Chapter 044 - The Day That Was Foretold
Age 767, May 12th.
There it was. Ahead of them, a large island surrounded by a couple of smaller islands appeared in the distance. That had to be the island the guys were all due to meet on; her tracker confirmed her suspicions and the craft closed in on the landmass. Bulma gulped, taking a quick glance over her shoulder before shifting in her seat. "We're here."
The clouds slowly rose above them as their plane descended down to ground level. Corset peered out the window spotting the island they were due to land on. There was a tall peak at one end which overshadowed a relatively large city. The ten-year-old's eyes focused on the city, it seemed quite busy down below. That was bad news if the androids were supposed to show up here...
"I'm taking her down for our final approach," Bulma announced.
Corset heard her baby brother gurgling in his chair and smiled at him, his big blue eyes briefly observing her before finding something else. He'd barely reached his first year but was beginning to become more of a handful for her. She wasn't sure how her mother managed to look after him and still run the Capsule Corp business!
The plane's wheels struck the ground and the engines shut down as it rolled to a stop. Corset released herself from her seatbelt and jumped out of the plane, spotting Yamcha and Tenshinhan were already here.
"Hey guys!" Bulma called as she opened her door. "You look like you've all been working out!"
"We thought it might be you," Yamcha stepped forward, "what are you doing here, Bulma?"
Corset walked over towards Tenshinhan who was standing on the edge of the cliff overlooking the city. "So, have they appeared yet?" She asked.
"No sign of them anywhere," Tenshinhan answered, glancing down at her briefly. "... You've grown in height and strength since I last saw you. Good on you, kid."
"What?" Yamcha's loud cry caught both fighter's curiosity and they turned around to look at him. Bulma stood before the warrior with her baby brother in her arms. "Y-You're kidding me!" Yamcha choked in shock. "You brought your kid along with you?"
"So?" Bulma shrugged her shoulders looking a little smug. "What, don't you trust my judgement? I couldn't leave him at home; he wanted to cheer his big sister on!"
"Bulma that's not the point - neither of you should be here!" Yamcha retaliated.
"... Um..." Tenshinhan butted in intrigued. "... Whose is he, Bulma? The kid I mean... Is he yours, Yamcha?"
"Not mine," Yamcha snorted folding his arms and turning away. "It's Vegeta's!"
Corset pouted. Why did he sound so horrible when he said that? What was wrong with her brother being her dad's child? Was it against the law or something?
"Hey, I was going to tell him!" Bulma grumbled.
"I can't believe it..." Tenshinhan seemed pretty shocked for some reason, Corset not entirely sure why. "Who'd have thought it would happen again?"
Corset was about to speak when four familiar ki signals appeared on the horizon. "... Hey, I can sense some ki coming from over there," she pointed towards the east.
"It might be Goku and the others," Yamcha answered.
The ki signals grew closer, finally becoming visible on the horizon.
"It is them!" Yamcha smiled waving up to the approaching group. "It's Goku!"
Corset turned to fully face them and waved as Gohan and Krillin landed, Goku and Piccolo close behind them.
"Bulma!" Goku exclaimed seeming surprised to see her.
"What took you guys so long?" Yamcha asked half-jokingly, pleased to see them all again as was everyone else.
"I thought it was you guys," Corset smiled walking over to Gohan and Krillin. "Krillin, I haven't seen you in ages."
"Yeah, it's been a while hasn't it?" Krillin nodded, "You look a lot stronger."
"I hope I'm a lot stronger otherwise I'm in trouble!" Corset giggled sheepishly.
"Wow, Gohan!" Bulma smiled. "You've gotten so big."
"You idiot!" Goku squawked, eyes still stuck on Bulma, unblinking just in case she vanished. "Why did you tag along?"
Corset'd asked her mother this earlier on; she knew the answer that was coming. Bulma'd insisted she come along to wish her daughter luck during the fight as well as to get a glimpse of the androids. Why she'd brought Trunks along Corset didn't know but she deeply wished she'd left him at home; this place wasn't safe!
