Kagome's pleasant(ish) dream was interrupted very rudely by someone yelling at her to get up and shaking her.

"What do you think you're doing?!" the old man that had been helping her shouted, the sounds of his voice and a struggle coming from over near where she assumed the door was. "That child is very sick! If you will not get her a doctor, than at least allow her to rest!"

"General White has a few questions," someone else scoffed. "If she's smart enough to give him the answers he wants, then we'll see about some medicine."

She grunted weakly when the blankets were torn away from her and she was picked up roughly, slung over a broad shoulder and jostled around until she felt like she was going to puke on the guy. That would definitely serve them right, but she got the distinct feeling that it wouldn't go over so well for her in the long run. Of course, that had never really stopped her from doing something before...

The priestess scoffed to herself and let her eyes crack open a bit, blinking sluggishly at the tail her current transport was sporting. It reminded her just a bit of Shippou's.

... Okay, fine. She would just wait to puke on this 'General' guy, then.

xxxx

The ground was farther away that he had expected, and it was a little painful when 8er fell on him, but the news that they were on the fifth floor was a bit disheartening. It was really creepy in here.

But, well, he would rather be stuck down there than give that bad man White anything, much less hand over the ball he had and the radar that Bulma had given him. He very briefly rethought that decision when he saw the thing waiting for them in the dark. Very, very briefly. He wouldn't give up just because someone was bigger than him. He'd beaten a ton of guys tougher than this thing in the past!

It was kind of disheartening when hitting him didn't even do anything but make him start laughing, though. Still, he wouldn't give up. He had to fulfill his promise, and he had to find his friend.

Getting electrocuted hurt, and getting chewed up was even worse. But he wouldn't let this guy win! He forced his way back out before he could get swallowed, and managed to dodge getting hit by that weird lightning attack again. He had to figure out something, he couldn't just keep running...

He was tired and getting kind of hungry. Maybe his Kamehameha would be able to do something, even if it would make him even hungrier.

It was easy to start freaking out a bit when not even that worked, but he wasn't going to give in - and he definitely wasn't going to let himself or 8er get eaten! There had to be a weakness somewhere on the guy.

Finally, he had an idea. So long as the guy wasn't so flabby, he could hit him - he just had to make him firmer. And hadn't Snow said that he was frozen stiff not so very long ago?

He blew a hole in the wall, only to remember that it was really, really cold out there. 8er was lucky not to be able to feel the cold, and he hid quickly in his newest friend's jacket before he could freeze again together with his opponent.

He and the android both cheered when it worked, and the guy was blown to pieces in a couple of minutes. After that, it was only a matter of breaking through the ceiling and getting back up to floor six - which was easy enough, having such a hard skull. The boy blasted his way right through head-first.

"Surprise!" he shouted as he came up, laughing to himself and enjoying the warmth. The Power Pole got lowered down the hole for 8er to grab hold of, and he just knew that the end was in sight.

Getting shot really stung, though. He wished that people would stop trying to do that.

"This can't be happening to me!" the General yelped, taking a panicked step back as the android joined them.

Goku let out a growl. "This is your last chance, mister! Let the village chief go now!"

"You didn't say please," the man sneered, stumbling back another step.

"Please give me the village chief right now," the boy demanded impatiently.

White just glared at him, bumping against the wall with nowhere else to go. "Not if you got down on your knees and begged!" he spat.

"I don't wanna hurt you," he admitted. "But I will if I have to!"

The General smirked and pulled his scarf and sweater off. "Ha," he scoffed sarcastically. "I guess I have no choice but to surrender. You obviously have me at a disadvantage! I'm probably crazy for saying this, but..." His smirk widened. "Guess I'll risk it."

"Okay," Goku huffed impatiently as he shifted into a fighting stance. "I tried it the nice way. You asked for it!"

8er hurried to stop them, getting between the two. "Violence isn't the answer!" he rushed to say. "We must talk through our problems! We are men, not monsters."

White just scoffed and threw his sweater in the android's face. "Shut up!"

