Dragon Ball ZGX
Rated T: Blood, Cursing, Suggestive themes.
Description: The conflict between Bardock and the Elite Assassins is over, and Turles has met his end at the hands of his most trusted ally, Tundra. With the knowledge that Gine is still alive, Bardock is bound and determined to find her. But how? Without any clues, Bardock feels the search could take years. However, he receives a willing hand from an unexpected ally. The adventure continues, now.
Act 4: Reunions Saga
Chapter 41: Liftoff
xXxXxXx
Departure day finally arrived. It was mid-morning, Bardock hadn't gotten much sleep because of how anxious he was for the trip. The morning consisted of Chi Chi trying to help Gohan pack, and Ox-King being annoyingly over protective. Sure, his bags were loaded with school books, but that's what they had capsules for. Bardock had one bag, very lightly packed as the only thing he needed was clothes. He had a few extra green and black gis made up for the trip, and kept his red bandana on top of everything else so it was the first thing he grabbed. Sheamus already had his stuff capsulized, and none of them needed to be wearing combat outfits yet, so they all went casual.
It wasn't gonna take long for them to get to Capsule Corp, but they needed to make a pit-stop first. Sheamus decided to head to West City alone and wait for them there. There weren't many words exchanged between Gohan and Bardock. Bardock was largely silent, even to Gohan's few attempts at conversation. After a while, he just stopped and focused on getting to their destination. And soon, Korin Tower appeared in the distance, and a smile formed across Gohan's lips.
"There it is!" He said excitedly.
Bardock looked up and saw the tower disappear into the sky. "Wow. That is taller than I thought."
"That's right, you've only seen it from the top down."
"Yeah. The first time, I was unconscious, the second time, I was dead." Bardock glanced over at Gohan briefly. "Kakarot climbed that when he was a kid?"
"Yup! He wouldn't've been able to train with master Korin if he cheated to get to the top. He couldn't fly yet, and he couldn't use Flying Nimbus."
"Flying what?" Bardock said confusedly.
Gohan chuckled. "Here, I'll show you." He turned his head and looked around a little. "Flying Nimbus!" he called out.
About 30 seconds passed with nothing happening, but then from the clouds above, the Flying Nimbus shot out and quickly lined itself parallel with Gohan. The young Saiyan shifted over and landed on it.
"This is Flying Nimbus." Gohan said as he stood casually atop the cloud, hair flowing wildly with the wind. "This is how my dad used to get around before he could fly. Master Roshi passed it down to him, and now I've inherited it from my dad."
"Neat. You can probably fly faster than it though." Bardock said.
"Yeah. We have seemingly outgrown our use for Nimbus. But I like to go for a ride every now and then. It brings back memories of my Dad. And, you don't expend any energy like you do with flying. You can sneak around undetectably if you need to."
"Ah. I can see how that could come in handy." Bardock said.
"The only catch is that you have to have a pure heart to even ride it. Master Roshi can't ride it, and there's no way Vegeta could get on it."
This made Bardock sigh. "Guess I shouldn't try to board your cloud then." he said with an awkward chuckle.
"Don't say that. You've changed, grandpa."
"Trust me, that doesn't mean I'm 'pure of heart' or whatever."
Gohan watched him silently for a brief moment. Bardock was staring directly ahead with his hair swept back and flowing with the wind. He then looked down at Nimbus and patted the fluff beside one of his feet.
"Alright buddy, I'll see you again soon." Gohan said. He hopped off and resumed his flight, and Nimbus took off and disappeared into the clouds again. "Alright, now to see Korin and pick up Piccolo."
"So they all live together up there or something?"
"Yes and no. The Lookout isn't technically part of the tower. Where Korin lives is below the Lookout itself. Korin is who we're getting the Senzu Beans from."
"Right. Then Piccolo, then Capsule Corp."
