Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Dragonball Victory : Legends Never Die ❯ XXIII ( Chapter 23 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Faia Saiyajin 
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Occult / Martial Arts / Comedy / Adventure / Action | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 03.31.2003 | Pages: 2 | Words: 1.8K | Visits: 136 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Occult / Martial Arts / Comedy / Adventure / Action | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 03.31.2003 | Pages: 2 | Words: 1.8K | Visits: 136 | Status: Completed
XXIII
"Obasan!! Lookit! Lookie what I drew!" Marron ran across the room, as fast as her young legs could carry her. Clutched tightly in her chubby fingers, a piece of paper rattled as she waved it overhead.
Yamucha, in the middle of saying something, paused, as Buruma turned from him. She put her soda down, and uncrossed her legs so that she could scoop the child into her lap. Marron wriggled with excitement, smoothing out the wrinkles her fingers had caused in the paper. "See? It took me foorreevvvvvver to do! …Ojisan Vejiita and Ojisan Gokou have funny hair." She made a face, pushing at the black blobs of crayon that were her best attempt at drawing the unruly hair that her two Uncles had.
Buruma chuckled a little, and looked the drawing over. Squiggly lines and shocks of color, giant eyes and disproportionate limbs made up a tremendous group picture that took up the entire page. Everyone was there, even old Karin-sama, the white cat peeping his head over Kame's back.
"I'm sure Karin will be thrilled to see that…" Dende smiled. He had recovered from his last telepathic incident, and he and Mr. Popo had finished their daily walk around the Lookout. "It would seem that you've got Yajiirobe done just right." Squeezed between the green scribble of himself and the orange and blue tower that was Gohan, Yajiirobe scowled, and he would have been perfectly round, were it not for his head. He smiled down at the giggling girl, and patted her head gently. "You're very talented, Marron."
She blushed under the compliment, and tugged one of her pigtails. "Thank you, Kami-sama." At that moment, Pan charged over, nearly tumbling into Buruma's lap.
"Come on, Marron-chan! We've gotta finish 'the picture'!!" Trying to be as covert as a child could be, she fidgeted and tugged at Marron, a finger to her lips, casting sneaky glances at the adults.
"Kay! I've gotta go now!" Marron said suddenly, finally getting what Pan was trying to hint at. Sliding down off of Buruma's lap, she and Pan ran back to their corner of the room, plopping themselves down in the only spots that weren't consumed by crayons, pencils, and reams of paper.
Buruma smiled wistfully, lifting her soda can. "They're so cute at that age… I remember when Trunks was like that. And Bra, too."
Yamucha snorted. "Oh yeah. I want ten just like him." If he remembered correctly, the Trunks from this timeline had already started becoming like his father. Right down to the arrogance. He grinned at the look Buruma shot him. "Come on. Admit it. Any kid of Vejiita's has gotta be a terror."
"He wasn't a terror! He was… high-strung."
"Ah… so THAT'S what they're calling it now." Smirking at his ex-girlfriend, Yamucha leaned back in his chair. He then smashed his empty soda can against his forehead, and grinned as if he'd won and award. Buruma rolled her eyes.
"Every so often, I get to thinking. About why I broke up with you in the first place."
A thread of something, hope, maybe, crossed the Desert Bandit's face.
"And then I remember… it was because you were an arrogant, self-absorbed, flight-of-fancy, dusty, grimy IDIOT!!"
Yamucha was crestfallen, grumbling to himself. "I wasn't self-absorbed." His eyebrows shot up in the next moment. "Waitaminute! This coming from the girl who married a guy who refers to himself as the "Prince of the Saiyajin" in every other sentence?! If that's not self-absorbed, I don't know what is. You went from bad to worse, if you ask me." Looking satisfied with himself, Yamucha crossed his arms in victory. Dende and Popo made a beeline for the door. Nothing was worse, NOTHING, than Buruma in a snit. "She makes Furieza look like a pussycat." Kami-sama muttered, as the sounds of furniture, and Yamucha yelping in pain, echoed through the door behind them. That was before Yamucha, fleeing like he had the devil on his heels, crashed through the door.
