The Next Dimension Over
Chapter Sixty-four
After the woman's threat, she and the blue-skinned man both made a terrible attempt at a sneak attack, and fallen unconscious surprisingly easily. Otherwise, she probably would have at least tried to get a bit of information out of them about 'Shu'. As much as Goku seemed unconcerned about the person (apparently a cohort of theirs that he'd met before) and as unlikely as it seemed for anyone associated with them to be any real danger...she was a little concerned. After all, even the Red Ribbon Army had a few dangerous people in its midst. Perhaps she was...overly paranoid about the welfare of her teammates.
Still, she didn't know how long the communicators would last, given Bulma's warning. Contacting them just to ensure they were still in one piece might mean they wouldn't be able to contact them once the dragonballs were found. Considering the chances of their not being in one piece were...slim, it was more reckless to throw away their ability to reunite on a hollow threat.
Ultimately, she put off the communication until they were already outside of the base itself, back on the Nimbus. Even then, they flew back to the balcony they'd originally landed on just to be sure that there was no sign of the others either present or having returned there at some time before them and left again. Other than simply float along near the base and wait for some sign of life from the others, there really wasn't any more waiting to do.
She turned the communicator in her hand with a frown. It was even smaller than a wireless radio, but its structure was about the same, without a collar. That was probably for the best, considering...she might not be able to depend on Goku knowing how to use the radio if she couldn't.
She glanced up at the sun, more than halfway across the sky now, and fitted the device to her ear. If it worked the same way as the other, then the button she found on the outside arm of it would be what activated it.
"...Is there anyone over there?"
She frowned slightly, as she listened to the silence of the late afternoon.
If one of them weren't wearing the communicator when she used it...would they even hear her? Was the radio loud enough to be heard in a pocket? That would interfere with stealth if it could be. Maybe Bulma kept hers on the entire time? She...should have, in retrospect, but it slipped her mind. But the chances that the others had contacted them needing help were rather slim.
Eventually, a somewhat distant and metallic sounding Bulma responded.
"We've got the dragonballs over here."
Well...it wasn't a surprise that they found the dragonballs, considering Bulma was the one who'd guessed at the position of the dragonballs to begin with, but it was somewhat reassuring to know they had found them. There was, after all, quite a large portion of the giant floating base none of them explored.
"Actually, it's good timing, we were just thinking about summoning it here."
"...You were what?"
"It's just that we've got a bit of a problem..." The voice hesitated briefly, before continuing. "We had a guide to get to this point and...he's not working right now. I can't find a map anywhere, either."
"Ah..." Well. That did make sense, considering none of them would be able to employ the strategy of walking in a straight line through the side of the structure. The getting lost part made sense. The summoning the...dragon didn't.
"So you were going to use the dragonballs?"
"Well, it's a little dangerous just wandering around with all seven of them like this."
She frowned, and Goku looked up at her, expression curious. "What is it? Are they almost there?"
"They're...lost." Essentially. "And apparently can't wait to use the dragonballs."
He screwed up his face into something like irritation, and huffed, looking back at the metal sphere. "They should just break through the walls!"
It...was a valid strategy...but she doubted Yamcha or Krillin possessed the firepower or the stamina to succeed. But going in after them wouldn't help very much, either. The place was far too huge, they'd be wandering for days even if they took the most efficient routes to search the complex.
"Wait. You don't have anything to break through walls with, do you?"
The other side remained quiet for a few moments.
"...No. But even if we tried, we're too deep inside this thing. There's at least two miles between us and the nearest outer wall in a straight line."
Goku, who had been silently watching the floating base since he made his suggestion, spoke up again suddenly. "What if I blast through a wall out here? With a Kamehameha, they could follow the sound of the explosion!"
That...was what he'd planned on doing originally, before the communicators.
And...
It wasn't actually such a bad idea.
(*)
Following explosions was, in fact, a pretty good idea. It helped that the explosions cut a path for them to follow out. And that there wasn't actually anything of any real threat to them on the base. For some reason (probably anticipating his successful wish), Pilaf created himself a giant ship just for his three people to stay in. It, and the weird dragon radar proof safe they'd made, certainly caused the retrieval to be inconvenient, but...on the bright side, it meant that there weren't bystanders around to be hurt by rogue ki beams.
At least the flame throwers and missile launchers in that power suit (and that the other two apparently had similar) explained how the last of the dragonballs got from the rogue Red Ribbon Army escapee's hands into Pilaf's. From what he'd encountered during the assault on the Red Ribbon base, those guys were...less than capable of handling rockets and thick metal armor on their own.
But...that wasn't really important anymore.
As much as a desperate summoning of the dragon might have been a good escape route (maybe the thing would just tear straight through the hull of the ship!), when that wasn't their only choice, it seemed like a much better idea to not do it anywhere near the base where the others could interfere. After all, they did have a bit of a grudge to settle after...last time. And they would...probably not be wishing for anything as benign as 'panties' with their stolen wish. Thus, rather than risk enslavement to the tiniest world emperor, they'd flown back to where they'd set up camp at the night before. It felt...kind of...different to be the ones standing around all seven dragonballs this time. When put together, the slight glow in them amplified to an ambient light that bounced off of the blades of grass and each of the people standing there, tinting everything golden yellow.