Soon, they were flying along the tower itself, and quickly arrived at Korin's place. The two Saiyans landed, and Korin, who was partially submerged upside down in one of his ceramic pots, popped up and smiled at Gohan.
"Hey kid, how's it going?" he asked.
"I'm great! How are you, master Korin?" Gohan asked with a bow.
"'Master' huh?" Korin said while running his fingers along his whiskers.
"Oh, kid, don't get him going. He hasn't been anyone's 'master' since your father.." Said Yajirobe obnoxiously as he climbed the staircase to the upper floor.
Korin turned to him in a snap. "Once a master, always a master! Unlike you, who hasn't done anything except mooch. Why do I even let you live here?"
"First of all, I'm very productive, and secondly, if I left, you'd have to tend to the Senzu Beans by yourself."
Korin just sighed and shook his head. Gohan chuckled at this while Bardock looked on in awe.
"Ah. Anyway, Piccolo said you'd be stopping by for some beans before your big trip." Korin continued while grabbing a bag of Senzu Beans from a small round table.
Gohan nodded. "It's always better to be prepared, especially when you're going to space."
"Yeah, you and space don't seem to have a good rapport." Korin then tossed the bag to Gohan, who caught it and fastened it to his hip.
Gohan bowed once again. "Thank you."
Korin nodded, then looked at Bardock and quietly studied him for a moment. This annoyed the Saiyan a little, but he didn't show it.
"If it weren't for the scars and the lack of orange, you probably would've fooled me into thinking you were Goku." Korin said while rubbing his chin.
Bardock blinked and lightly winced as he thought about his late son. "I've gotten that a lot."
"Hey, Goku was a good kid. That runs in the family, I can tell." Korin said, glancing briefly over at Gohan.
"Psh, you wouldn't have known, Korin." Yajirobe said, "You would've sensed his ki and figured it out."
"Well I wasn't talking about sensing ki, so why don't you go be 'productive' with whatever it is you do, and stop annoying me."
Yajirobe laughed as he started heading back downstairs. "See ya later, Gohan! Bye, Goku's dad!" he called out as his voice grew quieter.
"Bye, Yajirobe!" Gohan called out. He looked up at Bardock and tapped the bean bag on his hip. "Ready to go?" Bardock nodded in response. Gohan then looked at Korin once more and waved. "Thank you again, master Korin! See you soon!"
"Bye kid. Good luck." Korin said while waving at them as they took off.
xXxXxXx
Capsule Corp
Bardock and Gohan met with Piccolo at the Lookout, then the trio quickly made their way to West City. The trio landed on the sidewalk outside the compound by the front gate, where Sheamus leaned against the wall waiting for their arrival. His arms were crossed and head was down, and as the duo approached, he looked up at them.
"That was quick." said the redhead hybrid.
"Korin tower is a lot closer to here than my house is." Gohan said as he passed Sheamus and entered the compound.
Sheamus watched him curiously for a brief moment, then looked up at Bardock. "Haven't seen a Senzu Bean in a while."
"Let's hope we don't need them." Bardock said as he walked by. Piccolo followed and simply looked at the redhead as he went by. Sheamus sighed, then turned to enter behind them.
The new ship sat in the yard, and it was significantly larger than the original Capsule ships. It was the same spherical shape and had the same white and black paint scheme, with "Capsule Z" written on the side in large bold lettering. Dr. Brief was aboard the ship, tweaking things and giving the ship one final go-over before takeoff. Gummo was finishing up hyperdrive calibrations and connecting the hyperdrive core. Bulma exited the front door of the dome as the trio went up the walkway.
"Today's the day, guys!" Bulma called out excitedly. The lab coat clad scientist had a coffee in hand, and behind her followed a butler with a platter of coffee cups for her guests. "Help yourselves, guys."
Gohan quickly grabbed a cup. "Thanks, Bulma!"
Bardock too grabbed a cup and took a small sip. "Thanks." He said.
