Sins of the Father
Chapter 28: Corners of the World
A/N: New arc time. Sins of the Father. I wonder what that refers to!
Her determination burned much longer, propelled her much further, than she would have guessed. In a daze she walked for hours on end, blocking out every feeling that sought to affect her. Her wounds and exhaustion caught up to her eventually, though. After walking for who knows how long, Chi-Chi collapsed to the ground sometime around midday, flopping Kakarot down as gracefully as she could in the process. She was in the forest- appropriately, she shimmied up to a tree stump and sat against it, regaining her strength. Regrettably, this gave her the time to think about what she had done.
I can't believe… I threw away everything with everyone… over him. A few feet away from Chi-Chi Kakarot remained unconscious. He breathed as peacefully as someone in his state could, the gentle rise and fall of his chest the only indication that he was still alive after the previous day's events. He was also… oh jeez, he's naked… Blushing, Chi-Chi looked around at her surroundings for something to cover up the Saiyan with. She settled on a large, still-leaved tree branch, and draped it over the bottom half of his body. It would undoubtedly slide off once he started to stir, but thankfully, Chi-Chi didn't intend to stick around that long. Her eyes lingered on him. I'm not a fool. I may have saved his life out of mercy, but no one sticks around a sick dog longer than they have to if the dog likes to bite.
I'm falling into this useless discussion with myself again, huh? Alright...
Kakarot could be taught better; there's no doubt in my mind. He's not destined to be who he is now forever… but I'm just not sure I, or anyone else, can help him change. He needs to start down that path first of his own will. If I understand him as well as I think I do… then any outside nudging would just convince him he was doing the wrong thing.
Her thought process never felt clear when it involved Kakarot. Barely any time had passed and already Chi-Chi was thinking she would have handled her previous stand-off with Rayne and Krillin differently. She should have been calm, considerate, confident in her belief- but in that moment she was motivated by fear, blinding her to any other course of action except for desperately defending Kakarot's life. How could she blind herself to how much everyone- even herself- had lost over the past few days? She should have been more… patient? I don't know...
A brief, familiar feeling fluttered across Chi-Chi's mind. She turned her head instinctually, searching… and felt it. Yamcha was alive, maybe even the Crane fighter Chiaotzu. An instantaneous wave of human life poured out from West City, galloping across the world in every direction.
Chi-Chi smiled. Turns out they could do it, after all. She stood, took one more look at Kakarot, and departed.
0o0o0
Grumbling from residual anger, Rayne swaggered through the forest, not trying to move in any particular direction except forward. Away from anything that's behind me, literally and… the other way. A week had passed and still, she held onto this driving anger.
Seeing the sky turn black in the middle of the day during this time had made a few things clear to her. Somehow, someway, the dragonballs had survived Piccolo's attempt of apparent obliteration of them. Thus, everyone who had been killed by Piccolo had been revived.
Except for Master Roshi. She had sought out his ki in vain for days, holding onto the slightest hope that it was a fluke that she couldn't sense him at first.
She had to face reality. His ki simply wasn't present- he was still dead. For whatever reason, Master Roshi wasn't coming back.
Accepting this wasn't as hard as she thought it'd be. I guess I came to terms with it back there in West City. All this… it makes me feel hollow.
If Kakarot had never been allowed live the countless times before… maybe he wouldn't have weakened Master Roshi at the tournament and Master Roshi wouldn't have felt forced to use the Evil Containment Wave. But Rayne couldn't ignore the fact that Kakarot had significantly weakened Piccolo. Ultimately, it was pure speculation whether or not Kakarot had helped them or hurt them overall. How can you weigh "saving our lives" with "crippling not one, but two of our friends"? None of this is as simple as it should be… you should be able to hate bad people, damn it!
She still felt angry- she just didn't know who to direct that anger towards. And deep down, in a little corner of herself currently being pushed below the surface, she deeply regretted how she had parted with everyone else- especially Krillin. We were all suffering. What right do I have to solely express my anger?
As she finished this thought, Rayne stumbled over a fallen tree trunk and nearly tumbled into a forest clearing, catching herself at the last moment. As she regained her balance, she noticed there was a simple one-building shack erected in the center of the clearing. Tree stumps were littered around the building, only giving way to a large bonfire with a cooking spit set-up on top of it. She had taken a few steps forward when the door to the shack forcefully swung open.
