Chapter 9

"The Porre soldiers hunted her down, and she was forced to leave El Nido. My father sent some of the Dragoons with her, as well as myself. The Dragoons were all killed in the end, and we ended up on our own, four Devas with nowhere to go. That is, until we came here," Vegeta said.

He and Bulma were now sitting on the couch in the living room.

Bulma was close to crying but kept them aside.

"We protected her, and while we were here, we gained friends, who were willing to help us. They could be considered, replacement for the killed Dragoons, though we don't see them that way. Laze's parents and siblings came here as well, and I had hoped my father would too."

He sighed.

"But he didn't. Apparently, in the three years we had been protecting Laze, my father vanished. I don't know what happened, but I suspect that Porre's behind this somehow," he finished.

Bulma sniffed, and the first tears started falling down her cheeks. A soft jingling was suddenly heard, and the two of them looked up. Bulma blinked the tears away, and saw who was standing there.

"A-Ancha??"

Ancha, who was dressed in her harlequin out-fit, looked a little confused.

"Why iz everyone so gloomy around 'ere? 'As someone died?" the girl asked, confused.

"……"

Ancha was silent after having heard what happened.

"C'est impossible!" she suddenly shouted, stomping her foot angrily on the ground. "Mademoiselle Laze cannot die wit'out a fight!"

Bulma shook her head.

"Isn't there an antidote for Hydra poisoning?" she asked.

Vegeta thought for a moment.

"There's… Hydra Humor, but…" he started.
"C'est magnifique!" Ancha said.

"Let's get it then!" Bulma said, and was about to run out the door, hadn't Vegeta held her jacket.

"Number 1; where do you think you're going with but one Element in your Grid?" Vegeta asked, and Bulma looked at her Grid, suddenly remembering that she only had a Fireball Element in it.

"Uh… oopsie."

Ancha giggled.

"Number 2; were you two girls planning to go alone?"

"Que? You're not going wit' us, Vegeta? Don't you care?" Ancha asked.

Vegeta sighed.

"It's not that I don't care, and I would come with you, but, this brings me to number 3; does anyone know where to look? Hydra Humor comes from the Hydra."

"We'll just find a Hydra and take some of its Humor, fair enough!" Bulma said.

"Oui! Don't be so negative!"

"Number 4; Hydras. Are. EX-TINCT!!"

Bulma and Ancha's jaws dropped and their eyes were wide.

"WHAT?!!?" Bulma demanded. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN HYDRAS ARE EXTINCT?!?! WHAT'S GOING ON?!!?"

"Mademoiselle Bulma, zere's no reason to raize your voice. It won't help," Ancha said calmly, yet Bulma saw that she was shaking with sadness and anger.

Bulma somehow, managed to calm down, and was about to ask Vegeta about the Hydras, when Anja walked into the room.

"Hey you three, Laze wants ta talk ta ya," she said.

Vegeta, Bulma and Ancha looked confused, but walked into the room anyway. Elvor and Norak had left the room, leaving only the four of them. Laze opened her eyes partly, and carefully turned her head to them.

"Hey guys," she whispered, her voice hoarse, like she hadn't talked in years.

"Hey Laze. D-do you need something? Or do you just want to talk?" Bulma asked, trying to lift the icy hand from her heart, and possibly that of Ancha and Vegeta as well.

Laze carefully shook her head.

"No, no I don't… there… there's someone… someone else… who wants to talk to you…" she whispered.

Ancha blinked, and looked around.

"What iz she talking about? No one elze iz 'ere!"

Laze smiled softly. "You… can't see her… just hear her…" she whispered quietly, as her eyes started to drop shut.

Bulma shrieked and ran over to her.

"Laze! You mustn't fall asleep!! You mustn't!!"

Ancha and Vegeta walked over too.

"Mademoiselle Laze, pleaze. Do not fall azleep!" Ancha tried to say with a serious tone, but she was close to breaking.

"So… tired… I'm… gonna rest up… for awhile…" Laze whispered, and her eyes finally closed.

The trio began to panic, when suddenly, her eyes clenched shut tight, then opened.

"Fuck, that smarts!" a strange, adult voice said.

She opened her eyes fully, eyes that were a pure violet.

"Oh, I see you're here. That's good, that's very good," the odd voice said through Laze's mouth.

"Who… who are you?" Vegeta asked, confused.

"Doesn't matter. Can one of you help me sit up?"

Bulma nodded, and helped Laze's body sit up, as the person now inside of the body cringed in pain.

"Damn!" Laze growled.

After some time, she took a deep breath, then began to speak.

"This may be a little hard to believe at first, but I am the youngest of the Black Dragon Twins from Marbule, I'm sure you know of that island in El Nido. The reason I desired to talk to you, was to give you advise on helping this child."

Bulma and Ancha smiled broadly.