"Do you really think it's smart to be doing this in your conditiooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon!!!!!" He tried, to no avail, to calm the woman, who chased him with her fist raised.
"My 'condition' is none of your business, Yamucha!" She stopped at the edge of the Lookout, to where Yamucha had taken flight, drifting just out of reach. Waving her fist in challenge, she glared at him. "Hey!! Get back here and fight like a man! Oooogg… I knew you were a coward, Yamucha, but THIS takes the cake!"
Dende rubbed his temples with one hand, tapping his walking stick on the floor with the other. Pan and Marron were standing at the doorway, one of the doors thrown open, the other hanging cockeyed on its hinges, when Yamucha had forgotten how to turn the knob in his flight. He looked to the ruined door, to where Buruma was scrambling to get into her car, so she could further chase her prey. "Chikyuujin are so odd…"
The two young girls blinked at the scene before them a moment, and then shrugged, turning simultaneously. "Looks like what my 'Tousan said about Obasan is true, then." Marron said, picking up the ends of a broken purple crayon, trying to fit them back together. Pan kicked at an orange one, sending it rolling back to its box-mates.
"What'd he say?"
"That Buruma could tell a thunderstorm to shut up and it would."
"Oh."
Back on Namecksei, Juuhatchi-Gou was doing the one thing she hated above all. Hiding. Pressing her back deeper into the shelf of rock she was hidden behind, the android turned her head as far as she could to the left, until her chin hit her shoulder. Her eyes rolled as far as they could, peering around her shoulder, and the corner of her hiding place, trying to keep focused on the small opening to a cave. Trying to ignore the strands of blonde hair that hung in her view, Juuhatchi-Gou almost scowled. After leaving Kuririn to find the others, it hadn't been hard to follow the false Son to what she supposed was his hideout. He'd gone in a minute or so ago, still clutching the bloody stump of an arm that Kuririn had shorn off with a Kienzan.
Buruma had said that the device, once it got a signal, never lost track of it. So far, it had a lock on almost a dozen signals, as it thrummed silently in the pocket of her skirt. Any other time, she would have charged headfirst into danger, uncaring of who or what she mowed down. But not only had Kuririn told her to be careful, the idea that any number of Son Gokou replicas -or even any of his friends- was lurking about in there made her think otherwise.
A trickle of sweat rolled down her cheek, dropping from her jaw to her shirt, where the cotton quickly absorbed it. Damn this place… what with its multiple suns and all. Not only did it make for a stifling heat at times, it also didn't help that she would have no cover of nightfall to use to her advantage. The sound of falling stones to her above left made her stiffen, and quickly stifle a gasp. Gohan leapt down from the rock she was pressed against, and walked casually to the entrance. Luckily for her, the rock wall was not a straight face, but buckled in the middle, as if something was trying to push out from within, giving her a ledge to hide under. He would have seen her for sure, then.
Her eyes widened. Tucked under his arm, were two large orange spheres. She could just make out 4 stars that peeped out from under the sleeve of his gi. The stars for the ball on the right were hidden. "He has two Dragonballs already? That's impossible!" She bit her lower lip, staring at her toes a moment. "How many more do they have?"
"Hey!!"
Nearly jumping, she prepared for a fight. "He couldn't have found me. I don't have a power level…" her gaze flicked to the rocks around her. "And I'm not casting any shadows…."
"OI! Somebody!" Gohan called, setting the Balls down. "I've got two more!"
"…two…MORE?" The sweat that had broken out on her body nearly froze.
Just then, Kuririn appeared from the cave. Still bald, the burn-marks of the Orinji Temple visible on his forehead, the imposter-monk growled at the newcomer. "Quit yelling, ass. Gokou is hurt. Bring those things in here, and keep quiet. You wanna attract the whole damn planet's attention?"
