Continuity

Chapter 98: Brooding

There was a spit with meat, something fermented in a keg rolled against a tree, and a crowd of familiar faces — most that Bardock wanted to see again, after a life-and-death spent apart. Rare thing, that. Saiyans he wanted to see… One of those...

'One more minute…', he muttered, outside of this space and time. One of those good dreams. 'I'm… in the middle…'

'Dad…'

Damn it. 'What?' Bardock growled as sat up, blinking. 'What was so important—'

His son's deathly unemotive face silenced him. He thought slower. Looked around a bit more closely.

'Right.' He muttered. They were in darkness. The floor felt like rough rock. 'We were in that field by the ship, and…'

'Now we're not,' Kakarot finished for him. He sighed. 'It's actually worse than that. We're in a cave, which is… half our home, half our prison.'

Bardock massaged his jaw. 'Meaning?'

'...'

'What?'

All of a sudden Kakarot couldn't make eye contact with him — but he had been the one to wake him. He had something to say. 'Well?' Bardock demanded. 'Explain.'

'...Raditz took us. He— Don't.'

In a second Kakarot's arm had raced out to grip his father and keep him tethered to the ground. A cascade of bare, blunt emotions flowed through Bardock's face, not least anger and jubilation and the type of satisfaction that was hard to look at. 'Can't imagine it,' Bardock said, sheer energy carrying his words. 'I can believe it — believe the humans lied to us —'

'It's — don't be so quick to think that,' Kakarot urged. 'We need—'

'Why shouldn't I think like that?' Bardock snarled, tearing his arm away from his son and somewhat groggily standing up. 'He's alive. They said he wasn't. That's as big a lie as it gets.'

Kakarot followed his father up. 'You don't understand. He's confused.'

'So am I, but you don't see anyone hiding me. I swear — those Earthlings —'

'Dad.' At last Kakarot found enough force in his voice to stop his father, halfway into storming off in a random direction in the dark — whether deeper or towards the cave's exit, Kakarot didn't even know. 'You need to understand. Raditz… he's powerful.'

'What are you saying?'

'I don't think they would or could have concealed him — not even mention he exists — with the strength he's throwing around. I mean…' Kakarot lowered his voice, which reminded Bardock he didn't really know where they were, let alone where Raditz was and if he could be close enough to eavesdrop. 'He… brought us here. Kidnapped us, if I've got the right handle on things. I mean… do you remember seeing him at all before passing out?'

'You mean rescued, don't you?' Bardock corrected his son while scowling. 'Er…' He sighed. 'Alright, let's entertain this thought. You're sure he took us?'

'I saw him earlier, just outside this cave.' Kakarot suddenly grew very quiet. 'He's the only one around. I'm sure.'

Something didn't sit right with Bardock. His son's presence was off — like he'd seen something he shouldn't have. It was just Raditz. Raditz… who was stronger than them. Stronger than himself… Now that he thought about it…

Bardock scanned their surroundings. 'Which way to the exit?'

A minute later he saw his son. Bardock saw enough to sate his curiosity for the rest of his life and the life after. A weakness grabbed hold of him. He couldn't approach Raditz. The shine and preternatural glow under the moon's light, casting and wavering like a mirror beside the dying fire beside his son… the way Raditz's eyes, no longer a pair, bored into the cooling rocks and the dusked forest horizon beyond his rocky perch...

When they once again reached the depths of the cave, the familiar darkness they could easily melt back into, Bardock stood among the cold rock and stared at the desiccated and broken remains of animal bones and tried his best to accept reality.

'I understand now,' Bardock said quietly. 'I… see. He's not… all there.'

'Mind or body.' In the dark Kakarot avoided his father's gaze. For once Bardock was thankful for his son's habit of avoidance. He couldn't even bring himself to talk to the son he'd been searching for for nearly two decades now. Shame flooded his conscience.

'His memory... isn't right,' Kakarot went on. 'He thinks… He remembers, believes he's back on the Earth with me... the first and only time.'

Bardock remembered what Kakarot had told him of that time. The shock of meeting his brother, the demands, and… His jaw clenched. 'I see.'

'It's what he asked me to do. He wants me to purge the planet.'

To that, Bardock had no response and no comfort to offer.

'We need to sleep,' Bardock said at last, 'before either of us say something we don't mean or haven't thought through.' Weakness filled his throat. 'I… I can't process all this. Not now. Not… now.'

'We can sleep here,' Kakarot said. 'We're safe — no one's getting close as long as Raditz's outside. Even if that wasn't the case, as far as I know, no one else should know about this place.'

'You've been here before?'

Kakarot avoided his gaze again. 'This was my cave, a long time ago. My home. Here, he…'

'Sleep,' Bardock repeated, sparing his son from finishing his sentence.

'Sleep.'

0o0o0

There were no words exchanged beyond the four-word news. Everyone — even Krillin and Rayne, the latter who had been roused out of sleep for half an hour — searched the surrounding forest as best they could for any tracks or clues or signs as to where their captives could have run off to. It was quieting, deadening work, and after a break to let the sun rise and an hour more spent searching, they gave up.

'It's not your fault.' Bez stood over Mark bent form, arms and head collapsed into his lap. He tried to reassure him with a hand on his shoulder. This — this would have happened to anyone. Could have happened.'

'Could,' Mark muttered, not looking from the ground.

