Chapter# 8
"Who's who!? Hence comes the explanation!"
Next thing she knew she was on a forest, laying on soft grass under a
blue cloudless sky that seemed not to have an end. At least it was warm
now.
It was odd, there wasn't a single a single sound, there were many
little
pools,
it was quiet. Too quiet.
"Where am I" she got up and saw Irena sitting on a dry log polished by
the
wind. The green haired girl looked like she was talking to someone.
"How did we got here? And I suppose you are the one to blame for this?"
Bethen
asked the girl.
Girl? She didn't seem much older than she was. She was maybe 15 or 16.
Irena looked up giving her a fierce stare.
"I didn't do it. The Swordstar did. We are on the 'Forest of the
Worlds'."
"Forest of the what!!?"
"This is like the middle point between worlds, and dimensions."
"What the hell am I doing here!!? How come you know all that? Did the
sword
told you? Did the sword also told you how we're gonna get back?" Bethen
asked
loosing her temper.
"I told her." a voice said.
"Who said that? Who's there?" Bethen looked around frantically trying
to
find
the source of the voice.
A little glowing ball flew up to Bethen's incredulous face. There was
a tiny woman in the sphere with wings! Bethen blinked twice and rubbed
her
eyes to make sure it wasn't a mirage. The sphere grew and there
appeared a
girl of long syrup colored hair and turquoise eyes wearing a short
rainbow
colored see-through ribbon dress.
"Ahhhgh! You're semi-naked!!' Bethen cried jumping back.
"I am not naked!! I am formally dressed!" the girl said defensively.
"She is Ayame, the fairy of the goddess Hoshiummi. She is here to help
us
find the Shinju Shiroi." Irena said getting up.
"Fairy!? Are you out your mind!! What's all this nonsense! Everybody
knows
fairies don't exist!!" the saiyan said looking at them like a couple of
weirdoes.
"That may be the way it is on your planet, but in Azure there are
fairies.
And this one is going to help us." Irena pointed out.
"Excuse me? What's all this `we' stuff? Who said I wanted to help you
look
for some silly white pearls!!?"
"The goddesses said so, and your parents pledged your help in this
mission.
You would be surprised at what can be done to make you wanna help."
Ayame
said,
grinning mysteriously
"What is that supposed to mean? You can't force me to do nothing."
Bethen
said and crossed her arms.
"Better not contradict a fairy. They are quite mercurial, you never
know
when their mood will change and be evilly dangerous." Irena said
polishing
the sword.
"The goddess told me the Sastra kid would be smart. I see she was true
to
her word." Ayame said, "But you Benten, I have the feeling you're gonna
be
quite a handful to take care of."
"Nani!!? Take care of me? I don't need you taking care of me! Why! We
look
to be the same age." Bethen said.
"Looks can be deceiving in a fairy." Ayame said and with a twirl of her
oracle there was a glitter shower and then she was wearing a western
dress
and a hat with boots and spurs.
"You think that makes you look better?" Bethen asked.
Ayame smiled and snapped her fingers. Now both Irena and Bethen were
wearing western clothes and hats.
"Eeeew! I must look like a cowgirl!! Why you do this for? I don't wanna
look
like you!" Bethen cried tugging at the yellow bandanna on her neck.
"The first of the five pearls are on the planet Pavuu. This is the way
they dress. You don't want to appear obviously like an alien do you?"
Ayame
asked her with a triumphant tone to her voice.
"I don't care!" Bethen said, "I'm not going anywhere with you."
"We're not asking if you care or not. I didn't ask for my part in the
scheme of things either! But I have to do it." Irena said, her temper
going out a bit.
"Let's remain civilized here. Irena, don't start complaining about
being
the swordbearer, Benten, please assume your role as the helper and
protector
to Irena. As for myself, I can think of better things to do with my
time.
But I am also stuck with the job of finding the pearls and destroying
Rankar." Ayame said wondering how they would get along.
