The Z-Team--Ch 5
By Elbereth in April and Kazam
A/N: In regards to the last chapter, all I can say is, Bulma is no Amy.
Scene:
Dr. Chong is looking stressed. He has been the head scientist in charge of the Annual Mad Scientific Geniuses Convention for five years now, but each convention sends him into paroxysms of worry.
He is currently standing in the storage area in the convention center. This is a large room full of the best of everyone's inventions, the ones that are being demonstrated on stage.
Two stupid-looking, burly workers are moving another invention into place, a large wooden crate full of Willy Wonka's Moveable Animal Cookies.
"Now be careful," Dr. Chong pleads nervously. "Some of these items are delicate and irreplaceable. Think of the time and energy invested in their creation!"
The men, one holding each side of the carton, stumble across the floor awkwardly.
"This is a time-honored annual event. This convention is the backbone of creating friendly relations between scientists throughout the world. There is a long, historical tradition of holding these conventions--each one must be perfect. Most importantly, *this* one must be perfect. Nothing can go wrong. Remember the incident twelve years ago when Dr. Moto's Inflammable Water Resistant Armored 4-Wheel Drive Vehicle went up in flames?"
"It *was* water-resistant, though," says stupid worker number one.
"That never would have happened in the glorious days when we first started these meetings. When Dr. Mushroom held our very first event. . ." His expression verges on rapture.
The workers throw the crate down on to the top of a pile of other containers with a grunt and a crash. Dr. Chong is jolted back to the present. "Be careful, I said!"
"Yes, sir," worker number one sighs.
"Think of what their creators would say if their inventions were damaged! Their disappointment! Their families' tears!"
"The lawsuits," worker number two adds.
"Yeah, and that Dr. Gero would send his androids after you," worker number one puts in.
Dr. Chong thinks, 'I might be developing an ulcer.'
_____________ ________________
"The coast is clear," Android #19 whispers. Dr. Chong and his assistants have finally left.
"All right. Set the trap," Android #17 says.
______________ ________________
By the time the Z-Team arrives back at the convention center, the other team members have managed to calm V. A. down. He is tracing Bulma's ki through the building.
Finally he throws open the door to a large room full of boxes and many strange and varied inventions. Bulma is sitting on a chair in the center of the room, with her arms and legs tied and a gag in her mouth.
The warriors pile into the room, and run to untie Bulma. Piccolo looks around for Dr. Gero or the androids but sees no one.
Suddenly the door they came in by slams shut, and a holographic image of Dr. Gero appears in front of them, laughing manically.
"You are now all my prisoners! You are trapped in that room! I have sealed all exits! You will remain there until you have signed that property deed--or until I kill you! I will give you one hour to decide which of these fates you would prefer!"
The image disappears as the warriors rush to the door. It won't open. They try to break it down, but can't, nor the walls.
While H. M. Goku continues to hurl himself at the walls, V. A. unties Bulma. "What do we do now?" Yamcha moans to Piccolo.
"I have my tool kit," Bulma tells them, pulling a capsule out of her pocket.
"That's it!" Piccolo exalts. "We'll use all these inventions and scientific stuff to build something to free ourselves and take down Dr. Gero and the androids!"
Goku, V. A., and Yamcha all stare at Piccolo.
"Um, OK," says Yamcha.
"Oh boy!" Goku cries enthusiastically. "Let's do it!"
"You four? Build anything?" Bulma begins to laugh hysterically.
"Quiet, Woman!" V. A. takes the capsule from her. "We can do this!"
[ Theme music plays as we begin Building Scene. . . ]
V.A. opens the capsule and sets Bulma's tools on a table. Goku clears the rest of the table off by shoving all the glass tubes to the floor, where they shatter noisily. Goku reaches for the power saw.
"What do you think you're doing, baka?" V.A. slaps his hand away. "That's too dangerous for you to handle."
Goku pouts, then grins. "V.A., you're looking out for my safety! You do care!"
"Gah! That's not what I meant, you crazy baka! No, don't touch me!"
Meanwhile, Yamcha picks up a wrench. "Col. Smith did it, in the laboratory, with the wrench."
"What?"
"Guys!" Piccolo scolds them. "Get serious. Search around for stuff we can use or shape or change to make our defense against the enemy."
"Right!" the other three say. Goku salutes. They make their way through the room, opening box lids, sniffing at suspicious gooey substances, poking, prodding, and pushing.
Goku comes to stand in front of a large metal machine. Its insides are showing through a plastic cover--many wires and gears. The top part of the machine is silver, with four different colored buttons and two strange levers.
"Oooh," he says, his eyes getting big. "What does this do?" His hand hovers in front of a button.
V.A. pushes him away. "Don't touch anything!"
"I can't help it," Goku whines. "Big shiny buttons! Different colors!"