Across the burnt-out remains of the bonfire Krillin sighed softly — so as to avoid waking Rayne pressed against him — and scanned the area.

'Bulma?' Krillin said, face tired and pained from walking through the last half of the night. He watched her busy herself with hauling things off the ship… hurriedly. 'Any reason why you're moving half of everything not bolted down off the ship?'

She ignored him or at the very least was too consumed by her work to stop. More items came rolling down the ramp, trays, food packets, batteries, and tools, until there was a long pause where she didn't appear. Then she pulled and tugged the goop machine into sight at the top of the ramp.

Krillin clapped. 'Hey, Bez?' He pointed to the ship. 'Help her?'

About a minute later the machine was on solid ground. Wiping her hands of grease Bulma followed Bez back towards the circle. 'Thanks again.'

'You're welcome,' Bez replied, reassuming his post over Mark.

'Care to explain what's going on now, Bulma?' Krillin asked.

'Sure — uh, actually.' She fiddled with something at her waist. 'One second. Hah!' Her body twisted as she lobbed something at the ship. A faint metal cling rang out, succeeded by a cloud of smoke blowing past them. When it cleared the spot of land the ship had been landed on was empty. With a somewhat satisfied smirk Bulma stepped forward and retrieved a small capsule from the ground.

'There,' she said, rejoining them. 'Now we can finally leave.'

One of Krillin's eyebrows raised. 'Ah. So we're moving base.'

'We can't stay here,' Bulma said, glancing momentarily… not at Mark, but in his vicinity. 'Not after what happened last night.'

Bez shifted on his feet. 'Why would our two escapee Saiyans come back here?'

'To attack us? No, not likely, because that wouldn't make any sense — but then why did they escape in the first place?' Bulma asked. 'Hiding doesn't help them do anything. They were pretty clear that all they were interested in was finding Raditz, and since we told him that he indisputably died—'

'And you're sure they believed you?' Krillin asked. 'I know what you said about your conversations with them coming back to Earth… but if they were even slightly suspicious of you…'

'It's hard to say for sure,' Bez agreed. 'It's doubly hard to know what Kakarot and Bardock were thinking when they left. For all we know they had a goal in mind they didn't share with us — one they knew we wouldn't like. Which is all the more reason we should think this move through. I mean—' he gestured to Krillin and Rayne. 'It's not like we're all fit to move camp.'

Bulma gave a small wave of her hand — half acknowledgment, half dismissal. 'Let me sell you guys on it. First off, transportation?' Out of nowhere Bulma produced a colored capsule in her hand and clicked it. 'Got that covered.'

A toss and puff of smoke revealed a freight plane — strikingly similar to the plane that had brought everyone out to the fight against Vegeta and his Saiyans not too long ago. Krillin would have thought it was the same vehicle, if it wasn't painted such a garish pink color.

'But…' Krillin turned to Bulma. 'I thought… West City…'

'This was on your ship,' Bulma replied, nodding in Bez and Mark's direction. 'I threw it on with a bunch of other surplus capsules I thought might be slightly handy on an alien planet. Basic mobility craft, some hazmat suits… stuff like that. Hence why I was shaking out the ship by its legs earlier.'

Bez's eyes slowly widened. 'You mean… even after what happened to Capsule Corp….'

'I'm still in the game,' Bulma replied, smirking. 'There's enough bits and pieces on that ship to make a new workshop. Which, speaking of… I'll make that once we get to where we're going.' She grabbed a duffel bag thrown from the ship and approached the plane. A ramp lowered and she tossed the bag inside. 'Old spot,' she said, returning, gesturing for Bez to help her move the other heavy stuff emptied from the ship onto the plane. 'Well — not old to me, at least, but to you and everyone else who'll hopefully join us there.'

'Yeah?' Krillin said, not bothering to hide his skepticism. 'And how's that going to happen?'

'Remember those pagers I made for everyone? The beeper for them went up in West City. So I'm going to build a replacement.'

Krillin sighed. 'Right. You didn't actually tell us where we're going, you know.'

'Kame House, Krillin.'

Krillin blinked. 'Kame House?...'

'Bulma?' Bez spoke up, returning from another lug to the plane. 'How are you going to get Launch to Kame House? She agreed to return here.'

For the first time today Bulma looked like she had to even momentarily think to answer. Krillin realized — this entire sequence is what Bulma was staying up to plan out last night.

'I'll leave a message at her house,' Bulma eventually replied.

Bez frowned and scratched his neck. 'She has a house? Alright… sure.'

'Well, it's more like a shack.'

'Alright, alright,' Krillin said, grabbing their attention. 'You've sold me. I'm sure Rayne agrees, too. We are exposed out here. Um…' he turned. 'Mark?'

Through their entire conversation he hadn't budged. It was unclear if he was even listening. After a long sigh he lifted his head from his lap. '...Yeah, I'll come too. But, uh… I'll need to ask a favor once we get there.'

'Of course,' Bulma said. 'Once we're there — I'll do more favors for everyone,' she said, trying to sound sweet. 'It's the least I can do for everyone agreeing.'

'So when do we go?' Krillin spoke up, looking and sounding a lot more eager.

'As soon as the plane is loaded up and Recoome gets back from his hike.' She pivoted on her hip to look backward. 'And… the first's part's done. Now…'

She began to look around, as if that act itself might manifest Recoome — and to her eminent and obvious satisfaction he did appear from the treeline within a minute. Unwanted by Bulma, however, was the object he held up in his right hand; a paper, flagging in the wind.

