AN: I forget if I ever mentioned, but while I've heard 'x Briefs' is technically fanon, it's easier to keep it that way. Also, in Dragonball Evolution she introduces herself with the last name. That works fine for me. (Also, what silliness is 'last names have gone out of style'? Girl. girl.)

"But will it be Videl Satan?" you may ask! First, that's like super long in the future from now and not relevant! But also no, that's a stage name. And as far as stage names go I like Hercule more, anyway. Do you want to see 'Videl Hercule'? No, no you don't. (Here I get into an argument with myself about theme names and fans paradoxically wanting to use 'Bulla' and 'Bills' despite this)

The Next Dimension Over

Chapter Fifty-seven

"No way! Absolutely not!" Krillin shook his head ferociously. "There's no way I'll do it!"

Bulma clicked her tongue and glared down at him. "Well you said you wanted to come along and help, didn't you?"

"I NEVER SAID THAT!"

"I have other things to do." The old woman sighed, staring at the two. "If you're not ready to ask for my services, then you may return later. There are others waiting for me who are ready."

"...We were the only ones out there." Yamcha squinted at the floating woman. He crossed his arms, and shook his head. "There's no one else around to be waiting."

"Ho? You think so?" The old woman cackled and waved her hand dismissively. "Well, if you can't decide, then you may leave and search for the dragonballs on your own. I don't have the patience to listen to the bickering of little children."

Bulma clenched her fist in frustration. "If...ugh! If that's the case...fine. But you!" She pointed back at Krillin with enough ferocity that the boy in question immediately shrank back slightly. "Are walking back home!"

"But it's my plane!"

"So I guess you can afford to pay for this, huh?!"

They'd already burned up most of the day just looking at the dragon radar and getting to the desert palace. Kame house had been conveniently close to the Red Ribbon base (almost worryingly so, in retrospect), but this palace had been quite a distance. If they put things off much longer, they wouldn't even be able to begin the search for the rest of the dragonballs until the next day. Whatever became of the dragonballs, they'd be that much more delayed in retrieving them before something worse happened with them. Or someone attempted to steal theirs while their guards were down.

And...come to think of it, the house that Bulma had given them originally would be even more cramped accommodating Krillin. The less nights they needed to share it, the better. It would probably be best for everyone to avoid staying in it more than a few nights.

Thus, shifting the subject to anything else seemed better than allowing the argument to continue, whether or not the old woman actually would leave them and make them wait on an imaginary line once they were finished arguing.

"Do you even have fourty million zenni on you?" That would be a surprising amount of money to carry around casually, after all.

Bulma blinked over at her, and then waved her hand. "Well...yeah, of course. I have my card."

"It's an extra thousand zenni fee for a card."

"Oh come on!" The woman stomped her foot in frustration and balled her fists at her sides. "I'm giving you fourty million already!"

The old woman lifted her nose to the ceiling and gave an airy sniff. "If you don't want to pay for my services, I won't force you to. A thousand is a perfectly reasonable fee for processing so much zenni with a card. All fortune tellers agree."

She frowned at the old woman. There were other fortune tellers?

Bulma growled and muttered something that she couldn't make out, before forcibly withdrawing a white object from her pocket. "Here! You old cheat! I can't believe I have to do this..."

The fortune teller floated closer to Bulma and grabbed the card with a pleased looking smile, before turning her back to them and floating away. "Thank you very much. Come along, and I shall show you the answers you desire."

The crone certainly didn't have the Byakugan. After all, she'd never heard of any variation of the all-seeing white eyes that could be disguised when not in use. She had also never heard of any method of using them which could be called 'showing' someone else. So, then...just what method did the crone use? And...how did it apply to the way the others were attacked?

The path led out to what looked distinctly like the arena the tournament had been held in, surrounded by an offshoot of the nearby lake. Despite that, the old woman didn't spare a single word, or even a lingering glance, to any of it. Beyond that was a larger building, more enclosed than the previous ones. A spiral staircase stood ahead of them, set into a wall next to a large and strangely shaped skull.

"This way, if you will." The old woman floated off in a different direction from the staircase, curving around the center of the room and heading toward a door on the ground level. "There's too much distraction outside."

Yamcha frowned and glanced over at her, a silent question as to what might have been a distraction.

Questions and confusion aside, there...wasn't really any choice but to follow after the bizarre old woman wherever she went. She had, after all, taken away Bulma's money already. The room beyond the door was smaller than the large...lobby, and much darker, lit only by a small lantern on the other side of the room.

"Now...you wish to see four different dragonballs?"

Yamcha shrugged slightly. "One of them should be in a different place from the other three."

"Hm." The woman huffed. "If you'd told me there would only be two readings, I would have only charged you twenty."

"You WHAT?!"

Yamcha immediately jumped forward and grabbed his girlfriend's arms before she could charge the old woman and attack. Most likely attacking the fortune teller would lose Bulma the money and still not tell them where the dragonballs were.

"Silence, as I summon your fortune!"

