Chapter Four: Pilaf summons the Dragon. When's the next wish?
Warning: Language
Bra was still furious a few minutes later when the bushes rustled again,
and out walked Mai, Shuu, and another short blue person, a man, whom Bra
assumed was this 'Emperor Pilaf' of theirs.
"She's the one who had them," Mai said, pointing to Bra.
The Human girl glared at the Gnomes. "You've got some nerve, you know! How dare you spell me and my friends, then steal my property?!"
The Gnomes looked somewhat offended.
"Do you know who I am?" The newest asked, drawing himself up to his full height and trying to look important.
"Pilaf, would-be Emperor of the World?" Bra guessed with a sneer.
"I will be Emperor of the World!" Pilaf screeched at her, jumping up and down in a tiny explosion of fury.
"Yeah, but you're missing a dragonball," Bra pointed out, a smug looking nestling onto her face.
"So? I'll have it in no time! Mai and Shuu were just going to leave to hunt it down," Pilaf informed her grandly.
"Yeah, but I know who has it," Bra said, chuckling evilly, "and I'd love to be there when you meet him."
Yumcha snickered.
"You can't scare us!" Mai said defiantly.
"Really?" Bra grinned nastily, leaning forward as far as she could.
"Yes!" Mai shouted.
"Really?" Bra asked again.
"You just don't take me seriously, do you?" Pilaf grumbled.
"Of course I don't take you seriously, you moron!" Bra screamed. "You barely make it up to my knees, you're blue, and until now I'd NEVER heard of you before in my life!"
"Well, all that will change," Pilaf assured her with a confident nod.
"Sure, shorty. The day you become Emperor of the World, I'll marry you," Bra sniffed.
Pilaf eyed her, suddenly looking nervous. "No, I think I'll marry a nice Gnome girl, thank you very much."
"*WHAT*!!?!" Bra stared open-mouthed, which was lucky, because if she'd continued ranting immediately after that scream no one would have been able to hear her. Yumcha watched her face go red and darken in anger as he shook his head to clear the ringing in his ears.
"I offer to marry you if you succeed in your STUPID quest, and you TURN ME DOWN!!!" Bra screamed finally.
"If you yell one more time..," Pilaf glared at her, hands firmly over his ears. Shuu whimpered pitifully, and tried to clamp his paws over his own ears.
"You'll what?" Bra yelled, her fists clenched hard and her face twisted with glare that promised Pilaf a painful death.
"I'll... use my ecchi attack on you!" Pilaf yelled back, his hands still over his ears.
"What?" Bra blinked, shocked back into normal volume.
"I said I'll use my ecchi attack on you!" Pilaf glared at her, lowering his hands slowly.
Bra grinned nervously and back away as far as she could while being tied to a tree.
"Now, who has the last dragonball?" Pilaf questioned in a no-nonsense tone.
"Emperor!" Mai squeaked immediately. "You don't need to ask her, I can find it for you! In fact, it's coming closer right now!"
"It is?" Pilaf asked, surprised.
"It's what?" Bra shrieked.
"Now you've done it!" Pilaf yelled at the black-haired young woman. He glared for a moment, then sneered at her. Bra cringed. Straightening, he slowly brought his hand up to his mouth and kissed his fingertips. Bringing it away from his lips, he maneuvered his hand so the palm faced up, then blew firmly across the upturned skin.
The birds fell silent.
Bra blinked. "Um, was that it?" She asked in disbelief.
"What do you mean, 'was that it'?" Pilaf gasped, taking a step back from her.
"That was it, wasn't it?" Bra said, relaxing.
"That was what?" A voice cut through the conversation. Vegeta was leaning with his back against a nearby tree, the last dragonball held casually in one gloved hand. Radditz was leaning in a mirror pose on the other side of the tree, with Kakarott standing partly behind his tall brother.
(Author: See it!)
"Ah, the last dragonball!" Pilaf piped up. "You've brought it to me!"
