Chapter Eleven
"Where are they now?" Bulma asked from underneath her blanket covering. She pulled it tighter around her, but she still couldn't get it completely over her large stomach.
"Two of them are heading back," Videl said from her post next to the shield. "But the rest must still be looking."
They had taken turns watching the computer screen Nossoreg left activated, getting more and more frustrated the longer the small blips of light kept moving away from the center of the screen. When the first one started moving back, they breathed a sigh of relief, their breath already beginning to hang in puffs in the cold air.
Videl blew on her hands and rubbed them together, trying to get feeling back into them. There was only one blanket on the small bed, so they were forced to take turns using it to warm up. But when it was Bulma's turn to stand watch, Videl refused to let her. She was looking extremely tired and worried, and Videl knew just how much the stress was wearing on her pregnancy. She just hoped she could hold on until they could get out of there.
"Here comes another one!" Videl exclaimed and went back to sit next to Bulma on the bed. "They should be here in just a few minutes."
"Take this," Chi Chi said and handed Videl the pillow she'd been using to keep her arms warm. "I'll take the next watch."
Videl accepted and sat close to Bulma in an attempt to share heat. She hoped it wouldn't be too much longer, but knew the temperature would get much colder before all seven balls were brought back. There were still four that hadn't even been found yet and it had already been two hours since they left.
"I think I hear one coming!" Chi Chi said.
"Nossoreg!" Goku shouted as he strode into the room. He saw the women huddled together to keep warm and noticed the chill coming from their cell. "Nossoreg!"
"That instant transmission is quite a valuable tool, isn't it, Goku?" Nossoreg commented as he entered the room on his side of the energy shield. "As you saw earlier, I have something similar, yet it requires an alternative source of power."
"Here's your ball. Now turn the temperature back up!" Goku demanded and tossed the ball at him.
Nossoreg fumbled with the ball, nearly dropping it before he got control. He held it up and let the light glint off of it. Gently, he brushed his finger over the single star.
"It is very beautiful, isn't it?" he said to no one in particular. "I don't know why I waited so long for these. Everything is going so smoothly."
"Nossoreg!" Goku snapped, bringing the man's attention back to him. "Turn the temperature back up!"
"No, no. That wasn't the deal," he said, shaking his finger at the Saiyan. "I'll need all seven dragonballs before I'll do that. But you're allowed to pick any one thing from the room to give to them."
Nossoreg sat back down in his chair and turned his full attention to the dragonball in his hand. Goku scanned the room for something that would help them keep warm until the others arrived. One of the wooden chairs had a decorative blanket covering, and he decided that was the best he could offer. Gently, he slid the chair over to them and Chi Chi caught it as it passed through the shield. The covering wasn't as thick as the blanket, but at least it was something against the chilled air.
"I've got Number 5!" Gohan called as he ran in. His clothes were dripping wet, but he was relieved to see his father was already there. "What should I choose?" he asked Goku after he tossed the ball to Nossoreg.
"Anything that would help keep them from freezing to death."
Gohan walked around the room, but there were no more blankets of any kind to pick from. He sighed and put his hands on his hips. As he did, they brushed back the suit coat Videl had talked him into wearing to Pan's party. Suddenly, he had an idea.
"Dad! Give me your jacket!"
"What?" Goku asked, puzzled. "Why do you need my jacket? You're wearing one of your own."
"But mine's still wet from the dive I had to take to get the dragonball. Yours is still dry...and warm."
Goku finally understood what Gohan meant and quickly shed his suit coat. Gohan threw it across the shields and Videl caught it. Since she was the only one without a covering, Chi Chi insisted that she use it. The tiny girl swam in her father-in-law's jacket, but sighed at the instant warmth she felt.
"Why don't you use your energy to dry your jacket off as well?" Nossoreg asked, his eyes still fixed on the dragonballs. He moved them back and forth, excited at seeing them glow when brought together. "But please do it outside. You don't want to break anything they might need later on."