After checking that his friend was alright, the boy walked back up to the man and started dodging each of his punches, landing a few blows in turn. One finally got through, but it didn't do anything to him - he returned the favor by kicking the guy away. Thinking that he was out of it now, he turned his back on the man with a laugh.

Every bit of his hair immediately stood on end when his tail got grabbed, his energy all draining at once. The man started laughing and hoisted him up, ignoring #8 entirely as the giant once more tried to put an end to the conflict.

The boy was starting to get the feeling that the soldier would never really hear him.

Getting swung around made him dizzy, and slamming against the wall hurt - but with his tail free, he could move again. And he had every intention of making the soldier hurt even more than he did.

He pummeled the guy for a while, about to end it when 8er caught his arm.

"You've won!" the android tried to placate. "It's over!"

"Not yet," Goku argued heatedly, thoughts of all the bad things that the soldier had done running through his mind over and over again. "I have to finish him! Look at him. All he ever does is hurt people! If I don't end this right now, he'll never stop!"

"Maybe," his friend murmured softly. "But if you give into your anger, you'll be no different than he is."

The boy flinched. As... As bad as this guy...?

"Goku," 8er continued, "you're better than that!"

Slowly, he smiled at the giant. He never, ever wanted to be as bad as White. "You're right. Thank you, 8er - you're a good person."

The android started stuttering and going red, but they were both pulled out of their little conversation when the General started trying to crawl away. He didn't get very far, but the boy was immediately on alert regardless.

"Hey!" he barked. "Where do you think you're sneaking off to, mister?!"

The man growled at him for a moment, only to glance down and start chuckling.

Goku glared. "What's so funny? Get! Up!"

"Of course," White assented, getting back on his feet and raising both of his hands over his head. "I accept defeat. I will release the village chief."

Slowly, Goku relaxed a bit. "Great!" he grinned. "That was easy."

He and 8er both smiled at each other widely, following the guy to the door and ignoring his mumbles.

It slid open, revealing an old man that looked as if he had been trying to listen in.

They all gaped at him for a long moment before he jolted out of it.

"Get out," White grunted. "You're free to go."

"I-I'm free?" the chief repeated, blinking disbelievingly. "To leave? Really?" He glanced this way and that for a moment before going still and turning back to the General with narrowed eyes. "What about that poor girl your men dragged off earlier?"

Goku blinked. "Girl?"

"There's someone else being held captive?" 8er questioned worriedly.

The old man nodded. "There was a young girl that they dragged in and threw in the cell with me. She's very sick, but they came in earlier and took her away somewhere else saying that the General wanted to speak with her."

The boy frowned. "Did she have long black hair and blue eyes?" he checked.

The chief blinked down at him and nodded. "Do you know her?"

Goku was ready to punch someone again as he turned his gaze up and glared at White. "What did you do to Kagome!" he demanded.

The soldier just bared his teeth in a threatening grin and pulled out the same gun that he had tried to use on the boy earlier, grabbing the village chief by the neck and pointing it at his head. "Don't anyone move a single muscle or the old man gets it! We're going to leave nice and slow. Don't try to follow."

"Let me go!" the elder struggled.

"Don't hurt him!" Goku shouted worriedly.

"That's up to you," the General sneered. "Don't try anything heroic and he'll be just fine. His life is in your hands."

The old man yelped, and the boy's fists clenched. "Let him go! And give Kagome back!"

"Please," 8er tried yet again to mediate. "General!"

White laughed. "No. Watch me leave, or watch him die - it's your choice!"

Goku growled, feeling trapped. "You won't get away with this!" he declared. "I promise you that!"

The General just laughed even harder. "So what's it going to be, loser boy?"

Another growl bubbled up in his throat, one foot shifting forward.

"You do understand what dead means, don't you?!" the man barked, cocking his pistol. "Take one more step, and it's curtains for grandpa! Then I'll give the order, and your little friend will be next!"

The boy snarled violently, starting to regret it just a bit that he didn't do what he had been about to earlier and finished the guy off. "Don't you dare touch her!"

"And just what are you going to do about it?" White sneered.

"Kill him!" the elder shouted. "Tear him apart! Rip him limb from limb! I don't care what happens to me, think of the village!"

