Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Broken Seal ❯ Cue Ball In the Side Pocket ( Chapter 5 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

The movement of the giant King Yemma transfixed Krillin. The ogre was still squirming in his seat trying to find a position that facilitated both comfort and the operation of the vehicle. Krillin's heart was racing, and he could feel the heaving of blood the vessels in the sides of his head as the rivers of plasma were driven through their channels and tributaries as his body was being primed for action. Though every muscle in his body was prepared for use, he knew he could not so much as flinch until he was certain Yemma would not spot him.

King Yemma looked down to the matt black dashboard against which his colossal shins were pressed. This was Krillin's chance. The fighter inhaled a full chest of air, and darted around the wall.

In a split second, Krillin bolted into the open, and found himself standing dangerously exposed at the focus of the archway. The fighter flicked his head from side to side like a startled animal, scanning his immediate surroundings for a way to approach Yemma without attracting his attention. Looking to his left, he saw that there was a narrow space between the building and the ordered ranks of trees that surrounded the courtyard. Without a second thought, Krillin drew in another breath and slipped into the gap.

Carefully, Krillin manoeuvred himself up against the wall. He could feel the cool, smooth leaves brushing against his skin as the numerous appendages of the floral ranks swept slowly over the contours of his face as if trying to identify the intruder. The shrubbery afforded the warrior some concealment, however the leaves only extended downwards as far as his midriff. This meant that his legs visible, leaving him with no margin for error.

Practising extreme caution so as not to disturb the surrounding plant-life, Krillin inched his way along the wall with his back press firmly against the coarse brickwork. All the time, he observed the movements of King Yemma, whose image was made dappled and changeable by the shifting network of interlocking branches of the hedgerow.

Carefully, Krillin moved into position directly behind King Yemma's car. Feeling confident that he was far enough out of the ogre's field of vision, he began to sink towards the ground, the fabric of his garments grazing the wall as he went. The noise this made seemed deafening to Krillin, as all his senses had become heightened. Fortunately however, it appeared that the ogre Yemma did not share the trait of exceptional hearing with the police demons Krillin had encountered previously. As a result, the fighter was able to slip down to his knees unnoticed, his folded joints sinking slightly into the moist earth as his weight came to rest upon them.

With King Yemma once again in full view, Krillin took a moment to regroup. Countless beads of sweat were racing down his face, charting numerous clammy routes across an obstacle course of facial features. The fighter was in fact quite surprised by the anxiety he was experiencing at a situation that paled before many of those he had encountered in life.

Man, I'm coming apart here; he thought to himself; I've been out of the loop for way too long.

The fighter drew another breath, and dropped his body forwards allowing the weight of his torso to fall upon the palms of his hands, which came to rest against the short grass that lay beyond the bushes. Krillin then began to crawl out into the open.

The bristle-like grass stems hissed their disdain for the fighter as his hands and knees drove them into the sod from which they sprouted. Once more, Krillin was terrified that the muffled racket that he was causing would lead to his discovery. Once more, it did not.

A sudden explosion of sound destroyed the hush in the courtyard. Krillin's heart momentarily neglected its duties in fright and the fighter leaped to his feet with a startled yelp. Realising he had just broken the temporary oath of silence he had taken on entering the courtyard, he threw both grimy hands, one on top of the other, across his open mouth. Wide eyed with panic, he stood motionless watching the towering back of King Yemma and waiting for a reaction. It never came.

The sound was that of King Yemma's car backfiring. Once again fate had graced Krillin with its mercy, as the sound of his cry of surprise had been submerged in the commotion of the vehicle's engine. Still ice bound with fear, Krillin watched as the bright red automobile slowly levitated from the ground. The car was visibly engaged in a close fought battle with gravity in its bid to lift Yemma's plentiful frame. Tilting and faltering, its battle more than once looked to be lost. Persistence won through however, and the vehicle levelled off a couple of feet from the ground.

Krillin quickly thawed from his panic-induced stasis as he realised his ride was about to depart without him. The fighter scampered the last few meters to the rear of the car, his footfalls masked by the anguished lamentation of the overworked engine. The ample rear bumper of the vehicle was fully half the fighter's height and similar in depth, allowing Krillin to bound nimbly onto to its shining surface. There he crouched, and looked up at the looming pink cliff face that was King Yemma's back. He then turned away and sat down on the cold, hard bumper. Relaxing, Krillin allowed his shoulders to slump down as he exhaled for the first time since he had left the sanctuary of the bushes.

No sooner had the lukewarm air passed over the fighter's parched tongue, the car lurched into motion. Its initial movement was gradual and laboured as it travelled the first few meters to the sound of the motor grumbling miserably at the shear magnitude of its task.

Krillin looked up to Yemma in surprise as his booming voice interrupted the complaining of the engine.

"Ah-ha!" the ogre exclaimed, causing Krillin to fear he was discovered, "Now we're talkin'!"

