Disclaimer:  See prologue.

Days of the Future's Son
Chapter 1

     As he flew, Trunks scanned the ground below him for any sign of 
what had displayed the energy flash.  His sense of the energy had given 
him a general direction to search in but had been unable to discern the 
distance.  He didn't even know what he was looking for. 
     After traveling for about half an hour, he saw a crater.  While the 
crater itself was not strange, the fact that it was alone in the middle 
of forest was.  Since it was the first out of the ordinary thing that he 
had seen so he went down to investigate.  He landed a short distance 
away from it and traveled the rest of the way on foot.
     'If what ever it is, is hostile, no sense in letting it see me 
coming,' Trunks reasoned. 
     Upon reaching the edge, he crouched down and peered into the 
crater.  The crater was rather large, suggesting that either something 
large or something at high velocity had landed there.  The hole was deep 
too, deep enough that the disappearing sunlight could not find it's way 
to the bottom.
     'Whatever it was must have hit really hard,' thought Trunks as he 
formed a small ki flame around his hand.  
     He slowly climbed down to the bottom of the hole.  When he came 
close enough to the object at the bottom for his light to reach it so 
that he could see what it was, he was dumbfounded.  Whatever he had been 
expecting to find, this was not it.  A young woman lay curled up in the 
fetal position at the bottom of the hole!

     When Trunks had recovered from his shock to approach, he did so 
cautiously.  While she appeared to be unconscious, appearances could be 
deceiving.  When he was close enough, he stooped and touched her 
shoulder.  She did not react.  Then he carefully rolled her to her back 
and checked for a pulse on her neck.  It throbbed steadily beneath his 
fingers.  After establishing that she was both alive and unconscious, he 
studied the rest of her looking for injuries.  Finding none apparent, he 
took a deep breath, eased off of the warrior mode a bit and just looked 
at her.
     She was a young woman, about his age, wearing a skin-tight red 
bodysuit of some sort.  It had a stylized gold-colored bird on the 
chest, a gold sash fastened at the waist, and long gold gloves and 
boots.  Her hair was bright red and done in an odd style.  Long bangs 
fell against her forehead but the rest of the hair, except for a small 
section at the base of her head, was increadably short.
     'She'd look better if it was all long,' he found himself thinking.  
Then he blinked, surprised at his thought. 'I don't even know who this 
girl is!  She could end up being a threat worse than the Jinzouningen.  
Or,' another part of his mind thought,' she could be a good person who 
just landed badly.' 
     Even stranger than the hair were the spiky, triangle-shaped black 
facial tattoos that marked the otherwise clear skin of her face.  They 
originated along hairline, jaw-bone, and chin and seemed to be pointing 
towards the center of her face.
     'That's weird,' was his only mental comment.
     Trunks considered his options for a few moments and decided to risk 
taking her home.  Good or evil, right now, she could not do anything.  
That decided, he gently lifted her into his arms and flew towards home.

     "I'm home Mom!" he called as he arrived home.  Bulma opened the 
door when she heard her son's voice.
     "There you are Trunks!  I got worried when you didn't..." Bulma 
stopped when she saw what Trunks was carrying.  "Who is this girl?"
     In the light of the house, she looked quite pale.  Her clothes were 
dirty and a bit torn.  Dust covered her unmarked face.
     Trunks blinked at that.  There was something different about her 
face but he could not recall what it was...  He dismissed it and 
answered his mother.
     "I don't know," he responded walking into the house.  "I found her 
when I went to investigate an energy blast.  She was unconscious but it 
seemed like she wasn't hurt."  He frowned.  "I couldn't just leave her 
there Mom."
     Bulma looked at her son and shrugged.  "Well, don't stand there all 
night.  Let's put her in a bed."
     Trunks followed his mother to one of the spare bedrooms they had 
left at the Capsule Corporation building.  The house part of it was 
still partially destroyed because other building projects had taken 
precedence.  Bulma opened the door, went to the bed and turned down the 
blankets.  Trunks set the girl down and covered her.  Having done that, 
he went and sat in a chair on the other side of the room.  Bulma raised 
an eyebrow at this.
     "I still don't know if she is a threat.  I want to be here when she 
wakes up," stated Trunks upon seeing his mother's questioning 
expression.
     Bulma nodded and said, "Okay then.  If you need anything, just let 
me know.  I'm going to bed now."
     Trunks settled into the chair and, though he had intended to stay 
awake, soon fell asleep...and dreaming.

     Trunks was standing in a grey and dirty enclosure with several 
other people.  They were all wearing green coveralls with a large 'M' on 
the left side.  Trunks looked down at himself and did a double take.  He 
was a she.  A blond man was standing next to her talking while Trunks 
paid him no heed until he touched her arm.
     "Rachel, were you listening to a thing I said?"
     "Ummm...not really...I was kind of preoccupied," answered a voice 
that wasn't his.
     "Like I asked before, are you sure you can do this tonight?  I 
mean, I don't want to lose you, you're all I have left."  A look of 
concern and worry edged over the man's face.
     "Sure...I can handle it..." said Trunks.  The world around him 
became fuzzy.
     "Because if you're not ready, we can postpone this..."
     The world became fuzzier as a white-haired man in a wheelchair 
turned to them and spoke.
     "Rachel--child.  So much depends on you..."
     The world faded out as the voice that was not his, that belonged to 
the body that was not his, answered with words that were not his...
     "I won't fail, Magneto..." 

