Wandering Souls

Chapter One

by Contrail

Written for the June 2003 DBZAHQ Alternate Pairings Challenge

Disclaimer: Dragonball Z was created by Akira Toriyama. The American translation is done by Funimation. I am not either one of them.

Yamcha idly used a finger to smear some of the condensation that dripped off of his glass across the surface of the table, lost in thought. He supposed he should be glad that he was still alive. After all, it had only been a couple of months ago that he'd stood on a cliff on an island southwest of South City, waiting for the androids that had killed him in another time to show up, a small part of him coldly certain that he'd end up on the list of casualties again. But now the world was at peace, with Cell having been destroyed and the androids turning out not to be the threat they'd thought they were. And all that peace had cost was the life of one of his oldest friends.

He wished he knew what to do with his life, that so many had sacrificed to save along with those of the rest of Earth's population. Lately all he'd been doing was hanging out with Puar and brooding alone in this bar. It wasn't just Goku's death that had him down and feeling aimless, of course. It was what had happened between him and Bulma, his general uselessness in the recent battles, and just-- everything...

A throaty, half-familiar voice broke into his thoughts. "Hey, there. It's been a long time since I saw ya." Looking up from his drink, Yamcha saw Launch standing beside his table, dark green eyes watching him. She didn't look she'd changed much over the years. Her blonde hair showed no signs of gray and her body was still youthfully fit. He blinked at her, somewhat surprised to see her after so long.

"No kidding. I had no idea you were in town. Please, sit." He indicated a seat across the table from him. He hadn't really been wanting company this evening, but it was the least he could do for an old friend.

Launch set down a knapsack that been slung over one of her shoulders, then sat down and shrugged. "Just passin' through, really. I didn't know you guys were alive again until I saw you on TV." She flagged down a passing waitress to order herself a beer. Silence stretched between them for a moment before she continued speaking. "How'd ya get brought back? I thought for sure that Piccolo would've been dead by the end of that battle. And what really happened at the Cell Games? I know that afroed buffoon can't have beaten Cell."

She'd been out of touch completely for the last five years, then. He wasn't sure where to start, so much had happened in that time... He began with telling her how the battle against the Saiyans had ended, then proceeded to describe the search for the Dragonballs on Namek and the battle with Frieza, how Trunks had arrived in the past and warned them about the androids, the fights with the androids and with Cell, finally ending with the Cell Games. Through his long explanation, Launch sat quietly absorbing the information, an unreadable expression on her face, although his terse mention of Trunks' parentage had caused her to give him a questioning look that he responded to with a shake of his head.

She took a long moment after he finished to collect her thoughts before saying anything. "So Goku's dead for good this time? That... just doesn't feel like it should be possible, somehow. It was always like nothin' and no one could beat him for long, y'know?" She shook her head in sad disbelief. "And jeez, it sounds like his kid's been through hell and back."

Yamcha nodded. "We're all trying to be there for him and Chi-Chi, particularly since she found out that she's pregnant. Krillin, especially. Partly because he blames himself for not destroying Eighteen when he had the chance, I think."

"So wha--ah--ah-choo!" Launch sneezed, causing a once-familiar transformation from an often irritable green-eyed blonde to a sweet woman with dark blue hair and eyes to occur. She looked around in mild confusion before her gaze settled on the man sitting across from her. "Oh, hello, Yamcha," she said with a little surprise in her soft voice. "It's been years. What were we talking about, before...?"

Yamcha sighed a little inwardly. Launch was usually confused as to what was going on right after she shifted between forms. "I was just telling you about some of the stuff that's happened over the past five years."

"Ah, okay." She paused thoughtfully for a moment. "How are you and Bulma doing? Have you gotten married yet?"

Her innocently-asked questions hit Yamcha like a punch in the gut, even after two years. He suddenly found the contents of his glass utterly fascinating. Noticing his reaction, she reached out a comforting hand. "Oh, I'm sorry for bringing it up. I didn't think that--" She gave her head a little shake. "We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to..."

