Chapter 3
Dusk in the Dark Forest
Dust and gravel flew into the air as the motorcycle drove full throttle down the dirt road, its body low to the ground. The motor gave a struggling growl as it pulled the trio down the road, its suspensions squeaking with each bump.
"Ugh." Bulma grunted as she shifted uncomfortably with Goku's arms squeezed her waistline. "Hey kid, loosen your grip a little, you're crushing me here."
"Sorry." Goku replied as he shifted his position, loosening his grip.
Giving a sigh of relief, she shifted again, only to jolt upward when she hit a pothole. Bulma grunted in response, and as she quickly focused back on the road, a single thought remained in her head.
'Nothing had gone according to plan.'
It was simple enough as plans go. Go out and collect the dragonballs, meet new people and make the wish with enough time to relax before heading home. This simple thing should've taken no time at all. Then she quite literally ran into that strange young boy, Goku. He totaled her car, delayed her hunt by a half a day and to top it all off he and his friend… brother? Come to think of it, Goku had never explained his relationship to Sky. They looked somewhat similar, but that didn't mean much, she didn't exactly know anyone else with tails to compare them to. Anyways, they had insisted on tagging along on her adventure as payment for their ball! Ever since then she was stuck dealing with the weirdos.
Goku was the easier of the two to deal with. The kid was easily impressed and almost entranced by every modern item she had, like he's from the stone age. It was endearing, and also produced some amusing reactions to her everyday life. Sky was another case altogether.
While Goku acted like a child from the stone age, Sky ,on the other hand, was an enigma. Everything that brought wonder to Goku's eyes instead brought a look of contemplation to Sky's. When she told stories that few people knew, namely the tale of the dragonballs, he didn't seem too surprised. I mean seriously, what kind of Person just casually acknowledged these sorts of things?! Still, he did agree to help her, and he did convince Goku to help her as well, but something about the amnesiac seems off. Before she could finish that thought, the bike hit a large bump, launching them into the air.
"Aahhhh!" Bulma screamed, surprised by the abrupt launch. The group was airborne for a brief moment, then landed with a loud banging noise.
"Again, Again!" Goku cheered from behind her.
"Ughhhhhh" Bulma groaned, partially in frustration at the boy's antics. Looking back at her passengers she saw Sky wasn't faring much better, currently he was clinging to Goku for dear life.
'How much longer is this going to take?' Bulma thought to herself as she kept driving along the dirt path, this time a bit more carefully.
The rest of the day passed without incident. Hours later, they were now driving through the middle of the woods. Seeing the sun fall ever closer to the horizon, Bulma decided they needed to make camp soon before night fell. The two boys might be fine with traveling in the dark but she wasn't going to risk it. Who knew what kind of creatures lurked around here in the depths of the night? Driving a little further down the road, she noticed a clearing off to the right of the trail.
"Hey, you two!" She shouted over the engine, catching the two's attention. "Why don't we stop here for the night?"
"Okay!" Goku responded excitedly.
"Probably a good idea." Sky chimed in from the back with a yawn, stretching out one arm as he covered his mouth with the other.
With her two passengers' approval, she veered over into the clearing and knocked down the parking stop before getting off the bike. Goku and Sky followed, jumping clear off the seat, with Sky having to pry himself off of the back glass. Without warning they began running for the nearest trees.
"What are you two doing?" Asked Bulma in confusion.
"We're trying to set up camp before we head off to hunt. It is getting late after all." Sky responded without missing a beat.
"Yeah, plus that snake we saw earlier isn't going to be enough." Goku added with a happy tone, making Bulma queasy at the idea.
"That's so disgusting, Goku. If you don't want to be grossing people out then you need to stop eating frogs and snakes and things." Bulma replied, trying to stay calm.
"Really?" Goku responded.
"Mhm" she continued.
"How about Lizards?" he asked with a curious voice.
"Nope, eating lizards is nasty too, kid. You're just going to have to toughen up." Bulma responded quickly as she returned her bike to its capsule.
"Let's just focus on just getting the tent set up and we can go from there." Sky interjected, reaching for the cloth in his rucksack.
"There's no need to live outside like savages." Bulma interrupted, stopping Sky in his tracks.
"What do you mean 'like savages'?" Sky responded in confusion, feeling like he should be offended by the statement for some reason.
"What's a savage?" Goku asked, confused.
Bulma ignored the questions, continuing to dig through her small case. "I have my Dino-caps, remember?" She said nonchalantly, leaving Sky with a confused look. Goku, on the other hand, appeared slightly on edge.
"Huh? Bulma, don't tell me you have a tent in one of those." He spoke, turning his complete attention towards her. "I don't like those magic witch bombs."
"What do you mean?" Sky questioned, having never heard of Goku's Concern with the Dino-caps.
"Grampa said never to use magic unless it's to help someone." he spoke sincerely.
"Well I am helping someone silly," Bulma said in an airy voice. She soon found the capsule she was looking for, which was labeled with a big one across its front. She quickly tossed it into the air before catching it with a downward motion and a smug look. "She's Pretty and has Blue hair." She proceeded to move towards the clearing, causing Goku to quickly move out of the way. He was clearly unnerved by the strange vessels."What's the matter? You're not afraid are you?" Bulma remarked condescendingly before moving to toss the capsule.