'Guys?' he called as he reached them in a jog. 'You might wanna see this.' He reached the stump Krillin and Rayne were leaning against and laid out the paper. All of them — even Mark, who seemed to feel this was important — crowded around Recoome, standing or sitting, leaning at all angles, peering, and then intimately studying what was a poster with ten photo-realistic portraits. Krillin, Piccolo, Rayne, Chi-Chi, Yamcha, Tien, Launch, Chiaotzu, Suno, Bulma. All under the big, bolded words, WANTED: RELAY ALL INFORMATION TO THE WORLD GOVERNMENT.

'That's…' Bulma muttered. 'That's us. Huh…'

Bez wrenched his gaze from the poster. 'Where did you get this?' He asked.

Recoome pointed up. High above and towards the horizon a lone twin-propeller plane was sailing through the sky, leaving a trail of white flutterings in its wake. Little dots and marks filled the air until a heavy wind scattered the constellation and each part drifted and glided on their way.

Krillin squinted at the sky. 'What the hell?...'

'Hey… wait a second…' Mark slammed his fist down. 'This is outrageous! Where's me and Recoome?'

0o0o0

She spared a foul glare for the room before turning her attention to a table against the wall. True as she remembered, three pagers were laid out, dusty and uncharged.

'Like the rest,' Launch muttered. 'Like everything in here. Damn it.'

Visiting the single-room shack she, Tien, and Chiaotzu called home had been the first obvious stop in her search — finding one of them tended to make it easier to find the other. But while there were little details of life here and there — Tien's bedroll being unrolled in defiance of his tidy ways, for one, or Chiaotzu's calendar flipped haphazardly across their dining table — nothing in their shack indicated that anyone had been here for a few days at least. At least a few snowfalls had obscured the bottom of the shack's only door. The food inside their ice fridge, however, was still fresh, and the guts of their stove held a little heat. Some time, she figured, but not too much — not too much to worry about...

Time, time… we're always running against time. Launch crossed over to the table and pressed a thumb to Chiaotzu's calendar. Red Xs marked the days for a few weeks. Weeks... that had passed since she and the others left for space, she realized.

She pulled her hand away from the calendar and placed it over her chest. Her heart suddenly felt too large and too heavy for her body. This… this wasn't unexpected, but... to see it out in the open like this…

Her hand balled into a fist. 'Where the hell are they?...'

Nothing that could help her jumped out. Crossing the room again she descended on Tien and Chiaotzu's corner, opening drawers and turning over sheets for any clues. She was snorting from her frustration when she blindly felt something beneath a low table; she pulled out a wrapped purple obi. Something she'd never seen Tien or Chiaotzu wear before.

Hold on… 'Where have I seen this before?...'

0o0o0

'Dr. Gero?'

Night had bled into morning and now the sun was reaching its peak outside just to fall and repeat once again. The mundane perseverance of the universe. Through it all Dr. Gero had sat, unmoving, unblinking, hobbled and hunched over to match his body to his mind.

'Dr. Gero,' 19 repeated, monotone and bereft of any emotion.

'You should call me by number, 19. I am 20. I... I am not equal to that name '

19 appeared to hitch — their mouth opened, closed, and then opened in rapid succession. 'Dr. Gero, you need to continue your work.'

'Work,' Dr. Gero mocked. 'What work is there left to do? What else can be done to salvage my ruined plans? I've…' he quieted. 'I've failed.' He visibly fumed at his misshapen wrists, at every protruding wire and circuit. 'My creations have failed. What else is there left to do other than accept defeat and death?'

'Dr. Gero - '

'Is that all you can say!?' Gero snapped.

19 didn't flinch — of course, he wasn't made to. Some clarity returned to Gero's mind. He calmed some.

'You have yet to explore the sub-basement,' 19 said. 'There might be something there you can use.'

'...' For a second Gero had forgotten what he was speaking to — a lifeless voice placed over a simple AI construction. It was made to prompt and take his commands and fight. No more, no less.

'Dr. Gero?'

'Fine.' Either his body or the bunker groaned as he stood. 'Stay on watch in the forest outside. Do not be visible. I want to know if anyone comes within ten miles of this place, 19. Is that understood?'

'Yes, Doctor.'

The annex below the bunker was somehow even more bare than the level above. A bare workbench, a terminal, and a few bits of machinery monitoring the bunker's lighting, locks, and external alarms. For a time Gero stood in the small room, staring at the walls, thinking that maybe if he wished long enough, something useful might manifest out of thin air.

None came. He sat at the terminal and with his remaining usable hand clumsily plugged in his hard drive carrying the hastily copied contents of his lab. A dusty, thick-backed screen glowed a wavering green and flickered as he flicked open his schematics for replacement limbs. First order of business. He'd need copper, lubricant, tuned wire steel… what's this?…

His attention drifted back to the hard drive's contents. Its files were arranged chronologically, by date of creation. He hadn't had time to copy every document from his lab. Instead he had focused on saving information critical to his mechanical body's upkeep, altering 19's rudimentary AI, Raditz's… things.

Gero scanned the list. Raditz's many things. Specifications for mechanical parts that in some way or fashion ended up in the Saiyan, the model for his internal reactor… and something else. An old, early file that Gero didn't recognize. He clicked.

