CHAPTER THREE:
Gokuu stared at the doorway that the white haired girl had just ran out of in concentration. Hitting a fisted hand into the palm of the other, Gokuu's expression lit up in recognition. The girl with the Dragon Ball Radar was the girl that he'd heard screaming while training Uubu a few weeks ago! He was sure of it!
That hurtle passed, Gokuu trotted out of the door and in the direction of the yelling and shuffling. He shuffled into a large room with a tall throne resting on a landing of a single flight of stairs behind two struggling figures. Gokuu raised his eyebrows in curiosity as he noticed that Shiroi was wrestling with the bulkier male and faring well.
Shiroi pinned Shaku's arms at his sides and yanked the Dragon Ball Radar out of his grubby little hands, crying out in triumph. Furious, Shaku freed a hand and searched in his cape for his gun. Just as Shiroi was about to ease to her feet, Shaku pressed the mouth of the gun to her temple, a wicked smirk on his face. His left hand beckoned her to give the Radar back.
Both Shaku and Shiroi gaped as a hand easily plucked the gun out of Shaku's grasp and crushed it. Gokuu's visage was dangerous as he dropped the ruined gun onto the floor. "You do that too much. A gun is not a toy."
Shaku's face reddened, his mouth opening and closing, his left eye wide. Gokuu grew concerned. "Oi, daijobu ka? Are you okay? You look like you're choking?" Gokuu enthusiastically slapped the sputtering male on his back. Shoving Gokuu's hand away, and elbowing Shiroi aside, Shaku bolted for the door, his heels clicking rapidly in his retreat.
Gokuu blinked in confusion at the door, a hand sheepishly tucked behind his head.
Shiroi huffed and slowly stood, brushing dirt from her shorts and tank top. "You're not like other men, are you?" She asked, her hard black eyes glaring into Gokuu's soft, curious ones.
"Ara... What do you mean?" Gokuu tilted his head slightly to one side.
Shiroi blinked slowly. "You don't have to play dumb with me. I watched you crush a gun in your hand. You're either incredibly strong or not human. I'm voting for not human, seeing as how my sister," she hesitated for a moment, "and I have prided ourselves in training heavily for the Tenkaichi Bodokai. We're strong, but we can't crush metal."
Gokuu decided that remaining silent was the best choice.
Shiroi smirked. "I see that I'm correct in my assumptions. You're not human are you?"
Gokuu investigated the floor with enthusiasm.
Seeing as how she was on her own in figuring out his origin, Shiroi crossed her arms in concentration.
"You're Kami aren't you?"
Gokuu nearly fell flat on his face onto the floor. He was about to insist otherwise when Shiroi shook her head. "No, you're too... air-headed... to be Kami. An angel?" She shook her head another time. "No wings...A demi-god, then? Or maybe a tribal god of mom's old clan?" She gauged Gokuu's reactions to each guess and decided that no matter how air-headed this... godly being was, he wouldn't give away his secret.
Shiroi shrugged. "Anyway, I need that Dragon Ball Radar to get Kuroi back. The male thinks that I know something about it, which I don't, but that serves me."
"I do." Gokuu volunteered, happy that the subject had been changed.
Shiroi's eyes bugged out. "You do?" Gokuu nodded, a charming grin gracing his face.
"Does the male know that?" Shiroi asked cautiously. Gokuu blinked, and pondered this. Shiroi shook her head. "No, he doesn't. Okay, this works..." Shiroi crossed her arms again, her brows drawing downwards as she thought.
"Anno, the guy is coming back," Gokuu announced. "With reinforcements."
Shiroi's head jerked up and she glanced at the door. The empty door. "How do you know?" She asked suspiciously.
"I can hear them."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"You expect me to do what?" Kuroi stared at the aliens as if they were ... well, aliens. When her father was still alive, he had taught her some strange things, but this was absurd. As it's name suggested, the Fusion Dance was more suited to a ballroom than in a battle. Kuroi was most definitely not big on dancing.
The lead alien who called him-... itself 'Moltan' looked at Kuroi. Something is its gaze told her that it didn't quite grasp the sarcasm in her previous statement. "It's easy, really, once you get the hang of it. What part did you not understand? I want to make sure you know everything before you practice it yourself."
