Chapter Seventeen: Emeralds are Forever

Trunks heaved a heavy sigh as he collapsed into one of the chairs around the kitchen table. He lifted his hand and began to massage his temples roughly, trying to rid himself of his terrible headache.

He and Bulma had just come back from one of the craziest meetings they had ever been to, mostly because of one person.

"We have to get rid of him," sighed Trunks, sitting up in his chair resting his forehead in his palm.

"Who, George?" asked Bulma, half-laughing as she reached into the cabinet to get a canister of instant coffee.

"Of course George," said Trunks, glaring at his mother for being amused at his expense. "Who else?"

"Oh, don't be so hard on him," said Bulma, smiling. "He was just a bit over-excited. It was his first big meeting."

"A bit over-excited?" repeated Trunks in disbelief. "The guy was going berserk!!"

The man that they were speaking of, George Robinson, was a newly highered financial executive of Capsule Corps. Trunks had requested for him to be at the meeting to help them decide whether or not to fund a new merger project with a company called EarthSyte, Inc.

But what Trunks hadn't been anticipating was George's so-called "excitement" - throughout the entire meeting, George had been screaming and interrupting statements both from Trunks and from the executives of EarthSyte until he was pink in the face, constantly waving papers around that he claimed had "all the facts and figures".

"Give him another chance," said Bulma as she picked up the now whisteling kettle off of the stove and poored the boiling water into two large mugs. "Who knows, he might apologize for his behavior."

"And if he doesn't?"

"Get rid of him."

Trunks gave a short, quiet laugh and happily accepted the coffee that Bulma handed to him. She walked back to the fridge and took out a carton of Coffee Mates cream, pouring a small amount into her coffee. The only time she ever drank coffe black was when she was seriously stressed out, as Trunks was now.

Trunks suddenly looked up.

"Where's Dad?" he asked, peering into the next room. "I haven't seen him much since he came back. Don't tell me he's already begun training again..."

"Kami, if he has...." said Bulma in a threatening voice, getting up. "I'll go look for him. I need to talk to him anyway."

Bulma stalked out of the room, heading toward the back door, planning on checking the Gravity Room.

'I can't believe him,' she thought, scowling. 'He's only been back a little while, and already his mind is on nothing but training...'

She continued walking, planning to scream herself hoarse at Vegeta, when something a strange light caught her attention from the ballroom.

'What the...?' she thought as she turned and began walking down the hallway to the ballroom. 'Oh, he better not have started ki blasting things in the house and set something on fire again...'

Sighing with exasperation, she quickened her pace and made it to the wide door, ready to start screaming, when she shut her mouth in surprise.

Nothing was on fire, but a small, black object with a circular glass in the middle sat on the floor, emmitting a strange reddish glow. A large yellow button on the sloped panel of the object was blinking quickly, as though urging someone to press it.

As usual, her curiosity got the best of her. Her heart beating faster, she walked slowly over to the machine and knelt down, hesitantly reaching for the button.

'What if it's some type of bomb?' she thought suddenly. 'No, it isn't,' said another part of her brain. 'Stop being such a pessimist.'

Shaking off her sudden panic, she smiled and pushed the blinking button.

At first, nothing happened, but then a bright, white light shot up toward the ceiling. Bulma sheilded her eyes,squinting slightly, then lowered her hand as the light dimmed.

Her eyes widened when she saw a life-sized hologram of Clarice standing on the machine, except that she seemed to be in Super-Saiyajin form. Her hair was a golden-blonde color, and was tied back in a semi-ponytail. Her eyes had turned a deep red (rather than the green that the male saiyajins turned), and they shone brightly as the still hologram smiled.

Bulma stood up, surprised. She hadn't expected this at all. She looked down as a blue button began blinking on the bottom.

"Ah, what the hell," she thought aloud as she bent over and pushed the button, then stepped back and waited for something to happen.

Clarice's smile suddenly broadened.

"Hello, Vegeta," she said warmly, now grinning. Her British-like accent seemed a bit dimmer now that it was just a recording. "I hope you like your present... I really didn't have any use for it. What's the point if I couldn't find the other five, right?" She gave a small laugh. "Unless the legend were true, but I know that you don't believe in it."

'Legend?' thought Bulma, frowning in confusion. 'What legend...?'

"Think of it as a... severely belated wedding gift. I'm sure that Bulma will be able to use it for one of her inventions. And as for you, just look into it whenever you're feeling homesick. You may even be able to see the Ruins if you look deeply enough."

Bulma blinked. This was the first time in a long time that she'd ever been so lost.

'Ruins?'

"Well, I'm off," said Clarice suddenly, snapping Bulma from her short reverie. "My time cartridge is almost filled. Tell everyone that I said goodbye, alright? And Bulma, if you're watching... you must be a very tough woman to put up with Vegeta. I'm happy for the two of you."

Clarice winked, then the hologram disappeared. The yellow button began blinkning again, just as it had been when Bulma had first walked in.

'Wait,' thought Bulma, her brow wrinkling, 'Vegeta must have already seen this.. so where's the present that Clarice was talking about...?'

She looked around them room, then spotted a large, bronze box that she hadn't noticed when she had first walked in.

She walked over to the box and was about to peer in when someone called her from the kitchen.

"MOM!" shouted Trunks. "DIDJA FIND HIM YET??"

"NO!!" screamed Bulma, slightly annoyed.

"WELL GOOD! 'CAUSE HE'S OVER HERE!!"

Yeah, I know. I havn't written in a while, so I'm a bit rusty. Sorry. And I haven't been in the best of moods lately. My dog died a few days ago, and I really miss her. I was sitting with her because she was really, really sick, and... I dunno. I just went into hysterics when she stopped breathing. So please bear with me.

~Valerie G.