Piccolo tried to sense anyone other than his comrades in the area. He didn't feel any large kis, but did feel numerous smaller kis a few miles away, enough for a village, or small town.
"I think there is some sort of settlement about three miles in that direction. For lack of anything else to do, I suggest we go there." Piccolo said.
"It sounds as good as anything else right now." Uub said looking up from his place next to Goku. "Although I don't know if Goku can make the journey without being carried."
"I-I... can.. m-make... it!" Goku stammered out as he tried unsuccessfully to stand.
"Amazing!" Piccolo thought to himself. "Everything I ever heard was that a Saiyan would be totally incapacitated from such a sudden break with their mate. Goku's trying to stand!"
"I-I... g-got us into t-t-this m-mess." Goku said. "I-I will help g-get us o-out!"
Goku tried desperately to regain his feet.
Piccolo decided to add some incentive. "Well, I suppose we could have Majin Buu absorb him. He could always spit him out later. Then we wouldn't have to carry him."
"W-What?!? You wouldn't! I WILL MAKE IT!" Goku screamed as energy swirled around him and he stood upright. A bit shaky but he was on his feet.
Piccolo and Goku looked at each other hard for several seconds, then Piccolo smiled.
Goku looked a bit surprised then smiled as well.
"You know, if I were Vegeta, I would be threatening to kill you right about now." Goku said.
"Lucky for me you're not Vegeta." Piccolo smiled. "How are you feeling?"
"Not good, but I think I can walk for now. I'm not sure how long I can keep up though. I can't seem to generate much ki. I feel like less than half a Saiyan. I'm worried about poor Chi-Chi and Vegeta." Goku explained tiredly.
"Why Vegeta?" Piccolo asked curiously as he started walking in a leisurely pace.
"Well, it's not common knowledge, and I want you to promise on Kami's Staff that you will never, ever mention that you know to Vegeta, but over the years he and I have developed what my father calls a 'warrior's bond'. It's not as strong as a bond between mates, it won't kill him or me by itself, but it isn't exactly pleasant when that bond it broken." Goku answered. "No offense Piccolo, but if we are going to walk, then don't ask me any more questions. It's going to take every bit of energy I can muster to keep up."
"Sure, no problem. Let me know if you need any help." Piccolo said.
Goku just smiled wanly.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"ALRIGHT HORNHEAD! WHERE IS KAKKROT!!" Vegeta screamed the second he, Bulma, Abigail, Raditz, Bardock, Yambia, Roger, and Gerald Jr. appeared on his desk. Yambia was also carrying Chi-Chi in her arms. She was curled up like a baby.
King Yamma knew that he had screwed up completely. His knowledge of the forbidden zones was just what he had learned as a child demon. He hadn't realized that all ki was blocked off from and to it. He thought he had given the bored warrior something to occupy his time. He hadn't thought for a minute that he was sending Goku into something he couldn't handle. He is, after all, Goku.
"H-He's gone to the Forbidden Dimensions." King Yamma said nervously. Dealing with Vegeta, even on a good day, made King Yamma nervous.
"WHAT FORBIDDEN DIMENSIONS?" Vegeta was right up in King Yamma's face.
"Vegeta! Get down here and calm down and let King Yamma explain!" Bulma screamed.
"Woman I am..." Vegeta started and looked at his mate. She was standing there giving him 'that look' with both hands on her hips.
"You'd better start explaining you colossal baka!" Vegeta said as he floated down towards his wife.
"Well, you see, Goku had been popping in and out of your dimension and Other World trying to occupy himself. He went to the Grand Kai's planet and beat the snot out of every warrior there. It will be days before some of them can walk again, much less train. Then he came here with Majin Buu and Uub. Buu wanted to make a wish and the Namekian Dragonballs are out of commission, so I remembered the legend of the wish fountain in the Forbidden Dimensions. Naturally, Goku wanted to go. I didn't know that it totally blocked out ki energy until after he entered the dimensions!" King Yamma explained. "I didn't think that anything in there could actually pose a threat to Goku!"
"He's in another dimension." Bulma said to herself, then turned toward her mate. "Vegeta, is it safe to assume that Goku is in the same condition Chi-Chi is in right now?"
"Probably, but if not then not much better." Vegeta said. "He would be helpless against even relatively weak opponents. We have to go after him."
