Escalation

Chapter 16: A Gathering of the Minds


'Bulma? She's having trouble at the gate.'

'How do you know that?'

Yamcha beckoned Bulma over to the window of the living room. It was perched in a corner of the 2nd floor of Capsule Corp Headquarters- which was, coincidentally, also Bulma's home. The building occupied a prime spot in the West City downtown area. Since the Capsule Corp's founding a few decades ago by Dr. Briefs, it's half-sphere shape had come to be permanently associated with the technological renaissance currently occurring in West City.

Bulma poked her head out of the window Yamcha guided her towards. Far below on the ground, she could see at the edge of her property a jeep parked in front of one of the building's guarded gates. Even from this distance, she could see an angry conversation brewing between the driver of the jeep and the posted guard. 'Uh oh. I better get down there, now.'

0o0o0

'...and I already told you, if you would simply page Bulma Briefs, she would tell you that I'm expected five minutes ago!' Rayne growled, knuckling her steering wheel.

'Lady,' the security guard responded with an even tone, 'do you know how many people a day, of a similar age to you, come up to this gate and claim to know Bulma Briefs? I learned a long time ago to not pester Ms. Brief with every adoring fan and imposter friend.'

'So what, I'm supposed to leave?' Rayne demanded.

Disinterested, the guard slid a glass panel down in Rayne's face and stood up. He disappeared into a back section of the small guard office.

'Where are you going?' Rayne called out.

'Bathroom,' a muffled response came.

This is… the worst.

Rayne stewed in her thoughts for a minute before a familiar face popped up through the iron-bar gate. Rayne's eyes widened. 'Bulma?'

'Yep! In the flesh.' She pressed a button on her side of the gate- gears started to turn and the gate began to winch open. 'So, so sorry about this.'

'Bulma- that guard-'

'Yea, I know. I issued a pass for someone with the name Rayne. Clearly, this guard didn't get it. I'll fire him, or his manager, or the chief security officer- I'll fire someone, is what I'm saying. Acceptable?'

'Acceptable.'

Rayne pulled her jeep onto the property and parked in a guest lot Bulma directed her towards. Rayne exited her vehicle and together with Bulma walked down an asphalt driveway before hanging a right into a wonderfully well-loved garden. It seemed that every flower and shrub under the sun was blooming in the green, verdant space. A middle-aged woman was flying in between the plants, watering with a clinical efficiency. 'Bulma! Is this one of your friends?' She chirped when she sighted them.

'Yes, mom.'

'Wonderful! Remember to offer them some food!'

'Yes, mom.'

Satisfied, Bulma's mom turned back to watering. When Bulma and Rayne were past the garden, Rayne said, 'Uhh… was that your mom?'

'Yes.'

'Should I have said something? Introduced myself?'

'I don't really like my mom, so I don't really care.'

'Err… why?'

'We don't share a lot of hobbies.' she offered vaguely.

Bulma isn't a gardener, doesn't like her Mom… good to know.

They turned left and went through a side-door into the Capsule Corp building. After chatting with the receptionist, Bulma led Rayne in deeper, passing by a menagerie of offices, lab rooms, and storerooms. 'Bulma, do you live in an active research facility?' Rayne asked hesitantly. 'Just going off what I'm seeing.'

'Yep. How else am I going to keep an eye on what these bumbling scientists are doing on a daily basis? Capsule Corp demands the best.'

Somewhat intimidated, Rayne followed Bulma into an elevator, mulling over her thoughts as it ascended. The Queen of Capsule Corp, ruling at home… a scary sight to behold, I'm sure...

The elevator opened in a more residential section of the building. 'My family and I live on the upper floors of the building,' Bulma explained. 'Lots of soundproofing to make these rooms a refuge from work when needed.' Bulma led Rayne through a few more corridors, before opening a door to reveal a cozy living room. Yamcha sat at a table in the center of the room while Puar floated near the windows at the far-end. A moment later Krillin nearly walked into their backs while balancing a heavy tray of food. 'Sorry Bulma!' he exclaimed while balancing himself. 'I helped myself to some of the food you mentioned was in the fridge.'

