"NO!! Trunks hang on!!!" But she knew it was already too late. The shock and grief started to turn into rage, bubbling higher and higher inside her. She powered up without even realizing it and a growl raised in her throat. Carrie threw back her head and screamed. Mid-scream, it turned into more like that of a wildcat's screech.
Silver fire around her flared up. Her eyes, usually blue-green or gray, depending on her mood, now shone a brilliant light blue and narrowed. Carrie's pupils turned to slits and she howled defiantly again at the two Abunai-jins in the sky. Her hair glowed and suddenly changed from brown to silver with blue and purple highlights. From underneath her loose shirt, she pulled out a slivery cat-like tail. From her back, two shimmering, gossamer butterfly wings appeared and carefully unfolded. With one final wildcat howl, her transformation was complete.
Vegeta and Goku were sparring in the gravity training room when they felt someone's ki start to fade. "What the...?" Goku said, pausing after landing a particularly harsh punch to Vegeta's middle.
"That's Trunk's ki!" Vegeta said, dislodging himself from the wall, "Great, what trouble has that brat gotten himself into now?!"
He didn't bother complaining as Goku grabbed him by the shoulder and teleported them to the battle scene. One glance at the two aliens hovering in the air, and Trunks's lifeless form on the ground, was enough for Vegeta. "Kuso!" He sputtered as he flared into SSJ.
"No, wait Vegeta! Look!" Goku shouted pointing to Carrie. Vegeta froze with fascination as he watched Carrie transform. There was something familiar about it... Something he couldn't quite put his finger on...
When Carrie finished her change, she glared viciously at Vegeta and Goku before diverting her attention back to the two Abunai-jins. She howled and leapt up to attack, tail lashing dangerously. As Vegeta listened to Carrie's primal wildcat scream, he suddenly realized why her transformation seemed so familiar.
*FLASH!*
"Now my Prince, watch carefully as our ancestors finally rid the universe of the Craeyans permanently. This is why we no longer have to deal with those dumb-witted, inferior halves of our old Zion race."
*FLASH*
Until now, Vegeta had only seen movies and pictures of the Craeyans who were supposedly exterminated by the legendary SSJ. He growled under his breath. Chikusho, his brat's girlfriend was a Craeyan, and some sort of Super Craeyan at that.
When Carrie went back to concentrating on the two aliens in the sky, Goku flew down to Trunks's limp and bloodied form. Without bothering to check if the boy was even alive anymore, he shoved a Senzu bean down Trunks's throat. Goku then quickly picked him up and flew back up to Vegeta to avoid being hit by any stray energy blasts.
Carrie leapt up to face the two Abunai-jins. Her wings flashed as she blurred out and reappeared behind Nataas. "SHIINE KISAMA!!!!!" She howled and landed a kick to his back. Nataas was sent flying into and through the nearest building in one motion.
Damon growled and launched a crackling energy ball at Carrie. Her aura flared up and dissipated the attack then engaged Damon in a flurry of punches at kicks as he struggled to defend. He slashed back at Carrie with his forearm blades and managed to leave a shallow cut on Carrie's shoulder. Carrie growled and swiftly dodged as Damon tried to sink his tail blade into her stomach.
Nataas picked himself out of the dirt and started powering up an attack. His left arm started glowing and sparks of lightning ran along it. Slowly, he raised his arm and started to take aim. Damon smirked as he realized what his partner was doing and blurred out an instant before Nataas finished charging up. "Lightning SNIPER!" Nataas screamed and let lose an immense black beam of energy with yellow lightning running through and around it.
Carrie's eyes grew wide as she saw the beam coming towards her. Fixated, she watched, knowing that she should get out of the way, but was unable to get her body to move. She felt like a deer caught in a truck's headlights. It was so bright... Everything was going in slow motion.
"Baka, MOVE!!!" Vegeta yelled, but it had no effect on her.
The beam hit straight on in a giant explosion that leveled what was left of the half a mile radius worth of the city. Goku, carrying Trunks, and Vegeta were all thrown back a couple hundred yards by the blast.