"We?" Bulma stared at her husband.
"Yes woman! You and I have to go at the very least. If I go alone, you will end up just like Chi-Chi the second I pass into that dimension. I would be of no use to Kakkarot at all once our bond was severed."
"I see. I'm not a warrior Vegeta." Bulma said. "I may not be of much use to you."
"You're wrong Bulma. I've seen the warrior in you. You just have to bring it out." Vegeta smirked. "No woman could put up with me for so many years and not be a warrior."
"Yambia, Gerald, and I will come along..." Roger started.
"No." Vegeta said plainly. "Listen to me all of you. If for some reason we don't return, Roger will be the King of the Saiyans.
"What?!? Me? What about Trunks?" Roger stood in shock.
"He doesn't want it. I have discussed this with him, at length. He has no desire to be king." Vegeta said almost sadly. "You know everything you need to know about being King. Hell, it's little more than a figurehead position these days anyway. I trust you will lead our people on its present course."
Roger looked into Yambia's eyes. They were both in shock. Roger turned back towards Vegeta.
"But Vegeta, if you don't return then we..." Yambia started.
"There will be NO rescue attempt, do you understand?" Vegeta ordered sternly. "With Kakkarot, Gerald, and myself, three of the most powerful Saiyans, indeed beings, in the universe are involved. You are NOT to risk anymore people trying to rescue us! Understand?"
"Yes King Vegeta." Every one mumbled without much conviction.
Bardock, Raditz, you will find the paperwork I've already drawn up declaring Roger as the new king in my safe on Vegetasei. Will you honor it?" Vegeta asked the ritual question of witnesses to such events.
"In our hearts, minds and souls." Came the ritual response.
"Good." Vegeta smiled. "Gerald and Chi-Chi will come along, everyone else go back to Vegetasei and wait for word."
"Umm... King Vegeta, with all due respect, I don't think I should go." Gerald said.
"Why not son?" Roger said surprised that his son wasn't eager for a fight for once.
"Well, I really can't say. I just don't feel like going, okay?" Gerald said.
"No, it's not okay. King Vegeta needs you. Now explain why you can't go along!" Yambia said sternly.
"Well, I mean it's like Chi-Chi... If I go then..." Gerald's voice trailed off.
Vegeta was the first to make the connection. "JESSICA!! You've bonded with Jessica!?"
"Well, yeah. I mean we've never done anything... you know, but we have started to bond." Gerald said. "Jessica thinks so too."
"BUT YOU'RE JUST TEN YEARS OLD!" Yambia wailed.
"Sorry mom. I really just couldn't help it." Gerald said sheepishly.
Roger smiled. "Well, I guess it was inevitable given all the time they spend together. You just make sure that 'you know' doesn't happen for a few years, got it?"
"Dad, I'm not entirely sure what 'you know' is." Gerald said. "I asked Gohan, I mean he is supposed to be my teacher and all, but all he did was turn a weird shade of red and told me to ask my parents. With all the fighting recently, I haven't had a chance."
"Okay, that's something we can discuss when we get home." Gerald marked his mental to do list. Have that man-to-man talk that he had been dreading with his son.
"Damned this kid is growing up fast!" Gerald thought to himself.
"All right Gerald, here's what we do. You go and get Jessica and take Bulma with you. Bulma needs to pack us some supplies before we can go anyway. Everyone else go back to Vegetasei. Gerald will bring Bulma and Jessica back here." Vegeta said looking serious. "Don't be all day about it either!"
"N-No King Vegeta." Gerald said as he took Bulma's hand and teleported away.
"Roger you know what I expect." Vegeta said solemnly.
"Yes my liege." Roger bowed. Everyone else followed suit.
Yambia set Chi-Chi down gently on King Yamma's memo pad.
Roger stood and everyone made contact with him. He placed his two fingers on his forehead. "I hope that we won't need those documents in your safe though. Your shoes are far too big for me to fill." Roger smiled.
Vegeta smirked. "Get the hell out of here before I blast the whole lot of you!"
Roger and crew disappeared.
Vegeta turned and walked over to where Chi-Chi was still out like a light. "Hang in their onna, we're going to fix this somehow.