"Well to be fair, neither of us have seen these things before today." Sky replied, unimpressed with her jab at his friend. "Besides, if this is anything like the bike, then this is going to be a tight squeeze."
Bulma pretended she hadn't heard what he said, and pressed the cap and pitched it forward with a grunt. A smirk on her face as Goku and Sky could only look on in anticipation.
"Here it goes." She shouted in warning.
The Dino-cap landed on the ground with a quiet thud, followed by a loud explosion of yellow smoke. A yellow glow lit up the sky for a few seconds, forcing them to avert their eyes before the smoke structure was white and consisted of three dome-like segments. It had a sun roof covering half of its total length, with a door marked with a large black one. Goku stared in shock while Sky looked on in bewilderment as the small capsule appeared to turn into a large building.
Altogether the new building stood taller and wider than Grandpa Gohan's old abode. It was a surprise to the two boys, but they wouldn't be gawking at it for long.
"There we go, now doesn't that look cozy?" Bulma said as she passed by the two boys and reached the doorway. Looking back, she saw the boys still frozen in place. "Come on you two, what are you waiting for?" she said, opening the door and starting to enter the building, hoping to knock the two out of their stupor. Goku was the first to snap out of it, as he quickly grabbed the pole off of his back and pointed it towards the building.
"Get away from its mouth Bulma, I'll protect you from this monster!" Goku shouted hastily, ready to strike.
"Thanks, that's noble of you, but it's just a house." She pressed the light switch and the lights soon turned on. "See?"
Goku peered at the interior from around the door. The sudden brightness from the light knocked Sky out of his trance, and he slowly began to approach the door. As he did this Goku quickly rushed inside excitedly. Each second inside the strange building Goku rushed to a new corner, scanning the walls with the gusto of a caveman discovering fire.
"Bulma, you made it light, but it's still dark outside." he said in astonishment, still looking around excitedly.
"Chill out," Bulma said as she removed the gun holster from her side and placed it down on the table. "It's a little something we like to call electricity. Were you transported from the stone age or what?"
As she conversed with Goku, Sky entered the building. He was equally astonished by the strange items around the room. The lights were oddly comforting in a way he couldn't explain. The vibrant colors of the rooms and the multitude of strange objects only grew more interesting the more he looked. Bulma's weapon lay on the table along with her capsules, but what caught his eye most was the black box in the wall. What did it do? He gestured between it and Bulma in an attempt to get her attention.
"Hehehe" she laughed to herself as she noticed Sky staring at it. Goku had moved really close to it too while looking around. While his back was facing it, Bulma grabbed a small black tube off of the table next to her. With a flick of her wrist and a press of her thumb, the box in the wall came to life with a loud screech, causing Goku to scream.
In the middle of the box, a close up image of a man with spiky orange hair playing a guitar appeared. The strange man stared straight forward and swayed his head as he tortured the guitar.
"Hey, that guy's trapped in there." Goku said, pointing towards the guitarist. "He's trying to break out of that box by playing that terrible music." And as if the man was responding, he played a high pitched riff whose screech echoed throughout the room. That at last was enough for Bulma's fun, so she changed the box again, this time to a couple embracing. It took a brief moment, but once she noticed what was playing she threw the cylindrical object she was holding onto the furniture nearby.
Sky, intrigued by the strange device, decided to go towards the black thing apparently linked to it that had been thrown aside. He picked it up and began looking it up and down, shaking it in the hopes of discovering something.
"Bulma, what is this thing?" He asked in confusion.
She didn't appear to hear him, however. "Come on, one little kiss. One little Kiss…" Bulma was speaking to herself, smiling. Her cheeks flushed, she appeared entranced by the people inside the black box, moving closer and closer to it. '
Well obviously she's gonna be no help' thought Sky. The black rectangle must be related to the black box though. It woke up when Bulma touched the red button so it's gotta do something else right?
As he was looking down at the remote, Goku reached his hand over and attempted to pull it out of Sky's hands. Sky quickly pulled back, but Goku's hand followed. Once Goku grasped it, the tug of war match began. While the two struggled for it, their hands kept exploring the device, pressing all sorts of buttons until eventually one of them landed on an arrow-like button. Once the button was pressed, the image on the box changed again, and a "RAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRR" erupted through the room.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Bulma screamed as she fell to the floor following the loud noise, startling both Sky and Goku. The duo quickly took up ready positions: Goku posed forward with his power pole in hand and Sky leaned forward ready to charge.
"Alright, which one of you numbskulls has the remote! You changed the channel just as it was getting good!" Bulma reprimanded the two of them, confusing them more.
"What's a remote?" Goku asked
"Is that what this black thing is called?" Sky responded holding up the black remote.
Bulma sighed in frustration at the situation and was about to get up before Goku helped her up. When she drew closer to the young boy a waft of a pungent odor struck her.
"Uuuuuuuuuuggggggh! Goku, you need a bath!" She exclaimed in disgust.
"What's a bath?" he responded.
"Ugh, kid, I can't believe you asked."
