Cosmic Crisis 2 - The Return of Orion
Written By Erin Miller - nekochan016@aol.com

Chapter 15 - Meeting the End

	Natalie slept fitfully that night.  After Trunks had run off,
Kira had quietly finished her ice cream with tears occasionally
splashing into the bowl.  Natalie tried to shrug it off, making excuses
for Trunks' behavior, but it wouldn't let her mind rest.  Did he not
love her?  Was it because of Kira?  Was he angry with her for something?
 These sort of things continued to pop into her head until she fell
asleep with Kira by her side, upstairs in her room.

	The next morning, Natalie was already awake when the sun rose,
painting the early sky a brilliant red-orange before crawling above the
horizon to signal the start of the day.  She looked over and watched
Kira turn over in her sleep.  Well surely she and Trunks would get back
together, otherwise Kira would have faded from existence.  Still, this
didn't cease her fleeting thoughts.  Suddenly, there was a knock at her
door, which caused Natalie to jump, almost falling off the bed.  She
knew it was Trunks, and rushed to the door, but opened it cautiously. 
Sure enough, she stole a glance at his purple hair before looking into
his blue eyes.  
	"Natalie..." he began.  Natalie stepped out of the room and shut
the door behind her.  The two stood in the hall almost invisible to each
other due to the lack of light.  She could feel his eyes burning into
hers and the warmth of his body radiating off of him.  
	"Yes?" she said, her voice barely above a whisper.  
	"I-" Trunks broke off.  He had inherited his father's sense of
pride, and fought to overcome it.  "I am really sorry." Natalie looked
up from staring at the floor to what she could make out as Trunks' face
in the dark hallway.  "I don't know what was wrong with me.  I think
it's the girl." Trunks said, his voice heavy with grief.  Grief over his
father, grief over his actions, and grief over the thought of losing
Natalie.
	"Kira." Natalie corrected him.
	"Kira.  I think it was Kira." Trunks said.  "Maybe it wasn't.  I
don't know what came over me.  Nat I'm really sorry." He said,
apologizing profusely.  
	"It's okay...Trunks." Natalie said.  Without saying another
word, before she took another breath, Natalie was in Trunks' arms, and
they embraced.  Finally, they reluctantly let go and looked into each
other's eyes before returning to their respective rooms to take
advantage of a couple more hours' rest.  Natalie walked into her room
and watched as Kira slept peacefully on the bed.  She walked over and
pulled the covers over the shivering girl and curled up next to her,
drifting off to sleep now that her mind was at peace once again. 
	Meanwhile, Vegita and Goku were strolling down Snake Way in the
direction of Kaiosama's place.
	"Why do you insist on visiting that old fool?" Vegita scowled,
not even looking over at Goku.
	"Oh, come on Vegita.  It's just a nice thing to do for an old
friend.  Besides, do you know of anything better to do up here?" Goku
asked.  Both were sporting halos as they strolled down the stone road. 
They had both chosen not to fly, for whatever reason, since they
wouldn't be expending any energy in heaven.  
	King Kai could sense their approach as he stepped out onto the
rocky pathway that led out into the training area.  
	"Well, well, well.  It'll be good to see Goku again." Kaio-sama
said to himself as a smile appeared on his face.  "It seems as though
Vegita is with him as well."  King Kai was aware of the situation with
Orion and Natalie, as well as the battles that they had fought.  He was
always keeping a close watch on Natalie since she had such an
interesting past, from what he knew.  He remembered the terrible losses
that resulted from Vela's destruction and how all of the Kaio-shins had
reacted to the situation.  But they weren't aware of any survivors other
than Orion and the princess.  Seemed a shame, really, to see such a
great race end in mere moments.  He quickly dismissed those thoughts and
returned to present-time as Bubbles grunted.  
	"Kaio-sama!" a voice called out to him.  King Kai looked up to
see Goku waving at him with an excited expression on his face while the
prince stood next to him with the usual scowl on his face.  
