Author’s Note: Phew! Chapter Four! I think I’m gonna do a Cell and start pounding my head into the wall! Anyway, I presume you’ve read the first three parts, right? If you haven’t—GO AND READ THEM N-O-W!! If you have—this is kind of a "blah" chapter. It just shows how Cyris interacts with everything and a bunch of little details that will come into play later on in the story. I shall say again—I don’t own any of the regular characters you’d find in the show or manga Dragon Ball Z, who are copyright of Akira Toriyama. Cyris, Laura, Sita, Nyome, Dora, Meah, and Valerie are MION! I wish Cell were, though…*sniff*…Don’t forget that there’s lots more to come! Enjoy!

~KASH

Cyris slowly sat down at the kitchen table and staring dreamily into the striped place mat in front of her.

She was still feeling a little out of whack after the afternoon’s traumatic incident, and it certainly showed.

"Are you sure you’re all right?" her aunt asked, setting down their plates and silverware.

Cyris nodded, staring at the table blankly.

"Hey Cyris! Why don’t you skip school tomorrow?" Laura chirped, trying to see if she could boost her niece’s spirits.

"Oh…That’s nice…" Cyris trailed off, obviously not paying attention.

"Well, that didn’t quite go as expected," her aunt sighed, scratching the back of her head.

"Aunt Laura? When I…blacked out…did I do anything weird?" Cyris whispered after a moment, breaking the silence, still staring at the place mat.

"Well, you seemed to be mumbling something," her Aunt Laura began, setting down a huge bowl of spaghetti in the center of the table, seating herself. "I couldn’t quite tell, but it seemed like…I don’t know…names of some sort."

"Whatnames?" her niece answered quickly, staring at Laura now with wide eyes.

"Uh…something like…Hoku, Veketcha, Killin’—"

"You mean Goku and Vegeta and—" Cyris interrupted, then stopped and stared at her aunt strangely, her eyes widening even more. "How did I know that?" she squeaked.

Laura turned away from her niece’s gaze, dishing herself some spaghetti.

Having no response, Cyris shoved the question aside and put a large spoonful of saucy spaghetti onto her own plate.

"Ya know, I think I will take that no school offer."

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Gohan strolled into his classroom, books under his arm, and made his way to the back of the room to his seat.

"Hey Gohan!" Eresa smiled as her friend sat down next to her.

"Hey," he chirped, smiling back.

Videl flopped down in a seat on the other side of Eresa, looking extremely angry.

"Darn that Saiyaman!" she snarled, her hands clenched into shaky fists.

Gohan cleared his throat, turning toward Eresa. "So, uh, have you seen Cyris anywhere?" he asked, trying to change the conversation.

Eresa shook her head. "Nuh-uh."

"That’s weird," said Videl, joining in on the conversation.

Uh oh, I hope it’s not anything to do with what happened in the cafeteria yesterday… Gohan suddenly realized, biting his lip.

The bells began to chime through the halls and Mr. Bier entered the classroom as usual, standing at his desk at the front of the room.

"Well, I hope you all are a little more awake than yesterday, because you’re all going to get double the amount of homework that you had last night," he said in a sarcastic tone.

There was absolute silence.

"Well, I guess not," he smiled. "To change the subject, Miss McCoy isn’t going to bless us all with her presence today. She did, in fact, manage complete and turn in the rest of this week’s homework this morning!"

A couple of heads bobbed awake at this comment and Gohan’s elbow slipped off his desk.

"What?! Man! She really is a genius!" he exclaimed.

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Laura crept slowly up the stairs toward her niece’s bedroom, stopping in front of the door and lightly knocking on it.

"What?"

Laura slowly pushed open the door and walked into the dark room.

Cyris was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling, listening to her CD.

"Just wanted to check up on you," her aunt said, putting her hands on her hips. "Are you sure you’re OK?"

Cyris turned her gaze up to her aunt. "Yeah. I’m…fine," she assured, forcing a weak smile.

Her Aunt Laura cocked her eyebrow, smiling back. "All right. Around two o’clock I was gonna go and pick up some movies from Blockbuster—wanna come?"

Cyris shrugged.

"Let me know then," her aunt said, and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Cyris turned back to the ceiling, a look of regret on her face. "If only I were as fine as everyone thinks I am," she sighed sadly.

A small ghost of a smirk spread across her lips.

"If only…"

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Gohan picked up his slice of pizza on his tray, staring at it with an odd look.

"You’d think by now—with all the complaints the Cafeteria Women get about this junk—the school’d hire someone else that could actually cook edible food," he complained, dropping the greasy slop back onto his tray.

"I know," Videl groaned, wrinkling her nose. "The pizza tastes like cardboard."

"Hey Videl," Eresa whispered into her friend’s ear, "don’t look now, but the President of the Goof Troop’s comin’."

Videl rolled her eyes, sighing. "Great."

Sharpener sat down next to Gohan, with one of his "Aren’t I Wonderful?" smirks on his face.