"What?!" Kuroi's self-control was beginning to slip. Where these aliens making fun her?! Shi-chan, where are you when I need you? Sighing deeply, she spoke, exercising tremendous control over her temper. "Okay, look. I came here to learn a technique your little friend back there told me about. Why don't you just teach it to me, and everything will be happy? I didn't come here to learn how to dance!"
Taken aback, Moltan stared down at the irritated human. "But we are teaching you."
Kuroi's lip twitched. "If you expect me to believe that moronic dance is supposed to make me or anyone else stronger, then you are sorely mistaken!"
To Kuroi's surprise, Moltan smiled. "You're right." Kuroi blinked, a bit confused at the change of tone. "We should have shown you what the Fusion Dance can do before just teaching it to you." Kuroi's eyes narrowed marginally, wondering if the aliens were up to something.
Moltan and a fellow alien, walking a fair distance back, began their moves. Kuroi watched, anticipation washing over her despite the skepticism in her heart. As their fingers touched at the end of the dance, light spilled everywhere, temporarily blinding her. Lowering the hand that had attempted to shield her eyes, she stared, mouth swinging open. Standing in the two aliens' place was now one. Its attire resembled neither of the other aliens. Instead, it sported a completely new outfit, consisting of a black, vest-like top with yellow trim, loose, white pants, a long, flowing belt and shoes similar to her mother's.
"Wh-... Where'd you come from? What happened to Moltan and Volka?" Kuroi stumbled over her own words.
"I am neither Moltan or Volka. I am Molka." The alien's voice coursed through her, startling her at its intensity. Something was strange about it, however, banishing all suspicions Kuroi might have held about this unusual character. This.. being was the result of Moltan and Volka fusing, no doubt about it. If they could fuse in the first place, something previously beyond Kuroi's realm of belief, she no longer questioned whether or not their strength increased with the fusion. All she wanted now was to master this technique, and would do anything, even setting aside her pride, to do so.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, Shiroi thought, this one isn't human. He... hears things... Shiroi raised an eyebrow. "Another godly perk? How many reinforcements?"
Gokuu shrugged. "A lot."
Shiroi was about to ask exactly how much he considered a lot when she noticed the noise. It grew in volume within moments, and Shiroi just had enough time to lunge backwards as a cannon attached to a tank bulldozed through the door Gokuu and Shiroi were standing in front of.
Two more tanks followed as well as a small army of men on foot. Shiroi stood quickly and faced the advancing chaos with the calm and serenity she employed in a fight, full aware that the odds were stacked up against her. She would die fighting then. Ku-chan, she thought as she dodged a punch and disabled a man pointing a gun at her, I may be joining you in heaven instead of you joining me on Chikyuu.
Gokuu easily knocked the fighters off of their feet and caught the bullets fired at him. He ripped the cannon off each of the tanks, and then glanced over at Shiroi's progress. He smiled in appreciation of her fighting-spirit, and even fancied the thought of sparring with her just to see how well she would do. His smile faltered and drew into a frown as he recognized her fighting style. I've seen that style before, but where?... He mused as he neatly jumped out of the way of a screaming soldier, and punched him to the ground.
Shaku began to note his losses when half of his army was groaning and bemoaning their defeat amongst the rubble on the floor, the other half cowering behind his destroyed tanks. At least I have my precious treasure, he told himself. Shaku took a deep breath, quite firmly told his pride to go to hell, and screamed "RETREAT" at the top of his lungs. All of the men that could eagerly scrambled out of the building to lick their wounds in peace.
Shaku threw a few choice swear words and a solemn promise to return and defeat them once and for all over his shoulder and he ran after his men.
Shiroi smirked. "At least he screams like a female."
Gokuu regarded her with his usual innocent curiosity, searching her for wounds. Shiroi noticed his attention and caught his eyes, her gaze wary. "You are definitely not human. Two people against a small army armed with three tanks and a gun for every man are not very favorable odds, yet both of us are still alive. The tanks are destroyed and the army retreated. They were literally shaking in their boots!"
