Arctica Saga

Chapter 4- Flashback

 

~Juno~

 "Welcome, everyone, to the Tenkaichi Budokai! All our competitors have been briefed on the rules, which I'm about to summarize here. No weapons or foreign objects are allowed; neither are eye jabs or, ah, 'low blows'. A competitor loses the match by touching the ground outside the ring, by being pinned by the shoulders to the ring, by losing consciousness, or by submission. This is only a competition; any fighter that kills his or her opponent will be disqualified and banned from any future event for life." I winced as the announcer gave the opening statement, and I ended up sitting near the speakers. 

We were in the Papaya Stadium were the competition was taking place; Alita has been training really hard for this. She standing at the outer rims of the ring, waiting to fight her opponent. Gen. Vegita sat in a V.I.P booth up at the perimeter of the ring, since he was the champion at the 34th T.B.  the remaining fighter will face him at the end of the competition to claim victory.

As for Vela and Lupus (who were sitting beside me), Lupus just watch while Vela (like the rest of the female audience) was cheering, hooting, howling and yipping madly for those macho competitors, I sighed shaking my head, as usual her hormones got the best of her.

The second announcer raised her hand, silencing the audience, "Enough waiting, let's get ready to RUMBLE!!!!" she cheered, "Introducing-- Alita! The girl the blew everyone away at the registration three weeks ago!" Alita walked onto the ring her arms crossed over her chest, she was wearing her black boots, tight dress, stockings and a denim jacket. She looked at me and winked. I waved back. 

"She will be facing-- Jackal!" introduced the first announcer. Then a tall, muscular man appeared onto the court, he was wearing a mask with a face of...well.... a jackal! along with those red, flashy clothes. He raised his arms and flexed them, showing off bulging muscles, and several girls shrieked appreciatively, especially Vela, I practically had to force her to sit back down.

Jackal threw a taunting snicker at Alita, licking his lips, "Don't worry little girl, I be gentle...he....." Alita just scowled fiercely, and if I know Alita, she hates being called 'little girl', last time a guy called her that, she beat him up and he was bed-ridden for weeks! The guy was at least twice her size.

"FIGHT!" Alita leapt and kicked the guy in the face, he spit a tooth out and she disappeared when he wasn't looking. Jackal blinked looking in every direction. Then he froze, and fell head first into the ring, everyone gasped as Alita appeared behind him, her elbow raised. I smiled, I expected that.

"But who says I will?" she said solemnly, getting off the ring while the paramedics brought Jackal off the ring.

"Alright! Alita!" I cheered, along with the crowd.

"The winner!!!!!!! Alita -by knockout!!! " the announcer cried in surprise.

As the day went on, Alita has been winning every single one of her battles, and quickly too! Compared to her, every fighter was a bug, waiting to be squashed. Some even trembled and lost by default because they fainted. I guess they rather faint and wake up later then have a few broken bones, a concussion, or worse. 

Soon after she defeated the last competitor, she went face to face against the general. He just stood there, calmly, waiting for Alita to come onto the ring. When her name was called, she came, they both got into position and waited for the signal. "GO!" cried the second announcer. The general said something to Alita that kind of surprised her, and catch her off guard.

He punched Alita hard in the stomach was made her fall back. "Oh no, Alita, that's the first time anyone managed to hit her!" cried Lupus, 'Oh Alita, be careful!' I thought to myself. Alita stumbled onto her feet and they soon were out of sight! There were a few flashes here and there though. Some parts of the stadium even exploded!!! Then a huge flash at the middle of the ring cause the two fighters land on opposite sides of the ring.

Alita was panting heavily, she winced as she touched her face, there was a huge bruise, Gen. Vegita disappeared again, Alita looked around her, she lost track of him! Then he appeared behind her, not only that, he managed to grab her tail, she fell to her knees, as if her energy was being drained away. Without thinking, I got off my seat and ran down. "I'll go call an ambulance!" cried Vela, taking out her cell phone.

He threw her up and punched her into the sky. He disappeared and reappeared above her, his fists raised together. When she was close enough, he slammed her down to the ring, she came down to the earth like a comet, all battered up and unconscious. "Alita!!!!" I cried, running towards the ring, the security guards tried to get me but I dodged them.

As I got closer to her, the general walked up to her and grabbed her tail again, this time he pulled it off, mumbling, "This has caused enough trouble in the past and it is not going to happen again...." He saw me run over to Alita. I saw her blood trickle from her cheek. "Gemini, I knew you brought Alita here." I looked up at him as I cradled Alita's body in my arms. "Why?"

"She wanted to leave Alquaris, so I agree to smuggle her into Earth, that an I kinda cared about her for some reason, and I couldn't leave her there alone again, after her parents abandoned her once, I couldn't do the same thing....her life was as miserable as it is already....." I replied, I stood up and lifted her of the ring. "I saw you say something to her.....what was it?"

Gen. Vegita looked at her locket and back at me. "I just told her that 'you has the exact beauty your mother had, and you've grown up well since I've seen you.' I've loved her mother my entire life.... and that's all I said...."