V.A. turns him in the other direction. "Go search over there." Goku sighs and moves over to another shelf.
V.A. starts to leave, but his eyes are drawn back irresistibly to the machine. His hand starts to itch. Slowly, he reaches out and pulls a lever.
The machine begins to hum loudly. Goku spins around, looking shocked and indignant.
The gears on the inside of the machine start to turn. The whole thing begins to vibrate as the hum intensifies. Then everything stops, and a voice emits from the machine.
"I shall now tell your fortune," it whirs. "You are a born lever- puller. Your lucky numbers are 2 and 10. You were born in the year of the dragon. You are clearly Royalty. You have known death but been reborn. I sense tragedy in your past. Today is a good day to invest in your future. Spend time with loved ones. . ."
The machine drones on. Everyone has come to gather round it, surprised and amused. V.A. just stands there, blinking.
"Your favorite color is blue. You are a proud, angry man. You have trouble dealing with your emotions. Remember, violence is not always the answer. You secretly are deeply in love with your wife. . ."
V.A. starts to blush. Bulma giggles and latches on to his arm again.
"Despite his lack of proper respect, your best friend is the last member of your race. . ."
Goku grins and puts his arm around V.A., who starts to splutter.
"You enjoy a good fight, good food, ballet dancing, macramé, and Hello Kitty. . ."
"That's it!" V.A. explodes suddenly. He shoves Bulma and Goku away, powers up, and blows the machine to tiny pieces.
"Now V.A., what did you do that for?" Bulma asks.
"It lied! Kakkarot is not my best friend! He's an insane baka! And you're an ugly, hideous woman!"
Bulma and Goku just grin knowingly.
"Argh!" V.A. throws his hands in the air and stalks off.
"Remember, violence isn't always the answer!"
"Back to work," Piccolo orders.
Goku proceeds to the far corner, which is stacked with boxes, six high. Goku pulls one out from the middle and the stack topples. "Oops."
Yamcha is at their work table, holding what looks like a large radio. He is trying to pry the back off with a screwdriver to see what's inside. He can't seem to do it. Finally he just pulls it apart by main force, cracking the outside. He looks at what's left. There are a bunch of wires. He pokes at them. He obviously has no clue what they do. Eventually he just tosses it aside and goes to look for something else.
"That was a multi-linguistic translator you just ruined," Bulma calls after him. He ignores her.
Meanwhile, Goku has opened the crate he selected and peers inside. "Oooh, what's this do?" He pulls out a flat metal disc. "Is it a Frisbee?" He tosses it through the air to land next to V.A. It promptly explodes, taking out 12 boxes, 2 flat computer monitors hooked up to some strange plastic device, a 1/8-scale pirate ship made out of rubber, and a large wooden badger.
V.A. drops the delicate-looking piece of machinery he was holding, which immediately shatters, and fires a small ki blast at Goku, destroying 25 more boxes, melting a very fascinating-looking machine in the shape of a pipe organ, and a microwave made out of felt.
"Stop that," Piccolo scolds.
Goku sheepishly rubs the back of his head. V.A. scowls.
Yamcha turns back to the invention in front of him. "Huh. What does this do?" He pushes a square, yellow button. It rises slowly off the ground, then sputters and explodes, singing Yamcha somewhat. "Oops."
Goku is throwing boxes off shelves. Loud crashes can be heard. Piccolo winces.
V.A., unable to help himself, finds his hand reaching out to pull a lever on what looks like a giant Pez-dispenser with a demented rat head. His hand comes down. The machine makes a rattling noise, then a compartment on the side opens and starts dropping out gumballs made out of spun sugar, C-4, and a hard chocolate coating. They roll across the floor, detonating a number of other creations, one of which explodes in a magnificent firey ball. V.A. hastily puts the lever back in its original position.
"Did you notice how a lot of these inventions seem to involve explosives?" Yamcha scratched his head.
"This is a *mad* scientists convention. They're usually obsessed with world domination and stuff."
Meanwhile in Piccolo's corner, something goes, "Bonk! Sprong!" He pulls his hand away guiltily. "Oops."
"I can't take it anymore!" Bulma cries. "If you destroy everything in sight, we'll be stuck here forever--until they come kill us! You--you two Saiyans! Go stand in that corner and *don't touch anything* or I'll see you don't get fed for a week! Piccolo! Go meditate or something. Over there! And you--Yamcha! Sit against that wall and keep quiet. Let a beautiful genius work!"
"Oooh, are you going to weld something? Can I help?"
"Goku! Sit! Stay!"
"Baka," V.A. mutters.
"V.A., I see what you're doing! Put that Velocitator down!"
"A what?" Boing, sprunk, crash. "Oops."
"Yamcha!"
"I wasn't touching it!"
Bulma sighs, rolls her eyes, quickly surveys the room, produces a number of parts from somewhere and an interesting-looking capsule, and goes to work.