     The girl found herself looking at a large piece of machinery.  It 
was over twice as tall as she was, supported by four spindly legs.  The 
body of the vehicle was circular with a large glass dome covering the 
top.  Her arm was upraised and she found her hand resting on a single 
word written on the body, "Hope!" 
     'Hope?' she thought.  She took a closer look at her hand.  It 
seemed rougher and more calloused than she remembered.  Glancing down at 
the rest of her, she noted with surprise that the rest of her body 
seemed not to be as she remembered it.  She was about to say something 
when she heard someone talking.
     "Are you ready Trunks?"
     Something prompted her, so she answered.
     "Uh, yeah, whenever you are... Mom."
     'Mom?' she thought.  'Where did that come from?'
     The woman, who she could not quite make out, came up to her and 
hugged her.  She returned the hug.
     "I'm going to miss you so much..." the woman said.
     "Me too," responded the girl releasing the embrace.  The world 
began to fade as she did this.
     The woman spoke again.  "Don't forget to give Goku the medicine.  
And say hi to everyone for me."
     The world faded more as the girl answered in someone else's voice.  
"Even Dad?"
     "Yes, even your father," said the woman as the world disappeared.

     The girl woke with her body screaming protest.  Every muscle hurt, 
she was nauseous, and her head was swimming.  She groaned and tried to 
shift her position, mumbling, "Anyone get the number of that truck?"  It 
was then that she realized that she was in a bed.  
     'How'd I get here?' she wondered.  'Where was I before I got here?' 
was her next thought.
     She searched her memory and couldn't recall.  In fact, she couldn't 
recall much of anything.  Some things were there, swimming at the edge 
of her consciousness but she couldn't reach them.  And it made her head 
hurt worse.  So, she decided to try to stop trying to remember.  
Instead, she thought she would try to get up.  She opened her eyes only 
to see a handsome young man with violet hair standing over.  Her head 
was still swimming but she seemed to be able to focus in on his intense 
blue eyes. 'Wow.'
     "Hello," she tried to say but her mouth, in all its dryness, would 
not form the word.  The young man handed her a glass of water which she 
tried to take but her protesting arms and hands would not go along with.  
Seeing this, the young man propped her up and held the glass while she 
drank.
     "Thank you," she said as he lay her back down.  "Where am I?"
     "The Capsule Corporation," responded Trunks.  "I found you knocked 
out in a crater and brought you here.  Do you know how you got in the 
crater?"
     "I was in a crater?  I don't remember how I got there," she said.  
Then she furrowed her brow and looked at Trunks pleadingly. "Look...this 
may seem like a stupid question but...do you know who I am?  I don't 
seem to be able to remember right now."

     Trunks was taken aback.  He looked at her and she did not _seem_ to 
be lying.  She had not taken any action against him.  He decided to 
trust her.  
     Looking back at her, he said, "Sorry, but it looks like we're in 
the same boat then."
     Her face fell.
     Seeing her depressed countenance, Trunks added, "But I'll try my 
best to find out for you."  She smiled gratefully. 
     "Thank you...um...you haven't told me your name yet."
     "Trunks."
     "Then, thank you Trunks."
     "You're welcome."  Trunks smiled for the first time in weeks.  
Then, changing the subject, he said, "You know, I need something to call 
you until we find out your name.  Do you have any opinions or should I 
just pick one?"
     The girl thought for a moment, grasping at the out of reach 
memories.  Finally, part of one surfaced.  "I think... someone called 
me... Raye... I think... that's... good enough for now, I guess."
     Bulma chose this moment to enter the room.  When she saw that both 
Trunks and the girl were awake, she explained, "I was just checking on 
you two...I thought you were going to sleep the rest of the day away."  
Then she turned and addressed the girl in the bed.  "How are you?  You 
look a lot better than when Trunks carried you in here... being 
conscious and all..."
     "I'm fine, thank you ma'am."
     Bulma raised an eyebrow.  "Ma'am?  Ma'am?  That will never do.  
Please call me Bulma.  What can I call you?"
     Raye smiled and said, "We had just decided on Raye..."
     "Well, Raye, can you get up and come to breakfast or do you need 
room service?"  Bulma smiled and winked.
     "Ummm...I'm pretty sore but I can probably get up."
     "After breakfast, you can have a long, hot bath and soak out all 
the pain... now come with me... then we can get you some new clothes and 
you can tell me all about yourself."  As she was saying all of this she 
was helping Rachel out of bed and to the door of the room.
     Trunks smiled at his mother's enthusiasm.  He had not seen her this 
excited in a long time.
     "Well, there's not that much to tell about me... I can't remember 
anything," Rachel was saying as she left the room.
     "That's so sad...you'll just have to stay with us until you 
remember..."
     When his mother and Raye had left, Trunks headed to the bathroom. 
     'Might as well clean up now... if Mom gets to the bathroom first, 
there's no telling when I'll get my next chance at it...'

end part 1

Sariah DeGidio
ddegidio@ix.netom.com
sariah_d@hotmail.com

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