Krillin frowned, at a loss as to the meaning of this cryptic statement. But before he had a chance to ponder the meaning of Yemma's words, the vehicle erupted from a relative stand still, the sudden burst of speed almost throwing Krillin from his perch. However, the worst was yet to come. The ogre's driving style seemed to match his fearsome appearance as he turned the car sharply, burdening Krillin with very nearly more inertia than he could handle. The fighter's rear slid from the treacherous surface of the bumper as the tail end of the vehicle was flung violently through one hundred and eighty degrees. Krillin flipped his body and grasped blindly for a handhold. Luck was on his side once again as he was able to slip his fingers into the crevice between the body and bumper of the car.

"Here we go!" Yemma shouted, before administering yet another excessive dose of speed.

With that, car, ogre, and dangling fighter blazed through the archway and out of the courtyard.

With the vehicle now out in the open and moving at a fairly steady velocity, Krillin was able to drag himself back up onto the bumper. Having reclaimed his seat on the chrome surface, Krillin gulped copious quantities of air into his oxygen starved lungs. The turbulent slipstream that spun away from the body of the car and its driver had been converging on Krillin's face, making respiration a virtual impossibility. Thankfully, King Yemma's speed lust seemed to have worn off for now, allowing Krillin to breath once more.

Krillin rubbed the throbbing arm with which he had been hanging on to the vehicle moments earlier. Looking back in the direction in from which he had come, he watched the office building recede into the distance. Wherever King Yemma was going, Krillin was now going as well.



Krillin struggled to keep his eyelids from dropping over his moistening eyes. A combination of the hypnotic dirge of the engine and the tedious nature of the journey were making difficult for the fighter to stay awake. It was a worrying problem, as he couldn't risk nodding off, lest he should topple from the fender of King Yemma's car. What had at first promised to be a roller coaster ride of a voyage had quickly settled into a mind numbingly monotonous odyssey across countless miles of unchanging, uninhabited scenery. The drawling song of the motor had been interrupted from time to time as the ogre Yemma muttered mental notes to himself. None of these verbal memos were relevant to Krillin however, and involved mostly personal subject matter; dry cleaning, shopping, dentist appointments, and such like. It had been a chore for the wearied warrior to prevent himself from blowing his own cover with an impatient cry of 'Are we there yet!'

Looking down and away from the bland horizon, Krillin attempted to find solace amid the tall azure blades of grass that had been constant companions to him on his quest thus far. But even this ally seemed to have turned on him. The blades swayed from side to side in a metronome-like fashion as the turbulence caused by the car disturbed them from their rest, the rhythmic motion also conspiring to lull the fighter into an impromptu slumber. Krillin closed his eyes hard, and shook his head with the aim of casting off sleep's pacifying embrace.

I can't take much more of this; he thought as he fought a bitter conflict with his own fatigue to prevent his head from dropping down into his lap.

Relief came as the car began to slow down. Shaking off the last of his drowsiness, Krillin took the chance of peeking out from his hiding place. What he saw caused him to retreat quickly back out of sight. There, in the middle of nowhere, was stood a red and white striped barrier. Alongside the lowered bar was a chair seating a single, human sized demon, dressed in a light brown security guard's uniform. Krillin had not had time to take in the details of the creature's garb, having withdrawn himself instantly at the sight it.

There was a gentle jolt as the vehicle finally came to a halt. The motor continued to turn over, muttering disconsolately to itself as it maintained the car and its hefty operator at a steady height above the ground.

A few moments passed, during which the cars murmuring went uninterrupted. Curious about the lack of activity, Krillin ventured a second glance around the side of the vehicle. This time he found he could afford to linger in his observation as, upon closer inspection, the security guard turned out to be asleep. He was slumped untidily in the wooden seat, arms folded and legs submerged in the gently swaying grass. The creature's blue face was covered from the bridge of his nose upwards by a flat brown cap. The image of the lonely barrier and its snoozing sentry was a surreal, and quite amusing one. Krillin drew his head back behind the car, and awaited an angry response from King Yemma. He wasn't disappointed.

"Hey, you!" the ogre bellowed at the top of his formidable voice. Remarkably, the sleeping guardian was only partially stirred from his slumber.

"Just five more minutes, mommy." He muttered softly.

Krillin's eyes widened as a torrent of laughter threatened to burst from between his tightly fastened lips. King Yemma, on the other hand, was not even remotely amused.

"Wake up, damn it!" he roared.

With that the demon was torn from the comforting blanket of sleep, and brutally thrust into the real world. Krillin could here the petrified gasp emitted by the guard as he awoke to the horrific sight of an irate King Yemma.

"King Yemma!" the guard rasped, almost hyperventilating with shock, "I. I was just."

"Sleeping on the job?" King Yemma completed the sentence for the traumatised demon, "And at a time like this! Agh, you're just lucky I'm in such a hurry! Now, get this barrier up!"

