"Trunks?" Gohan called out. He flew a little bit farther when there was no answer. "Trunks, can you hear me?"
As it had been for the past two days, there was nothing. Slumping his shoulders and deciding to call it an afternoon, Gohan flew back to the campsite they had set up, only to find Kat was still absent. Sighing, the half-breed flew back into the sky and towards her ki, finding her continuing to search frantically.
"Kat, it's going to get dark soon," Gohan informed her. "We have to stop for the day."
"But I have to find him!" Kat insisted. "Just give me another hour-"
"That's what you said last night, and the night before that," he interrupted. "You stayed up for seven hours after that each time, and between these last two nights you've gotten six hours of sleep." He put a hand on her shoulder, making her pause. "How are you supposed to find him if you collapse from exhaustion?"
Kat slumped, and Gohan could tell she felt defeated. "If Vegeta doesn't kill me, Bulma surely will," she stated. "He's my responsibility, and barely a week in, he goes missing. Not that him being my responsibility is even close to the main reason I'm scared." Her shoulders began to shake and her voice quivered. "I love that kid, Gohan. He's a bundle of joy, has been since day one. And if I lose him... Gohan, if I lose him, I... I-I don't know what I'll..."
Gohan frowned, and then he turned her around to pull her into a hug. "We'll find him," he assured, holding Kat tightly. "Think positively, okay?"
She nodded, and then she buried her face in his chest. "If only I had given him a Dragon Ball," she whispered in shame.
"When we find him, we will, just in case this happens again," he decided.
"It shouldn't have happened in the first place," Kat muttered. "It shouldn't have happened at all."
...
Since it had almost been a week, Bulma decided it would be a good day to call.
About a minute in, Vegeta realized it hadn't been.
"What do you mean he's-" What Kat said next cut off Bulma's screeching, but judging from his wife's angry, worried, mortified expression, it had something to do with Trunks.
After another minute or so, her face softened as she asked, "Gohan, what's wrong?" Clearly, the speaker had changed, and Vegeta was left wondering exactly what was going on. Then Bulma nodded, looking concerned. "Alright. Yeah, make sure she gets some sleep; there's no way she's traveling like that. Okay, good night, Gohan."
"What was that?" Vegeta questioned when Bulma hung up.
She joined him on the couch, looking at her lap. "Trunks is missing," she reported.
"He's missing?!" he repeated, shocked that the older Demis let that happen.
"Something came up where they couldn't watch him for a bit," Bulma relayed. "They thought he'd be safe on Nimbus. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, and it's clearly not a game of hide-and-seek. Kat's in absolute hysterics over it. I was going to yell at her when she broke into sobs; she knew how upset we'd be, and she's probably just as distressed. Then Gohan told me she's only gotten six hours of sleep between these last two nights."
"Three hours each night?!"
"Kat searches until three in the morning and wakes up at six just to try and find him," Bulma clarified, shocking him even further. "She's barely eaten, and I have a feeling those three hours aren't the most soundless. I'm almost concerned she'll worry herself sick."
Vegeta let the information soak in, still not able to fully believe it was real. But this wasn't something Kat and Gohan would joke about, and if he knew Kat like he did...
"They'll find Trunks," he voiced. Bulma looked at him. "Kat would stop her search for the Dragon Balls and scour every inch of the Earth to find him if she had to."
Bulma smiled. "Yeah, you're right," she agreed. "We really don't have to worry, do we? Though, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried at all." Vegeta snorted, and there was no way to tell if it was condescending or in agreement, though it sounded suspiciously more like the latter. "I'd adopt that girl in a heartbeat if I was able to."
Well, that came out of nowhere. "What makes you say that?" the Saiyan inquired.
"Just something I've been thinking about for a while," she replied. "Kagari really doesn't know what she's missing."
Even if it was random, Vegeta found himself agreeing, picturing Kat and Trunks playing happily with no restrictions.
They had to make it home in one piece first.
...
It was a wonder if Kat truly cared, but Gohan checked the Dragon Radar as Nimbus flew towards the mountains. They were heading towards the third ball, and Earth's hero pondered whether to tell her or not.
"Kat," he said, finally deciding. "We're heading near the third Dragon Ball. I know you probably don't care, but-"
"No." Gohan was surprised by her interruption. "It might be a stretch, but maybe Trunks is down there with it."
Gohan smiled, and he looked at the radar again to find something interesting. "Hey, the Dragon Ball's moving," he noted.
Suddenly, Kat looked excited. "Maybe it's Trunks!" she declared.
Definitely a stretch, but Gohan smiled anyway, because they were supposed to be thinking positively.
Trunks was down there.
Trunks had the Dragon Ball.
Trunks decided to begin searching eagerly for them.
Nimbus flew down to where Gohan directed it. As the cloud got closer, the two Saiyans noticed two machines, one pink and the other green. They looked sort of humanoid (even if the pink one was chubby and the green one had very lanky legs), and since their backs were to Kat and Gohan, the children couldn't tell if they were man operated or not.
