Son Gohan and Trunks: Another Road - Android Saga Act III (Chapter 2)
Trunks, 18 years old. Age 782 December 9th Earth - 1:30 P.M. Korin's Tower
The should-have-been soothing airstream came to sting all the cuts and bruises that scarred deep into his skin. Either through adrenaline, or apathy, Trunks simply ignored it and sat on the railing of the small little cut of the universe, content to watch the clouds creep across the skyline just above and below him. The ethereal blue and complete lack of life allowed him the true nature of the Earth's composition to come correct. Only the wind, the clouds, and the sky. Trunks spared a glance back for the statue behind him in the middle of Korin's abode. A few lovingly crafted tiny elephants lifting up their trunks to prop up a canister, a drinking apparatus of sorts.
Time fell away from the son of Bulma as he hopped off the railing and scoured Korin's Tower for anything he left behind. Trinkets and jugs and jars of water with labellings of all manner of mysticism, strength, and fortitude. The only thing he found from the mess was two strips of neatly coloured and decorated porcelain potting. Aside from that was a strange limp brown baggy in one of the cabinets down the stairwell from the star-watching precipice of Korin's Tower. Attached to the brown baggy was a note.
Since pretty much no one except for the people I can vouch for can even make it up here, I suppose it's fine to lay it all out for you. These are the seeds to grow Sensu Beans. If I ask you to, or if for some reason I am absent and unable to grow them myself. Toss these little numbers in the pots nearby. The Sensu Beans are a fickle mistress and only like to grow in those things so keep them clean and be ready to wait for a while. Sometimes Sensu Beans just refuse to grow so don't get too upset if you don't get it right on the first try.
Signed, Korin
Trunks wiped his face to clear his skin of the leftover debris and muck from Pepper Town, unknowingly clearing a tear from it as well. He bent down, and cupped the porcelain prisms in his hands, tucking the baggy in his pants pocket.
Bulma's son meandered throughout the rest of Korin's Tower, gathering little trinkets and organising the place as he went, knocked over items or memorabilia set straight thanks to his fidgety nature. Soon enough he realised the bright baby blue skyline had turned orange.
"..." Unable to say no, he stared outwards, absorbing it all. It didn't register for a long while, locked in the trance the aether offered him. "Oh no! I was supposed to meet up with the guys!"
Trunks hobbled around Korin's Tower, snatching up the two porcelain plant troughs and booking it, a blasting aura trail tapering behind him until he realised just how much energy he didn't have.
"Gah~" He let out goofily as his legs cramped and he suddenly started falling from the sky.
Fwooooooo~
His jaw slacked and his mind turned to nothing but goo as the clouds clipped him, passing through him on his way down. He took in the aether once more, a sharp inhale as he plummeted down the ancient details of Korin's Tower.
"Nimbus!"
His brow furrowed and right away, from up above, a curdling sound of screeching tires on the airwaves bellowed out and a cottony orange friend gripped his stomach.
Vyuuuuu! Vwerrrttt!
"Wow…" Trunks let out, breaths escaping him without his consent as he continued his descent. "Missed you…" He said, rubbing the shifting cloudforme below him. The Nimbus jogged down the sky slowly until Trunks: "Nimbus. Take me to Gohan."
At that, The Nimbus sped off, blazing an orange cloud trail across The Sacred Land, leaving behind the simple people of the forest.
VYUUUUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu~
Soon enough, the forests and tall mountains all peeled away and a humble capsule home came into view. With a composing breath, Trunks closed his eyes and hopped onto the dirt trail leading up to Chi-Chi's home. He placed the two long porcelain growing apparati just outside and dusted his pants off as much as they would allow before reaching towards the eroded 'golden' handle.
Before Trunks could even put his hand on the knob, the door busted open, almost smacking him right in the head had he not been hopped up on fight-or-flight, lucky enough that his legs didn't give out on him this time.
"Trunks, how could you!?"
"What?"
She latched onto his bloodied and ripped black tank top, ripping it and forcing her to grab his scuffed and bruised shoulders instead.
"You brought home my baby with only one eye and now he doesn't have both arms either!? What is wrong with you!?"
"Chi-Chi, I…"
"Do you have anything to say!?"
"No. We… I."
"The androids took my husband and everyone else we knew! And now my baby has to live the rest of his life without his arm! How are we supposed to defend ourselves from them now!?"
"Chi-Chi." He laughed nervously, pressing back against her shaking, crying advances. "They're gone. We defeated them."
"What..?"
"The androids… they're not coming."
The clouds parted overhead, the red oranges streaming across the sky punctuated by Trunks' piercing blue eyes and shadow over her frame. He stood over her very easily, despite that not being the case last time she remembered.
"They're… gone?"
"Great. We tell ha' and she don't believe us. That's called prejudice, Pua'. Don't eva' forget that. The little guys always lose."
"She was just in hysteria, Oolong! Her son got brought back to her unconscious and down a limb! I don't think it's unreasonable for her not to be receptive!" He fired back, spinning in a loop and pointing his bloodied, stubby paw The Pig's way.
"You~" She cursed, gripping tighter around Trunks' bruised shoulders, forcing a slight wince from the boy. "Thank you for bringing him back to me alive." Chi-Chi cried, tears draining onto Trunks chest as he made awkward eye contact with Oolong from behind the threshold of the front door.
"Can I come in, Chi-Chi?"
"Yes. Yes you can." Chi-Chi responded, wiping the tears from her eyes with the bottoms of her palms. "They're really..?"
Trunks said nothing as he moseyed into the humble wood flooring of the kitchen, only nodding to her assertion.
"I can't believe it. Really?"
"Trunks!"
Bulma crashed into him and he hugged her back tight, almost crushing her with the embrace.
"Ayy, knock it off, kid, I'm not an android! You don't gotta squeeze the life out of me~"
"Sorry, mom."
"So they're not exaggerating?"
Trunks spared another glance for the roughed up animals to his left.
"No."
"You really defeated them?"
"Yes."
"How!? How the hell did you two do it when everyone else failed!? Goku, Tien, Krillin, Piccolo, Raditz, Chaiotzu… your father…" She glanced at the ground, equal parts sorrow permanently fused with her joy. "And Puar and Oolong fought alongside you?"
"Yeah. We couldn't have done it without them."