By habit his eyes quickly scanned the document. It was an interview with Raditz from the first time they'd talked together, when Gero had prodded him for memory, thoughts, feelings, calibrating the right response in order to not agitate the sedated Saiyan. Carefully collecting information on his past.

Gero was missing something. He closed the transcript and leaned into the workbench.

'I've… my word. I've… panicked. Utterly and totally panicked.' It was clear now that he could think — Raditz's actions during and after revolting, his spotty memory, his mood swings — he was confused. Utterly confused without Gero's guidance. Lacking that... would mean...

If Raditz ran off into the wilds… in the short-term the personality and memories he'd assume would be whatever he experienced when last running free on Earth. Thoughts, feelings, goals... Gero's eyes widened. 'That's… that's it.' A burst of energy carried Gero over to the workbench, rapidly punching away at the computer to fabricate the necessary components needed to fully repair his hands so he could recoup this fiasco. This is how I turn it around!

0o0o0

It took about an hour of blind flying but eventually she found her landmark. Running into the base of Korin's Tower she arced vertically and sped up its side, past the top and through the final few clouds until a blip appeared in the vast blue above. She adjusted her speed and path and curved along its bottom and side, and shot up above its edge.

She had planned to toss Piccolo's obi in a dramatic or at least satisfying manner, but it was aggressively apparent that there was no spot available to do that. Rubble covered the Lookout's surface, cutting and rising out of its guts, making the entire place look like the side of a ragged cliff face.

'Ah…' Launch lamely tossed the obi, draping a block of white marble with what might as well have been a tiny ribbon. 'Anyone here?...'

No response prompted her to float forward and land in a small clearing — a space deliberately cleared of rubble, she realized. Stranger still was the white sheet covering something at one end of the area and the person sleeping underneath it.

'Kami?'

'Hey, Launch,' an unseen voice said. Launch spun — then relaxed.

'Korin,' she greeted. 'Any reason why you snuck up on me like that?'

The cat tapped his way to her with his staff on whatever pieces remained of the Lookout's tiles. 'Oh, you know. I was busy underneath trying to salvage things from the rubble.' He stopped and looked her over. He chose to smile. 'It's nice to see you, Launch.'

'Uh huh.' She glanced back at Kami. No shell of black around him anymore; she could flick him if she wanted to. Considering the state of this place… 'So… what happened?' She gestured to their surroundings. 'Did Kami's barrier explode and nearly take the Lookout with it?'

Korin shifted his weight and hands on his staff. 'A lot has happened.'

'I can see that.'

'But more importantly — things might have just happened. May still be happening. Understand? What went down here didn't harm or kill anyone, thankfully.' He closed his eyes, pinching his face. 'But I haven't been able to get a good sense of what's going on down below. There was a battle, but I couldn't and still can't tell who was fighting, or for that matter, who won…'

'Oh, Kami,' Launch said, equally anxious and exasperated. 'Back up. What's going on? I — who was here, who went to fight?'

'It's… hmm…' Korin shook his head. 'Too much to explain. I don't… ah. Wait.' Korin moved his staff into one hand and extended his other. 'Hold out your forehead.'

Launch's brows lifted. 'Are you?—'

'Just do it. Let me try it.'

'Alright.' Launch complied and bent over. 'Try it.'

Korin closed his eyes and flexed his face and fingers. Launch's forehead rested inches away from him; He recalled everything that had happened since she'd left for space, pictured her mind in his, and touched her head.

It was as quick as static jumping. Both pulled back in an instant, eyes blinking, Launch's especially glassy.

'It worked?' Korin asked.

'I— woah,' Launch emoted. 'Yeah, it worked. That's — I can't believe he's back. Traveler's here again…' She wrapped her body with her arms. 'That's… I don't know what to make of that.'

'Neither did Piccolo and Tien, I think,' Korin said. 'It's… hard to square with everything. They weren't sure how far to trust him.'

Launch grunted, rubbing her temples as if to warm up her brain. 'Well…' Her gaze drifted toward their sleeping third. 'I guess it's good that Kami's barrier is gone. Maybe we can figure out if we can use the dragonballs now, huh?'

Korin frowned. 'Maybe. I — I don't know. But before that—'

'I know, their battle, way ahead of you,' Launch said quickly, summoning her aura for flight with a pump of her arms. 'I'll go check on what happened — when I get back, I'll update you on everything that's happened in space. None of it is as pressing as this.'

'Understood.'

She grunted and sped into the air, curving down and past the Lookout's surface. Wild wind trampled and slowed to a breeze as the sound of her passage faded.

For a time Korin stood there unmoving, content to hold his staff. About thirty seconds in, he let out a long exhale and turned to the rubble beside him. 'She's gone! Come out!'

Two shapes about as tall as him weaved between stone blocks and detritus until finally climbing a final pile and appearing; Gohan first, pulling along Maron by her hand.

'Thanks,' she mumbled. She was sore and tired from the climb still. How Gohan wasn't genuinely confused her. She lifted from the ground slightly and pursed her face at Korin. 'So… why did we hide from Launch?'

Gohan shook his head in agreement with the sentiment. 'Yeah, um…' he fumbled over his words. 'Mr. Korin… um, also… why didn't you tell her about what happened to Piccolo and Tien? That they were captured by the World Government?'

