Thoughts
Time Break/Scene Change
To Space and Beyond
"We are NOT leaving until we get the mass-order of Coffee!"
Bulma could be seen standing in the field before the Masaki home, her hands placed on her hips as she glared up at Watzu in front of her. The space pirate, however, looked down at the blue-haired woman with a less then amused look on her face. Bulma, clad in a rather outdated outfit that could only closely be compared to that of an astronaut, glared up at the tall, menacing woman. Even though the genius knew that Watzu could kick her ass five times past Tuesday, she often showed little to no fear when confronting her.
It had been a little over a month since the Saiya-jins had wreaked havoc on the Earth, killing two of the Earth's warriors in the mighty battle. Without any hope of reviving them, or the other poor souls lost during the fray, the remaining Dragon-Senshi began to seek out the one place that might possibly hold answers to their questions…and a way to revive those who had died. Their only hope was a small, back-water planet on the other side of the galaxy by the name of Namek.
With the help of Washuu, they were able to locate this little planet, and learn a bit about it. It was a small little planet that resided under a dwarf sun, and was commonly a warm-weathered planet. However, due to a natural disaster some hundred years ago, most of the Namekian population had been reduced to only a small handful of indigenous people. The Namekian populace were generally very calm and friendly people, farmers of some sort, and were pretty placid. In comparison, Washuu informed the group that they were more like Kami-sama then Piccolo in personality. Though, it did raise a few eyebrows as to how the pink-haired genius knew about Kami-sama, considering she had never meet him before; still, no one bothered to ask questions. At times, some things are better left unsaid. At least, that's what Watzu said when questioned about that predicament.
The planet was pretty far away, and it would take most ships several months to reach that distance, even with hyper jumps. Luckily for them, Sonja-Ohki was built for speed. What would take even a powerful Jurain Ship months to achieve would only take about five or so days for the little cabbit to do. Pretty much a walk in the park, at least, as far as Watzu was concerned.
Thankfully, the planet rested on neutral grounds. It was held by neither the Empire of Jurai nor the Illegal Planet Trade, so they were unlikely to run into either faction while there. This was mentioned also by Watzu, who seemed to have a slight uneasiness about encountering the I.P.T. In fact, she had plotted a course that went through Jurain-held Territory, or through neutral zones. This in and of itself rose eyebrows, considering Watzu held a new, super-powerful form that could easily be rid of Bejita incase they ran across him; her face only darkened when inquired about this reaction, and it could barely be heard that she muttered "There's something far more dangerous then him" in a deep, dark tone. The eerie form of what could be considered fore-shadowing sent chills down the Dragon-Senshi's spines, but they ignored it. After all, they wouldn't run into any trouble with that route, right?
Back to the scene at hand. With an aggravated sigh, Watzu casually folded her arms over her chest - or rather, the lacking-there-of - and glared down at Bulma with the same intensity the shorter-woman glared up at her.
"First off…" Watzu muttered as she pushed her bangs out of her face and behind her ears, then promptly put her hands on her hips, "I don't even have damn a coffee machine on board! What's the use of having coffee beans when you can't make any?" To this, Bulma puffed her cheeks out and pursed her lips together in what could only be described as a weird combination of pouting and being constipated. Watzu had to literally bite down on her lower lip to keep herself from bursting out laughing at this strange face. Like that was going to stop her!
A chuckle slipped from her lips as she opened her mouth again and pointed towards the ready-and-waiting Sonja-Ohki, who hovered over the lake behind them. "Secondly, this is my fucking ship, and since I'm the captain, I say when we leave! Now, you better suck it up and live without coffee for a while and come with, or I'm just going to leave you behind!"
Watzu took a moment to look over her shoulder towards those who were already prepared for their trip. Gokou, of course, wore his usual orange gi, complete with the symbol of Roshi's kanji emblazed on the front, and the recent addition of his 'new' master's name, which was Kaio, located on his back. Gokou had packed light and currently stood with his arms folded behind his head, and seemed to be distracted by a butterfly that fluttered past.
Kuririn gazed on to the scene before him with a dull expression, since he was pretty much used to this kind of thing by now. For once, he was clad in more casual clothing, which consisted of a lovely parker jacket in orange with green sleeves, a white Capsule Corp. t-shirt and a pair of cargos that hung loosely on him, and to finish off the outfit, a baseball cap rested over his shaved head. He looked particularly bored at the moment, as he looked forward to actually setting off into the great unknown.
The final member of the soon-to-be quintet - or quartet, if Watzu lost her patients - stood Gohan. Much to the discontent of his mother, Gohan had changed into a gi that he had made himself, which was modeled after Piccolo's outfit, but in a deep blue instead of violet. He had also remained firm - which was odd, considering no one ever stood up to Chichi - on his choice to come with the group to Namek. Besides, it wasn't like there would be any danger once they got there, right? Still, Chichi was not pleased with the fact that Gohan was more then eager to follow in his father's path of fighting, especially with someone such as Piccolo as his mentor! Not the kind of person to set an example for her little baby! Also to the discontent of his mother, Gohan had styled his hair in the way he chose, with long bangs that fell into his right eye and completely obscured it from view, with shorter bangs on his left side. His hair, although noticeably shorter then it was before, was tied back in a short pony-tail at the nape of his neck with white tape. The tail was too short to fall down, and stuck out a little. He, at the moment, looked on with a curious glance at Watzu and Bulma, not really sure what exactly had transpired, but knew something bothered them both about each other.
With an affirmative nod of her head, Watzu gestured towards the trio behind herself and Bulma with as much flare as she could possibly throw into it. The gesture, which was meant to show that yes, they were waiting for Bulma and yes, Watzu would leave without her, caused Bulma to look back at the three men with that same weird combination of poutiness with the strong desire to go to the bathroom.
Kuririn and Gokou, unlike Watzu, could not contain their laughter at this bizarre face, the two of them holding their sides as they burst out in a roar of hysteria, laughing so hard at the distraught scientist that their eyes began to tear up. Gohan, however, remained oblivious to the joke, and just stood there blinking his eyes, wondering what was so funny. Of course, this reaction only got Bulma's face more puffy and anger was thrown into the combination of weird faces, making her appear as if she was some constipated blowfish who really, really needed to go. Only then did Gohan get it as he began to laugh out loud at that most amusing face.
