[A/N - I had so much fun with this one, I made it a bit longer then the rest. Sorry! ^_^]
********Episode 29********
**Family Affair; "Girl Talk"**
Cole congratulated everyone on a mission well accomplished, with special thanks to Bardock, Tora, and Zucina. The group jumped into their pods, being promised a celebratory party when they arrived on Vegetasei.
Bardock stretched out comfortably in his seat. "Wake me up when we get home," he ordered Stinky.
"Sir - uh - Bardock! I'm sorry to say this, but you have a message."
"Huh? For me? Who?"
"Your sister. She wishes to meet you at your house in Root Forest. Your mother has been mortally wounded."
Bardock's stomach automatically lurched. Purposefully, he avoided any contact with Celipa, not having heard from her since his first zural in STP. "I don't know who yer talkin' about."
"Third Class private Celipa, of -"
"OH SHOVE IT UP YER CIRCUTS," yelled Bardock.
Zucina, whose face had just appeared on screen, began cursing at him in many languages. "Not you, Zuni-chan. Screen on Tora and Cole, too, Stinky."
The faces popped up. "Somethin' wrong, shorty," asked Tora.
Bardock sighed, very serious. "My sister called. Said that my mom's dying, and want to see me."
All three of the above knew that Bardock's mother, Kara, was an abusive drunk of a woman who was part of the cause of his physical handicap as a baby. Delicate a subject as it was, Zucina spoke without hesitation. "Don't go. Need any more advice?"
"Be more serious for once," said Tora. "Go, and tell he off right before she snuffs it!"
Bardock sighed again. "Thanks a lot," he muttered sarcastically.
"Go," suggested Cole after some thought. "Hear what she has to say."
"I don't want to. I hate her!!"
"I know, I know. But sometimes a soul is better situated to move on if reconciling past deeds. Give the woman some peace before her torment in the great beyond."
"Can someone come with me," Bardock asked, secretly nervous.
"I'm supposed to meet Fasha's dad," said Tora. "Gomen."
"I know who can go," said Cole. "I'll com Olivia-"
"Nani!?!" Zucina screamed. Cole smirked. She got his hint and snorted. "Fine! Go! Give in and crawl back!! That woman doesn't deserve a second of your time, Bardock!!" Her picture disappeared.
"Okay, now who here doesn't think she was talking about Olivia," teased Cole.
Zucina's face popped up again, this time purple with anger. "AND I DON'T BLOODY FANCY BARDOCK!!!!!!" The sound cracked the piece of the screen she was on before she disappeared.
"If its a choice, Bardock," said Tora, anime sweat-drop forming, "I'd pick Olivia over Zucina any day." Bardock shut off both screens.
Celipa waited impatiently by the door. "That darn shrimp," she vexed. "He shoulda been here an hour a go!"
"Who's the shrimp?"
Celipa looked up, and jumped back in shock. "Na-nanda!?!"
Bardock did even smirk at the sight of his sister. She had grown a bit fatter over the zurals, and still not very pretty, not even a bit in his opinion. "What's yer problem?"
Olivia touched his shoulder to calm him. Unconsciously it worked.
"Well . . . its just . . . you're so . . . so . . ."
"I didn't grown, you shrank!" Bardock glared at the older Sayin woman. "You said over the inter-stellar com that it was important to see Mom. So, what's up?!"
Celipa shook her head, trying to clear her mind. "I - uh - missed ya, heh heh."
"The feelin' ain't mutual."
"Aw, c'mon, not even a little?"
"If this is why you flagged me down from-"
"Mother is in there," she said, pointing to Kara's bedroom. "She got mortally wounded in a bar fight, so she's out of it."
Bardock stepped past his sister, feigning to step on her, then walked through the other door. The room smelt of dried blood and puke. He covered his nose and strode towards the woman in the bed. The not-so-young-looking Sayin laboriously took in a breath. Bardock couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness for the woman. No Sayin ever died of old age; this event was imminent. Still, for all that she had done . . .
"Jicama," she asked in a very weak voice.
Bardock blinked. Jicama was his father's name. "No, Okasan. Its-"
"Jicama! Please, don't leave me," the dying Kara moaned. "I still love you! I only kept him because he looks like you!"