'Not a problem. Take a seat, everyone.'

Krillin set down the tray tidily in the center of the table and then took the seat directly across from Yamcha. Bulma sat to Yamcha's right, exchanging a warm smile with him, while Rayne sat to Krillin's left. Puar floated over to hover around the end of the table pointed towards the windows. 'So,' Bulma began, 'now that we're all here-'

'This is all of us?' Rayne asked. 'What about Chi-Chi and Oolong?...'

'We never got in contact with Chi-Chi,' Krillin said. 'We have a rough idea where she is due to ki sensing, but for whatever reason, she's been purposely on her own. I guess something more pressing came up.'

That's… not like her, Rayne thought, or at least not like her to go off without telling us why. I hope she's not getting herself into any trouble…

'Oolong,' Krillin continued, 'kinda lost interest- or something like that, Puar?'

Puar nodded. 'He was never as committed to chasing down the Red Ribbon Army and Kakarot as much as we were. One day, he told me he would leave, and so he did. That was about a year ago. No idea where he is now.'

'Not much of a loss, in my opinion,' Bulma clipped.

No one fought her on that point.

'Shame about Chi-Chi, though,' Rayne said, 'she's had the most time out of all of us to absorb Master Roshi's more advanced techniques.'

'I think Krillin and I,' Yamcha spoke up, 'have by this point a pretty good grasp of what Master Roshi showed us- though we haven't been able to figure out where Kakarot is through ki sensing. Either he's out of our range, or maybe we're not adept enough- hell, maybe he's even dead!' Yamcha finished, excitedly discussing the possibilities as if it was the first time he had considered them.

'I don't think that last option is likely,' Krillin said, 'but the fact that we're speculating right now shows that we know basically nothing about Kakarot currently. He could have founded a charity, for all we know. We need more information.'

'Which is why,' Puar jumped in, 'we've been trying to track down the Red Ribbon Army. Rayne thinks that they might have more information on the whereabouts of Kakarot. So- Yamcha, could you?...'

Yamcha fumbled with a bag on the ground before pulling out a sizable map. He flattened it across the table. It was a sizable map covering the area around West City and the lands to the south and west of it. It was well known that those lands were some of the most sparsely populated in the world. A big 'X' was drawn towards the left side of the map.

'That's it? You're sure?' Bulma asked.

'More or less.' Puar responded. 'It's somewhere in that vicinity- though there's a big margin of error. All Red Ribbon Army logistic records point towards that spot, but it's not precise. Does this corroborate what you've found out, Rayne?'

'Roughly, yea,' Rayne agreed. 'It seems that you had more luck than me gathering information.'

'Well, It's easy when you can impersonate any officer, to be honest.'

'Right, right,' Rayne leaned back in her chair, folding her hands behind her head 'though, of course, you've heard of their second base, right?'

Puar's face was blank. 'Second?'

'Yup. Something called Muscle Tower- it's far to the north though, in the frozen tundra north of East City. From what I heard it's as developed as their HQ.' Rayne let her chair rock back forwards. 'Which makes me wonder; why would they have two comparable HQs? Wouldn't it make sense to have just one?'

'Maybe there's a personality conflict between the top brass?' Yamcha speculated. 'Or maybe it just makes sense logistically. Hard to say. We should keep these questions in mind though if or when we strike at them.'

Through this conversation Krillin was sitting silently, his mind still turning over the previous topic. 'Guys,' he spoke up, 'I know we've moved on to another topic, but I just came up with a good idea. Why don't we use the dragonballs to ask for information about Kakarot?'

'Can… can the dragonballs do that?' Bulma asked uncertainty.

'Why not? If they can grant any wish, how taxing can granting some information be?'