Why me? Oh, why me? Videl cursed in her mind. "Er—hi Sharpener," she said, giving him a weak smile.

"Hey Videl. Do you know where that Cyris girl is?" he asked, so offhandedly it seemed as if Videl didn’t even exist.

Gohan’s face went blank.

"Sharpener? Are you OK?" Eresa questioned, eyeing him suspiciously.

Videl elbowed her forcefully in the ribs. "Umn—to answer your question—no. Cyris took the day off."

"Why do you ask?" Gohan asked, cocking his eyebrow.

"Oh, no reason. I just wanted to ask her to go with me to The Club this weekend," Sharpener replied.

Gohan, Videl, and Eresa all went bug-eyed. "You wanted to ask her to go with you to The Club?!" they all exclaimed in unison.

"Yeah. She’s cute!" he laughed. Then his _expression immediately changed to that of melancholy, lowering his head. "Well—since she’s not here—I’ll go. Bye," he sighed sadly, picked up his tray, and walked away.

"That was way too freaky…" Videl squeaked.

"Ohmygosh! I just thought of something!" Eresa suddenly piped up. That’s a first, Videl thought.

"Since Sharpener said he wanted to ask Cyris to go somewhere with him, and how sad he looked when you said she wasn’t here, and how he said she was cute; I think Sharpener has a cruuuush."

Gohan’s eyes widened. "On Cyris?"

Videl threw her hands up into the air and screamed "THANK YOU!!!" to the ceiling before her chair toppled backward.

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Cyris sat up quickly in bed, sweat trickling down her forehead, heart racing. She looked frantically around the room for a moment, then flopped back down onto her bed, panting heavily.

"It was…just a dream…" she breathed. "Guess I must’ve dozed off."

She removed her earphones from around her head and stopped her CD player, which was still blaring "Kick the P.A." from her Spawn soundtrack.

Man, what is it with these dreams? Cyris thought. They’re obviously about the Cell Games seven years ago—I know that now—but I know things no one else knows. The names of almost all the "Mystery Men" that were there, who they are, what age they were! All except that one boy who’s started fighting Cell now—Gohan. Definitely not that dorky Gohan in my class, though. Can these really be just dreams? Or are they something mo—

KNOCK KNOCK

"Cyris? It’s time for lunch," her aunt called through the door, breaking through Cyris’ thoughts.

"ACK!! Wha? Oh! Um—I’m coming!" she finally replied through a struggle of almost having a heart attack.

She heard the light thudding of her aunt’s footsteps going back down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Cyris sat up, stretched, and groggily trudged out of her room.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, the fresh smell of warm cheese pizza met her nose.

A wide smile spread across her face.

"PIZZA!!"

Cyris galloped to the kitchen, grabbed one of the plates of pizza that her aunt was carrying to the table as she ran by, sat down, and stuffed one whole slice into her mouth, swallowing it whole.

"GOODNESS!!" her Aunt Laura hollered, regaining her balance from almost being toppled over. "What are you trying to do, huh?! Give me a Cardiac Arrest?!"

Unfortunately, her yells were paid no attention, seeing as how Cyris was now well into her second piece of pizza and getting four more slices out of the delivery box.

Her aunt sighed. "Oh, why bother…"

She finished walking to the table and sat down across from her niece, giving her an odd look.

Cyris stopped for a moment and stared back awkwardly, a slice of pizza hanging halfway out of her mouth.

"Oh! Don’t do that!" Laura scolded, rolling her eyes. "Can’t you eat like a lady? I didn’t raise you to be a good-for-nothing slob, you know!"

Cyris shoved the piece all the way into her mouth, quickly gulping it down.

Her aunt shuddered, turning away and staring at the window.

"So, what’s up?" her niece asked, slouching lazily back in her chair, arm hanging over back.

Laura turned back to her, a smile broadening. "Well, I know I shouldn’t be doing this now, but I thought it might just perk up your spirits a little," she chuckled, standing up and quickly walking out of the room.

Cyris cocked her eyebrow, watching her aunt disappear around the corner.

Laura returned a moment later, a small envelope in her hands, grinning ear-to-ear.

"This is an early birthday present," she giggled, handing her niece the envelope.

Cyris sat up in her chair, slowly opened the envelope, and pulled out a small check and a letter.

"Do you know what that is?" her aunt questioned, still grinning.

Cyris quickly glanced over the letter, her eyes widening. "You…Y-you were…able to get me in?!"

"Yup."

"YYYEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Cyris screamed at the top of her lungs, jumping up and down repeatedly.

"I guess you like it?"

"I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU GOT ME INTO THE WORLD MARTIAL ARTS TOURNAMENT!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Well, since May seventeenth’s your sixteenth birthday, they were able to sneak ya in," her Aunt Laura was able to explain over her niece’s screams. "The check’s for the entry fee, if you didn’t already guess."

"YOU ARE THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!" Cyris cried, wrapping her arms around her aunt tightly. "THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!"

