Outlanders
Chapter 47: Picking Up the Pieces
A/N: Heyo! Sorry this chapter is somewhat delayed! My semester is wrapping up and a lot of things are happening at once. Hope you enjoy!
The Lookout was a mess. The day's battle had left the entire surface of it in disrepair, ranging from the splotches of blood that stained what was once perfectly white and clean tiles or the glaring cracks that spoke of the ruinous destruction of what was once a solemn, sacred place. The hole in the dome of the complex was glaring, and if Korin's hunch was right, would have to be fixed soon to prevent the entire roof from coming down. And this was ignoring the two still bodies that remained as quiet as death. Korin shook his head upon glancing at the two corpses, each one laid on opposite ends of the Lookout. Poor fools. They followed Garlic Jr. into an oblivion of his own making.
But things were slowly becoming right again. Korin had deduced what that the purple smoke that had passed by his tower earlier was from Garlic's angry speech, and within a handful of minutes, he had retrieved the proper antidote to the venom currently coursing across the world. The Sacred Water had been just where he had remembered it, and after muttering a quiet thank you to a certain eternal attendant, Korin had dispersed it from the bottom of the Lookout. His ki sense then told him what he could not see- the world was being soothed. Mr. Popo would be proud.
A frown crossed Korin's features. Just thinking about the attendant made him sad. It was unclear what had happened to them, but judging from their continued absence even after the defeat of Garlic Jr., it seemed that they were gone. Which isn't to say they were dead. More like… they had been banished from this world, if Korin was right in how he understood the situation. While empowered as the Earth's Guardian, Garlic. Jr. must have dismissed Mr. Popo from his service or something along those lines.
Perhaps, if revived, Kami could return Mr. Popo to this world. Korin would like that.
Sighing, he turned his gaze towards the only other living souls still left on the Lookout. Chiaotzu, Suno, Yajirobe, and Launch all sat in a circle, each one either chatting with one another, taking stock of their injuries, or gazing pensively into the cloudless blue skies above. He figured it was time to rejoin them.
Launch saw him approach 'It's done?' She asked, bringing everyone else's attention to bear down on him.
Korin nodded solemnly. 'The Earth should be back to normal in a matter of hours… for the most part. I hope the devastation caused by the Black Water Mist was relatively mild.'
'So Garlic Jr. was being serious earlier when he said he was drawing on people's hatred?' Suno asked, wrinkling her nose. 'He had affected the people on Earth somehow?'
'I think so, but that's nothing to worry about now.'
A gentle wind blew across the area. It struck Korin how quiet everyone become now that he was near them. 'What?' he probed. 'What is it?'
'Korin,' Launch said carefully, as if broaching an uncomfortable topic, 'what exactly happened earlier? According to everyone else, you shot lightning out of your hands and nearly killed yourself. For what?'
'First off, "nearly killing myself" is an overstatement,' Korin replied. 'What I did was strenuous, not dangerous. Second, I was stripping Garlic Jr. of his Guardian powers.'
'You did what?'
'I severed his link to his position as Guardian of Earth. That, in turn, took away a lot of the advantages he would have enjoyed up here.' Korin cast a glance at the main complex building. 'This place is more powerful than you may think…'
'So… correct me if I'm not following correctly,' Chiaotzu spoke up, 'but are you saying that Garlic Jr. became the Guardian of Earth? How is that possible? Don't you have to be like Kami? Someone good, that is?'
Korin's expression twisted. 'It's not that simple. As I understand it, Guardians are superior, if not distant figures to the people who live under their protection. Even the kindest ones require a certain degree of… detached purity from the realm they watch over. Sometimes those who are of a cruel heart can attain that unity of a soul through a strong conviction or desire. I assume that Garlic Jr. achieved such a thing.'
'So you're saying any person, good or bad, can become a Guardian? Do we have to worry about anyone else doing what Garlic Jr. did?' Suno asked. 'Could someone else make a run up here and do what he did?'
Korin shifted his gaze to her. 'Before all this, I would have said no. But now? I don't know. To be honest, I don't even know where Garlic Jr. came from. Long ago, his father had been defeated by Kami and the Guardian before him, and I had assumed that both father and son would have died in their defeat. Obviously, I was mistaken in thinking that.' Korin placed a finger to his chin. 'Though, now that I think about it, Garlic Jr. was probably able to do what he did because his father had briefly competed for the role of Guardian. Some sort of knowledge or experience was most likely passed on from his father to him. It enabled him to do what he did. Probably.'
There was a pause in the conversation as they soaked in what Korin had said. 'You know Korin,' Launch said dryly, 'you could have mentioned to us earlier that you knew so much about the ins-and-outs of everything,' she gestured the area around them, 'up here. Maybe we could have formed a plan before we went into battle with some sort of godly, magic-wielding type.'