By Elbereth in April and Kazam
A/N: In regards to the last chapter, all I can say is, Bulma is no Amy.
Scene:
Dr. Chong is looking stressed. He has been the head scientist in charge of the Annual Mad Scientific Geniuses Convention for five years now, but each convention sends him into paroxysms of worry.
He is currently standing in the storage area in the convention center. This is a large room full of the best of everyone's inventions, the ones that are being demonstrated on stage.
Two stupid-looking, burly workers are moving another invention into place, a large wooden crate full of Willy Wonka's Moveable Animal Cookies.
"Now be careful," Dr. Chong pleads nervously. "Some of these items are delicate and irreplaceable. Think of the time and energy invested in their creation!"
The men, one holding each side of the carton, stumble across the floor awkwardly.
"This is a time-honored annual event. This convention is the backbone of creating friendly relations between scientists throughout the world. There is a long, historical tradition of holding these conventions--each one must be perfect. Most importantly, *this* one must be perfect. Nothing can go wrong. Remember the incident twelve years ago when Dr. Moto's Inflammable Water Resistant Armored 4-Wheel Drive Vehicle went up in flames?"
"It *was* water-resistant, though," says stupid worker number one.
"That never would have happened in the glorious days when we first started these meetings. When Dr. Mushroom held our very first event. . ." His expression verges on rapture.
The workers throw the crate down on to the top of a pile of other containers with a grunt and a crash. Dr. Chong is jolted back to the present. "Be careful, I said!"
"Yes, sir," worker number one sighs.
"Think of what their creators would say if their inventions were damaged! Their disappointment! Their families' tears!"
"The lawsuits," worker number two adds.
"Yeah, and that Dr. Gero would send his androids after you," worker number one puts in.
Dr. Chong thinks, 'I might be developing an ulcer.'
_____________ ________________
"The coast is clear," Android #19 whispers. Dr. Chong and his assistants have finally left.
"All right. Set the trap," Android #17 says.
______________ ________________
By the time the Z-Team arrives back at the convention center, the other team members have managed to calm V. A. down. He is tracing Bulma's ki through the building.
Finally he throws open the door to a large room full of boxes and many strange and varied inventions. Bulma is sitting on a chair in the center of the room, with her arms and legs tied and a gag in her mouth.
The warriors pile into the room, and run to untie Bulma. Piccolo looks around for Dr. Gero or the androids but sees no one.
Suddenly the door they came in by slams shut, and a holographic image of Dr. Gero appears in front of them, laughing manically.
"You are now all my prisoners! You are trapped in that room! I have sealed all exits! You will remain there until you have signed that property deed--or until I kill you! I will give you one hour to decide which of these fates you would prefer!"
The image disappears as the warriors rush to the door. It won't open. They try to break it down, but can't, nor the walls.
While H. M. Goku continues to hurl himself at the walls, V. A. unties Bulma. "What do we do now?" Yamcha moans to Piccolo.
"I have my tool kit," Bulma tells them, pulling a capsule out of her pocket.
"That's it!" Piccolo exalts. "We'll use all these inventions and scientific stuff to build something to free ourselves and take down Dr. Gero and the androids!"
Goku, V. A., and Yamcha all stare at Piccolo.
"Um, OK," says Yamcha.
"Oh boy!" Goku cries enthusiastically. "Let's do it!"
"You four? Build anything?" Bulma begins to laugh hysterically.
"Quiet, Woman!" V. A. takes the capsule from her. "We can do this!"
[ Theme music plays as we begin Building Scene. . . ]
V.A. opens the capsule and sets Bulma's tools on a table. Goku clears the rest of the table off by shoving all the glass tubes to the floor, where they shatter noisily. Goku reaches for the power saw.
"What do you think you're doing, baka?" V.A. slaps his hand away. "That's too dangerous for you to handle."
Goku pouts, then grins. "V.A., you're looking out for my safety! You do care!"
"Gah! That's not what I meant, you crazy baka! No, don't touch me!"
Meanwhile, Yamcha picks up a wrench. "Col. Smith did it, in the laboratory, with the wrench."
"What?"
"Guys!" Piccolo scolds them. "Get serious. Search around for stuff we can use or shape or change to make our defense against the enemy."
"Right!" the other three say. Goku salutes. They make their way through the room, opening box lids, sniffing at suspicious gooey substances, poking, prodding, and pushing.
Goku comes to stand in front of a large metal machine. Its insides are showing through a plastic cover--many wires and gears. The top part of the machine is silver, with four different colored buttons and two strange levers.
"Oooh," he says, his eyes getting big. "What does this do?" His hand hovers in front of a button.
V.A. pushes him away. "Don't touch anything!"
"I can't help it," Goku whines. "Big shiny buttons! Different colors!"
V.A. turns him in the other direction. "Go search over there." Goku sighs and moves over to another shelf.