Watzu remained less then amused as she folded her arms again. At least, she felt that way until Bulma looked back at her. She, too, was unable to control herself and began to shake with laughter. Ahh! That was just what they needed to break the tension! Even though the adventure was more light-hearted then the whole Saiya-jin ordeal, the group hadn't had a long, hard laugh like that in quite some time.
"And what the hell is so funny?!" Bulma shouted at the quartet of her so-called friends, who were practically rolling on the ground in hysteria. Watzu, who managed to fight back the insane amount of uncharacteristic giggles from her throat, whipped a tear from her eye as she looked at the blue-haired woman.
"Y-you're face!" She snorted loudly and continued to laugh, Bulma then dropped that weird, crazed look she had and replaced it with a generally angry one. Without hesitation, Bulma marched right up to Watzu and looked her square in the eye, but had to nearly bend over backwards in order to look up to the monstrous height that Watzu stood at. The tall Saiya-jin abruptly stopped her laughing and blinked down at the crazed-looking woman.
"First off!" Bulma hissed in a cat-like manor, "I do happen to have a capsule for a coffee-pot, thank-you-very-much-miss-ruin-my-FUN! Secondly!" She took another step towards Watzu, which only caused the brutish woman to take a step back, "You think I'm psycho now? Just wait until you see me after I haven't had any coffee for Kami-sama-knows-how-long! You'll just be dying to see me ready to ram my foot up your butt every-freaking-day, right?!"
Watzu backed down and held her hands up in a defensive position. Bulma smirked and tossed her hair over her shoulders and folded her arms. That got them to stop laughing at her! Even Watzu, who was the generic ass-kicker, seemed to back down at that threat. With a chuckle, Bulma looked up to Watzu with a cocky grin on her face.
"I thought not." She said in a cool voice and walked towards the entrance gate of the Masaki home, ready to pick up the shipment of coffee.
"I thought Bejita was scary…" Gohan gulped as he watched Bulma exit the area, "…But she's a whole different kind of scary!"
"Tell me about it…" Kuririn sighed with exasperation, "Then again, she's better then some other psycho women I know, not mentioning any names. At least she has moments of being tolerable."
"Usually," Watzu commented dryly as she began to haul luggage to and from the ground and Sonja-Ohki, getting ready for whenever Bulma got her damn coffee and then they could get on with this lovely road-trip. The good news was that, if their hunches were correct, they would find more Dragonballs there, and they would be able to revive Piccolo at the very least, and then use the Earth Dragonballs to revive Yamcha. The bad news was that they were going to be stuck with Bulma for all of that time. Ah well, beggars can't be choosers, could they?
"Hey guys!" Bulma's chipper voice called from the entrance way, "The coffee's here! Let's get going!"
After they said their farewells and got the usual lecture from Chichi, which was mostly about making sure that Gohan studied while on the trip and to make sure he didn't get involved in any fights, the group set out to their stars in their little field trip across the Galaxy. With the course plotted, the luggage shoved into a small corner of the ship, and the coffee in tow, they all prepared for a bit of cabin fever by the time they arrived at their destination.
Thankfully, Sonja-Ohki had enough room to spare for people to wander about in, and a nice little sub-space doorway led to a kitchen and a bathroom. Because Watzu had always traveled alone, she simply slept in the heart of the ship, so it left little privacy when it came to bed-time for the group. Bulma had come prepared, though - she had packed ear-plugs since she knew Gokou snored rather obnoxiously when he slept, and she wouldn't be too surprised if Watzu snored too. And hey, the girls could change in the bathroom if need-be and the boys…well, they were boys. They probably didn't care if they would prance about nude in the ship, and most likely would if she and Watzu weren't there. Ahh, the joy of having another female on the trip…though there were always times when Bulma doubted if the brutish woman had even one drop of estrogen in her entire body.
The entire thought caused Bulma to shudder inwardly as a rather unpleasant picture popped into her mind. No, that couldn't be…but it did pose an interesting question. Was Watzu really a woman? Maybe she was actually a guy who's pecks were just a little bigger then usual with a slightly - and she meant slightly in every form of the word - effeminate voice. Or maybe, even worse! Maybe Watzu was a hermaphrodite! An unpleasant feeling formed in Bulma's gut as she tried to push the ever-so-charming image of Watzu with both a penis and a vagina out of her mind. Her expression drastically changed from pleasant to oh-dear-god-what-IS-that-thing in a matter of seconds - but it wasn't like anyone was paying attention to her!
Gokou, Gohan and Kuririn were all pretty much enthralled in a deck of cards Kuririn had decided to bring, the trio playing a game of 'Old Maid' together. Gokou, with his dumb luck, always pulled the maid and would laugh each time he got it. Eh, that reason was probably why the card kept going back to him. Watzu sat at the helm of the ship and watched a news-cast on the Galaxy Channel.
Bulma's eyes drifted to the blob of pink hair in front of her, the image popped back into her mind as she urked. Kami-sama, just Kami-sama! Why did she even have to think it?! And now she had to know. Know if Watzu was really a girl or not under all of that steroid-induced muscles! Behind that abnormally deep voice! Behind those extremely small breasts!
A plan formed. She would find a way to 'accidentally' fall and see if anything was down below the belt, or simply just a female part. It was the only way to get this sick, disgusting, unclean image out of her mind! With a deep gulp, Bulma rose to her feet and walked over to Watzu. She plotted her course and saw when she would slip on the floor and just 'happen' to feel up Watzu's nether regions. This would prove it once and for all! Bulma, without even realizing it, put her hands on her hips and began to cackle in a manor that any mad-scientist would be proud of. The perfect plan! …If it wasn't for the fact that she had just now received the attention of her four companions, who all looked at her quizingly.
"Just ignore her," Kuririn muttered to Gohan as he drew a card from the younger boy's hands.
"I figured as much…" Gohan sighed, "Does she do this a lot?"
"Unfortunately, yes." The monk gave an exasperated sigh as he placed a pair of cards down on the floor. "Oh, Uno!"