"What!? That's insane! And all you guys walked away with was Gohan losing an arm and an eye!? That's that's unbelievable!"
"We didn't…" Trunks answered back as he pulled out a chair from the dinner table.
"You didn't what?" Bulma asked, her head askew like a dog's whimsical at the news.
"Walk away with everyone."
"What?"
"Korin."
"That little cat with the beans?"
"He was a lot more than that, mom."
"Oh no~" She groaned, sitting across from him and pressing her soft hand over his. She put her hand over her mouth and watched as he shed a tear that he wiped away just as quick as it came.
Trunks looked down and then:
"Chi-Chi?"
"Yes, dear?"
"Do you have a change of clothes I could wear?"
"Of course. I haven't much use for… Goku's old clothes and Gohan refuses to wear them. But… I'm not sure they would fit anyway. Gohan's far taller than I ever remember Goku being."
"I think so too. But it's been so long that I might just be dreaming." Bulma replied, placing her arm on the dinner chair's backside and watching Son Gohan sleep peacefully on the couch.
"Nah. Gohan's definitely way talla'n Goku. Dude's a giant." Oolong piped up as he plopped down on the seat next to Trunks.
"I'll be right back, Trunks."
"Thanks, Chi-Chi."
"Are you going outside, Trunks?"
"Yeah. I'm gonna go take a look at the hotspring. It's still there isn't it?"
"Fuck it. I'll take another dip. I don't think this internal bleeding's gonna stop anytime soon." Oolong chipped in, rotating his stubby shoulders as he filed out of the house with Bulma's son.
"I'm coming too!" Puar chirped, floating in a spiral to follow the pair as Bulma smiled and watched her boy leave right back out the front door.
Trunks looked up at the clouds again, lost in it, especially considering the side eye the two animals gave to him as he earnestly watched the sun set and the indigo colours paint the dusk into night. Chi-Chi just left him a clean set of clothes on the stones outside the spring as the animals left him on his lonesome. Somewhere in between, time escaped from him again and he awoke to the stars twinkling in even more vibrancy than before.
Slosshhhh~
The bushes shook with predatory twitches as Trunks stood up and felt the bathtime wrinkles that marked his skin from his extended soak. A tiger prowled the outside only to freeze in fear and total trepidation as Trunks made eye contact with the beast. The brush shook once more and Trunks put on a pair of loose blue gi pants and a white tank top. He tied the white belt around his waist and felt the earth crunch underneath his feet.
As soon as he stepped into the house, he felt the absence of consciousness, everyone laid out. Trunks looked at the clock.
3:34 A.M.
Fatigue was written all over his eyes and in his limbs, but something or other compelled him awake and he sat back into one of the kitchen chairs, content to sit and stare. He had already had his rest. The sound of Puar's purrs and everyone else's snores were the only thing besides the clicking of the clock on the wall and the constant clicking of the insects outside.
Soon enough, a few creaky footsteps cut across and a shadowy figure appeared from behind the fridge and out of the living room on the right side. His mother fixed her hat and placed it on the table as she likewise set down a mug in front of him.
"Hey."
"Hey mom. Shouldn't you be sleeping right about now?"
"I mean I was always a night owl. I think you probably inherited that from us."
"Us?"
"I mean Yamcha was definitely one too. So we were a good match. But maybe we slept in a few more times than necessary."
Trunks just curled in his lips, nodding his head, unable to come up with anything to add to what his mom had just presented. He watched her twiddle with her silvery purple hair and then his.
"You need to cut this. Like right now. I got the scissors and stuff so~ Tick Tick." She clicked in her tongue, miming said shears with her index and middle fingers.
"You think so?"
"Yeah. I think you look much sharper when it's cut short. Bangs on either side. It's cute."
"Mom. I don't want to be cute. I'm not a kid."
"Nah. You could be 50 years old and you'd still be my kid. Tough luck."
Trunks' eyes rolled as far as they would go, the bloodshot veins in his tired eyes showing through as Bulma let out a whisper-laugh. The both of them clammed up as Gohan groaned and rolled over in his slumber just steps away on the sofa.
"So they're really gone?"
"Mom. Yes. Why do you keep asking?"
"What do you mean why?"
Even through the silhouette over her face, Trunks could parse the sincerity plastered on the shadowed stare she gave him.
"They… they ruined everything. It's… it's not that I don't believe You." She said, leaning across the table to poke her child in the chest. "But that it's unbelievable itself. It's completely beyond belief. You really did it? You fought them and won?"
"Yeah. I can vouch for at least one of them being dead for sure. Gohan just knocked his head clean off. It was brutal. There's no way that guy survived that. And then the girl. Gohan blew her away with a Ki blast. I guess I don't have a way of confirming that one but I just feel it in my soul. We won. They're both gone. For sure."
"... Can I tell you something?"
"Of course, mom."
"I was incredibly scared. But I know that it's not fair for me to just tell you what you should be doing. If fighting's in your blood then I guess you just do what you gotta do. But when you told me you and Gohan were gonna go fight the androids I just told myself that I would never see you again."
"..."
"They took your father, they took Goku. They took everyone. It would be silly to think they wouldn't take you. I was just gonna accept it, and try to invent a way to re-do everything. If I couldn't do that… and I couldn't work out how to build a time machine… I would have probably killed myse-"
Trunks didn't say anything. His palm darted across the table and gripped her withered, veiny hand.
"..."
"..."
"I'm proud of you, Trunks."
The unmistakable squeal of a chair retreating from the table was all he could hear until The Son Family Home lulled back into its slumber. Trunks leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling until morning chirps and the slow streams of golden light filtered in through the windows. Trunks' groggy eyes shot awake, a second period of sleep unaided by a bedframe, his back achy from pain, stress, and improper rest. The damage piled on and it was a struggle to simply stand up, the boy forced to take a tight grip around the kitchen table just to stand, his hamstrings, quads, and glutes thoroughly disagreeing with the decision.
Trunks walked outside and watched the sun rise over the hills, a tonic of untold importance, cleansing his skin and wrapping around him like a warm blanket. As he watched the celestial body attempt to take its throne atop the skyline the door opened behind him.
"Hey. You sleep okay, kid?"
"No." Trunks answered back as Oolong met up with him, standing parallel on the dirt path leading down the hill. Puar meandered and settled on his shoulder.
"Shucks. Me neitha'. My bones are killin' me."