"You mean you can help?!" Bulma asked, ecstatic.

"Yes. Now listen, this child has about one more month to live, if she's lucky, two. I want you, and some friends if you like, to travel to El Nido, gather the six relics from me and my friends, and travel to a place called the Sea Of Eden."

"The Sea Of Eden?!" Vegeta asked, shocked. "That has been called the 'Dead Sea' for years!!"

Laze nodded.

"I know. But you must go there, and take the child with you, or you won't make it through. Don't test your luck. And if you reach the Dragons," a smirk appeared on her face, "then get ready to fight!"

With that, her eyes closed, and she dropped onto her back, asleep.

The first few days were hard. Training with the Dragon Riders continued, but no one made fun of each other, Elvor hardly fought all-out, in fear of hurting somebody, and practically all of them showed the cold exterior they had always had for all those years, only ten times worse.

Bulma was in one of the same moods, and not even her friends managed to cheer her up. The third day after the talk with 'Laze', Yamcha decided to show his face again.

Geography, and Bulma was taking full notes of El Nido, already having her mind made up. Carefully, she studied the water's flow, and noticed that somewhere near Mt. Pyre, where the Red Dragon had to be, the current was rather strong. She took some notes of that, when her Innate Guide suddenly bleeped to life. It showed a small red circle. She sighed.

"Bulma…"

"Get lost Yamcha, I'm busy," Bulma interrupted, continuing making notes of the isles of El Nido.

'Okay, Yellow/Earth Dragon, Blue/Water Dragon, White/Sky Dragon, Red/Fire Dragon, and the Black Dragon Twins shouldn't be too hard. So, all I'm missing is…'

"Bulma, I really need to talk to you."

Yamcha wouldn't leave her alone. Bulma closed her eyes in annoyance, and whirled her pencil around between her fingers.

"Yamcha, I'm giving you five seconds to leave, or I won't be responsible for the consequences," she said, continuing to twirl her pencil between her fingers.

"Bulma just give me time to explain! She meant nothing to me! I swear!"

'4…3…'

"You're the only one for me! I mean it!"

'1…'

Bulma's pencil snapped between her fingers, her eyes snapped opened, she jumped up, and whirled around, knocking her chair over in the process.

"Don't say I didn't warn you!" Bulma hissed, pulled a clenched fist back, and punched Yamcha straight in his face, sending him back into a wall.

The teacher, whom looked up briefly, noticed nothing out of the ordinary, due to the fact that he couldn't really care if a boy was punched by a girl, and that it didn't interest him, so he went back to reading his book again.

Bulma growled angrily, and Chichi looked down at Bulma in shock, as did, Juu, Jay, and Krillin. Goku looked a little confused. When Bulma sat down, she noticed that her pencil was broken, so she couldn't continue writing down notes anymore.

'Damn,' she thought irritated.

"Hey Vegeta!" she shouted.

Vegeta looked over his shoulder to Bulma.

"Can I borrow a pencil?"

She held up her broken one.

"Mine's broken."

Vegeta nodded, and searched his bag for an extra pencil, before tossing it to Bulma. Bulma caught it, and nodded her thanks.

'Now where was I?'

"The Green Dragon??" Elvor questioned. "What about it?"

"I want to know where to find it. I located all others, except for the Green Dragon."

Bulma showed him a homemade copy of an El Nidoan map, and Bulma's handwriting was all over it, indicating the spots where the Dragons resided. Elvor gave it some thought, studied the map carefully, but he shook his head in the end.

"Sorry Bulma, that's something that's been bothering me for some time too. No one seems to remember the location of the Green Dragon. Maybe Vegeta knows."

Bulma smiled.

"Yeah, I'll ask him."

Bulma and Elvor knocked their fists together, and placed their arms over their chest, which was the official way of greeting and saying goodbye. So, Bulma left the spiked haired boy, to search for Vegeta.

As she walked, Bulma watched the moods of the Dragon Riders closely. Norak was looking pissed off, but Bulma knew it was just a barrier to keep the tears out. She'd already heard from Azanka that both Norak and Anja had been crying the night after they found out the poison was becoming stronger. Bulma had cried too. In the few months her and Laze have been friends, they seemed to be able to feel each other's trust. Bulma now knew that all Dragon Riders could be trusted; you just had to get to know them.

Suddenly, somebody whirled her around.

"Bulma! Why did you punch Yamcha?! And why were you talking to that freak just a second ago?!" Chichi demanded.

Bulma was shocked.

"Freak??" she repeated.

She looked back to see if Elvor had heard. He hadn't. Bulma turned back to Chichi, a frown on her face.

"Chichi, I don't know why you insist on calling them names, but it won't help! The Dragon Riders aren't as bad as people think they are. And just because you think different about them, doesn't mean that your opinion is my opinion! Live with that!!"

