Disclaimer: Standard ones apply.

Note: The Recipe for Destruction was supposed to be my "End of Days" type story but it turned out to be a lot like Final Fantasy VIII and it seriously lacked in description (oh and if you've read the Diadem books by John Peel, that was where I got the rhyming guide from). I'm now going to try it again in a totally different (and even longer) way. Sadly part of this idea came from Tenchi the Movie #1 (the time travel to save someone's existence part) but I just can't seem to come up with original ideas...

Anything between double astericks (**) is a vision, anything between these (~~~) is a flashback, anything between single quotes (') is a thought, anything betweeen two carets (^^) is the prophecy, and anything between brackets ([ ]) are footnotes. The rest is self-explanatory.

Special flashback notes: The parts inside the flashback that ISN'T in italics takes place in the present. Or, for people on the ML, the parts in between astericks.

Warning: This is all one document (no chapters, parts, or anything) so have at least 2 1/2 to 3 hours free before undertaking this fic.

PS: *Please* don't make fun of my prophecy/poem thingy. It did take a lot of time to write you know! (Getting the rhythm right, getting it to sound right, etc.). It's almost an epic! (LOL)

---

Sangai o Tokou
(Voyage to the Past)

"Now it's time to open my presents!" Twelve year-old Bra Briefs cried. She picked up a brightly wrapped box and shook it gently. "I wonder what's inside!" Glancing at the tag, she continued. "From Son Pan.'"

After thouroughly destroying the paper she squealed in delight. "A Backstreet Boys CD. Arigatou Pan-chan!"

Pan smiled and hugged her. "Any time."

Bra moved on and chose a rather boring package that was wrapped in a solid color paper of pale blue. Bra was excited to open it at first but after looking at the tag, it died down.

"ChiChi. Great." Pan, Goten, Gohan, and the rest all knew what kind of gifts she gave. If they didn't further your education or enhance your mind, they weren't worth giving.

Everyone, including Goku, shot her sympathetic looks as she removed the wrapping.

"Hooked on Languages: Yiddish Edition. Great ChiChi. I love it!" she forced a smile on her face as she hugged the older woman.

"I'm glad. It was either that one or french but I'm sure that yiddish is more widely spoken." ChiChi replied.

"Uh hai," Bra said softly.

Vegeta and Bulma both looked at ChiChi like she had grown three heads.

"She says french isn't spoken a lot," Vegeta began slowly.

"But she thinks yiddish is!" Bulma finished.

"What an idiot!" they both said in unison.

ChiChi overheard them and growled menacingly, but Goku stopped her from going into a tirade.

Bra dug around in the pile of presents until she came to a rectangular box shape. The paper was as plain as ChiChi's but for some reason it seemed different to her. She blinked once and then began to open it, taking time not to damage the paper.

Once it was removed she found that it was a velvet covered jewlery box, edged in gold. Bra looked up at the many faces, wondering who could have given it to her but their expressions revealed nothing.

Shrugging she opened it ang gasped as the overhead light glinted off a golden locket. Marveling at the design she opened the small compartment and her eyes widened in wonder.

Inside there was a small picture of herself and her father. It was when she had talked him into going to the carnival with her and they had just gotten ice cream.

~~~

"Tousan! Can we take a picture please?"

Vegeta started to say no when he saw her face. She looked so excited that he sighed and gave in.

Bra gave some money to a passing photographer and climbed up into her fathers arms, wrapping one arm around his neck. Just as the light flashed, Bra had dabbed a bit of her strawberry ice cream on Vegeta's nose and was laughing joyfully.

~~~

"I thought this picture had gotten lost!" Smiling hugely she ran to her father and hugged him fiercely. "Thank you Papa! I love it!"

Vegeta just hugged her back, his face as blank as ever, but you could see the love he had for Bra in his eyes.

***

A couple of hours later that party had wound down to the last few people. Pan and Bra had been playing a video game for quite some time when Gohan and Videl announced that it was time to leave.

"Ja ne, B-chan! I'll see you tomorrow." Pan hugged her and went off to the front door.

Bra smiled in rememberance as she gathered up all of the gifts that she had received. There was the watch from Gohan, the Sisqo poster from Marron, the new outfits from her mother, and of course that wonderful locket from her father. There were many more great presents that she placed into a large box to carry up to her room.

***

After changing into her pajamas, Bra stopped to admire her new necklace one more time. She opened it, peered at the picture, and noticed something immediately different about it.

It looked as if it were fading away.

Bra blinked and looked again, thinking that it was only a trick of light but it was no trick. The color in the picture, or rather the color on her portion of it, was indeed fading and quickly.

She dropped it like it was on fire and backed away slowly, unbelieving.

"There is nothing wrong with that picture," she told herself shakily, "when I pick it back up and open it, it will be the same way that it was when I opened it the first time today." After giving herself that peptalk, she was once again ready to look.

Repeating the process she looked intently at the photograph and almost fainted as she saw that it was the same as before, but this time she was only half visible.

Then she started to feel weird. At first it was just a faint burning but it slowly gathered in intensity and it felt like her whole body was on fire.

Bra took in deep, shaky breaths trying to calm herself.

'There is always a reason for everything', she told herself mentally, 'maybe I shouldn't have had that last piece of cake...'

The girl then proceeded to check the rest of her body to see if anything was different.

Something in the back of her mind told her too look at her hands. She didn't know why, but she did it anyway.

Her terrified screams could be heard throughout the complex.

***

"OH MY KAMI!"

Within a minute of her exclamation, Trunks, Vegeta, and Bulma were at her door ready to face the unseen danger.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?" Bulma asked quickly as she came into her room.

"Kaasan, what is wrong with me?!" she held up her hands and showed them to her family. They were semi-transparent and flickering faintly.

"I don't know...." Bulma came closer, "but it looks like you're disappearing!"

"I don't want to disappear! This is *not* happening!" Bra began to cry. "Do something, quick!" She moaned slighty when the pain began to hit.

Bulma turned to her shocked husband and son. "Don't just stand there gaping, get her down to the lab! Pronto!"

Trunks snapped to attention. "Hai Kaasan!"

Bulma nodded briefly and then rushed off to boot up her computer.

A little while later had Bra hooked up to tons of machines that were testing everything. She became solid again after fighting it for quite some time and was currently alseep on the lab table, both tired physically and mentally.

Bulma typed wearily on the keyboard, yawning every few minutes. Trunks had gone to bed an hour ago but Vegeta still remained, sitting next to Bra and gazing at her, as if she was going to leave him if he looked away for one second.

"Vegeta," Bulma said softly, "I think that I may know what's wrong."

"So tell me already!" he snapped impatiently.

Bulma just sighed mentally and continued. "I believe it may be something in the timeline. There is no other reason for her to disappear completely unless someone is altering the past."

"But why would someone do that?" Vegeta asked. "She never hurt anyone. There isn't even a good reason to do this to her!"

"I know as much as you do that this isn't fair!" Bulma shouted brokenly. She stopped briefly to swipe a hand across her eyes. "But we must keep calm about this," she continued more softly, "I'm doing the best I can to find the cause."

Then her computer began beeping at a fast pace. After typing in a few commands, Bulma made a little noise of accomplishment and pressed one last button.

"The program has located the problem," she said joyously. She gasped as she read the printout. "Oh no!"

"Nani? What's the matter?" Vegeta turned his concerned gaze onto his mate.

"This is even more terrible than I thought!" She read for a few more minutes and turned back to her computer, bringing up another screen. "Someone has altered the timeline in the year that she was born! They changing it so that it never occured!"

Vegeta rose and walked swiftly over to stand by his wife. "What will happen if they succeed?"

Bulma hung her head and let her tears flow freely. "Then our Bra will cease to exist in this timeline as well."

***

**"Help us," the voices whispered. "You must help us."

"What do you mean?" Bra asked. "I can't help you. I don't know how!"

"You are the one," they whispered again. "The one who can prevent."

"Prevent what? Is something bad is going to happen?" She looked around in the dim light, trying to find the source of the words.

The voices turned into spectrals and the softly glowing pinpoints of light surrounded her. "The time will come. You must fight. Believe in yourself!"

Then they were gone.**

***

She woke with a start in her own bed in her own room. Was what happened earlier just a dream? She abruptly reached for the locket and opened it. Dropping it with a sigh she slowly stood to get dresed. Iie. It was real.

Pale sunlight streamed through her curtains and she pawed through her closet for some shoes. Seeing that it was only 7 or 8 in the morning, she hoped that she could get some breakfast before the males got to it. At her house it was first come, first serve.

She slowly made her way downstairs and to the kitchen marveling how no one was in there and it even seemed as if no one had even had breakfast at all!

There wasn't a huge pile of dirty dishes in sink, there wasn't any bread crumbs or jelly blobs on the table, and best of all there wasn't a mound of used orange juice and milk cartons in the garbage can.