"I came to watch of course!" Bulma replied. "Don't worry. I'll go home as soon as I get a look at the androids."
"Um... Is Bulma carrying what I think she's carrying?" Krillin asked with a strange smile on his face.
"Is it yours, Yamcha?" Gohan asked. "Did you and Bulma get married?"
Corset glared at her friend, annoyed he'd assumed nothing would happen between her parents! It had happened! "He's my brother," She answered slightly irked. "He's not my half brother!"
"... Don't blame this on me," Yamcha pouted closing his eyes. "We broke up a long time ago. Just wait until she tells you who the father is..."
Corset smiled feeling smug she already knew the answer.
Goku stepped forwards and bent over to glance at the small baby, "I'll bet it's Vegeta – right Trunks?"
Corset's jaw dropped; she noticed her mother flash her a quick glance in the corner of her eye. It wasn't her who'd told him! She had no idea how he knew but knew she was going to get the blame for it!
"How did you know that? I was keeping it a secret from everyone!" Bulma frowned.
Goku took a shaky step back seemingly jittery all of a sudden. "W-Well he kinda looks like Vegeta! Maybe it's the eyes..."
"... Corset didn't tell you, did she?" Bulma probed sounding slightly more annoyed.
"I didn't say anything to anyone!" Corset answered nervously.
"It's ok Bulma, really, it was just a wild guess!" Goku flustered.
"You even got his name right!"
"Wow, really? What are the chances of that happening?" Goku chuckled. "Maybe I'm psychic?"
"Hmm... If you say so..." Once more Bulma glared at Corset. That meant she was definitely getting the blame for it, no matter how much she and Goku protested her innocence!
"He's really Vegeta's?" Krillin choked in shock. "Wow... Even if you guys already have Corset, I never expected this to happen! I thought Corset was... well..."
Corset's attention turned to the bald warrior curious and a little annoyed. First she was being blamed for something she didn't do and now people were suggesting her brother's birth was impossible to believe? "You thought I was what?" She inquired sternly.
"... I thought it was a one-off!" Krillin finished.
"Speaking of Vegeta..." Piccolo butted in, "where is he?"
"How should I know?" Bulma shrugged her shoulders. "You think I'd live with that jerk? Don't worry though; he was training hard for this fight."
"He's only just come back from space but I haven't seen him around at all," Corset frowned.
"Don't worry, he'll come," Goku smiled confident. "He wouldn't miss a fight!"
"I left Chaozu behind," Tenshinhan muttered. "We both trained but frankly he wouldn't be able to keep up with this battle."
"Yeah, it's better this way," Goku nodded.
"What time is it now?" Gohan asked.
Bulma glanced down to read her watch. "... Half nine. They should appear in under an hour." She answered.
Nine-thirty. They had half an hour until the battle began. Corset felt a lump emerge in her throat and swallowed hard, now was not the time for nerves. She'd trained long and hard for this day and was not going to let her worries and doubts get the better of her now!
"... You should go home Bulma," Goku warned, "You've brought your baby with you; go now while you still can."
"I said I'm not going until I see the androids," Bulma answered decisively. "I still have half an hour."
The group had no option but to wait for the remaining thirty minutes to pass.
"So you're a sister now?" Gohan asked.
"Yep," Corset nodded. She, Gohan, Krillin, Goku and Yamcha had all crowded Bulma and baby Trunks.
"So what happened to his tail?" Krillin asked. "Did you cut it off?"
"No, he wasn't born with one," Bulma replied, "Strange, huh? He came out looking completely human!"
"Wow... Bizarre," Krillin mumbled.
Corset knelt down to her brother's level and held out one finger, "Hey Trunks, you're nearly a year old, aren't you?" She smiled as the chubby baby's fingers latched around hers, squeezing tightly. "Wow, you're pretty strong!" She giggled. "I bet you could beat the androids!"
Gohan bent down and began to pull faces at Trunks; the young baby laughing in amusement.
"I think he likes you, Gohan," Corset grinned as she stepped back. "Trunks doesn't laugh when I pull faces at him; he just stares at me."