"You're hurt." Gokuu interrupted.
Shiroi stiffened, her pride pricked. "I'm not godly like you and a couldn't avoid one trigger happy male's bullet nor the knife his friend had. I'll live."
Gokuu's expression lost its innocence. "You're very strong." Shiroi was surprised how much that small praise made her wounds disappear. Somehow she felt honored that a man of this strength, this much battle prowess was patting her on the back.
"Are you sure you aren't Kami?"
Gokuu shook his head. "Iie," he perked suddenly, "but I know him!"
"Why am I not surprised..." Shiroi shook her head, then stilled, her black eyes wide in despair. "The Dragon Ball Radar!" She groaned. "The red-head got away with it!"
"What's that?!" Gokuu shouted so loudly that the randomness caused Shiroi to whirl around to face the direction he was pointing in.
She searched the horizon and the sky for an inkling of what could have caught Gokuu's attention. Disappointed and wondering about the male's eyesight, Shiroi turned back around to glare at him. "What, I don't see anything..."
Gokuu looked so happy with himself that for a moment Shiroi was convinced that he wasn't all there. "My eyes must be playing tricks on me, gomen nasai." He pulled his hands out from behind his back, presenting the beaten, white haired girl with a surprise.
Shiroi's eyes couldn't have gotten wider. Then suddenly the surprise and awe was gone, to be replaced by blistering anger. "Why didn't you do that an hour ago!?"
Shiroi ignored the faint, familiar, feminine scream of frustration echoing through the trees and snatched the Dragon Ball Radar out of Gokuu's open hands. "You could have saved both of us a lot of sweat and blood, nowtellmehowtousethisthing." Shiroi curled around the Dragon Ball Radar, looking everything like a possessive, wild animal. Gokuu feared for his hand if he were to actually reach for the Radar, so he hooked his thumbs on his belt and nodded towards the machine.
"Push the button on the top." She did so, and with a squeak of surprise, Shiroi threw the Radar up and away from her. Gokuu hastily caught Bulma's invention; years of yelling and screaming from her drummed into his head that breaking the Dragon Ball Radar was a bad thing.
"Is that what it's supposed to do? Come alive at the push of that button?" Shiroi gasped, her eyes still riveted to the Radar.
"Hai. And according to the Radar, there's a Dragon Ball really close."
"Really, how close?"
"About ten miles that way." He pointed confidently to the west. Shiroi gauged how long it would have taken her to get that far uninjured, and then calculated how long it would take her with an enter and exit bullet hole in her thigh and a knife gash in her upper arm. The arm was easily taken care of; a strip of cloth wound tightly on the wound, but her thigh was a different matter. She was about to ask Gokuu if there was a doctor of some sort that she could get to close by when he yelled.
"Kintoun!"
A yellow cloud zipped down from the skies and skidded to a halt in front of a happy Gokuu. He's got Kami written all over him... Shiroi stared, openly gawked at the male that had surprised and stolen her of her dignity more in the last hour than ever in her entire life. She nearly fell flat on her face when he gestured to the cloud.
"This is Kintoun. He's my cloud. Hop on, it'll be faster this way." Gokuu then plopped down on a side of the cloud and held out his hand to help her aboard.
"You want me to get on a yellow cloud?" Shiroi asked skeptically. She took his hand reluctantly. Hell, this one male had proved everything else that she'd ever learned from her life so far wrong, what was riding on a yellow cloud compared to the rest of today? Gokuu's visage sobered as he was reminded of her injuries by her wincing while she moved closer.
"First we need to visit someone." He assured her as he easily pulled her onto the cloud. Shiroi waited a few moments, waiting to fall through the 'cloud' but nothing happened and she relaxed. Gokuu then pointed Kintoun to the sky, and the cloud lurched forward with incredible speed.
Shiroi's scream was snatched from her mouth by the wind.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After having seen the results of the Fusion Dance, and confident that the effects were not permanent after Moltan and Volka returned from their mysterious fusion, Kuroi was certain she would have no more qualms about performing such a ridiculous move. This said nothing about how stupid she felt, however. Time and again the aliens tried to show her how to do the dance, and time and again there was always something she was doing wrong. After about an hour, they had decided to take a break. Some muscles in her legs were beginning to cramp, and she was getting fidgety doing the same thing for such a long time. She had all but hugged the aliens at the mention of a break, and now she was wandering around the strange place they called home.