"My name is Bethen, not Benten." the saiyan said.
"That's how your human family calls you. You know better, your name is
Benten." Irena said looking at some of the pools.
"How come you know that? Have you been spying on me?"
"Not on my own decision." Irena said.
"Why do you look so... familiar." Bethen asked, carefully observing the
girl's
face. "Oh! Kami! You are that girl in my dream!!" Bethen gasped and
stepped
back.
"BE CAREFUL!!" Ayame cried holding Bethen away from one of the pools
she was
about to fall in. "You fall in one of those and you could end up in
another
world or dimension. Ever lived as a 2-D being? Not the best thing to
be."
she
warned her.
"That's it!! You two know more about this deal then I do.
So out with it!! Someone better tell me what's up here or I'm gonna
lose my
mind!!" Bethen cried and stood there glaring at them, impaciently
tapping
her
foot on the moss covered ground.
Irena sighed and threw her hands up at the sky, she gave Ayame a
sidelong glance and both girls bursted out laughing. Bethen tightened
her
hands into two fists at her sides.
"What are you two laughing at?" she screamed at them, they were both so
unnervingly annoying, "Come on tell me!!"
Ayame wiped a tear from her eye and looked up at a very mad saiyan.
"Is just that..." she started giggling again, "You should really look
at
your face! You look like a mad tomato!!"
"NANI!!!?" Bethen screamed.
"It's true! When you're mad you get all red! You look like a mad red
monkey-tomato!!" Irena said and rolled with laughter along with Ayame.
"Ha ha ha...And you think that's funny? Forgive me! I forgot to laugh."
"Oh! Come on! Loosen up a bit" Ayame said, "I mean, if we are to be
together
for some time, we might as well get along."
Bethen smiled, "We'll get along all right! As soon as you and Miss
Greenie tell me all that you know."
"Who you calling Greenie?" Irena asked, her sword ready to fight.
"Who else looks like they're wearing a mop of grass on their head?"
Bethen
retorted.
Tiny sparks flew about them and rays of angry vibes were shared
betwen Irena and Bethen.
"I can take you down anytime saiyan." Irena said.
"In your dremas Greenie, bring it on!"
"Whoa! Hold it you two!" Ayame said getting in between, "I know you two
wanna fight, but let's save it for the bad guys!"
"Humph...O.K, I guess..." Bethen told them and sat on the spot sticking
her
tongue out at Irena, "Now begin telling me everything! And don't skip
anything otherwise I won't help!!"
"I'll start" Irena said and sat across Bethen, "Many years ago there
was a
planet named Sastra, it's people were very peaceful and wise. They
lived
happy lives, and were very powerful, not in battle like saiya-jins, but
in things like healing, teletransportation and giving creatures back
their
lives. But the planet was old and where it had once been blue and green
now
it lay mostly brown and dark. The mighty Queen Channen was then called
to
the planet Azure by the King Katrine, to save his son's life Rankar"
Irena's
face turned into a frown at the memory of that name.
"That's the guy you're suppossed to kill right?" Bethen asked knowing
the
answer was yes.
"Aha," Irena nodded, "The Queen said she would save him, but in
exchange
she wanted land for her people to live. King Katrine accepted the
bargain
and Chaneen saved his son. Rankar fell madly in love with Channen, and
asked
her to marry him after the chosen Sastra people were settled in Azure,
she
refused him and he developed an intenese hatred for the Sastra people.
After
Katrine died, Rankar somehow placed some kind of spell upon Chaneen and
she
died. Rankar was free to do with the Sastra people as he wished." Irena
said
and broke down crying.
Ayame laid her hand on the girl's shoulder as Irena tried in vain to
stop her tears.
"I'm really sorry for the way I spoke to you" Bethen said softly, "I'm
terribly sorry about your mother. I blame myself for that, it was a
careless
mistake. I should've moved faster, done something to stop it from
happening
but...it was the first murder attempt I've ever seen up close and
personal."