Part of him wanted to drop the topic and forget that she'd ever brought it up. (Not that he'd actually be able to do that, a small inner voice whispered...) But... He'd kept his mouth shut about what had happened to his friends, letting Bulma say whatever she wanted about it, like usual. Dragging their dirty laundry out into public view wouldn't do anything but stir up trouble. He'd let them decide on their own whether or not to believe her. Puar knew his side of the story, of course, but for all her intelligence her perspective on events wasn't a human one. And under Launch's sympathetic gaze he felt an urge to tell her about what had happened, and perhaps finally get some of the feelings he'd carried around for years off of his chest.

The desire to have someone else understand his point of view won out, and he cast around for a place to start. "No, it's okay. Maybe talking about it-- it might help, you know?" He sighed and took a large sip of his drink.

Launch looked at the beer in front of her, sniffed at it a little, then pushed it decide while looking a little disgusted. She signaled a waitress and asked for some orange juice, then looked back to Yamcha. "It could, you know."

He nodded his cautious agreement. "Well, it's been about two years since Bulma and I broke up for good, but I suppose maybe we should've ended it sooner, realized we were just going around in endless circles."

"We'd be together, and then she'd get mad at me because I wasn't paying enough attention to her, or couldn't afford to take her out, or I looked at a cute girl a bit too long, and she'd dump me. We'd be apart for a day, a week, a month... And then I'd've apologized enough, or she'd get tired of being mad at me and remember how much fun we'd have together, and she'd forgive me and we'd get back together. And then in a month or two I'd manage to make her mad again and the whole stupid cycle would start over again." Frustration and heartache laced his voice as he stared at a spot in the middle of the table, his expression sad.

"I won't deny that I wasn't always the perfect boyfriend. I made my share of mistakes, and not all of her anger towards me was unjustified. But I really did try my hardest to make her happy, and I always loved her. And she loved me, but she was never fully satisfied with me. She used to accuse me of cheating on her because I looked at other girls, and sometimes women would just throw themselves at me and I would freeze up and not push them away fast enough for her liking. Did you know I used to have a paralyzing fear of beautiful women?" A rueful laugh. "I mostly got over that, but sometimes... And it's not like *she* never blatantly checked out other guys, even while I was right next to her."

Another sigh and another drink. The glass was half-empty now, while Launch still had most of her orange juice. "I missed her a lot while I was dead, and worried some too, while she was on Namek. When they brought me back, we were happy to see each other again, and I hoped that maybe this time I'd be able to make her truly happy. But we managed to get into a fight again, like we always did. And then Vegeta showed up again, and ended up staying at Capsule Corp."

"Vegeta?" questioned Launch, who'd been listening with sympathetic silence.

Yamcha shook his head. "Long story, which I already told to your other self and I don't really feel like explaining twice in one night."

"Oh. Continue, then, please."

"I don't know what Bulma found so attractive about him, because for all appearances he was a selfish, murderous bastard with an ego the size of a planet. I later discovered that it is possible for him to give a damn about someone else, even if he wouldn't admit in a million years, but that's neither here nor there. But Bulma did find him attractive, and started to care for him. Not that she would admit to that in the beginning, even to herself, but I'd had years of practice at reading her emotions and I could see the writing on the wall."

"That didn't make it hurt any less when she told me that she'd always care for me but she'd realized that we'd never make things work as a couple. I said some things I later regretted about her using me until someone she liked better came along and stormed out of Capsule Corp. We kinda patched things up after the Cell Games, so we're friends again. It hurts to see her, though, her and her son. I've pretty much accepted that even without Vegeta we would never have worked out, and I'm trying to move on. But I loved her for over half my life, and it's hard to let go..." He just let his voice trail off, running out of steam.

"Oh, I'm so sorry this had to happen to you, Yamcha," Launch said sincerely after he'd finished. She moved around the table so she could enfold him in a platonic, comforting hug. It felt somewhat nice, but awkward as well. He wasn't used to receiving such gestures of concern. She settled back in her seat after she released him, looking a little sad. "I guess I know how it feels to love someone without any hope of them loving you back."