He ended up changing his mind pretty quickly, though. The General tried convincing 8er to kill Goku after that, saying that he wouldn't kill the old man if he did. The boy decided that this had gone on for long enough.

"If you're going to hurt someone, hurt me!" he growled.

Of course, that ended up getting him shot in the back of the head... but 8er took care of it before he woke back up.

After they had made sure that he was okay, he insisted on finding Kagome - which took a while, but they managed to get one of the remaining soldiers to take them to her. She'd been moved to a different room, a blanket thrown over her carelessly.

The elder was right, though. She looked really sick.

They quickly destroyed the tower and brought her back to Snow's house, both of them hiding in 8er's sweater from the cold. Goku sat quietly, curled up next to her. She just didn't look right like this.

Hesitantly, he reached out and held her hand. He hoped she got better soon.

xxxx

Kagome woke up slowly, her brain feeling hazy. She pushed herself upright, glancing around and taking in the small bedroom where she'd found herself sleeping.

"But that's the two-star ball," she heard Goku's voice faintly.

She smiled tiredly to herself. So, her little protector had found her after all...

Sinking back under the covers, she drifted back to sleep.

When she woke up again, it was to the door creaking open. "Kagome?" the boy called quietly, letting himself in. "Are you awake yet?"

"Yeah," she confirmed, trying to sit up. It came easier than it had before.

He hurried over, pushing her back down. "Hey, you should still be resting!" he scolded, making her wonder to herself just who was supposed to be the adult here. "You got really weak there, Kagome. I was worried."

"Goku, what happened?" she questioned with a sigh.

He told her all about Muscle Tower and his new friend the android, and she winced a bit. She should have been there to help him, but all she'd done was make more problems for him. Again, who was supposed to be the adult here? He then went on to tell her about his visit with a doctor further up the mountain, getting a bomb removed from #8.

"But he couldn't fix my radar," the boy pouted. "So we're gonna have to go see Bulma and see if she will."

The priestess blinked. She'd heard about his other friends, including this Bulma girl - but a part of her hadn't really thought that she would end up meeting them. She'd been worse than useless up until this point, and yet... he'd still said 'we'. She smiled at him tiredly. "Are you sure? I know that I haven't exactly been a lot of help lately."

His nose wrinkled and he made a face at her. "Sure you have!" he argued. "You've told me all sorts of things that nobody else would, and you've stuck by me the whole time. Just because you've been sick doesn't mean you haven't helped."

Her smile became a bit more real and she reached out, patting the top of his head the same way she used to for Shippou. "Thanks, kid. That means a lot."

The boy stuck his tongue out at her. "I'm not a kid!"

She chuckled, relaxing back into the blankets. "Yeah, you are. For now."

He grumbled petulantly to himself, but didn't leave until after she'd fallen back asleep.

xxxx

Goku was glad that Kagome was doing better, but he got the feeling that she was still a little sick. Ever since he'd met her, she seemed like she was always tired. She and Snow got along the moment she woke up, and the redhead seemed to almost be more upset about her leaving than him.

Though he really was really, really happy that his Nimbus was okay. The fact that he and Kagome could both ride it seemed to surprise the villagers, but he didn't understand why. Nimbus liked Kagome a lot.

The goodbyes were a bit longer than he'd expected, and his older friend stayed wrapped up in a blanket the whole way - he was a little worried that they were leaving too soon, but she had insisted that she was okay. Besides, it was a lot warmer in the air, and she managed to fall asleep on the way to West City.

Finally seeing the buildings rise up below, he slowed down and shook her awake.

"Wow," he gaped as they went lower. "So this is the city? Bulma actually lives here?"

Kagome smiled at him like he'd said something funny as she wrapped her blanket back up and stuffed it into the bag that the villagers had given her. "You haven't been to a place this big before?"

"Nuh-uh," he shook his head. "It's amazing!"

They landed quickly, both of them shuffling off the cloud.

"I've never seen so many people before," he murmured as they walked. "It's awfully noisy... and crowded."

His friend caught him quickly. "Careful," she warned. "You don't want to get run over."