Sheamus looked at the tray for a moment, hesitant to reach out for a coffee. There were several steaming mugs to choose from, but he had a mental block preventing him from taking one. He instead shifted his attention to the ship. He remembered seeing pictures of the older ships in the archives of his future, and it struck him as odd that this new ship was almost twice the size of the previous versions. He then noticed a second doorway with another ramp which was halfway up the ship towards the left.
"So… why is this ship so large?" Sheamus asked.
Bulma closed her eyes and sighed heavily. "Vegeta wants to be left alone and basically goaded us into making him his own space." She looked up at the ship and took another sip of her coffee. "So we just made it bigger so he could have his own floor. He has his own accessories and training system, as do you guys.
Piccolo scoffed. "How very Vegeta."
"Well he won't actually be alone, mom." Said Future Trunks as he walked up next to Bulma, dressed in his usual garb complete with sword. He placed an arm around her shoulder.
"That's only if he wants you up there." Bulma replied with uncertainty.
Vegeta then exited the house and walked across the yard towards the ship. The others all watched him quietly as he reached the ramp that led up to his part of the ship. He glanced over at the group and scowled.
"Stop staring at me." He simply said before looking back up the ramp. "Is it ready?"
"Yes Vegeta." Bulma said with a roll of her eyes.
"Good." Vegeta said. He started walking up the ramp and kept his eyes firmly focused on the door. "Trunks, let's go."
Trunks looked over at his father. "Right." He looked back at the others and nodded at them. "See you guys later."
Trunks then took off and headed up the ramp behind his father. Bulma looked up at them, and Vegeta was at the door, entering a code on a panel next to it to open it. Trunks caught up, and the two entered together.
"Oh well, guess they don't wanna know how long the trip'll take." Bulma said as she turned her head back to the others.
Bardock's face flushed with intrigue. "So… how long will this take?"
Bulma looked at him and smiled. "One month."
Bardock's eyes shot wide open and his mouth fell agape. He absolutely couldn't believe what she just said, he was in so much shock that he dropped the coffee cup. It shattered and coffee splashed over the walkway.
"Impressed, huh?"
Bardock blinked a few times and shook his head. He looked down at the mess on the ground and started rubbing the back of his head. He looked back up at her and chuckled awkwardly. "It's unbelievable."
Bulma smiled and shrugged. "Better start believing. We were able to cut that nasty two year trip down to one month, give or take. It's only an estimate, but if it's not one month exactly, it'll be within a few days, I'm sure. Either way, you're in the best hands because this baby is the most advanced piece of technology on Earth."
"What would we do without you, Bulma?" Gohan said with a close-eyed smile.
"You can't have your brawn without your brains." Called out the distinctive voice of Dr. Brief, who was standing in the bottom floor doorway. "Lucky for you, you have the greatest minds in science today on your side."
"But, we couldn't have done it without your friend, Gummo, Bardock." Said Bulma.
"I'll be sure to thank him." Bardock said with a nod.
Bulma led the group into the ship and showed them around. Much like previous models, this ship had the gravity training computer in the center of the room, the control terminal for the ship with a few rows of seats behind it, and a basement floor where there were bedrooms for the crew, complete with a small kitchen and restroom.
"I already explained Vegeta's half of the ship to him." Said Bulma before finishing her coffee. "He'll figure it out if he hasn't already. Or at least Trunks will."
Gummo was standing at the control terminal, on a stool so he could reach. On the screen, the coordinates for Vortano were typed in, and a digital render of the region was displayed. Bardock walked up beside him and looked down at the screen. The planet didn't have a name captioned anywhere, it was a simple outline amongst the render of space.
"It won't be in the database until the ship can scan the planet. But it's definitely out there, don't you worry." Gummo said, placing a hand on Bardock's left arm. They looked at each other and exchanged smiles. "You're gonna see your wife again, Bardock."
