Hi everyone. I'm so sorry that I've dragged this out way longer than I
should have. Yeah, I checked and the last time I updated was last November
dodges incoming pens and pencils. School's been tough, but for some of
you, you keep trudging on and I applaud you. I have got to finish this
story this summer or I'll never be able to move on with my life!!!
I'd like to thank the one called Talent Scout, who kicked my butt in a few e-mails and helped me to get remotivated to write this chapter and the rest of the story. I hope you all enjoy and I'm sorry if you have to go back to chapter 35 to catch up again. 35 chapters...this is ridiculous! I'm really sorry. It will end soon, I promise.
Echo.
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CHAPTER 36: Mech Flies & Broken Homes
"Argh!"
Crack.
"That. Is. Enough! Goku, you either stop punching my – Goku YOU POMPOUS ASS! There's barely any wall left to hold up my roof! Get in the gravity room and you better not come out of there until I call you out. Do you hear me!"
Two hours had passed since the aliens had disappeared, since Serena had disappeared and Goku was wild with fury. Deep in his heart, he knew she couldn't be dead. She wasn't dead. But if she wasn't dead, where was she?
Goku paused at the gravity room's control panel. "What do you want, Vegeta?"
The Prince had followed him quietly after taking one look at his mate's angry face. "Just consider it my good deed for the month. It seems, Kakkarot, that we have switched places. You seem to be the one who's angry all the time now." A few beeps and vegeta could feel the familiar, comforting sagging of his body.
"Let's do this."
Vegeta had been waiting for a match like this. "Computer, double the amount of gravity." He watched as Goku slid his foot to balance himself. The weight of gravity was more than Goku had ever trained under before.
Punches and kicks, blasts and bodies were thrown across the room but there was no resting. Goku had managed to dodge a punch and kicked Vegeta into a wall. Vegeta disappeared and reappeared above Goku and smashed him into the ground with a punch.
Three hours later, both men could feel that time had passed. They were running out of energy and Goku was struggling to stay off the floor. Vegeta had just kicked him from the air and that's where he was laying, trying to get up. As Goku pushed himself up, a mist surrounded him and the room grew dark. The gravity room was gone and now he was all alone. "Vegeta?" But there was only silence. Something was nagging at him, something that wanted to be remembered but it vanished as quickly as it had come. There were whisperings, voices, but he couldn't tell who they belonged to.
And then in the darkness, he saw a light in the distance, beckoning him to come to it. He ran to it, flew as fast as he could to reach it and as he got closer, he saw it was a little girl. She had black and silver-streaked curls and bright blue eyes that panicked for a moment until she saw it was him.
"You're here!" She jumped into Goku's arms and squeezed his neck. "I knew you'd come for me!"
Her ki felt so familiar, but again, he couldn't recognize it. "What's your name and what are you doing here by yourself?" His voice was a little too gruff for the child he could tell by the way she tensed.
"They call me Renegade. I was told to wait for you here and to tell you that Serena's okay."
"Where is she?"
Renegade turned to look behind her and Goku could see the other light. He could instantly feel the pull of his mate's soul and was about to fly over to her but the little girl's voice stopped him.
"Why can't I go to her?"
"Because it is time for you to go back."
"Really quick, just to make sure-"
She shook her head. "I'll get in really big trouble if you go over there." Somehow Renegade had gotten out of his arms and was floating in front of him.
"Kakkarot."
Renegade looked around as if searching for the person who had spoken. "Time to go. Tell Vegeta I said hi." Goku was beyond confused now.
"How do you know-" He had missed her cocking her arm back and missed the small hand that punched him in the jaw but he was flying backwards and felt his body slam against something hard.
"If you'd stop daydreaming, you might actually put a mark on me." He was back in the gravity room and watched Vegeta's feet get closer to him, he couldn't move from his spot on the floor.
Goku's jaw ached, which made it hard for him to ask, "Do you know a little girl named Renegade?"
Vegeta paused. "No."
"I feel much better now," Vegeta bragged as he stretched his sore limbs, "but let's do something a little more productive shall we? We've wasted all this time on you instead of spending it trying to find your mate." He kicked Goku in the side. "Gravity, normal." The low humming of the machine disappeared and the door whizzed open.
"Vegeta, I can't move."
Bulma's robots were in the process of rebuilding and repairing what was left of her home when Vegeta walked in dragging Goku behind him. Anger and fear had taken over her and as soon as she saw them come in, she walked over to them and hit Goku in the head.
"That's for being stupid. Ow."
"Come here woman." Vegeta pulled Bulma into his arms after letting go of Goku. No words were spoken, just the comforting of hearts. "We'll find her."
Ami and Lita walked into the mess where everyone seemed to have congregated and dropped a box at Vegeta's feet. "We found your mech-flies. I just need your help to reprogram them to pick up magic energies."
Goku rolled his head so he could see everyone. "Why do you have mech- flies?"
When Lita saw Goku, she couldn't help but laugh. "What happened to you?"
"Vegeta." Vegeta was also sporting bruises, blood, and sweat and incredibly enough, Bulma didn't seem to mind at all, even though she was pressed tightly to him.