'Hey!' a man Rayne could only describe as a fat samurai emerged from the hut. 'I said befor-' the man verbally and physically halted, for the first time getting a good look at Rayne as she stepped fully into the clearing. 'Oh- uh, I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else.' The man lifted his hand off of the grip of a sword strapped to his side.
Rayne was still a little too confused to respond, so the man stepped closer, extending a hand. Rayne accepted it. 'Name's Yajirobe. Sorry about that. I thought you were the stupid green guy who flew by earlier.'
'Stupid… green guy?' Rayne managed.
'Yea, this guy was flying around in the sky when he noticed some meat I was cooking on my spit here.' Yajirobe jabbed with his thumb to the fire behind him. 'I think he was hungry because he tried to take a bite out of it but I gave him a good kick and drove him off. He looked pretty hurt too. Serves him right for trying to eat my food!' Yajirobe puffed out his chest, either from pride or annoyance.
Rayne struggled to understand what Yajirobe was saying. 'So this green guy… what did he look like?' There's no way he's talking about one of Piccolo's spawns, right?
'I guess he was kinda thin, had these short gargoyle wings- and he always had a smirk on his face.'
This sounds like… Tambourine? Matches Krillin's and Tien's description almost exactly. Everything except for the fish face. So… 'Did he have a fish face?'
'Yea, he did, actually.'
Rayne moved her head up and down, taking another wide look at Yajirobe. The man looked like he hadn't fought a day in his life. He drove off Tambourine? Really? 'Do you mind if I… do something?'
'Huh?' Yajirobe scratched the back of his head. 'Uh, sure, go ahead.'
A strange glint in her eyes, Rayne backed away from Yajirobe and stopped at the end of the clearing. She took a breath- then ran at Yajirobe, charging him with one arm held forward.
Yajirobe, looking a little confused, let Rayne close to a foot away from her before twisting and bringing up his scabbard to neatly block her attack. In the space of a second he had perfectly adjusted his form to absorb Rayne's attack as best as possible. He didn't look fazed or hurt in the slightest. 'Was that the thing?' he asked casually.
Rayne withdrew her attacking arm and huffed- mostly from her injuries and her generally exhausted state. That... was crazy! 'Explain!' she yelled, pointing at Yajirobe accusingly, 'how are you so strong?'
Yajirobe shrugged. 'idunno.'
'Train me!'
'What?'
'You're going to train me and show me how you got so strong!'
'Uhh… okay.' Abruptly, Rayne heard the sound of something growling. 'But can we get some food first?' Yajirobe said while gesturing with the hilt of his sword to the forest, 'because I am starving.'
0o0o0
Bulma wandered through unconstructed and unlit halls, taking the chance to explore the currently in-repair parts of Capsule Corp on the day the workers were off. In some places entire rooms were being recreated from scratch, a testament to how damaging the attack on the building had been. She was surprised initially to find it still standing with a third of it just blown away- but looks could be deceiving, and it seemed like the promise her father repeated to her over and over again as a child was true. The Capsule Corporation building would collapse only if her father told it to.
Consistency like that in her life was good right now, considering how much was changing around her. Friends coming back from the dead, some not coming back at all... Bulma had barely known Master Roshi, having never been a student of him. As a result, his death probably impacted her the least. Sad as that is to say. What affected her more was to see everyone split up on either good or bad terms, starting with the fight over Kakarot as Launch had described it. The thought of all her friends… not being friends with each other dampened her mood.
That wasn't the chief weight on Bulma's mind, though. A month had gone by and with every passing day Yamcha seemed to be growing more and more distant. I didn't expect everything to be all good, happy, and nice for him after literally dying… but Yamcha, I need to know what you're thinking! She didn't care if all he had to offer was grief- she just wanted to help.
Lost in her thoughts, Bulma found herself fully exiting the building, emerging into the garden outside. On this side of the property it had been almost entirely destroyed, yet here and there life still persistently hung on, working to reclaim what was taken from it. Bulma saw someone crouched over one surviving plot of land near the edge of the lot, pressed up against what remained of the street. There too work was being done to repair the damage from the attack- but like at Capsule Corp, the workers were off for the day. Bulma squinted at the figure. Must be Mom. Kami knows she loves her stupid flowers…
Bulma took one step forward before she noticed the person's hair color- black. Yamcha? It was dead silent outside save for the sound of tugging and pulling. Weeds flew over Yamcha's shoulder, landing in a neat pile behind him. He's… gardening? I've never seen him do that before.