'Krillin,' Yamcha said, 'you do remember how long it took to gather the dragonballs before, right? We only have two months before the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament. It took us almost half a year last time.'

'Most of our time was spent traveling, remember? That's how I remember it, at least.' Yamcha thought for a second, then nodded back, agreeing. 'But now- with Bulma's helicopter- we can zip around in no time. I bet we could find all the dragonballs in two weeks, easy.'

Everyone thought on Krillin's proposition. It would be a concrete way to learn more about Kakarot. 'Alright,' Bulma said, standing, 'before we get our hopes up, we should check the dragon radar first and see if it's logistically feasible- that a dragonball isn't at the bottom of the ocean, or something like that. Maybe we'll luck out and two or three will be grouped together. Give me a minute and I'll grab the radar.' She placed a hand on Yamcha's shoulder as she left, sliding it across him as she walked past and out of the room. Yamcha smiled dumbly as he watched her go.

Krillin felt a bit uncomfortable. 'So, uh, Yamcha,' he tried to talk through his awkwardness, 'are you and Bulma… uh… what's the world…'

'Dating?' Yamcha finished for him.

'Uh-huh.'

Yamcha folded his arms and gave the cockiest expression possible. 'What do you think?'

Puar rolled her eyes. 'You're a real stud, Yamcha.'

'Jealous.'

'Yea, sure...'

'Let me ask you something,' Krillin pressed on, repeatedly tapping a finger to his forehead, as if trying to figure something out, 'how much time do you think you've spent trying to woo Bulma? Just give me a number.'

'Uhh…' Yamcha screwed his face, thinking. 'What... I dunno, we go on a few dates a week, have been for at least a year… I guess the number would be… a lot.' Hearing this, Krillin clapped, chuckling. 'What's so funny!?' Yamcha asked indignantly.

'You haven't trained at all in the past few months since we've left Kame House, have you?' Krillin said, still laughing to himself.

'How would you know? And so what?'

Krillin forced himself to stop laughing. 'Hah-woo-sorry. I didn't mean to come off as a jerk. It's just funny how things have changed.' Krillin's tone abruptly shifted, startlingly sincere. 'For a long time, I thought of you as a friendly rival- I was continuously striving to surpass you. You shot past me while we were training for the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament. You lit a fire under my ass- and-' his tone shifted again, as he struggled to hold a laugh in, 'I took the lead because you fell for a girl. I just- I didn't expect this.' Krillin finished, grinning.

'So you're Mr. Know-It-All, huh? Yamcha responded irritably. 'You think you're stronger than me?'

'We both learned ki sensing from Master Roshi, remember?'

'Is that so? Learn one technique at the level of a novice and you think you're omnipotent?' Yamcha raised a fist in Krillin's direction, threatening, 'you want to settle this right now?'

Dear Kami, Puar mouthed as she disinterested drifted away from their petty dispute, them and their male egos.

Krillin and Yamcha were on the verge of rising out of their chairs to duel when Bulma re-entered the room, dragon radar in hand. They both quickly settled back into their seats as if nothing had happened, though they continued to glare daggers at each other. 'Haven't used this in awhile. Wonder if the batteries still work,' Bulma mumbled to herself, brushing dust off the viewscreen and placing the radar in the center of the table on the still-unfurled map. She clicked a button on the top of the radar and hovered over it, waiting for the radar to start detecting the dragonballs. Gradually, Krillin, Yamcha, and Puar joined her in cramming over the radar. 'Bulma,' Krillin said as the radar took its time warming up, 'I just thought of something- how did you create a radar that detected magical artifacts of legend in the first place?'

'To be honest? Dumb luc- oh look! It's coming on!' Bulma pronounced. The radar brightened and scanned the surrounding few miles of West City, working its way outwards across the world. 'Nothing nearby- little farther- nothing- a bit further-oh…'

The radar had picked a group of dragonballs. Six, in fact.