There was a short pause, followed by what sounded like a loud gulping sound.

"I'm. afraid I c-can't do that sir." The guard stammered, suggesting that the gulp had been the sound of the demon preparing to take his life into his hands.

"What?!" Yemma screamed, his furious tones rending the calm of the unending meadow, "What do you mean you can't do that?!"

"Well, the regulations say I have to check the car out before I allow it to pass." The guard informed the fuming King.

Krillin's amusement ended with that timidly delivered sentence. His expression transformed into one of panic as he realised that he was on the cusp of discovery.

"Whose dumb-ass idea was that!" Yemma growled.

The gulping sound came once more.

"It was yours.sir." The guard replied, gingerly.

There was a break in the discourse.

"Oh." King Yemma said, he then continued with renewed ferocity, "Well.get on with it then!"

Yemma then deactivated the vehicle, which dropped abruptly to the ground causing it to whine and groan as its innards were jarred and buffeted.

"Yes sir." The demon said, once the vehicle's anguished lament had subsided.

Krillin seized up at the sound of the demon's footfalls as he came up alongside the vehicle. Fighting against his own petrifying body, he pulled his legs up onto the fender and began to scuttle on his hands and knees to the opposite side of the car to that from which the security guard was approaching. Rounding the corner of the bumper, he looked up, reassuring himself that King Yemma would not see him. As he had hoped, the ogre was sat eyes front, waiting for the tiresome formalities to end.

Krillin continued to scurry along the smooth metal surface. His every movement was carefully calculated so as not to produce the slightest noise as he circumvented the mountainous form of King Yemma. The fighter then ceased his expedition for a moment, sitting down once more. Pressing his back against the bodywork of the car he rested, and quenched his thirst for air with slow, controlled breaths. The fighter was now situated just a few inches from the door of King Yemma's car, a blind spot to both the ogre and the investigating security guard.

Krillin caught his breath as he felt the clank of the trunk being opened. The sound reverberated through the cool metal body of the car, running like a sharp chill across the fighter's back. He realised then that it was only a matter of time before the security guard arrived to inspect his side of the vehicle. Looking about, he searched for an alternative hiding place. Retreating further around the bumper was out of the question, as it would almost certainly attract the attention of King Yemma. Krillin even considered taking off in the hope he would go unnoticed in the skies above Yemma and the demon, but dismissed the idea, believing that if he wanted to progress any further he would have to remain close to the ogre.

Krillin glanced up to Yemma once more, double-checking that there would not be spotted. Indeed, the risk of this was minimal as the ogre was still staring over the windshield. Growing impatient, he began to drum his fingers on the steering wheel. The beating of his immense fingers on the wheel produced a further vibration that resounded through the vehicle's components.

Krillin looked down and back to the rear of the car. He then made a double take. Looking back up at King Yemma, he noticed that the bottom of the ogre's jacket was draped untidily across the top of the door. As a result the huge pocket was hanging slightly open, with the door supporting its weight. Krillin contemplated the beckoning pouch, and then cast a look of resignation at the ground. Shaking his head gently, he thought to himself; I must be crazy.

Carefully, Krillin got to his feet and peered back to the end of the car. The demon was still rummaging through the contents of the vehicle's cavernous rear, his efforts hidden by the raised lid. The fighter then cast his eyes upwards to the pocket. Now came the tricky part. Krillin was unsure of whether king Yemma was capable of sensing the kis of others, but was certain that he would be detected if he attempted to get into the pocket the old fashioned way. If he was to gain entry, he would have to risk flight.

Summoning the barest minimum of energy required to lift himself from the bumper, Krillin began a slow and unsteady ascent. The fighter bit down gently on his bottom lip, an action that denoted the depth of his concentration. It was a far more difficult task than he had imagined. Applying such a minuscule fraction of his ki to an activity was like trying to fill a glass from a white-water river without it being swept away.

Krillin chanced another glance at the demon who was still behind the car. Fortunately, he guard remained hidden behind the lid of the trunk. However, this momentary lapse in Krillin's concentration caused his stability to falter. Returning all his concentration to the task in hand, Krillin set about stabilising himself. The danger passed as he regained control, and began to manoeuvre his body over the open pocket. The fighter held his breath as he did so, fearing that the sound of his respiration might be funnelled into the gigantic receiver dish that was King Yemma's right ear.

Positioning himself over the pocket, Krillin glanced downwards. The cavity below was completely darkened, defying his attempts to make out either its bottom or contents. Judging by the other strange phenomena he had encountered in this dimension, it was entirely possible that the pocket had no bottom and simply plunged down endlessly into an infinite night.

Krillin banished the thought from his head. What use could there be for a pocket with no bottom? He felt foolish for even having considered it. Wasting no more time with pointless postulating, Krillin began to descend feet first into the unknown.