Suddenly, Bulma was struck by a feeling of perverse intrusion, like she was actively violating something personal and sacred. Carefully and quietly, she began to double back into the building. He'll talk to me when he's ready. I know he will… Sighing, Bulma headed off to the nearest empty lab on the ground floor. No idle hands.
0o0o0
Puar kept watching the door to the bar she was in swing in and out, back and forth like a saw, day in, day out, every hour on the hour, presenting every patron that walked or staggered in. Admittedly, she initially had hoped she would only have to watch this door for one, two weeks tops. Nope. Two months. And counting. Just to find a stupid pig.
In his… strangeness, Oolong has given up a lot of sensitive information to Puar, chief among them a detailed description of how his underworld employers would contact him. 'Theeeey'll put out an ad for a dish- *hiccup* -washer repaaarmen, which is just a sign for me to comeeee to this… shitty divvy bar,' he had slurred once to her. 'Ev'ry time.' Then he had put on this stupid smile. 'Theyy like me-eh in Central Cit-ee.'
So Puar had done exactly that. She had paid a local newspaper to put out an ad for a dishwasher repairman and had parked herself in a fairly disgusting bar, looking for any sign of Oolong. She had also made herself look like an angry looking muscled meathead to ward off any suspicious looks. So far, that was working. Finding Oolong, however, was not.
Puar sighed and flattened herself to the counter. Well, at least there's nothing else for me to do right now. Everyone is here or there, physically and emotionally. She would have liked to spend some time with Yamcha… but he was… not quite right. Dying has a way of changing things, I guess. He's not going to be the same for a while, if not ever. I feel bad for Bulma...
For Puar, it had taken many close friends dying for her to realize how much she needed to get her ass into gear. I guess I have 'taking down the Red Ribbon Army' under my belt, but what else? I still haven't done anything of merit involving my own life. For all I know, that shapeshifter school has reformed by now, again a pipeline of young, impressionable people to a career working for crime. For all I know...
But she knew Oolong would come here eventually; she knew the pig would get greedy. And once he did, she would use him to get drive out every dirty little secret out of the ground. Use every available prick of information to track down whoever had started- or is even still running- that damn school. So Puar was going to wait for however long that took.
'Bartender! Another beer!' she growled. In the meantime? I need to keep up appearances.
0o0o0
Out of breath and exhausted, Tien rolled over the edge of the seemingly heightless tower. That was easily… the dumbest and most exhausting thing I've ever done. How is this tower so damn tall! He had a moment to catch his breath before the face of a white-furred cat appeared above him. 'Hi there. Welcome to my tower!'
Tien looked at Korin skeptically with his continuously open third eye on his forehead. The rest of his face, like his body, was trying to recover from the arduous climb. 'Uh… hi.' With a grunt, Tien rolled over and stood, patting his newly adorned simple white shirt as he did. 'Are you… the- err- owner of this tower?'
'Indeed, I am. My name is Korin. What can I do for you?'
'Someone told me that a friend of mine, Krillin, trained with you before the tournament.' Puar, I swear, if you made me climb this tower for nothing...
'Oh, Krillin? You know him?'
'Yea, we're... buds, I guess. I've been looking for him, actually…'
'Well call off the dogs then, because I know where he is.' Korin lifted his staff, pointing upwards.
'He's- he's on the roof?' Tien asked, confused.
Korin rolled his eyes. 'Are you crazy? Of course he's not. He's on a floating platform a few miles above this tower, training with Kami,' Korin said, grinning.
'With God?... Okay… well, can you get me up to this… floating place?'
'Sorry, no can do. The only way up there is via a magic wooden pole- which Krillin has right now in his possession to get back down with.'
'Couldn't I just fly up there?'
Korin tapped a finger to his nose in thought. 'I guess, hypothetically, you could, but you would need a lot of energy... ' he looked up and down the Crane fighter. 'Energy you might have in a few years time. Right now, though? Trying to fly up there would be suicide.'
'So let me get this straight,' Tien grumbled, 'Krillin is literally being trained by God, growing unimaginably stronger, while everyone else is stuck on Earth without even a chance to keep up with him?'