'Am I that late that it's almost lunch time?' she asked herself. 'No. The sunlight it too weak for that and besides, the clock says 7:45.'

She had a hunch where he mother was so she headed there to ask her where everyone was.

She was met at the door with an extremely tired looking Bulma and a odd assortment of gadgets behind her.

"Oh hi Bra," she yawned. "Come on in. There's something important that you should know about."

Casting her mother a puzzled look, she followed behind her and sat on a stood by the computer terminal.

"Kaasan, where is everyone this morning? It doesn't even look like they even ate!"

"They didn't. We've all been too busy. Bra come here." Bulma placed an arm around her shoulders. "I don't want you to be too scared about this okay? But I've found out why you were fading earlier."

"Tell me please!"

"Well," And so Bulma went on to explain her findings. How someone was tampering with the timeline, how if they didn't do anything she would fade completely, and how there might be a battle. "There must be a reason why that person or thing chose you but we have no idea. You'll have to go back in time to prevent it."

"Is someone going with me?" Bra asked with hopeful eyes.

"Of course! I couldn't just send my Bra-chan alone could I? Your father and brother will be taking the trip with you."

"And so are some other people," Trunks came into the room and hugged his sister briefly. "It'll be okay B-chan. We'll seriously hurt anyone who did this to you."

"Hurting isn't going to be enough," Vegeta's eyes glinted dangerously at what he would do if Bra disappeared completely.

"You will be leaving tomorrow." Bulma stood. "How about ordering out for lunch and dinner today? I'm going to get some sleep."

Vegeta's normal smirk came back full strength. "At least today we won't get posioned by your cooking."

"Ha ha," Bulma said sarcastically. She kissed Vegeta on his cheek and hugged Bra as she passed.

After he departure, silence hung over the three like a dark cloud. Bra suddenly smiled, hoping to dispel some of the gloom.

"How about we go somewhere for breakfast?" Bra suggested. "I'm extremely hungry and besides, you two seriously need to cheer up."

"Sure!" Trunks exclaimed. "How about it Papa?"

A grunt was his reply.

"I'll take that as a hai," Bra said. "Let's go!"

***

"That was great!" Trunks exclaimed as he patted his stomach. It was about an hour later and they were seated at a booth at Sakura's Diner. Trunks on one side and Vegeta and Bra on the other. There were about 35 seperate dishes piled up on the table and two or three glasses for each that that either had contained orange juice, milk, apple juice, or coffee.

Bra stood and stretched, her hunger sated from that large meal. "Trunks, go pay the cashier."

Trunks stood as well and mock saluted. "Right away General!" He turned stiffly and began to march over to the bored looking woman behind the cash register.

Bra giggled softly but it turned to a faint grunt of pain as she felt that all-too-familiar sensation approaching. She sat down again, hard, and started to work at controlling the problem.

"Are you okay?" Vegeta asked, almost concerned.

"I'm fine," she forced out between teeth clenched in pain. "It's almost," she sighed softly as the flicking finally went away, "gone."

"We've got to take care of that soon. You don't have to come if you don't want to..."

"No Papa." she said firmly. "It's my problem and I can handle it."

Vegeta nodded, satisfied, and motioned towards the door. "I've got a 12 o'clock sparring appointment with Kakarott so I'll see you later tonight."

Bra nodded and gave him a brief hug. He instantly stiffened at the contact but he slowly relaxed. There were just some things that he still wasn't used to after all these years.

"Where's Tousan going?" Trunks asked her. He noticed how she was looking and immediately looked concerned. "Did it happen again?"

She was confused for a second but she soon realized what he was talking about. "Hai. But it's okay. I can control it now."

"We're going to have to leave quickly. I don't want you leaving all together."

Bra raised an eyebrow at his uncharacteristic concern. It did not go unnoticed.

"Nani? You thought that I didn't care about my baby sister?" Trunks smiled and ruffled her hair. "Besides, Tousan would kill me if something happened to you!"

Bra shot him a mock dirty look and laughed. Things might be okay after all.

***

Bulma walked around the small group, checking their restraints on the chairs and making sure that everything was secure.

Goku, Goten, Gohan, and Pan had volunteered to go along into the past to deal with whoever or whatever was messing with Bra's existence. Each had their own reasons for assisting but Pan's was the most thoughtful.

'You are my best friend and I can't just let you go and face danger alone!'

Bra smiled as she remembered the conversation. It made everything seem like it would be okay.

Bulma turned abruptly and moved over to a computer console. Tucking a pencil behind her ear, she began the last systems check.

"The system is booted fully and the database is online. All systems go." Pressing a few buttons she started to type furiously at a keyboard. "You may feel lightheaded for a second closely followed by a dropping sensation. They will both be gone once you cross the time barrier. Sayonara and good luck."

With one last press of a key she sent them on their way into a battle unknown. All closed their eyes against the harsh lighting of the warp hole that seemed to be sucking them into the past. The weird zone spat them out into a vast, flat plain filled with tall grasses.

Landing heavily, Bra sat up to catch her breath. "Where exactly are we?" she asked outloud, more to herself than to anyone else. She clasped at her locket just to reassure herself that it was still there.

Everyone glanced around in curiosity when Gohan recognized the scenery.

"This is the same area where I usually came to find Piccolo-san!"

"Really Tousan?" Pan asked with some interest. She levitated slightly in the air to get a better view.

Goku suddenly cocked his head to the side as he puzzled at something. "Do you feel that?"

"What? Is it a ki?" Trunks asked. He fastened his sword's sheath onto his back and focused his mind.

"Hai." Goku concentrated for a few more minutes and then his eyes widened. "It's Piccolo and there's someone else!"

"Piccolo-san!" Gohan shouted as he ran into the clearing. "Where did ya go?"

The small boy looked back and forth searching for his sensei.

"Please don't leave me here all alone!" Huge tears pooled in his eyes as Chibi Gohan struggled not to cry. "PICCOLO-SAN!!!"

Behind the cluster of trees the whole group had hid when the felt the ki levels Gohan blushed bright red. Goten and Trunks laughed at him silently while Pan was just shooting him weird looks.

"Is that you Tousan?" she whispered.

Gohan's face got even redder as he answered with a simple 'hai'.

"Niichan was a cry baby!" Goten choked out over his laughter.

Goku was quietly observing when he noticed something. "Gohan, you have your tail."

The younger saiyan raised an eyebrow and took a look for himself. "So I do."

"This must be before Veggie-chan came to Chikyuu the first time!" he continued excitedly. Goku glanced at Vegeta to gauge his expression. The other man's face was as expresionless as stone as always but Goku could sense the underlying mirth at the current display.

"The time where Papa tried to kill you, Gohan-san, and the rest and take over the planet?" Bra asked. "Why are we back so far in time? Gohan can't be but 6 or 7 years old! Trunks isn't even born yet."

"We must be here for a reason," Gohan mused. "And it can't be just to embarrass me." He slightly colored at the thought.

Suddenly Chibi Gohan halted and smiled. "Oh! Are you back here again?"

The saber tooth tiger just growled at him.

"Gomen nasai but I can't play with you right now. I need to find Piccolo-san. He was gonna teach me how to fly!"

But the tiger would not let up. Fangs flashing and claws extended he swiped at the boy who just dodged nimbly. Gohan shrugged and blew a raspberry.

"Nyah nyah! You can't catch me!" Turning around, he brandished his backside to the animal.

The tiger's growling became louder and he lunged.

Pan flinched at the sight and turned away. "Oh I can't watch!"

"It's okay." Gohan whispered. "Look."

Chibi Gohan jumped straight into the air just as the tiger reached him. Landing on his back, he began to ride him around like a horse.

"Yea!" Bringing his face close to the animal's, he said in a teasing tone, "Now are you gonna stop?"

Growling frustratedly, the tiger laid down right on the spot.

Gohan clapped his hands together and climbed off. "Good! We can play later, okay?"

Rolling onto his back, the tiger lolled out his tongue. The small boy rubbed his furry stomach briefly before he took off again.

Pan and Bra whispered among themselves for a moment and then Bra looked at Gohan with a huge smile.

"Gohan-san!"

Pan joined her for the next statement.

"YOU WERE SO KAWAII!!"

All of the males sweatdropped and Gohan turned away.

"And I'm not now?"

He was ignored as they began to discuss the real reason they were in this time. Gohan wandered off, lost in thought.

"Hey mister!" a little voice shouted.

Gohan blinked as he was jolted from his thoughts. He looked out in front of him, secretly hoping that he wasn't going insane.

"Down here!"

Directly right in front of him was his chibi counterpart.

The older Son backed up and appeared like he was going to bolt. Then the younger one's ears perked up at a sound from the cluster of foilage.

Automatically turning toward's the sound, he spotted some *very* familiar spiked hair.

"TOUSAN!!"

Goku looked up just in time to have a happy boy throw himself at him.

"Gohan?!"

"Sugoi!" Gohan hugged him around his neck tighter. "I thought you were dead!"