'Bulma,' Puar said, her eyes glued to the screen, 'could you move the radar to the right somewhat?'

Bulma obliged, and moved the radar off and to the side of the map. The location of the six dragonballs was geographically identical to where the 'X' was drawn on the map.

'So… the logical conclusion is...' Krillin said hesitantly.

Bulma scowled down at the table. 'The Red Ribbon Army is collecting the dragonballs. And they're damn close to finishing.'

0o0o0

'Murasaki, get in here!' General White bellowed down the hall, before walking back into his room. He stopped next to one of the large horizontal windows, gazing out at the snowy landscape around him. Can't remember at this point whether Commander Red gave me the name 'white' because of my hair or because I work in a cold, harsh tundra. Either way, he's an idiot.

A blizzard was raging outside of Muscle Tower. From his position on the top floor, he couldn't even see Jingle Town- close as it was to the tower- through the storm. It was if the rest of the world didn't exist- save the base and men he controlled under his feet. My base, my men. They never advertise that part of the job. The total control you're afforded over the lives of everyone around you. I control my men. My men, in turn, control the residents of Jingle Town. Such is the order of things- an order constructed and ruled by me.

An approaching pair of footsteps caused General White to turn. A purple-robed man dressed as a ninja entered the room, saluting General White as he did. 'General White, you called?'

'Damn right I did. I want some status updates. How did our delivery to HQ go? Were the goods delivered properly?'

'They were, sir. It seems that, while our ground convoys continue to be harassed, our air transports continue to be reliable. The 2-star dragonball is firmly locked away in a bunker in HQ. While I was there I learned that HQ had found two more- so, if those things work like we think they do, there's only one more ball to find. Understandably, Commander Red is very impatient, sir.'

'Let the bastard stew,' General White replied gruffly. 'I'll not let a man with a height inferiority complex push me around.'

'Very good, general.'

General White stepped over to his desk, rifling through some files scattered haphazardly on it. 'And what about the village,' he asked as he turned over one paper before placing it back down, 'are they giving us any trouble recently?'

'None at all, sir. Our soldiers are living in their homes and eating their food, and there hasn't been an ounce of resistance. I think taking their village elder was the right call, if I do say so myself, sir.'

'All good news. And that elder? Tomorrow we execute him.'

Murasaki was visibly surprised, before saying, 'Sir? Aren't they cooperating only because we hold their leader hostage?'

'That's true- but I prefer more concrete means of obedience. Hostages only work as long people place a helpless, defeatist sort of faith in their imprisoned leaders to improve their situations. A leader in captivity can die, or worse, encourage their people to resist. I find fear to be a much more… consistent motivator. So, we kill their village elder, and teach them that even helpless faith will not be tolerated by the Red Ribbon Army.'

'...very good, sir. Wise.'

General White ruffled the papers on his desk for a few more moments, before raising in his hand a single folder. 'Here it is.' He opened it and picked through its contents. 'I'm looking through the technical report for the A-Tech we received a week ago- though the report says we should refer to them by their new names of "androids". Murasaki, what are your opinions of these units?'

'They're… impressive sir. They obviously don't compare to my brothers and me, but they're tough. And the upgrades made to Eight have been astounding. He's strong enough now to stop a tank dead in its tracks.'

General White glanced up from his file, interested. 'Really? That strong?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Hmmm.' General White turned back to the folder and scanned its contents, before closing it and placing it on his desk. 'Good news all around. We must be having a good week.' General White glanced out at the blizzard outside before glancing back to Murasaki. 'That's all for now. You're dismissed.'

Murasaki saluted before leaving the room. General White was left alone in his command room, placidly watching the weather rage all around him. This base is prepared for anything. A creaking, disturbing smile manifested on General White's face. It's good to be the king.

0o0o0

Everyone stood around listless for a few moments, processing what they were seeing on the dragon radar. 'How- how has the Red Ribbon Army collected so many dragonballs?' Krillin bumbled. 'Do you think they have a dragon radar, or something?'