'Now hold on just a moment.' Korin jabbed his staff into Tien's thigh, the human's height preventing Korin from reaching any higher. 'I may not be Kami but I'm a damn good teacher. I've been alive for eight hundred years, and let me tell you, I only napped for a hundred of those, tops. The rest of that time I was using this,' he gestured to his head, 'thinking of new techniques and skills. I'm easily an equal to that old man upstairs.'
'But you said you already taught Krillin,' Tien complained, 'if I trained with you, at best, I'd get to where Krillin was before training with Kami.'
'You think I taught Krillin everything I know?' Korin asked, offended. 'What kind of teacher would I be if I did that? And Krillin didn't even train with me for the total recommended time. He just spent two piddly months with me.'
'Recommended? You have a standard amount of time you train all your pupils for?
'Well,' Korin's fur bristled, 'it's definitely longer than two months.'
'So let me get this straight. You're saying that, if I trained with you, you'd be able to keep me competitive with Krillin? Really?'
A wicked smile crossed Korin's face. 'I'd give Kami a run for his money.'
'Nothing crazy? Just what's necessary, right?'
'Nothing crazy, promise.'
Tien sized up Korin once more, then nodded warmly. 'Alright,' Tien said, extending one hand to Korin, 'looks like we're in business.
Korin reciprocated, grasping Tien's hand. 'What's your name?'
'Tien.'
'Tien. Looks like we are.'
Right as they shook their hands once, Chiaotzu shimmed over the edge, out of breath similar to how Tien was just a few minutes before. He looked over and saw Tien shaking hands with a short, somewhat chubby cat. 'What's uh…' he asked, 'going on?'
0o0o0
Like before, the world slowly came back to him, like a rising tide of sensation lapping onto the beach of his mind. Kakarot opened his eyes expecting a landscape of death and destruction- instead, he saw a leafy green canopy rest high above him, rippling with light wind. As he sat up he realized that he was in a forest.
Again…
Kakarot examined his body. He was wounded and injured- but a pinch confirmed that not only was he alive, but also he had enough energy and sensation to cause some discomfort to himself. He had survived- but what exactly did I survive? The last memories he had were of being crunched into the earth, feeling for the first time in his life that he would actually die. In those crippling moments of pain, he had felt a… reprieve? Like a never-ending struggle had come to a close; I was, finally, thoroughly and utterly defeated by someone…
Grimacing from his pained effort to stand, once more Kakarot looked around him. It was just a normal forest. His first instinct was to leave, move beyond whatever this stretch of land held for him; but he found himself sitting on a tree stump instead, sinking his head into his hands. At the very least, I need to get things straight. Try to remember everything that happened… why I'm- Kakarot's fingers were probing his back when for the first time he noticed he didn't feel uncomfortable sitting on the stump. He was missing a sensation of feeling- wind coursing through his fur- my tail. His hand shot towards where his tail should have come out of his body- but it rimmed around a stunted hole. My tail is gone.
The realization… wasn't unwelcome. Kakarot even felt an odd sense of peace, like losing his tail had somehow freed him of… something. This is so strange!
In astonishment, Kakarot ran through a litany of thoughts in his mind, trying to make the difference he perceived tangible- then it struck him. I'm like… an insider looking out, and not an outsider looking in, inside my head. My thoughts… are my own.
Uncharacteristically, Kakarot continued to sit and think.
0o0o0
The snow was gone- and Suno was overjoyed. There were only a few months of the year where she didn't have to wear her special boots to walk around outside. Even though her village was a sticky, muddy mess, chock full of mosquitos and other fleeting bugs, she loved this time of year. She could spend all day out of the house, watching the long shadows move across the ground like distant herds of reindeer. On one particular day, however, she watched for an hour as a speck in the distance steadily grow closer and closer.
She broke into a sprint when she recognized who it was.
'Chi-Chi!' Suno practically jumped into Chi-Chi's arms, wrapping her own arms around her in a big hug. 'You came back!'
Chi-Chi smiled, patting Suno on the back. 'I said I would, didn't I?'
Suno's initial excitement wore off and she detached herself from Chi-Chi. 'So this means…'
'I'll train you to the best of my ability, as we agreed.'
Suno's face broke into a gigantic smile and she bearhugged Chi-Chi again. Thank you! I won't disappoint you!'
Feeling like another martial arts teacher she knew, Chi-Chi hugged back.
0o0o0
'Bulma.'
In response to her name being called Bulma lifted her head from her workbench- she was in the middle of one of the more delicate prototype assemblies she had done in her life. There may or may not have been explosives involved. 'What's up?' she responded, as she turned her head towards the room's door.
