Dragon Ball Z: Dynasty – The Season of Dragon Ramen

Written by: Feraligreater328

Overseen by: StevenBodner and SparkerLightning

Chapter 4: The Cranes

In the wilderness...

Son Chika woke up with an adorable, little yawn and hazily wiped the sleep out of her eyes. It took her a moment to realize that she was alone in the hammock. "Mama...?"

A heavenly smell rose up from down a nearby embankment and Chika followed it, hovering along until she landed on the ground and looked down to the river below where her mother, Chi-Chi, was busily tending to a fire over which four river fish hung on sticks and a small frying pan sizzled away with some freshly acquired eggs within. Chi-Chi looked up. "Breakfast is almost ready, honey! Come on down!"

Chika obliged, stumbling down the steep embankment and plopping down on the ground next to her mother. Chi-Chi smiled. "Morning, angel~"

Chika smiled back. "Morning, Mama~"

It didn't take long for the food to finish and it took even less time for Chika to tuck into what her mother had made, enjoying every crispy bite of fish and chasing it with her share of the eggs. Chi-Chi mostly ate in silence, staring at the flowing stream that she only assumed eventually flowed into the greater Paozu River. Once she and Chika finished, she tossed the bones of the fish into the water flow and the two of them said a little prayer. Then Chika got to her feet. "Where do we go today, Mama?"

Chi-Chi raised her hand. "Hold on. We have something to attend to before we go. Just give Mama a bit of patience, okay?"

Chika was smiling and agreeable. "Yes ma'am!"

Chi-Chi stood and quickly ascended to the top of the embankment. While she waited, Chika decided to soak her feet. The water of the stream was pleasantly cool and Chika smiled in relief. A few moments later, a bigger pair of feet joined hers. Chika looked up to Chi-Chi and watched her mother's tight, somewhat tired face relax. For the first time in a while. Chi-Chi sat there with her horns out, gleaming in the sunshine. Chika smiled. She didn't want to say anything out loud that would fluster her mother, but she couldn't think of a single prettier person in the world.

Chi-Chi cracked her neck and cleared her throat. "Now then, for the reason I asked you to wait here..."

Chika was paying full attention. Mama sounded serious, but not angry. Chi-Chi reached into the water and began to dig through the miniature river bed. Eventually, she pulled out a porous, but overall smooth stone. She turned to Chika. "Let's take a bath. I need to show you something."

Chika nodded. "Okay~"

And so, all alone in the wilderness, the two of them stripped all the way down and waded into the center of the water. The flowing stream was deceptively deep. In the very center, the current wasn't that much stronger. But it was a whole lot deeper: it submerged Chika all the way up to her neck while she was standing, all the way up to Chi-Chi's chest while she was sitting down. Chika turned to her mother. "But, Mama, we don't have any soap! How can we take a bath without that?"

Chi-Chi smiled. "We're not dirty. That's not what this bath is about, dear. I need to show you something important..."

Gently, Chi-Chi grabbed one of Chika's horns, rubbing her hand over the coarse surface of it. Chi-Chi spoke very softly. "Grab your other horn and feel it..."

Chika obeyed, gently feeling the horn on the left side of her head. She frowned. "Rough..."

Chi-Chi smiled, grabbed her daughter's wrist and guiding her hand to her own horn. "Feel mine now."

Chika did as she was told, gasping loud. Her eyes sparkled. "Smooth! So smooth! Oh my gosh!"

Chi-Chi nodded. "It takes a lot of work to take care of these, Chika. They're a hassle and a massive pain, but your father asked me to stop grinding mine down and I certainly won't put you through that pain. So, I have to teach you how ot care for them. Okay?"

Chika nodded. "Okay! Okay!"

Chi-Chi turned lifted one of her knees, sitting her daughter on it and taking the porous stone from before. Taking a handful of stream water, she gently massaged Chika's little horns. "These are basically bones that are growing out of your head. If I had to compare them to something more normal, I would say they're akin to fingernails, but even that isn't fully correct."