And with that, Bulma whirled around, in search of Vegeta, leaving a bewildered Chichi behind.

"Tough one," Vegeta murmured, studying the map carefully. "Well, Fort Dragonia's out, there are no Dragons on Zenan, hmmm……"

Bulma watched over his shoulder, hands lying atop of them.

"I was actually thinking of this place here," Bulma said, indicating to an island to the very southwestern corner of the map.

The island was nothing but green, and looked wondrous, but, there was no way to get there.

"Gaea's Navel… hmmm… yeah, I've been thinking about that one too, but there's not a single way to get in. The sides are slippery and too smooth to climb, the rocks are too hard to penetrate, and even if we came on the isle, it's a little bit too large. The Dragons have the advantage wherever we fight, due to the fact that they know the places they fight."

Bulma and Vegeta sighed.

"This is going to be tough," Bulma mumbled.

"No shit Sherlock," a familiar voice said.

Elvor threw an empty can in the trash, and turned to them.

"Gaea's Navel is not easy to reach, and we can't reach Mt. Pyre until we got the Water Dragon's Ice Breath. So, maybe we need a special object to get to the isle."

Vegeta thought about this, and nodded.

"Maybe."

"It's got to be something with wings, and something we can ride!" Bulma said.

Everyone was silent.

"We'll find a way," Vegeta said, folding the map and giving it to Bulma.

"Problem is, we don't have the time to wait 'til summer, so we're going to have to leave immediately."

The trio looked at each other, and nodded.

"We leave tomorrow morning, before sunrise. We must reach El Nido, get the relics, and then head for the Sea Of Eden, before…"

Vegeta needn't finish, they all knew.

"Wait!!" a young voice shouted, and Ancha ran over. "Je suis coming too!"

"Ancha, it's too dangerous, you'll be dead!" Bulma said.

Ancha shook her head.

"Non! Mademoiselle Laze iz mon amie! Moi will not leave her to die!!"

Bulma looked at Vegeta, who gave a sigh.

"Doesn't matter, but if we're with more, maybe we'll stand a chance."

Ancha cooed.

"C'est magnifique!!" she said.

When somebody cleared his throat, the four of them turned around, only to face…

"Goku??" Bulma asked.

"Sorry Bulma, but I overheard you guys talking, and I was wondering what you were going to do. What did you mean with leaving to El Nido?" Goku asked, for some reason not at all as childish as he had been all those years before.

After having explained Laze's situation, Goku seemed to look a little angry, but at himself.

"Damn, that's not good," Goku said, still looking angry. "Without Hydra Humor, she probably won't make it, and the last Hydra has been slain years ago. DARN!!!" he screamed.

Vegeta however, looked a little shocked.

"How did you know she was poisoned with Hydra poison??" he asked, and Goku looked at him, confused.

"We didn't tell you any of that! And how do you know that the last Hydra has been slain years ago?!" Elvor continued, and Goku seemed to mentally slap himself, hard!

"Hold on a second!!" Ancha suddenly said, and walked over to Goku.

She peered into his eyes, and Goku looked a little frightened for awhile. Ancha hurriedly ran backwards, a few feet away.

"Y-y-you're…!!!!" she stuttered.

Vegeta and Elvor looked at her in confusion. When Ancha finished her sentence, Vegeta and Elvor looked at Goku in shock.

"K-K-Kakarot!?"

Surprise everybody!!! Didn't see that one coming did ya?! Heheheh!!

Reviews:

Hope: Aha, looks like there's not much difference between the Netherlands and Austria then.

Lauryn S.: I know, but it'll be explained later on mostly.

Cherrygal3: Your question about the Dragons will be unanswered for now. Your other question (it's BLACK Wind, not DARK!!!) is rather easy. The Black Wind comes from Chrono Trigger, prequel to Chrono Cross, and predicts death or other mishap.

Ciria: I figured you'd say that.

[Anonymous]: Hey! Keep your shirt on! They'll be together soon.

Yue Lover: Oh, well, sorry again. I didn't think anyone could find that scary.

funkystars79: I don't know… the Black Wind predicted a death… but no one knows of whom. Could be anyone.

MQ: Glad you get it.

Tara: Hey, I ain't mad. I enjoy having comments, just don't make them too negative.

saiyankiyse: You'll see more of these at some points. Next chapter's one of them. However, it's constantly just one chapter, and the next chapter follows the main pattern of the story.

Casey: I will!

Guitar Daughter Of Piccolo: Chrono Cross is a game for Playstation, and if you want to fully understand it, play Chrono Trigger first. But, no, sadly enough, it's not a manga. But, did you know? Chrono Trigger, was designed, by AKIRA TORIYAMA!!!!

95 reviews, may be more, but no less. Either that or no new chapter. Bye!