Amused and somewhat proud of his intuition, Korin gave Gohan a crooked smile. 'You don't know Launch as well as I do. If I told her what I saw and where Piccolo and Tien were carted off to, there's a good chance Central City wouldn't exist by nightfall.'

'Really?...' Gohan stared off in the direction Launch had left by, face paling and flattening. 'That's scary…'

'Aren't you worried what the World Government will do to Piccolo and Tien?' Maron asked. 'If Launch can help…'

'Don't worry: I have another plan ready to go tomorrow.' Korin lifted his staff and held it in his lap as he knelt beside Kami. 'Besides — I need Launch to look over the battlefield one more time. I, um…'

Korin coughed before his voice got caught up in something. 'Yajirobe's gotta turn up eventually.' Alive. Hopefully.

0o0o0

Out of nervousness Kakarot turned and sought his father's eyes. 'Are you ready?'

'Ready as I'll ever be,' Bardock said, coughing once. 'Are you?'

'...' Kakarot could have answered but hesitated, and in that time a strong wind slammed against the late afternoon air, scattering the smell of a cooking fire they'd just put out. The ledge they stood prominently on even seemed to shake — just slightly — with the force of the motion. It would have been a bad way to start this, falling into the waterfall's pit far below.

There really was no telling how he would have reacted to that, let alone everything they were about to say.

Raditz landed in front of them. Despite being warned, Bardock flinched at seeing his son in all his being in the daylight. Flesh and metal…

'Raditz,' Kakarot said, drawing his brother's attention. 'I hope—'

'Move.' The command barely preceded the action; Raditz butted through them by his shoulders towards the cave's mouth. Once past he continued on… silent.

Kakarot and Bardock exchanged a glance.

'Raditz,' Kakarot tried again, turning and jogging to catch up. 'Are you?...'

'Why is he here?' The fire abruptly kicked back up as Raditz crouched down and threw a shank of meat on the stone rack pushed against it.

'You mean me?' Bardock spoke up from the far end of the ledge. He hadn't moved.

'Yes, you.' Raditz jabbed at the meat a little too aggressively for Kakarot's liking. 'Is he here because you lacked the power to finish your task, Kakarot? You lacked the will?'

Despite the aggression Raditz seemed content to poke his future meal for now; Kakarot had a moment to think. It was clear that Raditz firmly believed now was their first meeting five years ago, resumed from their brief encounter the night before. It was also clear that Raditz was holding some obvious malice towards their father. Kakarot knew Raditz had never mentioned Bardock to him when he first came to Earth. So where was this coming from?

'Alright,' Bardock said, cutting into Kakarot's thoughts. 'I think we both know what this is about, Raditz. You're angry—'

'Angry?' Raditz shot up. 'Angry about your failures as a father, your cowardice, and your utter contempt for me and Mom and—'

'Alright—' Kakarot grabbed Raditz by his rising right arm, making sure to touch his remaining flesh and skin. 'We should—'

Raditz pulled out of his grip. 'Don't touch me,' he hissed. 'If you do it again, I'll blow a hole through your chest. Understand?'

Underneath him his feet shifted. Kakarot tried to hold his composure — he couldn't: he turned away. 'I understand.'

Raditz stared at his brother's back, as if trying to glean a feature he'd recognized before. He spent considerably less time glaring at his father. 'I'm going inside,' he announced with the implicit command not to follow him in. He yanked his meat shank off the fire and disappeared into the darkness of the cave's mouth.

Kakarot was still staring into the dark when his father stopped beside him.

'That got us nowhere.'

'Is he going to stay in there?' Bardock asked, scratching his chin. 'Sulk? Someone like him—'

'He's confused, Dad,' Kakarot said. 'He thinks — with you here, his memory must be all messed—''

'I've made things all confusing, yes,' Bardock grumbled, moving away. He paced and eventually fell into a sit next to the fire. 'I mean… I tend to do that. Historically, I mean, with Raditz.'

Kakarot's interest in Raditz's treatment of their father flared. 'What do you mean?' he asked, sitting across the fire.

Bardock's hands looked lost for a second, stretching and grasping the air, until they reached for a length of meat. He figured Radtiz storming inside as his meal started to blacken opened up the meal to them. Bardock yanked a piece off the shank and practically swallowed it. 'I wasn't as… reflective back then as I am now. Raditz knew a very different me.'

'Yeah? How?'

'You want an example?' Bardock asked, voice a bit muted and awkward. 'Um... I guess… yeah. Alright. I hated your mother when I landed in Hell. That instructive?'

Kakarot's eyes widened. 'But in Hell — about her, you always how good she was, how'd she be in Heaven—'

A wide sweep of Bardock's arms, as if he was telling him to put everything around them aside and focus on him and the fire, commanded Kakarot's attention. '...You know how it is! You grow to miss the people who were in your life once they're gone.'

The fire wavered as Bardock leaned forward, eyes filled with pale outlines of flame. 'When we were both alive, we fought, spat, argued, cursed… we nearly killed each other, a few times, actually. And Raditz was caught up in all of that — until I left him behind with his mother to work in the PTO for King Vegeta.'

'...I see.' Kakarot wrung his hands. 'Once off-planet, did you—'

'There's no excuse for what I did, if that's what you're looking for,' Bardock interrupted him. 'With the PTO I didn't send any money or send a single tape or message. I built a crew of my own, fought and killed as I wanted, and looked out for myself.' His head lifted and met Kakarot's gaze. 'And if I'm being truly honest? It was more fulfilling, and I was happier, compared to the life I left behind.'

