Sorry this is so late! I've been incredibly busy with my last week of
classes, work, and softball! Plus right now I should really be studying for
my Spanish exam tomorrow, but screw that! So here is Chapter 3 instead!
PS I realize I've been forgetting to write disclaimers for my chapters. Sorry!
Disclaimer: I don't know DBZ or its characters.
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at Master Roshi's…
Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Krillen, Tien, and Chao-zu were gathered around six of the Dragon Balls. Vegeta was leaning against a palm tree with his arms crossed, tapping his foot impatiently. The others sat around and waited. A couple minutes later, Yamcha landed, holding a Dragon Ball in one hand and gripping Master Roshi by the shirt with his other hand. Master Roshi was clutching a stack of magazines to his chest.
"Well looks like this is the last one," Yamcha said as he set down his Dragon Ball with the rest.
"It's about time, weakling," Vegeta snarled. Yamcha glared at the Saiyin prince but said nothing. Tien spoke up.
"So who's going to call the Dragon?"
Gohan stepped up. "I'll do it," he said with a determined look on his face. Vegeta snapped, "Well hurry up already brat."
"Hey!" rang out Chao-zu's voice. He floated a little closer to Vegeta. "Speaking of brats, where's Trunks? You didn't actually kill him, did you?" Chao-zu's eyes widened. Vegeta sneered. "You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?" He turned away. When he turned back around, everyone was staring at him. He snapped, "The brat is with the woman's parents! I didn't kill him, okay?" Everyone suddenly found something else to do, while Goku scratched his head and laughed. "We'd never think that Vegeta." Vegeta merely rolled his eyes, then rounded on Gohan. "Well get on with it already!" Gohan jumped and nodded, then stepped up to the Dragon Balls. He raised his hands over the Dragons Balls and yelled, "I SUMMON THE ETERNAL DRAGON TO GRANT MY WISH!" Upon his summons, the sky abruptly darkened as the Dragon Balls glowed and light shot out, smoke spiraled out into the surrounding sky. The light formed a mass, that suddenly solidified into the menacing form of the eternal dragon Shenlong. Everyone except Vegeta and Goku stepped back in awe.
The Dragon spoke. "What is your wish?" it asked in its fearsome voice.
"We wish to be taken to our mates!" Vegeta yelled. The Dragon blinked, but nothing happened.
"Uhhh…" Goku said. "He means we wish to be with ChiChi and Bulma, wherever they are right now. We don't really know and we need to find them." He put a hand behind the back of his head. "Hehehe." The Dragon blinked again.
"It is done." His eyes glowed red and the world flashed white, then all was dark to the Z Warriors.
Goku woke up and groaned. He heard the similar rustlings of the rest of the group as they woke up as well. Opening his eyes, Goku found himself in an immensely overgrown forest. 'This doesn't look like any place on Earth I know. And we're not in space. Where are we?' he thought. Looking up, Goku found Shenlong still floating above him.
"Shenlong! What are you still doing here?"
"This is my world," Shenlong replied slowly, and then he took off into the distance. Goku got up and walked over to where Gohan was tangled into a bush, and helped his son up. Everyone converged together, and Vegeta voiced their thoughts.
"Where the hell are we?!" Goku shrugged at the older Saiyin.
"The Dragon said this was his world. I wonder what ChiChi and Bulma are doing here then?" Vegeta looked around and growled.
"Speaking of our mates, where the hell are they? Our wish was to be taken to them!"
"Well maybe they're here, but they're not here here, and we have to go find them," Gohan piped in. Goku smiled.
"Good idea son! Let's first locate their kis and then we'll be on our way!" He closed his eyes for a moment. "Yes… yes I can sense the both of them. That's odd… They feel… different. I can't place it but there's definitely something different about them. And they're heading towards a large amount of energy, must be other people… that way." He pointed in a southerly direction. Vegeta nodded in agreement. "The baka's right for once, they're that way, and they're heading towards some sort of civilization." He growled. "Better not be any males there." Everyone looked at him. He glared back. "Well what are you waiting for! Let's go!" He promptly took off into the air… only to be captured and entangled in vines and branches. The others had taken off as well and encountered the same difficulty.
"BLAST IT!" He shot a ki ball out of his hand and seared the vines around him, landing on the forest floor. He looked up, and the vines that he had disintegrated had already been replaced with new ones. "What the hell?" he exclaimed. The rest of the group disentangled themselves and fell to the ground, watching as the vines they had destroyed were also replaced. "Looks like we're going to have to blast our way through this damned place," Vegeta muttered and raised a palm. Goku stepped in front of him and held up a hand.