Bardock nodded once, then turned and walked back towards the center of the ship. He walked over to the gravity control terminal and studied it. Dr. Brief, the designer of the system, approached him with two cups of coffee.
"This is the training system Goku and Vegeta used to get stronger." Said the esteemed scientist. He handed a cup to Bardock.
"Thanks, I won't drop this one." Bardock said with an awkward chuckle.
Dr. Brief took a sip of his coffee. "You can train up to 500 times Earth's gravity. I had to cap it at 500 because Vegeta doesn't seem to know his limit. We don't need the ship blowing up in the middle of space."
"No we do not." Bardock said. He then turned and looked at Gohan and Piccolo. "Well, I'm ready to go if you guys are."
"Hey, this trip is about you." Piccolo said with a slight smile. He nodded once at Bardock. "Let's go."
"Well, in that case, dad and I better get off the ship." Bulma said, then looked over at Dr. Brief and motioned for him to follow.
"You guys be careful." Said Dr. Brief, "And try not to damage my ship, okay?"
"Our ship, dad." Added Bulma.
Dr. Brief chuckled and nodded, then followed his daughter through the door and down the ramp. Once on the ground again, they turned around and looked up at Bardock and Gohan, who were standing in the doorway.
"Good luck, guys! I'll miss you!" Bulma called out while waving.
Gohan waved back, and Bardock simply flashed the "peace" symbol at her. Bulma smiled, then the ramp began retracting into the ship, followed by Gohan and Bardock disappearing behind the closing door. Bulma, Dr. Brief and their team of scientists all stood a ways back and waited. Soon, the ship's engine fired up, and about 30 seconds later, Capsule Z began levitating. It ascended slowly for a while, and once it was level with many West City skyscrapers, it shot into the sky faster than the human eye can see, and was already deep into space.
Inside, Bardock, Gohan, Piccolo, Sheamus, and Gummo were all strapped in their seats with shock plastered all over their faces. The rate of speed at which the ship took off would've completely vaporized a normal person. Gummo, even though he was part of the system design team, didn't realize it would be so intense either.
"Well, that was quite unexpected." Said the lizard-man.
Bardock placed his hands over his stomach and started groaning. "Ugh, I feel like I'm gonna be sick." He started taking deep breaths to try and relax himself so he wouldn't end up doing that.
As Gohan, Piccolo and Gummo all unhooked their seatbelts, a door from the far right of the room opened up, and everyone looked over. In stormed a very visibly enraged Vegeta, who also looked a tad green. Trunks walked in slowly behind him, looking much more green in the face.
"You couldn't have warned us we were taking off?" Vegeta said angrily.
"To be fair, Vegeta, I had forgotten you were upstairs." Gummo said with a snide grin.
"You little…"
"Father, please…" Trunks said, placing a hand on Vegeta's right arm.
"I will not be made a fool of, boy."
Bardock looked over at Vegeta as he unfastened his belt, stood up and turned towards him. "Well, you didn't have to come. You said yourself you don't care about your brother."
Vegeta scoffed and crossed his arms. "You're right, I don't. I just want to see how many Saiyans actually survived, and how soft they've become if my brother is leading them." Vegeta turned around and walked back through the door, which closed behind him. Trunks sighed and shook his head before looking at his allies again.
"Gummo," said Bardock, "You could've told us there's a staircase before we left."
"Sorry, it slipped my mind." Gummo replied.
Gohan laughed at this exchange, then looked at Bardock and Piccolo. "Why don't we go checkout downstairs?"
"Sure." Bardock said. He glanced back by the terminal and saw Sheamus still sitting in his seat. "You wanna join us?"
Sheamus looked up and over at the trio and shook his head. "No, I'm still a little woozy from that launch. You guys go ahead, I'll be here." Bardock shrugged and nodded.
Gohan looked at Trunks. "You wanna come check it out?"
Trunks smiled. "Sure, why not? I've already been in my room upstairs. But I'm gonna give father some space to cool off anyway."