Bardock grabbed another piece of meat and inhaled it but had lost his interest in eating. The half-eaten shank rested on the fire's lining rocks. He tried a motion to get his son to finish it to no success. 'Raditz... grew up without a father,' Bardock eventually explained, 'except for the handful of times we interacted. He… he was so weak,' he said, closing his eyes. 'He was kicked and spat on by the other Saiyans kids around his age. If I had any desire to come home while working with the PTO, it vanished on the rare occasion I'd return to them and see Raditz come home with bruises and a black eye swollen with blood and tears. I nearly hit him for that embarrassment. And, in turn, your mother nearly killed me. So I'd leave for another year and try to forget both.' He sighed. 'Rinse, repeat.'

'Both?'

'The anger and I hate I felt towards Raditz and your mother, and the pain of leaving them while feeling that way.'

Without warning Bardock stood; his posture indicated that either he wouldn't or couldn't take any questions about this right now. Not that Kakarot could have asked any questions right now, mind as quieted as it was.

'No one escapes who they are, Kakarot. They can only work against their nature. For most of my life I only looked out for myself. The way I see it, all the time I've been given to live again has been about giving back to you and Raditz as much as I've taken from you. That's why…'

His sentence, and judging by his face, his thoughts trailed off into nothing. 'Nevermind..'

Kakarot stared at him. His father looked halfway here and halfway towards the rippling pool of water far below them. 'Are you going somewhere?'

'For a walk. Might be a long one. I need to clear my head if I'm going to speak with Raditz again — which we have to do at some point.'

Bardock moved past the fire — and stopped beside Kakarot. 'Son… what I've told you… has it changed your opinion of me?'

'You want my honest opinion?'

'Yes.'

'I don't know.'

'Hm.' That grunt betrayed Bardock. It wasn't the answer he was looking for. It wasn't even the one he could have lived with. Kakarot only got a glimpse of that weight begin to pull down on his father's face before he stepped past and waded towards the rock's edge, and decided to dive. Five seconds, then a splash.

0o0o0

The land was blasted, scored, and warped by the echo of combat. Even from this high up the splintered mountains opened up, telling of a titanic battle that had destroyed entire valleys, rock and tree and all. There was too much for Launch to see. To measure its width she'd have to fly in one direction for a full minute.

More than that… more concerningly… the land's scars were wild. Like whatever forces had been grappling with each other had erupted into chaos beyond what their owners could control. A huge amount of power, just spilled out onto the Earth. Whatever, whoever caused this…

She had to pull her eyes from the trail of destruction stretching past the horizon. Whatever, whoever… it or they can't be allowed to cause this again. I'm not sure the Earth could survive another storm like this…

It was clear to Launch that the impetus for what she was seeing was long gone. The wind was calm and smelled surprisingly fresh, considering the burnt patches of forest below her.

Launch's attention lingered on the black-colored trunks lining a bank. It was noteworthy that any trees, in any state, were still standing in this area. Beyond this particular stretch of valley, which was cupped protectively by a stream and rising mountains on all sides, nothing remained except broken and upturned rock.

She descended. Her feet crushed down on ash, aura stirring a thin layer into the air. She held her breath as the air calmed and cleared again and studied her surroundings. The hollowed husks of trunks did little to make a forest someone could hide in. No leaves, bushes.

Her head arced and looked around as she squinted. All brown, except...

Something bottled in the distance. Far faster Launch dashed and skidded to a stop beside a nearly-dry riverbed. She leaned in and calmly scanned the stream, left to right. Water, water, and Yajirobe, pressed against the rocky bank, eyes mostly white and boring into her.

'Oh.' His arms slid down the bank. 'It's you.'

Launch took a moment to correct her face into a scowl. 'Were you hiding?'

'Yeah. So what?' He frowned at the water weaving between his toes. 'Didn't know it was you…'

'Come on. Get up here.'

He seemed to wait for a moment to see if she'd offer a hand. She didn't. A weird expression crossed his face as he scrambled out of the stream. Heavy swinging pats of his hands cleared his orange clothes of dirt. '...So… um…'

Launch's eyes cursorily looked over him. 'I don't see any injuries.'

'Um… yeah…' Yajirobe stuck out his arms and looked at himself. 'Guess so.'

'You're still armed, too.'

'Yep.'

'So why would I help you out of a one-inch-deep stream? Are you that lazy?'

'...uh... huh…' He rested his hands on the hilt of his sword slung in his scabbard. 'Anyway. Thanks.'

'For what?'

'For getting me out of here. Can't fly, remember?'

'You can't walk?'

'...' Yajirobe's aggressively neutral face looked away.

'What?' Launch probed. 'Is this when you tell me why you're hiding in a ditch in the middle of a miles-wide, desolated battlefield?'

'Don't want to get caught out in the open… not sure if they're still around…'

'Who?'

'Nevermind. We need to go anywhere but here.' He sighed as he studied the crisped remains of the forest. 'This place is bad for the soul.'

Launch snapped her fingers to get his attention. 'Hold on. You need to give me the basic details before I take you anywhere.'

'Huh? Oh yeah, sure.' Yajirobe squinted at her. 'You talk to Korin at all?'

'Before I came here, actually.'

