Bulma and Goku had retreated to a room in the side of the building that must have been the office of whatever manager had run the warehouse twelve years ago. It was a small square space with charred blue wallpaper and a floor littered with papers. There was a large metal desk at the far end with a cheap upholstered chair. Bulma sunk into it and closed her eyes against the swirling in her head.
"Tell me what happened." Goku demanded. He stood on the other end of the desk with his arms folded over his chest, staring at her kindly but serious.
She nodded slowly and began to tell him the details, adding an aggravated emphasis on how Mint had run off and left her to die and ending the tale with the rules of the game.
Goku listened to her, occasionally rubbing his chin in thought but otherwise quiet until she finished.
By the time the story was over Bulma was mad again but didn't have the energy to show it. She sat mute on the chair, staring dispassionately at a roster of employee names who'd been about to receive raises. A man named Ashido was at the top of the list and she wondered absentmindedly what he'd been like and if he'd had a family. He'd probably been a better parent and partner than she was.
"Three days isn't a lot of time." Goku said.
The words sobered her. She looked up into his face and frowned.
"What are we going to do?" She asked imploringly. "Oh, Goku this is all my fault."
Goku seemed startled and he went around the desk and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey don't say that, this is not your fault."
"What if we never find her? What if we lose? What if they take someone else?" She was panicking again.
"Bulma, stop worrying." Came Goku's soft voice, reassuring her with a calm certainty.
"The others will look to us to save them...Goku, I'm so tired of this."
"That's why it's time to end this once and for all."
"How!?" She snapped, "How are we going to end it when you've destroyed any hope
of doing this in three days-"
Stopping, Bulma gaped at him and felt the dizziness return. She couldn't believe she'd just ripped open that wound again and so callously. "Oh...Goku!"
Goku's face fell and for a long horrible moment his eyes went blank. It was too late to take it back, the memory slammed into them both like the punch of a raging saiyan warrior.
Twelve years ago, Goku fell ill with a life threatening heart disease. He'd been unable
to fight with the others, unable to do anything but lay and clench at his chest in something of a coma. Bulma had brought him and Chi Chi in one of her jets up to Kami's lookout where she was able to protect Goku from the androids still searching for him.
What she'd not accounted for was that when Gohan died, Chi Chi would be so filled with a need for revenge that she stole the jet and went after the androids herself. This is how she too went to the Otherworld, and perhaps why Bulma felt such guilt when the woman was brought up.
Goku had woken up barely a day later but when he came to and could no longer sense the power levels of his friends and family -especially of Chi Chi and Gohan- he'd been unable to control his rage. It had been just an instant, a fleeting moment barely the length of a blink and yet it had had disastrous consequences.
He exploded into a golden ball of energy and screamed into the heavens with such lucid pain the clouds parted and the sky rippled. Rocks had defied gravity, the earth shook beneath them, light bent and blinded everything in white.
Po Po had needed to take Bulma away from the lookout on his carpet when the entire suspension of the island tilted.
When the blast was over, mere seconds later, everything was gone. The building was razed, the tiles ripped apart, the gardens disintegrated into ash. The door to the hyperbolic time chamber was broken apart, the portal no longer accessible.
Goku had been devastated by his outburst even when Po Po returned with Bulma and assured him that he could fix the chamber with a little time. Unfortunately the following chain of events had left that option unattainable.
The surge of energy and the magnitude of the explosive power Goku had released had alerted the androids as to where they were. They arrived within the hour.
That had been the first time she or Goku had ever seen them. They'd seemed so normal at the time, that she had almost rathered them be hideous monsters just to justify the amount of damage they had caused to the Earth.
Goku, barely woken from his coma and still wretched with grief, had fought the androids that day. It had been a losing battle, but the further damage left to the lookout drove Po Po to once again take Bulma away from the battlefield.
They hadn't gotten far, however, before the android 17 decided that it was more amusing not to allow them to leave. He shot a blast at them that would have been able to destroy the earth three times over, far too great for Po Po to handle.
In a desperate moment, Goku abandoned his guard completely and appeared in front of the beam to save them. This is how Goku received the scar on his chest and how Po Po had gone missing for all those years.
"I'm sorry." Bulma croaked, blinking her eyes as though coming out of a deep and stifling dream.
"It's alright. You were right to say it." He told her, though from the hard look in his eyes she knew it had stabbed a knife in his resolve.