Korin looked at her, amusement playing across his face. 'Weren't you the one who charged in without saying anything?'
Launch growled and purposely looked away from him. 'My point still stands,' she continued, intent on getting an answer to her question. 'Sharing this information beforehand would have helped.'
'Yes,' Korin said somewhat remorsefully, 'I regret not telling you all sooner. But you have to understand that what I've disclosed to you all is sensitive information. There's a reason why I, an eight-hundred-year-old cat, alone possesses this knowledge. The fewer people who know about this stuff, the better.'
'I have to say, if you ever wanted to a Guardian, you're nailing the distant and aloof part,' Launch said through slitted eyes.
Korin gave a low laugh, gently shaking his head for emphasis. 'Perhaps…'
Everyone more-or-less raised an eyebrow at him. 'Wait, are you being serious?' Chiaotzu asked.
'I'd be lying if I said a part of me didn't want to succeed Kami as Guardian,' Korin admitted, 'and gain access to the knowledge and powers that position entails, but…'
'But what?' Chiaotzu asked.
'It's not the way of the Guardians,' Korin said flatly. 'The Guardian before Kami choose him for the position, as did the Guardian before that Guardian, and so on. There's a direct line reaching back centuries, maybe even millennia. I wouldn't want to be the one who breaks that chain. Besides,' Korin added with more levity, 'he's coming back, isn't he? Until then, I might be tempted to clean this place up and explore, but usurping his role would be another thing entirely.'
There was again a pause as everyone soaked up Korin's words. 'I never knew you were so wise.. or, I guess, knew so much,' Suno said bluntly. 'You just seemed like a cat to me.'
'I am a cat,' Korin replied cheerily. Something then flickered across his eyes. 'That reminds me- Launch, when you re-appeared earlier- where had you come from? I'm curious as to what Garlic Jr. did to you.'
She shrugged. 'I couldn't really tell you, to be honest. There was some sort of magic at work.'
'Could you describe it?'
Launch wrinkled her nose. 'Well… it was a very dynamic space. Things changed and shifted a lot. Though I guess, in the beginning, there was this great big blackness that hemmed me in on all sides and pushed me in a certain path. I had no other choice but to follow the path laid out in front of me- or, at least, that's how I felt. Eventually, I stepped through a gate and found myself within a room.'
'A room?...' Korin's brows furrowed. 'Could you describe it?'
Launch's sight flickered over to Chiaotzu for an instant before quickly returning to Korin. 'It was a scene from my past. A place I had visited before. I was the only person there… for a time. Then my two halves tried to… fight me?' She tapped a finger to her chin in thought. 'No, more like they tried to trouble me.'
'Two halves?' Suno chirped up, confused. Chiaotzu promptly nudged her to keep quiet.
'So it was some sort of spiritual, nondescript test?' Korin pressed, stroking his white-furred face. 'Hmm… then I think might have an idea of where Garlic Jr. may have sent you. There's a chamber on the Lookout called the Pendulum Room that has the power to temporally manipulate minds.'
'Meaning?'
'It can force you to relive memories,' Korin clarified, 'although, admittedly, it's quite an opaque room. A Guardian that is well acquainted with the room's nature can access any number of past, present, or future realities from any number of beings...'
A stillness dawned on the conversation. Korin belatedly realized that he was most likely unnecessarily confusing them. 'Regardless,' Korin said, shifting gears, 'anything else?'
Launch briefly considered whether to inform them about what she had done with the strange window she had encountered, but considering she couldn't make sense of what she had done herself, she decided she would keep the information to herself. She noted that it was an odd reaction to have around people she considered to be her friends, but her instincts rarely led her astray. Well, usually.
'Nothing else,' she answered after a few seconds spent thinking. 'I'm back here in one piece, and that's all that I care about.'
Korin gave a quick dip of his head in agreement. 'That takes care of that matter, then. Now then…' Korin swiveled to get a wider look of the Lookout. 'What shall I do now?'
'You sound like you want to stay up here,' Chiaotzu observed.
'Perhaps I do. This place has seen better days. It would be a crime if the Guardian returned to his home to find it a mess. And I haven't seen any signs of Mr. Popo, so… someone has to do it.'
'Wait-' Suno jumped in. '-is Mr. Popo not coming back?'
'I fear not.'
There was a sound akin to a frustrated grunt. Everyone turned and came face-to-face with a fuming Suno. 'That's not fair! He was supposed to train us! If we don't have him, then... ' her words lost the weight behind them, and she turned his head to one side. 'I'm sorry. It's just frustrating to hear that.'
Launch viewed Suno with an unreadable expression. Anyone who was paying attention could infer there was something deeper there than the surface level frustration she was showing. Launch set her face with a determined cut. 'Suno, would you like to train with me and Chiaotzu? We could always use another person to spar with, especially with Tien away.'