"Hey, you should give it a try too, Krillin," Gohan suggested, stepping back.
"Me?" Krillin scratched his head. "I dunno, I wouldn't know what to say to make him laugh!"
Trunks pointed towards Krillin and began to laugh harder than before. Corset quickly realised he'd found the sun reflecting off the small fighter's head funny and tried her best to contain her own laughter!
"I haven't even done anything..." Krillin mumbled closing his eyes with a pout, Gohan and Corset struggling to stifle their own laughter.
"You're a natural with kids, Krillin!" Gohan chuckled.
"Someone's coming," Piccolo interrupted them, speaking to no one in particular as he watched over the city below. "I sense no malice..."
The remaining fighters all looked over, able to sense the approaching ki – apart from Bulma of course.
"Maybe it's Vegeta?" Gohan suggested.
"Uh-uh; he's pure malice!" Krillin snorted.
A small speck appeared on the horizon and slowly made its way closer towards them. Corset gulped and clenched her fists; she didn't recognise it and wasn't sure whether to trust it, even if there was no malevolence.
It turned out to be a small jet-car; a small man sat in the driver's seat, long hair dancing in the wind. Corset thought she recognised him but wasn't sure where from.
"It's Yajirobe!" Goku realised.
The jet landed on the small outcrop and shut off its engines, Yajirobe jumping out the door. "I'm glad I made it in time."
Corset remembered his burly gruff voice and realised he'd been the man during the fight with her dad who'd cut his tail off! Now that she thought about it, he hadn't changed his appearance at all!
"Did you come to fight with us?" Goku asked eagerly.
Yajirobe glared at the excited warrior for a moment before reaching for something in his clothes. He pulled out a small sack, "Here you go. Senzu beans from Master Korin."
"Great, thanks a lot!" Goku smiled taking the small bag from the samurai. "You can always count on Korin."
'Senzu beans?' Corset repeated to herself. 'Oh! Those gross-tasting beans that restore your power!' She remembered those from back on Namek and scrunched her face up at the memory.
The slamming door made her jump back to reality as Yajirobe started up his engines. "Good luck fighting those androids."
"A-Aren't you gonna stay?" Goku asked.
"Are you nuts?" Yajirobe snorted. "Unlike you idiots I don't want to die! There are times when even I won't join you!" And with that, he took off, car shooting forwards off the edge of the outcrop and off into the air. Corset watched as the car became a dot, not paying much attention to all the small-talk between the adults behind her. Her eyes quickly darted back down to the city below them; so far nothing out of the ordinary appeared to have happened.
"... Something's not right," Tenshinhan spoke. "It's past ten already yet there's no sign of the enemy at all."
Corset looked up at the seasoned fighter before turning back to the city.
"You're right..." Gohan mumbled.
What was going on? Had that guy from the future got the time wrong or the place? Corset raised an eyebrow as she desperately scanned the city below. Still there was nothing out of the ordinary.
"I knew it!" Yamcha smirked. "I told you from the start this was some kind of trick!"
"I wouldn't jump to conclusions just yet," Bulma replied, "He said it was around ten. It's only ten-seventeen now, which I would class as being around ten..."
"Sorry Bulma but I can't sense any strong power levels," Yamcha answered with certainty and confidence. "If they're as powerful as that kid said, we should be able to sense them anywhere on the planet!"
Corset frowned; it was true. She couldn't sense any strong ki around apart from those belonging to their group. What had gone wrong?
Yamcha continued, "I hate to break it to you but the androids aren't coming."
Almost as if the irony had decided to answer back, there was an explosion relatively high up in the sky. The suddenness of it had almost made Corset jump out of her skin! She watched as a relatively large object emerged from the dark smoke, falling towards the sea just off the shores of the island.
"W-What happened?" Goku cried in shock.
"It's Yajirobe!" Krillin gasped.
Corset couldn't believe it! Her brain felt frazzled; this whole time she hadn't been able to sense any other ki! Had something caused Yajirobe's car to malfunction and blow up? No, it had been too big an explosion for something like that. He could only have been attacked but by what? She sensed no ki. It didn't make sense!