Vegeta eyed Pilaf and grinned ferally. "Or perhaps, you've obtained the other six for me," The Saiyajin Prince said softly.
"Hi, Bra!" Kakarott called, waving to her.
Vegeta's expression shifted subtly from a grin to clenched teeth. Radditz winced.
"Hi, Kakarott," Bra said, rolling her eyes.
"Hello again," Ranchi said politely. Yumcha just glared.
"Oh, forget any conversation! Just hand over the other dragonballs, you tiny blue freak!" Vegeta ordered Pilaf, standing up and striding across the clearing, his tail lashing behind him.
"I will not!" Pilaf protested indignantly. Vegeta suddenly blurred, reappearing right in front of Pilaf. Before the would-be Emperor could even yelp, Vegeta had the front of his robe in a tight fist, and the Gnome found himself hoisted up, eye-to-eye with the annoyed Saiyajin.
"Eeep!" Pilaf squeaked, and began thrashing about.
"Hey! Release the Emperor!" Mai demanded. Vegeta ignored her and began shaking Pilaf.
"Come on, where are they?" He growled. Pilaf made a noise that was half scream, half moan, and rather disjointed because of the shaking.
"You can't treat the Emperor that way!" Mai shouted, jumping up and down. "Shuu! Get them!"
The fox-dog growled, and sucked in a deep breath, then exhaled forcefully. And continued exhaling, long past the point he should have finished.
"It's that smell!" Bra coughed, before she collapsed, unconscious. Beside her Yumcha was already out.
"Vegeta!" Radditz yelled as he watched his Prince drop an insensate
Pilaf before falling groggily to the ground. He heard a sharp sneeze, then
passed out.
Shuu stopped exhaling and began panting as Mai removed a piece of white cloth - liberally embroidered with magical symbols - from over her mouth and nose. They surveyed the fox-dog's handiwork.
"Good, they're all asleep," Shuu said, sitting back on his haunches.
"Help me with his Majesty," Mai commanded, struggling to lift Pilaf from where he lay.
"Right," Shuu said, obediently trotting over and sinking to the ground so Mai could maneuver Pilaf onto his back. The Gnome woman then prized the seventh dragonball from Vegeta's fist, and jumped onto Shuu's back behind Pilaf.
"Let's go somewhere where the Emperor can make his wish without a bunch of noisy bullies!" Mai said enthusiastically.
"Okay!" Shuu cried, leaping forward and bounding off into the bushes.
Behind them, the blonde woman sagging uncomfortably against her ropes opened her green eyes and straightened up.
"Great," Kashumi muttered darkly. "I'm tied to a tree, surrounded by losers who don't know when to avoid breathing in. Sneaky little creeps, those Gnomes. I'll give them that."
The young woman stiffened as she sensed an approaching Ki. She glanced at her brother, before remembering that he lacked her ability to sense powerful Kis without trying. She looked up as a short bald kid descended out of the sky. He landed, looking around in surprise.
"Hey!" Kashumi yelled. "Kid! Untie me now!"
"Um, okay," Kuririn said, looking bewildered. He quickly moved behind her tree and began working the knots.
"Use the knife in my boot!" She snarled.
"Okay!" He yelped, reaching shaking fingers down beside Kashumi's ankle and drawing out the dagger. He quickly slit the ropes, and Kashumi spun and grabbed the knife of him.
"Thanks, kid!" She called, already sprinting off after the Gnomes.
"Hey, Miss!" Kuririn called after her, then stopped, looking at the unconscious bodies around him.
"Damn, what happened here? Hey, Kakarott!" Kuririn moved over to the small Saiyajin and started shaking him. "Wake up, Kakarott!"
After a few more minutes of shaking and calling, Kuririn sat back. "This isn't working. He's not dead, I can sense his Ki, and everyone else's here. Oh well, I might as well have something to eat before I try again. Flying is hard work."