Something flashed across Suno's eyes; it was quick, but Launch had definitely seen it. 'I'd like that, actually,' Suno replied with a brightening face. 'As long as it wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience for you two.'
Mischief ran across Launch's face like a mouse. 'Oh, trust me- you'll earn your place. Isn't that right, Chiaotzu?'
He gave them a weird look like he wasn't exactly sure what Launch was getting at, but he nodded all the same. 'That's right.'
'I'm glad to hear that,' Korin spoke, turning back to them. 'You'll do well by each other.' Korin's expression then shifted, as if he was seeing something sad and unexpected for the first time. Without any warning, he pushed past them. 'Yajirobe?'
Korin drew attention to the fact that the swordsman had sat cross-legged on the tiles at some point in their conversation facing away from them. He looked meditative- which, for him, was as clear a red flag as any that something was wrong. He turned his body slightly towards them upon hearing his name be mentioned. 'My sword…' Yajirobe's gaze was fixed on the hilt and third of a blade gripped in his right hand. What was once a grand weapon now looked pitiful. 'It's ruined.'
'Better to lose a sword than an arm,' Suno said somewhat flippantly. Chiaotzu forcefully elbowed her to shut up. 'What?' she protested. 'It's true.'
'You don't understand,' Yajirobe said quietly, rotating the hilt and his hand around to view it from a variety of different angles. 'This was the only thing I had to remember my parents by. My father, specifically. He was a great warrior… and... ' Yajirobe cut himself off and shook his head. 'Now I have nothing left.' His body stilled.
For those who knew him, it was shocking to see Yajirobe this broken up about something before. Korin had lived with Yajirobe for years and not once had he seen him like this. He, as did everyone else, wanted to say something to relieve the swordsman's aching heart, but again, Suno beat everyone to the verbal punch. Thankfully, she was more much tactful this time around.
'Not once, in the entire time I've known you, has that sword nor been at your side,' Suno pointed out. 'Would you say that's true?'
The left side of his head faced her. 'It is.'
Suno smiled, as if she had just spotted a winning move. 'Then you've always been carrying around a piece of him with you, regardless of whether that sword is at your side or not. His honor, his ideals, reside within you. Otherwise, you wouldn't have raised it at the ready whenever adversity came your way.' She hesitated for a moment. 'I saw you defending Korin earlier against Garlic Jr.'s attacks, armed with only your sword to defend yourself, even though you had no hope of counter-attacking. You stood your ground. I think your father would have been proud.'
Korin raised an eyebrow. He wasn't aware of this. 'Is this true, Yajirobe?'
'You should have seen it,' Chiaotzu said, respect radiating from his voice. 'While Suno and I were being pushed around by Garlic Jr.'s goons, he was harmlessly dismembering every ki blast sent his way. He was like a machine.'
Yajirobe held up the sword hilt. 'But- the sword-'
'-Can be repaired, right?' Suno interrupted. 'It can be reforged into something stronger than before.' She crossed her arms out of confidence. 'There's no doubt in my mind.'
Yajirobe's gaze turned to each one of them in turn, examining the encouraging awe each one of them showed towards him. It was enough. 'I'll get around to it,' he spoke up, standing and patting himself free of dirt. 'but right now, I think I'm needed up here. Isn't that right, Korin?'
The cat gave him a sly smile. 'Only if you're so inclined.'
'We have a good thing going. Just because you're temporarily moving doesn't mean I'm not going to stick to you like a personal guard. Who else is going to eat all the Senzus you grow, anyway?'
Korin snorted, though his face turned serious a moment later. 'Speaking of, if any of you need some… I don't have any,' he said sheepishly. '
'It's fine,' Launch replied, making a show of rolling and cracking her back. 'We're stronger than we look-' her body abruptly froze, as did her face. 'Uh… yeah.' Very carefully, she maneuvered body back into a normal posture. 'We'll be fine.'
One of Korin's eyebrows arched, but he decided against pressing the matter further. 'Very well. If that's all, then you know the way out- the Power Pole should still be set-up to take you down.'
'You won't need it to get back down?'
'Well, I will, but-' Korin's speech dissipated, showcasing his concentrating face. A second later, Chiaotzu smiled. 'Ah. I didn't know you had that ability.'
'I'm a cat of many stripes.'
Launch flicked her gaze between Korin and Chiaotzu. 'What just happened?'
'Unimportant,' Korin said, turning from them and beckoning Yajirobe to follow. 'We'll keep in touch!' He called over his shoulder and waved. 'Until then, stay safe!'
They waved back.
0o0o0
Things had so suddenly and abruptly returned to normal that Rayne was inclined to believe she had just emerged from an unprecedented and intractable fever dream. But, to her dismay, the bruises and wounds on her best friend were all too real, as was the gaping hole in the castle's outside walls. It was a far cry from the stress-free environment she had imagined Fire Mountain to be. Though it wasn't all bad. At least Chi-Chi's fangs were gone.
