The Black Dragon
Volume I
Star Fazed
Chapter Nine – Faith
By: Juki
Shrouded
by darkness, the sun's rays could not reach the earth as broken shards of it
strayed towards the other side of the world. At the peak of dawn, not that rest
was an option; five bolts of brilliant light danced across the grey sky, with
them, armloads of people. Videl rested in her husband's arms while numbness of
the cold and of the news ate at her insides, unable to perform even the easiest
of tasks; she sat immobile as the wind coursed through her hair. Bulma in
Vejita's arms as she nestled her head on his shoulder, her imagination
constructing the scene of her beloved daughter's best friend, the girl who was
a lot like her own daughter, faded into the light…and the last of her seen was
when she fell… She shook her head, hated her imagination and the vividness of
it. Bra lay asleep in Goten's arms, wrapped up in a blanket as she did not
change, could not bring the strength to…for guilt settled on her shoulders, she
stirred in an unhappy sleep. Marron in a cast, piggybacked by Trunks, she laid
her head near his shoulder and whispered, "Is everything going to be okay?"
Trunks glanced back, seeing her expression; he couldn't bring the heart to
reveal the truth and simply said, "Pan's a strong girl…remember? Even you
couldn't beat her in combat…she's just…temporarily out…things are under
control." He forced a meek smile over his face as the pain of losing someone
like his sister punched him literally in the face. He would like to deal with
the perpetrator who dared to start anything at all with them, especially
starting it all out with the worst first impression by destroying someone he
cherished so much. He glanced over to his other half, something told him he was
probably taking it better than Mirai Trunks who simply did not speak after the
slight dispute between him and Gohan later on into the night where they thought
no one heard…but in fact, it was far too loud to be ignored, especially in the
silence of their grieving.
The tall plateau of tiled
concrete met their vision as the light, for they had parted the clouds; hit the
floor of the tower. The sphere teardrop shaped tower that levitated in mid air
overlooking the earth. As if they were expected, Piccolo stood with his hands
folded behind his back while Dande, who had grown up an awful lot since they
last saw him, stood calmly with the look of humility and compassion on his
face. Gohan was the first to land, anxious to know the answer, he let his wife
down and quickly stepped forward, without hesitation, without wasting a second,
"What do we do?"
Piccolo glanced over at Dande for a brief moment before he answered, "There is
not much you can do, Gohan." He stepped forward and started pacing, "The only
thing you can do now is to search for the remainder of the dragon balls."
Bulma overheard, "But I've tried…" She confessed, "My radar doesn't react to
these…dragon balls."
Dande revealed a little bit more of the information, "The rest…are not within
this galaxy."
"Are you telling me that it's in the universe…out there? Like the black star
dragon balls?" Trunks let Marron down while he turned to face the guardian who
had grown taller as well. "Are these black star dragon balls?"
"I wish that they were, Trunks." Dande shook his head gravely, "They are called
Pulsar Dragon Balls…they are minerals extracted from stars…gathered over the
millennia…to find them you must first track back to its origin…"
"Then enlighten us." Gohan said as he stared hard at Dande, "You know, don't
you. That this would happen."
"It fell back before the first dragon balls were created…before Shenlong before
the Namekian dragon balls… It's very different, still an enigma…was a myth, now
it has come." Dande motioned for them to follow him, "Let us go inside where we
can discuss further of the Pulsar Dragon."
They followed inside, Goten still holding Bra in the comfort of his arms and
once they entered, found chairs where he rested Bra next to him and couldn't
help but find comfort when she fell over to the side and pressed her head
firmly against his arm. Pulling her closer he looked back up at Dande,
"Continue."
"First, let me have the dragon ball." Dande extended his
hand and Mirai Trunks handed over the small dragon ball to the man and eyed him
suspiciously for a moment before leaning an earnest ear to listen.
Dande studied the small stone in his hand, "The First star…" He rolled it
around in his warm hands, "I'm afraid that…you might not need to find them." He
looked up to them with a solemn gaze, "I'm afraid that…they…will come to you
now that you have the First Star."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Like all dragon balls, these pulsar dragon balls…are essences of a dragon, in
this case…a dragoness. I'm uncertain of how many wishes it could grant, but
this dragon has a will of its own…" He handed the dragon ball back to Mirai
Trunks. "When you wish upon it, it takes something valuable in trade of your
wish. Let's envision that…a person managed to collect all 7 and resurrect the
dragoness…and let's envision that he wants to wish for immortality. The
Dragoness will grant any wish, any time, as many times as you like, but each
time you wish, she…will take something valuable in trade of what you wish for.