"Wait," he said in a serious tone of voice. "ChiChi and Bulma don't exactly know we're here, and we're not even sure if they want us here. They left for a reason. Blasting our way through will take up too much energy and time, not to mention attracting attention. Let's do this stealthily." He stopped, then gave a grin. "Besides Vegeta, it'll be good for training going through this forest!" He gave the prince a hearty slap on the back, then turned to the others while Vegeta growled at him. "Let's go!"
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile…
"Are we there yet?" Bulma panted as she loped beside ChiChi. ChiChi rolled her eyes.
"That's just like a little kid. Don't you remember? It's still a couple more minutes. Don't tell me you out of breath already."
"We've been walking for 3 hours!"
"Just 3? Pish… If I didn't know any better Bulma, I'd say you're getting out of shape. Domestic life making you soft?" she teased. Bulma glared at her.
"Look who's talking! Domestic life my ass! All YOU do is cook and clean! How's that for domesticity?" ChiChi laughed at her.
"Ah, but there are some advantages to when Goku and Gohan go out to train, although I'll never admit it to anyone." She shot Bulma a you'd- better-not-tell glance. "The time they spend training… well I do some training of my own." She waggled her eyebrows, then pursed and her lips and put on an expression of serious thought. "But I really can't say the same for you, now can I?"
"Au contraire," retorted Bulma. "What? You think I lock myself in the lab all day just to make things? I train too!" She swatted an overhanging branch away for emphasis.
"Wow!" ChiChi exclaimed. "You sure showed that big ole bad branch now didn't you? I bet IT can tell how much you've trained!" Bulma stuck out her tongue in reply and soon joined ChiChi in a fit of giggles.
They both stopped as they came to the beginnings of a dirt path. ChiChi gave Bulma a serious look. "Well, no matter what amount of training we've managed to squeeze in, I hope it's enough to stop… this." She shuddered. Bulma nodded seriously. "Bittersweet homecoming, don't you think?"
"Yeah," ChiChi replied. "Well let's get on with it." They stepped onto the path and began walking some more.
Half an hour later, Bulma screeched, "I see a light ahead! We're getting close!" ChiChi nodded and they trudged on. The path became wider and more prominent as they walked. Ducking under some low overhanging branches, ChiChi and Bulma squinted as their eyes became adjusted from the dim of the forest to the bright harshness of the sunlight. They had come upon a clearing. All around the clearing was the forest, and miles of it. But the path they were still on led them up to a fortified wall some one thousand feet away. The wall was made up of dark wooden poles, seventeen feet high and ending in sharpened spikes at the top. It looked impenetrable, as if there was no means of getting in or out. But if one looked closely, the path led straight up to a great concealed door that was only noticeable by a small groove along the wall.
As the women walked up, Bulma gave ChiChi and a nudge in the side with her elbow and the other girl nodded. Simultaneously, each one lifted her arms up and clasped her hands together above her head [1]. Standing there, they waited. Suddenly, a cloaked figure jumped from the trees and landed in front of them, followed by several other figures also in cloaks. They were all wearing camouflaged masks. The first one stepped up and said, "You have shown our sign of peace. Who are you and what is your purpose here?"
"My name is ChiChi and I was summoned here, as was my companion, Bulma." The surrounding figures started to twitter as the leader exclaimed, "ChiChi? Bulma? Is it really you?" The once harsh low voice had taken a high pitch. Then it changed again and the leader stepped back and held a hand up; the surrounding group immediately quieted. The voice was once again harsh as the leader proclaimed, "If you are really who you claim to be, then you must prove it." Bulma brought her hands down and placed them on her hips, glaring at the masked figure in front of them.
"Really Nezumi, we're not stupid. We know it's you. Take that ugly thing off and greet us like the friends we are!" The person laughed, the high pitch was heard again. The mask was lifted off to reveal a woman the same age as ChiChi and Bulma, with short golden ringlets that bounced around her shoulders and twinkling brown eyes.
"I never could fool you, could I?" she said and laughed some more.
"Well, I am only a genius," Bulma retorted. The whole group laughed and took off their masks as well, revealing them to be all women, with different sizes, shapes, and colorings, but all wearing the same clothing to blend into the forest. They greeted ChiChi and Bulma warmly and all started to walk along the path towards the fort. Nezumi was talking to ChiChi and Bulma as they approached the door.