Gohan cooed adorably in Rayne's lap. As she lifted the baby boy into the air and bounced the giggling tyke like a hot potato, she realized things could be worse.
Before long she was laughing alongside Gohan, finding herself in love with every little sound and burble he made. Was this what it was going to be like raising her own kid? Suddenly, she felt a lot less lonely. She stood and spun the kid around, happily seeking a way to keep the infectious giggling rolling.
Which was a bad idea. When Rayne spun Gohan around so that he was oriented facing away from her, she nearly choked upon seeing a tiny stump pointing out just below his waist. It was brown. It was hairy. It was wiggling ever-so-slightly.
Her eyes became a pure spread of white. Oh. Right.
0o0o0
Numbly, Oolong and Puar slinked out of the warehouse, willing every sense they possessed to close-up and wither while they passed across scores of dead and mutilated bodies. It had been a bloodbath. One that was so bad that not a single person had outlived it. Even now, they could hear their feet quietly slapping the viscous liquid that coated the floor.
'Keep walking,' Puar spoke, forcing herself to be brave. Because that was what they were doing, right? Walking amidst the ruin of a battle was brave. Not in the risking-your-own-life variety, but brave nonetheless. By Kami, Puar hoped she was being brave.
Oolong seemed content to listen but not speak- the steady sound of movement tailed her wherever she went, giving a special sense of comfort in the understandably distressing situation she found herself in. Accomplices, Puar reflected, were underrated.
When they finally exited from a back entrance, emerging into a beautifully sunny and warm day, they both exhaled and panted, unaware up until that point that both of them had been clenching their breath. After this, they exchanged a glance, each one happy to be removed from such a grizzly scene. Their relief was not present on their faces yet, however- there was still one more thing that needed to be done. Fumbling with something on his person, Oolong eventually succeeded in producing a polished silver lighter. He weighed it in his hands; it was clammy with his own sweat. A second passed before he looked at Puar, who gave a nod to her head. In response, Oolong nodded back, flipped the lighter open, and lit it. He then hurled the nascent flame at a stack of cardboard and kindling arranged in a pile at the base of the warehouse. The flame spun through the air, shuddering against the wind and air, before landing amidst the pile and instantaneously sparking the whole gasoline-soaked pile into flames. With a frightening eagerness, the fire leaped and clawed upwards, snaking its way up the side of the warehouse.
'Our job is done,' Puar announced to the growing flames. 'May not a single more person like us be treated as a tool ever again.'
'Damn right.'
0o0o0
Bulma opened her eyes. A dull grey ceiling was the first sense to greet her, followed by the dull sound of whirring and the sensation of comfortable fabric beneath her. She was in a bed.
As she would have done in any other normal circumstance, Bulma tried sitting up. Bad idea. Her cheeks turned red with exertion but despite her best efforts, she couldn't even lift a finger. What the hell!? It was almost as if she was experiencing sleep paralysis- but everything was far too distinct, too vivid, for her to have been in an impaired state of mind. More importantly, she inexplicably felt a physical command over her body, which to her knowledge wasn't something someone usually experienced during sleep paralysis. She was just having trouble moving. It was almost as if some sort of pressure, maybe force, was pushing down on her-
'I wouldn't try to move any further, if I were you,' a voice reached her from some far corner of the room. It was unmistakably masculine. 'Your body hasn't and will not adapt to this planet's gravity for some time, if what the doctors have told me is true. You'd be best served by relaxing.'
Her mind had been halfway there to that conclusion before this busybody had interrupted her. Annoying. She didn't need to be told basic facts about her situation. She said as much. 'Were you trying to be perceptive?' she said snarkily. 'I could have figured out as much by myself.'
The other person in the room didn't respond. Instead, the steady sound of boots traipsing across a metal floor reached Bulma's ears, setting her ill at ease. It wasn't ideal that she couldn't twist her neck to the left or right- her head was in some sort of brace to prevent her from moving her head. While she was struggling against this set-up, a shadow passed over her.
Her breath caught. It was the Saiyan she had seen as a projection- the comparatively shorter one with an impressively vertical style to their hair and a prominent widow's peak. In person, she sensed what she had suspected- there was an aura of strength and fear that tailed the man wherever he went. When he spoke, his face maintained a certain degree of impassivity. 'You would bite the hand that feeds you? The hand that keeps you alive?' he asked in a low voice.
She hadn't wanted to show such obvious fear, but she gulped. It seemed that she had chosen the wrong person to try and throw off guard with her verbal aggressiveness.
A thin smile formed on his lips. 'Nevermind. I see it in your eyes. You understand.'
'I understand that we're all still alive because of you,' Bulma proffered. 'Your other Saiyan friend didn't seem very keen on keeping us alive.' She paused, studying his face. He seemed… entertained? Bulma couldn't quite pin down the expression on his face. Regardless, she decided to press forward. 'You recognized that we have worth. That we can help you.'