So this man wished for immortality, he will receive it…but she might take
something away like…love…or sanity, something…to pay the price for immortality."
"Couldn't you take back the wish?"
"That's the problem…once you wish it, you can't withdraw from it. You are
entrapped in it forever."
"So then, what has this got to do with Pan and how can we help her?" Mirai
Trunks broke to the chase while he studied the tiny small ball that had caused
so much damage and pain. "What can we do about it?"
"The problem is, Mirai Trunks." Dande sighed, "It…came to find us, no
one searched for it, it just came. It wants something…and I'm leaning to
the fact that it wants to be resurrected in a physical body…"
"So it killed Pan?"
"As of state." Dande stood up, "All you need to focus on is to find them. We've
not much time. But like I suspect, the rest of them will come here soon enough
but what you need to sought for…is the seventh pulsar dragon ball."
"I'm confused." Marron looked around then to Dande, "Could you elaborate more
on these dragon balls? You make it sound like it has a mind of its own!"
"The first dragon ball…or should I say the Pulsar Stone, is the mind of the
dragon. If the mind came here, so will the rest of them that each part is
equivalent to its body part…except for the seventh pulsar stone which is its
heart… The dragon can resurrect with only six pulsar stones and it wants
to be resurrected without the seventh pulsar stone…so it can deny its duty and
finally break free the cycle of being tamed… If you manage to hunt back the
seventh pulsar stone and then resurrect the dragon altogether with the seven,
you can wish Pan back…if you can't find the seventh and it manages to resurrect
itself, then I will have to announce that the universe will crumble within its
tyrannous grasp."
"So our duty is to find the heart of the dragon." Trunks stated, "Out there
somewhere, which we have no idea where to start."
"That's pretty dismal…" Bulma sighed, "It's infinite…I can't imagine where we
could possibly start…"
"Woman, it's easy." Vejita blurted out, "I've heard…about the pulsar stones…and I've heard the legend." Vejita folded his arms, "All you have to do is take the first star with you out into space and while you gather the rest of the pieces, the heart will eventually come."
Bulma arched her brow at the idea, "That sounds…"
"It's a bad idea, the first star must stay here, if it resurrected itself in
space, you won't have a chance at combat. The heart, like human standards,
never listens to the mind, it will remain immobile some place out there and you
must find it and bring it back while the others separate the rest of the pulsar
stones." Dande explained, "I believe that you will see signs of its power
soon…I do not have a plan, so I will simply leave it upon your shoulders…"
Dande said calmly, "I just want to wish you the best of luck…and that the fate
of the universe and your beloved friend Pan, is now sitting firmly in your
hands."
As
they left, overwhelmed, confused, hopeful now hopeless, descended without an
exchange of a word. Bra had woken up partly, heard the news and sighed while
Goten held onto her tightly as if he might lose her too if he didn't hold on
tight enough. As their feet met the ground, a large screech ignited into their
ears, causing them to cringe and cover them. Mirai Trunks noticed the reaction
of the first star pulsar stone in his hand; saw it bolt out of his hand and
into the air. Their eyes flew up into the sky and watched as something small
and black came down from the sky in a raving fire streaming behind it. Then a
bright light emitted as both stones came into impact, causing them to shield
their eyes for a moment before it collapsed lifelessly back onto the grass with
an additional pulsar stone attached to the first. The second pulsar stone…had
two small white stars on its sleek black body, the attachment looked as if it
had melted into the first star, partly oval, partly circle, partly square. Out
of shape and hot, it burnt the grass and caused it to sizzle from impact.
"If the stars connect itself like this…" Trunks nudged it with his foot and
flinched when the heat of the pulsar stones went through his shoe and to his
foot. "There is no way we can stop it…from building…"
"That's why we have to work against the clock." Bulma said, "I
knew we might need this some day…meet me in an hour at the basement while I
take this…" She took off her coat and picked up the smoky pulsar stones in her
hands, it had cooled down a whole lot since it last been touched. "You guys
might want to rest…and let the news settle in while I try to find a way to
reach the seventh pulsar stone…"
"This is useless." Mirai Trunks crouched down onto the grass as he looked at
where the pulsar stones last laid. "It's next to impossible…"
"We've got to have faith." Gohan broke in, "At least now we know, and we have a
chance…" He placed his hand on Mirai Trunks, "If you want to ever see Pan
again, to find out what happened to her, you must not be discouraged because of
the odds. If we don't fight the losing battles, no one will."