'Oh, good. So you know about Dr. Gero, walking around again, all that? He's got three Androids, which includes himself.' He paused. 'Yeah, I know. He turned himself into an android. How crazy is that?'

'I don't really care — not right now, at least,' she corrected herself, knowing that at a later point she would care a lot. 'There are two other Androids with him?'

'Yuh-huh.'

'Hmm…' Launch rubbed her arms. 'How strong are they?'

'Gero and a kinda wide one, pretty strong. But the third one — he was as strong as Traveler.'

'Hard to believe. Korin told me the Androids don't have any sensable ki.'

'Well, because the third one fought Traveler, duh.'

Launch visibly stiffened. 'Are… are you serious? They fought? And… who won?'

'Not sure.' Yajirobe gestured with his sword towards the run of broken land to their right, stretching out of view over a broken mountain. 'But I can tell you their battle caused that.'

'...Alright…' Launch did her best to put aside — no, she wasn't even going to pretend she could sort out the fifty different emotions swirling around in her right now. 'Good to know, I guess.'

'I can tell you more on the way to the Lookout.'

'Yeah, alright.' He looked expectantly at her. He would have gestured to get going if not for the remarkable… closed nature of her pose. Actually, if anyone was looking at the other expectantly, it was her.

'So, uh…' Yajirobe stumbled through, 'Are we?...'

'Yajirobe, didn't you come here with someone? With two someones, more specifically?'

He made a face like he'd just bitten into a lemon. 'Ahh… yeah.'

Launch stared into his soul. 'Well?'

'I… don't know where they went. Tien and Piccolo, they were fighting, but I got blown back, and—'

'Yeah? And?'

'...' He looked away. 'Um…'

She appeared before him. 'Yajirobe,' she said slowly. 'The next time I ask, I'm not going to speak.'

'Alright, alright!' He held up his hands. 'Message received! Tien and Piccolo got beat up by those Androids, and then some tanks — World Government I think — showed up and carted them away! If I had to guess!-'

Launch grabbed him by his wrists. 'We're going.'

'Huh?!'

'Now.'

'Wha— wait — WHAAAAAA!' Ki shot them into the air, propelling Launch towards the horizon while dragging along Yajirobe's fading screams.

0o0o0

He couldn't sleep. Not here, not now. He'd seen this indefinite ceiling submerged in darkness hundreds of times before, sore after a long day of training or jogging or even the bimonthly errands he'd been tasked to do with Yamcha, Chi-Chi, and Rayne. It might as well have been a lifetime ago. For whatever reason, Kame House's second floor had no lights or fans — no electricity, while downstairs… well, it didn't really matter now, considering nothing on the ground floor worked anymore besides the appliances Bulma was hooking up to a generator. The building was as solid as ever but time and disuse had worn on its color and contents. When he had first entered, hobbling on his good knee, Krillin had run a hand over the worn and tearing threads of the sofa, the sand slipping over the front door's threshold, and the faded glass of the thick and boxy and old cathode TV.

Bulma had wanted to start tinkering with the wiring and fixtures to fix this place up and move some of her equipment inside into the living room. With a look Krillin had shot that idea down, though before bed he had approached her and told her she could replace whatever in the TV was broken and power up other things so that they could get the news and cook their own food. Considering that they were wanted by the World Government — which meant they were wanted in every town and village on Earth with any contact with the outside world — it was probably smart to keep themselves in the global loop and independently fed.

Somewhere to his right a balled-up poster rested near the wall. Crumpling and chucking it before Mark and Recoome could start commenting on it had been the one relaxing thing he'd done today, even if it had only given him a momentary peace before all the other constriction seeped back in. Despite everything they knew — what Krillin earned at the cost of a friend from another time's life, and what Bulma had detailed about Rush and the others at Fire Mountain — it was remarkable just how little they understood about what was going on

He groaned and shifted through the night. His eyes closed but his mind never followed. Somehow he got sweaty and woke again when he felt moisture wrapping around his left cheek. Groggily he half-rose from the ground, head weaving and looking around.

Same room. Krillin laid down, turned and stifled his groan as he sat up. One plus to getting their own bedrolls again was that Rayne had all the space she needed to stretch out to sleep, and he had the space to get up and walk when he wanted.

There was light in here now; the indefinite dark from last night now seemed like a distant memory. He looked out the room's only cloudy window. It was early still, so he had to be a little more quiet than usual. He parted from Rayne with an arms-length smile and tiptoed out of the room. He was careful to close the door without much sound and crept even quieter towards the stairs. From the landing he could hear snoring — probably Recoome's — from the room beside his. Poor Mark. Poor Bez.

The landing was the most intimidating part of this journey. Every one of those steps on the way up had squealed like a pig being stabbed last night. Getting down without making noise seemed laughable, if not impossible. Even with ki lightening his weight, even the slightest pressure on any step would wake the entire house — at that point he might as well not touch it, and just…

An idea slowly dawned on him — the kind that's obvious once you see it but tough to think up in the first place. He turned away from the stairs toward the railing guarding the landing, putting one hand on the thin horizontal wooden beam. He pictured ki flowing down his body in gentle waves, dissolving into the old wood grains of the floor beneath him. The gentle pulses carried through him, then with him, as he felt a lightening feeling, and when he felt like something had happened, he opened his eyes.

Sure enough, he was floating above the railing. His modest smile didn't budge as he guided himself past the landing, righted, and descended to the ground floor. When he touched down he didn't so much as make a creak.

