Chapter Twenty-Nine
"Raditz," Roshi whispered, walking through the fumes and into the detonated building. He had felt a spike in the Saiyan's ki all the way from his island and had rushed over to see what had happened. He hadn't been expecting this at all though. "You in here?"
The Turtle Hermit proceeded cautiously, not wanting to alarm the feral Saiyan. He had already heard from the Briefs what had happened. Every news station knew what had happened. Stepping into the soot-stained room that Dr. Briefs had told him belonged to Bulma, Roshi's heart dropped at the sight he arrived to see.
Raditz growled at the Turtle Hermit as he entered the room, looking up to see who had disturbed him. Seeing Roshi, the Saiyan's guard dropped and he stared into Roshi's sunglasses with eyes wetter than the hermit had ever seen his student. Not saying a word, Raditz shook his head in disbelief as he looked down at the lifeless body of Bulma. Scratches littered her face and small burns had torn through some of her clothing.
"What happened?" He asked the Saiyan, kneeling down to embrace his student. He looked down to Bulma, using a handkerchief to wipe some soot from her face. "Was there an accident?"
"No," Raditz barked, still holding Bulma in his arms. Paramedics had tried to come in and take her body but Raditz wasn't allowing it so obviously they'd let him be. There was nothing they could do. Nobody could have survived such a bombing. "I failed."
"At what?" Roshi continued. "I need to know what happened so I can help find who did this."
"I let him escape and he found a way to hurt me all over again," The Saiyan snarled, clenching Bulma's body tightly. He bared his fangs at the only person he knew that could have done anything like this. "Don't worry about finding him, I'll find him on my own."
"Who are you talking about Raditz?" The Turtle Hermit pleaded. This was bad. He could feel the energy building up in the young Saiyan. He felt bad for whoever had done this.
"Doctor Gero," Raditz responded with a sigh.
Raditz's energy surged around him as he scoured through more of Doctor Gero's research. He had to find out where the old doctor was hiding. The bastard's energy level was so low that the Scouter wasn't much of a help. He had pretty much vanished off the radar after the Red Ribbon Army's defeat. He wished he had Bulma to help with this but he had failed to protect her. He had let the doctor get right back under his nose and she had died because of it. To make matters worse, he couldn't know when another of those machines Gero was known for building would show its face. Anybody could see the look of both hopelessness and fatigue on Raditz's face.
"You've been looking all week," The Saiyan heard the voice of Krillin speak to him. Turning around in the sky, Raditz turned to see the monk he hadn't seen in a week's time. "Come on, let us help."
"I'll find Gero on my own," Raditz shot back almost immediately, dismissing the young monk. Flaring his ki, the Saiyan prepared to take off prematurely. "He took the love of my life, it's personal."
"Bulma was our friend too," Krillin sighed, raising his arms out in defiance to not let the Saiyan fly away without speaking. "You haven't slept in days, she wouldn't have wanted that." He cried, preparing himself to do whatever had to be done like Roshi had warned.
Krillin immediately regretted his choice of words, feeling an intense pain in his gut as Raditz shot forward with a knee to the stomach. Following it up, the Saiyan grabbed him by the neck, bringing him to his face.
"You don't get to say what she would have wanted," Raditz warned the Human, letting go of the Earthling with a sigh. Rubbing his eyes, the Saiyan turned to leave before Krillin once again flew over and stood in his way. "Make this easy on yourself Krillin. I'm not mad at you."
"If you gotta hit me to get that anger out then do it," The monk grumbled through the pain jolting through his body, still standing his ground. He knew how the Saiyan was feeling, Raditz's face said it all. It had to hurt losing his girlfriend like he did, especially with all that they had done to get rid of the Red Ribbon Army. "We aren't going to get her back searching for a dead lead. Master Roshi told me to come find you… maybe we can't find Gero yet but he has an idea on how we could find the final Dragon Ball."
Raditz sighed, knowing that the monk was right. That didn't mean that Gero was off the hook just yet though. As soon as the last Dragon Ball was found, the old doctor would be right back on the Saiyan's radar. Giving in, the Saiyan followed his friend with the thought of his lover heavy on his mind.
"Who's Fortuneteller Baba?" Raditz asked his teacher, very much confused on where this story was going. For all this, he could have still been looking for Gero. "And how is she going to help me?"