"Got that right." Trunks concurred with a smile.
"Is Gohan still sleeping?" Puar questioned, looking down at Oolong and then up at Trunks' bruised cheekbones.
"Yeah."
"I hope he's okay. He's been asleep for almost a whole day! He hasn't woken up since you've been gone, Trunks! As soon as he conked out, he's been out cold!"
"His keista' got fried, Pua'. Can't expect a man to shake it off so easily. His best bet right now is just to sleep it off. And it's not like we ain't got anything betta' to do."
"That's not true." Bulma piped in, closing the front door behind her as the sun climbed the ladder, finally breaching the hillside.
"Hi Bulma!"
"Hi Puar."
"What's not true, Bulma? Androids are goners, we ain't got nothin' to worry about."
"We have to build the time machine, but before that, we have to rebuild."
"Rebuild? Rebuild what?"
"..."
Oolong's eyes rolled so far back they took his bulbous pig head with them.
"Oh gosh, Come On! Pack it up already! Capsule Corp. got put in tha' dumpsta'! Ain't no way you gettin' it back! How you gonna peddle Capsules ta' tha' homeless!? How they even gonna pay for it!? Androids fucked everything up! Ain't nothin' going back to the way that it was."
"..." Bulma's wrinkly skin parted in a sly smile as the sun now started to brush against the treelines darting Mount Paozu. It hid away behind some of the pillar mountains, casting uneven streams up against The Son Family Home. "I know. I'm not sure I have the mental game necessary to even build from the ground up. I was lucky enough that dad started the company before me. But that's not really what I was talking about."
"Then what, sista'? Lay it on me." Oolong chided, pressing his doughy hands against his waist, sassier than a schoolgirl.
"We used to be pretty close. But after everything… we're not really a family anymore."
"What are you talking about, Bulma?" Puar asked with misty eyes, cat lip quivering.
"I don't know where Launch is. We were never super close or anything. But I literally have no idea what happened to her. I hope she didn't get-"
"-Oolong and I were way too scared to leave the island but Launch visited one time after Tien died."
"She did?"
"Who's Launch?" Trunks asked, scrubbing his messy mange of purple hair.
"Yeah! She had to pick up some guns and stuff! Master Roshi stuffed a bunch of those leftover guns in the closet and never gave any thought about it but Launch came back for em' all!"
"She didn't go fight the androids did she!? When was this!?"
"Owh~" Puar cried, putting his paws in front of his eyes. "Years ago~" He barely eked out, looking at Bulma through the parted blinds that were his stubby blue paws.
"Years! You mean you knew something and you didn't tell me!?"
"It goes both ways, sista? You eva' visit the island? No. Ya didn't. Had to meet Trunks for the first time when he showed up on Tha Nimbus. I can't even believe it. A harpie like you actually did a good enough job with the boy that he could ride the damn cloud."
"Harpie!? What's that supposed to mean!?"
"I feel like youa' gettin' hung up on the wrong thing here." Oolong replied as he scratched his furry pink dome.
"Hehhh~" Trunks let out as he grabbed onto the oily collar of her smudged work jacket, preventing her from clubbing The Pig with a hammer fist. Oolong smirked the whole while.
"You mighta' been able to get away with that last time but I've leveled up. You couldn't hurt me even if you tried."
"Break it up!" Puar shouted.
Bom!
The Cat turned into a stop sign with googly eyes, coaxing Bulma into giving up the ghost. Trunks let go of his mom's collar like separating a dog from a leash and shoved his hands into the baggy pockets of Goku's relaxed attire. Bulma raised her arms in protest.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. I've calmed down. So where'd Launch go?"
"I think she said something about… now that Tien's gone, and with the androids on the loose, she didn't have a reason to stop being a-"
"A bandit and a thief?" Oolong said with crossed arms.
"..." Bulma's face fell at the news.
"Yeah. It's not like it was all sunshine and rainbows or nothing. She's a rootin' tootin' plunderer! Lord knows what she's doin'. Probably somewhere out there raiding villages or towns that haven't been hit by the androids."
"That's terrible…"
"Ayy. Betta' than going without water like you seem to have been doin'."
"Where am I gonna get these clothes washed in West City!? Hello!?"
"Just cause you don't want to clean your clothes doesn't mean you should go around stinkin' up tha' joint. Look at Trunks. He's well dressed."
"Those are Goku's clothes, Oolong!" Puar shrieked back, winding around in a loop.
The Pig looked out at dawn, watching the sun finally start to ascend ever higher in its sloth-like incantation that somehow flashed by in an instant anyways.
"We're rebuilding, huh?" Oolong asked as everyone's eyes were drawn to the golden light of sunrise.
"What other choice do we have?" Bulma asked as she put her hands in the pocket of her greasy work jacket.
"Guess not a whole lot. You said somethin' about a time machine?"
"Yeah. I have no idea if it's gonna pull through though. It's the longest of all long shots."
"You tellin' me. I can't fathom that you think that even has a chance of working."
"I mean… do you realise Capsules exist?"
"Obviously. But I don't know what you're gettin' at here, sista."
"They're space modulators. They literally alter the fabric of reality and matter to fit atoms inside of tiny pocket dimensions. That's what Capsules are. The fact that dad made that work is just unreal. With no other competitors on the market to steal ideas from. A time machine really isn't that far fetched in comparison. I've seen what science is capable of, and it's the only choice we've got."
"Don't listen to Oolong, Bulma! He's just a naysayer!"
"Believe me. I stopped listening to him the day I met him."
"Here we go again." The Pig replied, the gang inheriting each other's glossed over eye rolls one by one.
Once more, Trunks was content to just let them do the talking for him, breathing in the sun's rays as his own as it washed over his bruised skin. But he wasn't totally content, as they still hadn't answered his question, as the bickering quieted down, Trunks turned around.
"Who's Launch?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Why allayou lookin' at me? Oh, I see. Get the pig to do all your dirty work like usual. Alright, Trunks. Back in tha day, we were a bit more tightly knit. All of us used to pretty much live at Roshi's. Launch was one of em'. But after The 22nd, Launch took a liking to tha guy that broke Yamcha's leg. What is it with the women liking guys who beat up our boys, I have no idea. You're gonna have to take that one up with your mother too because Chi-Chi is the only sane one around here." Oolong said as he pointed a thumb back at The Son Family Home, Bulma bright red at his phrasing.