"Na . . . I am NOT Jicama!!"
Olivia stepped into the room. "Bardock, please! Pretend for a minute!"
Kara let out a choked cry. "Jicama, don't go! Don't go! I just can't kill him! He looks too much like you! Forgive me!"
Bardock hesitated, then nodded his head.
Kara smiled, then drifted off forever.
Celipa hugged Bardock from behind. "Oh, thank you Niichan!!"
Bardock's eyes were in shadow. "He really left 'cause a me, eh? 'Cause I was so weak?"
Celipa nodded. "And you DO look a lot like him. Its amazin'! Yer voice too! And the way ya talk, an' the way ya act, and . . . Wha-where ya goin'?" Bardock left the house without another word.
Bardock sat atop Vine Falls, his favorite place on the planet. He made friends with Zucina, and Cole took him in as a pupil there. The serene atmosphere always calmed him. That day, however, it only brought up the past in full swing.
'A Sayin's only as good as his power,' he said not long after he met Cole.
'Every student in the school is my enemy. They won't stop laughing at me until I show them who's boss! I'll show them I'm the strongest! . . . I'm not the pathetic pee-on you saved in that classroom. I'm better then that now.' He said that to Tora while training for his first tournament. He trained so hard for it . . .
'My power level is higher, so I'm better!" He said that to Zucina before they left STPHQ.
'What's yer power level? It makes all the difference in the world!!' He just said that only the day before!
Bardock listened to the crashing of the water. "Oh, Great Goddess," he said aloud, "don't let me grow up to be like my father!"
===========================================================
[Commercial Break]
===========================================================
"I'll do it in my own new apartment."
"I thought you liked trying new and dangerous things, Zucina," teased Fasha to her friend.
"Not this!! I won't do it!!"
For the past two hours, Fasha tried to convince Zucina to enter the public bathhouse and spa with her. "No one will see you, except other women."
"I don't care! My body is MY business!"
"Nobody is gonna care about your body! Just go in!"
Zucina shook her head.
"Okay, but if you don't, I'll tell Totepo it was your fault his tongue turned black after he ate that trick cheese stick you slipped him."
"How did you know?!"
"My mate isn't called 'The Squealer' for nothing! Now c'mon!!"
Fasha shoved Zucina inside. The spa was filled with women of all sorts and shapes, most half or not dressed. The walls were peaceful green and plants/flowers lined the way. Many curtain covered doors led to massage tables. There were three jocose at the opposite end, rows of mirrors and private showers, several small holes of special mud, and a large scented bath in the center.
Fasha inhaled. "Smell that perfume! Specially made for Sayin skin to smooth and relax! Don'cha just love it?"
Zucina glared at a naked girl walking past. "Yeah, sure."
Fasha laughed and proceeded to undress. Zucina backed away. "What are you-"
"Oh, give it a rest, Zucina! I know you act like a boy sometimes, but haven't you even SEEN a naked woman, besides yourself?"
"No! I bathe alone!"
"Well, now's the time to grow up." Powerless and already embarrassed, Zucina only took off her armor and boots, and crossed her arms hotly. "I'll soak my feet only, thank you."
"Don't bother Fahsa! Maybe she has nothing to show off!"
Zucina scrunched her nose at the familiar voice. 'My body is better then yours, bitch,' she thought. "Hi Olivia," said Fasha cheerfully.
"Well, Zucina," said the girl in the large bath. "Chicken?"
"Of course not!!"
"Then just loosen up!"
Zucina reluctantly stripped. "That wasn't so bad, was it," mocked Olivia.
Fasha patted her friend and teammate on the back. "Now, you go wash up. I'll meet you in the bath."
"What about you!?!"
"I'm going to get a mud treatment first. Wanna come?"
"If we came here to bathe, I jolly well intend to accomplish at least THAT!! I could have gotten dirty on my own, thank you!"
Stars shone in Fasha's eyes. "I have to look my best when Tora meets my dad!"
"Sounds like you two are getting serious," said Olivia with a teasing edge in her voice.