While Bulma was busy learning about Goku's lack of hygiene, Sky was still fixated on the remote that he was holding. The bottom of the device seemed to mold to his hand, almost like it was made for that. Looking down at the buttons, he noticed some strange symbols written all over it. The harder he looked, the more familiar it felt. The feel of the black material along with the heft of the device brought a sense of deja-vu that he just couldn't shake. Moving his thumb across the face again, he pressed a button that looked like a crossed out cone. The sound from the wall suddenly stopped. The noise of the room suddenly dampened, save for Bulma's ranting. He pressed it again and the sound returned to the room. Looking at the remote for a brief moment, an idea popped into his head. Turning back toward Bulma, who was now loudly lecturing Goku about the basics of bathing, he pointed the remote towards her and pressed the button again. The sound from the wall stopped again, but still her voice permeated the room, making his ears ring. He started to press the button repeatedly, desperately hoping that it would silence her voice before he went deaf. His pressing of the button soon resulted in a loud clicking that soon caught both Goku and Bulma's attention.
"What are you doing?" She asked in confusion. It took her a minute for his actions to sink in. Quickly moving toward him, she snatched the remote out of his hands. "Are you trying to break the TV remote?!" she chastised him as she pointed it back at the TV, only it didn't respond. She tried pressing one of the other buttons, but it still didn't work. Frustrated, she resorted to pressing every button on the remote in the hopes that something would work. Still nothing.
"Dang it you blockhead, you killed the battery," she announced in frustration as she walked towards the TV in the wall. Sky watched intently as she pushed a button on the TV and the device turned black again. Bulma then pulled open one of the drawers next to it and pulled out a screwdriver. Next she pulled open another one and grabbed four cylindrical items. This done, she then moved back to the table where she had placed the remote down. Sky moved closer as she was grabbing the driver and pushing it into the remote, opening the compartment and replacing the emptied batteries with the brand new ones. Finally, Bulma sealed it back up and pointed it at the TV.
This time, it worked, clicking on again. Satisfied, Bulma placed the remote back onto the table along with the screwdriver. She walked into the bathroom and soon after the sound of running water could be heard from the room. Goku's interest was piqued by the sound, so he moved to the bathroom while Sky was still fixated on the remote. Sky slowly picked it up and moved it around to try and open it, but it wouldn't budge. Looking at the tool Bulma had left on the table, he grabbed it and tried to copy what she did earlier. He placed it on the screw and twisted it. The case budged, opening just like before with the screw from the hole sticking to the tip of the screwdriver. The batteries were there just like before, but while he was looking at the back, he noticed multiple other screws along the back. Intrigued about their purpose, he began to remove each and every one of them, followed by the back shell. This revealed a green board with a multitude of small pieces along it. Looking it over, he noticed there weren't any more screws along the board, so he placed the driver back down and began to look over the odd looking board. This gleamed very little however, and after a couple of minutes, he put it back and screwed the remote shut.
After a minute of sitting in silence Sky looked at the TV again, then back to the screwdriver. An idea floated around in his mind for a good minute, before he grabbed the tool and moved towards the TV. He scanned the front of it for any holes or screws. Sadly he couldn't see any, so he decided to see if he could simply pry out the TV. Just as he was about to move the console out of the slot, he was interrupted.
"AHHHHHHHHHH" Bulma screamed from the neighboring room.
The idea would have to wait. For now he needed to see what was wrong.
After Sky had rushed to Bulma's aid, the bathroom had exploded into a cacophony of noise and soap thanks to Goku's complete lack of privacy. By the end of it, part of the floor had become soaked with water and soap from the skirmish, while random bottles and towels were strewn about the room like scars across a battlefield. Soon though, Goku's stomach rumbled. Glancing at each other, the three realized they were hungry, and hunger supersedes any and all present problems. Both Sky and Goku looked at Bulma expectantly as she moved out of the bathroom towards the fridge in the back of the main room. She grabbed a plate from the cabinet next to it and placed it on the counter before placing three cups on it. She then reached into the fridge and pulled out a large loaf of bread, also grabbing the plate before bringing both to the table. She placed the two items in the middle, and went to grab the rest of the items.
She came back with a glass pitcher of steaming brown fluid and poured some of it into each of the cups before pulling away to put it back. Both Sky and Goku reached up to the plate, grabbed their own drinks and pulled them to their placemat. Sky blew on the liquid to cool it off, while Goku quickly began to drink it. With his first sip, he quickly jerked it away in panic as the drink burnt his tongue. His reaction worsened once the taste finally sunk in.
"Bleegh!" Goku spat out the drink. "This soup is bitter."
Sky raised an eyebrow, but still curious, slowly moved the mug to his lips and took a sip himself. He slowly lowered the cup and thought about it for a moment. He turned to Bulma who looked at him expectantly. "Do you have any milk or something for this? It's kind of strong."
This answer left Bulma befuddled as she tried to comprehend the question. 'Did… did this kid just ask for a creamer?' she thought, bewildered by the odd response.
"Sure kid, just let me fix my cup first." Bulma responded.
"What's milk?" Goku asked, setting down his mug.
"Do you remember that white drink that your grandpa poured out of that carton? You know, the one that became that gummy solid after a while." Sky chimed in.
"That's milk?" Goku asked.
"Yeah, the white stuff in the carton is milk." Sky explained.
"Why would you want something so sour in something so bitter?" Goku spoke in disgust. "It's already bad enough as is. Why do you want to make it chewy?"
