Unexpected Changes

Tom sat next to Pan in the noisy World Martial Arts Tournament stands.
He and Pan had gone everywhere together for the past few days, still
trying to cope with the loss of their relationship. Pan continued to
call Tom, "Bra", even though Tom had his old body back.

The two ex-lovers knew this would be more than just fun. On Tom's
advice (which was based on an earlier conversation with Goten) Pan had
bet her entire life saving on Goten's victory. The odds favored Trunks
8 to 1, so Pan would have quite a lot of money in just a few hours.

"And now, the two finalists, two Sayin Warriors, no surprise there,
Goten and Trunks!!" Trunks walked out of his corner wearing a large
smirk. "Soo-Soo is mine, Goten. There is no way you can beat me."
Goten just laughed. He knew he had a real ace up his sleeve.

"Let the match begin!!" As the announcer uttered those words, the two
started to power up. They both reached normal Super Sayin and Ascended
Super Sayin with ease.

"Let's see if you can match this, Goten!" Trunks let out and extra
loud yell, and exploded with white light. His hair grew long, and he
transformed into a Super Sayin 3.

Goten immediately followed suit and powered up to the same level,
still smiling. Trunks looked a little surprised, but said: "You're
powerful, Goten. But I was saving this for the tournament. You're
toast." Trunks yet out another loud yell, and this time he was
engulfed in black light. Hair seemed to grow out of him everywhere,
and he got somewhat of a mane. His power level skyrocketed, as his
transformation to Super Sayin 4 was complete. He immediately charged
Goten, smashing him in the face. Goten staggered, but he did not fall.

"Just give up Goten. You can't go Super Sayin 4." Goten laughed out
loud and powered up to Super Sayin 4, looking very similar to Trunks.
Trunks looked at his childhood best friend with rage.

"How could you do that? Arrrgh!" But as his rage consumed him, Trunks
felt himself changing. His body returned to normal, but his hair grew
again. Not like when he went Super Sayin 3, but in a frazzled,
electric look. Trunks was amazed by this. He had gone Super Sayin 5
without intending to.

"I didn't know I could do that. Well say your prayers, Goten." Goten
looked at the seemingly unbeatable fighter. "I think our little game
is over, Trunks." Goten powered up into a Super Sayin 5, and then
immediately exploded. When the smoke cleared, an 8-foot fall, 5 foot
wide Super Sayin 6 Goten stood in his place. Goten quickly teleported
near Trunks and smashed him out of the ring with one hit. Goten
quickly powered down as the announcer spoke.

"And the winner of this year's World Martial Arts tournament is Goten,
winning by showing us Super Sayin 6!" Goten accepted the medal, and
the prize money. He quickly put them on the nearest table he could
find, and then he forgot about them. Soo-Soo jumped into his arms, and
he flew off.

"Who would have thought? How did he go Super Sayin 6 without any
special training?" The crowd was astounded. Pan, however, was the
happiest of all. She had made multiplied her life savings by 8 in one
afternoon.

"Bra, I want you to have half this. It was you who knew about Goten's
wish. You should get at least half." Tom only shook his head. "I can't
have it Pan. It's your money."

Pan was shocked. "But you own nothing here! You have no car, no house,
nothing! Please let me give you some!" Tom reluctantly agreed to take
3/8 of the profit, which was enough to pay cash for a small house in
downtown Tokyo.

Tom thought he could still hear the sound of Goten flying off with
Soo-Soo. He though he could still hear the sound of him flying off
with Pan. He knew that he should be happy to be in his own body, but
he was miserable. He liked being Tom again, but now his life with Pan
was over romantically. As Tom looked deep into Pan's eyes, only one
thought was in his mind.

"I'll never love again."

Meanwhile, Bra was at the tournament ring, wiping cold rags on her
brother's face. Her fate seemed even grimmer than Tom's. Amber wasn't
just not interested. Amber didn't exist in this universe.

"He cheated...He cheated..." Trunks managed to repeat the two words
again one last time, and then he passed out again. Bra could tell that
he had not suffered a serious physical injury, but she knew that his
ego was shattered.

Bra thought about the two weeks. She had fallen in love with a woman
for the second time that year, but it was more than that. It was true
love this time. But that wasn't the whole story, either. She liked
being Tom, and she liked Tom's world. No worries, no Dragonballs, no
indestructible god-like enemies.

To her surprise, Tom approached her. He wore an expression of great
sadness on his face. "Bra, I have a hypothesis. I think you should
come with me." Bra saw from the seriousness of his tone of voice that
Tom wasn't joking. She had never met Tom before, but after spending
nine days in his body she felt like she could trust him.

Tom spoke very softly. "Can you instant transmit the two of us to your
bedroom?" She nodded. Just before the two vanished, Tom and Pan looked
at each other. Tom tried to see some faint ray of light, some far off
hope that might one day be love. But all he saw was sadness. She was
sad because she knew that she would never be able to love Tom the way
she did before. Tom could almost see her thoughts through her
expressions. "I've let you down, Bra. We are together, and I am
holding us back." Tom tried to telepathically relay a message, but
then he remembered that he was a human. He sighed, as he and Bra
disappeared.

As soon as Tom could see that he was in Bra's room, he quickly got her
diary. "Bra, if we could change bodies again, would you do it?" Bra
thought about it for a second. "It would make it up to Pan, because
you two would be together again. So yes, I would."

Tom handed the diary to Bra. "I think that if you read this, and then
I give it to you, and you burn it, we might be stuck in each others
bodies." Bra thought about it.

"What makes you so sure?" Bra asked.

"I'm not sure, but both of our lives are a living hell, so I thought
why not just try." Bra started to read the story, and both of them
blacked out. When they awoke they were in each other's bodies.

Bra flung the diary towards Tom. She could already feel another
unnatural sleep coming on. "Burn it! Hurry!" Tom, as sluggish as Bra,
slowly lit a match from a matchbook in her pocket. However, she did
not seem to be fully committed to staying in another body forever.

"Please Bra, please! Pan and I need this! I know you like my body,
stop doubting yourself!" Bra lit the diary, and both of them screamed.

Bra awoke and stretched very slowly. She got up and looked at her
surroundings. She pulled a blue hair out of her eyes, and...

She turned around to be face to face with Tom. The switch had been a
success. Bra started to initiate instant transmission, but Tom spoke
up.

"You are her soul mate, Tom. Love her as I could not."

"I will, Bra. Thanks." Bra closed her eyes, and disappeared.