The woman hopped down off of the floating ball and landed on the tile below with a soft thump. Sakura blinked, as she stared down at the woman. Even in the gloom, it was easy enough to make out the fortune teller's shortness. Originally she'd thought the woman was simply crouching...she was simply very short. Perhaps shorter than the Tsuchikage. Bulma continued to growl and mutter indistinctly, but...as the woman made no further comment, it was apparently not loud enough to break her concentration.

The woman chanted something unfamiliar, and the floating ball began to glow. Slowly, the bright light began to fade into the orange color of sunset. In the very middle, a round shape floated, with other small circles connected to it. Against the color of the sky, it was difficult to make out...but it looked a bit like it was made of metal.

So it was...some sort of floating base? A remnant of the Red Ribbon Army they'd missed, that managed to hide the location of the dragonballs?

"What..." Bulma leaned in to stare at the ball, as Yamcha released her arms in favor of leaning forward as well. "What the hell is that?"

"It looks like some kind of flying...ship..." Yamcha's voice trailed off at the last part, floundering for and then failing to find a better term.

"The dragonballs are within that." The old woman said with a nod.

"And where is 'that'?" Krillin spoke up from where he'd stayed back next to the door.

She pointed over Goku's head. "In that direction. About three thousand miles from here. It doesn't appear to be moving very quickly."

"Three thousand...?" Goku frowned, making a half hearted attempt to count his fingers.

"It means it's going to take a whole day to get there, probably." Yamcha sighed, and rubbed his hand through his hair. "At least we know where it is, though."

"Yeah, but..." Krillin frowned. "What is it?"

The crone turned her attention to him, as the image faded out of the crystal ball. "Well, I happen to know the answer to that, if you wish to know."

He frowned at her in annoyance. "Well, okay. What is it?"

"Ten million zenni."

"Oh, forget it!"

"It's not important!" Bulma crossed her arms and frowned in irritation. "We'll find out when we get there. I'm not paying for that. Just tell us where the other dragonball is."

"In the same place."

She blinked, and looked between her companions. "The same place?"

"Yes. I sensed each of their presence when I was looking at it. How lucky for all of you."

Bulma grit her teeth and Sakura just managed to catch the words 'not when you'.

"If we've got three thousand miles to go and they've got all of the other dragonballs, I guess we can't wait any longer than we have to." Yamcha shrugged and turned back toward the door. "Come on, I think we can at least get out of this desert before the sun goes down."

"We'd go faster if we just used the Nimbus..."

Krillin made an offended sound. "There's no way I'm getting on that thing! You're lucky I'm here at all!"

"Why are you here?" Bulma snapped, rounding on him again. "You won't even pay for anything!"

She lingered in place a little longer, watching the crone. They were given the answer to the question of the dragonballs, but...that didn't explain why those ahead of them had been so roughed up and harmed. Had they attacked the old crone and she somehow defended herself against them? But she didn't seem to have the demeanor of someone who'd been recently attacked, no matter how handily she dealt with it.

And why were there a line of people for a fortune telling crone in the middle of the desert, when no one among them other than the old man himself had ever heard of her in the first place?

Now...wasn't the time for that. She wanted answers, but...Yamcha was right. If they couldn't find the dragonballs on the radar themselves, that flying fortress might disappear again, and their time and effort would have gone completely to waste. Later, after restoring that village...maybe she would return to figure out the answer to those other questions.

As she turned to leave, the old woman spoke again.

"Before you leave...are you completely certain you don't wish to have a look at your home?"

(*)

Unbelievable.

His friends had actually led him to believe the whole Red Ribbon Army was out of commission, so any training that they picked up while looking for the other four dragonballs wouldn't be nearly as life threatening and crazy as the ones they did with an army actively fighting them.

Oh, but no! There was a whole freakin' flying base left! And it had guns! He'd seen giant guns on it!

And, and. The spectacularly rich daughter of the president of Capsule Corporation tried to get him to pay for the damn fortune? Sure, he could pay for it. It was...pretty cheap, compared to the kind of assets he had. But he was just one guy with treasure! It could run out some time! Surely Bulma Briefs could handle it! She was just being cheap, and damn it, he should have been the one being cheap! Rich people didn't get to be cheap!

...Well, maybe he was rich now, too...

"Hey..." Bulma stopped, patting her pockets. "Did you ever see her give me back my card?"

Yamcha glanced over at her. "What? No, I wasn't paying attention."

"She didn't." The cat thing said. Sounding a little bit smug, actually. "It's a common con, you know! Always keep track of your card."

"If you saw it why didn't you say something?"

Goku frowned, pausing right in front of that golden cloud of his. "...Where did Sakura go?"

Wait.

Sakura?

Wasn't she just next to them?

He frowned and turned a slow circle. The pink haired menace wasn't...anywhere. Had she stayed in that building for some reason? Why would she even do that?

"I'm gonna go back for her!" Goku sprinted past them down the path, ignoring the alarmed objection to the wisp-y spirit creature that had been leading them back to their vehicle. Their vehicle and cloud.

...They probably had to follow him, didn't they?