"Alright then!" Gohan said.
Himself, Bardock, Trunks and Piccolo then went through a door on the left side of the room that led down to a low-ceiling "basement" floor where the rooms, kitchen and restroom were. Sheamus sighed and looked ahead at Gummo.
"Hey…" Sheamus said ominously. Gummo looked back at him curiously while Sheamus unsnapped his buckle and leaned forward. "You didn't say anything to them about what I told you and Takomi, right?"
"About you being a descendant of theirs? No, I haven't." Gummo replied while placing his hands on his hips. Sheamus sighed and slunk down in his seat. Gummo walked towards him and cocked his head to the left. "Why is it so important that no one else knows?"
Sheamus sighed and slowly ran his hands down his face. "It's just… I've been having nightmares for a while, both before and after I got back here. It always ends with Bardock finding out our relationship, then everything turns into a fiery hellscape. That's usually when I wake up."
Gummo waited as Sheamus paused with a heavy sigh. The redhead blinked a few times while his hands were pressed together in front of his face. Then, he shifted his eyes towards Gummo.
"Last night I had the dream again. Only this time, after the fiery hell, everything went black. Then I saw a very faint figure, and all it said was 'stop'. I don't know what it means, or if it means anything. But it only started happening after I came back."
Gummo began rubbing his chin. "Are you sure it's not just your subconscious making you feel guilty?"
"I mean, it could be. But it's the same dream over and over again. It feels like a warning, but then again, I could just be going crazy from all the stress and trauma I've been dealing with."
Gummo straightened out and sighed as well. "Look." He said. "I won't say anything. But if you think something's going on, you need to figure it out."
Sheamus looked up at Gummo with a sigh, and nodded. "Fine. Let's hope I'm just really paranoid."
Gummo nodded, then turned around and returned to the control terminal. On the terminal was a detachable microphone, and Gummo picked it up and brought it to his beak.
"Attention Capsule Z crew. We will be entering hyperspace in ten minutes. Please make sure you are properly fastened in your seats, as if you are not, you will most likely be pancaked against a wall, and will probably die. Thank you for choosing Capsule Corp."
Sheamus chuckled and rolled his eyes. He fastened his seatbelt again and sat back. It wasn't long before Gohan, Trunks, Piccolo and Bardock returned. Trunks headed upstairs while the others sat down in their chairs and fastened their seatbelts to await the oncoming jump.
"When did you become such a cornball?" Bardock asked amusedly.
"Peace seems to have loosened me up a bit." Gummo replied as he buckled himself in.
Upstairs, Vegeta was strapping himself into a seat when Trunks came through the door. He had a scowl on his face, as if this was something new. Trunks sat down and buckled himself in as well.
"That guy's gonna get on my nerves." Vegeta said in a low, angry tone.
Trunks blinked at him a few times. "Still mad that Goku's gone?"
Vegeta closed his eyes. "Shut up." Trunks smiled at this and relaxed.
As the ship sped through space, it began fluorescently glowing. The computer began counting down from ten. Everyone was strapped and braced for the jump, and could hear the crescendoing whine of the hyperdrive charging. Then, the computer reached zero, and the ship began its jump through hyperspace.
xXxXxXx
Planet Paradis
A beautiful sunset on a desolate planet. Most of the sky was purple, around the half-set sun it was orange. Tundra stood alone near the side of a cliff with his hands behind his back. Several yards behind him was his ship, parked in a field where Quiet was leaning against a nearby tree in her cargo pants/bikini top combo. She was reading a book in a rare moment of peace in their lives. But they were on Zarian's homeworld, and Zarian wasn't with Tundra and Quiet. Tundra was looking out over a vast, battle-worn land with a ravaged and broken down town sitting in towards the right of his field of view. Soon, a tiny dot rose into the air from beyond the ravaged town, and started flying towards the cliff.
"He's on his way." Said Tundra.