"Kuso!" Vegeta swore as his regained his composure.
The dust started to clear revealing Carrie, still hovering in the air, her wings wrapped tightly around her entire body. She shakily peeked out from behind her crossed forearms as she unwrapped her wings and shook out the dust in them.
Nataas stood a safe distance away, mouth gaping. He growled and then both he and Damon attacked together with more series of kicks, punches, and blade slashes. After blocking the worst of the Abunai-jins' attacks, Carrie pulled herself away from them and sent off a barrage of miniature energy disks. Chuckling, Nataas and Damon prepared to block them but yelped in surprise when the disks tore through their defenses and buried themselves into the Abunai-jins' bodies.
"What the..." Nataas said and cried out in pain as he watched several glowing bumps form on his skin and start to move up his arms and legs. He heard Damon let out an ear splitting scream behind him. Nataas whirled around just in time to see the moving bumps on Damon's body suddenly explode, leaving him torn and bleeding. Not wanting to end up like his counterpart, Nataas powered up and forced the energy disks out of his body just before they exploded.
Carrie blurred out and reappeared next to Damon. He looked up to find her shoving a power ball right in his face. "Kuso!" he managed to gasp before being blown into many shreds.
"Now it's just you and me, slime ball." Carrie growled, "You're going to pay for what you did to Trunks..."
Nataas sent an energy blast at Carrie and then came in behind her with his tail blade while she was busy dodging the first blast. Carrie couldn't dodge in time and howled in pain as the blade dug itself into her back between her wings. Before she could turn and retaliate, Nataas had grabbed her tail and slung her into the ground. He started to stomp on the deep slash in her back but Carrie flipped up, grabbed his foot, and slammed him into the dirt as she sprang up and out of the way.
Nataas got up quicker than she expected and was caught off guard as he grabbed her head with his tail and dragged her across the ground, leaving a trench. After being dragged for a couple yards Carrie used her own tail to grab Nataas and slam him down into the dirt. She bit hard on his tail and pushed him away with one kick to his stomach when he started to loosen his grip. Before she freed herself, Nataas managed to nick her on the head with his tail blade.
Carrie swore as she felt the cut bleed profusely, dripping down to hinder her vision. She flew up in the air and started to prepare an energy blast. She wavered in midair as she started to feel faint from the loss of blood. Seeing the momentary weakness, Nataas zipped above Carrie and landed a devastating elbow blow to her head, sending her flying at the ground. The angle that she hit at caused her body to twist at a strange angle. Even Vegeta and Goku heard the sickening *SNAP* of her left leg when it caught the ground hard. Carrie screamed and tried not to black out. The fall also wrenched her spine, forcing her to use her shredded wings for support when she tried to get up. Her attempt to rise failed as Nataas landed another kick to her already cut and twisted back.
"No, I can't lose... I've got to fight, that dirty kisama killed Trunks... he's got to pay..." She heard herself say through the mass of pain. She was vaguely aware of Nataas digging his blades into her back and shoulders. She remembered the look on Trunks's face when Nataas had... "NOOOO!!!!"
She powered up in a ball of energy, sending Nataas flying backward. Her wings were streaked with blood and glittered as she used what was left of her wings to pull herself to her feet. All Carrie saw was red. She gathered the last traces of strength and started to charge an attack. Nataas pulled in energy above his head with his arms and fired off a huge ki blast. Carrie howled as she fired her own blast. "Ka... me... ha... me...HA!!!!!" The two attacks met in the middle and paused for a second, then Nataas's blast was forced back towards him. Nataas's good eye grew wide and then he screamed as the blast hit. "ChikuSHO!!!!!" Vegeta and Goku heard Nataas's mortal cry through the explosion.
Carrie gasped, coughed up blood, and collapsed in the dirt, completely drained of her energy.
Goku quickly flew down to Carrie after she collapsed. Gently setting down Trunks's body, he fed Carrie a Senzu bean.