'No, I don't think so,' Bulma reasoned, 'otherwise they would have gathered the dragonballs a long time ago. If summoning Shenron is anything like how it was last time, then we would have noticed an impossibly dark night suddenly existing for a few minutes in the past few years. I think they've been gathering the dragon balls the old fashioned way- slowly and methodically.'

'That's… wow. That's a lot of effort…' Yamcha commented.

'Well, they are magical wish-granting orbs. I can think of a few people who would spend a lifetime searching for them.'

'So, basically,' Puar said, 'since we used the dragonballs three years ago, the Red Ribbon Army has been continuously searching for them?'

Yamcha smacked a hand to his forehead. 'Of course! We're so oblivious. Why else would the Red Ribbon Army be holding the dragonballs in that base way back then? Even then they were searching for them. We just unintentionally pushed their plans back a few years.'

Krillin felt a wave of distress surge through him 'For years- the Red Ribbon Army has been terrorizing communities, harassing innocent people, and needlessly disrupting people's lives while pursuing the dragonballs. And we've done nothing. Is that- is that the truth of it, Rayne?'

Rayne met Krillin's troubled eyes. She wished she could have denied it. 'From what I learned, the Red Ribbon Army has been unceasing in its intimidation and suppression of anyone caught up in their operations. So yes, what you're saying is true.' A genuine pang of regret hit her. She held her gaze with Krillin. 'I'm- sorry, I-'

'There's nothing we could have done, Krillin.' Puar consoled, coming over to hover near Krillin. 'It was only just recently we found out where the Red Ribbon Army is operating from.'

'But we could have used Bulma's dragon radar!' Krillin stammered, 'we could have just, looked-'

'Krillin,' Yamcha said, enunciating his words carefully, 'we all feel horrible about this- but we can't beat ourselves up about what-ifs in the past.'

'Yea,' Bulma agreed, taking Yamcha's hand in her own in support, 'there was no reason for us to check the dragon radar in the past few years. This is just the way things turned out. It was out of our control.'

Krillin drew into himself, teetering at the precipice for a second. Then, through summoning a feeling of calm, he collected himself. He lifted his head, anguish plain on his face- but there was an unmistakable focus in his eyes, too. 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to… expose myself so much.'

Rayne wrapped a consoling arm around Krillin. 'It's alright, Krillin.'

Krillin passed a grateful look to Rayne before shrugging her arm off. 'We should focus,' he said with a tone of relief, 'on what we're going to do about this.'

Shifting gears almost insultingly fast, Yamcha said loudly, 'Great idea!', and slammed his fists to the table. 'We strike hard and we strike fast! Cut the head of the snake off! Who's with me?'

Bulma tried her best to groan unperceived.

Somewhat baffled, Rayne mouthed something, then said, '...what?'

'Don't you see! Not only do we need to take the Red Ribbon Army down, but we need the gather the dragonballs to get information on Kakarot- and the Red Ribbon Army did our work for us by collecting all but one! We can kill two birds with one stone!'

The idea… actually made a lot of sense. 'You think you guys can take the Red Ribbon Army on your own?' Puar asked skeptically, crossing her arms and leaning back in the air.

'Sure,' Yamcha replied, excitement clear in his voice. 'We learned a while ago that bullets don't work on us- remember when you were shot by that Red Ribbon thug at Kame House, Rayne?'

'Of course I remember,' Rayne answered, annoyed. 'How would I have forgotten that?'

Yamcha gestured apologetically. 'Sorry, sorry. Point is, you weren't harmed, and that was before we trained fully with Master Roshi for the tournament, not to mention the training we've done since then. This might seem a little cocky,' Yamcha smirked, 'but I don't think the Red Ribbon Army can even touch us if all they're using is traditional weapons.'

'So you're saying we should charge into the base, metaphorical guns blazing, and defeat them head on?' Rayne squinted her eyes, as if examining the suggestion as a physical object. 'Wouldn't it be smarter to take a more covert approach?'

