Chapter 19
'So many voices!!'
Elvor was sweating heavily, his breathing was uneven, as if he had been poisoned with Hydra poison. There were so many voices now, so many faces; he couldn't make sense of the things he saw. His sleep was troubled, until he finally shot up in bed with a half-choked scream, which was cut short when he slapped his hands over his mouth. He looked around, and sighed in relief when he found he was at the Inn in Arni.
'Just a dream…' he thought, and laid down on the bed. 'It wasn't real… Laze is still poisoned, we're searching for the relics to cure her, there is no Chronopolis, or… whatever! It wasn't real!'
He smiled.
"It wasn't real."
He ignored the part of his mind that told him that it could be very true indeed.
The Hydra Marshes. A now harmless place, now that the Dwarves had been chased away. Most monsters feared humans, and ran when they saw the group, heading through the marshes, trying to locate what Douse could possibly be talking about. Nothing so far.
Finally, they decided to head west, onto a large tree of some kind, but the trunk couldn't be seen, and nothing seemed to be below them. They walked up, when suddenly a large shriek made them stop. They looked around, not seeing anything. They heard wing-beats, of something big. Elvor looked behind him.
"GET DOWN!!" he screamed, and everyone dove to the ground, right before a giant monster flew over.
It was gigantic! Like a large dragonfly, only with the four wings separated, and it moved like a fish in water. It shrieked again, and flew past.
Vegeta stood up first.
"What was THAT?!!" Bulma asked, standing up as well.
"Looked like a giant bug," Ancha said.
"That thing is huge!!" Elvor exclaimed.
Vegeta scoffed, and said: "It could probably carry all of us easily!"
Suddenly, everyone looked at each other, shocked expressions at first, before they all smirked.
"After that bug!!!" Bulma screamed, and the five ran off, following the giant bug across the path.
However, after quite some running, they couldn't see the thing anymore, so they stopped. It was gone, they realized, and it made them a little mad. They had wanted to find out what that thing was, and if it would take them on its back. They knew that the thing could, but if it would… different story.
Vegeta sighed as they reached an intersection. He turned to his Dragoon friends.
"Alright, the three of you head east, Bulma and I will go west. Got it?"
Elvor, Ancha and Goku nodded, and Bulma nodded too, having walked up to the road they were to take.
"And if you see that thing, try to think of a way to let us know," Vegeta called out as the three Dragoons headed east.
Goku turned and nodded, but when Elvor turned, he sent a strange glance in Vegeta's way, before looking back in front of him.
The two walked for a while down the branch, until they reached a small open space, where they rested for a moment. Vegeta sat on a single rock near the edge, while Bulma was sitting on a rock near the wall so she could lean against it. Bulma couldn't help but feel like some of her questions had been left unanswered before. So, she decided to question it.
"Vegeta?"
"Hmmm?"
"How exactly did Ciria die?"
Vegeta looked up at her for a moment, before focussing back on nothing.
"She gave her life to save mine," Vegeta said with a sigh.
Bulma looked at him with a shocked look, but he didn't notice.
"She must've cared a lot about you," she said softly.
Vegeta shrugged.
"I don't know, I can't ask her, now can I?"
"Sometimes, people's actions speak for them when their words cannot."
Vegeta turned to her then, as if asking what she had meant then. Bulma was unsure of what it meant, until she remembered what she did at Mt. Pyre.
Just then, she didn't know what to say.
"Sorry Vegeta, that meant nothing to me."
Was she supposed to say that? They stared at each other, none speaking.
When they had returned to walking down the path, it was 15 minutes later, and neither spoke. The Hydra Marshes were quiet, and neither of them noticed the figure watching them.
Golden hair waved in the wind as a scythe was poised in her hand, implanted near her feet, and a dark, black Dragon shaped katana was strapped around her back. It was the last thing reminding her of what she really was. Her piercing violet eyes watched them for a moment, before she grabbed something from her pouch.
It was a flute.
Bulma and Vegeta stopped dead in their tracks as they heard someone blow on some kind of flute. They looked up, and noticed a flute falling down a few rocks, and stopping near Vegeta's feet. Above them, the same bug-like creature flew overhead, as if searching for the person blowing the flute. When it couldn't find the person, it shrieked, and left.
The duo looked at each other, and smirked.
They arrived at the meeting point, and the others were already there.
"Nothing," Elvor said exasperatedly.
"Nothing at all. Besides these strange pieces of fruit," Goku added, holding up a strange piece of fruit.