Vegeta suddenly wheeled around on King Yamma again. "AND YOU!! I don't even want to hear your voice right now! Just sit there and think about why it's not a good idea to let people go into someplace that has the word 'forbidden' as part of it's name! While you're doing that, you tell me everything you know about these 'Forbidden Dimensions!'"
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Piccolo looked at the front gate of a walled village. He counted over two dozen guards at the gate and lining the road leading up to the gate. Piccolo had flown up into a large tree as they got close to the town. Piccolo's sensitive eyes picked up the fact that there were several burned areas on the walls, gate, and battlements above, like the town had been under recent siege. Piccolo's greater than human normal senses did not pick up any evidence of enemy presence. As an experiment, Piccolo let he ki spike upward for a few seconds. There was no response so Piccolo surmised that they could not sense ki.
The people in and around the town were far stronger than humans, ranging anywhere from a fighting power of about 150,000 to a fighting power of about 500,000, if you were using something as primitive as a scouter. Not weak by any stretch of the imagination, but not particularly strong by Piccolo's standards.
The village was quite scenic, nestled in a mountain valley bordered on one side by a wide mountain stream, the other by the same forest that Piccolo had led everyone through forest. Several wood bridges spanned the stream in various places and Piccolo could see homes in the forest beyond. Piccolo focused on the homes and seen that several of them were little more than burned out shells.
The walk had been hard on Goku. Piccolo didn't have a clue as to what kept his Saiyan friend on his feet for the last mile or so. It was like watching a walking zombie shuffling along. Piccolo asked him several times if he wanted to stop and rest and Goku refused. Goku's ki was terribly low and Piccolo was worried. Even now, Goku has refused to sit down. Piccolo left him with Uub, Buu, and Satan leaned up against a tree. Goku said that if he sit down, he might not be able to get back up.
Piccolo was disturbed by the kis that he sensed off to the northeast. He now sensed several immense kis about a mile out of town and about mile straight up on the side of a huge mountain. These kis were odd somehow, definitely not like anything Piccolo has ever encountered before.
Piccolo took one last look at the villagers. Definitely humanoid as far as shape. Head, body, torso, two arms, two legs, and all the facial features in the correct places, but that's where the similarity ended. These beings were, on average, in excess of nine foot tall. They sported a patch of hair on the tops of their heads that covered most of the top of the skull, but little else below that. They were dark gray in skin color, and almost laughably skinny and small muscled. Their feet and hands were huge in comparison with their arm size. Most of them carried a rifle of some sort.
Satisfied that he had gathered enough information, Piccolo floated back down to the rest of his group and relayed what he had seen to them.
"This could be dangerous, but I really don't see that we have much choice but to approach the village and ask for help and information." Piccolo said.
"Do you think that any of them knows the way out of here?" Uub asked.
"Doubtful, otherwise we would have seen them in our realm at some point." Piccolo said. "I've never seen anyone like them before, not even in Hell."
"Maybe they are all good people." Uub said.
Piccolo smirked. "I doubt it. I've never met an entire race of good people before, I doubt that such a race even exists. Even among us Nameks, who are widely regarded as one of the most peaceful people around, there are a few bad apples. I should know, I was one of them until I met Gohan."
"I remember Goku telling me about that once." Uub smiled. "It was quite a story. In fact, he told the story around our council campfire. It became an instant hit among my people. Several of the elders still tell the tale of the Great Demon King turning good."
Piccolo frowned not sure if he liked the idea of being the subject of someone's story telling or not.
"You said this could be dangerous?" Uub asked. "I don't sense any kis that could cause us much of a problem."
"No single one of them could threaten us, but if they all ganged up on is, we could be in serious trouble." Piccolo said.
"Oh..." Uub said contemplating some very ugly scenes.
"Okay, let's get going then. Goku, are you up for this?" Piccolo turned to his friend.
Goku looked up and weakly gave Piccolo the thumbs-up.
"Okay then, let's go."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Vegeta waited patiently or as patiently as possible for Vegeta, for Gerald to return. He wouldn't admit it, but every second that passed added to his guilt of not being there to help Kakkarot. About a half an hour passed in which time he checked on Chi-Chi. Her ki was getting lower and lower.