He frowned and glanced around, seeing what she meant as a car zoomed by. "Why are they in such a hurry?" he wondered.

"Good question," the girl sighed, pulling him further down the sidewalk. "I guess it's just because they feel like they've got places they need to be. Come on, maybe we can find a map or a phone. Do you know Bulma's phone number?"

The boy blinked at her. "What's a phone?"

Her lips quirked up wryly. "It's a little device that lets people talk to each other over long distances," she explained, dragging him carefully through the masses.

"Couldn't we just ask someone where she lives?" he groaned.

She shook her head. "Little villages might know where everyone else lives, Goku, but big cities like this... Well, we'd be lucky to find someone who even knew what their own neighbor's name was."

He frowned. "That doesn't make any sense!"

Kagome laughed. "I agree. That's why I like villages better."

They walked along for a while, finally coming across a big group of people.

"What's that?" the boy questioned, tugging a bit on his friend's hand.

She glanced over. "Not sure. Do you want to check it out? We're not really in any kind of hurry, I guess."

He grinned up at her. "Sure!"

It turned out to be a couple of people fighting.

"What are they doing?" he questioned curiously.

"Looks like one of those street tournament sort of things. Where people fight each other for money," she sighed. "I'm not really interested in this sort of thing, I'll admit."

Goku huffed as one of the guys dropped out. "Doesn't seem like much of a challenge."

She chuckled. "Yeah, well... Come on, let's keep going."

"Okay," he agreed. "But I could win really easy."

"I know you could," she admitted. "But that's not what we're looking for, remember?"

He pouted a bit. "Yeah, I know..."

"Oh, hey," she stopped after a bit of walking. "There's a policeman. Maybe we could ask him for a directory or something?"

"What's a directory?" he asked.

"It's like a list of people and their phone numbers or where they live," she explained as she tugged him across the street. "Excuse me, sir!" she called as they got closer. "I was hoping you could help us."

"We're looking for Bulma!" Goku explained.

"She's not missing or anything," Kagome was quick to add. "We're just lost."

The 'policeman' blinked down at them. "I... see. Do you know this Bulma's home address or have a description of her?"

The boy immediately pulled out a piece of paper and drew her quickly. "This is her!"

The man chuckled awkwardly. "Well, that's not quite enough to go on."

"Why not?" he questioned.

The girl sighed. "We're sorry for bothering you, sir. Do you think that maybe you could just point us towards a directory or something?"

"Well... Bulma. That's an interesting name," the policeman smiled, pulling out some kind of little device. "There aren't too many Bulmas out there. Maybe I can find her in here." He began pushing the buttons. "I'm not really supposed to be doing this," he admitted, "but here goes. Okay, Bulma; there's three of them."

"Thank you," Kagome murmured.

The man grinned. "Don't worry about it, young lady. Now, which one is your friend? Is it this one?" he asked, showing them the screen.

Goku laughed a bit. "That's not her!"

"Okay," the policeman nodded, pushing another button. "What about her?"

"Ah, that's her!" the boy announced excitedly. "That's Bulma!"

The man glanced down at the information, his eyes going wide. "Oh, golly! That there's the daughter of Capsule Corporation's president!"

"Come on," the boy prodded. "Tell us! Where does she live?"

"It's kind of far away," the policeman explained, pulling out a vehicle like the ones that Bulma had used before, "so I'll just give you a lift. It might be a little tight, but hop on, eh?"

"Thank you!" he laughed happily, both of them climbing onto the back behind him.

"You weren't lying to me about being this here girl's friend, were you?" the man checked as they drove.

"No, I'm her friend!" the boy assured.

"I've never actually met her," Kagome sighed. "But Goku has."

"Eh? I would've thought that she was your friend, miss," the officer admitted.

"Well, I hope to be after this," the girl chuckled.

They finally came to a stop by a giant house, all three of them gaping at the size for a second before Goku took a deep breath, preparing to yell-

Kagome slapped a hand over his mouth. "How about we try the doorbell?"

He blinked up at her. "Wha's a doo'bell?" he asked around her hand.

xxxx

Edit: 7/01/16