The Next Dimension Over
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Eventually they did stop running. The difference in training wasn't significant enough to keep going without any reason to run forever. There wasn't really anywhere to go. It was a little frustrating to be wandering aimlessly because she couldn't do anything more significant to help get herself back to her dimension...but it was an opportunity to strengthen herself.
Three days passed as they walked toward the east. To her, it felt like she was starting to get a stronger grasp on the concept of manipulating ki. She didn't know that it would ever give her the power to help face Kaguya, but it was a path to travel down and improve herself with. Until there was a better option presented than to continue her master's training and attempting to learn ki, she'd continue to press onward with both.
Goku, likewise, got closer to securing the bell from her. He'd learned well from his training with Korin, and it required much more effort from her to stay out of his reach and keep the bell out of his hand. It was admirable to see how quickly he'd improved. It had barely been...two months, perhaps? Since she'd given him the challenge, he'd improved so much.
It reminded her of how quickly Naruto and Sasuke would leap ahead in their training. Every time she'd almost catch up to them, they would leap ahead of her with ease that seemed unbelievable.
Perhaps a part of her sought to get so strong simply out of the belief that if she did so, when the dragon returned Naruto and Sasuke, they would become strong enough on their own to destroy Kaguya. If nothing else, then at least she'd support them that way.
A young girl's scream cut through the silence of the afternoon, and both of them broke into a run.
Fortunately, it wasn't a long distance away, and just over the next hill revealed a little girl in the clutches of a huge tiger-like man.
"Hey!" Goku shouted, running ahead of her. "You let her go!"
The man hesitated, and turned a slow glance toward both of them. His upper lip, oddly shaped as it was, curled into a sneer, revealing wicked looking teeth. "More food? So much of you all at once, I wonder if I've forgotten my own birthday."
She grit her teeth as his laughter filled the air. The little girl was so small, head clutched in a powerful, clawed head. If they weren't careful-and quick-the creature would surely kill her in an instant.
Damn it...
She took a step forward just as Goku leaped through the air. Headfirst.
That hard head of his rammed right into the large man's gut. The brittle looking armor he wore shattered from the impact, and the tiger-man doubled over, stumbling backward and dropping the little girl in the process. She sprinted across the distance immediately, gathering up the little girl before the man could try to re-capture his hostage.
"Ugh...little brat!" The cat gave a feral roar, and lifted a hand full of claws. The girl in her arms gave a frightened scream and hid her face in her chest. Goku jumped into the air again, and delivered an open handed strike right into the middle of the cat's face.
"Paper! Hah!"
The cat tumbled head over heels backward several feet, and then crashed into a great stone...throne behind him. The platform cracked and jostled perilously, but ultimately remained standing. The same couldn't be said of the large man, who unrolled and splayed out on the ground, unconscious.
The little girl gave a small gasp, and stared down at Goku with wide eyes.
"That's...amazing...! You're amazing!"
Goku blinked, and looked up at the girl. "Huh? No...that guy was just really weak." He giggled and grinned at her instead. "He wasn't nearly as tough as you are, Sakura!"
She scoffed, and set the girl down. "Hey, what were you doing out here? It's dangerous to wander the wilderness all alone."
The little girl's expression fell, and she dropped her head, clasping her hands together. "But...but I had to! I wanted to find the great Tiger Thief and hire him to save my village. But...but..." She gave a small sniffle and wiped at her eye. "I didn't have enough money, so he wouldn't do it. And then he said he was hungry and I'd make a good meal and-"
"It's okay!" Goku nodded, planting his hands on his hips. "He's not gonna wake up for a while."
The little girl bit her lip, expression a mix of apprehensiveness and hope, before she finally spoke. "You're...so strong...can't you help my village? Please, I know I don't have much, but we'll pay you what we can!"
Ah...now...this was the sort of thing she was used to. Generally, she didn't just pick up an assignment or job from a random person, given it was the village's responsibility to dole out missions according to those best fit for each, but...still. She'd trained under the hokage long enough to find it familiar.
"What are we saving your village from? Where is it?"
The girl's eyes widened in hope again as she looked up, and then she gave a determined nod to her self before responding. "My village is just a short distance from here! Please, you have to come and help us! Two terrible people are there, and they've taken over everything! They make us do work for them and feed them, and if anyone tries to stop them, they devour them with their magical gourd! Please, oh please help us! I don't know what we'll do if someone doesn't stop them!"
Devouring people with a magical gourd...? That sounded...much more dangerous than anything they'd encountered so far. She glanced over at Goku, but he simply looked determined. As he would, she supposed.
"Alright. Take us to your village. While we go, try to tell us as much as you can about these two people, alright? Do you know how the gourd works?"
The girl nodded. "Uh huh! If they call your name and you don't respond 'here!' in time, it eats you up and you never ever come back."
She frowned. That could be very dangerous...but being new in town would help that. Without their names, the trick wouldn't be able to work.
"Then we'll just break it!" Goku nodded with determination. "And then we'll beat them up!"
"Do you know who these people are?"
The little girl shook her head. "They're bandits who appeared one day. I...I think they call themselves Ginkaku and Kinkaku."
Her footsteps immediately stopped.
(*)
He squinted up at the sun in the sky. Summer was not his favorite season of the year. Living out in the wilderness and the desert didn't build up a lot of fondness for the hottest, driest season of the year, after all. He disliked it even more, now.
The heavy shell on his back must have increased the temperature by fifty degrees, and if it by itself didn't, the skipping and hopping he did certainly increased it sixty.