Yamcha was standing relaxed a few steps into the room, wearing a white tank top and jeans. He had a backpack on. 'I'm leaving.'
Bulma lifted her machining goggles off her head, carefully placing them on the workbench in front of her. Beneath them, her eyes shone with concern. 'You're leaving?' she asked, a bit shocked.
'Yea. I've been thinking about this for a while. I'm not going to move on with my life by just... hanging around like a ghost. There's nothing for me here…'
'Yamcha…' Bulma rose from her seat and came closer to him. 'What are you saying?' she pressed one of her hands into his, 'I'm here…'
Yamcha's brows twitched, clearly struggling with some internal emotion- when he spoke, however, his voice retained its even keel. 'Bulma, the time I've spent with you here in West City has been one of the happiest, most wonderful periods of my life. I wouldn't change a thing about the time we spent together.'
'Then why are you leaving?' Bulma's stressed, 'why?'
He let his hand drop out of her grip. 'You should know better than anyone else as to who I am, Bulma. Even though the time I spent with you was amazing… it was time I spent running away from my fears, from making any real progress in dealing with those fears. You let me hide away from the world here for a while… but it's time that I better myself, for both of us. I don't want to shrink away from things anymore.'
'I don't understand! Where is this coming from, Yamcha?' Bulma was on the verge of completely breaking down. This was playing out exactly like the worst case scenario she had imagined in her head. I should have talked to him sooner! 'Why didn't you share anything of what you've been feeling?'
'I didn't share anything because there's nothing to share. My head is just a fucked up mess, Bulma. I'm grieving and mourning and hoping and despairing and imagining- it's nothing concrete, just a bunch of chaos!' Yamcha grimaced, as if recalling this was causing him physical pain. 'I stuck around here on the off chance that doing so might sort out how I feel. But it's been months now, Bulma. Nothing's changed.'
'But I could have helped you, couldn't I? Why didn't you tell me- talk to me about any of this?'
'...Do you understand what I'm going through?' Yamcha's voice softened. Bulma looked up at him- and for the first time in their conversation, his guard was down- tears were running down his face. His entire expression was clamped down so tight that it seemed like his face would crack in half at any moment. 'Have you ever had one of your mentors, someone you really looked up to for knowledge and direction, die while you were dead? When you couldn't do anything to stop them from dying?
Bulma wanted to shout at him for thinking like this- but her sad sympathy won out in the end. 'No,' she sighed. 'I haven't.'
'It's killing me- not being there when Master Roshi and everyone else fought King Piccolo. I never more powerless in my life than when I heard that Master Roshi had died. What are you supposed to do about that, Bulma? How am I supposed to accept something like that? How could either of us have said anything to fix that?'
Bulma found that she could only frown. 'I don't know.'
'And that's where I am. I need to do something different- I don't know what 'different' is, but I know I can't do it here.'
'And you know this for sure?' Bulma asked quietly, not breaking eye contact with him.
'Yes. As sure as I can be right now.'
Bulma thought on this for a moment, her eyes darting to one corner of the ceiling. 'Then… okay.' Bulma held Yamcha's hand again. 'If this is what you want to do, and you think it's going to help you… then you need to do it.'
Regret flickered into Yamcha's face for the first time in their conversation. Bulma quickly added, 'you don't need to say anything more. I may not fully understand how you're feeling, but I understand why you need to do this, at least Even though... yea.' There was still a small part in the back of Bulma's mind that wanted to be angry- she almost let her bluntness shine through unfiltered just then. But restraint is the theme of the day, so…
When Bulma finished, Yamcha almost looked… relieved, and Bulma felt a small uptick in her own satisfaction. I guess I handled things decently, then.
Yamcha took Bulma's hand with both of his, gripping it. 'Thank you. Thank you for being such a patient person.' Yamcha then abruptly pecked Bulma on the cheek, making Bulma blush. 'Thank you,' he repeated one more time.
'No… problem.'
Yamcha gave her an honest, vulnerable smile, then began to turn. 'I'll go now, then. The sooner the better. I think.' He checked one shoulder strap of his bag. 'I hope you don't mind that I took some cans of food from your kitchen- just in case, y'know?'
With Yamcha facing away from her, Bulma felt free to roll her eyes. He's still got a ways to go. 'Yea… that's fine.'
