By Ryomi Hayashi
CHAPTER ONE: MUSIC WILL SAVE US
Kai finished her composition with one last heart filled stroke of her pen and slammed her book shut without allowing the fresh ink to dry. Strange were these feelings and thoughts that coursed through her like the once busy streets of Ruera. She felt as though she was the mysterious killer and that all those innocent lives were taken by her own hand. But then she recalled that horrifying moment when she stepped on Ruera and that feeling shot through her. Kai was no killer, nor was she a true warrior. A warrior could never feel her loneliness.
Yes, that was it. Standing on those glittering, beautiful pavement stones of that city devoid of life she had never felt so alone. Kai clenched her battle-torn fists at this feeling, this was her life and she was damned if she was going to need something she couldn't have.
Standing up, Kai forced herself to wander a slow migration to the training room. A good spar would cheer her up, even if it was merely a simulation. Thoughts of loneliness and pain would be wiped clean by the thrill of a good battle. Besides, she hadn't trained as much as she had hoped, this would do her some good.
Her exposed feet stung at the coldness of the floor and Kai cringed bitterly, affected by far more than chilled floors. The thoughts and feelings she had complicated clung to her. But that wouldn't be for long.
She paused once she was inside and the doors slid shut behind her. The simulation began and Kai's heart pumped rapidly. She always got nervous before fighting these simulations ever since that one time a quick game had resulted in a broken leg and three broken ribs. What a coward I am, Kai thought to herself.
The faceless simulation opponent materialized and began at once, throwing its attacks viciously and mercilessly. Kai brushed them away effortlessly; she had adjusted it to a novice setting. Kai had her mind elsewhere, it was no point in pouring her heart into strength development. More blows came only to be diverted from their target by its opponent's forearm, the opponent not bothering to counterattack.
Her heart slowed to a calm beat and Kai noticed something other than the blows coming to her. Her opponent. Funny, but she had remembered the opponent as being less masculine and much taller. The computer had probably made the mistake of changing the opponent instead of the strength level when the setting was lowered to novice.
She began to counterattack now, punching in the graceful, martial artist's way, in a dance-like movement. She sped up her "dance", her attacks landing faster but maintaining the rhythm and smoothness of her previous blows. Kai began to grow absorbed in this, moving without and hesitation and loosing all fear that had festered within. The moves began to grow even faster, until she was a blur to her own eye. She caught the blows coming towards her and diverted them swiftly and perfectly, amazing herself. Was fear this destructive?
As she moved faster, she caught something forming on her opponent. Muscles. Impossible, she reminded herself, the simulation has a shape but no features like muscle tone. Why would the computer trick her like that?
She didn't know why or how this had happened, but things continued to speed up. Faster the blows came and faster they went. Moments ago, Kai had been hitting with deadly accuracy, but now she missed most blows. Could she have reached her limit, or could the opponent be getting faster?
The opponent can't get stronger or stronger unless I tell it to, Kai reminded herself. But she had fought battles at much higher skill levels than novice and had landed more blows than this. Could it be?
She dismissed this thought and others like it and continued with her training. If her simulation opponent was changing without her say, it was the machines fault. Simply that.
Kai continued throwing her blows, missing only a few beats of the rhythm she had created. Her confined hair slowly began to release itself, proving itself to be unruly to the end. Her red eyes darted frantically to where the blows where being thrown, her forearm was quick to respond.
Now, as she fought with that intensity she had fought with so many times before, she caught something else: armored clothes. Now this was ridiculous, her simulation opponent wasn't supposed to be dressed in battle gear, what was wrong with this machine?
She stopped and ordered the machine to do so as well. A well-timed blow from her opponent landed in her stomach and fear gripped her. It wasn't going to stop. She tried again, this time yelling it. That only earned her more blows. Now she was really afraid.
"Why won't you stop?!" she yelled, this time ducking as well as blocking. She had programmed it to not kick when at a novice setting, but it was kicking more than it was using its arms.
Eyes formed. Menacing eyes with black pupils filled with a passionate hatred for her. Simulations don't hate, what's going on? She asked herself. A nose and mouth, both small and scrunched up into a warrior's frown, materialized in an instant. A mass of spiky black hair appeared on his head as well.
Kai had hardly the will to fight after a display like that; her strength was stolen by amazement. Blow after blow hit her until she was down on the ground, staring up at the figure in amazement. Looking down at her, the lifelike simulation's feature's relaxed into a different expression. Kai gasped. He felt pity for her.
Kai sat there, the bruises on her body stinging with sharp pain, her heart pumping madly, her black hair undone and glued to the glistening sweat on her body. The creature had stopped; maybe it would give her time to rest. And with that passing thought, it vanished.
She couldn't believe it. It was gone. The events reviewed in her head over and over but came no closer to making sense. What had happened? Why had it happened? Why had it gone at that moment? Had it happened at all?
She had no choice but to pick herself up and tend to her wounds. She would leave and collapse on the couch or the bed, trying to make sense of the past and then quickly forget about it. Kai would move on as though it had never happened.
And most of all, she wouldn't dare check the machine for glitches. After all, that machine wasn't capable of such a thing. The glitch was undoubtedly her own.
Mayumi's fingers ran through her turquoise hair and she released an impatient sigh. "That's all you have to tell me?"
"Sorry," Krillin said, "that's all I know. But these people mean so much to us. If you could please-"
"How much will you pay me?" Mayumi said, interrupting Krillin.
He sweatdropped. "Is 5,000,000 yen ok?"
"ARE YOU SERIOUS? You'll give me that much money?" Krillin nodded.
"When Bulma died, her family left us in charge of her fortune."
Mayumi took out her calculator. "Now how much is 5 million yen in pesos…" her voice trailed off as she was absorbed in her calculations.
