Forgotten Past: The New Arrival (Chapter 2)

Dr. Briefs had been able to determine the position and speed of the approaching spacecraft, his calculations gave the fighters a week before he arrived to prepare and psyche themselves up. Vegeta, now knowing that he was not in fact a Super-Saiyan, was for once apprehensive, although he would not admit that to anyone. Chi-Chi kept a close eye on Gohan, hardly letting him out of his room. Even so, Gohan managed to sneak outside with his friend Icarus and train with Krillin. The two Saiyans trained together, their superior power levels too high for the others to withstand in a sparring match, so they stuck with each other. There was to be plenty of time to take pleasure in defeating less worthy adversaries, now was time to take on the biggest challenge of their lives.

Vegeta had just completed his warm up, flying five times around the world, and gently landed on the grass. His boots squashed a few daisies silently.
"Don't stand on the flowers. They're alive as well."
Vegeta looked up, seeing a levitating Saiyan cross legged with her eyes closed. A faint aura surrounded her, one the colour of a perfect summer sky. He started to protest, but when he realised that she had not opened her eyes the whole time, decided to leave her to her meditation. [She has improved so much. I wonder what is driving her?] He thought to himself, making sure that she was unable to detect his thoughts. The last time he had seen her they were both little more than children. He had been the physically stronger one, so he had been deemed the most powerful, but this girl's power came not from her body, but from her mind. So whereas Catrik was sent off planet in a successful attempt to rid the planet of weaklings, he remained under his master, gaining physical strength until he had outshone everyone on the planet. It was this strength that made Freiza want to take him and claim him as his own. Then the planet had been destroyed as the Saiyans tried in vain to rescue their prince. Vegeta thought that Catrik had been on the planet in a rare holiday before being re-posted when the planet had been destroyed, but obviously she hadn't. [At least now the hope for the Saiyan race lies on more that just mine and Kakarott's shoulders. There is another warrior who has the strength to call themselves a Saiyan instead of that pathetic excuse for a fighter. He doesn't even take advantage of destroying people weaker than him.] Vegeta scowled at the thought.

He felt Catrik's energy signature change ever so slightly, and heard her rise to her feet behind him. With one swift bounce the petite female somersaulted over the similar sized male of her own species.
"Haha! Remember when i was desperate to be able to do that without using my ki? Everyone else could do it before they could fly, but I was more bothered about being able to jump the highest, even though I could fly almost as quickly as I could walk!" She laughed out loud for a moment, her face lighting up, "and they later told me *they* were all jealous coz they wanted to fly. I was such a silly kid."
"You can say *that* again."
Cat closed her eyes and smiled a little, "Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit Vegeta dearest, remember that it may be the only one you have. Anyway, you're just jealous coz I'm prettier than you."
"Am not!"

Cat slowly pirhouetted, carefully picking a flower and inhaling its scent deeply. It was almost like she was back on her home planet, without a care in the world; before she realised that her family were ashamed of her poor fighting ablilities, before they disowned her. Her face fell as she slowly began to remember her life again, the temporary elation brought on by the meditation gone with the speed of a thought. A single tear trickled slowly from the pools of liquid that had built up in her eyes. She blinked, clearing her sight a little. Vegeta walked slowly towards her, taking up a position squarely in front of her. He removed the flower from her hand and tucked it into her loosely bound hair, the lilac petals emphasising her perfect blue eyes. She smiled, a very small smile, but it was a smile none the less. Vegeta looked into Cat's cobalt eyes, marvelling in how she managed to show all, or none of her emotions on will. "There we go, a perfect flower for my perfect little princess."
Cat sniffed, "Whatever you do don't let Raditz hear you say that!"
"He's dead."
"That's more like my Vegeta, none of this mushy shit. Hope you're not going soft on me, we have a battle to fight, and if we're going to win we're gonna have to train." With those words she flew off in a purple flash of light, leaving a slightly bemused Vegeta 5 seconds behind the red haired girl. He shrugged, and flew off after her.

***

A hard day's training behind them Goku, Gohan, Krillin and Vegeta sat down to inhale the latest meal that Goku's wife had so lovingly prepared. As per usual Goku has five times as much food as the others put together. However, there was one person who was conspicuous by their absence, a certain female.

Cat was in her room, but did not feel at home. She had stripped herself of her combat clothing, and was wearing a cool, highly revealing dress that floated around her bunched up legs. She knew that they were all enjoying a fantstic meal downstairs, but she didn't feel hungry. The memories were coming back to haunt her, yet again. As the voices slowly began to overtake her own senses her body lost control and she collapsed onto the floor. Beneath her lay the crushed remains of a beautiful flower.