Before Sky could respond, Bulma placed the cartoon down on the table. "Only got two percent, will that work?" she interrupted.
"Sure," Sky replied.
While they were talking, Goku reached over to the loaf of bread and took a bite. "Ugh, and this bread stuff is so dry," he remarked.
"Goku, you're just going to have to get used to it." Bulma responded.
"Try some with some milk." Sky suggested.
Goku shook his head, adamantly. " I don't want any of that stuff."
Sky sighed and asked, "Bulma, do you have anything else he can drink?"
"Well I might have He-tap in the back." Bulma spoke as she moved back to the fridge.
"Is it good?" Goku asked hopefully.
"Well yeah, people kill for He-taps." Bulma responded nonchalantly. The response bewildered Sky as she walked back to the table with a metal can and a small white glass. All the while Goku stood in his seat waiting excitedly for this new delicacy that Bulma had mentioned. His expectations were quickly lowered once he saw the metal can.
"What is that?" Goku asked.
"It's He-tap." Bulma responded bluntly as she cracked open the top of the can and poured the liquid into the glass. She then slid the glass over to Goku. "Drink up."
Not thinking much about it, Goku grabbed the cup and drank it in one gulp before setting it back down on the table. Both Bulma and Sky stared at him expectantly as he got up and began moving around the table. He then grabbed the can of He-tap and downed the remainder in an instant, before crushing the can and tossing it. The others continued to watch, somewhat amused, as Goku proceeded past the table towards the fridge. He stopped at the door before yanking it open, breaking the top hinge in the process. At that moment Sky realized what he was doing. "Goku! You can't have all of it!" he exclaimed as he rushed towards the fridge to try and at least eat something before it was all gone. All the while Bulma could only stare on as her food supplies dwindled to little more than crumbs. Just what had she gotten herself into?
In hindsight having witnessed two ten year olds consume an entire deer, and a large one at that, in a single sitting should have been a sign that the same fate would soon be met by most of her provisions, but Bulma had thought what she had was sufficient for the time being. Not to mention that Goku at least seemed to be somewhat particular about the food he would eat. More specifically, he was leaving half the food in her pantry untouched. All the meat was soon eaten, but the salads and breads she had brought to compliment them had been left unscathed by the child's rampage through her small kitchen. Sky at least was willing to touch that, but he too seemed far more interested in meat than anything else, which only contributed to the present situation. They were in the middle of nowhere, and Goku, one of the two people she had brought along to help her, was before long instead lounging around complaining about the lack of food.
Bulma briefly considered attempting to cook something herself, but at the rate those boys ate it would take hours to produce enough to last them a single meal, and that was if she could convince Goku to try something other than the very absent meat supply. Nearly half an hour passed before Sky finally came up with the, looking back on it, obvious solution to the issue.
The boy approached Goku, who had taken to lying on the ground and complaining that he could hardly move, the burst of energy from that drink now finally gone, and gave a fake cough to get his comrade's attention. "Um, Goku, I know Bulma said we can't eat snakes or lizards anymore, but couldn't we try just hunting larger food? Surely the big game is still fine" The idea was simple enough that Bulma almost slammed her head against the table. Sure, in her opinion it wasn't exactly the most palatable way to get a meal, but what choice was there to satisfy those two's endless appetites? Until they got into town and she had the opportunity to buy their way through an entire market's supplies, this was the only way she was going to keep her companions fed.
Shaking off his hunger induced depression, Goku practically leapt to his feet and was already halfway out the door before he had as much as said a word to anyone about what he planned to do (not that he needed to, that much was obvious). "I'll be back when I've got a big one!" the kid quickly remarked as an afterthought to his friend, who seemed to be barely containing his laughter at his friend's antics.
With that, the young boy quickly rushed outside of the house, followed shortly by his friend, who struggled to keep up with him as he kicked up a trail of dust and twigs. The clearing that the house stood in was quickly out of sight as the duo rushed through the woodland area surrounding it, jumping from tree to tree, and climbing any rock or hill that got in their way. Sky, despite doing his best to mirror Goku's movements, soon found himself out of sight of his companion. Realizing at the pace they'd been going at it'd be hopeless to attempt to find his friend now, Sky sighed to himself, then attempted to retrace his steps back to the house.
Goku, oblivious to his companions' plight, kept his current course. The tree tops he hopped between seemed to go on for miles, and yet he still had not found a worthwhile dinner. There was of course the occasional squirrel or rabbit, but that simply would not be enough. It would take quite a large meal to satiate the child, otherwise it wouldn't be long before he was seeking out another meal just like this. There was no way around it, all he could really do wass continue to search for his big catch. Fortunately, for once it seemed that luck was on Goku's side, as before long he heard a loud sound coming from overhead.