"We need to find a way to defeat them." She said in avoidance of the topic while she stood. "Maybe Dr. Gero's lab has some answers -blueprints or something."
Bulma had been considering that since she mentioned going to the lab that morning. The gears had reminded her that the androids were only machines, something she was quite proficient in.
Goku didn't even look thoughtful, the guilt simply fell from his face with the idea of new hope and he happily exclaimed, "Hey! That's a great idea!"
The light had touched his eyes again and she grinned. "Yeah! I say we do it!"
"I'm gonna have to ask that you go to the lab on your own though Bulma. There's something I gotta go do and may take me a little while." Goku rubbed the back of his head, proclaiming this as if it was no big deal at all.
Bulma crossed her arms, brows furrowed. "Ok, but what is it? What's more important than a way to defeat the androids?"
"Well. I have an idea, but I don't know if it will work so I don't think I should tell you right now."
She growled. "Goku. You want to leave me alone with all the survivors in the middle of a crisis for an unknown amount of time and you won't even tell me why?"
Goku scratched his forehead. "Uh. Yeah."
Bulma's face turned red. "That's insane! Tell me what's going on! Right now!" She was in his face, scowling.
His hands came up in a nervous defence. "I'm sorry Bulma but I'd rather not explain right now!"
Bulma tossed her hands up and shook her head. For all of Goku's spirit and boyishness he had the potential to be the most cryptic guy she'd ever known.
She groaned and said in frustrated defeat, "Fine! I'll take the others back to headquarters and then take Rin and a few others with me to the lab."
His eyes softened and he offered his hand to her. She looked up at him questioningly then blushed and drew into him on the strength of his arm.
"I promise, I'll be back to help you look for her...and I'll be stronger than ever."
Bulma didn't answer, she didn't want him to see that his tenderness was breaking her willpower to remain flustered with him.
"Bulma?" He pushed. "Hey are you ok? You look really awful"
"Goku!" Bulma's warning cut through his sentence like a razor. He stopped talking and just held her against him -even he couldn't miss that message.
Safe in his arms in the seclusion of the office something stirred inside of her and she realized that she'd not allowed herself to cry yet -the tears came then fast and with a vengeance. If Goku was startled by it, he didn't show it. His hands began to stroke her hair and back and he whispered sweet reassurances to her. "It will be alright," "I love you," "We'll find her."
She was crumbling. What was the point of this life if it was only filled with pain?
Bulma wasn't sure how long she'd been wrapped up in Goku's embrace. At some point they'd moved to the ground. Goku was resting his back against the wall and she was curled into a ball on his lap.
"Goku." She whispered pitifully and pressed harder against him.
"Huh?" The pressure of his chin pushed against her head, he was looking at her. "Yeah?"
"Will you make love to me?" Bulma pleaded.
"Bulma?" He seemed a little confused, but his body didn't for a bulge had already begun to rise against her thigh.
She blushed. "Please...Goku, this might be the last time we can be together...I want you to make love to me. Is that wrong?"
"No." Came his response clear and convicted this time so that she stared up at him in alarm. His face had the same resolve as his words. "It's not wrong."
Relief washed over her.
He began to kiss at the tears staining her cheeks and wiped them away with his thumb while she gazed at him. Then his lips strayed and he was kissing her and she was melting into him without thought or care of the rest of the world outside their own.
At least this was something that the androids couldn't take from her. Her and Goku's love was too pure to be tainted by their evil.
She kissed him back from that core of thought and whimpered longingly into his lips. He responded by sinking his hands below her waist and pulling her closer to him by her buttocks.
Bulma straddled him and coiled her arms around his neck. She felt younger when she was with him, as though her youth was rejuvenated from the energy of his strength.
He groaned and rose his pelvis against her thighs. At that moment a shockwave of heat surged up her spine.
She shivered and slipped her tongue into his mouth, rocking back and forth above his rising groin and then slowly began to grind against him.
They moaned quietly together, picking off each other's garments quickly and feverishly. First Goku's gi top then Bulma's shirt, both flew over her shoulder in a pile. Goku hefted his weighted shirt from his shoulders and lifted her from the floor onto the desk where she sat with her legs wrapped about his waist.
His hands explored her body with movements as deft as when he practiced katas. Each stroke left a trail of cold excitement in its wake until she was shivering in his grip.