It was not until three hours later that someone found the young woman on her bedroom floor. Yet again, there was blood on her clothes and on the floor around her, only this time there was a note beside the limp body. Bulma, who had come upstairs to bring Catrik a cup of tea, screamed and dropped her tray. A thunder of feet on the staircase heralded the arrival of those who were still in the house. Goku arrived to find a pale Bulma, inanimately staring at the corpse. There was no blood this time, the only sign of anything wrong was that the blood had drained from her face, leaving the usually bronzed complexion washed-out and pale. Vegeta thundered up the stairs, and looked down in disgust at the motionless body, reading the note silently, scrunching it into a ball and tossing it out of the window when finished. He began to curse loudly in his native language, "What have you done now you pathetic little slut? You can hear me I know you can! So get your stupid Saiyan arse off the floor now and get some food into you!" The girl on the floor began to flicker her eyes, but Vegeta didn't see, "I can't believe you're not taking care of yourself this close to an important battle, or are you too afraid to fight? You of *all* people should know how much we need everything we've got." Her eyes opened, but her face remained pale. She looked down towards her feet and tears formed, but she refused to shed them.
"Vegeta, I've got something to tell you. Guys I'm fine, just skipped lunch that's all, I'm just a bit anaemic. I'm fine." This was all spoken very fast, in an attempt to remove the curiousity over her recent collapse. Bulma took the hint and left, followed by everyone except Goku, who as ever didn't get the message until Vegeta growled at him.
"Kakarott, move!" The Super-Saiyan quickly did as he was told, knowing when he wasn't wanted, even if it was a little later than everyone else realised.

***

Cat sipped a warm cup of tea that Chichi had thoughtfully prepared, and Vegeta sat down next to her on her bed. Cat looked incredibly vunerable for one of the few times in her life. Vegeta resisted the uncharacteristic urge to hold this girl, inspite of every single sense telling him that it would be the best course of action. "Now what was it you wanted to tell me?"
Cat breathed into her cup of tea, and the steam clouded her face, the heat making her look slightly less pale. "Well, there was a reason I showed up when i did. Ok, you weren't meant to find me, but seeing as you did, here goes..." She sighed deeply, pushing yet more tears back, "I... I'm pregnant..." Vegeta's mouth gaped open, and his eyes filled with joy, a strange sensation for a Saiyan out of battle. Cat continued, not looking at the elder man's face, "Well, at least I was. That's why I collapsed. Please don't be mad with me." Cat dropped her tea, overcome with emotion. A few tears fell before she realised, and she hastily made to clean up the spilt fluid. Vegeta's voice was harsh at first, but then was soft and full of emotion, as if sparked by the girl's actions,
"Hey! There's no need to clean it up, I'll do it in a minute." Cat looked up at him, remaining silent. "Come here." He opened his arms to take her in a tender embrace. It felt strange at first, but as she let everything go, all the tears, all the pain of her entire life, she found herself opening up to the short, spikey-haired Saiyan. As she told him everything the tea soaked slowly into the carpet, it sure as hell was not going to get cleaned up anytime soon.

***

The next morning, all were present at the breakfast table. Chichi served up a delicious breakfast as usual, and everyone ate as much as they wanted. However, 200 000 miles above the earth, in the close proximity of the planet's only natural satellite, an alien spacecraft watched the blue and white planet with intentions of domination. Of the two main beings on the ship, one remained remarkably calm, while the other, the smaller of the two was pacing around and shouting at any of his servants that came too close. His latest outburst was aimed in the direction of the pilot.
"Why is it taking so long?" It was screamed so loud that it could be heard at the other end of the corridor. He flicked his tail impatiently, enjoying the look of fear on the pilot's face.
"Erm.... we should be there in three hours Lord Freiza."
"Three hours!? I want us to be there sooner, I haven't got all millenium!"
The pilot upped the fuel supply to the engines. "Lord Freiza, new ETA 1 hour."

***

It was Goku who first felt the enormous energy signature within the close vicinity of the planet. It was an overwhelming feeling that just hit him, knocking his concentration away for a fraction of a second, which was all that Vegeta needed to deliver a powerful kamehameha to his chest. The force knocked him over, and when he refused to move from the floor Vegeta knew that something was wrong. He froze mid-air, letting his senses reach out, and found the source of Goku's distress. They spoke in unison, as if they were using telepathy,
"Freiza's here."

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TBC...