Yamcha blinked at her. "Did something happen between you and Tien?"

She shook her head. "Not really, and that was the problem." It was her turn to sigh this time. "You know I left Kame House to look for Tien. Well, it took me a while to find him, and he was surprised when I showed up at his doorstep, but he was willing to let me stay with him and Chaotzu. I helped him with the cooking and cleaning, like I did at Kame House. Over time we became friends, but he was never interested in becoming more than that, no matter how often or how strongly I indicated to him that my feelings for him ran deeper. By the time Yajirobe came to tell him that he and Chaotzu needed to train for the coming of the Saiyans, I had begun to realize that either he wasn't interested in me that way, or he just wasn't interested in love that way at all."

"I still followed them to Korin's Tower and stayed with the indian tribe there while they trained with Kami, but when they returned I told them that it was time for me to move on. And then you all fought the Saiyans, and he died, and I grieved for him. I think there will always be a part of me that loves him, but I know that he will never love me that way, and I've moved on." Launch's voice didn't waver, but her eyes were downcast and her expression held an air of sadness or regret.

"Hey, you're a pretty woman, and sweet," Yamcha said in a tone of warm reassurance. "I'm sure you'll find someone out there who will love you like you deserve."

She looked up at him with a small, sad smile and a slight blush on her cheeks. "Thank you. I wish I could be so sure, but I doubt there are many men who could deal with the way I switch..."

Yamcha wasn't sure what he could say in answer to that, so they just sat in silence, sipping their drinks and listening to the buzz of other conversations around them. This side of Launch, though she seemed as sweet and innocent as ever, was a bit more thoughtful than he remembered her being.

"So, how was Tien the last time you saw him?" Launch finally asked.

"I haven't seen him since we summoned Shenron after the Cell Games, so we were all pretty exhausted at that point. But he seemed fairly happy. I'm sure you know how hard it can be to tell him sometimes. He was planning on picking Chaotzu up from Master Roshi's and heading home when he left. He's probably started training again by now."

Launch nodded with a small smile. "He was always so dedicated to his training, not just to be able to win, but to improve himself. His dedication didn't leave much room for anything else in his life." Changing the subject, she continued, "So how has Krillin been? You said earlier that he was feeling guilty about Goku's death."

Yamcha blinked and frowned a little inwardly. Hadn't he only mentioned that to Launch's other half? He was about to ask her about that when an unexpected draft blew through the bar, sending a wave of cigarette smoke towards their table. It irritated Launch's sinuses, making her sneeze again and revert to her blonde-haired form. He guessed he'd ask her about it later or something. It wasn't that big a deal.

Launch looked down at the mostly empty glass of orange juice in front of her, made a disgusted snort, and switched its place with that of the ber she had been drinking earlier. She took a nice, long drink off of it and settled back with a satisfied sigh. "So whatcha been up to since the evil green bug got blown up?"

"Not much. Just been taking a break, I guess." He tilted his glass towards himself, studying its contents once again. Only about a quarter of a glass left.

"Huh. This 'break' of yours wouldn't happen to involve sleepin' in a lot, watchin' bad TV, and spendin' your time drinkin' in bars, now would it?" Yamcha's eyes snapped up to look at Launch's face, and she smirked knowingly. "Only reasons I know've for a guy to be sittin' alone in a bar is 'cause he's waitin' for someone, or 'cause somethin's botherin' him and he wants to brood, drink enough so he won't think about it any more, or both. And I don't think the fact your girlfriend dumped you for a mass murderer is the only thing eatin' atcha."

Yamcha winced at that last statement, but he knew Launch was just being concerned for him in her typically tactless fashion. And she was right, there was more to it than just the failure of his relationship with Bulma. "It's just-- I feel like I'm a complete failure." There, he'd said it.

She merely raised an eyebrow at him and said, "I'm sure that bein' the most valuable player on your team all four seasons you played for the Titans was just dumb luck, then."