Ami just shook her head.
Bulma pushed away from her husband's strong arms and sighed. "Well, let's get started shall we? We don't want to waste anymore time." Bulma picked up the box and led the girls to her lab. "Vegeta, can you bring Goku please?"
Vegeta mumbled something about weaklings and grabbed Goku's shirt and dragged him down the hall, not caring if he hit anything on the way.
The flies had been reprogrammed and were sent off to scour the planet in search of strange energy readings.
"It will be at least two hours before we get any readings from any other continents and five hours for the mech-flies to encircle the globe." Ami was typing away at her small computer with one hand and Bulma's computer with the other. "I've programmed them to locate the specific energies of the three that were here when...Serena disappeared, so something should turn up."
"How do you lock on to specific energies like that? I didn't know that there were different types other than the usual." Bulma was like a little child again with a new toy.
Ami smiled. "It was something I had stumbled onto when we were in our world or dimension, rather. Our enemies are mostly magical enemies and use mostly magic attacks against us, which would be the reason that our physical fighting skills weren't so high. I can't remember exactly how we found it. I think it was Lita infact, who pointed it out, but magic has three defining qualities which are heat, color, and scent. And when people use magic to disappear, they leave a sort of signature that fades eventually. So I capture a bit of it and analyze it before it fades."
"Amazing."
Ami blushed. "Thank you. What I've done is I have programmed the mech-flies to recognize the signatures. The heat and color factor are not easy to pick up on when one is not using their magic but the scent is like a body odor, so they will be able to pick up on it, magic or not."
Goku had been silent and distracted the whole time. He couldn't get that little girl out of his mind. She had been looking at him as if she were daring him to recognize her.
"Earth to Goku."
"Wha...?"
"He's probably thinking of that little girl again."
"What little girl?"
Should he tell them? Maybe they know her. "While Vegeta and I were in the gravity room, I guess I got knocked out or something and somehow I had ended up in some dark place. There was a little girl there and she said her name was Renegade. Renegade said that she was told to wait for me to tell me that Serena was fine. I could see Serena's light far away but when I tried to go over there, she told me I couldn't go because she'd get in big trouble. And then she punched me." He turned to Vegeta, who just smirked. "Do you guys know any little girls named Renegade?"
Lita smiled. "We used to call Serena Renegade when she was younger because she'd always get in trouble, get us in trouble."
"But you said that she was to tell you that Serena was alright, so it couldn't have been Serena."
Goku shook his head. "No, Renegade had black hair and blue eyes." He had a suspicion about those silver strands though. And when he looked over to the girls, they were sharing a look as if they knew what was going on. "What?"
Ami looked slightly flushed. "I'm sure you'll figure it out one day," she answered cryptically and then went back to her typing.
I'd like to thank the one called Talent Scout, who kicked my butt in a few e-mails and helped me to get remotivated to write this chapter and the rest of the story. I hope you all enjoy and I'm sorry if you have to go back to chapter 35 to catch up again. 35 chapters...this is ridiculous! I'm really sorry. It will end soon, I promise.
Echo.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------
CHAPTER 36: Mech Flies & Broken Homes
"Argh!"
Crack.
"That. Is. Enough! Goku, you either stop punching my – Goku YOU POMPOUS ASS! There's barely any wall left to hold up my roof! Get in the gravity room and you better not come out of there until I call you out. Do you hear me!"
Two hours had passed since the aliens had disappeared, since Serena had disappeared and Goku was wild with fury. Deep in his heart, he knew she couldn't be dead. She wasn't dead. But if she wasn't dead, where was she?
Goku paused at the gravity room's control panel. "What do you want, Vegeta?"
The Prince had followed him quietly after taking one look at his mate's angry face. "Just consider it my good deed for the month. It seems, Kakkarot, that we have switched places. You seem to be the one who's angry all the time now." A few beeps and vegeta could feel the familiar, comforting sagging of his body.
"Let's do this."
Vegeta had been waiting for a match like this. "Computer, double the amount of gravity." He watched as Goku slid his foot to balance himself. The weight of gravity was more than Goku had ever trained under before.
Punches and kicks, blasts and bodies were thrown across the room but there was no resting. Goku had managed to dodge a punch and kicked Vegeta into a wall. Vegeta disappeared and reappeared above Goku and smashed him into the ground with a punch.
Three hours later, both men could feel that time had passed. They were running out of energy and Goku was struggling to stay off the floor. Vegeta had just kicked him from the air and that's where he was laying, trying to get up. As Goku pushed himself up, a mist surrounded him and the room grew dark. The gravity room was gone and now he was all alone. "Vegeta?" But there was only silence. Something was nagging at him, something that wanted to be remembered but it vanished as quickly as it had come. There were whisperings, voices, but he couldn't tell who they belonged to.
And then in the darkness, he saw a light in the distance, beckoning him to come to it. He ran to it, flew as fast as he could to reach it and as he got closer, he saw it was a little girl. She had black and silver-streaked curls and bright blue eyes that panicked for a moment until she saw it was him.
"You're here!" She jumped into Goku's arms and squeezed his neck. "I knew you'd come for me!"