As the other two gossiped, Zucina hurriedly grabbed a bar of soap and went to a shower. The water turned warm quickly, and before she knew it, she finished. Fasha had already left to the mud tubs, leaving Zucina alone (so to speak) with Olivia. The older Sayin slipped into the water and sat, not keeping eyes contact, just waiting for Fasha to finish.
Olivia swam closer to Zucina. "Zuni-chan, lets let bygones be bygones. I want to be your friend."
"Feh! It's you who seems to have a problem with me!"
"Gomen. Its just - well - you are competition."
"You're not a fighter."
"I mean in the game of love. You know, for Bardock." Zucina's eye twitched and a vein protruded from her forehead, but Olivia didn't notice. "He is so incredible, ne? So sensitive yet strong, so handsome yet boyish, so-"
"He's all yours, sister. I have no interest in him."
Olivia hugged Zucina, making the latter duck into the water in fright. The former grabbed her hair and pulled her back up. "Did I scare you?"
"NO!! I just dove into a vat of 110 degree water for my HEALTH!!"
Missing the sarcasm, Olivia's eyes went into happy, upside down Us. "Glad you're getting more relaxed."
Relaxed was the last thing Zucina felt. Bardock's smiling face crossed her mind. "You really fancy him, do you?"
"Oh yes! How CAN'T you? Can you do me a favor? Can you see if he likes me, too?"
"Whatever."
"Does he ever talk about me?"
"A little."
"What does he say?"
"Not much. Why?"
"Weeeeelllllll, I'm thinking of asking him out to the Double Nuevo Lunar Festival."
"Why didn't you ask him earlier?"
"He just ran off!" Olivia told Zucina, and eventually Fasha when she joined them, about the incident at Bardock's house.
"And you just let him go off like that," cried Zucina when Olivia finished.
"Sure. He's a warrior; he can control his feelings." But Zucina had already left the bath and got dressed.
"What's with her," asked Olivia.
Fasha watched Zucina, a slight sadness in her eyes. 'Poor Zucina. Not having know love herself, she doesn't understand how deep her feelings for Bardock really are. How heartrending!"
Night fell. Zucina searched frantically for her friend, and finally ended up in Vine Falls. Bardock remained as he was, now staring at the two moons of Vegetasei. One was half full, the other a crescent. It took the light of both full moons to transform the Sayins. With no light from a partially formed moon, the affect cancelled out.
Zucina landed behind her friend. "Bardock no baka!! I've scoured practically the whole bloody PLANET looking for you!"
"Why," asked Bardock.
"WHY?!? Olivia told me what happened, that's why! I figured-" She stopped herself, suddenly self-conscious. "I . . . I came to keep you company."
Bardock shrugged, and Zucina sat beside him. "Shank for your thoughts,"* she said.
"Just thinkin'"
"About what?"
"Nothin'"
"Sounds like your kind of thinking."
Bardock sniffed. "Wha's that stench?"
"Fasha made me go to a public bath."
"HAHAHA!!! I'd have LOVED ta see that!!"
"Letch!"
"Very funny. I meant Fasha convincing you to go in there!"
"Not 'convinced,' 'forced!' She's far stronger then she looks!"
"Yeah right!" Both laughed, and fell into silence again. The moons naturally caught their attention. The two orbs went through the phases at different rates, so the event of a double full moon occurred only every eight zurals, as did the double new moon. Olivia's story ran through her head again, and Zucina finally spoke, clearly and firmly: "You are not your father, Bardock. I know in my heart that you'd never hurt your family, blood or bond."
Another long pause. Then, Zucina felt Bardock's hand come to rest on hers. She snapped her head around, and saw him smiling like a brother to her. "Thanks, Zuni-chan. I needed that."
Zucina smiled back. Together, they continued to stare at the moons and stars all night.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
* - "Shank for your thoughts." - the equivalent to the Earth saying "Penny for your thoughts."
Hey everyone! Cole here!
I'm invited to a meeting for third class captains, and am assigned to a special job for none other then the king himself! Why the heck would the king ask for help from a third class team?
Next time on DragonballBC: The Extraordinary Mission; To Amazonia!!
Fun Fact - I've never been to niether a spa nor a public bath house. But I've seen them so often in animes, I figured I ought to throw one in.