"Tastez horrible!" Ancha said, sticking out her tongue.
"What did you guys find?" Elvor asked.
Vegeta looked at Bulma, and nodded. Bulma reached into her pocket, and got out the strange flute. She took a deep breath, placed the flute near her lips, and blew.
A strange whistling sound emitted from the flute, and after the sound diminished, a loud shriek was heard overhead. Everyone turned to face the giant bug, now flying around them, before it stopped in front of them.
"Kakarot, give it some of the fruit," Vegeta mumbled.
Goku gulped, and slowly walked over to the thing. He held up the piece of fruit, and with a swipe of a frontal leg, the bug grabbed the piece of fruit, and jammed it into its maw.
It then lowered itself to the ground. Goku, Ancha and Elvor were speechless, while Bulma and Vegeta simply climbed aboard the bug.
"Come on guys!!! Let's pay a visit to the Green Dragon!!" Bulma said enthusiastically.
Ancha was the first to walk up to the thing, and, with some help from Bulma and Goku, she found her way atop the large bug. Goku and Elvor were last, and when everyone sat, Vegeta lightly tapped the bug at the side of its head.
Almost instantly, the bug's wings began to clap, and, moving like a fish in the water, the Wingapede left the Hydra Marshes, and headed toward a large secluded isle that everyone knew as Gaea's Navel.
The Wingapede left them on the isle, and shrieked once, as if telling him he wouldn't be far away, and flew up again. Elvor watched it, then turned to Vegeta.
"What was that??" he asked.
"I believe that that was called… a Wingapede," Vegeta answered.
Goku and Elvor looked at Vegeta in shock.
"A Wingapede?! I thought those died out years ago?!" Goku asked.
"Well, that doesn't matter right now. Let's just find that Green Dragon!" Bulma said, and started down the path to search for the Dragon.
Ancha and Vegeta were next to follow, and Goku was next, but Elvor was rooted down for some reason. He remembered this scenery from somewhere… he'd seen it before.
"Wow!! Look at all those flowers!!" a lovely blonde said.
Her aquamarine eyes sparkled with youth, while her body seemed to be a lot older.
"Bloody Hell!" the same woman from the last vision said. "Wha is this place?!?!"
"It's lovely!! That's what!!" the blonde said.
Elvor shook his head, and ran after his friends.
Everyone looked around, admiring the flowers on the isle, as well as all the creatures. Some creatures however, had a tendency to battle with the gang.
"WAAAH!!" Bulma shrieked and avoided one of the giant bug-like creatures trying to pin her down with its stinger. "FREAK!!" she screamed, and quickly used an ElectroJolt Element.
Vegeta was having it easy with the bugs, though they tried to pin him down too. He simply cut them in half with his axe, and continued on to the next enemy. Elvor was having a few difficulties, but it was nothing to worry about. He killed a dozen of the monsters, then stopped for a while to take a breather. Goku easily killed them all, and dodged them with the same ease. Ancha threw pins at them from afar, and somehow, they all connected. Not a single pin missed.
They continued however, not really desiring to stop now. Suddenly, they heard something behind them, and they whirled around. What they saw shocked them for a moment.
There, stood a girl, no older than 16, 17, dressed in blue furs that covered only her chest area and lower body, showing off her muscular body, and she had shoes of the same material. Her arms and legs had large muscles, and she had an animal's tail slung around her neck. She had dark brown, almost black hair that hung near her back, and blue-gray eyes, which were set on slightly confused. In her hand, she held a large katana that was nearly twice the size of Vegeta's axe. By the looks of it, it was made out of Denadorite, a strong material used for weaponry.
Vegeta had asked a local smith in Arni to make some weapons for them from the Denadorite they had found on Earth Dragon Isle.
The girl seemed to have little experience with human males, for she carefully walked over, and walked around Vegeta, then around Elvor, and around Goku last. Bulma and Ancha nearly burst out laughing at the looks on the boys' faces when the girl studied every part of them. Finally, she looked over each of them once more, and spoke.
"Who you be?? You be new faces on isle."
Apparently, she hadn't been around other humans for a long time, if her lack of speech was any indication.
"Uh…" Goku said, still not quite over the fact what that girl had done just a second ago.
"I'm Bulma, and these are Ancha, Goku, Elvor, and Vegeta," Bulma said, still trying to stop laughing. "Who are you?"
"Me??" the girl asked pointing at herself with a smile. "Me be Kari ©! What you do here? You search something?"