"My sister has always been a nasty one," The Turtle Hermit continued. "But she swears that my training's all fake and stuff. Still, she's agreed to help us out with finding that last Dragon Ball as long as we can last against five fighters of her choosing."
"So it's a tournament?" Krillin asked, butting in. "Us five against her five? You sure Upa's ready for that?"
"Something like that," Roshi said. "But it isn't like we have any other options do we?"
"We don't," Raditz interjected, looking over at Upa. "Not only do we have to revive Bulma but Upa still needs his father back."
"Why not just wish back everyone killed by the Red Ribbon Army then?" Roshi offered. "I'm sure that would solve a whole lot of the misery they caused before you fixed things, wouldn't it?"
"Great idea," Yamcha said, anxious to not only fight these fighters Roshi spoke of but also ready to bring Bulma and Bora back. While the former's death hadn't hit Yamcha as hard as it had hit Raditz, the bandit felt for his friend. He would have lost it and felt the same had it been Mai instead. "Where's this palace this fortuneteller resides in? I don't speak for myself when I say I want to bring our friends back home soon!"
"Uh, let me find that map she lent me," Master Roshi said with a gulp, knowing he'd forgotten something.
It took a while but eventually, Roshi found the map to his sister's palace and with that the group were on their way. After a short journey in Roshi's jet, the group of five finally arrived.
"Well, I haven't visited my sister in quite some time," The turtle hermit commented, capsuling the jet and stepping towards the blue and golden building. "I just hope we're given a warm welcome."
"Let's not waste time," Raditz sternly demanded, knocking on the door. His blood surged approaching the palace, knowing what awaited him. "I have other things to do."
"Usually there would be a wait for my sister's services but I guess we're getting the red carpet treatment." Roshi stated as the door opened and he followed behind his students into the building.
Walking down a long hall, the group came to an opening soon after. An arena was in the middle of a lake and in the middle of the arena sat an old purple haired witch sitting on a fortune ball.
"So, you actually accepted my invitation, brother?" The witch gagged, laughing as she welcomed the five fighters. She scanned the four boys her brother had brought with them. They were all strong, she knew that. This would be a good showing against her otherworldly fighters. "You see I closed shop for the day, just so that I could help you out."
"Ahh Baba, I'm surprised you aren't charging an arm and a leg for your services," The turtle hermit laughed. "You've finally come around to your dear younger brother, haven't you?"
"You wish old man," The lady, Baba, retorted with a snort. Floating on her crystal ball, the woman eyed each of Roshi's students. "These must be your students huh? I thought I told you to bring five fighters."
"They are. Boys, this is my older sister Baba." Master Roshi introduced his students, who all but Raditz bowed in respect. "And if you actually cared to know, I've been getting back into shape myself. I doubt my boys will need an extra hand but I'll be our fifth in the rare case your fighters knock all my boys out."
"So where are these fighters?" Raditz interjected, glaring at the witch. "And how do we know you're actually going to help us find the last Dragon Ball if we do win?"
"I'll summon my fighters after I tell you the rules of this thing," Fortuneteller Baba answered, rolling her eyes at the impatient Saiyan. She had dealt with some of his kind on request of King Yemma before. "My brother knows me better than to go back on an agreement. I've already found this Dragon Ball and once my last fighter is defeated, it'll be yours to wish back that lady of yours."
"How?" Raditz said, stunned.
"I'm a fortuneteller," The witch laughed, already knowing what Raditz was going to say next. "It's my job to know these things."
"Tell us these rules so that we can begin!" Yamcha commented, cracking his knuckles. He'd been training hard with Krillin since Tao's defeat and was ready to put his newfound strength to use. "We got people waiting for us to revive them."
"It's just like that tournament you boys like fighting in," Baba began, telling the rules of her battle arena. Pointing to the lake under the arena, she continued. "If you fall into the lake or give up, you won't be able to fight again. Defeat my five otherworldly fighters and the Dragon Ball is yours."
Very soon after, the Dragon Ball gang were ready to begin the fight. Baba had summoned five fighters using the ball she sat upon. In order of how they were fighting: Fangs the Vampire, See-Through the Invisible Man, Bandages the Mummy, Spike the Devil-Man, and a strange man in a fox mask.