********Episode 29********
**Family Affair; "Girl Talk"**
Cole congratulated everyone on a mission well accomplished, with special thanks to Bardock, Tora, and Zucina. The group jumped into their pods, being promised a celebratory party when they arrived on Vegetasei.
Bardock stretched out comfortably in his seat. "Wake me up when we get home," he ordered Stinky.
"Sir - uh - Bardock! I'm sorry to say this, but you have a message."
"Huh? For me? Who?"
"Your sister. She wishes to meet you at your house in Root Forest. Your mother has been mortally wounded."
Bardock's stomach automatically lurched. Purposefully, he avoided any contact with Celipa, not having heard from her since his first zural in STP. "I don't know who yer talkin' about."
"Third Class private Celipa, of -"
"OH SHOVE IT UP YER CIRCUTS," yelled Bardock.
Zucina, whose face had just appeared on screen, began cursing at him in many languages. "Not you, Zuni-chan. Screen on Tora and Cole, too, Stinky."
The faces popped up. "Somethin' wrong, shorty," asked Tora.
Bardock sighed, very serious. "My sister called. Said that my mom's dying, and want to see me."
All three of the above knew that Bardock's mother, Kara, was an abusive drunk of a woman who was part of the cause of his physical handicap as a baby. Delicate a subject as it was, Zucina spoke without hesitation. "Don't go. Need any more advice?"
"Be more serious for once," said Tora. "Go, and tell he off right before she snuffs it!"
Bardock sighed again. "Thanks a lot," he muttered sarcastically.
"Go," suggested Cole after some thought. "Hear what she has to say."
"I don't want to. I hate her!!"
"I know, I know. But sometimes a soul is better situated to move on if reconciling past deeds. Give the woman some peace before her torment in the great beyond."
"Can someone come with me," Bardock asked, secretly nervous.
"I'm supposed to meet Fasha's dad," said Tora. "Gomen."
"I know who can go," said Cole. "I'll com Olivia-"
"Nani!?!" Zucina screamed. Cole smirked. She got his hint and snorted. "Fine! Go! Give in and crawl back!! That woman doesn't deserve a second of your time, Bardock!!" Her picture disappeared.
"Okay, now who here doesn't think she was talking about Olivia," teased Cole.
Zucina's face popped up again, this time purple with anger. "AND I DON'T BLOODY FANCY BARDOCK!!!!!!" The sound cracked the piece of the screen she was on before she disappeared.
"If its a choice, Bardock," said Tora, anime sweat-drop forming, "I'd pick Olivia over Zucina any day." Bardock shut off both screens.
Celipa waited impatiently by the door. "That darn shrimp," she vexed. "He shoulda been here an hour a go!"
"Who's the shrimp?"
Celipa looked up, and jumped back in shock. "Na-nanda!?!"
Bardock did even smirk at the sight of his sister. She had grown a bit fatter over the zurals, and still not very pretty, not even a bit in his opinion. "What's yer problem?"
Olivia touched his shoulder to calm him. Unconsciously it worked.
"Well . . . its just . . . you're so . . . so . . ."
"I didn't grown, you shrank!" Bardock glared at the older Sayin woman. "You said over the inter-stellar com that it was important to see Mom. So, what's up?!"
Celipa shook her head, trying to clear her mind. "I - uh - missed ya, heh heh."
"The feelin' ain't mutual."
"Aw, c'mon, not even a little?"
"If this is why you flagged me down from-"
"Mother is in there," she said, pointing to Kara's bedroom. "She got mortally wounded in a bar fight, so she's out of it."
Bardock stepped past his sister, feigning to step on her, then walked through the other door. The room smelt of dried blood and puke. He covered his nose and strode towards the woman in the bed. The not-so-young-looking Sayin laboriously took in a breath. Bardock couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness for the woman. No Sayin ever died of old age; this event was imminent. Still, for all that she had done . . .
"Jicama," she asked in a very weak voice.
Bardock blinked. Jicama was his father's name. "No, Okasan. Its-"
"Jicama! Please, don't leave me," the dying Kara moaned. "I still love you! I only kept him because he looks like you!"