Once Chika's horns had been well moisturized with the crystal clear water, Chi-Chi took the stone and gently glided it along the surface. Chika giggled. "That tickles~"

Chi-Chi smiled in good humor. "That's what I said back when my mother showed me how to do this~"

Chi-Chi continued to grind away at the surface of her little girl's horns, shedding away more and more thin layers of rough, neglected horn flesh and applying more water to them as she went along. Chi-Chi sighed. "You have such nice, little horns, With enough care..."

She caressed her own. "...they'll be as big as mine one day."

Chika smiled. "That's good! Then I'll be as pretty as Mama is~"

Chi-Chi blushed hard, glancing away. She had a small, indulgent smile on her face. She knew that she was attractive. Or, at least, she had no pretenses that she was ugly. Her husband liked her well enough, and the other wives asked her for her secrets on skin care and other such nonsense with no real pretense or overperformance. And Chi-Chi felt pretty, most of the time at least. But all of that was a performance of its own kind. Chi-Chi's smile faded. She had never shown Bulma or Launch her horns. Bulma was bad enough, but Launch was basically her next-door neighbor. She had barely even shown them to Gine...

Chi-Chi sighed. "...and I probably wouldn't have done that if I didn't have to..."

Chika turned. "What'd ya say, Mama?"

Chi-Chi shook her head. "Nothing, baby. I was just thinking about your Grandma..."

Chika smiled. "I love Grandma Gine~"

Chi-Chi nodded. "So do I. You're lucky to have such an attentive, loving Grandma."

Chika frowned. "She cries sometimes too, ya know? She really misses Grandpa Bardock..."

Chi-Chi nodded again. "I do too."

Chika sighed as Chi-Chi grabbed a small handful of river mud to use as a makeshift polish. Chi-Chi gently rubbed it along the surface of her daughter's horns, hoping to catch any little abrasions. Chi-Chi spoke gently. "When we get home, we'll apply a nice moisturizer to them, maybe cocoa butter, and they'll get that real smoothness. Then we'll just need to find an oil to give them sheen. After that, it'll just be about maintenance care...and learning how to sleep so that you aren't stabbing holes into the wall."

Chika giggled merrily. Chi-Chi giggled as well. Chika sighed. "Will I ever get to meet Grandpa Bardock?"

Chi-Chi immediately nodded. "Someday, yes. That man is loyal. He'll be back eventually."

The horn polishing finished, Chi-Chi stood and carried her daughter back to the embankment, drying the both of them off with the hammock tarp and then getting them both dressed. Chi-Chi did up her hair buns, expertly concealing both of her horns, and then helped Chika slot her hat carefully over her head.

Then, the morning ritual was done and the two of them were off for another day of walking. It wouldn't be that much farther to Dragon Rock.

Some ways down the road...

Chi-Chi and Chika were making it down the dirt road at a brisk pace. Instinctively, Chika had grabbed her mother's hand and Chi-Chi had taken Chika's without any hesitation. Occasionally, Chi-Chi would smile down at her daughter and swing her up off the ground, delighting in Chika's squeals of delight as she went soaring a full 360 degrees into the air.

Chi-Chi smiled. "With how much you enjoy that, it's almost easy to forget that you can fly. How do you get such a thrill out of me swinging you like an old handbag?"

Chika snickered. "It's just fun to spend time with you, Mama~"

Chi-Chi beamed at that. She reached into her backpack and pulled out a squirt bottle of water, taking a sip for herself and handing it down to Chika to drink from as well. If they ran out, it didn't really matter. The stream was right next to them and ran straight for as far as Chi-Chi could see. They could refill whenever they wished.

Chika handed the bottle back and looked at the sky. "Grandma Gine...and Grandpa Bardock...and Grandpa Ox..."

Chi-Chi nodded. "Yes. Those are your grandparents..."

Chika pursed her lips. "Papa's mama and papa. And Mama's papa..."

She looked up to Chi-Chi. "But what about your mama, Mama?"

