To Catch a DragonBall
Chapter 19
Under da Sea
A/N: Yes! I know it's been almost two years since I last updated and I apologize profusely to anyone who's been waiting for this. I have no excuses to explain why I haven't updated except to say that once you've taken a long break from a story it is incredibly difficult to get back to it. Now, let the pummeling begin…I only have one request…please use the soft nerf bats. :Waits silently to be pummeled:
I was intending to wait until I finished writing the story before updating, but I was told by one reviewer that it wasn't fair of me and that I need to share…so here you go. Maybe this will soften my punishment? No! Nerf bat anyone?
Disclaimer: Unfortunately very little has changed in the last two years so:sigh: I still do not own DBZ or any of its characters. And without further ado I give you. To Catch a DragonBall.
The forest was still dark about her. She felt as if she had been there for weeks but time never seemed to change. She was never hungry or thirsty which was good since she had never seen any source of food or water. She hadn't felt the menacing, insane presence since she first came into this strange place but that was small comfort to her, since she was in fact, still IN the strange place. She had long since stopped hearing the voices. Now it was just silence. Nothing moved in the forest except for her. And it was creepy.
She wondered how much longer she was going to be in this weird dream before she woke up. The thought suddenly hit her. What if something had happened to her and she was in a coma? She didn't really recall anything happening to her. In fact, the last thing she recalled was talking to Goku and then going to sleep. It didn't matter really; she just needed to wake up. She couldn't spend her life in this dream state. It would be a complete waste of her genius...not to mention her beauty.
She sat there for some time pondering this strange dark world she had found herself in. Alone. By herself. Just her. No one else. Nothing at all.
After several hours of this train of thought she was startled to realize that she was no longer alone. That she had been feeling something strange for some time but had not put her finger on it. Finally she realized that what she felt was someone joining her in the gray dark world. And it wasn't the insane person either. That she could feel. But she wasn't entirely reassured by the feeling of this presence either. She looked around, trying to spot who or what was sending the shivers down her spine. At first she didn't see anything and she tried to convince herself that she was only imagining things in an attempt to alleviate her loneliness. But suddenly he was there. He seemed to appear out of nowhere in front of her but she knew that was just a trick of the bad lighting. He had been there a while. Watching her and waiting. Once he noticed her regard he came slowly towards her. The shivers increased in intensity and she couldn't tear her gaze away from him. He was this dark presence which seemed to fill up her vision so that she could no longer see anything of the world that she was in.
He stopped inches from her and slowly pulled her off of the stump she was sitting on. He pulled her into his arms and before she knew what was happening…he kissed her. It was the most astonishing and thrilling thing that had ever happened to her. He finally released her after what seemed like eternity and she pulled back to see who this man was now that he was in better lighting. As her eyes finally took in the features of his face she couldn't stop the gasp that tore from her chest.
After Yaumcha collected Goku from the restaurant he returned to the clearing and set up the capsule house. There was no point in going any further tonight. He settled Goku into bed and went to tend to his bruises. After an hour or so soaking in the bathtub and the best meal he could make with left over fish he pulled out the capsule that was holding the first two DragonBalls. He settled the one he had found today in with the other two, sitting for some minutes and watching their beautiful orange glow. These were the key to getting Bulma out of the strange sleep she was trapped in. He admired the feisty heiress. She was brave and pushy, loud and a bit obnoxious, but beautiful and caring too. Unbeknownst to him at the time, he had really started to like the young woman. She was the first person to ever care about his welfare since a time long before he had come into contact with Vegeta. He liked her and it hurt him unbearably to see her lying so quietly day after day, looking almost dead except for the steady rise and fall of her chest and the little bleep of the heart monitor that was always attached to her, notifying one and all that she was still alive.
Yaumcha finally closed the lid of the box and capsulated it. 'It doesn't do any good staying up all night worrying. I'll need my sleep for tomorrow…'
With that final thought he climbed into his own bed and drifted off to sleep.
The soft light of dawn was just filtering through his window when Goku ran in and pounced on his stomach.
"Yaumcha! Where are we going today? Have you looked at the radar? Do you want me to catch some lizards for breakfast? I saw a ton of them outside!"
Yaumcha would have liked nothing better than to turn over, pull the pillow over his head, and go back to sleep. But he knew that if Goku was already up then he'd better get up too. Or else Goku would go and catch him some lizards and he'd be forced to eat them.
"No Goku, I'd rather you go to the stream I saw down there and catch some fish for us while I get dressed."
"Sure thing Yaumcha!"
As soon as the little boy left Yaumcha levered himself out of bed and dragged himself to the shower. The first jet of ice-cold water sent a shock through his system that succeeded in waking him up better than even Goku could ever hope to do. After a sufficient amount of time he switched the water to hot and finished washing up. By the time he got out of the shower Goku was in the kitchen chewing on a burnt creature that looked suspiciously lizard like, but there were twelve good-sized fish also lying on the counter.
"The small ones were all I could find."
"That's fine Goku, they'll be easier to take with us this way. We'll probably need to catch more though…."