'One more thing, Bulma,' Yamcha stopped with one hand on the doorframe, looking over his shoulder at her. 'I'm coming back. I don't know when, but… yea. One day.' His eyebrows squirmed briefly before he moved out of sight, his footfalls slowly falling away into the distance.
Bulma stood near the doorway for a few moments, coming to grips with her new normal. He's going, then… A thought screeched through her head. With much more gusto than earlier, Bulma ran back over to her workbench and put her goggles on in record time. The same line was going through her head, like it had been for the past few months. No idle hands! Not me, not anyone!
0o0o0
A few hours after chatting with Korin, Tien tapped down on solid ground once more. Chiaotzu joined him a few minutes later. 'What do you think, Chiaotzu?' Tien asked as Chiaotzu stretched his aching muscles. 'You think we should train with Korin?'
'Why not? It's not like there's another ancient teacher waiting on the sidelines to tag in. Or do you think Shen will take us back?' Chiaotzu joked.
'Probably not. Well, if we're going to commit to Korin's training, then we need to find something to do for the next week while he prepares.'
'Do you think anyone in this village has any quests for adventures likes us?' Chiaotzu said with a smile, gesturing to the small community around them.
'Who knows?' Tien took in their surroundings- tents dotted the immediate area around the base of the tower. People were walking here and there in the course of doing daily chores and responsibilities. 'I- huh.' Tien's eyes drifted to something over Chiaotzu's shoulder. 'What's going on?... Oh…'
Chiaotzu turned. Towards one end of the village there was an argument going on judging from the throng of people gathered and the gesticulating of a few. He listened closer. Oh! That's a familiar voice!
Tien and Chiaotzu exchanged glances and set off towards them. As they drew closer a few words could be heard.
'... told you… have to… what are you talking about…. let me in!' The last fragment was almost shouted, causing Tien and Chiaotzu to flinch. They gently pushed through the back of the crowd, edging towards the front.
Bora, the village chief, had his arms crossed and was scowling at someone just in front of him. Tien and Chiaotzu couldn't actually see the person fully- but their characteristic yellow hair stood out.
'I told you before,' Bora said with the patience and cadence of someone who has said what they're about to say a hundred times, 'only those with pure hearts can be allowed to enter this village, let alone climb this tower. And I can sense you do not have a pure heart.'
'And I told you, my heart is pure excitement! I don't have an evil bone in my body! Maybe I have a sneaky bone, or a stealing bone, but-' Launch twisted her head around Bora, sighting Tien and Chiaotzu. 'Hey!' she pointed at them. 'Talk to them! Those two can vouch for me!'
Bora swung to Tien and Chiaotzu. Even though he was substantially weaker than the two of them, he still cut an imposing figure. 'You know this person?' he asked gruffly.
Sensing some hostility by association, Chiaotzu quickly spread out his hands soothingly. 'Yes, yes! She's a good enough person. She can be a little… intense, but deep down, she's decent!'
Tien flicked his eyes towards Launch- surprisingly, she was nodding her head in approval. 'That's right!' she chimed in, 'I can be nice with two hands tied behind my back!'
Not really what I was saying, Chiaotzu thought, but okay.
Bora swung back to Launch, then stepped back to regard the three of them together. 'It is against tradition to let someone who has not clearly presented themselves as having a pure heart into the village. But perhaps you may demonstrate this in another way. Recently a gang of troublemakers has been harassing our community. Every night, they creep to the edge of the village before we send someone out to chase them away. We do not know who they are or what they want, but their incursions are a drag on our sense of security. If you can drive them off, or at the very least determine what they want so that we may counter their desires, we will let your friend enter the village.'
Tien and Chiaotzu were about to raise their objections but Launch spoke first, 'Sure thing!' she said, clapping her arms around Tien and Chiaotzu, 'No problem for us! We'll find your intruders faster than you can blink.'
Bora blinked. 'If you say so.' Nothing else to say, Bora turned away towards the center of the village. The crowd of people gathered started to disperse.
Once everyone was gone, an annoyed Tien shrugged off Launch's arm. 'What was that?' he demanded. 'Did it not occur to you that we might have something to do!'
'Do you?'
'Kind of! Something very important in a week, actually!'
Launch scoffed. 'Come on, what that big guy described sounds like a one-day problem, tops. I bet we can fix this problem for them by nightfall.'
