Chapter 015 - Earth's Survivors

The silence was welcoming. Nothing but silence filled the air as what they'd witnessed slowly sunk in. The strange ship had vanished into the blue above. Was he really gone?

Corset watched the sky for a while, body crumpled as she fell to a sitting position. Her heart thumped in her chest, her throat dry and her muscles just about ready to give in.

"Gohan's alright... He's probably more exhausted than anything."

Corset looked over, deliberately averting her eyes as Krillin brought Gohan over towards her and Goku. Everyone seemed to be calm; she guessed that meant the Saiyan really had run away... It was an anticlimactic way to end such an important fight but she was glad it was over.

The sound of jets startled the child and she fearfully looked straight up into the sky; she couldn't see anything where the Saiyan's ship had vanished...

"Helllooooo down there!"

Corset looked around and spotted the plane which had stopped and had begun to descend through the air, landing within another couple of seconds and kicking up dust.

"... Is that...?" She gasped, hopes rising rapidly and a smile slowly spreading across her face. It had the Capsule Corp logo on the back, surely it must be...

The door opened, the old man from the Kame House was waving. Corset recognised him and smiled in relief – the smile fading as a dark-haired woman pushed the old man out of the ship, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"GOHAN!"

"... Chichi?" Goku's voice caught Corset's attention.

The woman looked furious. What was even worse was that she was sprinting straight at the two men! With one swift leap she jumped over Goku and snatched Gohan out of Krillin's grasp, knocking the bald fighter to the ground.

Corset had backed away in fear of the angry-looking stranger: she'd never met the woman before and her first impressions led her to conclude that getting close was a bad idea. "W-Who's that?" She stuttered. She was scared the strange lady was going to kick her backwards just like she had to Krillin. Cautiously she watched as Chichi gently shook her son's head as she held him in her arms.

"Gohan, my poor baby! Speak to me! " She wailed.

"Um... Gohan's going to be alright, Chichi." Krillin explained pointing over towards the elevated rock, "It's Goku you should be worried about... I'm afraid it's not looking so positive for him."

"I'll never let him take you anywhere again!" the woman cried clutching her son tightly in her arms and completely ignoring Krillin! "You poor thing; what did those bad men do to you? You must have been so scared without your mum!"

'Mum?' Corset repeated in her mind, '... So she must be Gohan's mama!'

The mere mention of a mother immediately led her attention back towards the ship; the sight of it and the people emerging from it brought tears to her eyes.

"Corset!"

There she was making a light dash towards her.

"Mama!" Corset sniffed, scuffling onto her feet and running towards her mother, straight into the blue-haired woman's open arms and strong but caring embrace. The tears streamed down the young girl's face as she broke into fits of wailing; Bulma's hand gently pulling her daughter even closer.

"I was so worried. I'm so glad to see you are alright." Bulma quivered tearfully. "My little girl!"

"I m-missed you so m-much." Corset hiccupped, emotions stopping her from saying all the things she wanted to say. She felt so lethargic; today had been such a terrifying ordeal...

"You did a great job, son," Master Roshi joined the two of them.

Bulma stood up with Corset in her arms still, walking forwards towards Goku. "…My gosh, this is horrible... Goku?" She leant down beside him.

"I'm alright... although I've been... in better shape..." Goku tried to stop her from worrying about him.

"I'm afraid we're gonna need to get him to a hospital pretty quickly; I'm all out of senzu beans."

Corset turned to where the voice was and blinked in surprise; a white cat holding a strange-looking stick was behind them... Had that white cat just spoken?

"... Listen Bulma..." Krillin wandered over, finding it hard to speak. "I've got some bad news... Yamcha... Well... he's..."

"I know," Bulma interrupted with a gentle smile, eyes closed. "We saw it on the television broadcast."

Krillin nodded, "I see... Well... then I guess you two both know about the Dragonballs and Piccolo..."

"I SAID WE KNOW!" She bellowed, startling Goku, Krillin, Master Roshi and Corset! "Yamcha and Piccolo are dead and the Dragonballs are gone, we know alright!" Her shaking fists were clenched tightly making Corset shake a little in her mother's grip, Bulma's eyes closed in an attempt not to hold back her tears. To know he was dead broke her heart. Although things hadn't been the same between them since Corset had been born, Bulma still harboured feelings for him. She hushed a whimper and wiped away a loose tear absent-mindedly.

"Come on, let's get Goku to a hospital," Master Roshi sighed in remorse.

Corset frowned and buried her face in her mother's shirt, closing her eyes. She felt herself slipping, her body giving into the feeling of exhaustion.

When her eyes opened, she found herself in her mother's arms. The loud but gentle hum of an engine confirmed she was inside the plane they'd appeared in earlier, although she wasn't sure where they were going. Had she fallen asleep at some point?

"Good, you're awake..." Bulma's eyes looked red, Corset knew she'd been crying. It made her feel guilty to see her mother so sad; she should have stopped Yamcha from going off to fight. Why did he have to die – he knew her mother would be sad. Corset began to grow angry at the long-haired fighter; why did he not know her mama liked him still?

"Gohan!"