"Well, uh, I mean--"

"We can't tell him the truth!" Vegeta hissed in Goku's right ear.

"Well we can't *not* tell him either! That would be lying!" the other saiyan hissed back.

Vegeta threw up his hands in utter frustration. "Fine baka. Do what you want."

The other Gohan was left in complete and total shock, still haven't recovered from seeing him so close in the first place.

Gohan then noticed his father's look-alike over his shoulder.

"Who's that guy behind you?"

Goten blinked and pointed at himself. "You mean me?"

"Of course!"

"I'm uh--"

"He's Brolli!" Trunks interjected. He shrugged his shoulders at Goten's sharp look. "What? That was the first name that I could think of."

Goten's eyes glittered with a look that plainly read, 'Well, two can play at this game.'

"This is my best friend Yajirobe!"

Trunks facevaulted.

"This whole lying thing can't go on any longer. Gohan," Both Gohan's looked up. "I mean Chibi Gohan. I am *not* your father."

"Who else is seeing Star Wars here?" Goten whispered. Trunks smacked him in the back of his head and they both watched the effect that those words had on someone so young.

First there was the initial shock. Then Gohan's face scrunched up as he tried his very best not to cry. Goku's eyes widened and he tried to calm him down.

"Iie! That's no what I meant!" he laughed sheepishly. "I mean I *am* your father but I'm *not* at the same time. Do you get it?"

Chibi Gohan shot him a look of complete and total confusion.

Mirai Gohan sighed and stepped foreward. "What he means is that he's *my* father. Your Tousan is still dead."

"Okay...." Gohan hopped down and looked at them all. "You *look* like my daddy but you're really *not*."

Goku smiled. "Now you have it!"

"Then who are you?"

Everyone facevaulted.

***

"Okay! I think I have it now!" It was 20 minutes later and after thoroughly explaining the whole thing they were eating some kind of animal that Vegeta had slaughtered.

"You are my daddy in the future! And you," pointing to the other Gohan, "are me --no matter how nerdy you seem," he added underneath his breath. Pan snickered. "and *you*," he pointed to Goten, "are my little brother."

He took a brief break before he continued. "You," he said to Pan, "are my daughter and Bra, is my daughter's best friend. Trunks is Goten's best friend and Vegeta is Bra and Trunks' Tousan and the person who I am supposed to be training to kill."

"Hai! That's all correct!" Goku said cheerfully.

Chibi Gohan clutched at his head. "And I think I have a headache."

They all laughed and Bra spoke up. "Do you know why we're in your time period?"

Gohan shook his head. "This is all new to me. I don't know if I can help. I'm just a little kid, remember?"

Vegeta opened his mouth to say something and then he disappeared.

All eyes turned toward the spot where he used to be.

"What the hell just happened?" Trunks asked.

Bra rolled her eyes. "I think Kaasan just discovered her mistake. We all should be leaving in five, four, three, two--"

They all vanished.

***

"Okay, where are we now?" Goten asked.

Somehow they had appeared inside the Satan City limits. They were on a extremely crowded street seeing as it was early July and the day was very nice. Everyone stood on the sidewalk in front of a hospital.

Vegeta picked himself up from the ground. "That's exactly what I want to know."

Bra gasped. "This is the Satan City General Hospital! What day is this?"

She ran up to a woman in a black miniskirt and red tube top and asked her the same question.

After shooting the girl a weird look she answered. "Why it's July 10th of course!" Then she continued on her way, hips swinging, as he tried to attract some man's attention.

"July 10th!" Bra breathed. "My birthday[1]!"

"But we don't know what year!" Pan protested.

"It doesn't matter. Why else would Kaasan deposit us in front of a hospital on July 10th?"

"You know," Gohan began, "she does have a point."

"We've got to stop whoever from messing with my birth!" She ran into the building and directly to the elevator. "Papa, you were here. What room is Kaasan in?"

"I don't know..." Vegeta's brow furrowed in concentration. "312! The third floor!"

Bra began to jab the up button and almost broke it. Vegeta grabbed her hand and gave her a look and she calmed down, a little.

Then some elevator doors opened.

Those people getting off only had a split second to move before they were knocked down and trampled by the female demi-saiyan.

"Floor number 3! Come on! Someone push it! What time is it? Are we too late?"

Pan sighed and slapped Bra hard. "B-chan, calm down. You're getting hysterical."

"Arigatou. I needed that."

The elevator took it's time going up to the proper floor. As soon as the doors opened, Bra took off down the hall to the Maternity Ward.

Dodging people in wheel chairs and gurneys she skidded to a stop at an intersection. "Which way do we go?"

The group caught up to her.

"Go to the left," Gohan said. "That was where Videl was when Pan was born."

So the whole group moved to the left. As soon as Bra turned the corner the pain hit her.

"Go on without me! I'll make it!"

Everyone nodded and took off but Pan opted to stay. "Are you going to be alright?"

Bra clenched her teeth and nodded. "Go!"

Pan shook her head stubbornly. "I'll stay here with you."

After a few minutes of controlling the situation the pain had faded to a dull throb.

"We must be close!" Bra exclaimed. "The pain always went completely away before." She stood from where she had been kneeling on the floor. "It's still here."

The two girls, without a second thought, took off for the room.

***

"This is bad. *Really* bad!" Goku said softly.

All of the males where inside the room the room where Bra had been born 12 years ago on that day. On the way there, Vegeta had remembered the exact time and, after seeing a clock on the wall, they found out that she should have just been born 2 and a half minutes ago.

Without even knocking on the closed door, they had barged right on in. What they saw had both shocked and horrified them all.

The room was completely empty.

"Where did she go? Tell me!" Vegeta had screamed to the head woman at the nurse's station. She had quivered in fright but they had all found out that there had been no one by the name of Bulma Briefs that had checked in today. Or any day for that matter. The last record that they had for her was 12 years earlier when Trunks had been born.

"This means her birth must have been stopped *way* earlier than we thought," Gohan mused.

"But we have no way of knowing *when* exactly!" Trunks exclaimed.

Then Pan and Bra had made it to the scene, panting with exhertion. The whole situation was explained to them and then the discussion had begun.

"We need to see Bulma. How can we get in contact with her?"

Vegeta pulled a small comm unit from a hidden pocket in his spandex. "You know when the onna brought me back the first time? She gave me this." He pushed a button and proceeded to listen. Speaking for a few moments he nodded in ascention.

"She will bring us back in a moment."

A lone nurse, who was leisurely making her way down the hallway, blinked in confusion when she saw the whole group of people vanish into thin air. Shaking her head slowly she continued on.

"I think I need a vacation."

***

"Kaasan, what timeline do we need to be in?!" Bra asked. "I don't want to leave everyone!"

"I know Bra-chan. I'm working on it!" Bulma snapped distractedly but Bra was too absorbed in her thoughts to notice.

Gohan spoke up after a moments silence. "Can you pinpoint the exact date, time, and year it began? If we have that, we can prevent it."

"I'm trying!" she growled slightly. "There!" She quickly hit a few keys and the map on the screen zoomed in closer.

"Here is the timeline," she pointed to a single line. "I've tapped into the cosmic energy so this should be correct. Right at this exact point," she used her index finger to trace the line to the place that she had indicated, "is where the timeline splits thus creating an alternate one.

"Now before you ask, I have absolutely no idea what caused that. I just know that the solution to our problem is in that year." She tapped a key to zoom in further. "The date is June 16th, 764. Gohan is six years old and he was training with Piccolo for the arrival of the saiyans. That was the day everything had changed."

***

Chibi Gohan tossed and turned in a restless sleep. Every now and then a moan would accompany the movement based on the images his brain was receiving. Images no little boy should ever have to see.

**"Son Gohan, you have a very important job to do." a shadowed figure spoke in a voice that was neither young nor old, male nor female. It was completely ageless and devoid of all distinct characteristics.

"I'm sure that I don't want to know," Gohan said wisely, "but may I ask who you are?"

"They say that sometimes, our dreams are visions from the gods," the figure said simply.

Gohan's mouth dropped open. "You're God?!"

"Yes. I am Jouten. You have a mission."

Gohan peered into the shadows trying to discern the features of the figure. Jouten chuckled softly.

"You will not see me completely because there is no need. Fortunately there is no need."

Gohan sighed and sat on the misty ground. "What am I supposed to do?"

"There is one who you must guide, Son Gohan. You don't know who at this moment but it will all be revealed soon enough."

The small boy looked desperately to the deity for answers but there were none to be found. He just accepted his position and just hoped that he could help. But he couldn't help but to wonder why him? He was just a child!

"I know you are young, but there is sleeping potential inside of you. More than anyone that I've ever seen. You will be of great help to this girl."

Jouten waved his hand and a scene played before his eyes as if he were watching a movie.

"This will all come to pass if the threat is not thwarted."

The horrible images flickered across his mind and Gohan involuntarily shuddered.