"…Wrong game, Kuririn," Gohan corrected. Kuririn blinked and flushed as he laughed with embarrassment and scratched behind his head.
Watzu, meanwhile, only glanced up to Bulma with an arched eyebrow. That woman was frightening at times, and didn't make sense the rest of the time, so she figured she let it slide. If, ya'know, it wasn't for the fact that she had those pesky psychic abilities and she just happened to 'accidentally' look into the deranged genius' mind and picked up on her plan. The quirked eyebrow lowered down as she gave a slight snort.
"Not going to work, Bulma," She commented dryly as she returned to her program, "First off, I'd sense that coming a mile away and probably punch you into the wall as a reflex. Secondly, if you seriously are that desperate to get some action, all you gotta do is ask." To this little pun, Watzu snickered to herself in what she thought was cleaver; but mostly because she just knew it was going to piss Bulma off.
No sooner had three seconds past then the explosion of the century ™ occurred. Bulma slammed her foot onto the ground and planted her hands on her hips and opened her mouth.
"What the hell makes you think you can read my mind like a book, Watzu?!" The woman screamed as loud as she possibly could, which blasted out like a loud stereo speaker towards Watzu and gave her a wind-blown look. Yep, she was dead on - Bulma was madder then sin, and thanks to that lovely little guess, Watzu had prepared her fingers in her ears to block out the shrill sound of Bulma's screams. The other three boys, however, were not so fortunate - they sat there in complete shock and their mumbles of things like 'my ears!' and 'why, Kami-sama, why?!' could be heard from the other side of Sonja.
"My mind is something that's privet! Something that shouldn't be touched!" Bulma continued, "Did I give you permission to read it?! HUH?! NO! I didn't think so, Miss Wise Guy! Next time don't look into someplace you don't belong!" At this point, her voice became so high and squeaky and she spoke so fast that it was impossible to understand what she was saying. Unless, of course, you somehow understood the 'hysterical drama queen' language. After probably about five minutes of this raging voice, Bulma managed to make her point across - which wasn't much of a point considering no one understood what the hell she was saying - and she finished with a "So there!" With her crossing her arms over her chest and upturning her nose to the top of the ship. Watzu unplugged her ears and smirked up at the frantic woman.
"Well, my privet area is a place you don't belong without permission, and you were just about to dive into it, weren't you?" Bulma's jaw dropped to the ground, "Quite the hypocrite, aren't we?" Watzu snickered at Bulma's priceless face. Some people - who would remain nameless - wouldn't care about being hypocritical, but Bulma didn't even realize she was digging her own grave with that rage of squeaky-screaming. Watzu only chuckled and folded her arms over her chest and kicked her feet up on a lovely foot-rest that materialized out of thin air. "Of course," Watzu began as she casually looked up to Bulma, "I do swing that way, Bulma-dearest. All you needed to do is ask and you'd be begging for more." She arched her eyebrows with half-closed eyes and said it in the sultriest voice she could possibly muster, which was oddly pretty good for her being the bulky brute she was.
Bulma visibly shuddered at the implications dripping within that phrase. That phrase, the way she presented it, it was just too much for her brain to muster, complete with that disgusting imagery from before! She threw her hands up into the air and screamed "Unclean!" At the top of her lungs and rushed towards the back of the ship and into the door to the bathroom to take a nice, long, cold shower and be rid of that little ordeal.
"What was that about?" Gohan inquired, as he and the others had recovered from the screaming fit earlier.
"Nothing, just ignore it," Kuririn responded with another sigh.
Watzu, meanwhile, snickered with her little victory.
The Namekian's. Peaceful, green people who, despite their natural ability to use and control chi, remained calm within their little haven in a distant sector of the Galaxy. They, the only sentient beings on the planet, remained at peace with each other, especially since there were so few of them. They were farmers, a people who grew the strange, loli-pop like trees that grew sparsely along the teal-colored world. However, it did not appear as if they actually ate the things.
A small village of these peaceful people rested in an alcove of cliff-faces, near the edge of the green, crystal-clear water that pretty much covered the entire planet, save for small islands throughout the vast sea. The green-colored people went about their usual routine, which included the usual filtering the salt from the water, training, and of course, farming. Although all seemed quite well within the little village and with the people who lived there, there was one little boy who was most not.
Inside one of the strangely-shaped white houses rested a little Namekian. Well, he certainly did not rest well, in consideration to the fact that he tossed and turned in his bed. His brow was furrowed into a worried expression as images flashed in his mind. Terrible images; nightmares. These dreams had plagued him for a little over a month. Of great fire and destruction, which ate through some world that he had never seen nor heard of before. It was unfamiliar, and yet, at the same time, it seemed like it was someplace he knew.
The fire spread. It tore into the heart of a very powerful being - someone who seamed strange and yet familiar, like the world - and devoured him completely. A terrible, evil laugh echoed across space as the flame began to consume the entire Galaxy, and even a faint source of light, which came from the planet, was quickly diminished by the flame.
The flame suddenly turned black as it reached their home world. The fire became concentrated on their little home…what was it that the voice wanted? What was it that the flame wanted?! Suddenly, it became all too clear to the dreaming Namekian boy as seven points of golden light formed within the darkness. He tried to scream, he tried to escape! He wanted to run, to be rid of this nightmare, but it simply wouldn't end.
The laughter continued as a large, dark hand encircled around the planet. The seven points of light began to be consumed by the dark flame and the source of the evil laugh and the hand. Something terrible was about to happen, the boy knew it! But no one would believe him! Just when the dream would end, just when everything would be consumed by darkness, something happened that never did before…
The seven points of light suddenly bound together. A fearsome Dragon suddenly burst forth in a stream of golden light that pierced through the darkness.
Silence followed.
Then, as the darkness bleed away into light, a simple phrase played clearly in the boy's mind.
"Or else it will repeat again…ne, Dende-chan?"
The light faded away as his eyes snapped open and focused upon the ceiling, as a brief image of a strange woman flickered in his mind.
Three days into their lovely field-trip to Namek, cabin fever had become apparent within Bulma. Although the martial-artists present didn't seem to mind the solitude, the scientist couldn't stand not having anything to do besides sit around and watch some TV from the lovely Galaxy Channels that Watzu received in the ship. She needed to tinker with something! She needed to make something! She…she needed to do anything but sit around on her behind all day!