"Na . . . I am NOT Jicama!!"
Olivia stepped into the room. "Bardock, please! Pretend for a minute!"
Kara let out a choked cry. "Jicama, don't go! Don't go! I just can't kill him! He looks too much like you! Forgive me!"
Bardock hesitated, then nodded his head.
Kara smiled, then drifted off forever.
Celipa hugged Bardock from behind. "Oh, thank you Niichan!!"
Bardock's eyes were in shadow. "He really left 'cause a me, eh? 'Cause I was so weak?"
Celipa nodded. "And you DO look a lot like him. Its amazin'! Yer voice too! And the way ya talk, an' the way ya act, and . . . Wha-where ya goin'?" Bardock left the house without another word.
Bardock sat atop Vine Falls, his favorite place on the planet. He made friends with Zucina, and Cole took him in as a pupil there. The serene atmosphere always calmed him. That day, however, it only brought up the past in full swing.
'A Sayin's only as good as his power,' he said not long after he met Cole.
'Every student in the school is my enemy. They won't stop laughing at me until I show them who's boss! I'll show them I'm the strongest! . . . I'm not the pathetic pee-on you saved in that classroom. I'm better then that now.' He said that to Tora while training for his first tournament. He trained so hard for it . . .
'My power level is higher, so I'm better!" He said that to Zucina before they left STPHQ.
'What's yer power level? It makes all the difference in the world!!' He just said that only the day before!
Bardock listened to the crashing of the water. "Oh, Great Goddess," he said aloud, "don't let me grow up to be like my father!"
===========================================================
[Commercial Break]
===========================================================
"I'll do it in my own new apartment."
"I thought you liked trying new and dangerous things, Zucina," teased Fasha to her friend.
"Not this!! I won't do it!!"
For the past two hours, Fasha tried to convince Zucina to enter the public bathhouse and spa with her. "No one will see you, except other women."
"I don't care! My body is MY business!"
"Nobody is gonna care about your body! Just go in!"
Zucina shook her head.
"Okay, but if you don't, I'll tell Totepo it was your fault his tongue turned black after he ate that trick cheese stick you slipped him."
"How did you know?!"
"My mate isn't called 'The Squealer' for nothing! Now c'mon!!"
Fasha shoved Zucina inside. The spa was filled with women of all sorts and shapes, most half or not dressed. The walls were peaceful green and plants/flowers lined the way. Many curtain covered doors led to massage tables. There were three jocose at the opposite end, rows of mirrors and private showers, several small holes of special mud, and a large scented bath in the center.
Fasha inhaled. "Smell that perfume! Specially made for Sayin skin to smooth and relax! Don'cha just love it?"
Zucina glared at a naked girl walking past. "Yeah, sure."
Fasha laughed and proceeded to undress. Zucina backed away. "What are you-"
"Oh, give it a rest, Zucina! I know you act like a boy sometimes, but haven't you even SEEN a naked woman, besides yourself?"
"No! I bathe alone!"
"Well, now's the time to grow up." Powerless and already embarrassed, Zucina only took off her armor and boots, and crossed her arms hotly. "I'll soak my feet only, thank you."
"Don't bother Fahsa! Maybe she has nothing to show off!"
Zucina scrunched her nose at the familiar voice. 'My body is better then yours, bitch,' she thought. "Hi Olivia," said Fasha cheerfully.
"Well, Zucina," said the girl in the large bath. "Chicken?"
"Of course not!!"
"Then just loosen up!"
Zucina reluctantly stripped. "That wasn't so bad, was it," mocked Olivia.
Fasha patted her friend and teammate on the back. "Now, you go wash up. I'll meet you in the bath."
"What about you!?!"
"I'm going to get a mud treatment first. Wanna come?"
"If we came here to bathe, I jolly well intend to accomplish at least THAT!! I could have gotten dirty on my own, thank you!"
Stars shone in Fasha's eyes. "I have to look my best when Tora meets my dad!"
"Sounds like you two are getting serious," said Olivia with a teasing edge in her voice.