"It's so good to see you two! I can't believe you're here! There's so much to catch up on! I just wish…" her voice faltered. "I just wish you would be visiting here with better circumstances." ChiChi looked at her with kind eyes.
"It's that bad, huh?" Nezumi nodded.
"And then some," another woman added. They stopped ten feet in from of the wall. Nezumi cupped her hand to her mouth and made a bird-like sound, which was soon returned by another bird-like sound. They chirped back and forth until Nezumi exclaimed exasperated, "No really! It's THEM!" The group had a good laugh. Suddenly a flurry of activity was heard from inside and the sound of groaning wheels and pulleys as the gate started to lower at their feet. Bulma looked at it with pride, but winced when she heard the squeaks of the joints.
"I'll have to fix that," she said. One of the women looked at her questioningly.
"You know how?" Bulma gave her a look.
"I invented it," she stated simply. The woman looked at her in shock.
"But you haven't been here for years! And that door's been around for so long! You would've had to been around six years old when it was invented and built!" Bulma nodded.
"I know, I was, and I did," she said with finality. "And it looks like I'll have to repair it. Can't give away our home base with a squeaky gate, now can we?" ChiChi and Nezumi laughed as they walked through.
"Same old Bulma," Nezumi said before the gate closed behind them.
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~
[1] – I got this idea from Xena: Warrior Princess, in an episode where she and Gabrielle happen upon Amazon hunting grounds (not that I'm saying the ladies in my stories are Amazons!) and the clasping of the hands above the head was the sign of peace. I thought it was a neat idea so I'm borrowing it for my fic. Oh… and if anyone remembers that episode of Xena, then they might recognize the similarity to Ephiny, an Amazon in that show who I thought was way cool. But that's just me… hehe.
WoW! Four pages! I couldn't believe I got out that much! Sorry again for the late update! I'm really supposed to be studying for Spanish right now but I just HAD to get this done!
Coming up… Who are these women that Bulma and ChiChi know? What do Bulma and ChiChi have to do with all of it? Will Goku, Vegeta, and the Z Warriors find out?
I'll try to update soon… promise! ~ Spitfire Maguire
BTW, thanks to all those who reviewed! I really appreciated it! Especially Ren-chan for her support and ~cough~ persistence! Ciao!
PS I realize I've been forgetting to write disclaimers for my chapters. Sorry!
Disclaimer: I don't know DBZ or its characters.
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at Master Roshi's…
Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Krillen, Tien, and Chao-zu were gathered around six of the Dragon Balls. Vegeta was leaning against a palm tree with his arms crossed, tapping his foot impatiently. The others sat around and waited. A couple minutes later, Yamcha landed, holding a Dragon Ball in one hand and gripping Master Roshi by the shirt with his other hand. Master Roshi was clutching a stack of magazines to his chest.
"Well looks like this is the last one," Yamcha said as he set down his Dragon Ball with the rest.
"It's about time, weakling," Vegeta snarled. Yamcha glared at the Saiyin prince but said nothing. Tien spoke up.
"So who's going to call the Dragon?"
Gohan stepped up. "I'll do it," he said with a determined look on his face. Vegeta snapped, "Well hurry up already brat."
"Hey!" rang out Chao-zu's voice. He floated a little closer to Vegeta. "Speaking of brats, where's Trunks? You didn't actually kill him, did you?" Chao-zu's eyes widened. Vegeta sneered. "You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?" He turned away. When he turned back around, everyone was staring at him. He snapped, "The brat is with the woman's parents! I didn't kill him, okay?" Everyone suddenly found something else to do, while Goku scratched his head and laughed. "We'd never think that Vegeta." Vegeta merely rolled his eyes, then rounded on Gohan. "Well get on with it already!" Gohan jumped and nodded, then stepped up to the Dragon Balls. He raised his hands over the Dragons Balls and yelled, "I SUMMON THE ETERNAL DRAGON TO GRANT MY WISH!" Upon his summons, the sky abruptly darkened as the Dragon Balls glowed and light shot out, smoke spiraled out into the surrounding sky. The light formed a mass, that suddenly solidified into the menacing form of the eternal dragon Shenlong. Everyone except Vegeta and Goku stepped back in awe.
The Dragon spoke. "What is your wish?" it asked in its fearsome voice.
"We wish to be taken to our mates!" Vegeta yelled. The Dragon blinked, but nothing happened.