"Whole countries annihilated, citizens enslaved. All for no real purpose. Just to serve the Fallen Angel."

"Fallen....Angel?" Gohan asked.

"Yes." More scenes were shown. People screaming in terror, "Once Chikyuu has been conquered, He will move out into the rest of the universe. No galaxy, planet, or system will be safe from His corruption. You must understand, that I can not allow this to happen."

"I *do* understand..."

"Now, young one, you will not remember this conversation again until the time is right." Jouten raised a hand and he quickly faded into the background. Gohan felt as if he were being flung through space as tiny pinpoints of light rapidly streaked by him like comets. He gazed around in amazement at all of the beauty but it would all be lost if the war was not won.**

Gohan's distressed movements eased and his lips formed a small smile. The rest of the night would bring peaceful dreams and a hidden hope for the future beyond.

***

"I can't believe that the first time period that we were in was the correct one!" Bra grumbled. "I just want to get this whole thing over with!" She gritted her teeth at another painful sensation and trudged onward.

"Tell me again why we can't fly," Pan demanded.

They were walking through an intense desert. All they could see, for miles around, was just sand, sand, and more sand. The sun was high in the sky and it's heat was beating down relentlessly. All of the males had already lost their shirts and the girls sure wished that they could do the same.

Gohan sighed and explained. "You know there are lots of ki sensitive people on this planet. We have no idea of knowing how seeing someone from the future might affect the timeline."

"The timeline is already SCREWED UP! How much worse can it get?!" Bra shrieked.

"You do have a point," Gohan said slowly.

"Niichan, didn't you say that before? I'm getting a weird sense of deja vu here," Goten complained.

His brother just rolled his eyes and continued on.

"Where are we going anyway?!" Bra asked after another hour. "Do you people even know?"

Goku shrugged. "I guess we just walk until we get out of the desert."

"Kakarott no Baka! That could take WEEKS!" Vegeta snarled.

"WEEKS?!" they all exclaimed in unison.

"We could be on the African continent!" Pan moaned. "In the Sahara Desert! We have no way of knowing."

Goten shot her a blank look. "Why should that make a difference?"

Trunks hit him for the second time during their trip and cupped his hands around the other boy's ear. "THE SAHARA IS THE LARGEST DESERT IN THE WORLD!!"

Goten gasped. "That's terrible!"

Everyone sweatdropped.

"Kakarott, were you on some kind of illegial drug when you got The Psycho pregnant for the second time?" Vegeta asked, half joking.

Goku's eyebrows drew up into a thoughtful frown. "Iie.... Unless you count that Tylenol I took for my cold."

Vegeta groaned. "Please tell me you were joking!"

Goku shook his head. "If I was joking, you would know it Midget Man."

Vegeta gave him a warning glare and caught up to his daugher. Bra smiled slightly and then jumped onto his back to save herself the trouble of walking. Pan looked hopefully to her own father who sighed and complied.

"You see what you've started!" Gohan mock complained. "It was bad enough walking through this wasteland in the first place!" Pan frowned and hit him on the head.

Goten looked hopefully to his best friend who gave him an incredulous look.

"Oh hell no! Don't even think about it!"

Goten tried his best puppy dog look but Trunks was immune.

"For the last time, no!"

Phasing out of sight and behind the other boy, he jumped onto his back, knocking both of them down onto the sand.

"GOTEN!!" Trunks pushed him off and the Son boy tumbled a bit before he came to a complete stop.

"Goten-ojisan! You're so funny!" Pan giggled.

"Idiotic is more like it," Trunks mumbled partially under his breath.

"You know what guys?" Goku suddenly spoke up. "I can teleport us to Kami's lookout! He's the only person who would understand this whole thing anyway."

He received several different types of looks for this comment.

Gohan was annoyed but not at all surprised. He knew that his father didn't think sometimes, Pan felt exactly the same way, and Trunks and Goten were indifferent.

But Vegeta and Bra were both totally different stories.

While Vegeta was used to such behavior from Goku, Bra was not. So while the Prince seethed in silence, Bra flew at the saiyan and tried to strangle him to death.

"WHY THE HELL DID YOU WAIT SO LONG TO SAY ANYTHING!!!" she screamed, furiously.

"Whoa! Wait a minute Imoutochan!" Trunks cried as he tried to pry her off.

Goku just sighed and pulled her off one-handed.

"Gomen nasai Bra-chan. Will you forgive me?" He gave her best sheepish smile that almost no one could resist.

Bra was no different.

"Yeah," she sighed as she slowly floated back to her place on her Tousan. Goku's smile became brighter as he motioned to himself.

"Well grab on and we can go!"

***

"You know," Kami began slowly, "I have noticed a disturbance in the Balance on this planet."

"The Balance?" Pan asked.

"Yes," Kami nodded. "It is the thing that prevents chaos. There is a balance between Good and Evil that must be maintained. But, as of late, I've begun to notice that the delicate Balance was shifting. In favor of Evil."

"That's a clue!" Bra cried.

"Are you supposed to say "Jinkies"?" Goten asked. Trunks hit him for a third time. "Nani?"

"Can you keep your stupid t.v. and movie references to yourself?"

Ignoring them both, Vegeta tried to stare down Kami.

"Where are those four runts?" he asked'

"Pardon me?"

"You know, Three Eyes, Baldy, Mate Stealer, and Dinner."

"Oh!" Kami exclaimed. "You mean Tien, Krillin, Yamcha, and Choutzu?" Then he frowned in confusion. "Dinner...?"

"Yeah Old Man. With mashed potatoes and gravy on the side."

Kami shook his head slowly at the thought. "They left the previous day. Their training was complete so there was no need to stay here any longer."

Vegeta began to snicker. "Too bad they didn't train harder."

Goku elbowed his sharply and answered Kami's quizical look. "Ignore whatever he started to say."

"Tousan, you've been so quiet. What's wrong?" Pan asked.

"I have a feeling that we don't have much more time left."

Bra clasped at her locket and took a look inside. "He's right." She showed everyone the picture. "It's even worse that before."

"Why are you so calm now?" Trunks asked. "Before you were panicking!"

His little sister just shook her head, stood, and walked to edge of the lookout to gaze over at the planet below.

Gohan answered this one. "People go through several stages when faced with the possibility of death. First there is denial..."

"She went through that when she first found out," Pan spoke up. "It was short but she went through it."

"Then there is panic..."

Goten whistled softly. "From the hospital until the time she tried to murder Tousan."

"Then acceptance..."

"What's happening now," Trunks said. "But don't they get to that right before they're about to die?"

Gohan shook his head. "Usually but not in this case. She has strong will power and resistance. She will be able to beat it."

"I hope so," Pan spoke quietly, "Boy do I hope so."

Bra, sensing the depressed mood of her friends and family, turned abruptly from her her thoughts. "Do you have any idea what may have caused this shift?"

Kami sighed. "No.... But I could ask Enma-sama." He continued at the some of the blank looks. "The God of the Dead."

A softly glowing light surrounded them and they were transported to the Spirit Realm.

***

Enma-sama glanced over his enormous desk at the small beings before him.

"Son Goku!" he boomed. "Have you completed your training already?" Then, after a brief moment, he shook his head. "No. It is not you. You are a more powerful version." Motioning to an aide he barked an order. "Take note of this! It might come in handy some day."

"Enma-sama," Kami began respectively after a moments hesitation, "I have a question to ask of you."

"So ask Kami! I don't have all day!"

The old namek flinched slightly before he continued. "Do you have any idea what is causing the Balance to shift like that?"

Enma grew suddenly very serious. Leaning foreward, he spoke in a grave voice. "This is a very complicated matter." He frowned and rubbed his chin. "I have no idea."

Kami's eyes widened but Goku was rather confused.

"Um Enma-sama, what do you mean by that?" Goku scratched his head. "I don't understand."

"You *never* understand," Vegeta muttered.

"Tousan," Gohan began, "what he means is that he doesn't know. He's a god," Gohan further explained, "if he doesn't know than the being he has caused the shift is even more powerful than he is or they are extremely cunning."

Goku blinked twice and nodded slowly. "Aa."

"You still don't get it."

"Nope."

Gohan sighed and started to explain it in simple terms. "This is bad because the person must be even powerful, or even smarter, than Enma-sama."

Goku's face lit up with comprehension. "Aa! I have it know!"

"I hate to admit it," Enma sighed, "but it may be true."

"So what do we do about someone like that?" Pan questioned.

Enma-sama frowned again. "This is the major problem; I don't know because it has never come up."

There was a collective noise of disappointment from everyone except Vegeta, then Trunks spoke up.

"This whole thing revolves around Bra. She is the one vanishing so she must play a large role in the whole situation."

"I see," Enma began, "this puts this situation into a new prospective. Bra, do you feel any different. Besides the obvious."

The girl thought for a second. "Not really." Then the flickering decided to show up again. She just grunted with annoyance and stopped it. "It gets easier each time."

