The Next Dimension Over
Chapter Thirty-seven
No one else around her seemed bothered by the darkness in Goku's expression. But then, revenge was commonplace and accepted whether it was the Shinobi world or another. Even she wouldn't have given it another thought if she hadn't seen Sasuke consumed by his desire for it. Of course...it was rather hypocritical of her, wasn't it? She never thought about it when she sought revenge.
But...perhaps it was simply the way he'd felt when he said it. The intensity passed after a few moments, and while anger was still clearly written in his expression, and his sentiment hadn't changed, she didn't feel the twist in her gut that reminded her of a stranger with Sasuke's face standing in the forest and on a bridge.
She shook her head slightly, finally tuning back into the conversation going on around her. "First, we need a place to take Upa. He's too young to be brought into the fight."
Upa struggled to sit up more, expression screwing up into offense. "I want to-"
"No." Bulma shook her head. "Would your father want you to go and face an army without him?"
The child blinked up at the other woman, and then slowly dropped his head in defeat.
"Still, it's not safe to stay here, either." Yamcha frowned. "He'll need somewhere new to stay."
"I don't want to live anywhere else!" Upa shook his head furiously. "The Sacred Land is my home. It's my duty to stay here! I...I'm the only one left who can..."
"Kid..."
Goku spoke over whatever Yamcha was about to say. "We'll bring them back!"
She looked up at the taller boy, who marched toward the one in front of her. "What?"
"Bring them back?" Upa frowned in confusion.
"The dragonballs...they can grant any wish. I'm sure that means they could bring back the village if we asked them to." He glanced over at Bulma, expression hopeful.
Bulma frowned slightly, expression thoughtful. "Well...if any wish is possible, then...reviving the dead would be, too. It's worth trying, at least."
He nodded quickly. "Okay! So you just have to stay at Bulma's until we bring the village back!"
The small child stared down at his hands, quiet for several moments, before he finally spoke. "O...okay..." He didn't sound very confident, but then...the people around him had just suggested reviving the dead. Even she found herself doubtful. Death was...it wasn't something she'd found to be a good to reverse.
"Okay...um...let me see if I brought that capsule..."
Goku shook his head quickly. "Nimbus can do it, right? Nimbus!" He cupped his hands over his mouth and the golden cloud sailed into view a moment or two later. "Can you take Upa to Bulma's house?"
Yamcha gave the cloud a skeptical look. "...Can he ride it...?"
The look Goku gave him was deeply unimpressed. The child seemed not to notice either the comment or the look, walking hesitantly up to the cloud and reaching out to touch it. "It's...a...cloud?"
Goku nodded quickly. "Its name is Nimbus! Don't worry, it's fast, and you won't fall off if you're nice."
"Hey!" Yamcha snapped.
"Goku." Which was...Bulma.
He stuck out his tongue. Which was something a bit amusing, with his comment about being 'nice' enough to ride the cloud. Said cloud lowered slightly to help the small child climb on to it. And...somewhat unsurprisingly, didn't immediately dump the child back onto the ground once he got seated. Whatever the judgement of the cloud was to allow a person to ride it, she couldn't see why a small child wouldn't be allowed to.
"Okay, Nimbus! Go take Upa to Bulma's house!"
The golden cloud spiraled obediently off into the sky, and as it disappeared Bulma gave a soft sigh. "...Before he left, we probably should have asked him where that army went."
(*)
Despite the sound logic of Bulma's comment...looking for the army wasn't really a problem. Whatever base the army used to attack from would still be manned, given the recent nature of the attack...and if, as he suspected was true from the position of the dragonball, they'd yet to find that dragonball...they'd remain in the area until they could.
The problem with the situation came from what Bulma had yet to say (but must have known, given her expression). The Red Ribbon Army was the most ferocious, most feared army in the world. Any army which could make that kind of a mark so quickly was dangerous. And they were about to walk into the midst of it and pick a fight.
He couldn't say he didn't want to, not after seeing that village, and not considering the fact that the army wanted the dragonballs - the worst thing next to Emperor Pilaf giving it a second try. But...he wasn't unaware of just what a tall order such a thing was. Even with Goku's amazing improvement and skill, he doubted that Goku could go alone. He doubted that Sakura would be much help. He...kind of doubted how much help he'd be.
Now he'd definitely have to be a help, though. With those kind of characters looking for the dragonballs, he couldn't sit back and let Goku do all the protecting of the world.
"You know, you could have gone back with that kid, if you wanted to." He spoke to his constant companion, Pu'ar, as they walked behind the other three in their group. For a given value of 'walked'.
"And leave you to go on a quest for dragonballs alone?" Pu'ar gave a high laugh. "No way! I need to look out for you when you get into trouble, now."
"I think I'm getting into trouble right now..." He sighed, and shook his head.
"You probably are."
The others ahead of him slowed to a stop, and moved behind nearby tree trunks. On instinct, he moved to one next to his girlfriend. A moment or two of processing later, he realized they were looking out at the enemy's camp. Beneath the slight ridge they stood at, soldiers wandered between large white-and-red tents and dodged splintered stumps from recently felled trees. Obviously they'd created themselves a clearing when they failed to find any others to set up their camp in. Obviously they had something with enough brute strength to break the trees down instead of cutting them.
Lovely.
