Chapter 14

"Master Yamcha, please wake up!"

Yamcha's eyes opened to the sight of his companion Puar, staring down at him with tears in his eyes.

"What happened?" Yamcha said, rubbing his head. Suddenly, everything came back to him. The boy, the girl, the magic balls, the evil army. Yamcha closed his eyes again and wanted to go back to sleep.

"Sir, we're trapped in here, and they've taken Goku and our Dragonballs!"

Yamcha finally sat up and looked around the jail cell. Besides himself and Puar, it contained Krillin, Bulma and Launch. "Why is she dark-haired, now?" he asked as the girl stared sweetly at him.

"Don't ask," Krillin rolled his eyes. "Just call her Lunch now."

Yamcha blushed at the thought. He stood and cracked his back. "What's going on? One minute they're keeping us here for security, and the next they drug us and steal our treasure?"

"And Goku," Bulma reminded him.

"And abduct our companion? No, this is not right. It's time we left here," Yamcha declared.

"And how do we do that?" Krillin asked.

"I'm a thief, remember," Yamcha smiled. "I know my way around a cell door. I'll have us out in a moment."

Yamcha removed a small tool-kit from a secret pouch in his tunic, and he and Puar set to work on the door.

While they picked the locks, Bulma turned to Lunch. "So seriously, what's your deal?"

"What do you mean?" she asked blankly.

Krillin was forced to explain how he and Roshi had met Lunch and her mysterious habit of changing her personality with her hair color. "I've never even heard of anything like that," Bulma said. "Sounds to me like a mutation."

"You think she was an experiment by Dr. Gero?" Krillin suggested.

"Doubt it," Bulma said. "He's mainly stuck to the field of robotics and cybernetics. This isn't his style."

"Got it!" Yamcha cheered as the door swung open. "Let's get going."

"Just so you know, that was extremely hot," Bulma said as she moved past him. Yamcha suddenly forgot how to swallow.

The group made their way down the hall. "We've got to find Goku and Roshi," Krillin said, "before anything bad happens to them."

"And we've got to find the Dragonballs before anything bad happens to the world," Bulma finished. "We need to get our bearings; we have no idea where we are going." She pulled her dragon radar from its case and activated it. "Okay, all seven balls are being kept to the east of us. I wonder why they haven't used them yet. That's strange."

"Well, whatever the deal is, let's head that way," Krillin said.

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The woman turned her back to her prey and examined the row of monitors. "Well, now," she purred, "it looks like you are about to have some company, my friend."

Her captive look up at the screens and saw a group of people running in their direction.

"I suppose I should go say hello," she smiled.

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"So they're on the other side of this door?" Krillin asked.

"According to the radar, yes," Bulma answered. She turned to Yamcha "Any chance you can get this one open, too?"

"Umm, well no, see, this is a really strong looking vault," he stammered.

"If you people want in so badly, all you had to do was ask," came a woman's voice from behind them. They all turned to see a tall woman with black hair and a cruel smile. "Welcome to my house."

"Mai!" Lunch smiled and waved at her, "it's me! Over here!"

"Lunch?" Mai asked. "Well, I'd heard you defected."

"Yeah, these guys are really nice. Um, could you please open this door for us so we can get to the Dragonballs?"

Mai rolled her eyes. Clearly this wasn't her first encounter with Lunch. She simply pulled a remote control from her jacket and pushed a button. All of a sudden, the floor fell out from under everyone, and they landed hard in a room filled with monitors.

"Who are you?" Bulma asked of Mai as she descended a flight of stairs to join them.

"I'm Head of Security for the Red Ribbon Army," she smiled. "And I'm afraid I'll have to deal with you accordingly."

"Oh, great," Krillin moaned, looking back at everyone. "Let's see, Bulma can't fight, Lunch isn't a psycho at the moment, Puar's a cat and Yamcha is scared of women. Hmm, I wonder who's going to have to fight you?" he said sarcastically. "I can't believe I get stuck fighting the woman. If I beat you up I look bad, and if I lose, I look bad."

"Well, you're in luck," Mai said, "because I've got just the fellow for you." Out from behind a metal door emerged a giant killer robot. "Meet my deputy!"

"Jeez, that guy's huge!" Krillin said. "You can fight this, right?" he asked Yamcha.

"Definitely," the other man smiled, and they both jumped at their opponent.

Meanwhile, Bulma was examining the array of equipment and monitors, hoping to find something that she could use to their benefit. "Lunch, does any of this make sense to you?" she asked.

"Sure, I used to work for these guys, remember?"

"Yeah," Bulma sighed. "Is there anything here that could help us fight this robot? Do you have, like, a self-destruct code for it?"

"Um, no…" she puzzled at the question.

The sound of gunfire announced that the robot had now opened fire on Yamcha and Krillin. The pair danced around the room, trying to dodge the assault.

"Man, this thing is tough," Bulma groaned, "what are we going to do?"

"I know," Lunch spoke up, "let's cut off the power!"

"You think that things plugged in the power grid?" Bulma asked.

"I dunno, maybe!" Lunch smiled hopefully.

"Fine, go ahead and try."

The robot had now moved up to small missiles. Mai looked on, actually concerned about the fighting prowess of her captives. She hated it when they fought back. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Lunch typing at her console. "Hey, get away from there!"

Before she could move, all the lights went out and the screens went dead.

"Yes, we cut the power!" Lunch cheered.

"But the robot is still moving!!" Krillin screamed in panic. "And now we can't see it!"

"Hahaha," Mai laughed. "Fools!"

Just then, a large explosion rocked the entire complex, as a massive burst of energy flew through the room and destroyed the security-bot in a hot blaze of fire.

The shape of a man emerged from an adjoining room. "They cut the power to the lights, but they also cut the power to the holding cell. Without your machines, you have no chance of keeping me here!" he growled.

The man raised his arm and fired another shot of energy at the robot, reducing it to scraps and knocking Mai unconscious.

"Who the hell is that?" Yamcha wondered aloud. But to Krillin and Bulma, the voice sounded all too familiar.

The emergency power finally kicked back in, and the lights returned. Their savior stood fully revealed.

"Oh my god," Bulma breathed, "it's Piccolo!"

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S-Shield's notes

The demon prince returns!

Thanks for reading.