	"Well!  If it isn't the two greatest warriors this side of the
galaxy!" King Kai said, a large grin appearing on his blue-tinted face. 
"What brings you two here?"
	"Well, we were in the neighborhood." Goku said, smirking.  
	"Ah yes, I know.  I know.  Can I get you guys anything?" he offered.
 Almost instantly, Goku was in Kaio-sama's kitchen.  Vegita just rolled
his eyes and bowed his head to King Kai respectfully.
	"So how are things going down below, Vegita?" King Kai asked,
breaking the awkward silence.  
	"Hmph." Vegita replied, once again folding his arms.  "You must
know about the girl?" he asked.  King Kai nodded his head.  "She sure is
a strong willed one."
	"It's her Saiyan blood." King Kai replied, obviously aware of
her Saiyan heritage. 
	"She has a thing for Trunks.  I just know it." Vegita said.  
	"And if he does, what is wrong with it?" King Kai asked.  "Don't
you think he was bound to find a girl sooner or later?" he laughed,
snorting. Vegita's only reply was a "hmph".  
	"Hey guys.  What are you two talking about?" Goku said, coming
out of Kaio-sama's house with a bowl of fried rice in his hands and
ready chopsticks in another.
	"What do you care, Kakarott?  Don't you have other things to
worry about, like your stomach?" Vegita snapped.  Goku looked at Vegita
with a stunned expression.
	"Come on Vegita.  Don't be so harsh." Goku said.  "It can't be
so bad that you can't tell your close friends, huh?" Vegita grunted.  He
never considered Kakarott to be one of his friends.  Why did he care
anyway?  It wasn't like he was asking him to.  
	"It's none of your business." Vegita said.  "Besides, if I wanted to
tell someone, it wouldn't be you." Goku was a bit crushed by Vegita's
comment.  He never seemed to want to accept him.  
	"Fine.  I won't bother you then." Goku said plainly, and then turned
to King Kai and began to converse.  
	"Hmph.  I didn't think that Saiyans gave up so easily.  But Kakarott
is just a low class warrior anyway." Vegita thought to himself.  Vegita
was always using this excuse because he couldn't accept the fact that
Goku was stronger than he was. 
	"Is that all!?" Goku said loudly to King Kai, snapping Vegita out of
his deep thought process.
	"Is WHAT all?" Vegita barked.  
	"Vegita why didn't you tell us that Trunks was in love?  It's
not that big of a deal!" Goku said, grinning.  Vegita turned a
frightening shade of crimson and looked at Kaio-sama with a lethal look
in his eyes.
	"You...told...him!?" Vegita said through clenched teeth.  
	"Oh, come now Vegita.  Don't get so angry." He said.  Vegita forced
himself to calm down for the most part.  It wasn't the fact that Trunks
was in love that angered him, it was that now Kakarott knew.  Therefore,
everyone would now know.  
	"Is it that girl?  What's her name..." Goku said.  "Natalie,
isn't it?  They seem to be really close." 
	"Yes, Kakarott, it's that girl." Vegita said, his voice bordering on
temporary insanity as he spoke through tightly clenched teeth.  
	"Well that's good!  It's about time he found someone." Goku
continued.  Vegita took that as an insult.
	"I don't see your younger brat with anyone!" Vegita retaliated. 

	"Who, Goten?  Nah, he isn't interested in girls!" Goku said. 
King Kai and Vegita glared at him with one eyebrow cocked. 
	"Well, fellas.  Let's continue this discussion inside!" King Kai
said, leading they way into his small, yet cozy home.  Vegita grunted
and purposely bumped Goku out of the way, proceeding to stomp inside
after King Kai.  
	"Well one of the reasons we came here, King Kai, was that we
were wondering if you could train us while we are here." Goku said,
walking inside as well.  
	"How long do you have until the dragon balls can be used again?"
King Kai asked.  
	"Around two and a half months." Goku replied.  Surely that would
be enough time to at least keep them in condition.  
	"Hmm..." King Kai thought out loud.  "I don't see why not.  Vegita
are you up to it?" he asked.