"There's a problem..." Bulma stared down at something in her hand as she spoke, voice hushed but urgent. "The dragonball just started moving."
(*)
Once they fell back, she did briefly consider the possibility that the small child had simply convinced the cloud to double back and allow him to collect the dragonball from wherever he'd hidden it...but the dot in Bulma's hand moved too slowly to be the Nimbus. Someone was on foot.
"Let's kill the army and then take the dragonball back when he gets here." Perhaps it was just the lingering feeling from earlier, but the determination Goku put into that statement sounded a little too much like enthusiasm, and...was a little unsettling.
"The problem is, if they're going to a plane and taking it back to base, we'll lose them." Yamcha frowned down at the crawling dot. "The Nimbus won't be back until tomorrow, right?"
"I...guess not..."
"I think those guys at the camp were packing up to leave, too." Bulma glanced in the direction of the camp. "Maybe he reported back that he found the dragonball."
"What about splitting up?" It wasn't the best idea...but it would be cleaner to deal with the group who caused the destruction directly. Waiting until they made it back to base would end up with much more destruction, given the increase of troops they'd have behind them, and the difficulty in pinpointing which ones where involved in the slaughter.
She was probably being hyper-vigilant. Even Sasuke had returned to their side after all the darkness and horrible things that he did and became. Goku wasn't Sasuke. She was just letting herself get carried away over something more important than, and entirely unrelated to, her memories.
"...If there's a smaller group near the ball, we could probably handle it." Yamcha nodded, only slight hesitation in his voice. "If nothing else, we might be able to stall them or keep them from getting away while the other half deals with the camp."
"I'm going to the camp!" Goku crossed his arms. "The person who killed Upa's dad is there."
"If that's the case...I was going to say, I'll go with Bulma to the dragonball." Yamcha glanced over at the green haired woman, who gave a small nod. It made sense, at least. The one with the radar would have to be the one to search for the dragonball, and Bulma wouldn't be of much use attacking a group of armed men.
"I'll help Goku deal with the ones here." Not because she wanted to make sure Goku wouldn't lose himself. Because he wouldn't. That was a ridiculous concept. "We've handled one like this before, it'll be fine."
The three-as it seemed rather obvious Pu'ar would go with Yamcha-who were about to leave gave a small nod of acknowledgement.
Bulma straightened, and moved to stand nearer to Yamcha. "We'll meet you at the camp, I guess. In case we beat you two."
"No way!" Goku shook his head. "We'll beat all of them before you guys come back!"
There was a touch of nervousness in Yamcha's laugh as he turned to leave. "You know...I kind of hope so."
When the two vanished into the trees, Goku turned a suspicious gaze up toward her. "...Are you going to make me take turns again?"
"I think that would be hard to do." She sighed, and started back toward where they'd seen the enemy. Without walls and floors to separate the soldiers into easily handled groups...it would probably end up being a free for all, with Goku and herself stuck in the middle.
"I wanna fight the one who killed Upa's dad."
"Do you know which one that is?" Because...she didn't remember Upa describing anyone other than 'the man'...and she hadn't thought Goku was even close enough to hear that. Apparently he must have been listening for a little bit before he appeared.
"No...but I will!"
She studied him a moment, as they walked back to their vantage point above the camp. "How?"
He frowned ahead, expression darkening slightly. "He'll smell like him."
She studied the camp for a few moments, focusing on them rather than on Goku. Heightened senses wasn't anything unusual. Thinking about anything other than that...would be a distraction. People could be hurt, and the military forces could escape to report on them. For the moment, she had to focus just on those forces. What was the best method to deal with them before any could escape? What was the relative skill level of those in the camp? How much would they-
Goku charged into the camp with an angry shout, drawing his staff.
So they'd be attacking as fast and hard as they could, then.
She sprinted forward and leapt off of the small cliff they stood on, summoning chakra to her fist as she fell. "Chyah!" The ground exploded outward around her with as much force as if a great object slammed into the camp from far in the sky, and screams erupted around her as men flew like debris through the air.
As she straightened, she saw Goku standing at a distance, having ducked out of the way of the shards of rock and dirt that flew through the air. A moment later, something flew quickly into her peripheral vision from the settling dust of the camp. She spun in place and lifted her arm to block the attack just as the blonde's fist connected.
The impact of the blow sent a slight shockwave through her body, and she immediately reached with her free hand to grasp his wrist, glaring up into his cold blue eyes. Blood ran down cuts on his body and stained parts of blonde hair copper. His uniform also was torn in several places, clearly damaged by her attack. Yet, he'd apparently shrugged it off and attacked her anyway.
His gaze widened slightly, and then narrowed decisively. "You!"
Admittedly, the recognition caught her somewhat off guard. There really wasn't much reason in this world for anyone to recognize her, given that her one notable act had been under disguise. "What?"
The man jumped backward, managing to land somewhat gracefully on uneven ground, and turned his attention toward Goku, who hopped down into her self-made crater easily. "...Both of you. You're the ones who destroyed General White's tower!"
...Someone from that tower survived?
She blinked, and shook her head in confusion, just as Goku gave an angry little roar.
"It's you! You're the one who did it!"
AN: Enter Blue.
Expect to see the generals of the army at one point or another, but mercenaries they employed for various reasons may or may not be employed. Which may or may not mean they'll be met at another, later time. Or, possibly, not at all. There's no telling just yet!