"Uhhh…" Goku said. "He means we wish to be with ChiChi and Bulma, wherever they are right now. We don't really know and we need to find them." He put a hand behind the back of his head. "Hehehe." The Dragon blinked again.
"It is done." His eyes glowed red and the world flashed white, then all was dark to the Z Warriors.
Goku woke up and groaned. He heard the similar rustlings of the rest of the group as they woke up as well. Opening his eyes, Goku found himself in an immensely overgrown forest. 'This doesn't look like any place on Earth I know. And we're not in space. Where are we?' he thought. Looking up, Goku found Shenlong still floating above him.
"Shenlong! What are you still doing here?"
"This is my world," Shenlong replied slowly, and then he took off into the distance. Goku got up and walked over to where Gohan was tangled into a bush, and helped his son up. Everyone converged together, and Vegeta voiced their thoughts.
"Where the hell are we?!" Goku shrugged at the older Saiyin.
"The Dragon said this was his world. I wonder what ChiChi and Bulma are doing here then?" Vegeta looked around and growled.
"Speaking of our mates, where the hell are they? Our wish was to be taken to them!"
"Well maybe they're here, but they're not here here, and we have to go find them," Gohan piped in. Goku smiled.
"Good idea son! Let's first locate their kis and then we'll be on our way!" He closed his eyes for a moment. "Yes… yes I can sense the both of them. That's odd… They feel… different. I can't place it but there's definitely something different about them. And they're heading towards a large amount of energy, must be other people… that way." He pointed in a southerly direction. Vegeta nodded in agreement. "The baka's right for once, they're that way, and they're heading towards some sort of civilization." He growled. "Better not be any males there." Everyone looked at him. He glared back. "Well what are you waiting for! Let's go!" He promptly took off into the air… only to be captured and entangled in vines and branches. The others had taken off as well and encountered the same difficulty.
"BLAST IT!" He shot a ki ball out of his hand and seared the vines around him, landing on the forest floor. He looked up, and the vines that he had disintegrated had already been replaced with new ones. "What the hell?" he exclaimed. The rest of the group disentangled themselves and fell to the ground, watching as the vines they had destroyed were also replaced. "Looks like we're going to have to blast our way through this damned place," Vegeta muttered and raised a palm. Goku stepped in front of him and held up a hand.
"Wait," he said in a serious tone of voice. "ChiChi and Bulma don't exactly know we're here, and we're not even sure if they want us here. They left for a reason. Blasting our way through will take up too much energy and time, not to mention attracting attention. Let's do this stealthily." He stopped, then gave a grin. "Besides Vegeta, it'll be good for training going through this forest!" He gave the prince a hearty slap on the back, then turned to the others while Vegeta growled at him. "Let's go!"
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile…
"Are we there yet?" Bulma panted as she loped beside ChiChi. ChiChi rolled her eyes.
"That's just like a little kid. Don't you remember? It's still a couple more minutes. Don't tell me you out of breath already."
"We've been walking for 3 hours!"
"Just 3? Pish… If I didn't know any better Bulma, I'd say you're getting out of shape. Domestic life making you soft?" she teased. Bulma glared at her.
"Look who's talking! Domestic life my ass! All YOU do is cook and clean! How's that for domesticity?" ChiChi laughed at her.
"Ah, but there are some advantages to when Goku and Gohan go out to train, although I'll never admit it to anyone." She shot Bulma a you'd- better-not-tell glance. "The time they spend training… well I do some training of my own." She waggled her eyebrows, then pursed and her lips and put on an expression of serious thought. "But I really can't say the same for you, now can I?"
"Au contraire," retorted Bulma. "What? You think I lock myself in the lab all day just to make things? I train too!" She swatted an overhanging branch away for emphasis.
"Wow!" ChiChi exclaimed. "You sure showed that big ole bad branch now didn't you? I bet IT can tell how much you've trained!" Bulma stuck out her tongue in reply and soon joined ChiChi in a fit of giggles.
They both stopped as they came to the beginnings of a dirt path. ChiChi gave Bulma a serious look. "Well, no matter what amount of training we've managed to squeeze in, I hope it's enough to stop… this." She shuddered. Bulma nodded seriously. "Bittersweet homecoming, don't you think?"
"Yeah," ChiChi replied. "Well let's get on with it." They stepped onto the path and began walking some more.