He hadn't known she'd heard about his baseball career, but he just snorted in response. "I never cared that much about baseball. It was just a good way to make money. I had so much better reflexes and greater strength than the rest of the players it wasn't even funny. No, I've only ever had two real goals in my life: to fall in love and get married some day, and to win the World Martial Arts Tournament just once in my life, or at least make it to the final round. You know how well I'm doing on the first one." Frustration, with both his circumstances and his own shortcomings, thickened his voice.

"As for the second, well, I've never even made it past the quarter-finals. I could have won it the last time it was held, just before the androids showed up. None of the others were going to compete, they were all too busy training so we'd be ready for the androids. But it wouldn't have meant anything to me, because I want to win because I'm truly good, not just because everyone who's better than me didn't show up. And so that bag of hot air with a lousy haircut ended up being declared the strongest martial artist on Earth."

"There's no way I'll ever become stronger than any of the Saiyans or even Piccolo. Hell, I can't even become stronger than Krillin or Tien. While we were training for the androids, I reached a point where I pretty much stopped getting stronger, no matter how hard I tried to push myself. I can still learn new techniques, maybe even figure out how to get a little more mileage out of the old ones, but I'll never gain enough additional speed or strength for it to really matter."

"I can't even help my friends any more. When Gohan was trying to finally defeat Cell, not even Tien, Krillin, Piccolo, and I blasting the hell out of Cell all at the same time could even make his concentration so much as falter. It took Vegeta attacking him to finally distract him enough for Gohan to finish him off. I don't know if anything will attack the Earth now that Goku's gone or not, but if something does show up, if it's weak enough for me to do any damage to it it'll be weak enough for Gohan or Vegeta to destroy it out of hand. I've trained for almost all of my life, and it doesn't make a bit of difference any more." He slammed a fist down on the table to emphasize his frustration, making the glasses jump and sending cracks across the surface of the table.

"So it's not enough for ya to be the third strongest human who's ever lived, and about the eighth strongest being on the planet." Yamcha just glared at Launch, not that it seemed to bother her. "All I'm sayin' is there's other folks to compare yourself to. And is bein' the best what ya really want, with martial arts just bein' what ya thought ya could beat everybody at? Or do you enjoy the fighting itself?" He opened his mouth to try to answer, but she raised a hand to forestall his comment. "Just somethin' for ya to think about."

Yamcha closed his mouth with a sharp nod. He downed the last of his drink and ordered another one. A large, muscular man who'd obviously had a bit much to drink pushed past their table, bumping into Launch and making her spill some of her beer in the process. She glared at the man and yelled, "Hey, watch what you're doing, asshole! You made me spill my drink!"

The man turned around and sneered at her. "And what's a pretty little thing like you gonna do about it, huh?" He looked her up and down, his sneer transforming into a lecherous grin. "Why don't you ditch that guy and come have some fun with me?"

"Yeah, right," Launch shot back at him. "The only fun I plan on havin' is the fun of rearranging your face." Yamcha facepalmed and wondered if it was possible to be somewhere with Launch and not have her start trouble?

The muscular man's only response was to throw back his head and laugh... Until Launch planted a fist firmly into his face, rocking him back slightly. He rubbed the forming bruise. "Bitch! I'm gonna make you pay for that!"

"I'd like to see ya try it," she sneered back, on her feet and ready for any move he'd make. The bar had gotten a lot quieter, as most of the patrons around them had stopped talking to watching the brewing fight.

Someone at a nearby table, probably one of the muscular man's friends, shouted, "You get that slut!" The muscular man balled one of his large hands into a fist and swung at her. His drunken punch was dodge fairly easily by Launch, who grabbed his wrist and used his own momentum against him, throwing him into a table that a few other bruisers were sitting at, including the guy who'd shouted the encouragement earlier. The table broke under his weight and they both crashed to the ground. His friends helped him up and they started advancing on Launch, anger evident in their expressions.

Launch looked back over her shoulder at Yamcha, who was just watching from his seat at the table. "Hey, are ya gonna help me out here or what?" He sighed but got up and moved around the table to stand next to her. At least she hadn't pulled a gun on the lot of them. Thank Kami (or should that be Dende now?, he wondered) for small favors.