'Hah! You remain astute. Perhaps we should restart,' he said, letting the smile rest on his face. 'I am Vegeta- the other Saiyan is my subordinate, Nappa. Before we speak of anything else, I want you to answer some questions of mine.'
'What kind of questions?' Bulma struggled again against the brace holding her head in place. Her eyes flitted back-and-forth across her field of vision. 'And where are my friends?'
Vegeta simply stared at her. 'You'd like to know, wouldn't you? Would it satisfy you to hear that they're far away from here, fighting for their lives?'
'No, it wouldn't!' She intensified her struggle- even though she was quickly exhausting herself. 'Where are my friends? What's going on!?'
'Tsk. Answer my questions first, and maybe I'll answer yours.'
'No!'
Vegeta's eyebrows drew into a thick line. 'What?'
Bulma's face was a mask of rage, but when the words tumbled out of her mouth, there were controlled and punctual. 'If you're trying to threaten me, don't try it! Either my friends are dead or dying, or they've overcome whatever stupid task or fight you've thrust on them! In both cases, there's no reason for me to tell you anything!' Even as Vegeta's smile threateningly melted back into his face, Bulma maintained her furious gaze at him. 'I've dealt with people like you before! You'll kill my friends no matter what I tell you if it suits you! I'd rather die than help you!'
Vegeta was confused. Normally, people didn't grow bolder the farther a conversation with him wore on. Perhaps she had underestimated his willingness to get what he wanted. But he wasn't a torturer, though sometimes the situation had demanded it, and he also knew the limits of his authority. Inflicting any serious harm on any person stationed at one of his outposts would invariably draw the attention of any officials higher up in the army. And Vegeta wanted to prevent any possible reason for any outside meddlers to come to this planet. There was a reason he had chosen to bring the earthlings to such a far-off outpost, after all.
Perhaps he ought to change tactics. 'If I so choose, I could kill you. No repercussions would fall upon me. Your death on a backwater planet on the edge of the galaxy would go unnoticed. Do you understand? You're in no position to deny my wishes.' The smile returned to his face. 'How would your friends feel if they knew you were being so reckless with your own life?'
He had expected her to react rationally to a death threat. She had not. 'Fuck you!' she spat, spraying spit into his face. 'Get out of my room!' Unmoved, Vegeta took a step back from the bed and ran his white-gloved hand across his face. Rage flickered on his face like a dying star.
'I'll give you one more chance to spare yourself a horrible death,' he growled, his face taught with repressed anger. 'I want to know what happened to Raditz and his brother. And I want to know why you three earthlings barreled into space not a few weeks after Raditz landed on Earth.'
A pause. 'If you weren't so interested in intimidating me,' Bulma seethed, though her face appeared less angry than just a few moments before, 'you'd remember that we've already told you- Raditz and his brother are dead. We killed them.'
'Forgive me if I don't believe you. And you didn't answer my second question.'
It was a reasonable question to ask; Bulma would have probably sought the same information if she was in his shoes. That kind of thinking didn't make it easier to come up with a plausible lie on the spot, however. 'Frankly,' she said with as much confidence she could muster, 'that's none of your business.'
Vegeta's anger-laced expression didn't change, nor did he respond. He seemed content to have his dull black irises examine her. Abruptly, the rage dropped from his face. 'Bulma, was it?'
Her heart clenched. Being addressed on a first name basis by such a terrible person was a cause for alarm. 'Yes?'
'I think you misunderstood the terms of our arrangement when you and your friends were taken to this planet.'
'I thought we had agreed on a deal,' Bulma replied, somewhat confused. 'We'd work for you, fulfill contracts in whatever way Raditz was doing-'
'You don't understand. To me, Raditz was a bug,' Vegeta thundered. 'He was, essentially, a slave. He told me every miserable thing he ever learned, down to every pitiful fact about your planet. He told me Kakarot was a shell of himself, ruined by the planet he was tasked with destroying. He told me every despicable detail about you and your friends when he first arrived on Earth. Do you know why he told me these things, Bulma?'
Bulma made a face of fear- but, internally, her mind was whirring. What the hell is he talking about? Was Raditz in constant communication with this guy? 'I don't,' she spoke candidly.
'He told me these things because he couldn't be trusted to make his own decisions. For that,' Vegeta held up one hand and jabbed a thumb at himself, 'he needed me. Do you understand? My subordinates do not withhold information from me. They're not smart enough to have that luxury.'
'You think I'm not smart?' The words had rushed out of Bulma's mouth without even a moment spent considering them. This guy had a way of getting under her skin.
Vegeta laughed in his own harsh way. 'Perhaps not. I usually assume the worst of those who work under me.' His gaze settled on her again. 'But even the smart ones need to fess up about what they know.'
