Chapter 3

 

The voice grows louder

As the future is unfolded

To those whose ears are finally listening.

 

"What year is it?"

The question confused them all and at first no one could give the mysterious woman an intelligible answer. Vegeta was the first to regain his senses and he responded with a rude comment, as usual. "What do you mean, what year is it? Are you too stupid to even know what the date is, girl?"

The woman gave him a calm, unreadable look. After a year of being given unreadable looks by Kya, they were starting to become readable to Piccolo. This mystery woman, however, was even better than Kya though at giving a look people were unable to interpret. "It is a simple question. Do you know the date or not?"

Sixteen supplied an answer before Vegeta could. "It is April 9 of the year 777 A.D. Why do you want to know?"

The woman frowned in thought and did not bother to answer Sixteen’s question. "777. Hmmm. I thought she would have gone farther back." The woman shrugged, took one step forward, and abruptly collapsed onto the ground. The white mini-dragon screeched as she hovered over her mistress in obvious worry. Before anyone could stop her, Kya rushed forward and knelt at the woman’s side. Now that she had closer look at her face, she could see she was more of a girl than a woman, probably in her late teens. Kya took a quick inhale of breath, as she took stock of all the girl’s injuries. "What on Earth has she been through?"

The others stepped forward. "She couldn’t have got all these injuries just by her fight with that Xahra woman," remarked Gohan.

Studying the girl, Piccolo felt a strange surge of protectiveness go through him. Shaking it off, he hefted the girl into his arms. "She saved my life, so I guess I can at least take her to Dende to be healed. And then maybe we can get some answers out of her too."

None of the fighters thought to argue with the decision as they took to the air one by one, with Piccolo in the lead, carrying the strange girl and Bulma following last in her aircar.

At the lookout, Dende healed the strange woman as Piccolo explained what had taken place to the others. It didn’t take long for Dende to heal her and Piccolo was finished with his story by the time the healing was complete. The whole group crowded around as they waited for the strange woman to awake.

She awoke with a start, coughing as she tried to sit up. Dende tried to help her but she refused the hand he held out. "You should take it easy. You were pretty badly beat up. How did you get that way anyway?"

She stood, shaking her head as if to clear it. Looking around, she backed away, startled at all the people around her, watching. The way she moved reminded Piccolo too much of Kya, when he first met her. He was starting to get a sneaking suspicion in the back of his mind.

Patting herself, she was surprised to find her wounds gone. Glancing up, she fixed her intense black eyes on Dende. "You healed me. Thank you, Dende."

Dende jumped back, bewildered. "How did you know my name? And that I healed you? And why do you look like a female Namek? There’s no such thing as a female Namek, is there?"

A look of amusement came into the strange woman’s eyes. "I know you because we’re friends. And you’re right. There are no female Nameks. At least, not for another few months. And I’m only half-Namek."

Piccolo scowled, impatient. But Vegeta beat him to the punch, snarling, "Stop being cryptic, girl. I want some real answers and I want them right now!"

Before Vegeta could reply, Kya stepped up to the girl, studying her with her own intense, unnerving stare. But the girl stood her ground and stared right back at her. Kya gave a tiny smile. "You’re from the future, aren’t you? And Piccolo and I are your parents."

The half-Namek woman smiled. "April 9th, right? That means you just found out today that you are pregnant. You are correct. I am from the future. And I am your daughter. My name is Lidal."

Piccolo froze. My daughter? But –? Studying the girl before him, he realized he should have known right away. But he had to make sure. Crossing his arms, he said indifferently, "Why should we believe you?"

The woman who called herself Lidal switched her intense stare to him and Piccolo shifted uncomfortably. She tilted her head, as if in thought. "I can’t reveal much." She abruptly swiveled her head to look at Gohan. "A year from now, after you and Videl finish college, you plan on getting married."

Gohan blinked. "That’s true. But how –?"

Lidal switched to look intently at Vegeta and Bulma. "You can’t sense it now but in a few weeks Bulma will work up the courage to tell you she is pregnant with your second child. Since it is Saiyan, it will be born eleven months from now."

Bulma gasped and Vegeta actually stopped frowning long enough to gawk at his wife. Trunks looked stunned and sat down, hard. Bulma gulped. "I just found out yesterday. I was going to tell you, honest. I just wasn’t sure how you were going to take it."

Vegeta scowled and looked away. "We will talk about this later, woman."

Lidal’s lips twitched. Before anyone could say anything else, she averted her eyes to scrutinize Piccolo. "Is that proof enough for you? My brother and I will be born about six months from now, before the year finishes, since Nameks develop faster than humans."