Beside him, Kakarott twitched. Kuririn saw the movement and quickly reached over, shaking him. "Kakarott, wake up!"
"Huh?" Kakarott mumbled.
"Hey, hello!" Kuririn said, smiling at him.
"Kuririn? What happened?" Kakarott yawned, dragging himself into a sitting position.
"You tell me," Kuririn said, gesturing. Kakarott's yawn turned into an openmouthed gape as he took in the senseless bodies.
"Gee," He said after a moment, scratching his head, "I don't know. Bra might, I guess," He pointed to the dark-haired girl propped up against a tree.
"Okay, I'll wake her and that guy, okay? You can, um... wake your, uh... other friends," Kuririn said nervously.
"Okay," Kakarott agreed.
Kuririn found it much easier waking the young man, who introduced himself as Yumcha and asked about his sister after directing Kuririn to a knife in his boot.
"Who?" Kuririn asked as he moved over to shake Bra.
"The blue haired girl who was tied to that tree," Yumcha said, indicating the tree of his other side.
"Oh, there was a blonde woman there," Kuririn said. "She was awake, and I cut her free, and then she ran off. Hey, Miss Bra, please wake up."
"Okay," Yumcha muttered, eyeing a waking Radditz warily. Kakarott bounced over to Vegeta as the long haired Saiyajin picked himself up.
Bra woke up. "Hey, who are you?" She asked as Kuririn cut her ropes.
"My name's Kuririn," He said, handing Yumcha back the knife.
"Where's Ranchi?" Bra said, stepping forward and rubbing her arms.
"What the hell was that?" Vegeta growled as he woke up, shaking off Kakarott's helping hand and glaring at Radditz as he climbed to his feet.
"A sleeping spell," Bra said authoritatively, the corner of her mouth twisting up in an arrogant smile. Vegeta narrowed his eyes.
Suddenly thunder rumbled, causing everyone to tense. The sky began to darken and the wind picked up, howling as it blew through the trees.
"What's happening?" Kakarott asked, alarmed.
"Oh, Kami! No! Someone's summoning my dragon!" Bra shrieked, staring in horror at the sky.
"Wow!" Yumcha exclaimed a second later. "What a Ki!"
The Saiyajin and Kuririn all sensed, different degrees of surprise and awe registering on their faces.
"No, no, no!" Bra wailed, stamping her foot. "Where is it?!"
"That way," Yumcha pointed as Vegeta levitated off the ground and shot off at full speed in said direction.
"Shimatta!" Bra cursed, running of after him. Yumcha shrugged and followed,
noticing that the other Saiyajin and Kuririn were flying and already ahead
of him.
Kashumi had stopped running as soon as she sensed the Kis of the Gnomes stop moving. She'd gone forward on foot until she could hear their voices, then she'd climbed a tree. She silently picked her way over the branch she was on and into a closer tree. The blonde bandit scuttled around for a few more seconds, before finding herself a perch that gave her a clear view of the proceedings below.
The Gnomes were standing on the other side of a small stream, where the forest obviously began to end, as the trees were suddenly scarce. The two humanoid ones were busily arranging the dragonballs into a circle, while the dog-fox scratched itself behind one ear.
"There, it's done!" Mai clapped her hands in delight.
"And now, there is nothing to stop me!" Pilaf said, bouncing up and down in excitement. Abruptly he stopped and raised his hands. Mai and Shuu immediately stood to attention, looking very solemn.
"Arise, oh Shenlong, and grant my wish!" Pilaf, soon-to-be Emperor of the World, intoned.
Kashumi hastily pushed back a gasp as the dragonballs began to glow, and lightning arched in the sky overhead. Suddenly there was a blinding glow, and a huge shape reared up. Kashumi's eyes widened as she felt a Ki, the strongest she'd felt in her life so far, and found herself staring at the Eternal Dragon.
"Who has summoned me?" It demanded in a huge voice.