"I’m so glad you’re excited. C-could you let go—I can’t breath…"

"Oh no…" her niece suddenly gasped, letting go of her Aunt Laura who now looked as though three of her ribs were broken, "The tournament is in two weeks! I’ve gotta go train!"

Laura stared up at her niece in thought, eyebrows furrowed. "Well…why not? It’s your day off."

Without another moment to spare, Cyris bolted out of the kitchen and thundered up the stairs.

Aunt Laura chuckled, shaking her head, picking up the plates and heading over to the counter. "She must take after her father—whoever he is. Certainly didn’t get it from me or Jade—God rest her soul."

Cyris raced back into the kitchen another moment later; she was wearing old dark blue jeans with holes in the knees, worn out white sneakers, and a black skin-tight, short-sleeved shirt.

"I’ll see you in a couple of hours, OK?" she said, kissing her aunt lightly on the cheek and running out the door.

Her Aunt Laura sighed, laughing. "Boy. She sure is something else."

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Goten sat at the kitchen table, feeling extremely bored. Since his brother was off at High School and his mother busy with housework, there was no one to play with and nothing to do.

"So bored…so buh-buh-boored…" he sighed, not being able to suppress his yawn.

Chi-Chi quickly scuttled into the kitchen carrying a huge, dusty cardboard box. She dropped it onto the table with a loud thud and flopped down next to Goten, breathing heavily.

"G-geeze! That…thing w-weighs a …t-ton!" Chi-Chi huffed, wiping her forehead on the back of her hand.

"Hey Mom, can you play with me?" Goten whimpered, giving Chi-Chi a forlorn look.

Chi-Chi let out a long sigh. "Sorry sweety, I’m right in the middle of Spring Cleaning. Why don’t you go outside and play? It’s a beautiful day!"

Goten furrowed his brow and stared at his mother blankly.

Chi-Chi suddenly jerked her head toward the window. "Oh my goodness!" she gasped, pointing.

"What Mom!" Goten said, jumping out of his seat.

"There was a huge lizard out there! It must’ve been as tall as a skyscraper!" Chi-Chi exclaimed, her eyes wide.

"Oh WOW!" Goten awed; he scrambled out the kitchen and through the front door, yelling, "Bye Mom! I’ll be back in a little!" as he slammed it shut.

Chi-Chi giggled, shaking her head.

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Goten kicked a small pebble from the dusty earth with the toe his shoe, looking discouraged. "Oh…that lizard’s probably really far away now," he sniffed, rubbing his nose.

He seated himself down on a rough old boulder, resting his head in his hands.

I wish Gohan didn’t have to go to stupid ol’ High School so he could stay home and play with me, he though, sighing.

Suddenly, an eruption of ki surged through his thoughts. He sat up quickly, holding his breath, and cautiously turned around to gaze behind him. "Ack!" he yelped, and dropping hastily to the ground.

After a moment, he slowly got back up and peaked over the rocks to catch another quick glance.

A lone figure stood a couple yards away, back facing him. Black skin-tight shirt, old blue jeans, and white worn out sneakers were her apparel; messy, untamed green and black hair atop her head. She seemed as though she was in some deep meditative state, not moving even the slightest inch.

Goten raised his head up just a little more, raising up more onto his knees.

In a flash, the girl lunged into the sky, punching and kicking wildly at the air, flipping and spinning gracefully around the desert training ground.

Goten quickly lowered his head at her sudden launch into the air, though he kept his eyes glued on the fast moving blur dashing through the air.

She jerked herself to a halt, formed an energy disk in her palms, and flung it into a nearby boulder, slicing it in two as if it were a giant mound of butter.

As the boulder’s top was just about to touch the ground, the girl appeared underneath it and shoved it high into the sky—where she proceeded to smash it into thousands of pebbles with a well-placed punch. Then, with a loud "HeeYA!", the girl released a barrage of ki blasts, blowing each one of the tiny rocks into microscopic dust.

"Woah…" Goten awed, jaw hanging open, his eyes so large they looked as though they were going to pop out of their sockets.

The girl stopped abruptly in a mid-spin and jerked her head around, her hot magenta eyes immediately locking with his.

Mouth still hanging open, Goten just kept staring back, the moment seeming to last an eternity.

Then, Goten managed to pull himself out of the fantasy, hastily dropping to the ground, trying desperately to hold down his spiky black hair.

After a moment of silence, Goten slowly opened one eye, then the other. He took his hands off his head, hoisted himself onto his knees, turned cautiously back around, and peered over the rocks.

"Sh…she’s gone…!"

Suddenly, Goten felt the air around him shift, and the light thump of shoes landing behind him.

"Well, I see I have a little eavesdropper, do I?"

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Yeah, I know, real cliffhanger (sshhheeah right) …Hey, I’m in a writer’s jam—so sue me. Anyhow, if anyone has any ideas, TELL ME! I NEED them! OK, I’m getting spastic now…bye…