"Look, there's something there!" Piccolo bellowed, eyes up at the sky. "They've already attacked!"
Through the dark thick smoke Corset could see two tiny dots high in the sky, around the same height as Yajirobe's car had been. They quickly vanished into the city below, her eyes quickly losing sight of them.
"D-Did you see them?" Krillin grumbled.
"No, they were too far away; I couldn't tell what they looked like," Goku shook his head. "I don't get it! I didn't feel any ki at all!"
Corset was glad she wasn't the only one, but still it didn't solve the problem! How were they supposed to find these people? She still couldn't sense them.
"... Maybe it's because they're androids," Gohan realised. "They don't have any ki to detect."
"Eh?" Corset gasped, contemplating the idea and quickly catching onto what Gohan was suggesting. Androids were artificial intelligence, created from scratch; no actual life energy would come from them as they were man-made creatures, much like the robots that helped out around Capsule Corp. "... Yeah! Androids were never living beings – they were created so they don't have any living ki."
"No way!" Yamcha choked, "How are we meant to find these things if we can't sense them?"
"We'll have to rely on the old fashioned way," Piccolo relied, "We'll have to look for them with our eyes."
"Alright, let's spread out," Goku decided. "Don't try to take them on by yourselves – If you find them, let everyone know right away!"
This was beginning to sound more and more hopeless to the ten-year-old girl. Corset had her doubts about this; the city looked so big from up here! How were they meant to find two people in a city this size?
"Gohan, go tend to Yajirobe – he's still alive." Goku added.
"Let's go!" Piccolo yelled.
Corset charged forwards alongside the other fighters (not having the time to acknowledge her mother's call of "be careful"), picking a spot in the city to aim for. There was a relatively tall building off in the centre of the city; she headed for it and landed on the pavement, unintentionally startling the people around her! She hadn't meant to have caused a scene but her attention and focus stayed on the androids. They were somewhere in this city and she had to help the others find them.
"... Where do I start?" She mumbled quietly to herself, looking around at the tall buildings surrounding her. What direction should he head in? What if she did find the androids? What had Goku meant by telling everyone right away? Was she supposed to find the others... no, then she'd lose sight of the androids! What should she do?
She had to find them first.
"Hey kid... how'd you do that?" A teenage boy approached her.
Completely oblivious to his question, Corset walked towards a clearing between the buildings and down a busy street, crossing the road along with all the other pedestrians via the crossing! She may have been in a rush but she wasn't going to let her street-wise senses fall. Maybe it was a good idea to try and blend in with the other people around here; maybe that's what the androids were doing too.
How would she know who they were if she found them? They could look like anyone! The more questions she thought of, the more anxious she became. What was worse was that she was alone. If anything happened to her, she'd have to defend herself with no one else's help. The thought worried her; these androids were meant to be really strong – stronger than Freeza!
'... I really need to stop thinking!' She noted to herself; it was just making her feel worse!
Corset continued to walk down the crowded street, keeping her eyes peeled for anyone she thought could be an android. Maybe they would have distinguishing features; Frankenstein had bolts in his neck and he was created – maybe these androids would be similar? Maybe she was struggling to work out what they'd look like!
A ki in the area suddenly began to plummet; Corset's attention quickly turned to the direction it was coming in. It had to be them! The androids had to be the cause! She quickly began to run down the street before taking off in a small gap in the crowd, again startling several pedestrians! She could see the area the ki was coming from; it wasn't too far; out of the corner of her eye she spotted she was converging alongside Goku – at least she was now with something strong.
As both fighters' feet touched the ground, they were immediately joined by Piccolo, Krillin and Tenshinhan.
Corset gasped and almost gagged in sickness and horror.
"Y-Yamcha!" Goku cried.
Yamcha was hanging limp in the air, held up by an old man who seemed to show little effort in holding him with a single hand. There was a gaping hole in Yamcha's back, blood pouring from it. The man who held him had blood dripping down his free hand.
These were them. These were the androids.