Outside the doors was nearly as dark as it was inside. Thick, ominous clouds like black smoke covered the stars and smothered the moon except for a single stream of light which spilled over a cluster of buildings in the distance.
They wandered out into a patch of rubble that used to be the veranda and with sinking hearts climbed up the piles of cement blocks and crooked rebars surrounding their hideout. Methodically the two checked for any signs of movement that was not a stray dog or collapsing ceiling and within moments reported back to one another. "Cost is all clear." Goku announced.
Relaxing Bulma joined him at his side and peered up at a billboard which had remained intact but for a large chunk blown from its center. The face painted on the old wood belonged to an actress she'd once adored, Madam Zakuro had been her name. Those days there was only the radio broadcasting recent events from secret towers and even now they were few and far between.
Bulma sighed, "I miss television." She said longling.
There were more important things to discuss but she was exhausted and the dust which had settled over the air was making her drowsy again.
"Huh, really?" Goku asked, looking over at the billboard. "Oh yeaaah! Madam What's-her-face!"
"Madam Zakuro!" She corrected.
"Sure, yeah. The ugly girl you watched in all those weird movies."
Bulma scowled and crossed her arms indignantly. "She was not ugly Goku! She was a lot like me, and I was beautiful not to mention talented! At least in those days…" Her head hung as she eyed her reflection in a shard of broken glass on the pavement. She was so old now with greying wisps of blue hair and though she was still lovely, there was the ghost of something ugly in her eyes and frown lines which had bore into her cheeks.
"Gosh Bulma! I knew you were talented with all that science stuff, buuut...I don't know about beautiful." He scratched his head, confused.
Bulma turned on him in a flash and jabbed a finger on his chest, trademark rage contorting her features, "You listen here bub! I was the prettiest girl in all of West City! If you didn't think so, you should have your eyes checked!"
Goku only took a nervous step back and laughed, "Sorry Bulma, I didn't mean to offend you."
With the faint light of the moon guiding her, she could just make out his eyes softening and the silhouette of his hand as reached across to stroke her cheek. "I love you no matter what you look like anyways, you know that.
Her face turned several shades of pink, "Oh Goku...I just can't stay mad at you." She sighed and pressed her head into his hand, nuzzling the rough pads of his fingertips.
He stepped in closer to her and again those powerful arms coiled around her slender shoulders in the sort of warm, all embracing, hug only Goku could give. "Well that's good, you're kind of scary when you're angry."
She laughed and said with whimsical sigh, "Goku…."
"Come on, let's take that walk."
Bulma let him guide her carefully over the fallen stones and deeper into the ravaged city in silence. She really wasn't sure why she'd insisted on going out into the polluted air except that maybe old habits had urged her; whatever had led her to the decision, she was beginning to regret it.
They creeped along decaying sidewalks, dark with the eerie shadows of ruined buildings and vines which came from cracks in the cement and suffocated nearly everything around them. Even with a powerful saiyan by her side, there was little that dwindled fear those days and the abandoned streets only served as a reminder of darker days.
Twelve years ago an evil scientist mastermind named Dr. Gero released two machines called Androids 17 and 18 with the intention of killing Goku out of an insane desire for revenge. In an effort to end his madness before it began a boy named Trunks came in a time machine to warn the Z fighters with a set of important instructions and three years to prepare. What they couldn't be ready for, however, was the butterfly effects that would come with his arrival. Dr. Gero made his inventions too powerful and too intelligent and shortly after activating them they revolted against their creator and demolished him. Then in what could only be explained as the boredom of the psychotic, they turned on the rest of the world.
One month, that's all it took for them to battle their way through the Z fighters and ignite all of human civilization in flames -and they did it with smiles on their faces. As predicted by Trunks, Goku developed a heart condition that left him unable to fight and the antidote though helped, did not cure him entirely. Bulma, however, had seen the importance of keeping Goku alive, and not just because he was her friend, he was the only one who could stop 17 and 18 and restore peace -so she took him in her jet to Kami's lookout while he fought off the terrible heart disease that threatened to kill him. Up there, all alone (Mr. Popo fled into hiding soon after Kami and Piccolo merged) she was able to put him on an advanced life-support that kept him breathing...but he soon fell into a coma.
When he finally woke up to find all of their family and friends dead he exploded into a rage filled war path and attacked the villainous machines head-on...but he hadn't been strong enough and the only thing it gained him was a gruesome scar across his right pectoral. There was nothing anyone could do, so instead the pair dedicated themselves to training and to finding the few survivors and keeping them as safe as they could.
To say it was a hard life was an understatement, they struggled just to survive each day. All of the conveniences of their modern world were few and far between: stores, television, vehicles...plumbing! It was a battle just to get enough food to provide for everyone -especially with Goku's insatiable appetite.
Through all of this there was at least one thing working; Bulma and Goku had been together for a little over three years now, after a night of passion caused from years of loneliness left them wondering if they weren't meant to be with each other. It was them who began the epic journey that saved the world over and over again, and it appeared it would be them till the bitter end.
Bulma was deeply receded into her thoughts when suddenly Goku said, "We have to do something."
They'd been walking in dead silence, picking their way through the weeds and dismantled vehicles and the sound of his voice had nearly startled her. She frowned and gazed at him, only now noticing that he'd grown tense while thinking of what she assumed was his own dark memories. Waking up to learn Chi-Chi and Gohan were dead, fighting the androids, struggling to live and provide for the survivors they rescued.
"What do you mean? We are doing something, we're doing everything we can." She knew that's not what he meant but did not like where he was going with it. Goku was all she had left, if she lost him to some crazy misadventure...she didn't know what she would do.
"You said you couldn't take it anymore, didn't you? Well, I can't either! What's the point of all this training and power if I can't even stop a couple of machines?" He stopped dead on the street between an upturned stoller covered in moss and a fire hydrant. The veins cording the back of his hands and forehead bulged in response to his growing anger.
Bulma sighed and looked up at the colorless sky, she understood what he was going through all too well but also knew when it was time to give up. "Goku...I know what I said earlier but I was upset. You can't be rash -you understand that, don't you?" With tearing eyes she stared at him again, wishing she could say more, do more but all she could offer was her sympathy.
"If we keep sneaking around like this, we're going to get caught! We should face them head on!"
"It's suicide!"
"Not if I Ascend."
Bulma gasped, "You mean...go higher than a Super Saiyan? You don't even know if that's possible Goku!"
"I know it is, I can feel it." He said and seemed to relax slightly.
"Oh Goku…" She said with a sad little sigh, "Train more if it makes you feel better, but promise me you won't face them...not yet."
His eyes settled on her's and there was a long, insufferable silence between them before he responded, "I can't make that promise Chi-Chi. If this comes down to losing you, I will fight them."
Bulma gaped but he didn't seem to realize what he'd said. She wanted to be angry with him, but the look on his face made her hurt and all she could do was frown and whisper to him, "Alright."
And then they turned around and went back to the hideout, but by the time they'd returned and curled up in each other's arms...both of them fell asleep knowing that something was going to happen -and soon.