"Why don't you guys calm down and find another table to sit at before you get hurt? I'll even buy you a couple rounds," he calmly suggested after shrugging off the jacket he'd been wearing and setting it on his chair.

The five bruisers considered this for a second. Yamcha looked like he could handle himself in a fight, but they figured the five of them versus one guy and one woman was good odds. The one Launch originally got into an argument with sneered, "No one messes with members of the Orange Orca Gang and gets away with it."

Yamcha just shrugged with calm confidence. "Your choice."

Launch leaned over and whispered, "Leave the guy who started this to me." Yamcha gave a slight nod and proceeded to make his move. In a lightning-fast blur of motion, he punched one guy in the nose, grabbed the head of one of the remaining guys in each hand and knocked them together, then elbowed the fourth guy in the stomach. They all hit the ground, three of them unconscious and one gasping for air, leaving their apparent leader standing there, stunned by how quickly it happened.

Yamcha smirked a little as Launch stepped up to take the last man out. It had been too easy, really, but it still felt nice to be reminded that he could kick most guys asses without breaking a sweat. He watched Launch fight, wincing a little when she kneed the guy in the groin, making him fold up and squeal like a little girl. One last blow to the back of the head sent him to join his friends in the land of blissful unconsciousness, and Launch began dusting her hands off, muttering "scum" under her breath. She was really a pretty good fighter for someone that (to his knowledge) had never had any serious martial arts training. Of course, given her temper she'd probably seen plenty of bar fights and street brawls in her time.

He idly ran a hand across the top of his head as he surveyed the wrecked table and glasses that has resulted from the fight with a sigh. He made a mental note to get a haircut soon, it was getting a bit too long. The damage didn't look too severe, which was good. He liked coming to this place enough that he didn't want the manager to decide to ban him.

Turning to face Launch, he asked her, "Did you have to throw that guy into that table?" He had a slight tinge of exasperation to his voice.

She shrugged. "He pissed me off. 'Sides, ya can't honestly tell me ya didn't enjoy that some, can ya?"

Yamcha shrugged and was saved from answering further by the manager finally arriving to see what was going on, bouncer in tow. The manager's glare took in the pair standing there and the five men on the floor equally. Yamcha retrieved his jacket from his chair, and Launch picked up her bag. "We were just about to leave," he said in a somewhat placating tone of voice.

The manager scowled and said, "Who's going to pay for the damages, hunh?"

Launch pulled a pen and a piece of paper out of her bag, quickly wrote something down on it, and shoved it at the manager. "Here, you can send the bill to this address." After being sure he had taken, she turned and quickly started making her way out of the bar. Yamcha quickly followed her, and soon they were both standing just outside the bar.

"Hey," Launch spoke up, "is there anything you're plannin' on doing Saturday?"

"Not really. Why?" Yamcha replied.

"'Cause somebody needs to drag ya out and make ya have some fun, and it might as well be me. When was the last time you really had fun and enjoyed yourself?" Yamcha frowned, trying to remember when the last time actually was. He'd been too down lately to do anything fun, and before the Cell Games the prospect of the androids coming had cast a pall over everything. Maybe between being resurrected and the Trunks from the future showing up? Launch shook her head at him. "See what I mean? It's been too long, and I'm gonna make ya have fun if I haveta hold a gun to your head to do it."

Yamcha just chuckled at her idle threat. "If you insist. It's not like I really have anything better to do at the moment." He wrote down his current address on a piece of paper and handed it to her. "Just try not to show up before ten or so."

She nodded firmly. "Good, I'll see you Saturday then." She pulled a capsule out of her bag, pressed the button and tossed it into the street in front of them. It expanded into an airbike that looked like it had been well-used. She hopped on it, then turned to look back at him. "Y'know, there's plenty of things in the world worth doin'. Ya just gotta decide what ya wanna do that ya think ya can, and go for it." She then revved the engine and sped off into the night. Yamcha watched her leave for a moment before turning away to head back home to his apartment.