This was said as Goku finished his appetizer and made to grab the uncooked fish.
An hour later, after they had caught a quantity of fish that Yaumcha hoped would last till dinner, he capsulated the house and pulled out their traveling jet. With the radar firmly in hand they set off after their fourth DragonBall. The radar showed that this ball was located somewhere off the coast in the ocean. Lucky for them that Dr. Brief's had thought to teach him to convert the jet to a submarine. He just hoped the water wouldn't be too deep. And that none of the rest of the DragonBalls were anywhere that they had to dive for. The reached the spot on the coast where the ball was showing relatively quickly and Yaumcha landed the jet in the water. It didn't look like it could be that deep. They were within hailing distance of land. After they had sunk about twenty feet Yaumcha could see what appeared to be a dark shadow along the ground. At fifty feet, when the walls of the very small crevice were starting to close around them he was sure that he had been wrong about the depth. He turned the heater on and sighed. He couldn't see how deep it was now and the only thing that shone within the lights of the jet were the walls and whatever strangely colored fish swam in and out of view.
"Oooh, Yaumcha, I bet that fish would last for a week!"
He hadn't seen the fish Goku was talking about and he really didn't want to. Anything big enough to last Goku a week could swallow their jet whole and still have room to spare. He had the fleeting wish that the giant fish was a vegetarian before he realized that the wall in front of them had suddenly grown a large amount of teeth. Bright, shiny, sharp teeth.
"Hey, Yaumcha, I think the fish wants to play."
"No Goku, I think the fish thinks we're a meal."
In an effort to avoid being eaten Yaumcha threw the jets thrusters on and pushed them backwards away from the fish. He expected to hit the wall behind them any second, but amazingly the crevice had opened up as they went deeper.
"I guess that explains how that big monster got down here. Let's see if we can find the DragonBall anywhere around here."
He started sweeping the lights around the cave they had found themselves in but after several minutes without the tiniest bit of an orange glow he had to admit that the DragonBall wasn't in here. He checked the radar again and noticed that the ball seemed to be moving away from them.
"Oh, no. It can't be!"
"Vegeta! What the hell are you doing here? Are you a figment of this demented dream or…are you trapped in here too? And why the hell did you just kiss me!"
"Pipe down woman. Nobody wants to hear your screeching."
"Well, then it's a good thing no one else is here, isn't it! I want to know what's going on!"
"It's really quite simple. I am a machine created simulation. I take whatever form you want me to take. As for you, when you were captured by Vegeta one of the scientists decided to use you to test his latest experiment. He injected you with a special formula that put you to sleep and linked your mind to the simulated world that you see here. Obviously this is a very rudimentary world. However, the good doctor did not intend for you to fall into sleep so soon. Nor did he expect that he would be unable to control when you came and went from this world. You've been trapped in here for approximately a year. In that time he has worked on the problem and now believes that he can get you out of this world. Unfortunately for you, Vegeta found out about this experiment quite a while ago and he expects that you will agree to do him a small favor before he'll allow you out of here."
"A year! A whole fucking year! I ought to throttle that idiot doctor! What's the idea of using someone for an experiment and not telling them! And as for Vegeta, you can tell him to fuck off. There is no way in hell I'm going to get those DragonBalls for him!"
"Fine, have it your way…you'll agree soon enough. Goodbye."
And with that he blew her a kiss and disappeared.
"You fucking asshole!"
The sound of Bulma's fury reverberated through the virtual forest until she was finally spent. She leaned back against the tree trunk and seethed silently. 'That fucking jackass. When I get out of here I'm going to find the doctor who did this and show him just what a properly applied mind can do when its owner is pissed off. And I won't forget to work the bugs out before I skin his hide. And what was that bullshit about ME deciding that form of the simulation. Next thing I know he'll try to tell me the kiss was my idea too! As if! I don't like Vegeta! And I certainly wouldn't want him kissing me! That doctor just has a sick mind. Or maybe it was Vegeta's idea. Obviously he can't resist my beauty. But that doesn't mean he can molest me like that. And so what if I do think he's sexy, he's still a murderous asshole. As if I'd consider giving him those DragonBalls. Humph, right, that'll be the day.'
With all her frustrated rage finally spent, the never-ending, pressing silence of the forest was free to resume.
A/N: Well, that was chapter 19. A little short I know, but I think that it's ok since I already continued with the next chapter. So no nerf bats! And now we know what happened to Bulma. It's just like Vegeta to take advantage of a situation. But was it really the doctor that created the Vegeta simulation? Or WAS it Bulma's subconscious mind: shrugs: I don't know, ask her. Anyway, let's go on to chapter 20 before my muse figures out how to get out of the chains I wrapped her in. lol
Kiana Angel: Thanks Kiana Angel. That was genuinely flattering. It makes me feel all nice and special that you think my silly little stories are worth checking back for.
Sakura: Wow, compelling argument. Really I was looking for an excuse to go back on what I said about waiting until I finished the story. Lol But here we go, I'm sharing.