"Now I have to ask something. It's your decision whether you want to go through with it or not but we may be able to solve at least one problem by doing so. Can you put your self into a state of semi-conciousness. Things tend to communicate with a person during this. Will you try?"

Bra nodded. "Hai, I will. But the weird thing is, when I sort of fainted at home I was fully aware. I don't think I can get into a state of half conciousness."

"That's important information to know." Glaring at his aide he barked out another order. "Write down this and everything from this point: Bra-chan can not go into a state of complete unawareness." He turned back to Bra and asked another question. "That time when you fainted, did you see anything out of the ordinary?"

Bra brightened slightly. "As a matter of fact I did!" A look of puzzlement settled over her features. "I have yet to figure out what it means."

~~~

*They were very different people....*

"Help us," the voices whispered. "You must help us."

*I had no idea what they meant...*

"You are the one," they whispered again. "The one who can prevent."

*Prevent what? Now I know something bad is going to take place...*

"The time will come. You must fight. Believe in yourself!"

*Then they were gone.*

~~~

"The one who can prevent, eh? You must be the one to save us all." Enma stated.

"Save you?! I'm a little kid!" Bra shrieked.

"She's panicking again..." Goten announced.

Vegeta causually walked over and touched a place on her neck. She fainted instantly onto the floor.

There was also instant chaos.

"Papa!" Trunks gasped. "Did you-- Did you...?"

First there was this confused look on his face and then he started to laugh. "Iie you idiot! I just knocked her unconcious."

"You know your Tousan wouldn't ever murder his little princess!" Goku teased as he elbowed the still laughing Vegeta.

The laughter stopped abruptly as he glared at Goku. "Shut up Kakarott."

"Will do."

Veggie bent down to pick up his daughter and that's when it happened.

She started to scream shrilly.

In his surprise, he almost dropped her. But instead, he tried to wake her up.

**The air was stifling. Sparks from fires shot up into the sky everywhere and legions of dread creatures patrolled the ruins of the destroyed city. The sky was a dreary shade of gray and the ground was almost scalding where Bra stood staring into the wreakage.

Moving from smoking structure to smoking structure she tried to find someone, *anyone*, who was alive.

"Hello? Is there anyone here?!" Bra shouted, coughing as she accidentally inhaled some of the dark, thick smoke. "Hello!"

Then she heard it. It was a faint whining sound. She also felt a faint, miniscule ki. But since it was a form of life she quickly made her way over to the place where her heart told her it was from..

Sifting through some scarred wooden beams, she soon came upon a tiny little puppy that the evil had overlooked.

Falling to her knees, she cradled the little thing to her chest, cooing at it.

"It'll be okay. I won't let them hurt you."

It nuzzled her cheek weakly and then she began to meticulously look over it's wounds.

Several burn marks and even a huge bloody puncture wound. They were indeed fatal.

"I'm so sorry," Bra sobbed. "I can't save you." Several tears fell onto the small, now still, body.

Crying softly, she failed to notice the immediate differences to the puppy.

First there was a soft glow, like that of a candle. Then the inflictions started to slowly heal until not even scars were left.

When the dog began to bark joyfully, she finally looked up.

And her jaw dropped.

"Oh my GOD! What just happened here?!" She looked at her hands in awe. "Did I do this?"

She felt the world around her fade quickly and she heard only one whispered word to explain it all.

"Yes!"**

When the girl awoke, she had a haunted look in her eyes. Her physical body may have been there but her mind was light-years away.

"Bra!" Trunks shook her hard. The look that was present on her face was really scaring him.

Flinching slightly she started to mumble.

"World destroyed.... Everyone dead...."

"Nani? Speak up louder." Trunks shook her again.

Her voice increased in volume until she was chanting it over and over again. "World destroyed! Everyone dead!"

Trunks became even more freaked out and finally he slapped her.

"Huh? Nani?" Bra blinked and rubbed the pinkish mark. "Niichan, did you hit me?"

"What happened Bra? What's wrong with you?!"

She shuddered violently and the haunted look came back partially. "It was awful."

Enma peered at her curiously. "Can you please tell us what happened?"

She shook her head. "I don't think that I can...."

"Shhh," Goku approached her and placed a hand on her forehead. "You don't have to." Concentrating, Goku read her memories. From the time that the whole thing had begun to the present. "That must have been hard for you."

"Kakarott, are you going to inform us what the hell is going on?" Vegeta asked. "Or do I have to beat it out of you!"

Goku glared at him and began to speak. "Bra-chan, may I?"

"Sure."

So he began his tale. How the world was scarred and the heavens shattered. How all life was wiped out and how she had healed the only life that was left. As he finished, he took notice of the reactions of the small group.

Trunks was even more disturbed. He felt that his sister was a large part of something even greater but, like everyone else, just didn't know what exactly.

Vegeta miraculously looked the same as ever. Oh, everyone knew he was worried about his daughter. But the cold prince would never dare openly show it.

Goten and Gohan were worried. But more about the entire world than just one person in it. Since they were not joined with her by blood, they felt none of the ties that Vegeta and his eldest offspring were connected by.

Bra, on the other hand, had curled into a small ball and was trying to rid her memory of the horrid scene.

Vegeta ran to her immediately. Coaxing her to look up at him, the Prince did a rare thing. He gave her a hug, voluntarily. The mere touch of her father sent Bra sobbing hysterically.

All the others could do was stand by helplessly, some more touched by the caring that Vegeta was giving than others.

Vegeta just kept whispering soothing words. Bra calmed down, little by little, until she was coherent again. One sentence had done the trick because she had given a weak smile and stood confidently.

As everyone continued to discuss everything with Enma-sama, one thing lingered on the breeze.

"You are not alone in this."

***

Some two odd hours later, everyone was still clueless to what was causing the situation and how to stop it.

"It's like one of those puzzles that display an endless flowery field," Gohan had announced about 35 minutes earlier. "Each piece we locate brings us one step closer to solving us but each clue is so hard to find."

"How many pieces do we have so far Tousan?" Pan had asked.

"So far about 1," he admitted. "We know that the being may be more powerful than Enma-sama but that's about it. The bad thing is, there's about several hundred more."

"WHAT?!" they all exclaimed in unison.

"Now wait a minute before you get all upset!" Gohan held up a hand for silence. "Each piece is a small detail. *Those* should be the easiest to discover." He returned to his seat on the ground, lost in thought.

"But each of the small ones form the large ones we need to win this war." Bra said. "The odds are against us."

"Why do you say that?" Trunks asked.

Bra began to count each reason off on her fingers. "One: They're trying to get rid of me which means I must be in their way some how; Two: They know about all of us and we no nothing about them; Three: We're the ones trying to figure out what they're trying to do. They're only concerned with one of us; Four--"

"Okay, okay. I get it. We're screwed."

"Not yet," Gohan looked up toward Enma. "Do you have some sort of idea what that thing is?"

Enma nodded. "Kami and I think that it's some supernatural being. Something from either afterlife."

"Most likely from Hell," Kami inputed.

Vegeta's eyes narrowed. "It wouldn't be any of the guys that we put there, would it?"

Kami looked startled for a second and then he shook his head. "Not very likely. They do not have the special power required to do anything like that." He walked over to Bra and put a hand on her forehead. "She has very special powers. Very special indeed. Being a yogensha[2], a tengantsuu[3], a chiyu[4], and many more it's no wonder everyone is trying to get rid of you."

"Gee, thanks a lot," she said sarcastically.

"But where did she get those powers, Old Man?" Vegeta asked quite rudely. "Neither I or the woman posess them."

"Most of the time, the people who posess three or more of the extra abilites humans can get in lifetime, they are born into them. It's a selection process. Whoever the higher powers believe they will benefit the most, that's who they give them to. Bra just happened to be the one for her century."

"So you *are* saying she was given them for a reason, right?" Pan asked. Kami gave his ascent. "I don't even think I want to know when she will need to use them."

"It will be soon. That is all that I can say."

Gohan suddenly stood with a disturbed look on his face. "I have been thinking, the best way to find out how to stop this is to sneak into Hell."

There was a collective gasp.

"I know, I know. It should be fairly easy. I mean, who wants to get *into* Hell anyway?"

"Who's going to do it?" Goten asked.

"Tousan is ruled out because they probably have goodness detetors or something. Besides, there are too many enemies that hate him down there. I'm ruled out because I've also put my fair share of people there.

"Vegeta is ruled out because he'll be prime target for the evil demon recruitment agency...."

The saiyan in question growled.

"That leaves Trunks and Goten."

"Hey!" Pan instantly protested. "What about--"

Gohan frowned. "Don't even think about it young lady."

"You're willing to protect your offspring but you'll let your younger brother go to what might be his death?" Goten pouted. "I feel the love in this room."

Gohan smiled faintly and patted him on the head. "You'll be fine."

"I'll go," Bra suddenly spoke up. "I am the only one to do it." She cut Trunks off before he had even opened his mouth the entire way. "You and Goten are in trouble there too. Those enemies know you two as well. It's my problem and I'll handle it."