This was getting weird. 'Is this a requisite for working for you? You need to know everything?'
'Of course. And, to be honest, if you're not going to work for me, I have no need for you and your friends. So consider full clemency a requisite for life.'
Bulma paused to process. There were some things she could never, ever, tell someone like Vegeta about, chief among them the potential existence of the Namekian dragon balls. She didn't even want to think about what a person as sick as him would wish for. And yet, she wanted to live- no, she needed to live. They had to get to Namek somehow. And they couldn't do that if they were dead. Vegeta looming over her bed, while she was trapped in place by this planet's gravity- it was such a horrible position to be in… If… only…
'Can I discuss this with my friends first?' Bulma asked, breaking her silence. 'After all, I'm won't be fulfilling any contracts. I don't fight.'
He eyed her body. 'I'd assumed as much. What do your pitiful friends have to do with this?'
'It's would be their decision to make if they wanted to work with you, not mine. Regardless of what I say now, they might decide to turn down your offer. It wouldn't be fair to them to speak on their behalf.'
Vegeta scoffed. 'You think I care about fairness? What's to stop me from isolating you from them until I learn what I want to know?'
'I think I made myself very clear earlier,' Bulma said, a harshness to her tone. 'I'd die before I reveal any information I don't want to.'
'That may be true,' Vegeta mused, as if he was playing out that event in his head. 'You know what? It doesn't matter if you have your friends to consult. Even if you're bolstered by their company, you'll soon realize that it's better to cooperate with me than to spite me. Your ship was destroyed, and judging by how you and your friends stumbled in earlier, you weren't able to save anything from it before that unfortunate event. Whatever goal you may have at the moment has no hope of being completed while you're stuck on this planet. Or am I wrong?'
He dared her to refute him. With every inch of his face, he dared her. She could not; purposefully, she threw her gaze to one corner of the ceiling.
Vegeta straightened. 'As I thought. Then,' he turned and began padding away from her bed. 'I await your forthcoming cooperation.' A few heartbeats later, and Bulma was alone in the room.
To her, everything felt too raw, too open. She would have liked to pull a heavy sheet over this entire wretched mess.
0o0o0
'So… that's the state of things.' Retu finished. Throughout his entire briefing he had progressively sagged downwards in his chair- he hated being the bearer of bad news. But someone had to step up- and as long as Mr. and Mrs. Briefs were riven with hand-wringing fear over their daughter, that someone had to be him.
Gathered before him, Chiaotzu, Launch, Suno, Chi-Chi, and Rayne stood in various anxious poses, broadcasting their own unhappiness at the situation. Outwardly, Launch looked to be the most upset. 'How do you lose contact with a ship?' she demanded, giving a voice to her doubt. 'I was there when Mr. Popo told us, verbatim, that Kami's ship wasn't built to fail. And now you're telling me that something's failed. The ship that was supposed to be the lifeboat for an entire species is broken.' She shook her head as if she was trying to shake off her own anger. 'I can't believe this.'
'We don't know if anything broke,' Retu replied. 'All we know is that there's been no contact.'
'Were they close to Namek?' Chi-Chi asked. To everyone else present, she was noticeably baby-less- she hadn't wanted to take Gohan on the long trip to Capsule Corp., so she had left him with her father at Fire Mountain. 'Perhaps they had landed, and then maybe the… well, maybe something with the planet disrupts the signal…'
Retu looked at Chi-Chi sadly. 'Unfortunately, they were still two weeks away from Namek when we lost contact. There's no way they reached their destination.'
'What about something in space?' Chiaotzu speculated. 'Could they have passed through a nebula and only temporarily lost contact?'
'Could they have been attacked?' Rayne asked, her tone unnaturally even.
'Look,' Retu said, letting out a long sigh. 'I'm just stating the facts. It's been over a month since they've left the Earth, and even if the ship is kaput, they should have contacted us with the other tech they brought with them. But there's been nothing. No messages, no broadcasts, no signals, not even a random beep. For weeks, it's been dead silent. It's like they disappeared.'
'This plan supposed to be our failsafe,' Rayne said bitingly. 'It was supposed to be foolproof.' Her voice began to grow louder with bottled-up despair. 'I thought everything was going to go back to normal! I thought-' her voice caught, her eyes turned away, and Chi-Chi came to her and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. 'I had hope,' Rayne said, fighting through her own sniffling. 'Now you're telling me all that dreaming was for nothing?'
Retu wanted to say something, anything, that would have soothed Rayne's own anguish, but how was he supposed to say with absolute certainty that things would go back to normal? He had as little information as she did. He willed himself to speak, his mouth and throat hummed and squirmed- but nothing came out. He hung his head in defeat.