'Is infiltration going to permanently stop their operations?' Yamcha aggressively pursued, confident in his own plan. 'Will it stop their needless attacks on the lives of defenseless people?'

'...No,' Rayne said after a quiet moment of reflection, 'I guess not.'

Krillin tossed the idea around in his head, aware of the eyes on him that were waiting for him to comment. 'I think,' he said once he fully considered the plan, 'we should do it. Act as soon as possible to stop the Red Ribbon Army dead in its tracks. It is,' he said louder, finding every face in the room, 'the very least we can do.'

'You know, I'm not sure if you've forgotten,' Puar skimmed in the air, 'but only you, Yamcha, and Rayne can survive being shot.'

Bulma agreed, 'Yea, where does that put us two? Do we just sit on the sidelines while you three do something incredibly dangerous and stupid on your own? We have a stake in this too, you know.'

'I think,' Rayne suggested, 'you two could sew chaos in the base before we attack. Really confuse the officers as to what is happening. That would go a long way towards helping us.'

'I don't like this. Surely there must be something,' Bulma frowned, throwing her arms up above her, 'we can do that's smarter than this. Why don't we brainstorm for a few days before committing? See if we can think of a better, more thought-out plan?'

'Bulma, you have to remember,' Yamcha reminded her as he rested his hand on her shoulder, 'we don't have a lot of time. If we're planning to strike against the Red Ribbon Army and gather the dragonballs before the tournament, we need to act now. I genuinely think this is both the quickest and most effective plan. Have a little faith.'

Bulma seemed to consider shaking Yamcha's arm off, but then relented and placed her hand on his. 'All right. This is okay with me. Puar, you?...'

Puar considered the plan once more, then assented with a nod. 'I'm in. I don't like it, but I guess I'm not going to be the one in harm's way, if the attack goes the way it's supposed to. As long as you three are comfortable with this, I'll help.'

Krillin, Yamcha, and Rayne exchanged nods. 'We're in agreement, then' Yamcha spoke as he scanned the room. He stood. 'I'm ready to go when you all are. Meet downstairs in a few minutes, take the helicopter?'

'Sounds good,' Krillin said. 'See you there.'

Yamcha exited the room, very quickly tailed by Bulma. When they were outside she slapped Yamcha on the arm. 'What were you doing in there, idiot?'

Terribly confused, Yamcha could only make an unintelligent facial expression before Bulma continued. 'What was with that brashness of launching into your plan, right after Krillin had nearly started crying in front of us? Do you know anything about tone or timing?'

'I... ' Yamcha searched for something to say but he struggled to find anything.

'And one more thing,' Bulma whispered, quiet enough to not be heard by everyone else but loud enough to make clear her disapproval, 'don't treat me like your property. Don't do that macho 'ownership' thing with me!' Finished, Bulma stomped off out of sight. Yamcha was rooted in place, terrified. Where did that come from?...

Puar exited the room to find Yamcha still like this, white-faced. They had lived together for years- they shared a bond that could broach the most difficult topics. This was one of them. 'Yamcha,' Puar offered as she prodded Yamcha to follow her down the hall,' I think you let your male posturing with Krillin earlier get to your head…'

Yamcha dumbly nodded, his eyes still distant, as he meekly accompanied Puar.

Inside the room, Krillin stretched as he stood, actually letting a laugh bubble out of him. Rayne gave him a weird look. 'What?' he asked.

She gave Krillin a funny smile. 'After all we just talked about- after what you went through- you're laughing?' She shook her head, disbelieving. 'You're an interesting person, Krillin.'

'Oh? You're just discovering that?' he teased amicably. 'And here I thought you were all knowing. Tsk, tsk…'

'I'm smart, but I'm not Kami,' she explained, gesturing for them to exit. 'I can't know everything.'

'True. What do you know about this plan, though?'