One thing was certain: Trunks was definitely not there.
The fact disheartened the two, but Kat (ironically enough) shook her head and stated, "We're already here; let's get the Dragon Ball. I don't want these guys taking my wishes."
"Right," Gohan agreed.
Their ride flew down faster, but once they were about ten or twenty feet away, the pink one turned and fired two pink lasers. Surprised, the two half-breeds leapt off Nimbus (who flew away at the sign of trouble) and - as they hovered in place - watched the projectiles fly off into the distance.
"That was close," Gohan breathed in relief.
Not that they would have done that much, Kat thought, though she almost said it aloud.
Then she turned to find the pink machine had a cockpit with a woman (who seemed very spooked, probably because they were flying) inside. She had long black hair, blue eyes with red eyeshadow, red lipstick, a teal jacket with red star insignias on each shoulder, and black gloves.
Kat wasn't sure if the woman meant business or was meant to look like she meant business.
"Well, now we know not to blindly blow it up," Kat slightly grumbled. She had honestly wanted to make the thing explode for kicks.
"But how do you think she knew we were behind her?" Gohan pondered.
"They do have a Dragon Ball; maybe they have some sort of radar like we do," the girl hypothesized. "But it really doesn't matter. They have what I want, and I'm not leaving until it's mine."
"If there's one thing that will forever prove you spend too much time with Vegeta, it's the forceful demands," her friend half-joked. Kat glared, not thinking about how that would further prove his point, and he chuckled at the thought.
"That... That cloud..." the woman muttered, sounding a bit frightened.
So she was spooked by the two flying, but for a completely different reason.
"I-isn't that the same one that Goku kid had?" the pilot in the green mech asked. The kids noticed he was a Shiba Inu in purple ninja gear.
Not that it was truly their concern at the moment.
"These guys know Dad?" Gohan questioned.
"And from the sound of it, not in a friendly way," Kat observed. Not to mention that, once again, we're stuck with leftovers. Fantastic.
In a rare occurrence, Gohan smirked (though, admittedly, just a little). "Just like that Mercenary Tao guy three years ago," he commented with pride, yet another not-so-often sight. "He got scared when I told him I was Goku's son."
Now the two were thoroughly frightened, so much so even their mechs were trembling. "I-if that's t-true..." the dog stammered.
"There's no way we're winning!" the woman exclaimed in a panic. They turned their machines around, ready to take off, but Kat zipped in front of them with her arms crossed and a smirk on her face.
"Then I suggest you comply with our demands," she instructed, her tone scaring the two even more. "We want the Dragon Ball you have, plus any information on a small boy with purple hair. You do that, we leave you in peace. You don't, we do this the hard way."
"D-Dragon Ball? We d-don't have o-one," the woman lied.
"A-and we don't k-know any little p-purple haired boy," her partner added.
"The hard way it is." Kat darted under the pink mech, put both hands on the underside, and hoisted it off the ground with ease. "Gohan, spike it!" she shouted before throwing it into the air.
While Gohan didn't use his fists, he did kick the mech with both feet mere inches from the top of the window. The machine crashed into the ground, leaving the woman inside frazzled for a minute. She recovered and fired the lasers again, but Earth's hero dodged all of the shots easily, even deflecting one so it blasted a chunk off the mountain instead.
As the boy toyed with his opponent, the dog began to fire missiles at Kat. She dodged them all with very little effort. When the last one came flying towards her, she kicked it into the air, but as the missile went flying, Kat's opponent used a flamethrower. Not expecting it, Kat screamed out in pain as the tip of her tail licked the flame. The appendage unwrapped itself and began to whip back and forth as she growled at the dog.
"Punk, you're going to pay for that!" she vowed.
But the ninja didn't seem all that interested. He just stared with very wide eyes. "She...has a tail," he observed in a small voice filled with shock. "Just like... Goku..."
His comrade stopped fighting Gohan and turned to the other mech. "Wait... You mean she can transform..." She gulped. "Into that big ape, too?"
Realizing they were talking about Oozaru, Kat smirked. "That's right," she told them with confidence, and they paled. "Of course, thanks to Piccolo a number of years ago, the moon doesn't exist, which means even if we wait until night, I can't." The two breathed with relief. "However," the stiffened as Kat formed a smirking grin, "my mentor showed me a way to transform without the moon."
In her palm, she created a small ki ball, just a bit smaller than a soccer ball. It wasn't actually a Power Ball, which she would have needed in order to become the giant ape, but it wasn't like they knew that.
"See, when I throw this Power Ball into the atmosphere, it'll create an artificial satellite that will give me the necessary zenos to transform," she informed, faking sincerity. "Of course, I don't have to. If you give me what I want, I won't throw it into the air. You continue to refuse..." Kat showed off her canines. "I transform, and I don't think you'd like that very much."