"... Snn~ Ahh~" Bulma raised her index finger in protest but ultimately let out a sigh of frustration and admittance of guilt, her wrinkled cheeks and crows feet bleeding a red flush.
"Some how, some way, Tien got her to stop stealing and robbin'. Just like Chi-Chi and your mom though, Launch got widowed when the androids struck so she went back to her old ways."
"So she's a criminal?" Trunks asked, raising a brow.
"I mean, so was your father, so if you're about to get uppity about it now, I have some bad news. Yamcha almost packed Goku up the first time we met."
"... I guess it doesn't matter all that much. It's not like she's killing people like the androids, right?"
"Nope. But uhh~ I don't think firing an automatic into a crowd of tournament goers is all that safe either." Oolong responded as he mimed an invisible firearm in his left hand, pulling the trigger and jittering it back and forth.
"What?"
"Don't worry about it. Is that what we're doin' here, Bulma? Looking for Launch?"
"Yeah. First thing we need to check off on our list when we rebuild is a community. But really Launch is the only one we'd need."
"..."
"Puar, we forgettin' something?"
"No. I don't think we are."
"Are you sure?"
"Bulma, are you forgetting something?" The Cat asked, twirling around the air as he got right up close and personal as The Ex-Capsule Corp. CEO sat down on the grass.
"Definitely not."
"..." Oolong took on a thinking pose with his hand gripped below his chin.
"I think you're just misremembering things, Oolong." Puar chirped, floating in another rotation his way.
"No-no-no. It's on the tip of my tongue."
"What could be? We haven't forgotten anybody-" As it left Puar's mouth, he clammed up, eyes wide and locked with Oolong's.
"Turtle!" They shouted in unison.
"He left the island before Trunks and Gohan showed up! I completely forgot! He hasn't seen us in years and Roshi hasn't been there… to… take care of him… Alright! First orda' a business. We're goin' to Roshi's and making sure Turtle's okay."
"Wow. I forgot Turtle existed." Bulma said as she took off her backwards baseball cap and scratched her greying purple mane. "Sorry, Turtle."
"At least he ain't here to see how cold hearted you guys were."
"I'm not cold hearted, Oolong!" Puar shouted with misty eyes.
"Where's our base of operations?" Bulma broke through the veil of chatter, uttering in an era of silence. West City would be good, but we'd have to start from the ground up. This place is nice and there's a natural spring but it's pretty far away from civilisation. Roshi's too."
"Hate to break it to ya, sista, but West City's far from civilisation too. Just because it used to be a hubbub don't mean it can return to one so easily."
"Are we living here then?" Bulma asked, pointing her thumb back at the rural home of Chi-Chi.
"Beats me, but we'll figure it out. Hey Trunks."
"..?" Trunks kept quiet, letting them do the talking again as The Pig pointed up at him.
"Jeez, you been real quiet."
"... I'm… not really in the mood to talk right now."
"I get it." Oolong replied with raised hands on either side. "Can you and Puar go look for Launch?" As soon as it left his furry pink pig lips, a firm grip overtook the top of his head and Oolong looked up at the son of Son Goku. "Ayy! Sleeping beauty! Took you long enough!"
"Gohan!" Puar cried, clamping onto his temples like a face hugger.
"~Ayy~Buar~" He answered through the fur before peeling him off by the tail.
"Gohan." Bulma greeted him with open arms. "I'm so glad you're okay."
"Thanks, Bulma." He replied in earnest, giving her about as much embrace as a right arm would allow.
The stoic, stone-faced expression he held for over 20 hours cracked and Trunks' lips curled up in a wry smile as did Gohan as the pair locked eyes.
"I'll go look for Launch with Trunks."
"Why don't we all just stick together? I don't see a reason for us to split up. It's not like there's androids or anything we need to worry about." Puar chimed in with his paws clung to his chest.
"Guess not. Huh. I just felt like more of a leada' when callin' the shots like that."
"Well I'm going back to storage lots. I've already started on the project so if you guys want to check in, come and find me. Tell Chi-Chi I said thanks for dinner and letting me spend the night."
"..." Gohan looked back into the darkened abode illuminated by only windowlight. "If I come back I'll tell her but I don't really want to be here right now."
Bulma's brow immediately creased in trepidation.
"Why not?"
"I just… I want to focus on something else right now. Easier to do that when you have an objective. Good seeing you again, Bulma."
"So you're seriously not gonna take any rest time or nothing?" Bulma asked as Gohan strutted down the dirt path towards her car, mangled by the passage of time and eroded by the weather.
"These guys need just as much rest time as I do. I think we're all on the same wavelength. Easier not to feel the pain when you're thinking about something else. Nimbus!"
vyuuuuuuuu~VWERTTT!
"Hmm." Gohan nodded his head as The Nimbus pulled away from his hand, unable to step foot on the cloudy friend.
"Can..? Can Gohan not ride it!?" Puar cried.
"Oh my God…" Oolong said with a limp head.
"You gonna stand there clowning me or are we gonna get a move on?"
Trunks hopped up on the cloud, followed by Gohan who pressed his hand over his pupil's shoulder. Oolong and Puar filed in too and the four of them waved Bulma off as she sped down the rural road of Mount Paozu.
"So what are we doing? Where are we going first?" Puar asked, his whiskers bouncing up and down in tune with The Nimbus' buoyant bobs on the aether.
"Easy. We're going to Roshi's. We Know where Turtle is. And we don't really know anything other than that Launch took up the guns and left. It's a pretty easy guess but we also don't technically know if she's even still alive. She could be lootin' the streets or went after tha androids for takin' her man away."
"Nimbus. Take us to Roshi's Island."
Despite Gohan's inability to ride it, The Nimbus saluted the man's callout and zoomed across the sky at a mile a minute, seriously exploding across the skyline at a fervent pace. Even with Oolong and Puar not quite on the level as the two young men, they didn't bat an eye at the speed. Instead, they raised a brow at their ability to completely match it.
"Damn. I don't think I've eva' went this fast."
"The only thing dad ever told me about The Nimbus is that he swore it got faster the stronger he got. I don't know if it's true but it certainly feels like it." Gohan commented as they shot across the mountains like a comet, passed over the plains, and navigated the ocean air before promptly arriving on the island.