Gohan curled his lip at Kuririn as he disappeared back into the cave. He maneuvered the Dragonballs back into place under his arm. Juuhatchi-Gou crossed her arms, thinking. Gohan turned to make sure he wasn't being followed. "You know, you could have answered when I called for someone." He said flatly.
Her breath caught in her throat, and she nearly panicked. Calming herself just in time, she realized that Gohan thought she was one of the replicas. Forcing herself to look haughty, like her old self (it wasn't as hard as she thought it would be), she stepped out from her hiding spot. "You're a big boy. Can't you handle this by yourself?"
"Shut up and come on. What's the matter with Gokou?"
"Hell if I know." Stepping lightly onto the flat bit of rock that was at the opening to the cave, Juuhatchi-Gou brushed a small lock of hair from her cheek. "Did you find anything?"
"Yeah." He grinned then, satisfactorily. "I took care of it, though." Shifting the balls under his arm, Juuhatchi-Gou noticed the strange semi-scabbed wounds on the back of his hand.
"I'll bet you did. How'd you get those?"
"Meh. Some off-worlder girl got in the way. Piccolo and the others were taking their damn sweet time getting rid of her. I think she was a Saiyajin, given that she had a tail."
"She's a Saiyajin, eh?" Her blood ran cold. Kaeru… dead or hurt? And was the Piccolo mentioned the real Piccolo, or the cyborg one she was sure they had? Her expression didn't change a hair. "Interesting."
"She WAS a Saiyajin. Well, whatever she was, she's not anymore. …I thought they were exterminated?" He tossed his head, and started into the cave.
"I thought so too…" she followed close behind Gohan, barely concealing the smirk that threatened to give her away. "Who knows, and who really ca…."
Gohan had stopped, staring ahead of him. After a minute, he turned to look at her, confused and somewhat amused all at the same time. "Trying to play a little trick on me, are we now?"
She raised a brow. "What are you talking about…" Her words died in her throat, as a replica of her self, matching completely in every little nuance and detail, stepped from the cave, her arms crossed in self-assuredness.
"Obasan!! Lookit! Lookie what I drew!" Marron ran across the room, as fast as her young legs could carry her. Clutched tightly in her chubby fingers, a piece of paper rattled as she waved it overhead.
Yamucha, in the middle of saying something, paused, as Buruma turned from him. She put her soda down, and uncrossed her legs so that she could scoop the child into her lap. Marron wriggled with excitement, smoothing out the wrinkles her fingers had caused in the paper. "See? It took me foorreevvvvvver to do! …Ojisan Vejiita and Ojisan Gokou have funny hair." She made a face, pushing at the black blobs of crayon that were her best attempt at drawing the unruly hair that her two Uncles had.
Buruma chuckled a little, and looked the drawing over. Squiggly lines and shocks of color, giant eyes and disproportionate limbs made up a tremendous group picture that took up the entire page. Everyone was there, even old Karin-sama, the white cat peeping his head over Kame's back.
"I'm sure Karin will be thrilled to see that…" Dende smiled. He had recovered from his last telepathic incident, and he and Mr. Popo had finished their daily walk around the Lookout. "It would seem that you've got Yajiirobe done just right." Squeezed between the green scribble of himself and the orange and blue tower that was Gohan, Yajiirobe scowled, and he would have been perfectly round, were it not for his head. He smiled down at the giggling girl, and patted her head gently. "You're very talented, Marron."
She blushed under the compliment, and tugged one of her pigtails. "Thank you, Kami-sama." At that moment, Pan charged over, nearly tumbling into Buruma's lap.
"Come on, Marron-chan! We've gotta finish 'the picture'!!" Trying to be as covert as a child could be, she fidgeted and tugged at Marron, a finger to her lips, casting sneaky glances at the adults.
