Hello All! This story and all my other fanfictions are available for free on my Patreon, alongside my other web-novels. It will have a very loose upload schedule, as I am focusing my efforts on seven chapters of Krypton Reborn: A Star Wars Story per week. If this web novel gains enough support in my monthly Patreon polls, it may move to the top spot in the priority list! Thanks to all the readers out there! All constructive criticism and comments are welcome!
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“So, you really don’t remember anything from when you’re transformed?” Hal carried the stolen van through the air, on course for the Lookout. Blue-Launch shook her head, face pinched as she kept away from the windows.
“It’s been like this for as long as I can remember… it’s why I could never get adopted,” Launch sighed, eyes lost in a memory of her past. “Whenever I sneeze everything goes black, then I wake up in random places and people are angry with me.”
Hal shook his head as the lookout came into sight. Launch wasn’t seen much after the events of the original series, but he’d always been curious about her. The transformation she underwent greatly increased her power, but it was more a curse than a blessing.
“I’m going to take you to visit someone who might be able to help,” Hal set down onto the marble tile of the lookout and lowered Launch’s van gently beside him. He opened the driver’s side door, hand extended toward the shaken teen. “He’s the most magical person on this planet, the Guardian of the Earth… if anyone can figure out what’s happening to you, it would be Kami.”
“Greetings, young man,” the green skinned alien in question walked from within the lookout. He gave Launch a welcoming smile and turned his attention back to Hal. “I thought you planned to return after you retrieved all the dragonballs?”
“I’ve got six already,” Hal pulled a capsule from his waist and tossed it to the ground. A small plume of smoke revealed his current collection in a special container, all but one of the dragonballs glinted in the warm morning light. “I came back early to introduce you to Launch here, she’s afflicted with a fairly bizarre condition…”
Hal twitched a feather under the poor girl's nose and forced her to sneeze, a trigger that shifted her hair back to blond. The changed Launch blinked, a moment of stillness before she snatched a small machine gun from behind her back.
“Where the hell have you taken me!” Blond-Launch scampered back, gun fixed on Hal and Kami as she glanced at the marble features of the Lookout. “Why is the air so thin…”
The confused teen extended one foot too far, a movement that toppled her backwards from the Lookout’s edge. Hal suppressed a smile and bounded after her. The moment he leapt into her view a hail of bullets flew out to greet him. A snort huffed from his nose as the lead projectiles flattened against his skin.
“That gun might have been manifested with some kind of magic, but it’s still just a gun,” Hal shook his head and closed with the stern-faced Launch. No trace of panic showed on her face, just a great deal of anger. “That kind of weapon is useless against anyone you’ll meet here, now behave yourself!”
A flick of his fingers tossed the gun away, lost in the blue of the sky. One hand caught hold of the girl’s arm, while the other extended the feather to her nose. Another sneeze returned Blue-Launch to the world with a scream.
“How did we get back into the sky?” Launch wailed as she wrapped her arms around Hal’s neck, face buried into his shoulder. “Please take me back to solid ground!”
“Don’t worry,” Hal chuckled as he wrapped a hand around her waist and arced back toward the lookout. “We’re so high up that you could fall for a minute or two, more than enough time for me to catch you!”
“That doesn’t make me feel better at all…” Launched murmured, eyes firmly shut against the distant ground. Hal laughed again and set her feet onto the smoothed tiles of the Lookout.
“You can open your eyes now,” Hal turned to Kami and gave the Namekian a raise of his eyebrows. “Is there anything you can do to help her control her transformation, or at least temporarily prevent it?”
“It is a most curious condition… not a curse, but a natural aspect of her soul,” Kami stepped closer and hovered his hand over Launch’s head. Eyes still closed, the blue haired girl didn’t react. “She has a twin spirit, divided into unbalanced yet complimentary forms.”
Hal frowned. If it had been a curse, the old man might have been able to remove it. As a part of her nature, it would be far more difficult to change. Kami’s antenna twitched as he continued his examination, his own lips set in a near smile.
“She has a powerful potential, if her twinned soul can be brought into balance,” Kami tapped Launch on the top of her head and the girl opened her eyes. The Namekian gave her a welcoming smile, bright eyes locked with hers. “If you’re interested, I believe Mr. Popo and I can help you find that balance, as well as the sense of peace you desire.”
“I…” Launch floundered, eyes wide as she glanced back and forth between Kami and Hal. “I don’t know…”
“Why don’t you take a few days and think about it?” Hal gave the teen a reassuring grin and waved to the buildings of the Lookout. “You can get to know Kami, while I finish a few errands down below… if you decide you want me to take you back to your village, we’ll go as soon as I return.”
“I… alright,” Launch set her shoulders and nodded. She turned to Kami and bowed. “I’ll be in your care, Mr. Guardian!”
“Kami is fine,” the old Namekian laughed and motioned for her to follow inside the Lookout. “Let’s get you some food, would you be interested in tea?”
Hal shook his head as the pair wandered away, like a grandfather and his charge. Launch would do well at the lookout. She could even be a sparring partner for Goku, if she managed to catch up to his strength. A quick jump carried him into the skies, it was time to collect the last dragon ball and finish his quest.
“Hmmm…” Hal scratched at the back of his neck as he activated the dragon radar. “I feel like I’m forgetting something…”
“Hello!!! Is anybody out there?” Oolong’s voice rebounded from the cargo container walls, a miserable echo that assaulted his tender ears. “Is this how it ends? Trapped in a metal box until I die of thirst… what have I ever done to deserve this!”
The squat pig-man sank down and covered his head with his arms, buried in self pity and despair. He would waist away in here, all because he’d wanted to find the perfect wife! It was an insult to justice, a tragedy that would go unnoticed by the ignorant masses…
BANG-BANG-BANG
Three explosive rumbles rocked his prison, accompanied by the harsh glare of the morning sun. The door stood, malformed and bent to the side, while a pair of shadowed figures loomed forward to look within.
“It’s empty…” the taller, long haired figure scratched his head and sighed. “Just our luck that someone would dump an empty container in our yard like trash.”
“It’s not empty Yamcha, look!” The smaller, airborne silhouette bobbed closer to the paralysed Oolong and resolved into a familiar cat. Puar squinted her eyes, before a look of recognition passed over her. “There’s a pig inside, maybe it’s best if we just close it back up…”
“NOoOo!” Oolong scampered forward and clasped the feet of the confused Yamcha. “Please sir, don’t let Miss Puar lock me back up, I promise… I’ll turn over a new leaf!”
“Don’t worry, little pig,” Yamcha smiled down at Oolong with an evil grin. “I would never waste good pork like that!”
***Power Levels and other notes***
Hal: 2276 (7324 after the biofield/ki fusion)
Yamcha: 15
Puar: 10
Oolong: 10
Launch: 10 (30 after her blond transformation)
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