With a sigh, Bulma glanced about the cabin from her seat, where she had found a disused rubix cube in Watzu's kitchen - on top of the fridge, actually, covered in dust - and had fidgeted with it with the lack of anything to do with her hands. Her eyes fell to Gohan and Kuririn. The monk had taught the young warrior how to do mental training, which consisted of training the mind and the soul instead of the body. According to Kuririn, it was an excellent way to raise battle smarts, tactics, and also one's chi level and concentration. And, in a small way, increase one's strength and stamina, and the ability to keep calm under pressure. Bulma trusted that if she could sense chi, she could feel their aura's fluctuating. Their faces had formed into serious expressions, which signified their concentration. To say the least, the two had been occupied with such things for most of the time.
Her blue eyes then fell to Gokou and Watzu. The two sat side-by-side and watched what looked like an old kung-fu movie on the channel she got. They busily compared it to real life scenarios when it came to battle, and also gave laughs and snorts whenever something unrealistic occurred. Bulma couldn't help but to feel miffed - the two always had a close bond back in the days, and it seemed like they still had that. She couldn't really regain that closeness she had with Gokou all of those years ago, mostly because she had matured - at least, so she thought - and he…well, hadn't. With a disgruntled sigh, Bulma turned her attention back to her cube and continued to twist and rotate the pieces around.
The peace was broken when a shrill binging noise echoed across the small room, which, as far as Bulma was concerned, would prove to be something at least somewhat interesting to focus on besides the freaking rubix cube.
With a loud groan, Watzu hit the mute on the movie and pulled up Sonja's controls and whipped up a view-screen that showed a ship not-too far off from them.
"Great. Looks like our route won't be completely uninterrupted…" She sighed as she squinted and examined the ship, which had halted not too far away from their present position. With a sigh of relief - though it still held some frustration in it - Watzu ran her fingers through her bangs. "Well, it's not a Jurain or Galaxy Police ship, so we should be okay…"
"What kind of a ship is it?" Gokou inquired as he peered at the screen. Watzu looked at it again.
"Well, it looks like the basic design of the ship is of Jurain make, but it's not Jurain." She informed, and sighed again when the ship didn't seem to make any hostile moves…yet.
"How can you tell?" Gokou tilted his head as he spoke.
"Well, all Jurain ships are made of wood," She pointed to the screen and zoomed in on the screen, "This one is made of a different type of material. Besides, it doesn't hold the core that Jurain ships have. Though, I don't know who --"
"Meya!" Sonja chirped up as a Control Crystal popped into being and bopped against Watzu.
"Eh? They're hailing us?" The crystal nodded, and with a sigh, Watzu waved her hand, "Alright, let them through."
Another bing rang out as a third screen popped up, with a very familiar face on the screen. Upon looking on it, Watzu's face nearly dropped off as she gaped at the figure on the screen with a strange expression on her face, one of her extreme shock, and also of confusion.
"Wha...Ryoko?!"
"Mama?"
With a swoop of excitement that finally headed their way, the quintet had warped upon the strange ship in which the Ryoko-clone controlled. It became aware that the girl's name was Minagi, and she considered herself Ryoko's younger sister. To say the least, she looked a lot like her big sis, complete with the same facial structure, the same cat-like golden eyes, and the same elongated, square-shaped ears - and even the same hair-color! The major difference within her appearances, lied within her hairstyle. Although her bangs were of the same length, they were parted down her right side and were much fuller, and even had the fringe that hung over her ears and her shoulders. Her hair, which was one length, was tied up in a high and long pony-tail that fell to her waist, cut straight across along the bottom, though still held the spiky flare that Ryoko's hair had. To finish the major differences included a pair of scars on each cheek, which looked like the result of fencing.
"I really can't believe Mama has a big sister!" Minagi stared up in awe at Watzu's height as she blinked her eyes, "She never told me about that before!"
"Well, if it's any consolidation, she never told me she had another daughter." Watzu grinned broadly down at the Ryoko-clone and smacked her hard on the back, though the smaller woman was un-phased by this, "So what do you do? Kick some major ass and take names, while looting like your dear ol' sis?"
"Oh, no! I couldn't do that kind of thing!" Minagi responded with a look on her face that looked absolutely mortified.
"Eh…? Ya mean you don't?" Watzu drooped slightly and could only hope that her new-found niece didn't do the exact opposite…
"Oh, no, I don't!" Minagi's face brightened up, "I'm a good space pirate! I only take down bad people!" There was a noticeable difference in Watzu's posture when Minagi stated that fact. Yep, she was the exact opposite of that!
"N-no kiddin'…"
"So you're a bounty hunter, then?" Bulma asked. Minagi gave an affirmative nod of her head and buried her chin slightly in her deep-red scarf, which was wrapped several times around her neck, chin, and shoulders, with long trails that hung down to the back of her knees.
"Mmhmm," She responded, "Bulma, right?"
"Yep!" Bulma grinned, as she was glad that she had at least a little bit of excitement on this extremely dull trip.
"Although I do bounty-hunting for a living, I'm actually aligned with the Galaxy Police," At this point, Watzu had paled considerably, but Minagi remained oblivious to it, "They know that I'm a good source to take down the bad guys, so I'm kind of on commission from them. They tell me who to hunt, and I bring them in. Though, of course, I still do free-lancing bounty-hunting." Gokou tilted his head as he looked over to Minagi and tapped his chin, then a thought came to him suddenly.
"So you'd be after someone like Watzu, then!" He expressed that thought with an overload of energy, as if he had just figured out an extremely hard riddle. To this, Minagi blinked and looked over to Gokou with a puzzled look on her face.
"Eh…?"
"Shut the fuck up, Gokou!!" Watzu hissed as she smacked him upside the head, to which he belted a loud 'ow!' as he rubbed it and glared slightly at Watzu.
"W-what? I was just sayin'--"
"Don't say anything!!" Her voice was louder then before as she glared darkly down at Gokou. It took him a few seconds to get 'oh, don't tell her about that,' before he got the point and looked down at his feet with guilt in his eyes. Jeez, he hated to do these kinds of things, but he couldn't help himself! He was, after all, still a child at heart.