	"Why wouldn't I be?" He sneered.  "It would be a fine time to
humiliate Kakarott in his lack of fighting skill."  Goku just shrugged
it off.  He knew that Vegita only said that because he was too proud to
do otherwise.  So, without delaying any further, the two warriors
prepared to train under Kaio-sama's watch.
	Back on Earth, the sun had finally risen above the horizon and
shone through the windows of Capsule Corp. and right onto the sleeping
forms of Natalie and Kira.  The purple haired girl was the first to
awaken, stirring at first and then opening her eyes and looking around
the room curiously.  
	"Where am I?" she said aloud, hopping off the bed.  Obviously
the time travel had caused a memory lapse.  Natalie, who was previously
lying on her stomach, rolled onto her left side and pulled the covers
over her head.  At seeing the girl, Kira's memories came flooding back
to her at once.  Almost immediately, she jumped on top of Natalie,
shaking the girl senseless.  "Wake up!  Wake up!" the girl cried. 
Natalie was torn from her sleep and thrusted into the reality of a new
day.  
	"I'm up!" Natalie cried, sitting up in her bed and causing Kira
to roll off of her.  "What's the rush?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.
	"It's time to get up." Kira said, and jumped off the bed.  Natalie
scratched the back of her head in confusion and stumbled out of bed. 
Bulma passed by her room with an exhausted look on her face.  She didn't
even bother to turn her head as she passed Natalie's doorway.  Natalie
started to call he name, but stopped herself.  She realized that Bulma
must be extremely upset about the death of her husband.  Natalie became
enraged as she remembered that gruesome scene.  It played over and over
in her head in a seemingly never-ending torturous fashion.  Natalie
grasped her head and ran her hands through the thick mass of brown hair.
 She just wanted to crawl back into her bed and sleep forever.  She lied
back on the bed and was about to pull the covers over her head when a
hand reached down and took them from her hands.  She looked up to see
Trunks's face hovering over hers.  
	"Are you okay?" he asked, blowing a few strands of hair out of
his eyes.  
	"He's so sweet." She thought to herself.  "I'm fine." She spoke,
sitting up in the bed once again.  She could see the grief in Trunks'
eyes as his eyes rested on the floor.  Natalie was getting angry.  Angry
with herself for not being able to stop Orion.  She had let him take
control of her.  She had been weak!  And because of her weakness,
Vegita, Goku, and Piccolo were now dead.  And if she hadn't even come
here in the first place, Orion wouldn't have killed the innocent people
on this planet.  By now, the rage was boiling inside of her.  This was
the prefect time, she told herself, to train.  Without saying a word,
Natalie slid off of the bed and walked into the bathroom, pulling her
hair back vigorously, pulling out some of her hair in the process.  She
didn't even bother to change clothes before she splashed some water on
her face and walked out, heading for the gravity chamber.  Trunks
followed her with his eyes until she was out of the room.  He considered
going after her, but stopped himself, since he knew what was going
through her mind.  She had a tremendous weight on her shoulders.  He
just wished that there was something he could do.  
	Natalie stormed out of Capsule Corp and walked towards the gravity
chamber.  By now, she had tears in her eyes and she blindly set the
gravity controls.  The low, steady hum of the gravity machine resonated
around the area as Natalie flipped open the control panel that dispersed
fighting androids and holograms.  Of course, being enraged, she felt as
though she could take on the world.  So she set the machine to disperse
five robots and two holograms, without even warming up first.  She was
oblivious to the danger of her actions, and proceeded into the chamber,
shutting the door and locking it behind her.  She didn't want to talk to
anyone right now, and didn't want to take the chance of Trunks or Kira
paying her a visit.  Before she could even stretch her tense muscles,
her 7 sparring partners greeted her.  The robots' chrome armor glinted
in the false light of the chamber as they emerged from their storage
spaces and activated themselves.  Two holograms appeared before her. 