As the other two gossiped, Zucina hurriedly grabbed a bar of soap and went to a shower. The water turned warm quickly, and before she knew it, she finished. Fasha had already left to the mud tubs, leaving Zucina alone (so to speak) with Olivia. The older Sayin slipped into the water and sat, not keeping eyes contact, just waiting for Fasha to finish.
Olivia swam closer to Zucina. "Zuni-chan, lets let bygones be bygones. I want to be your friend."
"Feh! It's you who seems to have a problem with me!"
"Gomen. Its just - well - you are competition."
"You're not a fighter."
"I mean in the game of love. You know, for Bardock." Zucina's eye twitched and a vein protruded from her forehead, but Olivia didn't notice. "He is so incredible, ne? So sensitive yet strong, so handsome yet boyish, so-"
"He's all yours, sister. I have no interest in him."
Olivia hugged Zucina, making the latter duck into the water in fright. The former grabbed her hair and pulled her back up. "Did I scare you?"
"NO!! I just dove into a vat of 110 degree water for my HEALTH!!"
Missing the sarcasm, Olivia's eyes went into happy, upside down Us. "Glad you're getting more relaxed."
Relaxed was the last thing Zucina felt. Bardock's smiling face crossed her mind. "You really fancy him, do you?"
"Oh yes! How CAN'T you? Can you do me a favor? Can you see if he likes me, too?"
"Whatever."
"Does he ever talk about me?"
"A little."
"What does he say?"
"Not much. Why?"
"Weeeeelllllll, I'm thinking of asking him out to the Double Nuevo Lunar Festival."
"Why didn't you ask him earlier?"
"He just ran off!" Olivia told Zucina, and eventually Fasha when she joined them, about the incident at Bardock's house.
"And you just let him go off like that," cried Zucina when Olivia finished.
"Sure. He's a warrior; he can control his feelings." But Zucina had already left the bath and got dressed.
"What's with her," asked Olivia.
Fasha watched Zucina, a slight sadness in her eyes. 'Poor Zucina. Not having know love herself, she doesn't understand how deep her feelings for Bardock really are. How heartrending!"
Night fell. Zucina searched frantically for her friend, and finally ended up in Vine Falls. Bardock remained as he was, now staring at the two moons of Vegetasei. One was half full, the other a crescent. It took the light of both full moons to transform the Sayins. With no light from a partially formed moon, the affect cancelled out.
Zucina landed behind her friend. "Bardock no baka!! I've scoured practically the whole bloody PLANET looking for you!"
"Why," asked Bardock.
"WHY?!? Olivia told me what happened, that's why! I figured-" She stopped herself, suddenly self-conscious. "I . . . I came to keep you company."
Bardock shrugged, and Zucina sat beside him. "Shank for your thoughts,"* she said.
"Just thinkin'"
"About what?"
"Nothin'"
"Sounds like your kind of thinking."
Bardock sniffed. "Wha's that stench?"
"Fasha made me go to a public bath."
"HAHAHA!!! I'd have LOVED ta see that!!"
"Letch!"
"Very funny. I meant Fasha convincing you to go in there!"
"Not 'convinced,' 'forced!' She's far stronger then she looks!"
"Yeah right!" Both laughed, and fell into silence again. The moons naturally caught their attention. The two orbs went through the phases at different rates, so the event of a double full moon occurred only every eight zurals, as did the double new moon. Olivia's story ran through her head again, and Zucina finally spoke, clearly and firmly: "You are not your father, Bardock. I know in my heart that you'd never hurt your family, blood or bond."
Another long pause. Then, Zucina felt Bardock's hand come to rest on hers. She snapped her head around, and saw him smiling like a brother to her. "Thanks, Zuni-chan. I needed that."
Zucina smiled back. Together, they continued to stare at the moons and stars all night.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
* - "Shank for your thoughts." - the equivalent to the Earth saying "Penny for your thoughts."
Hey everyone! Cole here!
I'm invited to a meeting for third class captains, and am assigned to a special job for none other then the king himself! Why the heck would the king ask for help from a third class team?
Next time on DragonballBC: The Extraordinary Mission; To Amazonia!!
Fun Fact - I've never been to niether a spa nor a public bath house. But I've seen them so often in animes, I figured I ought to throw one in.