AN: And here I am catching up a little bit on the time I missed.
The Next Dimension Over
Chapter Thirty-five
Navigating an underwater corridor in the dark wasn't the easiest thing she'd ever done, but there simply wasn't any better choice. None of the three of them had anything that could provide light underwater. Other than, apparently, the kamehameha. But even Goku had realized that was too destructive and short lived to bother using.
Fortunately, it seemed their two paths had curved enough that they nearly met in the middle, and the swim wasn't all that long from one room to the other. Whether that was an intentional design or one that happened on accident, though, she couldn't really say. The base was rather...sparse. And odd in general.
Even the treasure room was rather unimpressive. Though Krillin had been more than impressed by what was inside the single chest in the room. Given that he'd just been slammed into a couple of walls and they didn't have any reason to rush, she couldn't really begrudge him the opportunity to fill his capsules with treasure before they actually needed to leave.
"An octopus?" Yamcha frowned, glancing between herself and Krillin, who was halfway buried in the chest, kicking his legs to reach deeper. "Considering how old everything else is in here, how did it even survive that long without food?"
"It couldn't have." Bulma, finally finished putting the dragonball away in a secure looking pack, walked up to where they spoke. "Obviously there's another exit in that room that would have let him out to eat other things between feedings.
"So...it only just happened to be there when we fell in."
"...Probably." She shrugged. "Maybe it sleeps in there. Or...did. You did say it took a minute to respond, right?"
Yamcha gave a sudden laugh, and shook his head. "So what you're saying is, there's two huge, unguarded exits, and we found the one small entrance full of traps."
"That...that's-" Bulma choked and then scoffed dismissively, and finally waved her hand, dismissing his statement. "We were following the dragonball, not looking for this cave. The other exits might be a long ways off. The one that huge submarine exits through is probably way off, or it'd be too easily found."
Yamcha shrugged. "Well it would be underwater."
She crossed her arms and gave a harrumph of offense.
Sakura frowned slightly, propping her hand on her hip. "If the exit's far away in that main chamber...it's not going to be an option to use the bigger submarine to get back out, then."
"Oh, no way." Bulma shook her head quickly. "There's no way that thing would still be seaworthy after sitting in here for so long without being maintained! Besides, I don't know how to pilot something that old anyway."
Yamcha gave a slight nod. "That...and it's a pirate ship. It's gotta have more booby traps and tricks in it than anything else, right?"
That...was probably true, considering their dependence on the ships.
Although...it couldn't have been that bad, if it was being used regularly. It would be far too much trouble to arm and disarm complex traps like the one from the original hallway, or even pointless trap doors leading into unpleasant things. It would get in the way with normal procedures.
"But.." Bulma gave a small, mischievous grin. "There's no reason we have to walk all the way back to that entrance. I brought the submarine with us. We can ride it out from the main room and see just where that big exit is."
Goku huffed, wandering back from where he'd been ineffectually helping Krillin gather loot. "We've got the dragonball now, right? Can we get going to the next one, already?"
Sakura glanced down at him, and then back at Bulma. "Where is the next closest one?"
"Um..." Bulma glanced down at the device in her hand, and pressed the top button a few times. "It looks like...well, it's not really close, but it's off to the west."
"If it's far away we should start getting going already!" Goku insisted, speaking over whatever it was that Bulma mumbled to herself a moment later.
"Okay!" Krillin shouted from the treasure chest. "I get it, jeez. I'm full up now anyway, but..." The small fighter dropped from the chest to the ground with a frown and a thump. "Not all of us are gonna go running off to some other world with wishes, you know. The rest of us have to find a way to keep living here."
Yamcha's expression was about as skeptical as she felt, considering just how much treasure he must have in his pockets already. He scoffed lightly. "Just try not to lose them when you're swimming."
"Uh-!" Krillin startled, and then immediately ran over to where Bulma stood. "Hey, you've got a backpack, right? I'll give you...some of it if you let me use it!"
Goku had already started toward the largest body of water in the room, and so she followed after him. With some amusement. Considering the wealth that Bulma's family seemed to possess...she doubted somewhat that the woman really wanted any of the treasure.
(*)
"You want to what?"
He shrugged slightly. "It's like I said. It's been a long time since I had an actual adventure, and this one wasn't so bad. I might as well go along for the rest of the dragonballs."
His girlfriend stared at him really intently. He was...pretty sure she knew the real reason he wanted to go along was to keep tabs on Goku, now that he had his tail back. He was also pretty sure she looked more suspicious than that conclusion should have required her to be. That part...made him a little nervous.
"There's not even room on the nimbus cloud!"
Sakura spoke next, shrugging slightly. "I suppose we could try trading the submarine back for the watch. It's not too bad with just one extra person."