This time, they were both male, averaging about six feet in height and
were incredibly built, just like all of the other senshi.  The one on
the left had black spiky hair that fell over his pale grey eyes.  He was
almost attractive.  The other had straight brown hair that was similar
in fashion to Trunks' hairstyle.  They were both wearing identical
outfits, consisting of tight black tank tops that accentuated their
muscles, and loose grey pants that were tied in place with a rope-like
piece of blue cloth.  After staring at them for what seemed like an
hour, Natalie's eyes darted over to the robots, which had lined up in
single file.  She assumed that they were waiting for her to make a move.
 With one swift, smooth motion, Natalie lunged towards the holograms. 
This set them off, and they dodged her attach with ease.  The robots
responded as well, and began to move towards the girl, powering up
blasts with their cold, metal "hands".  Natalie turned her head just in
time to see a fist heading straight for her face.  She jumped to the
side and avoided it, but, unfortunately for her, she jumped right into
the path of a beam from the other hologram.  The energy surrounded her
and knocked her to the floor.  It was a relatively weak blast, however,
and did little damage to the girl, other than stunning her.  The
black-haired hologram shot his fist towards her midsection, taking
advantage of her position.  Natalie rolled out of the way and sprang to
her feet, throwing her fists at the brunette hologram.  Suddenly, out of
nowhere, something hit her on the back of the head, causing Natalie's
sight to be exaggerated for a few fleeting moments before she realized
that one of the robots had attacked her from behind.  She kicked her
foot in a roundhouse fashion and spun her torso around after her leg,
sending it crashing into the robot's legs and bringing it to the ground.
 She pummeled it with her fists, putting dents in the chrome.  She then
felt a presence behind her and moved right as a hologram's foot stomped
down where she had just been, crushing the head of the robot as it hit
the ground.  Natalie looked on in disbelief before powering up and
delivering a ki blast to the back of the hologram.  He was knocked
forward a few feet before retaliating with a blast of his own.  Natalie
just jumped out of the way as it hit the wall and was absorbed. 
Suddenly something knocked into Natalie from behind and she was pinned
to the floor by the black-haired hologram.  While she was vulnerable, he
delivered a blow to the back of her head, which caused her to lose her
peripheral vision in bother of her eyes.  This scared Natalie, for she
feared losing consciousness and being torn to shreds by the holograms,
so she expanded her aura, knocking both holograms against the walls. 
She brought herself to her feet, only to be met with a blast from one of
the fighter robots.  Natalie was becoming annoyed and let out a growl,
lunging towards the robot and grabbing it by the neck.  Before it could
blast her again, she brought her fist back and snapped it forward,
impaling the droid immediately.  Sparks flew from the hole she had
created in the thing and she dropped the pile of scrap metal to the
ground, following up with a ki blast to incinerate its remains.  As soon
as she gathered her senses, the holograms were attacking once more. 
They stood on either side of her, waiting to attack.  They then lunged
for her simultaneously.  A robot was coming towards her from the front,
and she didn't have enough room behind he to dodge.  Instinctively, she
shot her arms out to the sides and opened her hands to expose her palms.
 With a yell, she sent huge waves of energy out of her hands and towards
the holograms.  They crossed their forearms over their faces and
attempted to withstand the onslaught, but were blown back once more. 
Just as this happened, Natalie shot her foot out in front of her to send
the robot flying back against the far wall.  Natalie blurred over to it
and attacked it head on, sending bits of metal flying in all directions.
 When she was sure that it couldn't do any more harm to her, she kicked
its head in one final time and blasted it, drilling the remains into the
wall.  She wiped her forehead vigorously as beads of sweat dripped down
the side of her face.  Suddenly, the black-haired hologram smacked her
straight in the face, sending her flying into the wall where the remains
of the droid smoked.  A trickle of blood ran down her chin as she
gathered her wits.  The brown-haired one attacked her from the side,
kicking her sharply in the side and shattering her rib cage immediately.