Bulma undid her bra and tossed it in the general direction of the pile.
At the exposure of her breasts Goku blushed and ran a finger over one of her nipples. The kiss had stopped for a moment while he gazed at her with some expression she couldn't understand.
"Goku?" She bit her lip a bit nervously. It was no mystery that she was getting older. the notion of aging had always bothered her and she couldn't bare to think that Goku -still looking 25- would begin to notice it.
"You've always been so pretty." He told her.
This time Bulma blushed. "Oh Goku, for a lughead you sure are sweet." She laughed and coiled her arms around his neck, drawing him into another kiss.
They were locked like this for a while. Goku's fingers traced circles around her areola while they rocked and tugged at the rest of their clothing until they were both naked and pressing needfully against one another.
Bulma felt her sex throbbing. Goku's stiff member was hard on her thighs, leaking wetness on her smooth skin. She moaned and reached for it, much to his surprise and then delight when her fingers began to stroke
"That...feels good." He encouraged with almost innocent adoration in his voice. His corded muscles were bulging with the sexual tension; he closed his eyes and groaned.
He was big, warrior sized she often teased, and the shaft was thick and wide in her tiny hands. She worked her fingers over the head and watched him shudder and closed his eyes to brace himself against waves of pleasure. A smile had begun to spread on her lips and quickly rose into a grin as his moans grew more persistent.
"You like that?" Bulma cooed and stole his mouth with her own before he could respond.
They kissed again and again until Goku hoisted her up and slammed her against the wall. She grunted and blushed. Her mind was lusting after his strength and physical ferocity.
His manhood was resting against her sex, causing it to pulse in aggravated anticipation. Goku's hands were tracing every inch of her body from her upper cheeks to her lower ones and down her thighs.
A hand came to rest upon her sex and he began to rub at it, slowly, skillfully. She let out a little gasp and moaned and he responded to the sounds by dipping a finger into her.
"Oh! Goku!" She gulped and spread her legs a little wider for him.
He blinked. "What? Is that not good?" His finger started to draw outwards and she clutched his wrist with something wild in her eye.
"Don't you stop." She hissed.
He stared wide eyed and nodded. "Oh...Ok!"
The finger pushed back inside of her and she shivered and planted her hands on the wall behind her for balance.
"You sure are wet Bulma." He observed.
Bulma nodded and nearly squeaked in surprise when he thrust a second finger into her depths. She let out a long, shaky moan and tilted her head back. He was working his hand, twirling his fingers in and out and pushing them against her inner walls.
Goku's free hand groped at her chest, freely tracing her nipple and tugging at it almost playfully.
Bulma leaned closer and mapped kisses down his chin and on his lips. "I want you Goku." She pleaded.
He made a noise that sounded like an agreement then lifted her up so her legs were wrapped about his waist and he was in position She felt his manhood pushing against her ripe, hot sex and swallowed at the pressure sensation.
She put her arms around his neck.
"You want this, huh?" Goku said tauntingly, grinning at her. He'd not entered her yet and there was a glint in his dark eyes.
Bulma blushed. "Yes, Goku."
"Well...I don't know-"
"Goku you're going to fuck me right now!" She snapped, furious with tension.
He paled and laughed, "Geez, alright. I was just kidding."
Without another word his large shaft started to fill her. She turned rigid for an instant and then fell against the wall, relaxed as he sunk deeper and deeper inside.
It was nothing like his fingers. Goku's member was thick and warm and satiating and the arms which held her suspended were strong. She literally felt as though she was floating in mid-air, unhindered by age or weakness.
The heat turned up between them. Goku sped quicker and harder and Bulma moaned continuously, amazed by his dexterity and the sensations spreading from his groin and into her sex. It was throbbing at that point, pounding in response to his girth so that she began to feel dizzy from it's heat.
Bulma had never remembered wanting sex so badly but she today she craved his touch more than ever and ached with desire for the bliss of melting into his chiseled body.
Perhaps the sudden desperate need to be with him was because she figured they would both be dead in three days. Her lack of hope drove a stake in her heart that only seemed alleviated by knowing she wasn't alone.
She realized, while he slipped in and out of her with easy, fluid motions, that she had never felt alone with Goku. His cheerful energy and kind spirit was the only thing that had gotten her through the last 12 years. Happiness and gratitude gushed from her then and she moaned with more than just budding ecstasy, but with a love that seemed to flower between them.