"Kay! I've gotta go now!" Marron said suddenly, finally getting what Pan was trying to hint at. Sliding down off of Buruma's lap, she and Pan ran back to their corner of the room, plopping themselves down in the only spots that weren't consumed by crayons, pencils, and reams of paper.
Buruma smiled wistfully, lifting her soda can. "They're so cute at that age… I remember when Trunks was like that. And Bra, too."
Yamucha snorted. "Oh yeah. I want ten just like him." If he remembered correctly, the Trunks from this timeline had already started becoming like his father. Right down to the arrogance. He grinned at the look Buruma shot him. "Come on. Admit it. Any kid of Vejiita's has gotta be a terror."
"He wasn't a terror! He was… high-strung."
"Ah… so THAT'S what they're calling it now." Smirking at his ex-girlfriend, Yamucha leaned back in his chair. He then smashed his empty soda can against his forehead, and grinned as if he'd won and award. Buruma rolled her eyes.
"Every so often, I get to thinking. About why I broke up with you in the first place."
A thread of something, hope, maybe, crossed the Desert Bandit's face.
"And then I remember… it was because you were an arrogant, self-absorbed, flight-of-fancy, dusty, grimy IDIOT!!"
Yamucha was crestfallen, grumbling to himself. "I wasn't self-absorbed." His eyebrows shot up in the next moment. "Waitaminute! This coming from the girl who married a guy who refers to himself as the "Prince of the Saiyajin" in every other sentence?! If that's not self-absorbed, I don't know what is. You went from bad to worse, if you ask me." Looking satisfied with himself, Yamucha crossed his arms in victory. Dende and Popo made a beeline for the door. Nothing was worse, NOTHING, than Buruma in a snit. "She makes Furieza look like a pussycat." Kami-sama muttered, as the sounds of furniture, and Yamucha yelping in pain, echoed through the door behind them. That was before Yamucha, fleeing like he had the devil on his heels, crashed through the door.
"Do you really think it's smart to be doing this in your conditiooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon!!!!!" He tried, to no avail, to calm the woman, who chased him with her fist raised.
"My 'condition' is none of your business, Yamucha!" She stopped at the edge of the Lookout, to where Yamucha had taken flight, drifting just out of reach. Waving her fist in challenge, she glared at him. "Hey!! Get back here and fight like a man! Oooogg… I knew you were a coward, Yamucha, but THIS takes the cake!"
Dende rubbed his temples with one hand, tapping his walking stick on the floor with the other. Pan and Marron were standing at the doorway, one of the doors thrown open, the other hanging cockeyed on its hinges, when Yamucha had forgotten how to turn the knob in his flight. He looked to the ruined door, to where Buruma was scrambling to get into her car, so she could further chase her prey. "Chikyuujin are so odd…"
The two young girls blinked at the scene before them a moment, and then shrugged, turning simultaneously. "Looks like what my 'Tousan said about Obasan is true, then." Marron said, picking up the ends of a broken purple crayon, trying to fit them back together. Pan kicked at an orange one, sending it rolling back to its box-mates.
"What'd he say?"
"That Buruma could tell a thunderstorm to shut up and it would."
"Oh."
Back on Namecksei, Juuhatchi-Gou was doing the one thing she hated above all. Hiding. Pressing her back deeper into the shelf of rock she was hidden behind, the android turned her head as far as she could to the left, until her chin hit her shoulder. Her eyes rolled as far as they could, peering around her shoulder, and the corner of her hiding place, trying to keep focused on the small opening to a cave. Trying to ignore the strands of blonde hair that hung in her view, Juuhatchi-Gou almost scowled. After leaving Kuririn to find the others, it hadn't been hard to follow the false Son to what she supposed was his hideout. He'd gone in a minute or so ago, still clutching the bloody stump of an arm that Kuririn had shorn off with a Kienzan.