Gohan was just about to go out when another member of their team came through the doorway. Trunks looked hesitantly to Goku for direction. Goku nodded toward Nossoreg, giving silent permission to give up the ball.
As Nossoreg inspected the seven stars on Trunk's dragonball, Gohan dried off his jacket. They could hear him power up outside the door and felt the air sizzle with energy. When he came back in, his clothes were completely dry. He went toward the shield to toss it over to the women.
"You already gave them something," Nossoreg warned. "It's Trunks' turn to choose a reward."
"Fine!" Trunks snapped with typical teenage defiance. He grabbed Gohan's coat and threw it across to his mother. Bulma was able to raise her arms just in time to protect her face before the flying jacket whacked it.
"Trunks! Be careful!" she admonished and handed it over to Chi Chi.
Both men and women paced back and forth, waiting for the rest to return. The women were trying to fight off the dropping temperature while the men watched helplessly. Nossoreg sat and smiled at his dragonballs, very pleased that his plan was working so well.
After a few more minutes, Yamcha flew down to the entrance. "I thought I'd be last!" he said with relief and rolled the golden ball across the floor like a bowling ball. It came to rest with its two stars facing up between Nossoreg's feet. "Sorry I took so long, but a rather excitable dinosaur had claimed it as one of her eggs. So, what do they need?" he asked Goku and Gohan.
"Your jacket," they both answered. Yamcha took off the expensive, loose-fitting coat and tossed it over to Bulma.
"Thanks, Yamcha," she said gratefully and pulled it around her shoulders.
"You're just lucky I don't go for the fitted look," he joked, trying to boost their spirits. Bulma managed a weak smile, but didn't have the energy to give him the retort she normally would have.
"Jackets are the best you could do, Kakarot?"
Vegeta stormed in with the four star dragonball in one hand and a thick chunk of wood in the other. He tossed the ball to Nossoreg and the wood into the cell at the same time. As Nossoreg fumbled with the extra dragonball, Vegeta pointed a finger and sent a stream of energy through the two shields. The dry wood immediately caught fire and the women were drawn to its warmth like moths.
"That was not a fair reward!" Nossoreg complained. "I said you could give them anything from the room. That was from outside!"
"Fair? You want to talk about being fair?" Gohan exploded and started toward the shield. Goku grabbed his arm to hold him back.
"It was part of the room as soon as I brought it in," Vegeta said and folded his arms calmly, daring him to disagree. "If you want it back, get it yourself."
Nossoreg looked at the energy shield across the cell and then back at Vegeta. Slowly, a smile spread across his face.
"Very smart, Vegeta," he complimented. "You knew I couldn't reach it through the shield and I wouldn't risk turning it off to retrieve it. I'm impressed!"
"Good thinking, Vegeta!" Goku said. Evidently, Nossoreg hadn't thought of everything after all. If he hadn't expected this, there was a possibility there were more things he wouldn't be prepared for.
All eyes were on the computer screen where two small points of light showed the location of Krillen and Goten. They were getting closer together, moving steadily toward the center, then stopped altogether.
"What's going on?" Trunks asked. "Why did they stop?"
"I don't know," Gohan said with a frown. "Maybe something happened to one of them."
"They're both fine," Nossoreg said. "The computer shows their life signs as normal.
"But their energy levels are high," Goku sensed. "Something must be wrong."
The fighters waited anxiously for the lights to move again, but they stayed firmly in one place. Their attention was so focused they all jumped when they heard a resounding crash from the women's cell. They spun around, legs crouched and arms raised in fighting stance. Nossoreg, who'd seen what was coming, never even flinched.
"My, my," he chuckled. "A bit tense, aren't you?"
They all relaxed when they realized where the crash had come from. Chi Chi, in an attempt to keep Vegeta's fire going, had flung the wooden chair against the back wall of the cell. The chair shattered from the force, and she was now calmly stacking the broken pieces against the dwindling chunk of charred wood.
"Did it ever occur to you to warn us first?" Vegeta snapped.
"Calm down, Vegeta," Goku said. "They're just trying to keep warm." Vegeta scowled back at him.