"So will you help us?" Krillin asked with great hope.
"Of course little guy!" she said, rubbing his bald head, "I'll help you find your friends. Er… provided that you pay in full."
"You will?" He and his words were overjoyed. She nodded and grabbed his arm.
"I know the perfect helper for this task, I believe she's landed on Earth by now. You can fly, can't you?"
"Wait, you know someone who can help us?"
"Oh yeah, she's a great friend of mine, she'll definitely help us."
"That's great! I'll get Gohan," Krillin said, all smiles.
"Gohan? Get the whole gang! Er, I mean what's left of them."
"All of them? Are you sure?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"Well Goku's still pretty sad…"
"Then forget him and get the rest!"
"But-"
"Don't worry about it!" she winked at him, causing him to blush. She was about to take off when she stopped herself.
"Just to review, you say your friends just disappeared one night and you'd spent the course of the year looking for them but have found no clues except leading to me?"
"That's right. We didn't even have a clue what they were doing the night of their disappearance, we still don't. But word around town said you knew what was going on, so I came to talk to you."
"Look, I don't know much, only that it's happened before. I'm just a traveling fighter-for-hire, it's not like I'm omniscient ruler of all. Anyway, some town lost its entire population and no one has a clue where they are. Since I know someone who can tell us about that incident, I have a funny feeling they are related. Besides, she's on Earth, that's gotta mean somethin'."
"Huh?" Krillin asked.
"Come on, Krill, figure it out. All these people disappeared in this city and this girl knows a little about it, and then the same thing happens on Earth and she jets over here. She has clues or knows someone who does, I'm sure of it."
"Well," Krillin said, "we found someone who told us about you, you told us about her, she might tell us about someone else, and this thing might just go on and on! We might just end up with no clues and 5 million yen poorer."
Mayumi sighed, running her hand through her hair once more. "I'll find them, I know they're alive. You can count on me." She paused then added, "but wherever they are, they probably don't want to wait. Why don't we get started?"
"Sounds good," Krillin responded with a nod and the two took off, Krillin guiding her to where the surviving dragonball warriors would be.
Vegita and Kai stood silently, exchanging glares on the earthy hilltop overlooking a human city. She recalled the moment when she had first seen him, the shock she had felt. He looked just like the simulator that took shape. Could this be a sign?
She had dismissed the thought. He was powerful, maybe that had something to do with it. But now was not the time for guessing games, it was time to discover the cause of the disappearance.
"I'm going to just ask you this, Prince."
"What?" he snapped.
"Have you heard of a little town named Ruera?"
Vegita cursed his ignorance silently. "Never," he stated as if it was unimportant.
"Yes, well, it's part of this very big mystery called the Rueran Mystery."
"Obviously."
"Do you know what it's about?"
"Tell me."
She winced at his bitterness. "In one year, a city's people vanished without a trace."
"Was this gradual?"
"Yes."
"Fools! They should've left the city!"
"Most did, but this is a desert planet we're talking about. It's not like everyone had somewhere to go."
"So there's a city right in the middle of a desert?"
"Yes, next to an oasis of course."
He grunted. "How does this concern me?"
"I hear you lost some family members in a similar way."
"Yes, my wife and son," he said all too quickly, "who told you this?"
"Doesn't this incident move you to look for who did it?"
"It was you, wasn't it?"
"Ha! Sadly, I don't have a clue who did it."
"Of course. What would a weakling like you know about sheer power?"
"Weakling? I'm stronger than you!"
He laughed. "I can barely detect your existence your ki is so low."
"That's not the point," she started, then stopped herself when realizing what he said. "My ki is low for a reason, and it is very impressive." He reacted with another cynical laugh and she let her ki shoot upwards until it excelled his.
"What?! You deceive me!" he said, in pure shock.
She rolled her eyes. "I'm a warrior."
"A female warrior?"
"Yes."
"A female is stronger than me? Impossible! Prove yourself!"
"Gladly." Her fist landed in his tense, abdominal muscles and he keeled over in pain.
"This can't be happening," he choked.
"Get over it. You can train and in no time you'll be stronger. Now, about that mystery-"
"Can you female warriors fly?" he interrupted.
"What are you scheming now, prince?" He answered with an action, planting his hands on her waste and bolting upwards. She gasped and closed her eyes tightly as the elevation escalated.
"What are you doing?"
He laughed menacingly as she latched onto his arms. "Scared, warrior?"
Kai cracked her eyes open and forced them on Vegita's face. Just pretend your just a couple feet off the ground, she thought to herself, unable to regain her composure.
"Never," she choked; fear radiating from her eyes, "I'm just surprised."
"Then shall we go for a joy ride?"
"I came here to discuss the Rueran mystery, you know more than you're telling me!"
The two immediately plummeted to the ground, Kai reaching new levels of relief as her feet reached terra firma. "I'll tell you one thing," he said, finally willing to comply, "if you want to find who did it, you're best off looking for someone less powerful than you expect. There's not a chance a supreme creature would want my wife. She's weak and good for nothing that would interest it, so you're better off looking for a coward like yourself."
"Thank you," she said, still not able to think clearly, and walked off.
"Going so soon?" he asked, as if he didn't care.
"Yes. I've heard what you know." Her rate increased to a jog. "And that's what I came for." She had to get away from him, anyone who would threaten her life in the way she most feared was not good company.
Vegita was silent as he made his decision. Though he tried not to care, her leaving meant one thing.
He would have to follow her.
NEXT CHAPTER: UNDENIABLE TRACES
Vegita discovers that there's more to Kai than just a stubborn mind and a fear of heights, he discovers the woman in her. Could this mean love? Watch for humor and romance in the next chapter!