Pausing so he could observe his new quarry, Goku glimpsed a large black figure in the air. It seemed to be flying in a straight path, its wings unmoving as it traveled along its course. This was odd of course, but he was in a new place after all (Goku hadn't been paying too much attention to exactly how far they'd traveled) and there was a bigger priority to consider. A bird is a bird, meat is meat, and he really wanted some food. That was all it took to convince himself. With a quick look around, he took note of a slight incline in the path he had taken. That would be his ticket to some spit meat. With a running start, he was once again moving through the trees and towards the large hill with reckless abandon. Goku became a blur as he ascended the hill one tree at a time, each tree serving as nothing but stepping stones towards his destination. Within a few seconds he was atop the highest tree in the area. As he reached the top branch, the boy pulled it down to slingshot himself into the air. His form rocketed through the air, moving far faster than his distant target could hope to react to. The trajectory was perfect, a direct collision course with his quarry, that large black bird with, as was clear as the boy approached, no feathers, feet, or beak to speak of. Uncaring of these new details, Goku grabbed on as hard as he could as he reached the belly of the beast . Oddly, his impact on the strange creature didn't seem to even phase it, almost as if it wasn't aware of him in the slightest.
To the boy's credit, he managed to keep his grip on the ice cold wings of the strange creature, still seeming to slice through the thin air at its current altitude. Slowly, but steadily he pulled himself up onto the creature's wings. The plan was easy enough, he just needed to break the wing to ground this beast, then it would be as simple as dragging it back to the house. With that in mind, the young boy grabbed onto the base of the wing where it met the body, planted his feet against it, and pushed off. Yielding quickly to his inhuman strength, the wing began to bend forwards, tearing throughout the seam. It was still an odd beast indeed, for as he began to push it apart, sparks flew out from the bird's wings, and the beast broke its current course almost immediately, beginning a spiral midair. This seemed to be an attempt to throw the young tailed boy off, but he wouldn't be discouraged that easily. On the contrary, he responded by increasing his own efforts to tear apart his victim. Within the span of a few moments, the wing was bent a whole ninety degrees, and the bird, far from the silent path it had been flying, was now violently spiraling to the ground below. Goku, realizing that he was quickly losing altitude, jumped off of the monster and landed back on a tree seamlessly. The tree proved unable to withstand his fall, however, and as he landed on its branch it bent, then snapped entirely. With the sudden loss of footing, the young boy began to plummet through the foliage and branches. After falling through a number of branches, the boy was able to regain his bearings, landing on his feet among the fallen leaves that dotted the land beneath the trees moments later.
As he landed, a loud crash echoed through the canopy. Goku paused, straining himself to detect the location from which he was hearing the bird's collision. When he had it, he was off within moments. The boy could hardly wait, he could already taste the juicy meat that was awaiting him. His dear friend, on the other hand, was not doing so well.
Once Sky had lost track of Goku, he found he was only growing more lost with each passing moment in the forest. Each tree he passed felt indistinguishable from any other, the rocks scattered between them were interchangeable, providing no means of establishing a landmark to work from. He could swear at this point that he was walking in circles, but that was impossible to tell. He had tried to mark a tree with something as a sign of where he had been, but this too was lost in the seemingly endless sea of foliage. The whole thing was starting to get rather annoying, though with no way out in sight there was nothing he could really do about it. Really, the only choice was to keep marching in the hopes of finding something, anything that could give him a sign of where he was heading. This hope was quickly fading away as the night only seemed to grow longer and with it his hunger grew ever more pressing. He was about to go crazy at this point. The trees were all the same, and the once nice sky had become cloudy, only darkening his already obscured surroundings. No matter how hard he focused on finding a way out, he simply could not find the beginning of a path, much less spot anything on the horizon with the cloud cover blocking most, if not all of his vision. In one direction in particular, the clouds obscuring it were getting darker and darker
Sky'd written that off initially, thinking it was probably a rain cloud, but as the dark column grew ever higher he quickly realized this was something else. Rainclouds certainly didn't stretch down to the ground itself. No, this was lower, closer, and unaccompanied by the traditional shift in the air he had come to associate with a storm. This was something else. The longer he looked at it, the more a part of him seemed to stir. It was oddly familiar actually, though for whatever reason, instead of hope this fragment of a memory brought only dread. This feeling of clawing anxiety only grew the longer he observed the cloud, drifting ever closer towards him. He could smell it now, and it hurt for him to intake. The smell of rubber, fuel, and burnt cloth soon filled his nostrils. He knew these smells for sure, though from where he was unsure. This sense of dread that seemed to emanate from the cloud only grew worse as the words for this dark cloud reached his lips.
"Smoke" Sky muttered with a mix of familiarity and stress as the realization set in. A part of him was yelling for him to leave. Instincts long forgotten awoke and his senses only seemed to grow stronger as his mind focused in on his surroundings. The world of darkness still enveloped him, but the sensation of trees around him, the dirt under his feet, the slight draft through the forest now felt amplified, threatening to overwhelm him. Every branch and trunk was now something he was keenly aware of, every step he took echoed as the ground seemed to crunch beneath his suddenly awkward weight. The wind howled with a hollow roar as it smashed into the trees around him. The smoke was now all encompassing. It seemed to surround his very being as the smell and taste of ash filled his mouth. He was alone, and it felt as if he was the hunted in the dark world he found himself in.
Sky's heart pounded in his ear, and the world slowed around him. His body began to shake slightly, tensing as if prepared for some invisible foe. Slowly, he took a step towards the black wall of smoke that smothered the crescent moon's light. Then, he took another, and another, each step regaining the energy this fragment of a memory had drained from him. Before long, his hesitant approach had become an all out sprint towards the wall of black. Each branch, root, and weed on his path blurred and his path grew darker and darker as his surroundings slowly became choked with smoke.