"So...ready with that wish, Goku?"
The small boy gave a sharp nod. "Uh huh."
He glanced over toward Sakura, who watched the orbs with a look of...something. Honestly, he couldn't identify it. At first glance, he'd have said it was fascination or apprehension...but there was something distant about it that didn't match either one.
Then again...he'd yet to see her for a moment without some kind of distance in her gaze since they'd spoken with that old crone. It was a little unnerving.
"You might wanna shield your eyes."
(*)
Overall, this quest for the dragonballs had taken...only...a little over two weeks. It hadn't been long at all, particularly considering they were competing against not one, but two other interests. It felt like longer. Maybe...because she'd started to feel just how long she'd been in this world since she'd gone on it.
Maybe everything still felt wrong because she wanted it to. If it felt wrong, then perhaps it might not be real. And then...everything could be a genjutsu. She could be rescued, freed from this horrible nightmare and brought back to the fight that Naruto and Sasuke would win. None of this would matter, and she wouldn't be a failure.
It wasn't wrong. And this world...the reality she found herself in...wasn't as easily escaped as a genjutsu.
She took a step back with the others, as Bulma held out her hand and recited some sort of incantation. The constant glow of the orbs brightened at her words, and burst into shining golden light, nearly blinding her with its intensity and suddenness. A howling, buzzing sort of sound filled the air, and a beam of energy shot off into the sky with surprising speed.
She held up her hand to steady herself against a final blast of wind, and craned her neck to look up at...blazing yellow and gold, slowly solidifying into a serpentine shape, filling the dark sky as far as the forest allowed her to see in every direction.
As a face larger than her entire body finally formed into color and definition, a voice so deep and loud that it rumbled the ground beneath her feet spoke from the air. "You who have gathered the seven dragonballs...come, and speak. I shall grant to you any one wish you desire."
She stared up at the gigantic creature, open mouthed.
It was...certainly not Kaguya. She'd never seen anything like it, in fact. Even the most amazing summoned creature didn't approach it in size, save for the ten tails itself and the strange statue that fought them while the tailed beasts and Naruto fought Madara. And...none had appeared with such flare. It was certainly not a usual summoning jutsu formula, if it was anything at all.
"I want..." Goku trailed off, and then frowned over at Yamcha. "Um. What is the name of that village?"
The taller man smacked his forehead with his hand loudly enough that the sound echoed off the nearby trees. "Ah...damn. We should have gotten that kid again before we did this."
Bulma made an irritated sound and waved up at the creature. "Well we can't just put him back in them now!"
"Speak your wish with haste. I do not wish to wait further."
His voice cut through the voices of the others, and drew her attention back to the unnatural red glow of his eyes. Somehow, his voice...even the memory of it seemed to reverberate through her being, made her feel unsteady as if he'd grabbed her shoulders and shaken her moments before.
The words...at first they had been hard to process, but...now they stuck in her mind. This...dragon could do anything. Any wish, any desire, it could fulfill, couldn't it? No matter how impossible, no matter...no matter how hard it was, no matter what the rules of reality dictated.
It could send her back to that world. It could bring back an entire village lost. It could give anyone the world to rule if it so chose to.
Her voice was soft, barely audible to herself while the others huddled and discussed how to best phrase their wish without accidentally asking the dragon something they didn't mean. She didn't even really mean to say it. "Bring them back."
Yamcha glanced over at her, apparently the one standing closest to her. "Huh? You think 'bring them back' is really gonna-"
"Bring them back!" Her hands clenched at her sides into fists.
It wasn't fair. It wasn't right. Her entire world was dead. Everyone was gone. Everything...after everything, they lost everything, and it was because she couldn't do a thing to help. She failed everyone, she failed to do anything, to make any difference, and now they were...
Everyone was...
If there were more than one wish, why did one little village take priority over an entire world? Why couldn't she have her home back, why couldn't she go back where she belonged, where Goku promised she would go, where everything was alive, where everyone was going to survive, and find peace, and Sasuke came home?
"I want you to bring them back!"
"That wish is not specific enough." The voice of the dragon rumbled through her thoughts, disrupting them and scattering them for as long as it spoke. "I cannot grant such an imprecise wish."
"Sakura..." Goku turned toward her then, expression wary and concerned.
She shut her eyes, clenched her teeth. She had to, because if she didn't, she'd break again, start to cry uselessly instead of help. And she wouldn't. She couldn't be so useless. Not...if...she could save them.
How could she not?
"Bring them back!" She shouted it over the others, before they could say anything else. She shouted it over her own thoughts. She screamed as if somehow it could force this dragon to do something she thought even if she didn't say it out loud. After all, hadn't it said it would grant her anything? "Bring...bring back Naruto and Sasuke! Bring back Kakashi-sensei and Lady Tsunade! Bring back Shizune and Ino and Lee and my parents and Konoha! I want you to bring back my world, damn it! Bring them back! Please, please just bring them back!"
In the silence that fell upon the forest around her, she could feel the gaze of every one of the people around her staring directly at her. She didn't look back at them. She didn't say anything.
Even if she wanted to...she didn't think she could say anything else.