Chi-Chi tensed a bit. "Wh-What about her?"

Chika sensed the sudden change in her mother's tone and flinched back. "N-Nevermind..."

Chi-Chi immediately realized what she had done. She shook her head, angry at herself. "Sorry, Chika. I can answer questions about your Grandma Chika. What do you want to know?"

Chika gasped. "Grandma CHIKA?! She has my name?!"

Chi-Chi cringed. How, in all these years, had she never told her own daughter the origins of her name? Sure, Chika was only three...but surely Chi-Chi had mentioned it sometime before now. Hadn't she?

Chi-Chi's throat felt dry. She swallowed hard and felt it click. She spoke carefully and articulately. "Well, yes...you were named after my mother, Chika. I named you after her because...well, gosh, I'm not sure why. Honestly, I wasn't thinking of my mother at all when I named you. I just spoke the first name that came to mind after you came out. We were in a submarine and I was feeling...trapped, ya know? So, I just used the first name I could think of for a girl..."

Chika nodded. "Mama is always thinking about her mama, right?"

Chi-Chi nodded. "Yes."

A curt answer. And even a three-year-old could pick up on just how curt it was. Chika squeezed her mother's hand. "Mama misses her mama?"

Chi-Chi nodded again, a voice a bit thicker. "Yes."

Chika watched as Chi-Chi, perhaps unconsciously, gripped her hand over the exact same spot where an arrow had pierced the Gyuhime's heart so many years ago. Chi-Chi whispered. "They didn't even give her the dignity of a fair fight. They snuck up on her like some kind of wild animal..."

Chi-Chi gripped her fist tight, making her knuckles pop. "God damn them...those bastard Cranes..."

Chika yelped. "M-Mama!"

Chi-Chi gasped, looking down. She was squeezing both fists unconsciously. Immediately, she let Chika's hand loose and knelt down, kissing it at least a dozen times. "Chika! I'm so sorry! I'm so, so sorry!"

Chika sniffled. "It's okay, Mama. I'm sorry I made you sad..."

Chi-Chi flinched back. "N-No! You didn't! I-"

In the blink of an eye, a shadow fell from the sky and clamped onto Chika, yanking her high into the air. It took Chi-Chi a moment to fully register what had just happened. "What...the...?"

Chi-Chi looked up and gasped. Chika was squirming away at the massive, taloned claws that were holding her still. One was wrapped around her legs, one was wrapped around her torso, and one was wrapped around her face, muffling her cries for help. The massive bird that had stolen Chi-Chi's daughter had three eyes and wings as black as night. It flapped its massive wingspan and sailed off into the distance, almost cackling as it cried out. Chi-Chi spoke two words. "Yatagarasu. Demons."

Without realizing it, Chi-Chi and Chika had stepped into demon country. And Chi-Chi had been too distracted or too negligent to notice.

Before she realized it, Chi-Chi's feet had left the ground and she was flying at top speed. Veins erupted from her forehead, and she snarled, roaring like a monster. "DROP MY DAUGHTER RIGHT NOW!"

The Yatagarasu turned to smirk and gloated again but was shocked to see that Chi-Chi was right there. She punched it right in the beak, creating a spider-web crack with her fist. The bird was stunned, and Chi-Chi chopped it in the throat. "LET MY DAUGHTER GO, YOU OVERGROWN TURKEY!"

The Yatagarasu sneered. This woman was strong enough to kill it in one blow. But she was holding back? Was she just too gentle to kill? The Yatagarasu looked into Chi-Chi's eyes and was washed over with a feeling of terror and dread. This woman was certainly no objector to killing her enemies. The only reason she would be holding back is to avoid injuring the child. The Yatagarasu cackled and tightened its claw, making Chika scream out in pain. Chi-Chi was distracted. "Chika!"