"Oh man, major headache..." She groaned as she got up, "Thank goodness for those Senzus. I don't even want to know how much I'd be hurting after that." Then she caught sight of Trunks and gasped. Tears started streaming down her face and she buried her head in her hands.
Vegeta landed behind her and snarled. "I should've known it. You weaklings still haven't been wiped out. It looks like I'LL have to clean up you Craeyan trash myself." He raised his hand and prepared to fire a ki blast at Carrie. Either she didn't notice Vegeta, or didn't care, but she didn't even try to stop him.
"Vegeta, wait! What do you think you're doing? And what are you talking about? Besides, you'll hit Trunks if you do that." Goku stepped in between Vegeta and Carrie.
"Why does it matter if I hit Trunks? He's dead already, isn't he?"
"I'm not sure, I gave him a Senzu even though he looked dead but his injuries healed anyway... Do Senzu work on dead people? Eeew, that's a gross thought!" Goku shuddered at the image of dead people getting up and walking around like zombies.
"How should I know??? I never have liked those pathetic things, it's humiliating to think that I have to depend on stupid little beans to recover from minor injuries!" Vegeta said haughtily, then looked down at Carrie who was still softly crying while in shock. "Oh, stop your bawling you Craeyan weakling!"
"Vegeta! What exactly are you talking about? Why do you hate these Craeyans, or whatever they are, so much?" Goku asked in confusion.
"Long story, just NEVER MIND. A soft hearted idiot as dense as you wouldn't understand." Vegeta snapped.
"What's wrong with being soft hearted?" Goku asked with his usual innocence.
"FORGET IT!!!!!"
Goku took the hint. "Vegeta? Why does your eyebrow always twitch like that?"
Vegeta sweat dropped, then growled, unable to think of anything to say. He leaned down and checked Trunks's pulse. It was there, faint but steady. Despite himself, Vegeta mentally sighed in relief, "He's still alive. But why won't he wake up?"
Goku shrugged and turned his attention to the girl. While Vegeta stood off to the side being aloof, Goku calmed Carrie, who was still in Super Craeyan form. Meanwhile, Goten, Gohan and Krillin had arrived one by one in response to feeling the high fluctuation of power signatures during the fight. Goten ran over to Trunks's side and started a rapid fire of questions about what happened.
Although Goten was oblivious to Carrie's change in appearance, Gohan and Krillin were not. "Umm... Dad? Who is that?" Gohan asked Goku quietly, "And what happened to Trunks? Is he alright?"
"Oi! One at a time!" Goku exclaimed as being interrogated by both his sons at once.
"Look!" Goten exclaimed as Trunks started to stir.
A soft groan escaped Trunks's lips as he groggily sat up shaking his head. "Ugh, what hap---" He was abruptly cut off by an exuberant hug from Carrie.
"Trunks!!! You're alright!!!" She managed to gasp through tears of joy.
"Car-Carrie? What the..." He stammered in confusion.
"Okay, let's go to Capsule Corp and have everything explained there. VEGETA has something he needs to tell us." Goku shot a look at Vegeta. The Saiyan prince snarled and said no more.
Once at Capsule Corp, Trunks was filled in on what had happened and Vegeta prepared (with much prodding) to reveal what he knew of the Craeyans.
"The Craeyans and our race go back a long ways, we used to be one species called the Zions who lived on their homeworld, Umika. The Zions were in many ways similar to humans in that they had a diversity of people. Some were pathetic peace lovers and nature freaks, others were mechanical engineers, and even others were soldiers who lived to fight. The main difference, of course, was that even the pacifists were much stronger than any normal human could hope to be," Vegeta added haughtily. Krillin looked like he was going to argue the insult but, remembering how easily he'd get creamed, decided against it at the last moment.