'Well, I can't speak to how it's going to go, but with us two and that slacker Yamcha,' she said elbowing Krillin while saying the words "us two", 'what could go wrong?'

Krillin let loose a wonderfully liberating laugh. In combat and in personal turmoil; my friends are there to help me get back on my feet. Why do I keep forgetting that?...

0o0o0

Digging through a snow drift, a short red-haired girl dived through and shot out the other side, crawling to the edge of a ridge. The blizzard was raging all around her, obscuring what would usually be a very beautiful view across a flat section of the landscape. Her eyes weren't concentrated on the obscured vista, however; she was searching for a pair of footsteps that had winded through her village. She was certain she was the only person who had found the tracks- they disappeared in the space of minutes after she had found them- which only served to increase her curiosity. It was a single pair of footsteps… so it couldn't have been those big red bullies who've hurt her mom and dad, they only travel in packs… and the footprints look barefoot- no one from her own village would be crazy enough to go out 'unbooted' in this weather. So it had to be a stranger. But how were they surviving in this weather? And where were they going? She kept her head to the ground like a bloodhound, scanning the precious few feet she could see around her until she sighted a small section of disturbed snow to her right. There! She crawled over and picked up the trail once more. Arm blocking the snow from screaming into her eyes, she waded forward in snow piled higher than her waist. Still, she persisted, following a twisting path through the blizzard. She was on the verge of turning back out of fear of straying too far away from her village when she, quite abruptly, walked into a wall. 'Huh?...' she groaned, turning her gaze upwards. She wiped some snow away from the wall, revealing the red brick underneath. Red brick. But that's- oh no, I've come far too close- Suno turned to run back the way she came but she bumped into another person. She flopped backwards into the snow, and when she tried to scream for help a hand closed over her mouth. Through stinging snow, the other person came into focus- it was a girl a few years older than her, dressed in strange, colorful clothing. She pressed one finger to Suno's mouth, shushing her, before speaking with a slow, careful tone. 'It is very important that you stay quiet. If I'm correct, and the person who I think is here, is here, then-'

A deafening boom erupted from somewhere in the blizzard around them. The other girl instinctively ducked, taking her hands away from Suno's mouth, before scanning her surroundings and slowly righting herself. 'I don't think it's going to be safe enough for you to run back to your village…' the other girl chewed at her lip, staring off at something Suno couldn't see. 'I'm sorry, but it's safest if you stay with me.' she said, concerned, as she helped Suno to stand. Suno was baffled. 'Who… who are you?' she stammered, half terrified and half perplexed.

The other girl gave a warm, comforting smile. 'My name is Chi-Chi. And yours is?...'

'Suno.'

'Suno,' Chi-Chi repeated to herself, trying to force the name into her brain. Another explosion went off, more distant and higher up than before, startling them. 'Stay close to me,' Chi-Chi said after the sound tailed off. 'We need to keep ourselves hidden.'

'Why?' she cried. Too many things were happening at once for Suno. Why is the tower exploding? What's happening?

Chi-Chi kept an even tone to her voice. 'Because I am tracking a very dangerous man. And you don't want to meet him.'

0o0o0

Krillin's earpiece crackled with sound. 'Everyone ready?' Rayne buzzed into his ear.

'Puar and I are in position,' Bulma replied.

'Same here,' Yamcha chimed in.

Krillin momentarily glanced at the sprawling Red Ribbon Army headquarters laid out before him. Soldiers, vehicles, and buildings were dotted around the base, creating a human equivalent of an ant colony. It was going to be a long attack. He mentally prepared himself, then said, 'Ready.'

'All right everyone,' Rayne announced, 'it's showtime.'


A/N: Holy toledo batman! I feel like I'm writing decent stuff! Hope you guys feel the same! As always, waiting on bated breath for every review- positive or negative- that comes my way.

Reviews:

LWexe: Thanks for the input. Good to know people dig the Pursual Arc, hah!