Corset looked around to see Gohan was waking up, his mother – who everyone seemed to be calling Chichi – looked ecstatic.

"You're finally awake!" Chichi beamed.

Gohan turned to see his mother's face, "... Mummy?"

"Oh my poor little boy," Chichi smothered her son tightly, "You must have been so scared!"

"You did really well my boy." Master Roshi called from the pilot's seat.

"It's over Gohan; the Saiyan's gone," Krillin smiled, giving the young boy a thumbs up. "Unfortunately he kinda got away from us but I'm willing to bet he never comes back."

"How much do you wanna bet?" Yajirobe asked.

"You must have been really sleepy," Corset smiled. "You squashed him!"

"I did?" Gohan raised an eyebrow, not really sure what she was talking about. He seemed to suddenly be looking for something. "Hey, where's my daddy?"

"I'm right behind you Gohan," Goku's voice came from the other side of the sofa.

Corset zoned out as the adults started talking amongst themselves, she still had a lot of pressing matters on her mind. Her mother had said earlier that Piccolo had died so the Dragonballs were gone; Krillin and Gohan had also mentioned this earlier, as had the Saiyans and Piccolo himself. Corset concluded that Piccolo must somehow have a link to the Dragonballs, although she didn't know how as he'd also said he didn't create them.

Since the Dragonballs were gone, how were they meant to wish anyone back? Everyone would have to stay dead... The thought brought tears to her eyes but she desperately tried to hold them back. She had to be strong for her mama.

"They called him a 'Namekian'... It almost sounded like they were saying that Piccolo – and Kami for that matter – were aliens!"

Krillin's sentence caught Corset's interest. It looked like everyone was thinking the same thing.

"Yeah, I remember them saying something like that. They said Namekians have the power to create magic balls!" Gohan nodded.

"Yeah, they thought Piccolo made the Dragonballs... I think..." Corset added trying to remember when she'd heard this being mentioned.

"You're both right," Krillin smiled. "Then later on I'm sure they said something like not needing to use the Dragonballs on Earth to get their wish because there was another set on Planet Namek."

"... So... You think there's another place with Dragonballs? Is that what you're saying?" Bulma asked.

"Yeah. If we could get to this 'Planet Namek' then maybe... just maybe if it's true... we could use the Dragonballs there!"

"Yeah! Then we could wish Piccolo back to life!" Gohan beamed eagerly.

"G-Gohan! What are you saying?" Chichi gasped in horror.

"Hey, good thinking Gohan," Krillin gasped in excitement. "If we bring Piccolo back to life then Kami will also come back and so will the Dragonballs here. We could still wish everyone back after all!"

Corset beamed happily, "Piccolo and the others could all be wished back. Yay!" She threw her arms up in the air happily.

"Just stop," Bulma mumbled gloomily. "All of you just stop... It's not going to work."

Her mother's words hit everyone hard.

"Listen, do any of you even have the slightest clue of what we're actually saying?" Bulma asked, seemingly indifferent to the drop in mood she'd made for everyone else. "We're assuming there's another planet with Dragonballs on it... For starters do any of you know where this planet actually is?"

No one answered.

"Leave it to me. I can contact Kaio; I'm sure he'll know where it is." Goku's voice barely came from the other side of the sofa.

"So, you guys wanna know where Planet Namek is then?"

Corset froze in astonishment and confusion. Had she really heard that?

"... Please tell me I'm not going crazy but did anyone just hear that?" Master Roshi asked, mirroring Corset's thoughts!

"We're all listening," Goku smiled. "It's only Kaio so don't worry. He's the one who trained me in otherworld."

"First of all I just want to congratulate you all for doing such an amazing job!" Kaio praised them. "To be perfectly honest in the end I didn't think it was going to turn out well! I'm sorry about that Goku; I greatly underestimated Vegeta's strength."

"Yeah, me too," Goku frowned. "... Kaio... did I do the right thing in letting him go?"

"... Well..."

Corset noticed Master Roshi had turned to face Krillin, "Y-You mean he let him go, rather than the Saiyan escaping?"

"I'll fill you in on the details later," Krillin replied.

"Alright... Let's see... Namek's position is... In Earth-terms it's bearing is... Nine-zero-four-five-YX!"

Bulma gasped almost pushing Corset off her lap! "N-Nine-zero-four-five-YX?"

Krillin stared at her dumbfounded, "... Don't tell me you know what that means!"

"Corset, I need to do a couple of calculations, sit here quietly and be a good girl," Bulma ordered, lifting her daughter off her lap and placing her back down on the sofa. She began walking around the ship, pulling a calculator from one of the side cabinets.

"Mama's smart, she knows lots of things," Corset mumbled quietly to Krillin.

After that Corset sat more-or-less quietly, listening to what Kaio had to say about Namek's past, the creator of Earth's Dragonball's past and what course of action they should take. What really interested her was what she'd learnt today. The idea blew her mind; so aliens truly did exist, as did magical-sounding planets? It all sounded so scary but so fun at the same time!

"...Namekians are naturally a peaceful and friendly race," Kaio explained. "The Kami you had on Earth was probably contaminated with evil because of the influences and witnessing malicious human's actions; that's probably where Piccolo originated from."