A flicker of disappointment flashed across Vegeta's face when no one took him up on his challenge, but he shrugged his shoulders and continued with his story. "Over time, the soldier group started to revolt against the pacifist majority. They were tired of a government who was constantly trying to solve galactic problems through diplomatic ways instead of militaristic. Soldiers despised the rest of the Craeyan population even more for going along with being the universal mediators. So, they started to train hard and create 'accidents' that nearly killed hundreds. When they started an outright rebellion, the government retaliated and created their own army.
The pacifist majority tried to avoid a head on confrontation, but failed. They realized that their goody-two-shoes act wasn't going to work so they fought to defend their values against the soldiers who wanted to fight for the sake of fighting. Once they actually fought in earnest, the Craeyans repressed the soldier rebellion quite quickly. The civil war only lasted 2 years and the soldiers were banished to a desolate planet on the other side of the galaxy where it was hoped that they would do no more harm.
However, the soldiers flourished on their new planet and named it Vegeta, after their King, and denounced all ties with the Craeyans. They became a new species, the Saiyans, and traveled around the galaxy conquering and destroying planets to become stronger so that they could one day take revenge on their half-witted, weak minded former race. After two centuries of banishment, the Sayains came back to Umika and attacked.
The Craeyans hardly recognized their long banished cousins because over time, the two species had become remarkably different. Craeyans were known for their graceful, silver cat-like tails, and tranformed into giant leopards when looking at the full moon. Saiyans on the other hand, had brown monkey tails and turned into giant apes when the moon was full. This time, the fight was more evenly matched, although the Craeyans seemed to have the upper hand. Sayains had the superior battle tactics and strength, but the Craeyans had advanced weaponry and although peace lovers, fiercely defended what they believed in and valued. You would have fit in well with them, Kakarrot." Vegeta sneered.
"After about 20 years of feuding, the Craeyans managed to gain an advantage. Their forces were so dedicated to defending their pathetic cause that they achieved a level unheard of to the Saiyans, Super Craeyan. At first there were only a handful of these Super Craeyans but, as time went on, more and more Craeyan soldiers achieved that level as well. The Saiyans were rapidly losing the war. Then, finally, a Sayain managed to push into the Saiyan equivalent form, Super Saiyan. On top of that, Sayain spies managed to steal blueprints for the advanced weapons being planned by an alien race that had far superior technology compared to the Craeyans. Between the new weapons and the Legendary Super Saiyan, the Saiyans gained the upper hand.
The Craeyans stubbornly refused to lose and kept fighting, focusing their main attacks on trying to destroy the Legendary Super Sayain. Unfortunately, the Super Saiyan made the mistake of trying to keep his Super Sayain form while in Oozaru form and was too primitive to control his awesome power. He went on a rampage using the weapons the Saiyans had made from their stolen blueprints. as well as his own power, and destroyed the planet, the Craeyans, and himself.
Several Craeyans tried to flee their planet as it exploded, but the Saiyan fleet destroyed the escape pods. A few escaped, but the Saiyans hunted the last of the Craeyan race across the universe into extinction... Or so we thought. Turns out that we missed one." He glared at Carrie. As Vegeta finished his telling of what he knew about the Craeyan's history, a strange teen-age girl and boy seemed to appear out of nowhere behind the group.
"So a mighty Saiyan prince finally acknowledges his blood ties with us." The girl said, smirking, "It's about time." Her blue eyes flashed as she tossed her short jet black unruly hair over her shoulder.
"Who the hell are you?" Vegeta snapped, then snarled as he saw her silvery cat tail flicking behind her, "So another one of you pacifist pests."
"Yep, and I know how much you love us. Hey sis! I knew you were on this planet somewhere!" She exclaimed brightly to Carrie before turning to her companion, "See Aronan? I told ya she'd be able to handle herself." The girl said to the tall, muscular boy next to her.
"S-sis???" Carrie sputtered, confused.
"Yeah, sis, you don't remember me telling you this story when you were little?" The girl said, "Hmmmph, maybe it's that boy that’s keeping you from remembering. Come on, time to go home to Nemis."
"Nemis?!" She was starting to remember the girl and the boy who called himself Aronan.