'We all knew the risks,' Chiaotzu said, using the distance in his tone to insulate himself from the rolling tide of emotions washing over them. 'They knew the risks. And they would be angry to find out we thought so little of them.' His eyes swept across the room, grabbing hold of everyone present. 'Yamcha and Tien are the strongest of us, and Bulma is the craftiest person I know. Together, there isn't a whole lot that can trouble them. We shouldn't be so quick to doubt them.'
Rayne wasn't very affected by this thought. Chi-Chi stepped over and silently embraced her, letting her press her head into her neck.
'That's all well and good,' Suno said, breaking her own silence, 'but surely we have to do something, right?' Her face was drawn into a determined expression. 'They could be in trouble. If that's the case, then I'd have no qualms about launching and leading a rescue mission.'
'Well,' Retu started unsteadily, 'from what I understand, Mr. Briefs is in the process of prototyping another ship. We also have the star coordinates for Namek downloaded from Kami's ship. We could send another ship.'
'But if we did that, who's to say we won't run into the same exact problem Bulma, Yamcha, and Tien did?' Launch asked, venting her own pessimism. 'We'd be sending another crew out into who knows what. We'd be begetting even more misfortune.'
'Well, certainly it's' better than doing nothing!' Suno argued. 'There's a real chance they're helpless right now, waiting for some sort of rescue-'
'We know nothing about what happened to them!' Launch shot back. 'How are we supposed to help them if we don't know where they are, or what condition they're in-'
'Listen,' Retu broke into their spat. 'We don't know what happened to the ship. We simply don't know anything about what has, is, and will happen. The ship could be fine. The ship could be destroyed. We're totally in the dark. And, beyond that, we know nothing about what condition everyone is in.'
Warily, he glanced around the room. Everyone seemed to be listening to him. He sighed before continuing. 'There are options available to us, but without knowing what we're going to run into, I think it'd be best if we held off on launching another rescue ship, if only for a few weeks, so we can think through our options.'
'And if they need our help right now?' Chi-Chi asked, her tone sad and accusatory all at once. 'And we find out later that we could have saved them?'
'Then we wouldn't be able to reach them in time,' Retu said sadly. 'Mr. Brief's ship is still a prototype. Would you want to ride an uncertified spacecraft into the deep space on the chance someone may be in danger?'
Chi-Chi looked like she was going to argue this point, but in the end she shut her mouth and frowned.
Retu took another survey on the room. Sad, angry, disappointed- they were all painted in different shades of humanity, each person reacting in a way resonant with their own soul. it would have been beautiful in its own way if it also wasn't so crushing. 'We have to wait. Just a few weeks. Then, when we've thought through our options, we make our move. Until then, we have to keep our faith in them alive.'
Empty stares were the only reply he got. He couldn't blame them. No-one ever likes the messenger with bad news.
0o0o0
Bulma hadn't been left alone for long. A few hours of quiet consideration of Vegeta's parting words gave way to a reunion with Yamcha and Tien. It looked like they had been in a fight.
'What happened?' she asked, voicing her concern.
They looked too weak to stand. There was a scraping of metal on metal, followed by Tien and Yamcha appeared in chairs flanking her bed from either side. 'We passed,' Tien said with a joyless smile.
Yamcha was much more direct. 'We defeated some green monster that the big Saiyan, Nappa, had us fight.' He frowned. 'It was close.'
'And insane. What kind of army tests out new recruits by having their fight for their lives?'
Bulma's eyes moved back and forth between them. She couldn't put her relief into words. That wasn't true of her disquiet, however. 'I got a better understanding of our situation while you two were gone. Things are worse than we thought.'
Yamcha's frown deepened. 'What's going on?'
She explained to them the situation- what Vegeta had told her at virtual gunpoint. Either they worked for him as tools in the fullest sense of the word, or they didn't have a place here- or anywhere in the galaxy alive, for that matter.
At the end of her account, Tien raised his hands and clenched them into fists. 'But we can't tell him about where we're going! We'd be putting the entire Namekian race in danger!'
'I know,' Bulma said softly. 'We can't sell them out, even if it buys us our lives. It'd just end up dooming them along with us.'
Yamcha's face was unreadable for a second, though he kept his mouth clamped shut. 'We have to lie. We have no other choice.'
Tien threw a look at Yamcha. 'And you think he's going to believe that, based on how forthcoming we've been in the past? He'll see right through us.'
'Do you have any better ideas?' Yamcha said, nastiness creeping into his voice.
'Actually,' Bulma said, interrupting them, 'Vegeta made a slip in our conversation that could help us in fashioning a lie. He revealed that Raditz had been in contact with him while he was on Earth. He was fully aware that Kakarot had withdrawn from fighting us before he teamed up with Raditz.'
'Yeah? And how does that help us?' Yamcha asked, unconvinced of the relevance of this information.