"I know..." Iren asaid between sobs, "I've waited for your arrival to
azure
for a long time." she looked at Bethen through eyesfull of tears, "I
know
what you left behind Benten...I believed that you would chose him above
your
mission, above my call for your help...Won't you please help?"
"You know about...Gohan?" Bethen asked her, wincing at the pain his
name
provoked in her soul, she missed him so much yet she had to help, "Yes,
I
will help."
Irena's eyes gleamed and she hugged Bethen, "Thank you! I knew you
would! I knew my mother hadn't sacrificed her life in vain" she said
and
broke down crying again. Bethen stroked the girl's hair and glanced up
at
Ayame.
"Continue the story, I want to know everything. I will help."
Ayame nodded and spoke,"There was a terrible war, it lasted 300
turns.The
sastra lost to the Azurians. After the war Rankar hunted down all of
the
Sastra people and turn them into stone since he couldn't kill them
because
of the treaty his father had made.
18 years ago, two saiyans running from Frieeza came to Azure. Their
names
were Kyabetsu and Lorei, your mother. She gave birth to you in the
shrine to
the ocean godddess, there she met Zulima who told your mother about the
miracles the goddess could do. Your mother knew you wouldn't make it
trough
your first year with Frieeza's men on their trail, so she summoned the
goddess and asked her to spare your life.
The goddess accepted but in return you were to come back to Azure on
your 18
birthday and help Irena reunite the magic pearls and destroy Rankar."
Ayame stopped and gasped for air. "It's quite a long story if I gave
you all
the details."
"That should be the whole story," Irena, who had stoped crying and was
sitting besides Bethen said, "Then the dragon goddess appeared, adn she
wanted both of us to help her father's world, wich is almost completely
conquered by Rankar.So you see? We didn't chose our destinies, they
have
been chosen for us and we have to follow them."
Bethen gazed spellbound at a dark pool, she couldn't believe all that
had been said. Was she really supposed to help them? Everything they
had
said
seemed absolutetly true and made sense as to her existense.
And if in the gods where for her to help this people, so she would. It
had
been her parent's choice, and last will. She got up and for the first
time
in a year noticed something differen't about herself, seeing her
reflection
in one of the pool she saw her hair had grown incredibly long in just a
few
hours. Bethen fingered a few curls and frowned.
"How long have we been here?" she asked turning to Ayame who smiled
nervously along with Irena.
"Well...you see...a couple of hours here mean a couple of-"
"A year in our dimension! he he he" Irena said cutting Ayame before she
could finish.
"Oh! Yes just a year! Ha Nothing much!" Ayame said with the fakest
smile
Bethen had ever seen.
"A year..." Bethen asked, "A whole year!!!?"
"Don't worry, you are not a year older, thanks to Ayame, she can keep
our
bodies from aging in the forest, but nails and hair do keep growing."
Irena
said fixing her hair into two braids underneath her cowboy hat.
"A year...?"
"No time for thinking about it Benten! We have work to do. and I must
warn
you the Pavuu people are quite...party-like and love to cause riots
here and
there, don't let your saiyan instinct get us into trouble. Do not start
a
fight no matter what they do or say. Understood?" Ayame said taking out
her
oracle her mailbag purse.
"I'll try my best. Don't promise you anything." said Bethen with a
mishievous
smile, just then her stomach grumbled, she hadn't eaten anything since
the
arrival to azure this morning. Or has it really been a year?, "I'm
hungry!"
"Me too!" Irena said patting her tummy.
Ayame shook her head and smiled ruefully, "Mortals!" she exclaimed
and waved her oracle.
"Blue, bluer, bluest; colder beyond frozen things,
Where is between when there is naught
To life but fragile fairy wings"
Ayame and Irena sang as a wind full of sparkles and pink haze
enveloped them. Bethen felt that cold again. And it all got dark once
more...