Half an hour later, Bulma screeched, "I see a light ahead! We're getting close!" ChiChi nodded and they trudged on. The path became wider and more prominent as they walked. Ducking under some low overhanging branches, ChiChi and Bulma squinted as their eyes became adjusted from the dim of the forest to the bright harshness of the sunlight. They had come upon a clearing. All around the clearing was the forest, and miles of it. But the path they were still on led them up to a fortified wall some one thousand feet away. The wall was made up of dark wooden poles, seventeen feet high and ending in sharpened spikes at the top. It looked impenetrable, as if there was no means of getting in or out. But if one looked closely, the path led straight up to a great concealed door that was only noticeable by a small groove along the wall.
As the women walked up, Bulma gave ChiChi and a nudge in the side with her elbow and the other girl nodded. Simultaneously, each one lifted her arms up and clasped her hands together above her head [1]. Standing there, they waited. Suddenly, a cloaked figure jumped from the trees and landed in front of them, followed by several other figures also in cloaks. They were all wearing camouflaged masks. The first one stepped up and said, "You have shown our sign of peace. Who are you and what is your purpose here?"
"My name is ChiChi and I was summoned here, as was my companion, Bulma." The surrounding figures started to twitter as the leader exclaimed, "ChiChi? Bulma? Is it really you?" The once harsh low voice had taken a high pitch. Then it changed again and the leader stepped back and held a hand up; the surrounding group immediately quieted. The voice was once again harsh as the leader proclaimed, "If you are really who you claim to be, then you must prove it." Bulma brought her hands down and placed them on her hips, glaring at the masked figure in front of them.
"Really Nezumi, we're not stupid. We know it's you. Take that ugly thing off and greet us like the friends we are!" The person laughed, the high pitch was heard again. The mask was lifted off to reveal a woman the same age as ChiChi and Bulma, with short golden ringlets that bounced around her shoulders and twinkling brown eyes.
"I never could fool you, could I?" she said and laughed some more.
"Well, I am only a genius," Bulma retorted. The whole group laughed and took off their masks as well, revealing them to be all women, with different sizes, shapes, and colorings, but all wearing the same clothing to blend into the forest. They greeted ChiChi and Bulma warmly and all started to walk along the path towards the fort. Nezumi was talking to ChiChi and Bulma as they approached the door.
"It's so good to see you two! I can't believe you're here! There's so much to catch up on! I just wish…" her voice faltered. "I just wish you would be visiting here with better circumstances." ChiChi looked at her with kind eyes.
"It's that bad, huh?" Nezumi nodded.
"And then some," another woman added. They stopped ten feet in from of the wall. Nezumi cupped her hand to her mouth and made a bird-like sound, which was soon returned by another bird-like sound. They chirped back and forth until Nezumi exclaimed exasperated, "No really! It's THEM!" The group had a good laugh. Suddenly a flurry of activity was heard from inside and the sound of groaning wheels and pulleys as the gate started to lower at their feet. Bulma looked at it with pride, but winced when she heard the squeaks of the joints.
"I'll have to fix that," she said. One of the women looked at her questioningly.
"You know how?" Bulma gave her a look.
"I invented it," she stated simply. The woman looked at her in shock.
"But you haven't been here for years! And that door's been around for so long! You would've had to been around six years old when it was invented and built!" Bulma nodded.
"I know, I was, and I did," she said with finality. "And it looks like I'll have to repair it. Can't give away our home base with a squeaky gate, now can we?" ChiChi and Nezumi laughed as they walked through.
"Same old Bulma," Nezumi said before the gate closed behind them.
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~
[1] – I got this idea from Xena: Warrior Princess, in an episode where she and Gabrielle happen upon Amazon hunting grounds (not that I'm saying the ladies in my stories are Amazons!) and the clasping of the hands above the head was the sign of peace. I thought it was a neat idea so I'm borrowing it for my fic. Oh… and if anyone remembers that episode of Xena, then they might recognize the similarity to Ephiny, an Amazon in that show who I thought was way cool. But that's just me… hehe.
WoW! Four pages! I couldn't believe I got out that much! Sorry again for the late update! I'm really supposed to be studying for Spanish right now but I just HAD to get this done!
Coming up… Who are these women that Bulma and ChiChi know? What do Bulma and ChiChi have to do with all of it? Will Goku, Vegeta, and the Z Warriors find out?
I'll try to update soon… promise! ~ Spitfire Maguire
BTW, thanks to all those who reviewed! I really appreciated it! Especially Ren-chan for her support and ~cough~ persistence! Ciao!