She fixed a determined look onto her face and stood, arms crossed over her chest. "When do I go?"

With a wave of a hand, Enma opened a portal. "Now."

***

Chibi Gohan yawned and stretched as the sun broke through the clouds and rose into the sky. It would be just another achingly tired day of training with Piccolo-san for the arrival of the saiyans but Gohan had a feeling that this day would go a little differently.

It had all started with a dream. Faint traces of Jouten's still lingered whether the small boy realized or not. The second dream was different. *Very* different. In addition to the fact that he remembered every detail clearly, this one seemed to tell him something. *Lead* him to something.

There was a gentle tug in the direction of the ocean. An almost subliminal order telling him that he needed to go there. Well Gohan wasn't one to not follow directions so he did the only thing that he could do.

He obeyed.

Leaving his sensei early that morning he began the long trek to the seashore.

"Man! How much further?" Gohan swiped a hand across his sweaty brow. He had long ago shedded all of his clothes, save his boxers, and trailed his sheath covered sword through the dry, coarse sand. Concentrating, he tried to ask the dream but all he got was a headache for the effort.

He reached the top of a hill and then looked out into the distance.

The sea wasn't too far away. The chibi could swear that he could smell the salt air already. He judged that it was about an hour's walk away. Running he guessed that he could be there in half the time.

So he took off, full-speed. He ran and ran until there was a sudden sharp pain when his feet touched a certain spot on the sand. Stopping immediately he looked down at it, deciding that it looked exactly like all the other spots of sand. Shrugging, he began to walk away but the mental tug became even more insistent.

"Is it there?" Gohan whispered to himself. He kneeled and use his ki to fling away some of the sand. Then, digging with his hands, he worked and worked until the thing was partially uncovered. Grabbing hold he pulled with all of his strength and it came flying up, knocking Gohan onto his back.

"What is this?" Brushing the dirt away he gazed at the thing.

It was made of solid stone and had a lot of markings on it that Gohan could not understand. It was okay, he felt that he didn't need to know them right away. About one foot long, six inches wide, and two inches thick it shone with the dull light of something ill-used.

He studied the stone slab intently, trying to find at least something that he *could* get. And there, way back in a tiny corner, was the word "guide". Running a thumb over the word, it started to glow brightly. Almost blindingly. Then it came to a abrupt end. The word was embedded in the stone in white, like it was freshly painted.

Gohan stared at it for a few more minutes and then shrugging, he placed it into his backpack for safe keeping.

***

Bra tiptoed down the glowing orangish-red corridor searching for any evidence that could cure her semi-transparent state. She understood how important this mission was but she failed to come up with an exact way to get the information.

~~~

"Just follow a demon who looks like it has a purpose. Since they're mainly used for torture, they will have a certain look in their eyes if they are doing something for their master's benefit." Enma-sama had told her. "Just don't alert the Master to your presence. You know who he is."

~~~

"Hai, I know," Bra whispered to herself. "But that's easier said than done."

She was starting to think that maybe her niichan or Goten-niichan should have gone. She didn't exactly blend in well with the other residents of this afterlife. Concentrating on finding some sort of disguise she peered around a corner to make sure that no one was coming,

And then she felt it. A tap on her shoulder that almost sent her screaming.

'How come I didn't sense that?!' she asked herself. Then she remembered. 'Of course! Dead people don't have ki!'

Turning slowly she warily scrutinized the person that sought her attention.

And was *very* surprised.

It was an angel. Not the dark and fallen kind that usually inhabit that place of torture but the pleasant kind. The heavenly kind.

He had long, soft blond hair so light it was almost white. Tall and slender, he looked to be very gentle. But his stature held an underlying current of authority and his eyes held the wisdom of the stars. His eyes themselves were a deep blue, almost azure, and he wore an outfit as white as newly fallen snow. No, he did not belong in this place at all.

Widening her eyes she asked the question that was foremost in her mind.

"What are you doing here?!"

The man fixed his serene stare onto her and asked a question of his own.

"I might ask the same thing of you, Chosen One."

She grabbed a softly glowing arm and pulled him into an empty room that looked like a sort of rest area. Glancing out into the hallway and shutting the door, she leaned against the wall and crossed her arms, Vegeta style.

"You are an Angel of Light. One such as you should not be wandering the third level of Hell. But I sense that you are on a mission similar to my own."

"Yes I am. I won't ask how you see through my disguise, you have the Power. But I will ask this," He shifted in position, casting a cautious look around the room before he continued. "Will you allow me to help you Bra? It is not wise to do this alone."

A small smirk tugged at her lips. "Sure Alexander. I will accept any help you have to offer." She probed his mind gently and discovered his true mission. "He sent you to watch out for me?" More a statement than a question.

Heaving a small sigh, Alex nodded. "You can't do this alone."

With wisdom beyond her twelve years she spoke with soft certanty. "Yet He doesn't know who is disrupting the Balance? He should spend less time on mere children and more on protecting his Universe."

Alex's eyes narrowed into slits and he pulled her close. "Watch how you speak about the Master that way. You *are* just a child you know. I see you have inherited more of Vegeta's fiery spirit than we hoped."

Bra spoke only two words. "Unhand me." But they held a promise of pain if the order was not obeyed.

The angel set her gently onto the ground and turned away slightly. "We must get going."

"Right."

***

"That's it. She's been gone *way* too long," Vegeta narrowed his eyes at Enma-sama. "I'm going after my daughter and you can't stop me!"

"Wait Vegeta! That's not a good idea!" Goku exclaimed as he tried to stop him. "She can handle it!"

"Get your damn hands off of me Kakarott if you know what's good for you!" The smaller saiyan dragged Goku all the way to the place where the portal was. Grabbing hold of Vegeta's waist, Goku dug his heels into the ground trying to at least slow the older one down.

As they approached the doorway, Bra walked right through and shot them weird looks.

"What's going on? Were you coming to greet me or something?"

Trunks rushed up to her and immediately gave her a huge hug. Goten and Pan closely followed. "Papa almost had a heart attack."

"Why?" she asked curiously. Then she broke into a wide grin and pointed at her Tousan. "You were worried!"

Her father frowned and recrossed his arms. "No I wasn't."

Bra turned slightly to the side and spoke to someone else. "See? I told you he wasn't so bad!"

Alex sniffed slightly. "For someone with the personality of a grapefruit."

Bra broke out into a fit of giggles and covered her mouth.

The others just stared.

"B-chan, are you feeling okay?" Pan asked.

A look of complete confusion crossed her face. "Hai. Why do you ask?"

"Because you were just talking to yourself!" Goten informed her.

"What do you mean?" Then she remembered. "Alex, come on. I don't want them thinking that I've gone off the deep end!"

"Very well." The angel materialized and startled everyone half to death.

Vegeta marched right up to him and circled him like a buzzard. "Who are you and what are you doing near my brat?"

"Calm down Former Prince Vegeta. I am not here to hurt the Chosen One. Quite the opposite really." He repositioned his wings and took a seat.

Vegeta raised an eyebrow. " *Former* Prince Vegeta?"

"Your own father is dead. Wouldn't take make you king?"

"Why yes. Yes that would!"

"Then why didn't you just call him King Vegeta instead?" Goten questioned.

"Because he has no kingdom to rule over."

Leaning close to her angel friend, Bra gave him some advice that would have prevented lasting harm, if he was alive of course.

"Papa is a nice person once you get to know him, but unless you're Kaasan, me, or Goku-san, you just can't say things like that to him! *Goku* even knows when to quit."

"He can't hurt me anyway."

"Yeah but he can hurt everyone else. Get it?"

"My, aren't you a little snooty," Pan remarked, imitating his haughty expression.

"Yeah Alex, cut it out!" Bra elbowed him sharply.

"But Chosen One! Do we really have time for this?"

The girl sighed. "You're right. Let's go." She and her guardian angel began to walk towards the edge of Kami's Lookout.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Trunks shouted after her. "Go where?!"

"To the Edge of Beyond[5]," she said solemly.

"The Edge of Beyond?" he asked in disbelief.

"B-chan, you've changed," Pan observed. "What went on down there?"

"Panny-chan, if I tell you all of your innocence will be lost. Do you still want to know?"

Pan opened her mouth and her Tousan cut in.

"No she doesn't!" Gohan interjected. "It's for your own good. I had to lose my innocence at a young age. I don't want that happenning to you as well."

Bra nodded. "You will thank him later."

The group moved on and a completely confused Pan was left behind.

"That doesn't matter! I still want to know!"

***

They all flew along in silent procession over a calm, blue ocean, Bra and Alex in the lead. All were absorbed their thoughts, even Goku and that in itself was unusual.

Bra was at peace with herself. She had already come to terms with everything and if she had to leave her family today, she came prepared.

