Chapter 28 – The city of fears

The ocean was huge and spread out in every direction. The weather was simply gorgeous and they tried not to look out, the glittering sea was so blinding.

"We're almost there," Haruka commented, looking at the radar. "But I can't see anything," she added with surprise, looking out of the window again.

"The island is very small, it can't be seen easily," Bulma snorted.

"What's so dangerous about it then?" Yaten asked, raising his brows.

Bulma raised her brows too. "Who said it was dangerous? I just don't feel like going there. Look, there it is now."

Everyone leaned forward and tried very hard to see the island. Finally they noticed it as it grew bigger and bigger on the sparkling blue background. The island was indeed tiny, it only had a couple of palm trees growing on it. And in the middle of the island there was a small pink house.

Goku gasped and a wide smile appeared on his face. "Hey, the Dragonball landed here? I should've recognized the place earlier! Cool! This time there will be no trouble!"

"Fine, then get inside and deal with that old pervert yourself," Bulma suggested. "I'm not moving."

"Aw come on, Master Roshi isn't that bad," Goku persisted. Bulma rolled her eyes.

"Just go and get that Dragonball," she snorted. Goku shrugged and hopped out of the plane as soon as Haruka had landed it.

"Hey, Master Roshi!" he shouted out. An old man in a deckchair looked up with surprise.

"Goku?" he asked. "You haven't been here for a while."

"Sorry, I've been busy," Goku agreed. "Say, you don't happen to have a Dragonball somewhere around here, huh?"

"Yeah, one landed in the water near the island a year ago," Master Roshi replied. "I thought someone might be coming to get it one day so I went out there and got it, oh boy, who's the pretty lady?" He had noticed Michiru.

"Get my point?" Bulma asked the girl with a frown as Master Roshi slid closer

Haruka's eyes flashed for a second.

SPLAT!

"Ouch… that wall won't be fixed easily," Taiki commented.

Trunks's eyes had widened. "Hey, cool! How did you manage to make him spin around like that?"

"I didn't think a human's neck can bend that way," Vegeta remarked with slight admiration.

"Dung doesn't drown," Haruka replied with a frown. "Now, how about that Dragonball?"

About five minutes later the sixth Dragonball was theirs. Master Roshi had kept it on his table, knowing that one day there'd be someone willing to collect it.

"One more and we'll be able to leave this planet," Haruka commented, starting the plane as Goku and the two brats waved frantically. Master Roshi waved back, though slowly as most of his joints were kinda stiff.

"The last two have been easy," Vegeta remarked. "Let's hope that the seventh one will be as simple."

"If I remember correctly, the seventh one was somewhere in a town by the sea," Haruka replied, opening the map. "And just as I guessed… it's not there any more."

The others gasped. "It's missing again?"

"Naw, just moving." Haruka's eyes narrowed. "It's in the ocean… or perhaps on it. I think it's on a ship."

"Or inside a water dragon?" Seiya asked with a slightly hysterical note in his voice.

"Then it couldn't have been in a town a while ago," Hotaru said thoughtfully.

"Unless it went to the town to destroy it," Goku said, "but that's unlikely to happen. Water dragons are usually harmless creatures."

"So are nightmares," Michiru frowned, "and remember the one we dealt with lately?"

"I think Haruka is right. It might be a ship. Dragons don't spend much time on dry land even if they show up on the shore occasionally." Bulma looked up. "How far is it?"

Haruka snorted and sighed. "Almost on the other side of the planet. That will take several days. And a lot of tanking."

"Well, let's get going in that case," Goku suggested. "The sooner we start flying, the sooner we arrive, right?"

Haruka nodded. "Does anyone feel like taking my place for a while? My arms are killing me."

"Let me." Vegeta stood up and Haruka left the seat for him. "So, five or six days as I understand? We're going to need more food."

There was a city nearby so they decided to land there to buy some food and once again tank the plane. Haruka commented that they had flown millions of miles without filling the gas tank even once. Now they had to fix that mistake – "in order to make the Space-Time continuum work correctly again" as Hotaru said. And they knew that she was right.

"Can we look around in the city a little, huh, huh?" Trunks asked her mother at the gas station. Bulma sighed.

"Uh, why not. We're not in a hurry. Vegeta, keep an eye on him, will you? Goten, keep an eye on your dad, okay?"

"You're kidding, right?" Goku asked with a frown. Vegeta looked at his wife.

"And where are you going?"

"To see a CC branch office," Bulma replied. "I need to check a few things. You," she looked at their guests from planet Earth, "I'd suggest you to stick with either Vegeta or Goku. You have to admit that letting strangers from another planet run around here just like that is never a good idea."

Haruka's eyes narrowed. "You're telling us? Exactly the fact that we were keeping those dudes there from running around just like that on our planet is the reason why we're here. Fine then, let's get going."

The city was big, yet very green. The sky was blue and the weather was great so walking down the street was pure pleasure. Eventually Michiru still decided that she wanted to go shopping a little. They had passed so many small and interesting shops without stepping in that Michiru's elegant soul couldn't handle that any more.