"Am I missing something here…?" Gohan nudged Kuririn slightly with his elbow as he looked up at the display, and the Monk responded with a shake of his head and a pat on Gohan's head.
"Just ignore it. These kinds of things happened a lot back in the day…" Kuririn said with a sigh. Minagi gave a slow blink of her golden eyes as she looked over to Watzu. It took her a second to realize something, and with a gasp, she raised a hand to her mouth in a polite sign of her surprise.
"Oh!" She exclaimed, "You're the Chinn Watzu, aren't you?!" One could almost see the large 'urk' sound effect over Watzu's head once her niece realized this. Lovely, just lovely…if she was anything like Ryoko in strength, Watzu would have a hard fight on her hand! Instead of her usual prepare-for-a-fight pose, she laughed nervously and scratched the back of her head with a slight unease.
"W-well…" She muttered, though quickly she replaced her nervousness with a cocky smirk, "I guess I did give myself a pretty good name, eh? Glad to know my reputation remains unsoiled!" Bulma eyed Watzu suspiciously. Why did she give herself away like that? Sure, she knew the Saiya-jin had a cocky-assed attitude most of the time, but really! They didn't know how powerful this Minagi was and she was pretty sure no one wanted to fight, especially since that long-winded battle against the Saiya-jins was still fresh within their minds.
"…I see," Minagi said darkly, her gaze lowered to the ground. "I suppose I don't have a choice then…" With the twinge of regret in her voice, and with the phrase she just spoke, Watzu's suspicions about her reaction appeared to be dead on, as usual. Hey, sometimes her psychic powers didn't always kick into high gear! The entire room tensed up noticeably as they awaited Minagi's response to the fact that Watzu was a bounty, and possibly with an insanely high one as well. For what seemed like an eternity, the tension in the air was so thick, one could cut it with a knife. When would she make her move?! Finally, Minagi looked up towards the ceiling of the room they were in. "…I guess we'll just have to avoid everyone, then! I can't let anyone hurt family, and I could never turn in my dear-aunt!" There was a huge sigh of relief from the quintet after that response.
"Thanks, Minagi!" Watzu grinned down to her, "I really appreciate it…"
"Of course!" Minagi stifled a giggle with her hand as she smiled brightly, "So, where are you guys headed? I wanna get to know you! As long as it doesn't involve stealing or killing." Bulma took the indicative to slide up next to Minagi with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Uh-oh…" Kuririn muttered as he took a step backwards, "Here she goes…"
"Eh??" Gohan looked up at Kuririn with a puzzled look, but then figured not to ask any more and followed suit. By now, he had gotten used to the fact that Bulma did strange things a lot, and did even stranger things when around Watzu. Sometimes, it was just better not to ask…
"Ever heard of the Dragonballs?" Bulma asked in a sly tone, as one could practically see the Bishoujo sparkles flare up about her as she spoke.
"Dragonballs? No, I can't say I have…" Minagi appeared to be slightly naive, and didn't pick up on the fact that asking would only result in bad things. An evil glint appeared within Bulma's blue eyes as she opened her mouth for a long-winded explanation. However, she was cut off when Watzu slapped her hands over the shorter-woman's mouth and dragged her back, which resulted in angry muffled sounds from Bulma.
"Basically, they're seven spheres which grant wishes," She muttered as she held Bulma, who struggled within her firm grasp, "Unfortunately, if their creator dies, they're useless. There was this huge battle we were in, and he died, so we can't wish anyone back to life. So, we're going to someplace else that has them, so we can revive him. Then, we'll return home and use ours to bring everyone else back. Pretty easy, and we wont take 'em by force. I'm sure the populace wont mind."
"Ah, I see," Minagi smiled, "That sounds good! Mind if I help out?"
"We could always use the help!" Gokou replied, "The more, the merrier, right?"
"Right!" Both Kuririn and Gohan responded in unison.
"Ow!" Watzu hissed as Bulma clamped down onto her hand with her teeth, "What the fuck, Bulma?!" Of course, even though Bulma had bitten down with all of her might, it was only a mild sting for Watzu. Still, it was the principle of the thing as Watzu released her hold the genius' mouth. With a growl and a huff, Bulma dusted her jacket off and turned her back to Watzu.
"That's what you get for interrupting me!" Bulma huffed again.
"We'd be here all fucking day if you had!" Mmyep, this was going turn into one of their lovely arguments. Watzu had begun to feel like it was a bad idea to wait for Bulma's damn coffee now.
"At least she'd be well informed!" The genius retorted, "Your half-assed explanation hardly got the job done!"
"She knows all that the important shit!" Okay, seriously regretting bringing Bulma along right about…now, "That's all that someone needs to know about them!"
"I'll have you know--"
"Girls, please!" Minagi held her hands up in protest as she walked towards the two, "Don't fight! I don't want anyone to fight while I'm around, okay? I know enough, okay? So just calm down!" Watzu snickered and put her hands on her hips and leaned down so she was at Bulma's eye-level…that is, if Bulma faced her.
"See, I told you so!" She said in a voice that would make any teenager proud, "She didn't need all of that extra shit!" There was no response form Bulma, as she was far too stubborn to ever admit that she was wrong, even if she actually was. "I thought so" Watzu snickered slightly, then turned around and popped her knuckles as she faced Minagi. "Well then! Let's get going, shall we?"
"Right!" Minagi responded with a grin.
Within two days, the sextuplet had arrived on Namek. Because of the in-connivance Hinase, Minagi's ship, would bring to try and land on the little amount of land-mass on the planet, the group had boarded Sonja-Ohki and landed aboard her. Once safely secured on the sea-green colored grass, everyone was warped out of the ship and the ship reverted to her fluffy little cabbit form. With a cheerful mew, she hopped up onto Watzu's head and nuzzled into her pink hair. Watzu yawned and stretched as she looked around, though her present grin began to fade as she did so.
"Do you guys feel that?" Gokou asked in a serious tone, "There's a lot of power around here…"
"Yeah," Kuririn responded, "But, didn't Washuu say that the Namek's are a peaceful people?"