Buruma had said that the device, once it got a signal, never lost track of it. So far, it had a lock on almost a dozen signals, as it thrummed silently in the pocket of her skirt. Any other time, she would have charged headfirst into danger, uncaring of who or what she mowed down. But not only had Kuririn told her to be careful, the idea that any number of Son Gokou replicas -or even any of his friends- was lurking about in there made her think otherwise.
A trickle of sweat rolled down her cheek, dropping from her jaw to her shirt, where the cotton quickly absorbed it. Damn this place… what with its multiple suns and all. Not only did it make for a stifling heat at times, it also didn't help that she would have no cover of nightfall to use to her advantage. The sound of falling stones to her above left made her stiffen, and quickly stifle a gasp. Gohan leapt down from the rock she was pressed against, and walked casually to the entrance. Luckily for her, the rock wall was not a straight face, but buckled in the middle, as if something was trying to push out from within, giving her a ledge to hide under. He would have seen her for sure, then.
Her eyes widened. Tucked under his arm, were two large orange spheres. She could just make out 4 stars that peeped out from under the sleeve of his gi. The stars for the ball on the right were hidden. "He has two Dragonballs already? That's impossible!" She bit her lower lip, staring at her toes a moment. "How many more do they have?"
"Hey!!"
Nearly jumping, she prepared for a fight. "He couldn't have found me. I don't have a power level…" her gaze flicked to the rocks around her. "And I'm not casting any shadows…."
"OI! Somebody!" Gohan called, setting the Balls down. "I've got two more!"
"…two…MORE?" The sweat that had broken out on her body nearly froze.
Just then, Kuririn appeared from the cave. Still bald, the burn-marks of the Orinji Temple visible on his forehead, the imposter-monk growled at the newcomer. "Quit yelling, ass. Gokou is hurt. Bring those things in here, and keep quiet. You wanna attract the whole damn planet's attention?"
Gohan curled his lip at Kuririn as he disappeared back into the cave. He maneuvered the Dragonballs back into place under his arm. Juuhatchi-Gou crossed her arms, thinking. Gohan turned to make sure he wasn't being followed. "You know, you could have answered when I called for someone." He said flatly.
Her breath caught in her throat, and she nearly panicked. Calming herself just in time, she realized that Gohan thought she was one of the replicas. Forcing herself to look haughty, like her old self (it wasn't as hard as she thought it would be), she stepped out from her hiding spot. "You're a big boy. Can't you handle this by yourself?"
"Shut up and come on. What's the matter with Gokou?"
"Hell if I know." Stepping lightly onto the flat bit of rock that was at the opening to the cave, Juuhatchi-Gou brushed a small lock of hair from her cheek. "Did you find anything?"
"Yeah." He grinned then, satisfactorily. "I took care of it, though." Shifting the balls under his arm, Juuhatchi-Gou noticed the strange semi-scabbed wounds on the back of his hand.
"I'll bet you did. How'd you get those?"
"Meh. Some off-worlder girl got in the way. Piccolo and the others were taking their damn sweet time getting rid of her. I think she was a Saiyajin, given that she had a tail."
"She's a Saiyajin, eh?" Her blood ran cold. Kaeru… dead or hurt? And was the Piccolo mentioned the real Piccolo, or the cyborg one she was sure they had? Her expression didn't change a hair. "Interesting."
"She WAS a Saiyajin. Well, whatever she was, she's not anymore. …I thought they were exterminated?" He tossed his head, and started into the cave.
"I thought so too…" she followed close behind Gohan, barely concealing the smirk that threatened to give her away. "Who knows, and who really ca…."
Gohan had stopped, staring ahead of him. After a minute, he turned to look at her, confused and somewhat amused all at the same time. "Trying to play a little trick on me, are we now?"
She raised a brow. "What are you talking about…" Her words died in her throat, as a replica of her self, matching completely in every little nuance and detail, stepped from the cave, her arms crossed in self-assuredness.