"I did!" Pilaf's answering squeak barely seemed enough to gain the attention of such a large and powerful creature.
"State your wish," The dragon called down formally. Kashumi blinked, suddenly springing to action. The blonde woman easily leapt from her tree branch and landed lightly on the ground.
"I wish..," Pilaf began, in as grand a tone as he could muster.
"... for a diamond the size of my fist!" Kashumi shrieked, interrupting his Majesty.
The dragon eyed her for a moment as the Gnomes spun around, staring in horror.
"Your wish is granted!" The dragon boomed. Kashumi opened her hand as her eye caught sight of an object falling from the sky. Sure enough, cut into a perfect rectangular prism, the stone dropped snugly into her hand.
"Ha!" Kashumi cried, triumphant. She looked up from the diamond at the Gnomes, sneering at their loss.
"No, no, no!" Pilaf wailed, stamping his foot. "You can't have my wish!"
"And now, I sleep till next I am summoned," The dragon spoke one last time, then roared. It disappeared, and the dragonballs rose into the air, suddenly becoming dim and gray. Then they shot off at speeds too fast for even Kashumi's Ki-enhanced vision to follow, in seven different directions.
Kashumi eyed the approaching Gnomes, and chose to ignore them, instead inspecting the diamond.
"You wished for a stupid rock?!" An angry growl called down. Kashumi looked up to see Vegeta hanging in the sky, glaring at her.
"Hey, this thing must be worth millions in gold," Kashumi laughed. "Too bad Saiyajin don't care for wealth, isn't it? I mean, I've never mugged one who had anything really worth stealing on 'em."
"You couldn't mug a Saiyajin if he was lying on the ground unconscious!" Vegeta snapped.
"You warriors think you're all that, don't you?" Kashumi sneered. "Well, caution and a good trick'll win over brute power any day!"
"Then you better have one hell of a good trick up your sleeve, bitch!"
Kashumi opened her mouth to reply, but jumped out of the way of a Ki blast instead. Quickly she turned and sprinted back into the forest, ducking behind a tree, then using it as cover as she made her way further in. By the time the tree was demolished enough for her to be seen, she was gone.
Vegeta snarled and sensed for her Ki, picking it up easily, but held off chasing her as Kakarott and Radditz approached him.
"She made the wish?" Radditz queried.
"Yes," Vegeta snapped. "She wished for a diamond. Of all the things the stupid woman could have wished for... But, before the dragon left it said it could be summoned again."
"Really?" Kakarott asked.
Vegeta threw him a quick glare. "Are you doubting my words, Kakarott?"
Kakarott cocked his head to the side and Radditz made a strangled sound. The tall Saiyajin casually smacked his brother in the head - hard.
"Ow," Kakarott mumbled, rubbing his head.
"I guess we'd better find that other stupid girl," Vegeta decided. "She seems to know the most about the dragonballs."
He didn't wait for a reply, shooting off in the direction of the Humans'
Kis. The others hurried to follow.
Bra handed back Kashumi's diamond with a sulky look on her pretty face. "Very nice," She grumbled.
"Yeah, well, it's been real great, but I'll be off now, and I'm taking my brother with me," Kashumi said, ignoring Yumcha's attempts to take the diamond and deftly placing it into her tunic. Yumcha glared at her.
"Thanks a lot," Bra snapped.
"No hard feelings. You wouldn't want to be bowing down to a Gnome now, would you?" Kashumi smirked.
Bra gritted her teeth. "Okay, Kashumi, you saved the word from a Gnome. Are you happy?"
Kashumi opened her mouth to reply, then half turned, bringing up an arm to guard against the Ki blast, that slammed into her a moment later.
"Hey!" Yumcha shouted, sending off a blast back at Vegeta, who had landed, Radditz, Kakarott and Kuririn behind him. The Prince dodged nimbly, forcing Kakarott to move too to avoid being hit. Vegeta walked over to Bra, ignoring the other two Humans.