"She did, but…" Watzu's voice grew dark, "There's evil in those aura's. Someone else is here besides us, and I'd bet my life on it that they're after the Dragonballs."
"But how?" Minagi asked, "This is a pretty backwater planet, and in all of my travels, I've never heard of them before. You wouldn't think something that important would be out in the open…it would be dangerous for the indigenous people."
"Well, we can always check," Watzu sighed as she looked over to Bulma, who had begun to uneasily rummage about in one of her bags to find the Dragon Radar. After a few moments of fishing about, she withdrew the large object and clicked it on. Promptly, she zoomed out to locate them.
"U-um…" She muttered. "Is there any grouping of these energies guys?"
"There's a large group of them over that way," Gohan pointed towards the south-east as he spoke, "Most of them are gathered there…" Bulma's face quickly changed into dread as she store at the green screen before her and the lights that blinked on it. The remainder of their group turned to her, concern apparent on all of their faces.
"W-what is it…?" Kuririn asked tentatively, though he wasn't quite sure if he actually wanted to know. Slowly, Bulma gulped and turned the radar around so everyone could see it.
"T-they've already got three Dragonballs!"
"Fucking hell…" Watzu hissed as she rubbed her temples, "…It looks like we'll have more then a walk in the park with this, now. I was hoping for an easy time, but…" There was an awkward silence between the group as they thought about their situation. While it was true that there were others there - at a far off distance, for the moment - who were after the Dragonballs, their own mission to resurrect their friends was simply too important to just forget about! They had to go after them…but how? Alas, no new thoughts came to mind between the group.
"…We'll have to face them, sooner or later, right?" Minagi muttered quietly, "If we want to get the Dragonballs away from them, that is; especially if we want to use them to bring your friends back."
"Plus, if we do use them, they wont be able to be used in an entire year!" Bulma added, "…The only way to get them back is to…" Her eyes gained a devious glint in her eyes as she looked over to Watzu, who gained a rather uneasy expression upon her face, "…Watzu! You can use your new form to kick their asses, right?!"
"I-I, well…" The taller woman looked taken slightly aback, though the expression quickly changed from that to being more awkward then anything, "…I-I don't know about this…something doesn't feel right to me…" Watzu's green eyes looked down to the ground, even though she felt all eyes upon her. Her mind…something simply bothered her in the very recesses of it. Something terrible…something dark…something that sent chills down her spine with just the thought of what it might be. But…maybe she was over reacting…right?
Gohan was a little shocked at this display of worry upon Watzu's face. It wasn't like her to feel that way. Cauciously, he moved towards the taller woman and gave a light tug on her pants. She looked up from the ground and over at the young boy, who smiled up at her with confidence.
"But, you can do it, Miss Watzu!" He said with somewhat forced enthusiasm, "That new form you got when you fought Bejita can surely get rid of them, right? We'll win in no-time!"
"I can only hope…" She said with a sigh. The others looked at her with confusion, as a display of such a lack of confidence was extremely rare within the brutish woman. Usually, she was a cocky assed fuck who boasted about her power and never doubted herself, but something felt very wrong…terribly wrong in her. Perhaps some of her psychic abilities warned her about something far off, something none of them could sense from this distance. Watzu couldn't say for sure, but she could certainly feel the prying eyes of the others. Quickly, she changed her disposition and added onto her sentence, "…I can only hope they'll put up a good fight!"
"Yeah!" Gohan responded with a broad grin, happy to have his confident Watzu back. Though, in truth, she only put on the appearance of her confidence…something she had learned to do within her long life.
"We should set up some base camp," Kuririn suggested, "Probably someplace out of sight, and we should keep our chi down just in case."
"I see a cave over there," Gokou noted as he pointed, "Looks pretty sturdy! Bulma, you brought some capsules with you, right?" Bulma laughed as she placed her hands on her hips, as if she had forgotten the danger at hand.
"Of course! I never leave home without them!" She boasted and patted her pack, which in no doubt held several hundred capsules within them. She had claimed that they were all just the 'necessaries,' but probably involved things that people didn't really need…like her coffee machine. Right. Real important stuff there!
While the group casually meandered towards the cave, not really too concerned about the energies on the planet, since they were pretty far away, their little time of calm was abruptly cut short when an all-too-familiar energy signature could be felt, just entering the atmosphere. All those present who could sense chi - which was everyone with the exception of Bulma - snapped their heads to the green-colored sky as they saw a streak of light enter down. A pod rested in it, the atmosphere burning up around it…and from it radiated that energy, twice as strong as if was before…
"Bejita," Watzu said darkly as she felt the hair on her tail bristle, "He's here."
Slowly, his eyes graced over the soft grass in which he stood. Black eyes store out from green sockets as he observed the area around him. His eyes fell upon the form of Yamcha, still clad in his orange gi rushed about the rounded grass as he frantically chased what looked to be like some kind of a monkey. He had begun to get the hang of the intense gravity on this small planet, and soon would catch the little creature. At least, so he thought. With a yell and a dive towards the fluffy animal, the creature suddenly zipped forward which caused Yamcha to fall flat on his face, his nose buried into the dirt.
"Aww, damnit!" He cursed as he slowly pushed himself up, "I nearly had 'em, too!" With a pop of his jaw, he took off after the monkey again.
The black eyes turned to the other person on the planet, who was in training as well. Piccolo had learned quickly and adapted even faster then he could have hoped, as he had captured the monkey far before Yamcha could even get the hang of the simple task of movement on this planet. Piccolo had moved onto the second of two tasks before the actual training would commence. Currently, although he felt extremely awkward and rather silly doing this - he had protested profusely at the object of the task when it was given to him - he chased an extremely quick floating grasshopper, who zipped about the tiny planet. The task was not to catch the grasshopper, but to smack it over the head with a hammer. Unfortunately, the trainer in question would not continue until Piccolo had completed this little excursion. Despite his complaints, the Namekian could feel himself become stronger by simply performing these tasks in ten-times the gravity of Earth.
With a soft smile, Kami-sama looked down to the person responsible for the planet and the training. His eyes fell upon a very short-and-stout looking creature, dressed in Chinese robes with blue skin and two very long pieces of antenna which poked out of his hat.