Quiet looked up from her book at Tundra, then moved a red bookmark to the page she was on, closed it, and it dematerialized in her hand. She walked over to the cliff to join Tundra, and moments later, Zarian landed about ten feet in front of them. They both looked at their tall, muscular, scar painted ally, who had a somber look on his face. He was now sporting an eyepatch over his right eye due to losing it in Turles' torture chamber.
"Sorry I took so long." Said the towering warrior as he looked up at them.
Tundra simply nodded and returned his attention to the landscape below. "Your people would be proud."
"You can go see it now, if you want." Zarian said.
"I shouldn't. I kept a secret from you your whole life, and I let you get hurt." Tundra said.
"If that's how you feel." Zarian replied.
He looked at Quiet, but didn't say anything. She shifted her eyes away, then cloaked herself and took off. Zarian sighed and shook his head.
"Why does she do this?" Zarian said with a sigh.
"Because she's her." Tundra said dryly. He turned his attention back to the view below. "How are you feeling?"
Zarian sighed again and turned around to look as well. "Sad, heartbroken, haunted. But oddly enough, no anger. Honestly, I'm feeling at peace." Tundra simply nodded in response.
Quiet, using her incredible speed and ability to cloak herself from sight and sense, sped away from Tundra and Zarian. So fast, it was like she was warping from location to location, and she eventually wound up in the village ruins. She looked around at all of the damage. Collapsed buildings, debris in the streets, and dried blood stains all over the place. She put her hands on her hips while panning her head around. Nature was reclaiming the town slowly as moss and vines were growing on buildings, grass growing through the streets with flowers here and there. The sky grew ever darker as the sun continued setting, and none of the remaining street lights worked. Hauntingly beautiful, or it would've been if Quiet didn't know the story behind it.
She sighed, then started walking south towards where Zarian came back from. She walked down a wide street lined with rubble, overturned Paradisian vehicles, slabs of concrete lodged into the road standing upright, faded yellow street signs bent and contorted all over the place. As she walked, she spotted an empty stroller on the side of the road, which made her gasp lightly. As she passed, she held her hands over her heart and sighed. Soon, she found herself walking through the town border. She looked around, and in a field to the right, she saw what looked to be a graveyard. She quickly dashed over and stood just before a line of gravestones. They weren't made professionally, each one was a bit jagged, disproportionate, varying sizes, and Quiet quickly realized that this was Zarian's work. Each gravestone had a name etched into it too, with "in memorial to" written before the name. At the base of each gravestone was a small bouquet of flowers, and two candles on each side.
She walked through the rows until she reached the final one, a tall stone in the center with a gravestone on each side of it. The name on the left, "Miranda, mother", and on the right, "Xander, father". She sighed and looked at the middle one. Etched was a short speech, "In memory of those lost during the Saiyan attack, of those that defended Paradis to the very end, of the bystanders unlucky enough to be caught up in the battle. Rest In Peace, you will be remembered, you will be missed." She smiled at all this, then turned around and looked at the cliff in the distance where Tundra and Zarian were. She couldn't see them from there, she knew that they probably knew she was down here, but she also knew they weren't gonna question her.
She looked ahead at the large stone in the middle and placed her right hand against it. She quietly mouthed a few words to herself, then stepped away from the stone and smiled at it. Then in a flash, she dashed away.
Back up on the cliff, Tundra and Zarian were still standing where they were when Quiet left. They were watching the end of the sunset, and as the star sunk under the horizon, Tundra turned around. Quiet reappeared by the ship and glanced over at them. Zarian turned around and made brief eye contact with her. She cracked a very light grin for the briefest of moments before heading up the ramp into the ship. Zarian realized it, and he realized that she went to see the memorial for herself. It made him smile.
Tundra glanced at Zarian. "Let's get moving."
Zarian looked at him and nodded, and the two of them made their way towards the ship together and headed inside.
To Be Continued...