Her ki felt so familiar, but again, he couldn't recognize it. "What's your name and what are you doing here by yourself?" His voice was a little too gruff for the child he could tell by the way she tensed.
"They call me Renegade. I was told to wait for you here and to tell you that Serena's okay."
"Where is she?"
Renegade turned to look behind her and Goku could see the other light. He could instantly feel the pull of his mate's soul and was about to fly over to her but the little girl's voice stopped him.
"Why can't I go to her?"
"Because it is time for you to go back."
"Really quick, just to make sure-"
She shook her head. "I'll get in really big trouble if you go over there." Somehow Renegade had gotten out of his arms and was floating in front of him.
"Kakkarot."
Renegade looked around as if searching for the person who had spoken. "Time to go. Tell Vegeta I said hi." Goku was beyond confused now.
"How do you know-" He had missed her cocking her arm back and missed the small hand that punched him in the jaw but he was flying backwards and felt his body slam against something hard.
"If you'd stop daydreaming, you might actually put a mark on me." He was back in the gravity room and watched Vegeta's feet get closer to him, he couldn't move from his spot on the floor.
Goku's jaw ached, which made it hard for him to ask, "Do you know a little girl named Renegade?"
Vegeta paused. "No."
"I feel much better now," Vegeta bragged as he stretched his sore limbs, "but let's do something a little more productive shall we? We've wasted all this time on you instead of spending it trying to find your mate." He kicked Goku in the side. "Gravity, normal." The low humming of the machine disappeared and the door whizzed open.
"Vegeta, I can't move."
Bulma's robots were in the process of rebuilding and repairing what was left of her home when Vegeta walked in dragging Goku behind him. Anger and fear had taken over her and as soon as she saw them come in, she walked over to them and hit Goku in the head.
"That's for being stupid. Ow."
"Come here woman." Vegeta pulled Bulma into his arms after letting go of Goku. No words were spoken, just the comforting of hearts. "We'll find her."
Ami and Lita walked into the mess where everyone seemed to have congregated and dropped a box at Vegeta's feet. "We found your mech-flies. I just need your help to reprogram them to pick up magic energies."
Goku rolled his head so he could see everyone. "Why do you have mech- flies?"
When Lita saw Goku, she couldn't help but laugh. "What happened to you?"
"Vegeta." Vegeta was also sporting bruises, blood, and sweat and incredibly enough, Bulma didn't seem to mind at all, even though she was pressed tightly to him.
Ami just shook her head.
Bulma pushed away from her husband's strong arms and sighed. "Well, let's get started shall we? We don't want to waste anymore time." Bulma picked up the box and led the girls to her lab. "Vegeta, can you bring Goku please?"
Vegeta mumbled something about weaklings and grabbed Goku's shirt and dragged him down the hall, not caring if he hit anything on the way.
The flies had been reprogrammed and were sent off to scour the planet in search of strange energy readings.
"It will be at least two hours before we get any readings from any other continents and five hours for the mech-flies to encircle the globe." Ami was typing away at her small computer with one hand and Bulma's computer with the other. "I've programmed them to locate the specific energies of the three that were here when...Serena disappeared, so something should turn up."
"How do you lock on to specific energies like that? I didn't know that there were different types other than the usual." Bulma was like a little child again with a new toy.
Ami smiled. "It was something I had stumbled onto when we were in our world or dimension, rather. Our enemies are mostly magical enemies and use mostly magic attacks against us, which would be the reason that our physical fighting skills weren't so high. I can't remember exactly how we found it. I think it was Lita infact, who pointed it out, but magic has three defining qualities which are heat, color, and scent. And when people use magic to disappear, they leave a sort of signature that fades eventually. So I capture a bit of it and analyze it before it fades."
"Amazing."
Ami blushed. "Thank you. What I've done is I have programmed the mech-flies to recognize the signatures. The heat and color factor are not easy to pick up on when one is not using their magic but the scent is like a body odor, so they will be able to pick up on it, magic or not."
Goku had been silent and distracted the whole time. He couldn't get that little girl out of his mind. She had been looking at him as if she were daring him to recognize her.
"Earth to Goku."
"Wha...?"
"He's probably thinking of that little girl again."
"What little girl?"
Should he tell them? Maybe they know her. "While Vegeta and I were in the gravity room, I guess I got knocked out or something and somehow I had ended up in some dark place. There was a little girl there and she said her name was Renegade. Renegade said that she was told to wait for me to tell me that Serena was fine. I could see Serena's light far away but when I tried to go over there, she told me I couldn't go because she'd get in big trouble. And then she punched me." He turned to Vegeta, who just smirked. "Do you guys know any little girls named Renegade?"
Lita smiled. "We used to call Serena Renegade when she was younger because she'd always get in trouble, get us in trouble."
"But you said that she was to tell you that Serena was alright, so it couldn't have been Serena."
Goku shook his head. "No, Renegade had black hair and blue eyes." He had a suspicion about those silver strands though. And when he looked over to the girls, they were sharing a look as if they knew what was going on. "What?"
Ami looked slightly flushed. "I'm sure you'll figure it out one day," she answered cryptically and then went back to her typing.