 She let out a shrill cry as she fell over on her other side, rendering
herself vulnerable.  She inhaled sharply and thanked Kami that her
broken ribs hadn't punctured her lungs.  The two holograms then punched
her in the chest, causing her to gasp for air again.  Her body burned
and her muscles screamed as she fought to get on her feet to defend
herself against her attackers.  The holograms stood before her,
preparing to attack once more, when she screamed and let a ki blast
loose.  The energy surrounded them and knocked them back, but they
recovered immediately.  Just as she was about to attack them again she
doubled over and coughed up blood.  Just then, a robot blasted her from
the side.  She screamed in anger, trying desperately to regain her
composure before she was attacked again.  The gravity chamber rocked as
she powered up to super Saiyan and incinerated the robot instantly.  Now
there were only two robots and two holograms left.  Surely with her
transformation, she would be able to finish them off.  She powered up a
blast and sent it flying towards the brown-haired hologram.  The energy
sliced through its chest and it let out a deafening yell before
exploding into a million points of light.  The black-haired hologram
became enraged and attacked with full force.  Natalie managed to fend
off most of the attacks, with the exception of a few hits.  She suddenly
became aware that the two other robots were heading straight for her,
and struggled to disengage herself from the hologram so that she could
finish them off.  She tripped the hologram to temporarily distract him
while she headed for the robots.  She ripped one of the arms off of the
nearest one and smacked its head with it.  She then grabbed it's neck
and twisted it to make it snap.  It seemed apparent that when Natalie
transformed, her Saiyan instincts kicked in and she became fiercer when
she fought.  After she had taken care of the first robot, she headed for
the second.  Before she could attack it, she was hit in the back of the
neck by the hologram and sent flying towards the wall.  Right before she
hit, the hologram blasted her, increasing her speed as she smacked
straight into the cold, hard metal wall.  She slid to the floor, barely
conscious after the blow to her head as the hologram hovered over her
with an evil grin on his face.  
	Trunks sat on Natalie's bead as his thoughts raced.  He was suddenly
struck with a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach.  He immediately
thought of Natalie, and located her ki in the gravity chamber.  What had
she done!?  Surely she wasn't fighting the battle droids at the state
she was in!  He raced down the stairs, past his sullen mother and the
tiny Kira, ran out the door, and skidded to a halt in front of the
gravity chamber.  He looked at the control panel and saw that she had
activated five droids!  Then he noticed that she had also used two
holograms as well!  Trunks became wide-eyed and tried to open the door. 
It was locked!  He knew that he couldn't blast it, since his mother had
built it to withstand those kinds of things.  He cursed to himself and
activated the view-screen inside the chamber.  When he saw the sight, he
recoiled in terror.  Natalie was lying on the floor on the brink of
consciousness as a fierce-looking hologram stood over her with an evil
smirk on his face.  He outstretched his hand and positioned it over her
head, preparing to finish her off.  
	"Natalie, NO!" Trunks cried.  He clenched his fists and powered
up, firing at the door in vain.  A ball of energy appeared in the
hologram's hands as he collected energy for his kill.  Natalie coughed
up more blood and looked up at the hologram in sheer terror.  Trunks
beat on the door until his knuckles bled, still not managing to budge
it.  He looked at the view screen to see that the hologram had finished
collecting energy for the attack and was preparing to fire.  
	"GOD DAMNIT NATALIE GET UP!" Trunks cried at the top of his lungs. 
With one final laugh, the hologram fired directly at Natalie's head. 
She screamed an ear-splitting scream that reverberated around the
chamber as the energy slammed into her, exploding on contact.  Her
screams came to a sudden halt as the blast shot through her.  Trunks saw
the whole thing and immediately exploded into super Saiyan level 2!  He
incinerated the door of the chamber in blind rage.  He shot a ki blast
straight though the hologram's heart, killing it instantly as it
exploded into points of light.  The attack went on to disintegrate the
robot, leaving no evidence that it was even there.  Trunks blurred over
to Natalie, lifting her limp head into his hands.  
	"NATALIE!" Trunks cried, shaking the girl's limp body as tears
came to his eyes.  Blood leaked out of her mouth and streamed down her
chin, splashing to the floor.  She was dead.