The two began to plead with her, asking her not to transform. Kat watched them beg with a smug look on her face, feeling satisfied, and Gohan continued to add reasons to his "Kat Spends Too Much Time with Vegeta" mental list.
Suddenly there was a bit of audio crackle, like someone had turned on a walkie-talkie. "Mai, Shu, what's taking you so long?!" a little, screechy voice demanded. Kat rubbed her temple with her free hand in annoyance.
Was the Dragon Ball and info about Trunks really too much to ask for?
"W-well, sir, we...have a small problem," the woman (who Kat guessed was the one named Mai) replied shakily.
"Th-there's this g-girl," Shu tried to explain, but his boss cut him off.
"Then blast her away!" he ordered. "What's stopping you; she's just a brat!"
"I can hear you!" Kat shouted. "And if you can hear me, listen up, because if I don't get what I want in the next thirty seconds," she made the ki blast a bit bigger, "your underlings will be under Oozaru's foot!"
"Oozaru?" the voice repeated. "What in the world is that?"
Mai and Shu gulped again. "I-I-I think that's th-the n-name o-of that giant ape," the dog correctly relayed.
"Giant ape?"
"R-remember, Emperor?" Mai added. "Th-the one that Goku kid t-turned into?"
There was silence, and then came very nervous laughter. "O-oh, I see," he stated. "S-so, um, wh-what is it that you want?"
Hopefully this time there wouldn't be a delay. "The Dragon Ball and any information on a small boy with purple hair," she once again repeated, this time very slowly so it soaked into their obviously pea-sized brains.
Though, once again, there was silence, and then out of the sky came another mech, this one blue, round, and short. Inside was a little blue imp, who almost looked like a kid getting their toy taken away.
"Like we'll hand my Dragon Ball over to you!" he cried, sounding like a bratty kid. Ugh, Trunks is better than this! Maybe he should wish himself to be a kid; at least it would make sense. "We're not scared of you!"
"Funny, the last few minutes suggested otherwise," Kat taunted, starting to get beyond her limit. "But if you're THAT confident, I guess I'll just throw the ball in 5..."
The group looked very determined, ready to take on Oozaru.
"4..."
There was still no faltering, so Kat pulled her arm back.
"3..."
With the countdown coming close to an end and a visual sign that she was willing to do it, the trio began to doubt themselves.
"2..."
Now they became blue in the face as they clearly began to recall some terrifying memories, but Kat didn't let that small victory get to her just yet.
They just needed one more small push.
"Ooooonnnneeee-"
"Okay, okay, we'll give you the Dragon Ball!" the imp caved in.
"Aaaaand-"
"We don't know anything about a little kid, honest!" Mai exclaimed.
Kat raised an eyebrow. "Really?" she questioned like she didn't believe it.
"We're telling the truth, we swear!" Shu backed up.
"But we'll help you!" the woman offered. "Really, we can! We can have cameras set up for miles, promise!"
"Mai!"
"Emperor Pilaf, we don't have a choice!"
The girl snorted. "Smart woman," she stated as she floated to the ground. "I suggest you listen, Imp." With the "Power Ball" still in her palm, she began to walk over to the mechs, and Mai opened her cockpit. In her hand, there was the Four-Star Ball, and Kat swiped it without a second thought. She held it up and examined it, then she looked back at them. "This is the real deal, right? I'm not going to collect the rest and find out I've been cheated, right?"
"No miss, absolutely not!"
"And you'll cease your search for them?"
"Of course, they're your wishes!"
Gohan sighed at how Kat was able to wrap them around her finger so easily. "Good," Kat said. She tossed the orb up to Gohan, who caught it with ease. "Now, do you have something so I can keep in contact with you?"
Shu opened up his own window and gave Kat a walkie-talkie. "We'll have those cameras out by tomorrow, at the very latest," Mai informed. "And you'll be the first to know if we find anything."
Kat nodded. Then she flew up to the other half-breed. "Let's get going," she told him. "We still have plenty of light, and I want to use as much of it as we can."
"Right," Gohan agreed. Then he called for Nimbus, and the cloud returned. The two Saiyans hopped on, and Nimbus began to fly.
"Good luck!" they heard from below.
The boy turned and waved with a smile before Nimbus flew so far the trio was out of sight. At that point, Gohan looked at Kat. "So... Did Vegeta actually teach you about the Power Ball?" he asked.
"HELL no!" Kat replied. "When I asked if he could, he went through the roof. I seriously thought for a moment it was Bulma in disguise."
"That's why they're married, right?" Gohan laughed.
"Yeah..." Kat sighed. "And that's why they'll kill me if we don't find Trunks."
Gohan frowned. "We'll find him," he assured again. "And now we have help. They clearly have technological skills, so I don't think they were lying about the cameras."
"Hopefully you're right, Gohan," Kat voice.
As Nimbus flew over the land, both of the Saiyans had the same thought:
Hang in there, Trunks. We'll find you soon.