"Girl, tell me about the dragon," Vegeta ordered.
Bra pursed her lips, taking no effort to hide her displeasure. "What about it?" She grumbled.
"It said it can be summoned again," Vegeta said, taking no effort to hide his annoyance.
"Of course it can. It wouldn't be much of a recurring legend if it couldn't, would it?" Bra sniffed.
"We have to gather the dragonballs again?" Vegeta pressed.
"Again?" Bra looked confused.
"After the dragon disappeared, they flew off," Radditz cut in, hoping to avoid lengthy arguments.
"Flew off?" Bra raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, all in different directions," Kakarott piped up. "They were going so fast I couldn't track them."
Bra reached for the leather cord around her neck and tugged her amulet
free of her tunic. The metal circle fit in her hand and she tapped the
side a few times.
"Kuso!" She swore, scowling fiercely at it.
"What?" Vegeta snapped.
"My amulet isn't picking them up anymore. They must still be moving, and moving fast. I guess you'll have to wait for them to land or something," Bra grumbled, turning it over. "Although that's so obvious, I have no idea why I'm telling you," She added under her breath, then pulled something from one of her pouches and began to tinker with her amulet.
Vegeta growled and lunged forward, grabbing her hand. "What are you doing to it?" He hissed.
"I'm trying to get it working again!" Bra yelped.
He let her go with a look of distaste that he'd touched her. "It's broken?"
"I don't know," Bra said sulkily, "but it's not picking them up."
"So? Didn't you just say it would work again when they stop moving?" Vegeta questioned irritably.
Bra seemed offended. "Yes, but it doesn't pick them up now, so obviously it can be improved."
"Forget it, just give it to me," Vegeta ordered.
"What?!" Bra yelped. She glared at him.
Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Just hand it over, stupid, and I won't kill you this time," He sneered. "Not that someone as loud and obscene as you will probably live much longer."
Bra pursed her lips, her face dark. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she smiled brightly, a false cooperativeness permeating her expression. "Oh, if you won't kill me, all right," She said, placing her free hand to her collarbone even as her other hand slipped the leather cord off her neck. She held out the amulet towards the Saiyajin.
Vegeta stared at it as if it was somehow poisonous to the touch. His gaze met her eyes suspiciously.
Her lower lip began to quiver, and her eyes began to water. She sniffed and her shoulders sagged as her free hand moved up to press itself to her forehead. "Nobody likes me!" She wailed, beginning to shake with some kind of sobs. "Nobody even likes my incredible inventions!"
"Shut the hell up!" Vegeta snapped, grabbing the amulet in a jerky motion.
He gave the thing another suspicious glare, then levitated up through the
tree canopy.
"Well?" His voice called down.
"What?" Bra called back, absently wiping her eyes, no trace of sobs in her voice.
"Not you, idiot! Radditz! Kakarott! Are you coming or not?!" Vegeta yelled impatiently.
"Coming, Vegeta-sama," Radditz said, shooting up to join his Prince. Kakarott looked over at Kuririn, who met his gaze. Kuririn shrugged, and Kakarott looked torn.
"Kakarott," Vegeta called warningly.
"Um, can I catch up in a bit?" Kakarott yelled up to him.
"Catch up?! What the hell are you going to do?" Vegeta demanded.
"And it's 'Can I catch up in a bit, Vegeta-sama'," Radditz scolded.
"I'm just, um, going to...," Kakarott's hand reached up behind his head of it's own accord.
"Kakarott, you're trying to lie," Radditz yelled down, annoyed.
"Please?" Kakarott asked.
"Saiyajin do not ask 'please'," Vegeta growled.
Bra abruptly cut off a giggle at the look on Kakarott's face. 'Poor guy can't win,' She thought, shaking her head.
Kuririn abruptly sidled up to Kakarott and whispered something into his ear.
"I'm going to fight with Kuririn! Now that he knows how to fly we can have a proper match!" Kakarott called up.