Now that she was a bit more comfortable around the strangers, she fell into old habits, talking to anyone she felt like. She had found out a lot of information about the alien race this way, such as there were no genders among their kind. Their race once was divided into two distinct genders, but after several conflicts and problems that could never be solved, they had evolved into gender-less beings. Kuroi couldn't help but smirk. This is how humans should be. No males around to dilute the quality of life.
They called themselves the 'Faia', a race in the far southern part of the galaxy. Wherever that was, anyway. Their planet was large, as well. So large that the gravity was intense and heat emitted from the core all the way to the surface. According to their hypothesis, the planet had fallen short of turning into a star. They had related it to Jupiter from Kuroi's solar system, but being unlearned in such things, Kuroi just nodded and pretended to understand.
Kuroi's main intention during her break was to search for her brother. These aliens were well acquainted with heaven, and seemed to know practically everybody. Hoping one of them knew Akai, she asked every Faiajin she could find, and to her disappointment, none had even come close to an encounter with her brother. Heavy in the heart, but still eager for training, Kuroi returned to the clearing, ready to test her patience again. At least she had a place to vent her frustrations. Taking a deep breath, Kuroi again set out on her task to master the Fusion Dance.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
She was still screaming when Gokuu addressed a green and pink being with antenna and "Kami" printed on the front of a white toga. Gokuu turned to her and grinned. "This is Kami."
Shiroi blinked at 'Kami'. "Is he sick? He's awfully green..."
Dende laughed while Gokuu rapidly waved his arms. "Be a little more respectful!" Gokuu whispered.
"No, Shiroi, I'm a Namekkian. I come from another planet."
Shiroi's eyes were as round as saucers. "He knows my name..." She whispered, awed. "Do you know my sister? Is she okay? Is she here?"
Dende laughed again and opened his mouth to reply.
"If you're Kami, this is heaven, right? This is kinda small... How do all of the dead people fit in here? Where is everyone? This isn't a very heavenly heaven. Shouldn't there be more plants or something?"
Gokuu enthusiastically waved her to be silent, making shushing noises. Shiroi limped towards Dende and touched his toga. "Is this real? What is this made of, clouds or something? Ha, no, I rode here on a cloud, if this was made of clouds, you'd be floating." She lifted his toga with her uninjured arm. "Nope, you're on the ground. Are you green all over?" Shiroi lifted the toga higher before Gokuu hastily yanked it from her hand and dropped the hem. "Your antenna are real, right? Weird, it feels like silk. Does all of you feel like that? Is that a godly thing?" Shiroi ran her hand over the beaming Kami's face and made to venture lower, but Gokuu snatched her hands away, murmuring apologies to Dende. Dende shook his head, enjoying Shiroi's company. "If that's a godly thing then why do you have so many calluses?" Gokuu blinked and dropped her hands. "If you're both gods, you're brothers, right? How come one of you is green and the other is normal?" Shiroi received no answer, just the stares of two surprised males.
Shiroi took a deep breath and looked Dende straight in the eye. "I've made a fool of myself, haven't I?"
It took Dende a full minute to express his mirth. At first Shiroi was sure he was laughing at her.
"No, you haven't. You've just asked a lot of questions. All of which, I can answer. Yes, I do know your sister. Yes, she is okay. No, she isn't here." Shiroi's eyes widened.
"She didn't do anything bad, so why isn't she here? If either of us did anything bad, it was me for murdering her killer." Dende's expression softened to one of compassion.
"Revenge isn't good, but you're heart is still pure. You acted out of love and sorrow. You can be forgiven. Right now the three - four if you count Mister Popo back there," he gestured to a short black ball that turned into a man when she squinted. "Mister Popo" was busy watering a pine tree behind them, who turned and waved. Shiroi hesitantly waved back. Dende continued, "are standing on Kami's Lookout, which is not heaven. That is why Kuroi isn't here." Shiroi nodded. "As for plants, Mister Popo is planning on adding a flower garden pretty soon."