"So who's first?" Roshi asked his students. "Any volunteers?"
"I'll see what I can do," Upa said, stepping forward with a grudge on his shoulder. "We're here to revive my father too. I want to help."
Stepping into the ring, the boy fell into a fighting stance as he awaited his opponent. Soon after a pale blue man stepped into the opposite corner. Flashing a mouth full of fangs, the vampire fell into his own boxing stance and waited for Baba to begin the fight.
"Fight!" The woman screamed, granting the green light to the two fighters.
Fangs pushed forward unrelentingly after hearing Baba speak. Lunging at the native child, he sent a punch at the boy's face. Upa, much smaller and agile than most of the competition, slipped the punch and countered with one of his own. Fangs, not expecting Upa to move with such speed, was struck in the stomach by the blow.
"I'm not going to let my father down," Upa grumbled, skidding across the battle arena to gain some distance from his foe. Cupping his hands at his side, the boy put both of his hands to his chest and charged an energy attack. "Take this!"
As the ki blast charged towards the vampire, Fangs transformed into a bat and flew out of the way of the attack. Now, quicker and more nimble than before, the bat soared towards a surprised Upa. Trying his best to avoid his opponent, Upa did his best until he felt a nip in his shoulder. Turning around, he saw two bite marks.
"This fight is over, kid," Fangs laughed, turning back into his regular form. Still pressing the issue, the blue vampire charged the Karinga with newfound energy as he launched a flurry of blows at the boy. At first, Upa seemed to be staying ahead of most of the attacks but as time passed on, everybody could see that he was beginning to lose a step. Something was definitely wrong. The boy was hardly holding himself up.
"What's the deal with Upa?" Krillin asked his friends, noticing the fatigue the boy was fighting with. Seeing the boy take a hit to the chest and then the cheek, the monk grimaced. "He was just able to keep up with this guy."
"You see that mark on his shoulder?" Yamcha replied, referring to the torn skin where Upa had been bitten. Now, the area had swollen up and some blood was oozing with each move the boy did. "He's losing a lot of blood. That must be what's making him slow down."
Back in the ring, Upa barely was able to bring his forearm up to block a punch to the face. Retaliating, the boy slammed his foot into his assailant's chest and tried to lunge forward to continue his press. However, just as he moved forward he fell to his knees. Breathing hard, Upa's hand came to his wound as he winced in pain and found himself unable to move.
"I-I can't," The boy grimaced, breathing harder than before. "I can't give up."
Unable to fight back, Upa was then struck by a two hit combination and sent across the room. Striking the wall harder than he'd ever been hit, when the cloud of dust cleared, Upa was down for the count.
"Pick your next fighter brother," The fortuneteller told her brother, watching as Krillin and Yamcha ran over to the boy's safety. "He's lost too much blood. Take him to the clinic before he passes from the shock."
Krillin now stood in the ring, glaring at the vampire who had taken out Upa moments before. Falling into the turtle stance, the monk waited until the coast was clear to charge at his foe. Just as nimble as Upa had been, but much quicker and powerful, the monk avoided a jab and launched his leg into Fang's stomach. Not letting up to allow the vampire time to counter, Krillin swung his other leg forward with a roundhouse and struck the vampire, sending him hurling into the lake below the arena in a splash.
"That was for Upa," The monk smirked, bowing to his opponent.
The Fortuneteller scowled at this. Now the score was 1-1. She hadn't expected her brother's fighters to be such formidable foes but she pushed this aside. Fangs was the weakest of her five fighters. Next up was the Invisible Man.
"Krillin, let me handle this one," Yamcha said, stepping up. "Where's my foe."
"Right in front of you," A voice rang out from in front of the bandit.
Looking around, the bandit was surprised to find nobody. The next minute, he was struck by what appeared to be a strong wind and curled up as his stomach was punched. Then another hit from his invisible foe sent him staggering back in confusion.
"So an invisible opponent huh?" Yamcha asked himself, wiping the blood from his mouth and dust from his paints. "There are ways around that… I just have to focus."
Power Levels
Raditz: 500
Krillin: 375
Yamcha: 390
Master Roshi: 320
Upa: 90
Fangs: 75
See-Through the Invisible Man: 100
Bandages: 300
Devil Man: 420
Masked Man: 500