"They're moving again!" Yamcha said, pointing to the computer screen. "They should be here soon!"
The setting sun was nearly half hidden by the mountains when the final two members of their group returned. Krillen and Goten landed together and rushed in breathlessly. They handed both balls over to Goku and leaned over to catch their breath.
"Sorry...we're...late," Krillen managed between gasps.
"What happened?" Trunks asked Goten, noticing their ragged appearance.
Krillen's jacket was missing. His white clothes were smudged with black and burned through in two places. Goten's face and hands were almost completely covered in black and his clothes looked worse than Krillen's.
"Goten! Are you all right?" Chi Chi called across the room.
"I'm fine, Mom," he said with a sheepish smile. "Sorry it took so long."
"So...what happened?" Trunks asked again.
"We were flying so fast to get back here we didn't watch where we were going," Krillen began. "We ended up too close to one of those big jumbo jets and the pilot spooked."
"He must've panicked, because the engines somehow caught on fire," Goten added. "That hunk of metal dropped like a lead balloon!"
"They sure don't make those things very strong. We both grabbed a wing to stop it, but they just ripped right off! I nearly got barbecued alive from the engine fire!" Krillen said.
"At least you were warm!" Bulma shouted over to them. "Did you guys forget about us, or what? It's still freezing in here!"
"As soon as I receive the last two balls, I'll remedy the situation," Nossoreg told her.
Goku hesitated, trying hard to think of an alternative. He hated to give this madman the dragonball's powers, but he couldn't let Chi Chi, Bulma, and Videl suffer any longer. He had to hope they'd be able to stop him before he could make his wish. One by one, he tossed the balls through the shield to Nossoreg.
True to his word, Nossoreg pressed a button on the computer. The cell walls began to glow, heating the air around the shivering women. It didn't take long for the temperature to rise to normal, and they all breathed a sigh of relief that it was over. The women gratefully flung off the blankets and jackets, but it was clear they were exhausted from the ordeal.
"Well, now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Nossoreg said as he placed the dragonballs neatly in order in a drawer under the computer. "They really are quite beautiful. I knew you would come through for me." With a slight push, the drawer slid shut.
"You're not even going to use them?" Goku asked in disbelief.
"No, I'm just keeping them from being used against me," Nossoreg replied.
They all stood agape. They couldn't believe he'd put them through all that emotional and physical torture just to lock the dragonballs away.
Vegeta, though, was not as surprised as the others. He stood apart from the rest, so they didn't see him nod his head. It was what he would've done, he thought. With the dragonballs out of the way, there was no way they could wish their loved ones free. Now he had the security of knowing he had complete control.
And, Vegeta thought, Nossoreg must not be planning on keeping them here for very long. Not even a psychotic would want the hassle of having a pregnant woman give birth while under their care. So whatever he was planning, he was going through with it before the baby arrived.
"Unless he's not planning on any of us leaving here alive," Vegeta thought aloud, then looked around to see if anyone heard him. He was relieved to see they were still talking amongst themselves. He knew they wouldn't have thought of that, being the kind-natured fools they were.
Vegeta knew better. He'd been on the side of evil over half his life. He'd destroyed hundreds of planets and had personally sent billions upon billions of souls to the next dimension. He knew the inside of an evil mind; none of the others had a clue. Even Yamcha, who'd been a petty desert thief when he was younger, had never been truly evil. An evil person did whatever they needed to do to reach their goal. If it meant killing millions of innocent people, they could do it without hesitation.
What he had to do was figure out what Nossoreg's ultimate goal was. Then he'd think of what he would've done to reach that goal himself. He would have to delve deep into his evil past and bring up all the old pride, hate, and lust for revenge to be able to have a clearer view of Nossoreg's plan.
Would he be able to do it successfully? It had been a long time since he'd truly thought only of himself. He'd come to care for his family, friends, even this planet. Would he be able to forget all of them and think like the evil Saiyan he'd been growing up, alone, as the ultimate weapon of destruction?