Yes, my robe is real and it's made out of cotton just like your clothes. Yes, I'm green all over, but I have some pink on me as well." Shiroi's mouth twitched and Dende smiled. "My antenna are real. Apparently I feel like silk all over, but I'm made up of two different textures. Here, feel." He offered his forearm to her and she touched the skin, feeling the grooves of the lines winding up his arm. "No, this isn't a godly thing, I feel like this because I'm a Namekkian. Gokuu-san is not a god, but he is kind of otherworldly isn't he?" He nudged her with the forearm that she was still fondling. She glanced up at the charismatic Kami and then over at the woefully lost Gokuu. She nodded and turned back to Dende. "And, no you haven't made a fool of yourself, in fact you are a breath of fresh air."
"Oh." She turned to Gokuu. "Why are we here?" Suddenly her face paled and Dende placed a steadying hand on her shoulder. "I'm dead aren't I?"
Gokuu, now aware of where the conversation was, rushed forward to clear things up. "No! You're not dead, but you are hurt. Dende can you heal her?"
Dende smiled down at the tan girl. Shiroi returned the smile lopsidedly. "My pleasure."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Good, good!" Moltan praised his human student. Kuroi had been doing well on her last few attempts at the dance, and proved to be a diligent study. Moltan had personally expected less from the hot-tempered human; she smelled of poor self-discipline. It smiled as it approached her. "You've got the moves down pretty well. A little more practice on your own, and you'll be perfect! But now, it's time to tell you exactly how the Fusion Dance works."
Kuroi's brow furrowed. "What do you mean, 'how it works'? I thought doing the stupid dance was enough to fuse. I didn't notice anything else when you and Volka fused." Her lip curled in a slight grimace, eyeing the alien's mismatched and ornate attire. "I don't have to wear special clothes or anything, do I?"
"No, no." Moltan grinned. This one reminds me an awful lot of my previous Chikyuu student. Son Gokuu didn't relish shedding his fighting outfit either. "The Fusion Dance is a dance of two warriors becoming one. Their minds, bodies, and spirits are in perfect harmony, creating the perfect warrior. In order to fuse, the dance must be performed exactly, the participants mirroring each other in every aspect. This is the key to fusing."
She stared at the alien blankly. "So? I already know the dance. You said I'd be perfect soon, anyway. I don't have to look exactly like the person do I?"
Another grin. "No. You do have to be similar in body size, but what you look like makes no difference in a fusion. Take Volka and I, for instance." Kuroi looked over at Volka, who had taken to picking through the mossy grass substance, then back to Moltan. If she didn't know better, she would have thought the two twins; all these aliens looked the same. How they could differentiate between themselves was a mystery to her. On more than one occasion, she had confused the aliens, for all she had to rely on was their clothing.
"Uhm, right."
This seemed to satisfy Moltan, and it continued. "As I was saying, in order to fuse, you must be in complete harmony. The dance, when performed correctly harmonizes the bodies. By choosing to fuse, your hearts are in harmony. Your spirits, however, must consciously be mirrored. For the fusion to work, you must have your ki levels at the same point."
"Uhh," Kuroi blinked. Had her teacher gone mad? "Ki?"
A flash of surprise streaked through Moltan's features. "You don't know what ki is? Oh, well this will make things much more difficult." It looked down, as if in concerned thought.
Kuroi scowled. What was this alien rambling about? If there's something to learn, Kuroi could master it. How dare this alien presuppose her?! "I can handle it, whatever this 'ki' is!"
Waving its hands in what she guessed was a calming motion, it addressed her. "Okay. Ki. Well, in order to perform the Fusion Dance, you must first know what ki is. Ki is... well... it's like your spirit. Understand?"
Kuroi blinked at her teacher. Since when did it start failing in the teaching department? "Uhh, spirit...?"
The alien reached up and rubbed its forehead. "How about this: ki is like the energy you have inside." A lip rose in confusion on Kuroi's part.
"You mean like food?"