"Oh gosh~ what if there are cobwebs? Or spiders!?" Puar cooed, cupping his eyes with his paws before Oolong jutted his neck out in disbelief.
"You fought the androids and you're still afraid of spiders?"
"Yea…" The Cat answered shakily, still covering his eyes at the thought.
"Huh?" Puar cried out, taking his paws away only to see Kame House just the same as always, even more lawn chairs out on the sands.
Gohan raised a brow and spared a glance for his two animal companions.
"Is someone havin' a cookout or somethin'?"
"Turtle!" Puar shouted, zipping off of The Nimbus in a hurry as the modest brown reptile craned his old noodly neck upwards.
"Puar. Heh-Heh. Nice to see you." The Turtle could barely get out as The Cat clung onto his long neck. "How ya been? Been a while-a-heh."
"Uhm. Everything hurts and it's hard to breathe but at least I'm alive!"
"Oh~ That's a bummer. Not the alive thing, but the uhh hard to breathe thing. Heh-heh. … Hmm? Who are those guys?" Turtle asked as he pointed his thin fin skyward.
"That's Trunks and Gohan!" Puar replied with a wide smile as The Nimbus descended to sea level and dropped off the trio on the sandy shoreline.
"Gohan? Heh~ That's uhh~ Goku's kid, right?"
"Yup!"
"I don't even know if I met him or not..? I can't remember. Who's Trunks-ah-heh?"
"Are you Turtle?"
"Yeah. That's me." Turtle laughed out as the son of Bulma squatted down to his level and presented a hand shake.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Trunks."
"This place don't look as old as I thought it would have."
"Ohh. Huh-heh. The alligators came by and started squatting here but it's not like I can really get em' to leave since, heh-heh, Master's not here."
"..."
"Where's Master Roshi anyway? He's never been gone from the island this long."
Trunks, Oolong, and Puar had a three-way glancing exchange, passing the ball of guilt to one another before Gohan looked at the green door of Kame House and answered for them.
"He's dead. The androids killed him."
Turtle didn't even have time to process before Gohan flung the door open.
"Uno!" A croakey voice bleated out as his thick scaly green arm slapped down a corresponding 0 of the same colour.
"Man, you know that's some bullshit!"
"Ayo, who tha fuck issis guy?" An alligator with shades asked as he and his scaly boys played out cards in the middle table of the living room.
"..."
"You got a starin' problem, pal?" One of the alligators said with a shrug and a mean mug behind his sharp animalistic eyes.
Gohan cracked his neck without using his arm and the large reptiles gave him a once over.
"You look like you've lost a fight already. Maybe you should learn when to pick em'." One of the gators quipped while fixing his snapback, giggling all the while as he pointed at Gohan's missing limb.
"So you gonna get out of our house or..?" The gator in the back with shades on asked as Gohan locked eyes with him.
"This isn't your house." Gohan stated plainly, staring a hole right through the sunglasses until they could no longer hide his fear from the son of Son Goku's penance stare.
"..."
"Ay. We gonna have to rough you up or what?" One of the other gators asked, pressing his scaly claws up against the card table and forcing the wood to contact wood.
"Those androids wiped out a lot of things we took for granted. I don't even have a change of clothes for every day of the week. Alligator doesn't always have to go in the wash every time you wear it though…" Gohan postulated out loud. "Yeah, I could use a new coat."
"Ayy. Ayy. We'll get out of here, sorry. I was just house sittin'. It's not like I haven't done it before." The gator in the back squeaked out, raising his hands defensively as the shades slipped off his face and onto the wood floor.
"That's what I thought. Have you no respect for the dead?"
"..."
The gators all slumped their shoulders, deflated compared to just moments prior.
"He's dead..?"
"On some real shit..?"
"Damn… Our fault. I ain't een know…"
Regret immediately seeped into Gohan's being as he saw the regret simultaneously inject into them.
Gohan's sharp brow softened and his jaw slacked as the trio of gators packed up their cards and awkwardly shuffled around him in their slow, plodding retreat to the ocean. A couple moments passed by before the waters parted and the alligator with shades asked from across the island.
"The androids get him?"
Gohan slowly nodded his head with his hand on the green porch door. The gator simply sunk into the water, never to be seen again.
"That's terrible. Why didn't anyone tell me?"
"Uhh… we were kinda too busy trainin' for the androids. Not much time on our side."
"Shucks." Turtle said with solemn stare out into the seaside waters at just after dawn, golden glitters fluttering across the sleek waves.
"They didn't ransack the place. That's pretty good!" Puar yelped as he scoured the living room, bathroom, closet full of questionable magazine covers, and the upstairs bedroom with messy clothes and more than a few cobwebs, forcing The Cat to enact a hasty retreat.
"What are you gonna do now?"
"Whaddoya mean? Heh-heh."
"Like now that the old man's no longer with us. You still gonna stay on the island?"
"I don't really see what the alternative is. Sure some of the critters in the ocean are scary but it's better than leaving the island and running into the androids."
"We got em', Turtle."
"What!? Really!? You've got to be kidding! Huh-heh. Wow! You got em' for Master!? Huh-heh."
"Yeah we did, Turtle. We did." Oolong said with a smile.
"Heh-heh. I'm glad." As all he had to say before looking back towards the swaying sea.
"I'm not sure who all's gonna stay back here on the island. So I'd prefer not to leave you alone out here if I can help it." Oolong said as he watched the shifting liquid part and break at the sandy shores just in front of them.
"It'd be nice to have some company~ Heh-heh. I'd just need seawater if I was going to live somewhere else.
"We can do that easy!" Puar chimed in with a smile and a circular flight pattern.
Gohan stood over the abandoned Kame House, looking at the loose clothes strewn about the floor and the haphazard nature of the various items inside. Board games and other various pastimes littered the table and the wooden flooring. His brow creased ever so slightly downwards and he spared a glance for the slightly shaking and creaking front door that swayed in the soft ocean wind before waltzing out.
"Puar, Oolong, Trunks."
The boys all stared up at the son of Son Goku with earnest eyes.
"If Master Roshi's not gonna be here, I'll take over."
"What? For real?" Oolong shot back quick, eyebrows raised as high as a kite.
"... Yeah." Son Gohan answered as he gazed out to the shifting seas all around the tiny island. "It's quiet."