"I love you Goku." She told him.
He must of sensed the desperation in her tone because he looked at her with such uncharacteristic understanding that they collided simultaneously into a feverish kiss -the sort shared only by lovers who knew they faced an impending and unavoidable death together.
They fell to the ground, Bulma supine with Goku laying them missionary style. He thrust back into her again and they threaded their bodies together.
His manhood pushed against her G-spot tirelessly, prodding emotions and sensations out of her she hadn't felt in ages. The androids and the survivors and even Arugula were forgotten for the time being while they lost themselves in each other.
At last the heat in her sex grew into an intolerable burn and sent shivers down her legs and butterflies up her throat.
Bulma cried out with it and finished with him inside her.
Seconds later, Goku huffed and groaned into her neck. "Bulma." He kissed her earlobe as her womanhood prickled with an odd sensitivity and then slowly spilled his orgasm down her sex.
Afterwards the two of them lay on the floor on their sides, facing one another in silence. Goku brushed a strand of hair from Bulma's face and rested his hand on her hip.
"That was great." He said.
Bulma grinned. "Yeah, it was."
Something tender and wordless passed between them and Bulma kissed him one more time.
"I have to go. We don't have much time." Goku sighed, wrapping her a little closer.
"I know."
Her heart sank anyways. Tears started to converge in the corners of her eyes.
"Hey." He cooed, "Hey, why are you crying? Bulma?"
"We're going to die, aren't we? Oh, Arugula...she's just a baby..."
It pained her to admit to him how little faith she had and worse to admit it to herself. The drive she'd had as a young woman felt as if it was being stripped from her soul with each passing day and every new wrinkle where her smile used to be.
"Bulma." Goku said scornfully. "We're not going to die. I'm going to protect everyone. I promise."
His words only caused her to sob worse. He pulled away from her and looked down into her tear streaked face.
"Huh!? What's wrong?!" He practically begged.
"Oh Goku. You're unbelievable. Do you realize how impossible that promise will be to keep?" Then quieter she added, "Besides...who's going to protect you you idiot."
The humor fell from his face. He made a muted sound and began to stand and gather his clothing. Bulma reluctantly followed his example but slower as her limbs felt cumbersome with age and grief.
She understood what he was doing just then and it weighed her down like she had a body made of rocks. Goku hadn't answer her because he knew he'd protect her and Arugula, but couldn't promise he would live in the process.
"Please tell me where you're going Goku…" Bulma clenched her hands into fists, fighting the threat of more tears.
"I told you already that I can't Bulma. I don't want to get your hopes up too soon."
She struggled with heavy arms into her shirt. "I don't care about that. I only want you safe."
He went to her and wrapped his arms around her waist."Just think of it like a surprise...if that's easier."
It wasn't easier and she didn't look a bit convinced but she let it go when another pressing matter occurred to her. "Goku. I've been getting a weird feeling about things lately."
"Yeah? How so?" He asked, kissing her on the forehead and then sitting hard on the floor with his boots. He seemed so carefree again.
"Don't you think things have been a little strange around here lately?" Bulma asked.
"Strange?" He blinked and then his eyes narrowed. "Hm. Yeah, now that you mention it. I think I know what you're talking about."
For some reason she had half hoped he would say she was crazy and assure her that nothing was wrong. She hadn't wanted him to agree but now that she had they had yet another thing to address.
"What things have you noticed?" Bulma inquired, pulling on her pants.
"Well." He mused. "When I was chasing down Arugula earlier...it was moving extremely fast. That's why I guessed it had to have been the androids, that wasn't really a surprise. What was weird was when I sped up so did they and then Arugula disappeared completely. I can't explain it, it doesn't make any sense if they can't sense power levels!"
Bulma thought about this while biting on her thumb. "I see." She muttered absentmindedly.
"Right before you showed up." She started again after a moment. "Android 17 looked at the sky and said that you were coming."
"Huh, really?" Goku scratched his head but he didn't seem all that alarmed.
"You seem awfully calm about this."
He looked at her, eyes soft. "That's because whatever's going on Bulma, I have faith that you'll figure it out."
Bulma blushed and felt a swell of pride in her chest. "You bet I will!" She announced confidently.
And she believed it.