"I cannot thank you enough for agreeing to train them, Kaio-sama," Kami-sama sighed. The creature, undoubtedly the Kaio-sama, who had trained Gokou in his year of death, turned his head and grinned up at the wrinkly green man.
"Hey, not a problem at all, Kami!" He said as he patted the taller man hard on the back, which caused him to lurch forward slightly, "After all, one can't beat the bush with a stick unless you know how to use it!" Kami-sama gave a few quizzing blinks of his eyes, but merely brushed the very lame attempt at a pun off as something to be ignored.
"A-anyways…I really appreciate it. They're going to need all the help they can get…" To this, the face of Kaio-sama quickly shifted from that of a joking manor into that of seriousness. He lowered his head down as his antennae twitched slightly. "I know you can sense him down there. I know, you don't want them there or to confront him…but I do not think they have a choice in the matter."
"I don't like the idea! They shouldn't try to peruse him!" Kaio-sama appeared to be upset by this, "He's too strong! Even for her…"
"Don't you think they can handle him alone? What more can they do? If they let him get a hold of the Dragonballs…"
"There would be only one thing to do if he did," Kaio continued as he looked up to Kami with a serious expression, "Though I highly doubt they would do anything about it. I'm sure you know who I'm talking about." Kami-sama sighed and gave a slow nod of his head.
"…I know. I know, they don't like to meddle in the affairs of mortals…but…if they can't do anything!"
"I don't want to think about it!," Kaio hissed as he averted his gaze from the pleading look of Kami-sama, his eyes trailed over to the two in training, "I've only come into contact with the second-eldest about fifteen years ago. Although they now have different forms in this plain, they still do not wish to interfere. The other one, though…the youngest…she I am concerned about." Kami-sama tilted his head in confusion. The second eldest? The youngest? He didn't know who this grater man spoke of, but he knew there were…others. But how many where there? How many of them existed? And what of the youngest of them…why was she so dangerous?
There was a moment of silence between the two. Although they had just met, in the flesh, the two both had a great respect for one another. Kaio-sama was one of several of his kind, who all bore the same name, who maintained various sections of galaxy. This one, before him, was the one of the North, guarded over the section of the galaxy in which Earth resided; though Namek was out of his range. He knew a great deal more about the universe and its workings them Kami-sama did or ever would know. For now, he knew of one great, celestial being which visited him often. He knew that more existed, but he knew nothing of the others.
Kaio-sama, in turn, also admired Kami-sama. He had fled his planet when the natural disaster occurred, and for a long while, was a lost child who lived in seclusion. Eventually, he had become so powerful with a strange gift of clairvoyance that he had ascended to become a world-god; one who watched over the planet, yet rarely interfered. Just like Kaio. The two were the same, only different at the same time.
With a deep sigh, Kami-sama lifted his head to look at the strange, yellow-colored sky of the underworld. "…I don't think they can handle him by themselves," Kaio-sama looked over towards his companion, "While Watzu has obtained a new level of power, even with it at her full strength she cannot defeat him alone. It would be very difficult. Even Gokou, who had gained incredible strength from both you and his traumatic injurers, would be unable to…"
"Yes," Kaio-sama continued, "I do agree that Gokou's at least twice as strong as before, but he's still not strong enough to reach that level! He's got a long way to go before he can get there. At his current level, he'd be swatted like a fly! This is why I don't want any of them to confront him!" Kami-sama sighed and gripped his staff as he looked to Yamcha, who had just barely missed the monkey in his latest dive attempt.
"…The other girl with them, Minagi…" He said grimly. Kaio-sama adjusted his sunglasses as he folded his arms behind him.
"She is very powerful, indeed," His voice was dark, "She has limitations. Although strong, she could help in the battle…but, I doubt it would make much of a difference in the end. She could hold her own for a while, but she would fail."
"And Watzu?"
"…" Kaio-sama, for a moment, said nothing as he gained a very distant and thoughtful look. Kami-sama looked down towards the person he looked up to with a confused expression on his face. Although he said nothing, the North Kaio could sense his stare as he looked back up to him. With a cough, Kaio-sama continued, "…Something is holding her back. Within Watzu, she holds an almost unlimited amount of potential! Sleeping potential that could change the world…nay, the entire universe! What you've seen is barely even the tip of the ice burg. But, something within her stops her from gaining all of her power. Not only does she lack the sheer will to regain what she had lost, when she arrived on Bejita-sei without any memories…but these are memories she also doesn't want to remember. Something about her past, the past she doesn't remember, frightens her more then words can say. I don't blame her…" Kaio gained a twinge of thoughtfulness and even a bit of sorrow or regret in his voice, though he didn't continue. Although he had shared a great deal of information about Watzu - more then Kami-sama knew - he could tell he was not saying all that he did know. Slowly, Kami-sama lowered his gaze.
"There's something you're not telling me." Kaio visibly flinched and looked up to Kami-sama with a nervous grin and a laugh, though the Guardian of the Earth held firm on his look. He wanted answers. What was it about that woman that was so…secretive? "Tell me." Well, he certainly was not going to give up, and so with a loud cough, Kaio-sama turned away from Kami and folded his arms behind his back.
"Her soul is fragmented," He said coldly, "She can regain its pieces any time she desires, but she must have a strong will to do so. However, there is a warning in her mind. Something to remind her of why her soul is fragmented in the first place. Because of it, she is terrified to find out the truth. Terrified of the truth…and of herself." Well, that certainly was a cryptic answer, and pretty much left Kami-sama more confused then informed. Well, at least he got an answer, but what did it all mean?
"And what about him…Bejita?" Kami-sama decided to change the subject then to press the issue of Watzu and whatever the hell Kaio-sama spoke of again. The Lord of the Worlds turned around to look back at the Lord of Earth over his shoulder.
"He's much stronger, as you can sense, Kami-sama," He said with a grin, "…He's close, but still too far to obtain it. But, I don't think they need to worry about them. After all," His grin widened noticeably as he turned around to face the two trainees again.
"As they say; 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend'…right?"