Krillin snorted. Yamcha, too, doubted that Roshi would give up the potential to sneak places he didn't belong for some banged up cheap submarine. Goku, unsurprisingly, wrinkled his nose. It wasn't exactly the best plan to go riding along on a cloud he couldn't ride himself if something bad were to happen...but leaving Goku alone to wander the world and wait for him to rampage at any moment (that a full moon happened to exist...) was an even worse plan.
Bulma fell quiet for a few moments. He recognized the expression on her face. That was definitely the face she made when she was being thoughtful and didn't want to be. "Well...maybe I can make more watches for us, but there's no way I'll get them done in time for us to go back out before school tomorrow."
He frowned. Bulma had said that...but honestly, he was a little surprised she cared, considering how often she ditched class early and left him studying alone. She was already smart enough not to worry about going, after all. And beside that... "Honestly...I don't really care if I go." He shrugged. "Finding the dragonballs before the wrong people do is more important, anyway."
Bulma's shoulders slumped slightly, and she sighed. "I guess you're right."
Goku, who squinted up at both of them suspiciously, spoke next. "...But...on the way back, you're both gonna have to hang on to us to get home."
Bulma blinked, as if she'd completely forgotten that it was more than a spacial issue, and then, for some reason, directed an irritated glare right at him. "Well! W-we'll just have to split up who we're holding on to! Won't we?"
He wasn't completely sure why, but he had a strong feeling whatever answer he tried to give her just now would be wrong.
(*)
And...just like that, they were gone again. Somehow two people who were reasonable not to go along with Goku and Sakura's crazy quest the first time around were now dragged into it enough to fight over who got to sit where on that creepy golden cloud of death. One day that thing was just going to reject all of them, and they'd plummet to the earth like the dumb idiots they all were for trusting it.
When that happened, he'd be here, or in a world tournament, or on some famous show because he'd made something of himself with what he had (and his fabulous wealth), not dying.
He wouldn't even feel a little bad for it if he heard about them all getting themselves killed.
Probably.
...At least he wouldn't care if they really did go and get the dragonballs together and wish that monstrous girl out of the world instead of using it for something useful and noteworthy (like being king of the world or something).
He dropped back onto the sand with a sigh, and stared up at the blue sky.
Even if there had been room, there was no way he'd actually have wanted to go on that stupid quest of theirs anyway. After all, who else even knew about the dragonballs to compete with them for a wish, anyway?
(*)
She sighed, and stared up at the ceiling in the relative darkness of the briefs house. Compared to the cavern, it really wasn't that dark. She could navigate the entire building with this level of darkness and have no difficulty at all, even if it was constantly changing around her.
Not that it mattered, anyway.
This would be the third dragonball, once they got to it. Considering the pace they were going...it was possible she might actually be returning to her home in...two weeks. A part of her already felt hyped up and tense, as if going home would drop her back into the battle where she left it. A part of her felt even more tense wondering just what she'd be walking into again.
Sasuke had made it back to Naruto, it wasn't really a question that they had managed to defeat Kaguya together. And she trusted Naruto, whatever darkness it was that she saw hiding in Sasuke's eyes still, she knew Naruto would be able to reach out to him and deal with it.
Nearly a year...
The world would be healing by now. After all the destruction passed, the rebuilding would already have begun again. Her name would probably have made it onto the stone of heroes by now, as would the memorial of the other shinobi who 'died' in the battle.
Or, maybe Sasuke and Naruto would have known she was lost, and spent time looking for her.
She would have laughed, but the sound would have risked disturbing Goku, who was sprawled out asleep next to her as he usually tended to be. Honestly. She knew better than to think that anyone would come looking for her even if they could. Especially Sasuke.
Maybe she still had her things where they belonged waiting for her to return, maybe she was thought to be missing. Maybe her parents actually missed her by now. He wouldn't miss her. She wasn't childish enough to think that he would. A year wasn't that long to miss, really. It would be easy to return.
This world...whatever it was...she could spend time over there researching it. Almost certainly, the Hokage and the others in Konoha would want to know about it, want to figure out what the hell this place was...
Maybe, eventually, they'd actually develop a jutsu to come and visit again, and she could see what these people, the ones who weren't Team 7 but almost felt like it sometimes, had managed to become in all the time she was away.
Goku snorted and rolled on his side, unconsciously balling up against the warmth her body provided.
After less than a year...depending on just how long she was gone, none of the people here might even really remember her. Or maybe they would. Being in a strange new world was definitely more memorable than knowing a girl who claimed to be from a strange and different world, but...how many times in their lifetime would they go on an all out adventure looking for wish granting dragonballs?
AN: This chapter jumped around so much it jumped about fifteen manga chapters. Take that pacing.
And Penguin Village.
take that so much.
That's one segment I am happy not to be including. That said, worry not, those of you familiar with Dragonball. The army will not be so easily avoided. (Nor, should I say, am I making any attempt to do so. They have been avoided so far purely by dumb luck.)
It's not really a filler chapter. It's more of a wrap up chapter to Pirates Cove. What in the world will Krillin do with all that wealth?