He sighed as he flopped back in the hammock, a welcome break from the endless morning of training. No matter what, though...this would be worth it. Getting the opportunity to train under Muten Roshi didn't come by every day. If not for Krillin putting in a good word (probably motivated at least a little bit by loneliness once Sakura and Goku went off on their own training) he probably never would get the chance at all.
Well...he wouldn't put it to waste. He'd seen now the results of this training. It was greater than he would have ever imagined.
Three years.
In three years, he intended to be able to face Goku again, like he had when they first met.
This next time...he'd definitely win.
(*)
She felt tense. The two names...experience told her that it couldn't be. It never had been.
Yet...what if it were? The two monsters who had killed the second Hokage, two who were brought back by the Edo Tensei and caused so many injuries, could it be at all possible? What if the ninja tool she'd heard was captured from them might actually be able to transport people to this dimension?
Could they actually have a mate in this one?
No...no, that just wasn't possible. She shook her head as they walked into the village proper.
Some sort of gathering seemed to be forming in the center of the village as they approached, and two figures stood on a hastily made wooden platform above them. Almost certainly the two were the ones the little girl - Chao, she'd said - was talking about. She'd never witnessed the real Ginkaku and Kinkaku herself. Could they...be?
"Oh no!" Chao gasped and scurried ahead. "I have to hurry! It's the roll call!"
"Roll call?" Goku squinted up at her in confusion.
She placed a hand on her hip, making her way closer to the crowd just so that they wouldn't stand out as much as outsiders. "It must be a way to make sure no one tries to run away. Call their name every day, and if they don't answer because they're not there..."
"Oh..." Goku scowled in frustration. "That's terrible..."
"Please, no!" An older woman cried out in desperation. "Please, I'll do anything!"
The red haired man, taller than the green haired one, chuckled. He sounded entirely too pleased with himself. "Didn't you say that yesterday? And yet you only gave us two barrels of biscuits!"
"I...I didn't have any more flour...please, I gave you everything!"
Her hand clenched at her side. Between the two men, a tall gourd not unlike Gaara's. It looked...similar to one of the tools that she'd seen, as well. But...was it? She couldn't remember which tool had done what, given that she'd only glimpsed them in passing. If she destroyed it, would it break the jutsu?
"Do I need to say your name instead?" The green haired man cackled. "After all, don't you trust us? All we're asking for is the name! We won't use it. This time."
The louder one spoke up again, as she started to weave her way into the crowd. The closer she was, the easier it would be to strike before they could protect it. "Or would you rather we take your husband now?"
The woman gave a terrified sound. "I-I..." For a moment, silence fell on the crowd. "His name...His name is Chensei, but please...please, you couldn't hurt him! He's only a baby! He wouldn't be able to answer!"
"Really?" The green man looked genuinely surprised for a moment. Once he started to laugh, however...she had enough.
"Hey!" Goku, actually, was the one to shout.
She chose to burst out of the crowd while the men scanned the area in confusion. "The two of you could never have defeated the Second Hokage." Really, targeting an infant, as it was clear they were about to, proved it. The Second would never have been defeated by anyone who needed to resort to such horrible tactics.
She knew. She'd watched first hand how amazing the Second Hokage was in battle.
That meant...these two weren't from her world, and they were nothing more than another horrible reminder of a home far out of her reach. She cracked her knuckles as Goku appeared next to her.
Goku pointed up at the taller one. "I wanna fight the red one."
Well...the green one pissed her off more, so that worked out fine. She gave a little shrug. "Just be careful."
The two men looked between each other in confusion and then back to them. "Wh...who are you? Where have you come from?!"
Before she could respond, Goku did. "I'm Goku! And this is-"
"No!" Chao gave a distressed cry from the crowd. "You can't let them know your names!"
Goku actually grinned in response to the shout. "I'm not worried about that! I'm gonna beat them up before they can do anything!"
Which...well, they were somewhat forced to do now that the two men knew at least one of their names. Goku spared just another moment for an excited grin, and then he jumped up toward the taller man, drawing his red staff to block a down swing of the man's sword.
She didn't get a chance to witness any more of the battle, however, as the green man took the opportunity to jump toward her, slicing his own blade through the air.
She fell backward out of range, and the crowd behind her scattered, taking the opportunity to flee from the battle before the danger refocused on them.
Her suspicion about the men was confirmed. He nearly tumbled over himself when he missed her, and his recovery was painfully slow. His reflexes were as good or better than any of the men she'd encountered in the world short of the man that nearly killed Goku in the forest...but that really wasn't saying much.
Really, she could only hope that Goku was a little better matched with his opponent, because he seemed so excited, it would be a little disappointing for him if they were no more of a fight than the tiger-man. She twisted her body to dodge another wild swing, and then slapped the man across the hand. The blade skittered across the dirt path of the village, and the man clutched his wrist in pain, stumbling away from her.
"Agh...how did you...?" He grit his teeth and looked up at her with wild, wary eyes.
"You picked on helpless civilians, mothers and their children, because you don't have the power to stand up to anyone else, right? And there's no one around out here to stop you, so you just did what you wanted. There's no law and no rules if no one's watching and no one's making you listen." She scowled down at him in irritation, and grabbed the collar of his shirt, lifting him up by it. "That kind of thing...it really pisses me off!" She slammed him down into the ground. The ground cracked and he gave a pained, choking cough.
He certainly wouldn't be getting up and terrorizing anyone again any time soon.
Which meant that Goku, probably, was just about done with his fight, too.
She looked up toward him just in time to see Goku, engulfed in pink mist, vanish into that gourd that stood on the platform.
What...?
For a moment, she stood in frozen horror, as the small figure vanished from sight.
Forever.
"Goku!"
AN: So there's a few episodes from Dragonball I really like. Which are pretty appropriate for the story.
How about that?