For the life of him, Sky had no idea where he was going or why his instincts were pushing him so hard to advance, yet a part of him was determined to see it through. He had to know what had happened and, hopefully, why he was so anxious about his impending destination. Seeking to get there ever faster, he climbed up the side of a tree trunk and swung from the tree limb, adrenaline surging through him. For a moment he swore he was flying through the air as his speed picked up and the blurs around him grew less distinct.
Halfway through a swing, Sky suddenly heard a sharp sound ring through the air, and froze momentarily to process it. Unfortunately, the lapse in attention meant he overshot the next tree and instead he hurled through foliage uncontrollably before colluding head first with the earth.
Disoriented, Sky struggled to his feet and propped himself up against a tree so he could catch his breath. Swallowing, he moved to straighten himself up and determine just where had wandered. His eyes looked around this new opening in the long line of trees he had landed himself in. The smoke was getting thicker here, everything around him was somewhat obscured with the exception of that illuminated by the dim light breaking through the leaves and branches. His breathing began to calm as he tried to regain some sense of his bearings. Without thinking, Sky raised his shirt to cover his nose and tied it in place. This measure didn't feel quite sufficient, but it would have to do for the moment. His eyes watered as he scanned his surroundings, searching for the source of the sound that he had heard moments before. Still, something felt off to him. Something in this area just screamed danger and yet he couldn't for the life of him determine what it was.
"HELP!" a distant voice screamed out. The voice, although faded, was clear in its need and distress. Sky's head quickly turned towards the direction he thought he heard it from. The forest fell silent once again around him, frustrating Sky's attempts to pinpoint where what he had heard had come from. Moving towards another gap in the long line of trees he stood still and waited for any sign of noise. Nothing met his ear for what felt like the longest time. Then he heard it again.
"HELP!" a voice cried out again, this time a little less muffled. Whoever it was, they had to be fairly close. A part of him still wanted to go to the dark plume of smoke in the distance, but he knew that whoever it was out here in these woods needed help, and as an afterthought, maybe they would know a way out too. His body seemed to move on its own yet again as he began to race towards the source of the noise. He moved at full power, trying his hardest to listen for more noises and signs of where the source could be.
"-ELP!'' This time it was slightly cut off, but was clearer than before. Sky's heart rate accelerated, as he became more determined to reach them. Again and again he heard the voice as his pursuit grew closer and closer to his target. Each stride fell into a steady rhythm as he moved seamlessly across the shaded ground. The voice screaming out grew clearer and clearer the closer he grew. The distant shout was now discernible as the cry of a dopey voice. The voice was deep and slightly nasally with a slight rasp to it, like whoever it was had been shouting for a while. Still whoever it was had to be drawing near.
These thoughts were soon halted by the realization that whoever was calling had stopped. He couldn't hear anything from them. Sky grew more anxious and called out in the hopes of hearing a response.
"Hey, can you hear me? Help is on the way" he shouted out into the dark woods. Of course, Sky had no idea what he was getting into, but confidence was reassuring in these sorts of things (how he knew that was, as usual, a mystery).
For a moment there was silence. The boy's heart skipped a beat, suddenly worried that he was too late, but then he heard a response.
"OVER HERE, QUICKLY!" The voice shouted once again, coming from Sky's right. Now he had his direction.
Without wasting a moment, he ran as fast as he could towards the sound. The area he traveled through was thick with foliage, leaving very little visibility. He was running blind at this point, only barely having enough perception in the dark and crowded woods to spot the many trees that were in his path.. He called out once again for the other voice, hoping to garner some sort of sound. He was reliant on the direction he heard the voice from originally, and was starting to worry that he was heading in the wrong direction. However, before he could hear another response, he burst forward from the foliage into a clearing. From there he noticed a large shell and what appeared to be a pack of wolves surrounding it. The wolves seemed preoccupied at the moment, leaving their backs turned to the young boy, but the shell on the other hand seemed to slightly twist towards the young boy.
"HELP!" The voice called out again, coming from the large shell.
This turn of events caught the young man off-guard, but he didn't have time to contemplate. He had to act, and he had to act now. He looked for a brief moment into the surrounding area for any sign of something he could use as a weapon.
Sky looked side to side for anything protruding from the nearby foliage, something he could possibly use to gain some reach against his soon to be opponents. To his immediate left was little more than some twigs and the occasional rock. To his right was an old hardwood, its lower branches long since dead as it reached into the canopy above. The body of the tree was covered from top to bottom with vines that obscured the trunk's bark. In this sea of green was what appeared to be a thick limb that had long since fallen to the base of the tree. That caught his eye, and with haste he approached the limb. Reaching for it, he quickly realized the vines were covered in thorns, which dug into his skin as he began to wrestle the branch out from where it was lodged. Still, Sky grit his teeth and began to pull the branch out from the plant mass.