"Well if he's not goin' anywhere then I guess I won't. Heh-heh."
"So we came all the way out hea' for nothin'."
"We didn't come out here for nothing, Oolong! We know Turtle is okay! That's not nothing!"
"Well! We did our first good deed for the day." Oolong said as he pushed back against the flying blue feline. "We gonna go look for Launch or what?"
"Launch? Heh-heh. How are you gonna find Launch? She left a really long time ago." Turtle said as his long neck shook with age.
"We ain't know eitha', Turtle. It's gonna be a tough sell. There's a bajillion people on this planet. Or… maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. I don't really know how many of us are left after the androids…" He posited, taking a thinking position with his hand underneath his chin.
"You could go ask Baba."
"..."
"Baba!" Oolong and Puar shouted in unison once more a few seconds after it left Turtle's maw.
"I've been to Baba's before!" Puar shouted with a bright smile emanating from his puffy cat cheeks only to have his face sink into trepidation once more. "I hope she's alright…"
"Ain't Baba Roshi's sista' or somethin'?"
"Yeah! She's a fortuneteller. But!" Puar annunciated with a raised paw. "She can tell where anyone is at any given time!"
"That's perfect." Trunks said with a clenched fist, shaking it in pseudo victory as he held a seashell laying on the sands in his hand.
"All that matters then is that we defeat her fighters!"
"..."
The ocean air soothed in and everybody stared at the little blue cat.
Whapp!
"Hey! Owie~"
"What tha fahk are you talkin' about, Pua'? If Baba's fighters haven't already been killed by tha androids they certainly aren't going to be a problem for us."
"Well… I think I did beat up one of em' back in the day."
"You?" Oolong laughed out, clutching at his chest before almost falling on his ass at the thought alone. "You beat someone up? How long ago wassat!? Hahaha~"
"It was back when Yamcha was still around!"
"Oh my~ Pua! Then we're gonna beat those guys up in no time. I don't know what youa' worried about."
"It's a precautionary measure, Oolong!"
Fortuneteller Baba, 350 y/o. Age 782 December 10th - Earth 8:03 A.M. Baba's Palace
"Oh you rotten~ Cheaters!" Bellowed from aloft, banging off the old stone and reverberating down into the pit.
Boiling green gases bubbled over at the bottom of the fighting arena, two tongues stretched out over a mysterious substance as a man in a skintight blue suit laid out flat beneath Gohan's one-armed frame.
"Shut up, Mongrel. Your guys are trash. Admit it."
"Alright, Fine! You beat the androids! Just don't kill my fighters! I have a business to run, you know!"
"How is Gohan even gonna kill that otha' guy? He's a mummy. Isn't he already dead? And the vampia'. Ain't that-"
"-Don't ask questions!" The old crone shrieked with her hair stuck out wild in every direction as if an arc of lightning had just struck her deep during her yodel.
"How is she gonna run a business if no one comes out here?" Puar asked in between whispers as he floated next to Oolong's floppy pink ears.
"I have no idea. I think this one's just a bit looney. She said we were the only visitors she's had in a decade and she's still this butthurt. We gotta keep our eyes out lest she cut our tails off when we're not looking." Oolong whispered back, covering his mouth with the back of his hand.
Puar shuttered at the thought from head to toebean, remembering all the spooky masks, ancient wares, and animals furs lining the wall of her curiosity shop at the front of the palace. As they made quiet conversation, Trunks stepped forward with a sharp and honest glare in the ethereal blue eyes he inherited from his mother.
"You said one fortune or wish you could make happen through the use of your crystal ball. We beat your fighters, so you have to hold up your end of the deal."
"Fine fine, stop making such a ruckus. UHH!"
Trunks' brow raised as he looked about the large cavern, it shaking with her moans and wails as she floated down the hall.
"Wait!" He said with an outstretched hand, jogging to keep up.
"Be Quiet, boy! I'm not running away from you! I'm just going back to the main room."
Trunks' rapid footsteps slowed and then he put his hands in the loose pockets of Goku's resting attire. Gohan flew up from The Devil's Toilet and landed just behind, Puar and Oolong not long thereafter. As the group of five made their way to the front entrance of the palace Baba's narrow eyes bulged out, almost falling out of her decrepit skull as she screeched a banshee's cry.
"What are you doing to my brewing leaves!?" She howled, about to wring the neck of her attacker only to be snatched at the hoodline by Gohan's strong right hand.
SHUU~CLONKK! Rattlllleee~
An unlit tiki torch fell from aloft, as did a gigantic demon mask hoisted upon the wall as Baba's vehicular crystal ball shot out from under her feet like a rocket and slammed into the far wall. She kicked and screamed like a baby as Gohan held onto her black hood.
"Sorry." Turtle said in between chews of the thick plant leaves lining the outside of a big witching pot, content to continue eating the last leaf he laid his jaw upon before stopping.
"Unhand me, deviant!" She howled until Gohan obliged and her crystal ball returned under her feet.
Fwoom!
"Aww… I was eating that…" Turtle, head low and looking at the tile afterwards.
Baba tossed the bite-taken-out-of-it greenery into the mix before finally sitting down and letting her crystal ball out into the air. She waved her hands with mystique and intrigue as the two young adults and three talking animals crowded around it.
"So you want to know where a certain not-so-young lady is?" Her voice echoed throughout the empty halls that stretched out for ages, as wide as they were tall.
"Hey, we ain't say nothin' of the sort."
"I have preordained your coming here."
"She is a fortune teller, guys." Puar parted with as he wheeled around in a circle.
"If you saw our arrival coming, why'd you even put your Mongrels in the firing line? You should have known we'd win anyway."
With sweat donning her wrinkled brow, Baba said: "Shut up!" effectively accomplishing her goal, but at the cost of Son Gohan's wicked single eye roll, much more potent than the rest.
Baba cleared her throat as Gohan took a deep breath. He looked to cross his arms but was unable due to no longer possessing the left one. A bit of sorrow penned onto his face at the fact. Cloudy mist and ethereal aura permeated on all sides, Trunks, Oolong, and Puar scouting every possible attack angle from the mist until the old woman spoke with authority.
"You seek a woman with a checkered past. Sweet, but just as willing to pull a fast. If it weren't for the androids her man wouldn't be gone. An unmistakable and unforgettable man of martial arts, name Tienshinhan. In these desperate times, the only thing rewarded is the sharp edges, the raunch. So now to you seekers, I reveal the one known only as Launch."
