face as she breathed hard. Her stomach ached in the area surrounding her scar, and she felt nauseous. "It…it was only a dream…" she blurted out. "It seemed so real." She hated to admit that dream scared her. Ryoko did a good job of not showing fear, but it hit her deep where it hurts the most, and she knew it. Her eyes went back into focus as she looked over at the clock. "It's already 8:34...why didn't anyone wake me up?" It was bright; the sunlight was shining in the room through the open window. She began wiping the sweat from her face with her bed sheet as she calmed down. She had noticed that she was sitting in the middle of the bed, and that Trunks wasn't lying to her right like he normally was. "I'm starting to feel like Sasami..." Ryoko thought to herself. Sasami often had dreams that were premonitions of things to come. "That wasn't a premonition...was it?!" She quickly forced that thought out of her head, and laid back again. She then noticed something else. She was still wearing the same thing she had on last night, except that she was wearing a coat over it. "Oh yeah..." she thought to herself, remembering their confrontation with the Red Ribbon commander, and their walk back home. "That's right. I must've fallen asleep right after we got home..."
"Mom!" "Huh?...oof!" Ryan had just ran into his parents' room, and jumped on their bed, landing on his mom. "So you're finally awake?" he asked her, grinning. "Hey kiddo! Good morning! Yeah...why didn't anyone get me up earlier?" "Dad said that we should let you sleep, but I thought that you'd want breakfast, so I came to get you." "Oh! I see..." She sat and stared at him. She suddenly went into shock as her pulse raced for a second - the images in her dream began flashing through her head, overlapping her vision. "Ugh...." She grit her teeth and closed her eyes as she hunched over. "Hey! Are you ok?!" Ryan asked her, leaning his hand on her shoulder looking worried. Her stomach began hurting again. "Stop it! That wasn't real!" She was yelling at herself in her head, trying to force the images out. "Yeah....it's nothing," Ryoko answered uneasily, opening her eyes again as she made herself smile. She then held her son close, hugging him. "N..not so tight!" "Oh!" she said releasing him. "...Sorry. Where's your father?" "In the kitchen eating with everybody else. C'mon! Let's go!" "Alright." Ryoko picked him up by the legs, and carried him upside down, making him laugh. "What're you wearing?" he asked her, still hanging upside down. "Oh!" she said, blushing. "I...have to get changed. You go on ahead....I'll be there in a sec.." she added, setting him down. "...Ok." he said weirdly, and ran out of the room. She folded her arms, watching him run towards the kitchen, and smiled.
Ryoko yawned as she stretched and walked out of their room, now wearing a wife-beater tank and her ratty old jeans. Trunks and Vegeta were sitting at the table, along with Minagi and Chibi Trunks. They were all eating. Ryan was off to the side, reaching for a bowl and spoon, as Bulma stood leaning against the counter. She was discussing something with Trunks. "...I had originally thought a sneak-attack would be the best way to go about it, but now that's out of the question...oh! Good morning, Ryoko!" she said, just noticing that she'd entered the room. "...Hey..," she answered slowly, scratching her head. Everyone's attention was turned to her for a second, and then they went back to scarfing down their food. "Uhh... [yawn], are you going over our plans?" "Yeah. We're trying to figure out how we should go about doing this..." Ryoko walked over to her son, who was much too short to reach anything, and she grabbed a bowl and spoon for him. He happily took them, and sat over at the table next to his sister. "So..what did I miss so far?" "Well, nothing much actually. I wanted you to find out where the base is so we could infiltrate a sneak-attack and have you three go in and destroy everything, but now he knows that we'll be coming, so that won't work. What's worse, is that he knows what to expect, and he has plenty of time to get prepared for it." "So what?" Ryoko said, yawning again. She didn't sleep well. "I wouldn't be too worried about it... Those androids were nothing. We just got banged up because they caught us off guard. That won't happen again." She headed for the door, and opened it, walking outside, then slammed it behind her. "Wait Ryoko...! Oh god, she's just like you. Too damn stubborn for her own good." She was talking about Vegeta. He knew, but ignored her.
Ryoko was a full-blooded Saiyan; the only others being Vegeta and Goku. And she was the only female Saiyan, besides her daughter Minagi who was half Saiyan, half Juraian. When she first came to live in Capsule Corp, Vegeta was very mad with the idea. He had especially hated her because she had destroyed Cell, a feat he couldn't accomplish at the time, saved his life, and had reached a level far greater than he had - all of this, and the fact that she was a woman. And on top of that, she was just as stubborn as he was, if not more. Long ago, he snapped, and the two almost killed each other. But Vegeta learned to live with the fact that she was in love with his son, and wasn't going anywhere. After Ryan was born, and Majin Buu came, he grew to actually respect and care for her.