"Your b-brother?" stammered Kya.

Again, Lidal’s lips twitched as if she were trying to keep from smiling. "I forgot to mention it. It’s the reason why I’m here actually. And why Xahra wants to kill you. In a few weeks Father will be able to sense that there are two lives within you, not just one. My brother Pendril and I are twins. He was born first."

Kya gasped. "Twins?"

Just when Piccolo didn’t think he could handle any more surprises, he was handed another one. Twins? I’m going to be the father of two children? Looking at his wife, he saw she was a little pale. Are you all right? he asked.

Kya smiled ruefully at him. It’s just a little too much to take all in one day. But I should have known better. It is common among Shizen to have twins. A single child is unusual. Piccolo smirked at her remark and then turned his attention back to his future daughter, who was looking at them as if she knew about their silent exchanges. She probably does.

Piccolo uncrossed his arms. "Okay, I believe you. But that does not explain why you are here. Or how you got here."

Lidal crossed her arms, her eyes closing as she thought back. "It began when the Namek Elder Muuri contacted Dende asking for help. Two powerful creatures had come to New Namek and were trying to wipe out the whole Namek species. So Vegeta, Sixteen, Gohan, Trunks, Goten, Father, Pendril, and I used a Dragonball wish to travel immediately to New Namek and help them out. Mother couldn’t come with us because of her connection to the Earth. Eighteen and Seventeen were left to watch over the Earth while we were gone."

Piccolo raised an eyeridge. "Seventeen? Since when does he care about what happens to the rest of the world?"

"Since he became a father himself." Piccolo raised his other eyeridge in question but Lidal ignored it and moved on with her tale. "When we arrived, we discovered that the two creatures were actually Lokims. Lokims are usually a peaceful people, cousins to the Nameks, but these two were different. They were like demons, slaughtering innocents for no reason. We were too far from Earth for you and the others to call upon your Chi powers. They would have been useless anyway. Lokims are immune to all energy attacks except those used by Nameks, as they are cousin species. Which was why Xahra and Talvo came to destroy the Nameks. They wanted no threat to their power."

"But that doesn’t explain why Xahra has come to this time and why you have followed her," said Gohan.

"We fought Talvo but it was difficult with his invisibility trick and the fact only Father, Pendril, and I could attack him effectively. He was more powerful than his sister Xahra and she preferred to watch her brother. And then Father was wounded severely." Here Lidal’s voice faltered and she forced herself to look away. Kya wanted to reach out to her future daughter but felt she wouldn’t want her sympathy.

"Pendril just lost it. He attacked Talvo with everything he had. He . . . he destroyed Talvo but killed himself in the process. Xahra was angry and afraid for her life. So she opened a time portal to travel to the past to kill Piccolo so my brother and I wouldn’t be born. When I saw that portal, I had a vision and I knew I was supposed to stop her."

Dende frowned. "Vision?"

Lidal turned to face them again. "I have visions, more like flashes, of the future. Sometimes they come during the day, without any warning. And sometimes they come during the night, while I sleep, as dreams. More times than not as nightmares. I do not have them as often as one might think. My gift is relatively weak. Those who had it more powerful went mad."

Dende gasped. "You . . . you have the gift of Sight. The rarest power among Nameks. It usually manifests itself at puberty. Those who had it before went horribly insane and died before reaching adulthood."

Lidal nodded. Kya’s eyes looked troubled but she did not say anything. She closed her mind off completely, so that Piccolo could not know what she was thinking unless he pushed. Piccolo frowned. He would have to talk to her later. He glanced at Lidal. I would like to talk to her in depth as well.

Lidal glanced at her parents and then deliberately looked away from them, turning her attention back to the matter at hand. "So I followed Xahra through the portal before it closed. Kindle here," indicating the white dragon on her shoulder, who trilled her own opinion, "followed me. I got all those injuries from traveling through the portal." Kindle screeched in reprimand. Lidal patted her head in reassurance. "I will definitely never do that again."

Lidal went on. "I have no idea how I’m going to get back but all that matters is that I stop Xahra from killing you and altering the past."

Gohan rubbed his chin in thought. "We have the advantage, don’t we? Xahra calculated wrong. Kya is already pregnant."

Lidal nodded. "Let’s hope she doesn’t figure that out."

"Too late, witch."

 

 

Author: Now you all know who Lidal is. What do you think of her? The links are fixed at my website and I’ve posted two new drawings, one of Lidal and one of Xahra. You should check them out. Oh and I’ve set up a mailing list at my site, so join it if you want me to send you e-mails to let you know when I update. Otherwise I won’t.


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