 I blinked, did I hear right? "So, if you loved Alita's mother, that's makes you......" I eyes went wide as soon as I noticed the resemblance in them, their eyes, hair, and face. I was shocked, "...that makes you Alita's father!!!!"

**********

~Alita~

 <Where was I? My thoughts blanked out as soon as I hit from above from that man during our battle on Earth; now, I'm walking though the forests of Alquaris?!?! How did I get here? 

I couldn't believe it, those words he said kept playing in my head over and over again........'you have the exact charm your mother had, and you've grown up well since I've seen you.' .....I....I couldn't believe it! The general of the Jet Force army, is tou-san! He was the one who left my mother so long ago.....but if father was here all that time.....why were we left on Alquaris? I doesn't make any sense to me...

I continued walking along the dirt path, my eyesight was blurry and it was bad enough the sunlight was messing up my vision. Then I heard faint sounds of people walking, or more likely, running. I saw shadows of two children, no, one child and one baby in front of me,  at least under the ages of twelve or under. One was an eleven-year-old girl, holding onto a new born baby brother, who was crying.

"Hush Daisuke! Kaa-san isn't buying us time for nothing! " whispered the girl, holding the baby, who I realized is Daisuke,  closer to her chest so she can run faster, "She has already hid Alita in a safe place and is counting on us to hide as well! We can't let that bully Arctica win! I just hope Alita is alright, she is only four years old." she sighed solemnly. 

As she came closer and closer to me, she still hasn't noticed me! And instead on passing right by me, she went right through me! This was strange! And what's even more odd, I'm remembering something that happen fifteen years ago. I followed the kids through the jungle and saw them stop in front of a waterfall, then fire starts to surround me like a barrier, and I lost track of them and the jungle disappeared.

Behind me I heard a laugh, and it's not one of those cheerful laughs of a child, it was one of those insane, evil type laughs. It didn't sound good, that's for sure. I turned and saw a dark shadow floating towards me. It took a shape of a muscular woman with horns and a reptile-like tail. It got closer by the second, when it was about two feet away from me, a strong, pale hand with long black nails grasp my neck and lifted me off my feet. I couldn't breathe, I tried to break free but I couldn't. My mind screamed for help!>

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" I cried as felt myself sit up. I was hot, even sweating. Parts of my body was even sore, I was scared, what was going on? My chest heaved violently, I felt like that hand really grasped my neck.

I felt a hand on me, "Alita! Calm down! It was just a dream!" I looked up, it was Juno, I then realized that I was at home. He was sitting by my side in the bed and watching over me. It was night out. I felt bandages all over my body. I fell into his arms, and cried. He hold me close to his chest. "It's alright now, I was just a dream...."

"No......I remember.......just barely......" I sobbed tightening my grip on his shirt.

"Remember what?" he asked, lovingly.

"I just barely remember, what really happened to my family, fifteen years ago.....I have a brother and sister!"

He held me closer to his chest, "Shh.....just rest.... don't worry about it now....we'll find them when we can, if we can...."

**********

There were nights when the wind was so cold
That my body froze in bed
If I just listened to it
Right outside the window

There were days when the sun was so cruel
That all the tears turned to dust
And I just knew my eyes were
Drying up forever

I finished crying in the instant that you left
And I can't remember where or when or how
And I banished every memory you and I had ever made

But when you touch me like this
And you hold me like that
I just have to admit
That it's all coming back to me
When I touch you like this
And I hold you like that
It's so hard to believe but
It's all coming back to me

There were moments of gold
And there were flashes of light
There were things I'd never do again
But then they'd always seemed right
There were nights of endless pleasure
It was more than any laws allow
Baby Baby

If I kiss you like this
And if you whisper like that
It was lost long ago
But it's all coming back to me
If you want me like this
And if you need me like that
It was dead long ago
But it's all coming back to me
It's so hard to resist
And it's all coming back to me
I can barely recall
But it's all coming back to me now
But it's all coming back

There were those empty threats and hollow lies
And whenever you tried to hurt me
I just hurt you even worse
And so much deeper

There were hours that just went on for days
When alone at last we'd count up all the chances
That were lost to us forever

But you were history with the slamming of the door
And I made myself so strong again somehow
And I never wasted any of my time on you since then

But if I touch you like this
And if you kiss me like that
It was so long ago
But it's all coming back to me
If you touch me like this
And if I kiss you like that
It was gone with the wind
But it's all coming back to me

There were moments of gold
And there were flashes of light
There were things we'd never do again
But then they'd always seemed right
There were nights of endless pleasure
It was more than all your laws allow
Baby, Baby, Baby

When you touch me like this
And when you hold me like that
It was gone with the wind
But it's all coming back to me
When you see me like this
And when I see you like that
Then we see what we want to see
All coming back to me
The flesh and the fantasies
All coming back to me
I can barely recall
But it's all coming back to me now

If you forgive me all this
If I forgive you all that
We forgive and forget
And it's all coming back to me
When you see me like this
And when I see you like that
We see just what we want to see
Al coming back to me
The flesh and the fantasies
All coming back to me
I can barely recall but it's all coming back to me now


And when you kiss me like this
And when I touch you like that
If you do it like this
And if we, , ,