She had each written them a letter and placed them on Kami's Lookout. If something should happen to her, she instructed Alex on what to do with them.

~~~

"Alex, can you come here a sec?"

The angel made his way over to his charge and gazed at her. "What do you request, Chosen One?"

"Will you please stop calling me that! My name is Bra! B-R-A!"

"As you wish Cho-- ah Bra."

She pulled several flat parcels from her knapsack and handed them to her new friend.

"I want you to do something for me in case I don't make it through this."

He looked at her warily. "Anything."

She held the envelopes up for him to see and gestured towards each one. "These are letters for my friends and family. I would like you to give them one with their name on it. Kaasan, Tousan, Niichan, Goten-niichan, and Panny-chan."

Alex was a little hesitant. "You're going to make it, Bra-chan. You are strong." But he took them anyway. Tucking them into an invisible angel storage space, he took her hand. "You just need to have faith. In yourself and your friends."

~~~

She smiled in remembrance. It didn't hurt to be prepared.

Alexander looked over from where he was floating beside her. 'She is such a nice child. Why does she have to endure this?' Then the young man sighed. 'But He has a reason for all of his decisions.'

Vegeta flew along at a pace that was a lot slower than he usually flew. A concerned Goku flew beside him. The younger saiyan could tell that he was troubled by the deep frown lines marring his visage, even deeper than usual. He had more forehead than before since his hairline was receeding so they were pretty easy to spot. Goku had his own troubles but he never failed to be there for someone no matter what.

Trunks and Pan were terrified for Bra. She seemed pretty okay with the whole thing but they both knew that deep inside, there was a dam about to crack and emotions were going to come flooding out any time now. It looked like Goten was oblivious to it all but he was pretty worried as well.

Gohan had a secret plan. As soon as he knew for sure, he was going to work on solving the problem. He sort of guessed at the cause and wondered how in the world he was going to help to prevent it.

"We're almost here," Bra suddenly spoke up, jolting everyone from their gloomy thoughts. She held her right arm out and pointed to the horizon line. "Do you see that glow? That is the Edge of Beyond."

"I just have one question." Pan said. "How is that the edge if Chikyuu is round?"

Bra frowned for a minute and then she spoke in a distant voice.

"In earlier times, when the explorers of the Old World were just beginning to venture further out into the sea, some lesser known individuals from lesser known countries had traveled as far out as they dared from the European continent because they had still thought that the world was flat. The place of the extent of their discovery was named the Edge of Beyond. Even when later explorers such as Christopher Columbus and Hernando Cortéz had proved that Chikyuu was indeed a sphere; the name just stuck."

"Okay, so that explains the name. But why is it glowing?"

Bra closed her eyes and continued. "The Edge extends all the way around the planet. It isn't in the middle but more off to the side, about 40º W longitude. It is the perfect place for super natural phenomena."

"That's nice information, but WHY IS IT GLOWING?!" Pan shrieked.

Bra blinked. "Because there are highly active volcanoes on the land part that we're going to. Why did you yell?"

The smaller girl sighed and shook her head. "Oh, no particular reason."

Alex snickered a bit and they flew faster toward their destination.

Landing upon the ground, Pan shielded her eyes with her hand as she gazed into the distance.

Her whole view was consumed with fiery volcanoes spewing ash and small spurts of lava to go along with it. The ground itself was black from frequent erruptions and the cooled lava had formed ridges all along the side that they were currently occuping.

"These are the most violent volcanoes in the world!" Bra shouted above the rumbling of the earth. "They errupt about every--" The rest of her words were drowned out.

"What did you say?!" Trunks shouted to her.

"I said--" And then it happened.

The volcanoes began to errupt.

"Why didn't you say they were about to go off?!" Goten asked, frantically.

"I DID!"

"Bra-chan!" Goku shouted. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"Wait," she said simply.

The earth began to shake even more violently. All footing was lost and everyone except Alex and Bra were knocked from their feet.

A deafening wail sounded was the bowels of the earth sending shivers down everyone's spines.

Hell demons began to litterally pour from the rift. A large one, obviously the leader, smirked viciously and growled something in a harsh voice.

"Welcome to your worst nightmare."

***

Gohan's head jerked up from where he was staring at the sand and he immediately looked to his backpack. Running over to it quickly, he brought out the slab and concentrated. A small wind rose up and gently brushed away the grime covering part of the slab. A paragraph of text was revealed.

^^Child so young and heart so pure
Will help to save us from our blight
One to guide and one to share
The way to halt Eternal Night^^

"That," Chibi Gohan said slowly, "I do not get at all." Then he thought a moment. " 'One to guide'? Am I the guide?"

The wind rose again and another stanza was revealed.

^^Of blood, and stone, and tears we've shed
Of the fabric of time and space
The little girl who's soul's untouched
Shall put Satan in his place^^

Gohan's eyes widened and small flashes of imagery were shown in his mind.

Scenes filled with Bra were shown.

Bra and Pan stood in front of the Capsule Corp. one sunny day. "Pan-chan! I'll race ya to the store!" she shouted joyfully.

"You're on!" Pan shouted back.

Some very humorous ones were replayed.

"Tousan!" A tiny Bra whined. "I want that t-shirt!"

Vegeta shook his head. "We're going home."

She sniffed. "I WANT IT!" She stomped her foot once and began to wail at the top of her lungs.

Vegeta looked around to the other shoppers helplessly and took note as they looked back at him with disgusted expressions. He picked up his still crying offspring under one arm and ran full speed to the store to purchase that shirt. From then on, Bra was Daddy's Little Girl.

Gohan laughed as he remembered the Vegeta that was with his Tousan. It was cut short as he saw a more somber scene.

"Kaasan, what is wrong with me?!" she held up her hands and showed them to her family. They were semi-transparent and flickering faintly.

"I don't know...." Bulma came closer, "but it looks like you're disappearing!"

"I don't want to disappear! This is *not* happening!" Bra began to cry. "Do something, quick!" She moaned slighty when the pain began to hit.

Gohan mentally nodded with understanding as the flashes came to an end.

"I get it! *She's* the one that I'm supposed to guide! The girl from the future."

"Now you understand...." a voice whispered. "You have more to read."

Then the third and fourth stanzas were shown to the boy.

^^Backward, forward, then back again
The River of Time shall send
Only a boulder can change the flow
So don't toss a pebble in

Visions, dreams, and sights surreal
Shall send you on your way
Only one who's free of sin
Will know the price to pay^^

"I have to get to her!" he exclaimed.

Then another of the angels stepped from the shadows to greet her charge.

"I am the one that they call Katora," she spoke softly. "Please grab on to my arm."

Gohan hesitated a bit before he did so.

"We must reach them before the rift closes. If we don't, all will be lost!" And in a blink of an eye, the duo disappeared only to reappear several thousand miles away.

***

"Bra!" Trunks shouted to her. "What are you doing?!" He tried to catch up with his little sister when Vegeta held him back.

"No," he shook his head, "she has to do this herself."

"What are you saying?" Trunks asked, surprised. "She'll die if she goes alone!"

"She's *not* going alone."

"Wha?"

"Look," Vegeta pointed toward the newest person to show up. "Kakarott's brat will be going with her."

"You guys need to send back all of these demons! Make sure that no innocent is harmed!" She shouted back to them as she ran.

They all watched, amazed, as Chibi Gohan seemed to just appear out of no where. Walking up to Bra, he joined her for the final confrontation.

~~~

"Chosen One, we are approaching the Dark Master's chambers. Are you sure that you want to enter?" Alex turned worried eyes to his charge.

"Of course! We have to find out what exactly is going on, don't we?" Bra peered around the corner for guards. "All clear. Let's go!"

She and Alex ran around the corner into a room and hid in the shadows just as two dark figures entered.

It was a very simple room. The walls were made of stone like that of a dungeon and there was a wooden table in the middle, surrounded by several chairs. A large map hung upon one wall and a few goblets of unfinished crimson wine sat on a small table by the door.

The light from the smoking torches upon the walls flickered eerily as they finally figured out what was going on in the world.

"Stoldark," the taller one began calmly, "is everything going to plan?"

"Yes Master," the other replied, "the girl doesn't suspect a thing."

"Good, good." He clasped his black leather gloved hands behind his back and strolled to the map. "Do you see this?"

Stoldark hurried to his side. "Yes I do. Isn't it a chart of the Universe?"

"That it is." Whipping out a bone handled dagger with lightning speed, Satan thrust the razor sharp point into a certain place. Stoldark flinched slightly at the thudding noise that the action had created.

Peering closely, he examined the selection his Master had made. "The Northern Galaxy?"

"Yes," Satan looked at his aide then, dark eyes burning with thinly surpressed rage. "That cursed Majin Buu destroyed the rest of the Galaxies. The northern one contains most of the life. The planets of Chikyuu, Namekusei, and an assortment of others. It is the target of my plan." He removed the weapon and stowed it in a place that only he knew of.

Turning sharply on one booted heel, he trod over to a seat. Stoldark trailed after like the obedient servant he was.

"We must eliminate all obstacles. That girl, Bra, being a main one. How long ago did you plant the drug on that saiyan," his lip curled derisively, "on Old Vegeta-sei?"

"It wasn't any more than 48 hours ago." He leaned back in his chair and propped his feet on the table. They were promptly removed when Satan frowned disapprovingly. "That idea you had for making him sterile after the first brat was ingenious."

"Of course it was. I'm not the King of Darkness for nothing. The older one can be converted into one of my minions. He's already a little hell raiser in the future."

The two laughed heartily at that.

Bra gasped slightly at the revelation. 'So that's why I wasn't born in this timeline! But what is his reason...'

Satan suddenly got to his feet. "We must make haste, Stoldark. I don't want any attempts from Him to stop me from acheiving my goal." The dagger was drawn again and this time he slid the cool metal across the back of his aides bare arm, drawing a thin line of blackish blood. He drew his right index finger over it, dripping it across the map where his weapon was just minutes before.

"Soon it will be the blood of billions soaking the earth and preparing the Universe for my reign!" Eyes flashing, he lowered his voice to a soft deadly tone. "And absolutely no one will stand in my way. Especially not that little blue haired brat."