"Hurry up Gerald!" Vegeta grimaced to himself. Vegeta looked at Chi-Chi's face and gently brushed her hair from her face. "Even with your big screeching mouth, I would miss you if you left." Vegeta admitted in a whisper. "Hang in there onna."
Vegeta felt a sudden displacement of air behind him and quickly turned to see Gerald, Jessica, and Bulma materialize out of thin air.
"About time!" Vegeta said. "Let's get going! Gerald, pick up Chi-Chi and bring her with us."
Vegeta took to the air headed for the corridor that King Yamma indicated earlier.
"Vegeta! Slow down! I can't fly that fast!" Bulma yelled after her mate.
Vegeta turned in mid air and picked Bulma up under the shoulders and knees and flew back towards the corridor as fast as he could. Gerald and Jessica shrugged their shoulders and followed close behind.
"Damned you Vegeta! You should warn me before you do that!" Bulma said. Bulma looked into Vegeta's face. It was a strange mixture of pain and determination.
"I'm sorry Bulma. Vegeta said in a rare show of contrition. "But I don't think we have any time to loose. We have to get to Kakkarot quickly. Chi-Chi's ki is getting lower and I don't think Kakkarot is in much better shape. Certainly he is in no shape to fight. We have to get to him."
"You're worried about him, aren't you?" Bulma's voice softened.
Vegeta's face screwed up. "Yes!" Vegeta answered in a strained voice.
Bulma decided not to press Vegeta on the subject further.
"So what did King Yamma say about the Forbidden Dimensions?" Jessica asked.
"Not much. Only that there is a key guardian of some sort that has to be defeated. If I know Kakkarot, he's already blasted the guardian, but we need a key to get in. Beyond that, the big baka didn't really know anything useful." Vegeta answered.
Vegeta entered the entrance to the corridor and looked ahead. There was nothing as far as the eye could see but more corridor lit by torches." "Blast! How long is this hall?" Vegeta cursed.
Vegeta stretched out his senses and couldn't feel a bit of ki up ahead. Vegeta flew on raising his ki for even more speed.
A few hours later Jessica had gotten tired. All of their stomachs were growling up a storm.
"Vegeta, we should stop and rest. We're all hungry and Jessica is tired." Bulma said.
"No one stops until we reach the end of this hall!" Vegeta snapped.
"How is starving going to help Goku!" Bulma reasoned. "They may be Saiyans, but they are still kids. They need to eat!"
Vegeta looked back and Jessica was straining to keep up. "All right, 15 minutes! No more!" Vegeta landed followed by the rest.
Bulma removed a capsule, depressed the button and threw it to the floor. A table full of food instantly appeared.
"My father's greatest invention." Bulma smiled inwardly. Bulma pulled out another capsule and a hospital bed materialized.
Gerald lay Chi-Chi gently on the bed.
Vegeta had walked off to the side and stared ahead down the hall. Everyone else dug into the food. After a few minutes Bulma brought a plate to Vegeta.
"What's wrong my love?" Bulma asked.
Vegeta looked into his wife's eyes. "Damned it Bulma, when I laid dying he was there! When my soul was being dragged into the abyss, he was there! Every time I've ever really needed him, he's been there! Now I feel like I've failed him the one time I could have helped!"
"We are going to help him." Bulma wrapped her tail around Vegeta's waist above his own tail. "He's not dead you know, we just can't feel him right now. We will get to him, and we will bring him home."
Vegeta's tail uncoiled from his waist and wrapped around his mate's waist in return. "I-I know. It just feels like the universe is not quite right without him in it, off kilter somehow. It would actually be an improvement if he were simply dead.
"King Vegeta?" Gerald called interrupting a rare public show of affection from the hardened warrior.
"What is it?" Vegeta snapped as his tail and Bulma's tail quickly wrapped themselves around their owner's waists.
"We're done eating if you'd like to continue." Jessica answered.
"Fine." Vegeta said shortly as he took the plate that Bulma had offered and inhaled the contents.
"Don't mind him, he's going through a lot right now." Bulma whispered as she encapsulated the empty table.
"It's okay, we understand." Jessica said.
Bulma smiled as she walked back to Vegeta. "All right my King, sweep me off my feet!"
Vegeta smirked as he picked his mate up rather roughly.
"Hey you big lout!" Bulma complained.
Gerald and Jessica exchanged a smiling glance as Gerald picked Chi-Chi up and Jessica encapsulated the bed.