"Wow, I guess there are horrible things in every race then," Yajirobe mumbled to no one but himself.

"At least by using the Dragonballs of a different planet, we could even bring back Chaozu!" Master Roshi pointed out, "We wouldn't be able to have brought him back to life again with our Dragonballs since we've done it before."

"Yeah, good point!" Krillin nodded.

"Guys! I admire your optimism and all but I've got news." Bulma bellowed, marching over to the two of them. "I've just made some calculations of how long it would take to get to this planet using the fastest engine my dad has – which I would like to point out would be the fastest in the world! Anyone wanna hazard a guess of how long it would take?"

No one answered, Corset tried to work it out in her head but didn't know where to start!

"Try four-thousand-three-hundred-and-thirty-nine years and three months! I hope no one's in a rush to get there." Bulma answered wryly.

Corset gawked in awe. That was such a big number!

"... That's a long time..." Goku mumbled. "... Hey Kaio, any ideas?"

"... You've got me there..."

"Ok maybe it is a long time but there might be a way to get there in far less time!"

It was Krillin who'd spoken, the confident smile still on his face.

"Oh? How exactly did you figure that one out?" Bulma raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "I just said that the fastest engine my dad has is the fastest engine on the planet! Nothing is gonna get us there any quicker."

"Nothing that we ourselves have... but take a look at this!"

Krillin dug into his shirt and pulled out a small object.

"I picked this up from the battlefield. Vegeta used it to call his ship so I think it's some sort of remote control. The ship he came in was tiny; at most it could only fit one person inside of it/ You know what that means, right? The other Saiyan who died must have had a ship of his own."

Bulma snatched the small rectangular object out of Krillin's hand. After a moment a smug smile crept across her face. "... This might actually work!"

The young girl couldn't help but smile. There was hope! With luck they could bring Piccolo and the others back to life!

The ship soon stopped; Corset being carried by her mother. She didn't recognise where they were but the building they were heading towards was huge! Her body had stopped listening to her and now refused to move. She felt so tired and drained – not to mention cold from the cool air of the city. As her mother had led her out of the ship she'd seen some strange pods; she wondered what was in them.

The gang walked through the doors of the building towards a desk, Corset's eyesight fading and blurring. She felt sleepy. The large room they were in was brightly lit and mainly white, a lot of chairs were scattered along the walls, people sitting in some of them. There was little to no noise here, just people talking or things being moved.

"We've got an emergency here..." Bulma's voice seemed to fade a little as Corset felt her head grow lighter. What was wrong with her? She felt terrible; she'd never experienced this feeling before, not even with Piccolo's training. Was it the exhaustion of today, was it because she'd been so excited to see her mother again or was it because of all those who'd died around her?

Everything went dark, she felt her head slip back.

When her eyes opened, it was day. Corset didn't recognise where she was and sat up, finding it a little difficult to do so.

Pain shot up her left arm and she flinched, she tried to grasp her arm but found something was stopping her. She looked and gasped; she had a cast on. That meant she'd broken her arm. No wonder it was complaining to her. Panic began to take over; she'd injured herself and she had no idea where she was. She didn't recognise anything about this room.

"Hey, glad to see you're up!"

It was Krillin. Seeing him there filled the young child with relief. "Where are we, Krillin? Where's my mama?" Corset inquired.

"We're at West City Hospital," Krillin clarified, "They're healing the injuries we got from the battle yesterday. Lucky for you, me and Gohan that we don't have to stay here that long."

"Gohan's here?" Corset looked around and noticed he was sleeping on the bed next to her.

"The poor little guy looks bushed!" Krillin chuckled.

Corset looked back over to him and noticed he had his arm in a sling. "... Did you break an arm too, Krillin?"

"Yeah, I got a couple of other injuries but nothing serious," Krillin rubbed his head. "Too bad we can't say the same for Goku though; he's gotta be bandaged up – they've been trying to do it all night!"

"Hello in here!"

The door opened and Chichi walked into the room.

"Hey Chichi," Krillin greeted.

Corset watched the woman cautiously wondering if she'd knock Krillin down again. Fortunately she bypassed Krillin and marched over to Gohan. "Everyone needs to get up and out of bed; the doctors want to give you three a check-up to get the full picture of your injuries."

Corset gulped; she didn't like the sound of that! "... Where's my mama?"

"Oh, sorry I forgot you asked!" Krillin apologised. "Bulma stayed here all night but she had to leave earlier this morning. She got some news from her dad about a ship we could use and she's the only one with the brains to be able to do anything with it!"

Corset frowned and looked down at her lap. "... So she won't be here?"

"... Hey," Krillin stepped forward. "She didn't want to go kid... really, she was saying she wanted to stay by your bedside until you were better but she's the only one with the know-how about Saiyan technology. I'm sorry."

Corset nodded silently. It was true; her mother was by far the smartest person she knew. Give her any machine and her mother could work out how to fix it or re-model and improve it. If only her mother had a smart-switch which Corset could press on and off so Bulma could stay with her whilst she was in hospital...