~~~

"Satan!" Bra called out loudly as they walked through the gray, desolate world. "I know that you're here and I know what you're up to!"

"You do now?" He asked as he stepped from the shadows. "In actuality, you have no idea what you're going up against."

Chibi Gohan shivered has he involuntarily felt his ki and hid further behind Katora. Both angels were resolute.

Stretching out a hand, he let loose a wave of dark energy that knocked the whole group back several paces. Working quickly, Bra erected a ki shield and contemplated her strategies.

'I can try to send out enough energy to defeat him but no one can truly kill him. I can also surprise him by using other ways. But any way I decide, I must protect the others!'

She struggled to gather up more energy, but in the mean time she lost her focus. Satan's energy nullified her shield and knocked her flat on her back.

Katora nodded to Alex and gathered up Gohan.

"Wait!" the small boy cried reaching out a hand to the fallen Bra, "I need to help her!"

"You will be able to better help her elsewhere," she said in her calming way. Moving with blinding speed, she took off toward the castle in the distance.

Alex ran to Bra and cradled her head in his lap. "Are you going to be okay? We really need to finish him before he puts his dreaded plan into action."

"Yes..." she gritted her teeth in pain as she slowly sat up. "Just a few bruises." Standing took a little more effort, but she was soon back onto her feet.

"I will not be defeated!"

"My! What determination!" Satan sneered. "Too bad it's not going to be enough!" He launched at her, right arm poised and already gathering his dreaded energy.

Bra dodged quickly. Spinning on one heel, she threw a blast that caught him in the side and sent him reeling slightly.

Satan caught himself with one hand and lightly sprung to his feet, not even winded.

Bra, on the other hand, was a totally different story.

'I don't know how much longer I can keep this up!' She thought frantically as she tried to catch her breath. 'He's a lot more experienced than I am!' Then it hit her. 'But I have something he doesn't have... Purity!'

She started to slowly gather all of the energy in her soul and the universe in a technique similar to Goku's genki dama but not quite.

'There is a very high risk involved with this attack.' She shrugged mentally. 'But like Papa always said: 'What doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger'.'

During all of this, Satan stood there watching with a sort of detached curiosity. He didn't really think that her attack would do much to him, the King of Hell.

Bra continued shaping energy until she thought that she had enough. "Alright! Here it comes!"

***

Gohan and Katora hurried along the dank corridors to Satan's throne room. His castle was almost completely devoid of all creatures since he had made it an order that they all would help fight in the big battle.

Making it within 20 minutes of leaving Alex and Bra, they proceeded to the thing that Satan drew his powers from[6].

There, laying upon a red velvet pillow on a white marble pedestal, was a pure white, shining feather. A momento from the time before he was renamed the Fallen Angel.

Gohan snatched it up quickly and hurriedly rushed over to the raging hot fireplace.

***

Satan's eyes widened at something only he could see. He growled viciously and took off for his castle. "Those little vermin! I will kill you for that! Hell's torture will be fun compared to what I will summon for you!" He vanished, white hot fire rushing behind.

"Quick! Now is your chance to defeat him!"

"What is going on here?" Bra questioned.

"No time to explain!" Grabbing her around the waist, he followed the Dark Master.

"Gohan! Drop it in!" Gohan hesistated a bit before he complied but unfortunately, that was all the time that *he* need.

Faster than the naked eye, the feather was snatched from the boy's lax grip and put into a pocket for safe keeping.

'It seems I have no choice...' Bra sighed mentally. Focusing the previous energy she had gathered in her body, she pushed it outward through her hands until it engulfed Satan fully. The pure, cleansing light got stronger and stronger until reality was blotted out and transformed into just a burning bright light.

'Go you guys!' Bra said to the other three. 'I can handle it.'

Alex was inclined to argue but the serious nature of this battle influenced his judgement. Nodding one last time, he, Katora, and Gohan left that dismal plane.

***

The three stood upon an outcropping of rocks before the rift and looked out into the world.

"Is she going to come back?" Gohan asked, but he did not receive a response. He felt an urge to look at the stone slab so he did, not knowing what the reson was.

He soon found out.

Two new lines were revealed to his sight. The last two of the Prophecy.

^^Battle's won and battles lost
Against the King of Hell
Will the heroes make it through?
Only time will tell.

The sun is beaming, the stars are gleaming
The seasons come and go
A single soul will pass away
And her fate will cause lasting woe.^^

"I understand," Gohan whispered brokenly. "Sayonara Bra-chan. And thank you."

---

EPILOGUE

Pan looked gloomily at the drawer of her desk, as she sat on her bed late one night.

It was one week after the defeat of Satan and Pan had still not read Bra's letter. She just couldn't get up enough courage. Just thinking of Bra's name brought a torrent of tears.

"To the one who had died a hero and the one who had brought smiles and cheer in even the darkest of times." The priest had said at the memorial service. Pan had felt like grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and shaking some sense into him. Where are the smiles now? There will never be any more! She's gone and no one can bring her back again.

It just wasn't fair! What's the point of having Dragonballs if they had limitations?

"I am sorry, I can not grant that wish." Shenlong rumbled.

"Why not?" Bulma shrieked. "It should be within your power!"

"The one who you call Bra is outside of my resurrection limitations. Something is keeping me from reaching her soul."

The small girl sighed and tread softly across the room, running her hand across the rich wood.

"At least the other timeline rejoined with the original."

'I have to read it! I knew this might happen. Besides, it's my duty as her friend.'

Her mind made up, she opened the drawer and removed the letter.

Dear Panny-chan,

Pan almost started sobbing just from the greeting. She could just imagine Bra saying that herself.

If you are reading this, I am no longer with you. Don't cry now! I'm happy and everything. I knew that when I undertook this mission, I probably wouldn't return. I didn't mention anything to you because I didn't want to make you upset.

"You dummy!" Pan cried, but it lacked conviction. "How could you keep something like that from me?" She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and continued where she had left off.

Please don't be mad at me Panny-chan! You're my best friend and I'll always love you. So now, get over me and move on with your life. You can't do anything useful when you're crying all of the time.

So get out of your room and go to the mall or something. If you don't, I'll sic Alex on you!

Pan laughed slightly at the mere thought.

Ja ne Pan! I'll be watching over you.

Your very best friend,

Bra-chan

Pan frowned at the end, lost in thought. "I can't just let her stay dead! She was only twelve!"

Jumping to her feet she held her head high and her voice rose with determination. "Bra Briefs, you're coming back if I have to die trying!"

~OWARI~

---

Footnotes:

[1] - I'm guessing here. I have no idea when Bra's real birthday is.

[2] - yogensha: japanese for "one who can predict"

[3] - tengantsuu: japanese for "clairvoyant" or "unusually perceptive".

[4] - chiyu: japanese for "healer"

[5] - I sort of borrowed this term from ReBoot. ::ahem::

[6] - This is just my theory. It's not true.

Additional notes: Well, it probably was a mistake leaving the story open for a sequel but oh well.

Date started: August 10th. Date completed: September 17th.

::sigh:: 39 days of typing... (and just as many days of procrastinating ^_^) C&C greatly appreciated!

---

PS: Come visit my multi-site at http://gokugirl.com

Keeper of Goku's intelligence
Keeper of Duo's mini thermal scythe
Keeper of Heero's sanity
Keeper of Vegeta's hair gel
Keeper of Squall's Griever necklace
Professional Vegeta Humiliator
---
"My father said that kenders were small because we were meant to do small things. 'If you look at all the big things in the world closely,' he said, 'you'll see that they're really made up of small things joined together.' It's the small things that make the difference." -Tasslehoff Burrfoot (Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight)

"Griever! Make them bleed!" -Sorceress Ultimecia, Final Fantasy VIII