Several hours later the crew exited the corridor into a vast chamber. It was obvious to Vegeta that a fight took place here in the not so distant past. Everyone saw a huge figure laying close to a door on the other side of the room, with what appeared to be spiders crawling all over it.
At first Vegeta thought the spiders were attacking some large creature, but as he got closer he seen that the creature was metal, a large mechanical device of some sort and the spiders were actually fixing the thing.
Dismissing the scene, Vegeta landed in front of the door and began to examine it.
"I can't just blast the door. King Yamma said this was a prison of sorts." Vegeta thought to himself. "No telling what sort of nightmare we would let loose."
"Vegeta... We seem to have company." Gerald warned.
Vegeta spun around to see several of the spiders heading toward them. A somewhat larger spider was in the lead.
"What are you doing here? Haven't you outsiders caused enough problems?" The spider spoke.
Ignoring the arachnid's protests, Vegeta looked at the spider hard enough for him to take a step back. "Did you see who went through that door?"
"Yes! Look what he did to the guardian!" The spider's front leg pointed at the fallen statue.
Vegeta smirked. "After tangling with a Saiyan you're lucky to have a guardian at all. How do I follow them into the Forbidden Dimension?"
"You can't! If you use the key again so soon it will take years to recharge! We will be without a guardian!" The spider moaned.
"Probably just as well, he wasn't strong enough to be of much use anyway." Vegeta answered.
Meanwhile, Gerald and Jessica had examined the door, and spotted the jewel in the guardian's forehead and came to the same conclusion that Piccolo had come to. Gerald handed Chi-Chi to Jessica and flew over and snatched the Jewel from the guardian's head. The spiders reacted by racing after him.
Gerald landed by Jessica's side and watched the approaching horde.
"Well, it looks like we will get to eat after all." The lead spider said as he approached Vegeta.
Gerald stretched out his hand and placed a low powered ki ball directly in front of the advancing spiders. The spiders stopped.
"I'll vaporize the next one of you that takes a step toward us." Gerald warned. "You have no idea who you are dealing with or what we are capable of."
Vegeta had a theory. It was one that he had formulated when he was a small boy. Take the leader out, and the rest will often lose their will to fight. Vegeta stepped up quickly and kicked the lead spider through the air to strike the far wall... hard. Vegeta followed that with a ki blast that vaporized it while it slid down the wall.
The rest of the spiders backed up rapidly.
"Use the key Jesse!" Gerald threw the jewel to Jessica.
After examining the indentation, and the shape of the jewel, Jessica placed the key in the door. Like before, the door disappeared. Beyond the opening was a snow bound and mountainous land.
"I don't feel Kakkarot in there at all!" Vegeta complained. "What's going on?"
"You said that King Yamma said that there were seven of these Forbidden Dimensions, right?" Gerald asked.
"Yeah, that's what he said." Vegeta voice was raised over the howling of the wind. "So?"
"So this door probably opens randomly on each of the seven. This is not the same Forbidden Dimension that Goku and the others went. But since this is the only way in, then we must go here to get to Goku." Gerald said.
"I hate the cold!" Vegeta moaned. "What do you want to bet that Kakkarot managed to find a nice, warm, sunny dimension while we are stuck with this crap?"
"I packed for all contingencies." Bulma smiled quite proud of herself. Bulma examined her case full of capsules and removed one she had marked 1497, depressed the button and let if fly. Out popped an entire 10-meter by 20-meter rack filled with all sorts of clothes. On the end of the rack on their side there was enough winter foul weather gear to survive comfortably in Siberia.
"I bet now you're happy I took a little time to prepare, aren't you?" Bulma smirked almost as well as the King himself.
"I knew there was some reason I allowed you to be my mate." Vegeta's smirk was definitely the better of the two.
Bulma's smirk turned into a smile.
Several minutes later everyone was properly attired for the environment they were about to enter. Bulma encapsulated the rack of remaining clothes and placed the capsule back in her case. Bulma had always started having her clothes tailored so that she had a zippered pocket where she kept her capsule case. She learned what it could mean to lose it in time of need.
Vegeta turned and jumped through the portal along with Bulma. Gerald carrying Chi-Chi and Jessica jumped though at the same time.