"Yeah, she never likes to take anything seriously," Trunks added. "She can stare death in the face, and still find something humorous to say. I think it's her way of covering her fear." The door suddenly opened again, and Ryoko stepped back inside, carrying the newspaper. "I don't care, Bulma. It's up to you. I'll do whatever you want me to." This really shocked her; Ryoko seemed to love arguing with her on everything. But she didn't act like her normal self this morning, and had already given up to Bulma. "Well...a-alright, then. Let me think about it." Minagi and Ryan had finished their meals, ran to the sink to rinse their dishes, and then ran out of the room to go play video games. "I'll beat you this time, Minagi!" "Now that's unlikely..!" she laughed. Vegeta and Chibi Trunks were still working on thirds, and Mirai Trunks had just finished his breakfast as well. "Hey Ryoko! Aren't you gonna have something to eat?" "I'm not very hungry."
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"Well, I'm trying to find the coordinates of the HQ, but it's too difficult to locate on the computer. You all are going to have to fly there and search for it yourselves." "That's fine..." Ryoko assured her. She was leaning against a prototype air-vehicle, now wearing her employee jacket over her tank. The hunk of metal had been her project in the previous week, but was put on hold for now. Trunks stood next to her; Vegeta on his right, sitting on a stool. "Ok then. I'm not sure what you're all gonna run into, so be on guard...and be careful, ok?" She sounded as if she was giving her last pep talk to her soldiers before they headed out to war. "Where are you going?"
Minagi was leaning in the doorway, watching them. They hadn't noticed she was there until she spoke up. "I hope you know that I'm coming too..." Ryoko exchanged looks with Trunks as Minagi began heading over to them. He gave Ryoko a look of, she's your daughter - it's up to you. "Minagi...I don't think that's the best idea. How about you stay here with your brother and little Trunks, ok?" "No way!! I'm going with you!" "..Minagi....." "No! I can't take it anymore! Don't you care how I feel? My father died, and then you killed yourself - all in the same week! I couldn't do anything to help...I was forced to just stand and watch. It isn't fair..." "Don't tell me that I don't understand how you feel!!" Ryoko snapped at her. "All my friends died too, don't you remember?! I..." She suddenly noticed that she was yelling at her daughter, who looked stunned from her sudden outburst. She sighed, and loosened her fists that were clenched from her anger. "I..I'm sorry...Minagi. I shouldn't have yelled at you. I just...hate seeing you get hurt. I'd feel a lot better knowing you were safe here, but that's a bit of a selfish and stupid request, isn't it?" she shrugged.
Minagi was different from her mom in many ways - she was calmer and obedient. Ryoko tended to have mood swings, changing from happy to angry, and vice versa, very easily. But when Minagi was pushed over the line, her mother's traits began showing through, like her incredible stubbornness. She began to grit her teeth. "I want to go. I...can help you! I'm not a child! I can take care of myself." Ryoko felt badly, then decided to give in to her daughter's plea. "Alright. You can come."
"Come where?" Ryan and Chibi Trunks were now standing in the doorway. "Oh no...not you two..." Bulma began to mutter. "C'mon Ryan! You and Trunks are gonna come and help us!" Minagi happily told him. "Wait...now. That's not what I said..." Ryoko started to explain. "Hey! We're coming too!" Trunks said. "Yeah! If Minagi gets to go, we do too!" Ryan chimed in. "Uhhh.....but, I..uhh..." Ryoko began to stutter, as the three looked up at her hopefully. "What do you say, Ryoko?" Bulma asked her, smiling. They continued to stare at her with large, puppy dog eyes. "Sigh. Ok, ok. You all can come. Just don't come crying to me when something happens to you..." She was kidding, of course. "Yay!!" they all yelled together. "Now..., where are we going exactly?" Chibi Trunks asked.
"You ready, Ryoko?" Trunks asked her, grinning. "Ready as I'll ever be!" she answered back, tightening her gloves. She was smiling, but it was obvious that she was hiding something. "Umm... is there something you'd like to tell me?" he asked. He hit the nail on the head, so to speak. Visions from her dream began playing like a video through her head. They were eating away at her confidence; she was beginning to feel sick again. Ryoko tried her hardest to block them out, and felt that it would be for the best if she didn't tell Trunks about it. She continued with her charade, "No..I'm..i'm fine." "Ok, if you're sure." He could tell that she was lying, but figured it would be better to leave well enough alone for now. Ryoko's not one to open up with her feelings, and bugging her about it would just get her mad. That was her typical reaction, anyway. "Good luck, you all!" Bulma stood waving to the 6 warriors as they began their journey to the Red Ribbon Army Headquarters in the southern forest.
Next: Chapter 5 - "Into The Belly Of The Beast"
Jaz - August, 2003
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