Kari was a rather curious girl, and it showed.
"Uh… we're looking for the Green Dragon," Elvor said, the blush from just a second ago removed upon hearing Bulma and Ancha muffle their laughs.
"Draaaaa-gooon! ……… What that??"
Everyone toppled over. Didn't every human know what a Dragon was?!
"Where have you been?! Under a rock?!?" Elvor asked when he stood up.
Kari nodded.
"Kari sleep under huge rock. Kari make home out of stone. Stone be good against rain! Lots of rain here!! Flowers stay good because of rain!"
A sudden droplet of water fell on Kari's nose. She looked up in confusion, before looking at the gang.
"We gonna be wet," she mumbled, and within seconds, gallons of water came pouring from the heavens, soaking the whole gang. "AAAYAAAA!!!" Kari screamed, holding her katana above her head. "Kari no like being wet!!"
"Then find shelter!!" Vegeta screamed over a clap off thunder.
Kari blinked, and smiled.
"Kari know!! Kari take Vegeta and friends to cave! We be dry there!!"
Without warning, she placed her katana between her body and the fur covering her lower body, and ran… on all fours!! The five warriors hurriedly ran after Kari, which was hard because of the mud laying on the ground. Kari waited from time to time however, before running on.
After quite some time, they found themselves in a cave, and Kari shook herself like a dog to get dry.
"Whoo!!" she said. "Kari no like wet weather!!"
Vegeta wrung out his hair, and shook his head to get rid of the remaining droplets.
"Unreal," Elvor mumbled, wringing out his bandana. "The weather just turned from sunny to clouded and stormy."
Ancha pulled her hat from her head, and pulled off her gloves so she could wipe off the white make-up from her face.
"Ah zut!!" she mumbled.
Bulma looked at her clothes, and noticed that it now clung to her body. Having changed the black shirt for a white one before coming to El Nido, you could now see the edge of her bra. She looked back at Goku, Vegeta and Elvor, and none of them were looking her way, thank God.
"Rain no stop for looooooong time. Kari have nap!!"
Kari found a decent spot somewhere, and promptly fell asleep. Bulma watched the sleeping girl.
"Not such a bad idea," Goku said with a yawn.
"Mon dieu… je suis tired…" Ancha murmured, and laid down on the ground.
Elvor stretched his sore limbs, and found a spot near the entrance of the cave.
"G'night guys," he said, before falling asleep.
Vegeta and Bulma were the only two that were still awake.
"Shouldn't you get some rest?" Bulma asked cautiously.
"Nah, I'll be fine. Thanks for asking," Vegeta replied.
Bulma looked around the cave, and noticed that everyone else was already fast asleep.
"How can those guys fall asleep with all that noise outside?" she asked as another clap of thunder sounded overhead.
Vegeta shrugged, not looking up from his spot near the cave entrance, where he was watching the rain.
Bulma shivered from the cold, and her teeth chattered softly, but it was enough to make Vegeta turn around. He watched Bulma try to warm herself for a moment, before he shook his head, and walked over. Bulma jumped at first when Vegeta's arms wrapped around her, but she gradually relaxed. She snuggled into his chest, and before she knew it, she had tumbled asleep.
Vegeta sighed, and held the sleeping girl close to him. He couldn't stop thinking about how much this girl resembled Ciria. However, gradually, he lost rational thought as he slipped into a silent slumber.
Alright, finally! Gaea's Navel. Personally, it took me hours to figure out the location of the Green Dragon. And when I found him, he tried to eat me for lunch!!! Freak!
Reviews:
Hope: I can't tell you, yet. But the last part of the previous chapter will be revealed in due time.
Tenshi: Okay, I get it!
trunks babe: I'll think about it. I just might.
draegonfire: Ha! I know whether to believe her or not! But hey! I'm the author! So I should.
Ciria: No, it wasn't Kari. She just showed up in this chapter.
Bulma BriefsYue Lover: Well? Did you figure out whom I dressed you up as? I'll give you a hint; she's from Chrono Trigger, eats large amounts of alcoholic soups [yuck!] and you have to beat her to get a certain item.
Alright, here's the schedule again, with another Dragon to add to the list.
1. Earth Dragon Isle - Terra, the Earth Dragon
2. Water Dragon Isle - Douse, the Water Dragon
3. Mt. Pyre - Pyro, the Fire Dragon
4. Gaea's Navel - Flora, the Green Dragon
5. ????????
6. ????????
7. ????????
8. ????????