His plan ran into an obstacle unfortunately. The vines proved to be too tightly wound around the limb, and it was not easily moved. Sky, frustrated, began to apply more force than he had originally, changing his posture so his feet were digging into the soil. His teeth gritted and his knees bent in strain as the boy gradually increased his effort at dislodging his improvised weapon, approaching the full force he could muster. Before long, the tree began to groan as wood bent and roots snapped beneath Sky's feet. What followed was the tree slowly beginning to bend from the constant pull with the many vines beginning to snap from the strain. The roots soon gave, and Sky stumbled back as the tree became uprooted from the earth, crashing beside him as he very narrowly avoided being crushed by it. His grip never left the limb, which only now separated from the vines as they too were pulled up and fell with the rest of the great tree. A great crash rang out, and all eyes now turned to Sky, who now felt quite small clutching the weapon he had gone through such effort to obtain.
For a moment there was silence, as both sides sized each other up. The boy gulped, this wasn't quite what he had in mind going in, though he'd certainly stopped the pack from assailing their victim. The issue of course was now to avoid becoming the next one. He raised his makeshift weapon, holding it at length and hoping that his accidental display would be enough to scare the wolves off. One or two was probably a simple affair to deal with, but there was a certain strength in numbers Sky wasn't particularly keen on seeing the full potential of.
Rather than turning tail and fleeing, the lead wolf growled, and the others began circling the strange tailed boy which stood before them. The loud crash had startled them, but surely such a diminutive figure had nothing to do with it. Today seemed to be a great night for the pack, two meals in just a single hunt!
In the meantime, Sky adopted a stance, drawing on instinct as he took on a wider, more balanced footing. The stick, now resting in his right hand with a tight grip, tilted downward towards the pack that stared at him, snarling. His breathing slowed and his eyes closed slightly. His stare remained straight ahead, focused on the lead of the pack, as he tracked the others in his peripherals.
Now no longer in immediate peril, what appeared to be a turtle emerged from the shell to catch a glimpse of his would-be rescuer. His eyes widened in shock as he finally caught sight of what appeared to be a child now standing confidently between the nearly dozen predators circling him. 'What was this kid doing out in the middle of the woods?' The turtle thought, now nearly as concerned for this newcomer as he was for himself. Still, he dared not move.
One of the wolves, which had cautiously positioned itself in the blind spot of their new prey, lunged, aiming for Sky's shoulder. Faster than it could react, the boy sidestepped and retaliated with an upward strike of his makeshift staff. The wolf was caught in the snout mid lunge and launched backwards, crashing into the downed tree behind it. The speed of this caught even Sky himself off guard. How, he wondered, had he been able to respond so quickly, and effortlessly, to that attack.
This display of strength, while impressive, bought him no time before the fighting resumed. The rest of the pack, undeterred, attempted to strike at once and overwhelm this strange foe. Sky pivoted so his back was to the gap in the circle where the first wolf had lunged from, then the fight was on.
The first wolf that reached him was incapacitated by a solid blow from above, and the second hit with a powerful strike that sent it crashing into the bodies of its packmates. As he landed his third clean hit with the branch he'd picked up, Sky was beginning to wonder if he'd had experience fighting with a weapon before. His body certainly seemed to think so, moving almost without thought as one strike cleanly transitioned to block the jaws of another wolf, and his feet moved independently so his back was never fully exposed to his enemies. The "weapon" he held throughout this was at once both natural and frustratingly awkward. It didn't really feel suited for the style he was falling into, yet at the moment it seemed good enough. After what felt like only a quick few moments, the fight had concluded, to the shock of the turtle watching the full exchange, mouth agape in shock. The boy now found himself standing above the bodies of nine (or ten, he hadn't had time to count) badly wounded, or worse, wolves.
Absent-mindedly, Sky wondered if he had managed to beat Goku at finding them a good meal. Putting aside that thought for now, he first made sure to check on whoever it was he'd just saved, spotting them watching from the middle of the clearing.
As Sky walked up to the large creature, its scaled head peered around to confirm the wolves had indeed been dealt with, still teary eyed from the encounter. "Oh, someone came! I thought I was done for!"
With the danger dealt with, Sky took a moment to scrutinize the being he'd arrived to the rescue of. They were a blue reptile about half as big as he was, who wore a thick shell which on closer inspection had six circular indentations in it. Its upper beak and parts of its face were black, together resembling a mask. No vague sense of familiarity accompanied any of what Sky was looking at. Therefore, whoever he was looking at probably wasn't something he'd seen before. Which meant… probably nothing. Man amnesia sucked.
"So… I guess you're more tired than you looked from all of that…" began the shelled creature in front of him after a prolonged silence. Still Sky remained silent. "Are you okay kid?" The creature continued in a concerned voice.
Sky blinked, shaking himself out of his thoughts, "Oh yeah, uhhh… I'm fine? Like, not hurt or anything, just…" he trailed off, thinking of a way to continue without coming across as too awkward about his lack of knowledge, "thinking, I guess. Anyways, glad I could help you out before things got too bad. I'm Sky, by the way."
"You can call Turtle," replied the creature, then giving a nervous laugh it added, "it may be a bit silly being a kind of turtle named Turtle, but it works well enough for me."
"Yeah, well, I wouldn't know," responded Sky, mentally noting the kind of creature he was talking to, "I haven't met any other turtles, so I wouldn't know. Certainly none around here."
"Oh, are we that far from the ocean?" asked the turtle, concerned. "I should've known that mystery dungeon I stumbled into would send me off somewhere random. You wouldn't happen to know the way back, would you?"