V.A. starts to leave, but his eyes are drawn back irresistibly to the machine. His hand starts to itch. Slowly, he reaches out and pulls a lever.
The machine begins to hum loudly. Goku spins around, looking shocked and indignant.
The gears on the inside of the machine start to turn. The whole thing begins to vibrate as the hum intensifies. Then everything stops, and a voice emits from the machine.
"I shall now tell your fortune," it whirs. "You are a born lever- puller. Your lucky numbers are 2 and 10. You were born in the year of the dragon. You are clearly Royalty. You have known death but been reborn. I sense tragedy in your past. Today is a good day to invest in your future. Spend time with loved ones. . ."
The machine drones on. Everyone has come to gather round it, surprised and amused. V.A. just stands there, blinking.
"Your favorite color is blue. You are a proud, angry man. You have trouble dealing with your emotions. Remember, violence is not always the answer. You secretly are deeply in love with your wife. . ."
V.A. starts to blush. Bulma giggles and latches on to his arm again.
"Despite his lack of proper respect, your best friend is the last member of your race. . ."
Goku grins and puts his arm around V.A., who starts to splutter.
"You enjoy a good fight, good food, ballet dancing, macramé, and Hello Kitty. . ."
"That's it!" V.A. explodes suddenly. He shoves Bulma and Goku away, powers up, and blows the machine to tiny pieces.
"Now V.A., what did you do that for?" Bulma asks.
"It lied! Kakkarot is not my best friend! He's an insane baka! And you're an ugly, hideous woman!"
Bulma and Goku just grin knowingly.
"Argh!" V.A. throws his hands in the air and stalks off.
"Remember, violence isn't always the answer!"
"Back to work," Piccolo orders.
Goku proceeds to the far corner, which is stacked with boxes, six high. Goku pulls one out from the middle and the stack topples. "Oops."
Yamcha is at their work table, holding what looks like a large radio. He is trying to pry the back off with a screwdriver to see what's inside. He can't seem to do it. Finally he just pulls it apart by main force, cracking the outside. He looks at what's left. There are a bunch of wires. He pokes at them. He obviously has no clue what they do. Eventually he just tosses it aside and goes to look for something else.
"That was a multi-linguistic translator you just ruined," Bulma calls after him. He ignores her.
Meanwhile, Goku has opened the crate he selected and peers inside. "Oooh, what's this do?" He pulls out a flat metal disc. "Is it a Frisbee?" He tosses it through the air to land next to V.A. It promptly explodes, taking out 12 boxes, 2 flat computer monitors hooked up to some strange plastic device, a 1/8-scale pirate ship made out of rubber, and a large wooden badger.
V.A. drops the delicate-looking piece of machinery he was holding, which immediately shatters, and fires a small ki blast at Goku, destroying 25 more boxes, melting a very fascinating-looking machine in the shape of a pipe organ, and a microwave made out of felt.
"Stop that," Piccolo scolds.
Goku sheepishly rubs the back of his head. V.A. scowls.
Yamcha turns back to the invention in front of him. "Huh. What does this do?" He pushes a square, yellow button. It rises slowly off the ground, then sputters and explodes, singing Yamcha somewhat. "Oops."
Goku is throwing boxes off shelves. Loud crashes can be heard. Piccolo winces.
V.A., unable to help himself, finds his hand reaching out to pull a lever on what looks like a giant Pez-dispenser with a demented rat head. His hand comes down. The machine makes a rattling noise, then a compartment on the side opens and starts dropping out gumballs made out of spun sugar, C-4, and a hard chocolate coating. They roll across the floor, detonating a number of other creations, one of which explodes in a magnificent firey ball. V.A. hastily puts the lever back in its original position.
"Did you notice how a lot of these inventions seem to involve explosives?" Yamcha scratched his head.
"This is a *mad* scientists convention. They're usually obsessed with world domination and stuff."
Meanwhile in Piccolo's corner, something goes, "Bonk! Sprong!" He pulls his hand away guiltily. "Oops."
"I can't take it anymore!" Bulma cries. "If you destroy everything in sight, we'll be stuck here forever--until they come kill us! You--you two Saiyans! Go stand in that corner and *don't touch anything* or I'll see you don't get fed for a week! Piccolo! Go meditate or something. Over there! And you--Yamcha! Sit against that wall and keep quiet. Let a beautiful genius work!"
"Oooh, are you going to weld something? Can I help?"
"Goku! Sit! Stay!"
"Baka," V.A. mutters.
"V.A., I see what you're doing! Put that Velocitator down!"
"A what?" Boing, sprunk, crash. "Oops."
"Yamcha!"
"I wasn't touching it!"
Bulma sighs, rolls her eyes, quickly surveys the room, produces a number of parts from somewhere and an interesting-looking capsule, and goes to work.