The demon sneered and then let loose an ear-piercing shriek. The treetops below rustled and dozens more Yatagarasu came shooting out from the leaves. Chi-Chi jerked her head toward her new foes and barely managed to block as one took a stab at her with its beak, the tip of the beak managed to pierce into her side. Chi-Chi clenched her teeth and fired a ki blast, blowing the bird's head off. The lead Yatagarasu flapped its wings and put some space between itself and Chi-Chi, leaving Chi-Chi to be mauled and slashed by its underlings.

Chi-Chi snarled in blind fury, taking slash after slash to her various bits of exposed flesh as she tried to blast her foes out of the air. She was a fighter, and she could go with the best of them, but this was quickly overwhelming her. The last time she fought this many foes at once was when Abo and Kado came to Earth.

One of the Yatagarasu dragged its talons across Chi-Chi's face, digging two grave slashes into the meat of her cheek. She wanted to shriek but bit her lip. She couldn't afford to sound panicked here. If she sounded panicked, then Chika would start panicking even more. She blasted her latest attacker in the gut and called out. "CHIKA! DON'T WORRY! I'M COMING!"

The lead Yatagarasu landed in its nest, sneering down as it lifted one of its three feet off of Chika, exposing her head. She cried out. "MAMA!"

The Yatagarasu cackled and drew its head back. It was going to pluck this brat's head off and then eat her as retribution for its cracked beak. It shot its beak down toward Chika, only just managing to jerk its head out of the way as the brat screamed and firing a ki blast out of her mouth. The monster crow scoffed and ran one of its talons down the girl's throat. Tears welled in her eyes and it sneered, drawing its head back again to strike.

Chi-Chi fought with all of her strength, barely even noticing as a razor-sharp beak stabbed her between the shoulder blades. "CHIKA!"

The lead Yatagarasu shot its beak down again...only for a strong hand to seize it by the throat. It gagged and looked at the gleaming, bald head of its attacker. "Picking on women and children isn't very nice..."

And then, a fist collided with its gut and sent it flying into the air. "VOLLEYBALL FIST!"

Chi-Chi flinched. She recognized that voice. And then, all of the lesser Yatagarasu attacking her froze in place, totally unable to move. Another familiar voice called out. "Chi-Chi! Are you okay?!"

Chi-Chi looked over, one of her eyes gummed shut with blood, and wearily called out. "Chiaotzu...?"

Chiaotzu smiled, coming to Chi-Chi's defense and pointing his fingers. "I count twelve of these nasty, little monsters. I think you killed seven of them! Nice job!"

Chiaotzu's finger glowed and he smiled, firing a beam that pierced each crow consecutively. "Do-Do-Do-Do-Do-Do-Do-Do-Do-Do-Do-DODON RAY!"

Chi-Chi sighed in relief, but immediately tensed back up. "What about Chika?!"

"SPIKE!"

The lead Yatagarasu shot down in front of Chi-Chi like a missile, crashing into the hard ground below and exploding into a cloud of evil and feathers. "You don't have to worry, Chi-Chi. You have one brave, little girl here!"

Chi-Chi looked up and saw, to her surprise, Tien was floating down towards her. In one of his arms, a somewhat injured Chika was curled up and whimpering softly. He smiled and tightened his grip around her just a bit. "You don't have to worry. The monster is gone. And you were really brave for trying to defend yourself like you did. You really are Goku and Chi-Chi's daughter."

Chika nodded, and then she leaned into Tien's gi and began to sob out of fear and relief. Tien looked from her to Chi-Chi. "You've both been roughed up. Chiaotzu and I have Senzu Beans. What's say we find a place to use as shelter and take a bit of a rest break?"

Chi-Chi nodded, greatful that Chiaotzu was flying under her to provide support. She practically collapsed onto his back. "Right..."

As mother and daughter were spirited back down to the ground, safe from the crows thanks to two noble cranes, Chi-Chi was truly, immensely greatful. But there was also a small speck of loathing buried in all of that. She liked Tien and Chiaotzu well enough as Goku's friends...but the very sight of them made her think back to the death of her Mom, and that thought made her see their intrusion with an unhealthy amount of dread.