'That took you a while.'

Krilin jammed his injured leg into the sofa and toppled over its back in a loud mess. 'Ah— wha — Bulma!' Krillin yelped, shifting and sticking his head back up. 'Don't—'

He stopped. She was motionless, legs pulled under her, sitting on the smaller worn sofa in the room…. really motionless. Like Krillin knew he wasn't looking at a picture because faint vapor was rising from the cup held between her hands motionless

With closed eyes Bulma paused to drink a cup of something brown — coffee, right. 'What?'

'Um…' Krillin mumbled. 'Any reason why you didn't say anything before I floated down?'

'You look like you were focusing.'

If so, he felt that was true of her, not him.

'I… but… yeah,' Krillin sighed. 'Maybe I was.'

Bulma set down her cup and leaned back. Her eyes were still closed. 'Sorry for startling you. And I wouldn't worry about the noise. I found out for myself that nothing — I mean nothing — gets past Recoome's snores.'

It was a joke, he knew, but she wasn't smiling. Krillin looked at her. 'Nothing?'

'Nothing.'

'Is everything all right, Bulma?'

'No,' she said quickly. Her eyes remained closed. But now Krillin did notice some slight movement from her — one of her eyelids was slowly twitching. Now that he was looking at that spot…

Oh.

'Wait outside for me, Krillin,' Bulma said, her voice rapidly unraveling. Some shaking was moving through her arms. Her coffee was dangerously sloshing against the sides of her cup — and stilled. She abruptly steadied; thinking about how much effort that must have required of Bulma made the healing hole in Krillin's leg ache. 'I'm thinking about the events of the last few days,' she said with that motionless presence. 'And—'

'It's okay,' Krillin practically jogged to the door. 'I'm gone.'

0o0o0

Putting aside the peeling paint Kame House was just as Krillin remembered it, shining in the ocean's gaze. There were some marks of infrequent upkeep lining the building — new rails for the porch, and spots where the wood didn't bend as much as others. Yamcha had made this place an on-off home for a while, he recalled. Back when he was moving away from Bulma… hmm…

The ocean was much more calm to look at. Krillin could use a Yamcha or at least a Yamcha-like figure right now. He could work well together with Bulma, but that didn't mean he knew how to comfort her. What happened in West City was getting to her, he figured. He remembered how much she'd shrunk when mentioning her parents were in Capsule Corp. — when it went up in flames. He knew she'd cried over it before; he knew now that was moving forward with her.

'Krillin!'

He turned around. Behind him Mark was standing half on the porch, half in the doorway, waving. 'Come here! The TV!'

'What about the TV?'

'Just come here!'

The urgency in Mark's voice made him jog over. Inside, he found Mark sitting down along with Bez, Recoome, and Bulma, all towards the TV to varying degrees. Was Krillin the last person to be called over?

He glanced at the TV's screen A news channel with no feed, except for a BREAKING NEWS banner running along the bottom. 'Oh Kami, what now?' he groaned.

Bulma gestured wordlessly to the seat beside her. Krillin sat. Static blinked three times before falling away.

An ancient face wavered into focus on the TV's screen. Gray, clumped hair. Deep wrinkles and skin wrapping around dead eyes. Somehow Krillin knew this was Gero. Malice had a way of warping a face to the point of non-existence. This face was that. This face wasn't even a face.

Judging by the pinched breathing around Krillin, it seemed like the others figured all this out, too.

'Hello, world.' Even his voice was unliving. 'I'm here to provide an update — one I'm sure you're all waiting for. I demanded the delivery of a group of malcontents to me a few days ago. Every meddler was due to be delivered into my captivity. And yet, since then, I've received none.'

The pause that followed was long and still enough for them to wonder if the feed had cut out — though if it had, not a single warp or stitch of static filled the screen, nor did a single grain misplace Gero's unmoving grimace.

'So I resort to unwanted measures. By the end of today, every person in South City will be dead. It is time that the people of this planet learn to live with their failures. Goodbye.' Click.

A/N: This chapter was really overdue. Can't say much other than the past three-ish months for me were extremely busy. Looking forward to writing more and faster, as always!

Reviews:

Transformers g1's-Prime: All the concerns you raised about Raditz's "presence" and grip on reality are certainly floating around. More immediate is Raditz and Bardock sorting through their issues, lol

SoulAuron: I imagine Raditz's temporal delusion can last as long as other people permit it to...

Anonymous: Krillin found Rayne and rescued her, yes. I just decided not to write it out considering she'd be unconscious by that point and would be sort-of uninteresting getting that just from Krillin's POV.

chris. : All very good thoughts and theories on the future timelines… wish I could say more than that :S.

The Rocha: You'd be surprised what Gero can do with an ambiguous threat! As you'll see in the next chapter… hmm hmm…

lmao Turles.

Very very messy indeed! Everyone's very scattered, with different information to believe or distrust...

yasho260: For sure: Raditz snatching them certainly didn't do Bardock and Kakarot any favors to their credibility as willing prisoners.

Cityracer: Your thoughts about Rush and Traveler's danger calculus towards Gero vs. Raditz… very interesting.

I take the view that people in DBZ can avoid injury as long as they prepare their body for the blow with ki. It's when they're shaken or distracted and didn't prepare they can be harmed by a mundane event, such as Vegeta' cutting himself on the glass. He wasn't planning on punching the mirror.