SHWINGG!
Brilliant light showered the foggy palace and a war torn landscape full of vagabonds and criminals toting guns, and weapons, armed to the teeth with equal parts makeshift gear and serious firepower. Some of the crooks wore nothing but bare chest, some with football pads, and others with full knight's plate, sword and shield. Armed with spears and grenades, automatic assault rifles, snipers, and rusty tractors. People of all walks of life had one thing in common, face paint and tribal markings, tattoo'd or otherwise written into them.
"The one you seek has lived the past many years bitter and gritty, you will find Launch leading the bandits crews of Central City."
Fwaaaahhhhhhh~
The smoke and mirrors display ran dry as her voice echoed through the mist and the lightshow streaming out of her crystal ball disappeared as well.
"... Ahemn! Go! What are you still doing here!? Get out! You beat my best fighters and ate at least three-"
"-Four." Turtle answered with a raised fin.
"Four of my brewing leaves! Get OUTTT!"
SHUMMM!
Magical apparitions dragged the crew out forcibly, it was as if they were skating backwards or God's hand itself snatched them all at the nape and forced them onto the arena tile of the front entrance, the vampire with boxing gloves still face down on the matt, bleeding out the nose and eyes staring blankly at nothing.
"Huh?" Puar questioned for all involved, scanning the surroundings as his tail curled up in simultaneous fear and intrigue.
"Nimbus!" Gohan shouted, cracking his neck with one hand, his groaning sigh echoing out.
"Alright! Central City, huh? Makes sense, kinda wish she gave us betta' directions before kickin' us out, tho. Way to go, Turtle." The Pig remarked as his stubby boot met the brown tortoiseshell.
"My bad. Heh-heh."
Gohan, 27 y/o. Age 782, December 10th - Earth 10:31 A.M. Central City Ruins
The crew, Turtle in tow, trekked through the ruined cityscape as felled skyscrapers scraped by on the ground instead as rats, raccoons, and other varmints ran through and prepared cubby holes and dens in the various stone alcoves. Rusted cars and tube tunnel glass of a bygone era littered all over the chunky half concrete, half tallgrass 'prairie'. Yodels and yells of a wicked variety blared out, screeching along the rusted metal like nails on window glass, possibly because that's what was happening or more so because there was no one to stop their baser impulses.
Gohan's brow furrowed as they walked the broken streets, a mirror, but not quite of Pepper Town. Just as much destruction, a different flavour however. Gohan's jaw slacked.
"I can use Telepathy. I'll just search for Launch that way if there are people here."
"Whoa! You got Telepathy and you ain't tell me!? Screw me, Us! You ain't tell any a' us!?"
"I didn't think it was important information at the time."
"Sheesh! I know where your priorities aren't! Thanks a lot for not trustin' us with your full scope of skills, kid!"
"Pipe down, Oolong. It just wasn't very useful, I couldn't use it on the androids very well because their brainwaves were altered by whatever modifications they had. Piccolo said the same thing. Technically he could read em', but it wouldn't even be half as effective as this."
"Can you hear me now?"
"WHOA! Ayy, easy, kid!"
"My range isn't great but I should be able to search a decent amount of what's ahead of me. I should be able to catch onto stray thoughts about Launch or from her, if she's even in this part of Central City."
Trunks said all he needed to with a smile and a shake of his fist.
"People are watching us."
"Huh!?" Turtle groaned. "Oh no~" He said, raising his fins to protect his head like he didn't have a perfectly available shell to retreat into.
"AIIIEEEEE!"
"Aiyaiyaiyaiyai~"
BLAMMM!
Immediately, Gohan caught the enormous calibur round from the magnum a painted faced raider shot from behind one of the felled convenience stores.
"Oh. I forgot you guys are cracked. Heh-heh."
Wshah!
"AHHHH!" One of the thieves screamed from behind cover as the bullet pierced right through his shoulder.
"Take us to your leader!" Gohan shouted from across the ruined city streets.
"Gah!" The bandit cried as his comrade abandoned him with his wound still flush, gushing with red fluid.
THOOHMM! Shuup.
Gohan squatted over the barrier, looking down at the writhing raider with a cold blue stare from his one eye.
"I won't ask again."
The group stood in front of what could only be described as a car blockade, wrecked or otherwise 'used up' vehicles were mangled together in a makeshift barricade. Crushed cube cars, warped metals, and some undamaged buses stacked together to make an impressive construct, if not for the fortifications than at least for the ingenuity. People with machine guns, bows and arrows, spears, and snipers alike all lined up top, sitting directly on crushed metal or hidden away behind bus seats or perched inside windows. The grungy, mangy, weathered area was filled to the brim with shady looking critters, dogs, and various other animals content to keep a pack with whatever this unit in Central City was. Gohan, Trunks, Oolong, Puar, and Turtle waited patiently as two guards stared them down with raised automatic rifles.
"One move and you're done, punk." One of the goons claimed, aiming his sights down even further and pointing it in between Trunks' brows.
Trunks didn't even look at the man, simply waited for the entrance of fused bus doors welded into either side of the crushed metal contraption that was their defensive wall. Soon enough they crashed open and a pair of youthful but well muscled men waltzed out pushing the front guards aside with their macho bravado and confidence.
Fwuumpp!
The guards on either side took a saluting pose as the pair, one donned in red armour and a matching crimson mohawk. The other sported a doozy of a mullet, stringy half blonde, half greased brownish green and blue metal plate matching his compatriot.
"Terror! Plague!"
"Shut your goofy ass up, brother!" The Red One said with a wry smile and a slap on the chest, ushering in a warm response from the front guards.
"So you're the troublemakas, ay? Looks like we gotta coupla' ne'er-do-wells." The Blue One stated as he nudged the other with his elbow.
"You think these guys have the chops?" The Red One shot back, brow raised as far as it would go as he leaned in, but still spoke with volume and authority.
"I mean look at this one, Terror. Yew can't tell me this one ain't seen the shit. Trenches, even." He said while pointing at Gohan's missing eye and limb.
"I'll give you that. He sure looks the part of a bandit and a thief."
"And this one. You can't tell me his cut isn't wicked." The Blue One remarked, pointing at Trunks' long, garish, purple locks done up in a teenbun. He mimed the lens of a camera with his hands as he stared down Bulma's son.