Horribly frustrated, Tien kept his mouth shut. He glared at Launch with enough force to kill weaker people. 'Alright,' Chiaotzu said, sighing, 'let's just get this over with.' The pale human gestured towards the forest surrounding the Sacred Tribe of Korin and started walking in that direction. Launch and- after a moment- Tien followed.
A minute passed. 'Thanks for that, I guess,' Launch muttered.
Tien didn't respond. 'No problem,' Chiaotzu said eventually. 'So if you don't mind me asking Launch, how come you're here?'
'Well, to find you guys, obviously.'
Chiaotzu turned around made brief eye contact with Tien. One of Tien's eyebrows were raised. 'Really? Why's that?' Tien addressed Launch.
'Puar told me you were searching for Krillin,' she made knowing eye contact with both of them, 'and that you two are trying to keep up with him in strength. Is that about right?'
'More or less,' Chiaotzu stepped over a small branch- they had entered the forest.
'Are you guys… uh… good with Krillin?'
'Good? What do you mean?'
'Like cool with him. No hard feelings between you two about.. well, you know.'
'Do you have a problem with us?' Tien asked pointedly.
Launch frowned, holding her hands up conciliatory. 'No, not at all. I have a lot of things I want to put behind me, too. Would be wrong if I judged people for their bad past when I myself have one.' Launch smirked. 'You didn't answer my question, though. You got any beef with Krillin?'
'We're fine,' a displeased Tien crossed his arms. 'And if you're suggesting we're trying to kill him or something…'
Again, Launch put out her hands to stop him. 'No, no! Just wanted to…' an awkward silence followed her words. '...check,' she finished.
Tien made eye contact with Chiaotzu. They both shrugged.
The forest was mostly unremarkable. As it was, they walked another good chunk of time in silence.
'Let me ask you a question, Launch,' Tien asked after a few minutes of walking. 'You have another… you, right? The one with the blue hair?'
'Yup.'
'How come we haven't seen her since the match between you and me in the tournament?'
Launch opened her mouth to respond casually- but she hitched right before speaking. 'That's… a good question, actually. Is it weird that I haven't sneezed in months?'
'I think so, yes,' Chiaotzu answered. 'Are you serious? You haven't sneezed in months?'
'I have been trying to not sneeze, for your information.'
Tien gawked. 'Launch, you should sneeze.'
'But I don't want to!'
'Your other "you" can't do anything while you're in control, right? If that's the case, you've essentially been imprisoning her since the tournament.'
'But…'
'Launch!'
'Alright, alright.' She took a step away from them, then theatrically withdrew a handkerchief from her pocket. 'Here I go!' She made a big show of inhaling, wiggling her nose, and arching her back exactly as she had done at the tournament. Mid-bend she halted and sneezed triumphantly, covering her face with her handkerchief.
Launch straightened her back to its normal angle. 'Well, I did it. Happy?'
Tien and Chiaotzu were dumbfounded by what they were seeing. 'Launch, your hair…' Tien croaked.
'What? It's blue now, right?' She pulled a strand of hair into her vision. It was yellow.
'Did… did you kill your other half?'
'What? No. You're jumping to conclusions.' She turned away, looking at them over her shoulder. 'And you're wasting time! We need to find these varmints!' With that, she ran off deeper into the forest.
For a moment, the two of them watched Launch run off, utterly perplexed as to what to do. It was only when she disappeared from sight that they realized what they should have done. 'Oh shit!' Chiaotzu exclaimed. They flung themselves into a frantic sprint after her.
A/N: I decided to leave it here because I didn't want the chapter to get too lengthy. Otherwise, expect more of this over the next few weeks. See you then!
Reviews:
LWexe: Kami always loved the Earth and all its people. Seeing the ugly side of them so often can make that appreciation guarded, though.
Luke: Ooop. Yep, forgot about that while writing the response to your review. So yea. Piccolo is alive.
As for the dragonballs, I'm not knowledgeable at all about Super, but as I understand it no single set of dragonballs can revive the same person twice. I think when Dende recreates the dragonballs this restriction either resets (because while it is still Shenron, a different Namekian is maintaining the dragonballs) or is thrown out the window (as Dende possibly could have removed this restriction when he modified Shenron's powers in other ways).
Randybob: Your review prompted me to investigate the conditions under which Saiyans regrow their tails. I've come to understand those conditions are not clear at all. So we'll see if Kakarot regrows his tail?
HyakuRasenHikireki: Thank you!
