Chapter 26 – Problem with the Dragonball

The sun was setting as the plane flew farther to south-east. Bulma had repaired it and even though the walls were still a bit dented, it flew very well and the damage caused by the sea people was barely to be noticed, even though Bulma claimed that the engines didn't work the way they should have.

"I think we should settle a camp again," Haruka yawned. "It's getting dark and we won't get the Dragonball tonight one way or another. I think it'll take three days until we get there."

"Three days?" Seiya stared at her. "We managed to find four Dragonballs in two days, now you're telling me that the other three will take twice as long?"

"Look at the map," Haruka replied with a frown. "The first four were rather close to each other. But the other three travelled a lot farther; besides, this one is moving, apparently it's inside some creature and that means it can travel even farther away from us by the time we get there. And it moves fast. Surprisingly fast."

"Maybe it's not a creature," Vegeta guessed. "It may very well be another Dragonball hunter."

"You mean like the… Red Ribbon Army?" Goku asked, raising his brows. "I destroyed it a long time ago."

"There may be others," Vegeta said. "You'll never know. After all, you can't think that seven magical crystal balls that fulfill your every wish never get any attention other than ours."

"Vegeta's got a point," Yaten remarked, walking up to the map and looking at the blinking spots. "It was in the ocean when we started our quest, right? And after a couple of days it has travelled far to the inland, covering about…?"

"Three thousand miles," Haruka finished his sentence. "Amazing speed, if you ask me. Too much for any living creature… or what, Bulma? You know the dinosaurs around here."

Bulma nodded. "It can't possibly be a dinosaur, they're rather lazy. Actually I can't even imagine it being a machine. It moves too fast. I mean, this plane here is driven by one of best professionals in racing," Haruka grinned widely, "and it doesn't move that fast."

"So it's not a living being and not a machine either?" Seiya asked with a frown. "Or wait… what if it's a Saiyan?"

"Too slow," Vegeta replied. "A Saiyan is able to circle the globe within hours."

Seiya raised his brows. "So… why are we spending days on this quest anyway?"

Vegeta sighed. "Because the Dragonballs aren't nice enough to lay on the ground just like that and retrieving them from the bottom of the ocean while being surrounded by evil fish creatures isn't as easy as you may think."

Seiya blinked. "Right. I forgot that part. But couldn't you just fly ahead and see who or what it is?"

The Saiyan prince nodded. "Of course I can. But I won't. I'm not your bloodhound and besides, it's getting dark and I'm hungry."

"Let's just hit the hay," Haruka suggested, leading the plane down. "As long as we have the radar, it won't escape us."

They spent the whole next day flying. Everybody was bored to death and Haruka made a few somersaults in the air just to "keep up the excitement" as she remarked. It worked. They spent rather thrilling ten minutes trying to get their breathing back to normal.

Michiru had been sitting next to Haruka and watching the clouds slide by the whole time; now she glanced at the dashboard and commented:

"Haruka, I think the plane is running low on gas."

"Yeah, I noticed that a couple of miles ago," Haruka agreed with concern. "There should be enough left for another hundred miles or so but then…" She looked down. "We're flying above a huge forest. Finding a gas station here won't be easy."

"There should be a map showing gas stations right over there," Bulma claimed.

Haruka sighed. "Okay, which lever?"

"Not a lever. A button. The green one that says "More Food"," Bulma instructed.

"You really had a lot of fun building that plane, didn't you?" Haruka asked, pressing the button. A holographic map spread out in front of her.

"Someone read that, I need to drive," the girl grunted and Michiru leaned closer.

"There's one to the east but it's very far away," she said.

Haruka turned the plane to the east. "No problem, we'll just fly on until we run out of gas and then our almighty Saiyans will carry the plane, right guys?"

"So now we're supposed to play some sort of camels for you?" Vegeta asked with a grunt.

"Either that or we'll crash into those sharp-looking fir trees down there," Haruka replied.

Vegeta snarled. "Ugh, fine. Wake me up when we start falling." He leaned back and fell asleep.

About an hour later the plane really ran out of gas, Vegeta and Goku flew outside, took the plane on their shoulders and carried it on towards the gas station. The two brats floated by their side, keeping the plane balanced.

"So… how fast can they actually fly?" Yaten asked Bulma, peering at the forest slide by. Bulma shrugged.

"Fast enough to turn us into bloody pancakes against the side of the plane… we have plenty of time, don't we? Sit back and enjoy the ride. Actually it would be cheaper to let them carry us to all the Dragonballs but hey, Mr. Almighty Prince of the Saiyans will be grumpy about that without a single doubt. And Goku can't carry the plane alone. He'd drop us. Trust me; I know how clumsy he can be…"

After the plane was filled with gas again, Haruka set course to the Dragonball. It was a lot farther than before.

"It really travels with extreme speed," she said with admiration and slight concern. "Too fast to be any kind of machine. I think it may cause us some trouble."

"Where's it heading to?" Taiki asked. Haruka frowned and examined the map.

"Hard to say… but I'd say that it's getting slower." She zoomed in. "Hey… actually it has almost stopped. Whatever is carrying the Dragonball must be seeking for something. It travelled fast the whole time and eventually reached the more or less exact area."

"We still have a couple of thousand miles to go… Goku, can't you do your instant translocation?" Bulma asked. Goku shook his head.

"I have no idea what kind of aura I should look for."

"Let's just fly on and see about it when we get there," Haruka suggested with a sigh. The rest of the day was quiet. But the next morning, when they packed the capsule house and got on the plane, Haruka opened the map and gasped.

"Houston, we have a problem," she said.

"What's Houston?" Trunks asked.

"Never mind… the Dragonball is gone!" Haruka grunted. Everyone leaped closer.

"Impossible!" Bulma announced. "The Dragonballs can't be destroyed. It couldn't have turned into a stone yet either, the other Dragonballs are still there!"

"Well, this one's missing," Haruka snapped. "Nowhere on this planet. See?" She zoomed out. The whole globe circled in front of their eyes. "Nothing. Gone. Vanished."

"There's only one explanation," Yaten't calm voice remarked. "It's not on this planet."

"An alien?" Goten and Trunks asked at the same time.

"That would explain the quick travelling and seeking… it was probably looking for a place to contact its mothership," Goku guessed. Vegeta grunted and muttered something about too much late-night sci-fi movies. Bulma sighed and remembered Vegeta where he had come from.

"So what do we do now?" Taiki asked with a frown.

"We ask for help," Hotaru's sharp voice replied. Everyone turned to look at her. "Haruka, Michiru, you'll have to contact Sailor Pluto again."

Both girls frowned. "It's not that easy," Michiru said. "She controls the Space and Time; she can't be reached by a single phone call. She only shows up by herself."

"Use your Talismans," Hotaru persisted, "they're meant to track each other down."

"Only on our Earth," Haruka said. "She showed up here occasionally because the Universe was in danger and she kept an eye on us. Now she has no reason for that and she may be anywhere at the moment, possibly too far away to hear our call."

"We can always try, can't we?" Goku suddenly asked. Everyone noticed that he was standing in the middle of the cabin with two fingers on his forehead. He was concentrating for the Instant Translocation technique.

"What exactly are you planning…?"

They vanished.