"Ahh~ I don't know. He looks kind of like a pretty boy to me."
"Alroight, alroight. How'sa bout we cut some of the edges here and give this fool a bandana."
"Oh yeah." The Red One remarked, imagining a vicious criminal version of Trunks with far more facial scarring and a sleek black bandana tying back and letting the purple locks hang down instead of tied up. "That'd do it. But uhhh~ what about these ones, Plague? I don't." He shook his head. "Nuh-uh. Ain't no way we could do anything with those tools."
"See how they talk down to tha little guys, Pua'? Best be takin' notes cause it's not gonna stop anytime soon."
"Really?" He questioned with his unquestionably high pitched squeaker of a voice.
"AHHH-HAHAHAHA! You hear this guy's voice!?"
"These fools are hanging around with talking stuffed animals, Terror! I've seen it all!" Plague hollered, the both of them slapping knees and gaffing about the front entrance.
"What gang you from? The Build-A-Bear-Bois!?" Terror guffawed, drawing not just a laugh from his blue armoured partner, but the rest of the crew guarding the front entrance of the cobbled together scrap iron wall.
"We're here to see Launch." Gohan claimed with a death glare from his gleaming right eye.
"What's it to yew? Yew think yew can just waltz roight by us, mate? I don't think that's a very good idea."
"You could have had a good deal here, but first things first in the law of the wild. Learn to speak when spoken to or you're gonna have a bad time. Launch maybe could have recruited you two bozos into The Thieves' Den but your chances are looking pretty slim when you're walkin' around with two beanie babies and turtle. That screams weakness, and you can't be havin' any of that when the androids come skulkin' around."
"We beat those sorry sacks of scrap to death. Maybe if you'da paid more attention to your surroundings you woulda' seen us deliver the killin' blow."
"Likely story, Pig. One more word out of your mouth and you're gonna get the gas chamber." The Red One claimed as he pointed his thick index down at Oolong's oinker.
"Ayy. Maybe I'm an oinka' but one thing I stopped bein' a long time ago is a lia'. Some lil' guy made it pretty clear that it's always gonna be more trouble than it's worth."
"Get over here, we need to talk to you."
"Quiet, pig!" Terror hollered, snatching up a rifle from one of the front guardsmen.
"Terra'! Plague!"
Everyone looked aloft as a woman with dark bags under her eyes, wrinkled skin, and rebel leather, finished with a red ribbon overtop her bouncy faded blonde half silver hair standing atop the metal wall of crushed cars, buses, metal storage units, and train carts. Her green eyes glimmered in the shadow she cast over them as she held a shotgun in her hand. Terror, Plague, and everyone else in the vicinity straightened up immediately.
"Whotha fahk aya' toulkin' to!?" As soon as the words left her mouth she shifted her stern stare into a starry eyed gaze at the two who time seemed to have left completely untouched. Puar's blue fur was a youthful sheen, and Oolong even looked slimmer than usual. "Oolong!? Pua!? What tha fahk ayuu two doin' hea'!?"
"You know these two dudes, chief?" Terror asked as he pointed the rifle at Gohan and Trunks.
"What? Hell no! I ain't neva' seen these tools once in my life! I'm toulkin' bout tha pig n' tha cat, numbnuts!" She hollered before leaping off the high wall and landing in a ferocious stomp that kicked up dust in every direction.
"See how it is, Pua'? They take them at face value and that we're always lyin'. That's just how it is for the little guys."
Puar's dot eyes watered up and all he could ask was:
"Really?"
"I wish it ain't so, but it do."
"What are you doin' hea', fellas? You look good, Oolong." Launch said with a bright smile as she slapped his fuzzy dome.
"Launch. We're here to-"
"-Ap-ap-ap!" Launch cut Gohan off at the pass, not even looking at him as she clamped her fingers down like a talking head. "I ain't toulkin' ta you."
"..."
"Uhh… We just wanted to know if you had gone off to go confront the androids or not. We uhh… We know that you decided to strike out on your own after…"
"Yeah." Launch fired back, letting her firearm hang limp over her right trap. "I was thinkin' it was high time to stick it to those bahstads. I's finally got a crew with me, and they're the scrappy type too! Reckon the androids wouldn't stand a-"
"They're dead."
"Ayy! What'd I say!? I wasn't toulkin' ta you!"
"He's with us, Launch! Honest!" Puar cried, jumping headlong into the fray, facehugging before Launch peeled him off.
"Really? Whoa' they?"
"That's Gohan!"
"WHAT!? Uh-Uh! I ain't that old! That's fahked ahp! Really!?"
"Yup. Chip off the old block, ehh?" Oolong stated as he leaned against Gohan's large frame and knocked against the half-Saiyan's knees with the back of his fuzzy fist.
"Nice to meet you, Launch. My name's Trunks."
"How do you know my name, hah!?"
"Uhm. Bulma is my mother, and Yamcha-"
"Ohh~ I Hate him! He called me a bitch multiple times!"
"..." Trunks' face lost its shape, forming into pursed out lips as she growled at the mere mentioning of the man's name.
"He ain't deserve to go out like a punk, but… I ain't like him. You're his kid?"
"Yeah? I guess? I never met him."
"Figures. He was always a chump."
"..."
"Nice to meet you, Chumps. Name's Launch. I knew this one when he could fit into the palm of my hand." She said, aiming down her sights at Son Gohan, a giant in his own right, his frame able to give the bouncers of The Theives' Den a run for their own money in scare factor. "Haven't seen him since."
"We just wanted to tell you you had a free place over in West City. There's a lot of work to be done, but we just thought you should know. That, and… mom'd like seeing a familiar face."
"Hell yeah! Beats kickin' it with these bums! Let's blow this popsicle stand! Lata' loosas!"
"What!?" Terror and Plague shouted in unison as Launch strutted out ahead of everyone.
"Hey, Turtle."
"Huh-Heh. Hey, Launch."
"That dirty old perv still kickin'?"
"No." Turtle answered back with a melancholic drawl, his recently raised neck immediately shutting back down.
"Good."
"Ouch." The Pig winced, shoving his hands in his pockets as he trailed behind the pair.
"Well. It isn't how I thought it would go, but we still got Launch! Operation success!" Puar squealed as he looped around in the air.