"Whatever!" Vegeta snapped. "Just hurry up!"
"Try not to get lost," Radditz snarled.
"Okay!" Kakarott agreed. He and Kuririn continued facing upwards for a few more moments, then Kuririn relaxed, sensing their Kis depart. He turned to Kakarott.
"So that's really Prince Vegeta?" The Human boy asked.
"Oh yes," Bra growled. "That's him. How can you miss him? Oh wait, he's so short, unless you look down or he decides to float around like a fluffy black-haired cloud, or he opens his big, loud mouth, you'd never know he was there!"
Kuririn gave her a puzzled look, then shrugged. "So, Kakarott, what are you going to do?"
"Go with you and meet Kamesennin, I guess," Kakarott said, cocking his head to the side.
"Though why you'd want to meet that ancient geezer is beyond me. Did you know he tried to peek when Ranchi and I were bathing?" Bra glared at the memory.
"You know Kamesennin?" Kuririn gasped.
"Of course, he had a dragonball," Bra said, flipping her hair back. "Well, it's been really cute, but I'm going home, and next year I hope I don't meet any of you."
"Next year?" Kuririn asked, confused.
"Yes," Bra laughed. "Next year, when the dragonballs become active again! Then I'll collect them all and make my wish!"
Kakarott and Kuririn exchanged a look as the dark haired girl sauntered off into the forest.
"If she doesn't want to meet anyone next year, why'd she give Prince Vegeta her amulet?" Kuririn pondered.
"I don't know," Kakarott shrugged. "Come on, Kuririn. I'll get in trouble if we take too long."
"Too long?" Kuririn laughed as the two levitated up into the sky. "I intend to train there for years."
"Well, then it's a good thing Vegeta-sama didn't say when exactly to
be back by!" Kakarott yelled as he followed Kuririn towards the sea and
Kame Island.
Almost a week later...
"Are you sure about this, Uranai?" The old hermit - known by many names - asked his short sister as he watched Kuririn and Kakarott attempting to fish off the coast of his small island.
"Of course not!" Uranai-no-Baba snapped at him. "It's future! You can never be completely sure about the future. But he passed those tests you gave him. He rode that dumb cloud, and you can't argue with that!"
"That's true," Kamesennin mused, "but time can change anyone."
"Good, bad, ugly, that thing isn't going to sleep forever," Uranai warned. "Sooner or later it'll break lose. Sorcery and witchcraft aren't going to stop it, those Islanders don't give a damn about the mainland - unless they decide to conquer it, which is what anyone else with enough potential power is interested in doing. It's him or nothing. We've been through this argument before. Too much of the power in this world is in evil or unscrupulous, selfish hands. The kid's got a pure heart, nobody will miss him, and since he's a Saiyajin..."
"'Since he's a Saiyajin' what?" Kamesennin scowled.
"They have mangled a lot of facts in their legends of the Super Saiyajin, but there are still some witches who know it. As one of the most powerful witches on this miserable planet, I have more information than they do," Uranai said firmly.
"More information," Kamesennin repeated. "You're guessing, aren't you?"
Uranai sighed. "Fine, do as you please. Stay wrapped up in the past."
"All the Saiyajin I've ever met are killers, Uranai."
"Yes, you would know, since you used to kill them for a living."
"Cheap shot."
"I wish mother was still alive."
"That's because she always agrees with you."
"Duh."
"Fine, I'll give him a shot."
"That's all I ask."
"I don't see how it'll help, though."
Uranai snorted. "That's my job, not yours."
The small woman jumped up onto the crystal ball levitated beside her. "See you later, Roshi," She called as she flew off.
"Yeah, whatever," He mumbled as he waved. He looked down at the turtle
sitting on the sand beside him. "Well, we better get cracking. The triennial
Island Tournament is only a year away. We'll make participating in that
their first goal."
- Finis Chapter 4 -
Please take two seconds from your life to bring a spark of joy into
mine: review! :)