"Mystery dungeon…" Sky repeated, confused. The name felt familiar, like something he'd once known all about. Now nothing came to mind but a vague sense of danger that accompanied the word. "There aren't any of those near where I come from, I'm not familiar with their mechanics."
"Oh, you don't know about them?" said Turtle, somewhat surprised, "with them popping up more and more recently I'd thought most people were familiar with them by now. I guess some parts of the world were worse hits than others. Uh, I guess all you need to know is they're places where the way the ordinary world works breaks down. You can enter at the bottom of the sea and come out in the middle of the forest in some extreme cases, which is how I got here."
"Huh…" Sky replied, pondering the implications of what he'd just heard, "so if we find the entrance you came out of, could you go back?"
"Oh! No, no." replied the turtle, alarmed, "mystery dungeons are dangerous places, I barely survived the first trip through. Wouldn't have gone through it at all, had a new one not appeared on my normal swimming route. I'd explain more, but… for now, let's talk about getting back the long way."
"I guess…" said Sky, a part of him disappointed, "alright, for now you can follow me. I don't have a map, but one of my friends does. I'll take you to her, she can get you back to the ocean I'm sure."
As he began gathering a few of the wolves he'd defeated to bring back to camp with Turtle, Sky vaguely remembered that he'd never caught up to Goku like he'd been trying to. What was his friend up to now?
Goku stood above the beast he'd brought down, confused. Whatever it was, its meat was well protected. As he pried apart its wing, looking for the bits of flesh he expected to be under its strange shell, all he found was more hard bits and its strange, black blood which clung to his skin whenever he put his hand in it. Nowhere was there any meat!
Just as Goku gave up, he heard a growl behind him. Wolves, it sounded like. 'Perfect,' he thought, 'now this is some food I have some experience hunting.' As he approached his next meal his mind wandered for the briefest of moments. 'I wonder what Sky is bringing back.'
With a heavy sigh, Sky hefted Turtle further up his back. It was taking him significantly longer to return than it had for him to reach Turtle from camp. Part of it was the extra burden he carried back, with the turtle held in one arm and a few of the wolves in another, tied to a branch from the tree he'd accidentally felled before their fight and held by the vines that had wrapped around the base. Sky imagined he made for a rather amusing sight right now, carrying several times his own weight as he weaved through the trees carefully to where Bulma had camped.
As he made his way back, Sky did his best to make small talk with his new acquaintance. "So, the ocean," he began, a bit awkwardly after a few minutes of walking in silence, "what's it like? I've never been."
"Oh, it's quite unlike anything you'd have seen before. Let's see… on the surface, I suppose it would give one the impression of a large lake."
Sky thought to ask what a lake was as well, but thought better of it. He could ask Bulma later after all. While he was thinking, Turtle continued, "The waves are choppier of course, and the shoreline larger… oh I could go on all day about the dunes I was born in… but the real difference is beneath. The seas are deeper and more teeming with life than anything you'll have seen on land. The- oh." he cut himself off here, speaking a bit quicker than before, "you'll want to turn left here."
"Why?" asked Sky, peering into the forest ahead of them. This wasn't the same segment he'd run to get here, but it didn't look all that different. Well, at least not at first glance. As Sky looked closer at the trees ahead of him, he did notice some unusual details about this section of the woods. The air here felt staler than usual, and the light breeze that had flowed through the trees during their walk had now ceased. There was a gap in the trees, where the light of the moon seemed not to reach, and none of Sky's senses could penetrate. Whatever it was, looking at it made Sky tense up instinctively. "What… is that place in front of us?" he asked his companion, still held on his shoulder.
"That's the mystery dungeon I came through." responded Turtle, solemnly, "We'll have to go around it. Try to give it a wide berth, I'd rather not stumble back into it if we can help it."
Sky nodded and turned to go around it, watching the strange entrance out of the corner of his eye as he did so. They were mostly quiet for the rest of the way back, a silence only occasionally interrupted by brief questions by Sky to ensure he was not accidentally walking into the grasp of the mystery dungeon.
After what felt like an hour, Sky finally returned to the vicinity of camp. There was a fire set up outside Bulma's capsule house. Goku was in front of it, grilling a wolf on an improvised spit over the fire. Sky grinned as he saw this, dropping the branch he'd brought to his side. "I see you and I had the same idea for dinner."
Walking past his friend, he made his way to the doorway of the house, Turtle now having been let down and following behind him. Sky knocked, and after a moment Bulma opened the door. "Hey, I got back with dinner." he said, pointing to the wolves piled near the fire, "and I found someone that needs our help, this is Turtle." Turtle gave a slight nod at this, though Sky could tell he was getting a bit too exhausted after the day to do much more.
Bulma looked between the tirtouga Sky had somehow found hundreds of miles from the ocean and Goku roasting several wolves he'd probably killed with his bare hands over an open fire and sighed, massaging her temple. "Why does this keep getting weirder?" she muttered to herself, "what is with these two kids?"
A/N: I'm not dead after all! Might as well be though, grad school is pain. Took a while to finish this, but the story is back at last. Hopefully the length of this chapter at least makes up for the wait a little, and the next should ideally take far less time to produce.