"Remember what Mom said?" Trunks asked with a frown. "You kept an eye on your planet while we were there, I think we owe something to our planet too."

"I'm not a powerful Saiyan, you know," Michiru claimed a bit offendedly.

"Tell that to a race of fish people who are probably building huge statues of you this same moment," Vegeta suggested. "Brats, go with her."

Trunks's eyes widened. "Dad, please! Going shopping with Mom every Saturday is bad enough!"

"I'll go," Goten announced. "I can't go shopping often. We live too far away from the nearest town."

In short, eventually they all split up. Michiru and Goten went shopping, the others went down the street until Haruka noticed a hardware store where she needed some gadgets for the plane – "Bulma will be too busy to deal with it, one thing certain…" –, Seiya said that he needed some guitar strings and Trunks tagged along to prevent the two from ripping each other's guts out. Taiki went to a bookshop followed by Goku and a lot of complaining – "Why me? Why the bookshop? And why not the candy store?". The rest, meaning Vegeta, Hotaru and Yaten just went down the street, caring about nothing. Eventually they came to a park where Vegeta sat down under a tree to take a nap, Yaten decided to do the same thing and Hotaru simply sat on a bench, looking at the people go by.

She was frowning.

Something was wrong…

"So, I guess we'll need to buy some food too while we're at it, or what?" Goten asked Michiru as they left yet another store. The girl nodded.

"We can't expect the others to deal with it. Will you help me carry the stuff?" Goten nodded too and so they left for the mall.

"Do you think we'll have any trouble with the last Dragonball?" Goten asked Michiru as they were walking between the isles. Michiru shrugged and then slowly shook her head.

"It's in a town. What's the worst thing you could run into in a town?" she asked.

Goten bit his lip. "A huge evil demon trying to destroy that town?" he suggested.

"Too much TV," Michiru smiled.

"Too much fighting," Goten argued. "Look, candy canes!"

"You know, one thing is funny," Michiru commented as they were standing in the line in front of the cash register. Goten muttered something that might as well have been a "yeah?"

"All those people here seem so… scared," Michiru said quietly.

Goten looked up and around. "You think so? I wouldn't say that. Perhaps a little pale, a little suspicious, peering around constantly… but not scared. Nervous would be the word."

"Just as odd," the girl replied. "Why would the whole crowd at the mall seem so… petrified? You're right, they're not scared… they seem like they're having a constant feeling that something ominous is hanging above their heads."

"Let's ask someone," Goten suggested. Michiru held him back.

"You can't just walk up to people and ask what they're afraid of," she hissed. "Don't bother. If it's so epidemical then we may find it out soon enough. Twenty dollars, you say? Here you are and have a nice day."

The girl in the cash register glanced at her. She was extremely pale and rather skinny. Her eyes seemed huge in her face.

"Thank you…" she whispered, then frowned slightly. "You're from out of town, right?"

Michiru nodded.

"Go away," the girl suggested quietly. "While you still can."

Haruka had noticed the same thing and Seiya, even though not easily agreeing with the girl, had to admit that she was right. Trunks held close to the two. Half-Saiyan or not, two Sailor Soldiers were still a nice ally.

"I really don't like this city," Haruka said quietly. "I'd understand if they were sick. Epidemics are common. But look at them… do they seem ill to you?"

Seiya frowned. "Despite them being pale and kinda thin… doesn't look like any illness I know. Epidemics usually show as ugly spots on the skin or something, right?"

Haruka nodded slowly. Trunks couldn't help astonishing how the two enemies suddenly talked to each other like completely normal human beings.

"The city is huge, some threat from a bunch of invaders or something couldn't possibly scare them like that, or what?" the kid asked. Seiya and Haruka nodded again, both with a concerned frown.

"So what could it be?" Haruka asked.

"We won't find it out while sitting here," Seiya remarked. "I just need to find some guitar strings and then we can get away from this creepy place."

Haruka shuddered. "Too true. I'll go insane when I have to see a whole store full of terrified people for another five minutes. I think I saw some strings back there."

Seiya nodded and trotted away, returning in a minute with a pack of guitar strings. "Let's go."

"Do you actually have money?" Haruka asked with a frown.

"What, you think they'll dare to ask for money?" Seiya asked back.

Haruka glanced at her cart filled with odd little gadgets. "They might as well send the bill to Capsule Corporation."

"I'm telling you, it's not right. Something is definitely going on in this city," Taiki hissed with his nose in a thick book.

"Perhaps they're just afraid of us?" Goku asked, raising a brow. Now Taiki looked up from the book and glanced at him.

"You're kidding, right?"

"They're all acting like a war was about to start," Goku said, looking around. "I'll go ask someone."

"They won't reply," Taiki predicted. Goku was already in front of a man in his mid-forties.

"S'cuse me… why are all those people so nervous?"

The man gave him a single look and hurried out.

"Told you," Taiki commented, getting back to the book. "People don't like to talk about their fears. To be honest, this is starting to freak me out."

"Are you done here?" Goku asked. "I don't feel like sitting here all day either."

Taiki nodded. "Let's go. We should find the others. Hotaru may be able to say what's going on here."