"What?!" Minagi exclaimed loudly, "Yo-you're trying to tell me that's THE Bejita, the Prince of the Saiya-jins, the one man with the second highest bounty on his head in the entire galaxy?! THAT Bejita…is HERE?!" By the looks on everyone's faces, their grim expressions and their solemn nods, no words needed to be said in order to answer her question. With a grim sigh, she drooped visibly and hung her head low, "Man, I was hoping to find something big sooner or later…but that big?" Watzu growled inwardly to herself as she clenched her fists.
"Damnit!" She screamed as she thrust her fist into her palm, "I knew I should have killed him when I had the chance!"
"Y-you had a chance to kill Bejita?!" Minagi yelled as Watzu slowly nodded her head, and to that, the Ryoko-clone looked absolutely mortified, "Why didn't you kill him then?!" All eyes fell upon Gokou as he made one of those adorable confused faces.
"W-what…?" He said nervously, as the confused look quickly changed into nervousness as he received multiple death-glares from, well, everyone, with the exception of his son. "W-why are you all looking at me like that?" He smiled awkwardly as he raised his hands in a form of a 'calm down' gesture as he took a step back from them.
"Gokou…" Watzu hissed as she loomed over him, "If I didn't fucking like you so much, you would've been raped up the ass so hard your future-children would feel it."
"I still can't believe you made her let him go!" Kuririn yelled as he…erm, loomed up towards Gokou, "Now, not only do we have to deal with whoever has the Dragonballs, but Bejita as well! Sure, Watzu beat him the first time, but now he's stronger then ever! We can't let him blotch this!"
"You'll seriously regret doing that if he gets in the way, Gokou!" Bulma growled threateningly, "I'll sign you up for so many junky, trashy, illegal porn services that Chichi will boot you out of the house! How's that, Mr. Oh-I'll-let-him-go-because-I-respect-him!!"
"I have no idea what you did," Minagi finished as she folded her arms, "But to let someone that dangerous go when you had the chance, is unforgivable!" Gokou suddenly found himself surrounded by people who wanted his ass on a silver platter for letting Bejita go as he continued to laugh nervously.
"Guys, guys! No need to be so upse--" His voice cut off in mid-word as his face quickly turned serious as it snapped in the direction of the location of the other powers on the planet. Everyone else noticed, too, that they were now moving straight for them…and at breakneck speeds! Bulma only took notice when the Dragon Radar began to let out a series of beeps, which indicated the motion of a Dragonball.
"G-guys…!" She exclaimed.
It suddenly struck them dead as Bulma looked on in confusion. An intense, powerful aura, filled with evil was in the very center of all of the others! It was so strong, so seemingly limitless and powerful, that it sent fear straight into the hearts of all those present. The color drained from their skin, and Bulma could tell whoever it was, it was not good. Watzu, however, looked noticeably pale as her eyes were as wide as saucers.
"Oh…fucking hell no…" She whispered, then suddenly turned to the others, "Haul ass to the cave! Surprise your chi as low as humanely possible! We can't be detected by them!!" With a fluid movement, Watzu slung Bulma up over her shoulders as the group ran at break-neck speeds to the small cave for shelter. Bulma let out a loud squack of discomfort and began to squirm around.
"H-hey!" She wailed, "Put me down!!" Within less then a second, Watzu complied as the group reached the cave, everyone pressed against the wall. Watzu roughly grabbed Bulma's arm and threw her against the wall with enough force to knock the wind out of the woman's lungs. With a cough, she glared up to Watzu, "What the hell?! Watzu I--" Her voice was cut off as the other woman slapped a hand over Bulma's mouth and received a muffled response. However, Bulma quieted down when she noticed the grim expressions on everyone's faces.
They all waited with baited breath, their chi so low it would barely even be sensed. The huge cluster of energies made quick haste as it arrived to the cave in a little over sixty seconds, and past by. Everyone's eyes fell upon the very center of the large group - which were all clad in the armor the Saiya-jins wore - where a strange alien sat. He…she…whatever, sat in a floating chair and had pink skin with a white face, and a violet 'helmet' fused to it's head with spikes sticking out. Everyone knew that was the source of the chi. It was unbelievable! Even Watzu, in her new form, could barely hold a match to that power! It was so huge, it boggled the minds of everyone present. So huge and so evil…who could it be?
Bulma let out a soft shriek within Watzu's hand as the group of alien beings were a safe distance away. The hold Watzu held on her mouth had become so tight, Bulma had begun to feel afraid that her jaw might snap under the strain. Slowly, Watzu lowered her hand from Bulma, the genius fell down in a heap and panted heavily.
"W-who…?" Kuririn asked in a shaken voice as he fell to his knees, completely overwhelmed by the aura of that one alien.
"He's so strong…stronger then anything I've ever felt before!" Gokou exclaimed as he leaned against the wall and regained his breath, "He can't possibly be…that strong…!"
"No….nononono!!" Minagi gripped the sides of her head. For someone who was so experienced in these kinds of thing, fear was painted clearly over her face as she slumped to the ground, "T-this can't be real…this can't be happening!! He can't be here!!" She panted heavily as she folded her arms around herself and hunched over. Her panting began to become ragged as if she was about to go into hysteria. Whoever it was…it was big…Slowly, Bulma regained her breath and rubbed her jaw as she looked to Watzu, who held a dark expression on her face.
"W-watzu…?"
"…Fucking…" She hissed, and suddenly her head snapped up as she lunged forward and embedded her fist within the wall, just inches away from Gokou's head, "HELL!!" With that mighty punch, the curve of the cave became riddled with cracks as it began to shake violently, pieces of earth began to fall down to the ground as it started to crumble. Bulma let out a loud shriek and was about ready to dive out of the cave, but after a few seconds of the shaking, it slowly stopped.
"M-miss Watzu…?" Gohan asked nervously, still overcome by the sheer power of that one being, "Miss Minagi…? Who…who was that?" Minagi slowly swallowed hard as she closed her eyes tightly. She couldn't believe it…it couldn't be real…but it was. Everyone's worst nightmare in the entire Galaxy…something so awful, so powerful, that even the people of Jurai held fear for him. With a shaky breath, she spoke softly.
"T-the number one bounty…on the list…the most dangerous person in the entire Galaxy…"
"…Fuiser…" Watzu finished darkly.