Sighing, Moltan shook its head, and wished for all its life that its race was capable of manifesting ki balls the way Gokuu could. "No, no, no. It's.. what you call on when you're fighting."
"My body?"
"No!" Kuroi scowled. Moltan's irritation wasn't helping her own confusion. "It's like... You see, it's... well, it's energy!" Moltan sighed, expressing its frustration. "I've never had to explain what ki is before. Sorry, we're going to have to take a break."
Kuroi's scowl grew. Don't tell me it's giving up. It thinks I'm a lost cause?! "But I'm not ready for a break!"
"We both need a break to gather our thoughts on this matter."
Kuroi's lips twitched, ego pricked. "I'm not stupid, if that's what you're thinking!"
Moltan waved its hands again, attempting to calm its student. "Just come back in a little while, and we'll try this again."
Seething, and cradling her ego, she growled. Turning on her heel, she stormed off, intending to pick a fight. As she left, she tossed some words nonchalantly over her shoulder. "Fine, I don't care." On the edges of her senses, she heard Moltan sigh. Setting herself forward, she searched for a suitable target to vent her frustrations on.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Feel better?" Dende asked, reaching out a four-fingered hand to help her back to her feet. Shiroi ignored Kami's hand, her eyes down cast, and eased to her feet. Dende's offered hand lowered to his side, but his knowing smile remained.
"Yes, thank you," she mumbled. Dende inclined his head in a quick bow, which Shiroi then reciprocated with a full-fledged bow to communicate her amount of respect for him.
Gokuu ambled over with a huge grin and pounded Shiroi on the back. "Good, let's go gather those dragonballs!"
Shiroi stumbled right off of the edge of Kami's Lookout, her scream fading as she vanished into the clouds. Gokuu sheepishly laughed and called Kintoun.
"See you later Dende!" he threw over his shoulder.
Twice in one day, Shiroi growled to herself. Twice that male had endangered her life, only this time her two feet weren't on the ground. This time the ground was the threat, not other people – this time she couldn't fight back. Shiroi glanced down at the ground that rushed to meet her and squeezed her eyes shut. I'll haunt him, she swore. I'll haunt him till he goes crazy and kills himself. And then I'll haunt all of his descendents and then anyone that come within five miles of me. I'll be a vengeful spirit, intent on the destruction of the world. Damnit, I don't want to die yet!
Gokuu neatly plucked Shiroi out of the air, scooping her onto the cloud alongside him. The jar was violent, but death didn't swiftly follow. She peered up at the madly grinning male through a slit eye and then slowly relaxed. She then lunged at Gokuu, her hands curling into claws to strangle him.
Gokuu laughed sheepishly as he gently held her at bay. "Anno, what about the dragonballs?"
Shiroi wouldn't be deterred. "Right after I kill you...," she promised. Gokuu gathered both of her wrists into one of his large hands and then used his free hand to retrieve the Dragon Ball Radar from the folds of his gi.
"Kintoun," he said to the docilely floating cloud that they sat on. "Go that way." And then he pointed to his left.
While they flew off to gather the first of the dragonballs, Gokuu watched Shiroi determinedly struggle against his hold, her black eyes burning with fire as she glared at him.
"You are intent on scaring me to death. You turn my world upside down and then roughly kick me in the side while I try to find my bearings. And then you proceed to pull me left and right like a rag doll, laughing at me the entire time." She squirmed until she had freed her legs and then shoved a heel into his stomach. Which, of course, had no effect.
"I'm not laughing at you." Gokuu's grip had tightened, his visage void of all innocence. "I would never laugh at someone." He brightened. "Only myself." Kintoun slowed and Gokuu chirruped in his joy. "We're here!"
Shiroi lost the will to kill him at the prospect of gaining her sister back. She followed Gokuu to a large lake and then stopped at the shore. "Where is it?"
Gokuu pointed towards the water. "In there."
"Be right back," she announced and dove into the green water.
Gokuu waited for a full minute before Shiroi's head reappeared. He waited for her to wave, announcing that she had found the dragonball, but she only bobbed on the surface.
"Oi!" she called, "What does a dragonball look like?!"