'We can manipulate that pipeline of information. If we frame our goal or destination as related to something Raditz must have known about on Earth, then it makes the lie much more believable to Vegeta. It feeds into his own sense of superiority if it confirms or supports something he already knows.' Bulma made a sound of self-approval. 'Smart types like to be flattered that way. Trust me- I would know.'
'I see…' Tien rubbed his chin with his knuckles. 'We just need to concoct a story that he would believe based on what he knows about us and the Earth. Easier said than done…'
'We have time,' Bulma reassured them. 'If we can't think of a compelling story in the next thirty minutes, then I would be shocked. Just a matter of picking the right details and putting them in their proper places.'
'And if this works?' Yamcha asked. 'What, are we supposed to stick around here and work with them for the foreseeable future? What's the plan?'
'The plan?' A wicked smile enveloped Bulma's face from ear-to-ear. 'We play along until I figure out where Namek is. Then we nab a ship and make a break for it, consequences be damned.' A look of concern surfaced on her face. 'You two need to hold on for as long as you can. Anything you can do to buy me more time. Can you do that?'
They looked at each other, then nodded. Both of them gave her determined looks. 'We'll give it our all,' Tien said for both of them. 'For however long we can stall for you.'
In that moment, Bulma was reminded of why these two had accompanied her on a wild and crazy journey into unknown space. They were strong- but they were also dedicated to the mission. Long odds hadn't stopped them before. This time would be no different.
Together, they would get through this.
0o0o0
Months. Piccolo, despite his best efforts, hadn't been able to keep a totally accurate tally of how much time had passed while they ran a seemingly never-ending gauntlet. Instead, he was reduced to a frustratingly undescriptive unit of measurement. Months. It was sickening to think he had let a brief lapse in his concentration, driven by one of Krillin's horrible attempts at conversation, derail his meticulous counting. He had lost the one tether he had to perspective- the knowledge that this endless run was, contrary to how he felt, finite, and that there was a destination at the end. But now, he was lost. He had been reduced to a single, unquantifiable metric. Months.
He was ready to throttle someone's neck. Perhaps they should have stopped at that palace. Blasted, restless, all these thoughts, this desire to crush bones into dust, forestalled and forgotten by an endless path and an ever longer patience-
'Hey!' Krillin yelped at his side, causing Piccolo to halt mid-step.
He rounded on his traveling companion. 'What?' he growled.
Krillin's face was blank. His eyes were focused on something in the distance. Slowly, the earthling's mouth curled into a smile. 'You won't believe it.'
There was a brief flutter of hope in Piccolo's chest, but he was quick to stomp this feeling into the ground. There was no joy to be found on this trip; no relieve. Just an endless, taunting path-
'Really,' Krillin prodded Piccolo into turning around, 'you should take a look.'
He turned without much hope. His jaw slackened a few moments later. 'It's… I can't believe it…' Piccolo mumbled. They had reached the end. Over the next mile or so, the path tapered off into a thin point and ended, looking much like a tail. Much like… the end of a snake, Piccolo realized. For the briefest moment mania seized him, filling his head with grandiose and ambitious dreams- but then Piccolo noted that he could see nothing else beyond the end of the path, except for more insufferable yellow clouds reaching to the far-off horizon. Is this some sort of cruel joke? Did we run all the way out here to be greeted by more nothingness?
An elbow nudged him in the side of his torso. 'Hey,' Krillin exclaimed, pointing one finger skywards. 'Up there!'
Piccolo titled his head up.
A planet. Somewhat far away, but a planet nonetheless. A place. There was no doubt in Piccolo's mind- every part of his soul roared with vindication- this was North Kai's planet. Up there awaited every strength and ability he had yet to master, every part of his potential that he did not know, all clamoring to be used.
A long exhale escaped from Piccolo's mouth. He took a moment to appreciate the significance of their accomplishment. If anyone was looking directly into his eyes at that moment, they would have said they were sparkling.
Casually, the demon extended his right horizontally to his body, eliciting a strange look from Krillin. 'Huh?' the earthling muttered.
Piccolo's arm then wrenched down and back, slamming an elbow into Krillin's midsection. Krillin was far too shocked and staggered from the sudden heavy blow to keep his feet on the ground- his momentum took him back and over the edge of the path and disappeared beneath a patina of fluffy yellow clouds.
Without wasting a second, Piccolo blasted off of Snake Way, hurtling himself towards the far-off planet in the distance. Finally! Time to surpass that clown, once and for all!
A/N: I'll be honest- I hadn't thought of that twist until the exact moment I wrote it. But I love it.
Aside from that, I'm curious if this chapter read any different from the previous ones. I've fallen in love with a certain fanfic over the past week and I'm wondering if it's coming off in my writing.
Reviews:
Transformers g1's-Prime: Thank you for the review! Glad to hear you enjoyed Launch getting the spotlight! She's definitely one of my more enjoyable characters to write.
LWexe: Between you and me, I'd keep an eye on their relationship.
