Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Hunted Saiyans ❯ Part 2: Chapter 6: A Woman for her Man ( Chapter 12 )

Chapter 6

A Woman for Her Man

 

Bulma and Pulla had been preparing the ship when a violent earthquake knocked them off their feet. Both women braced themselves for their falls; Pulla's breath was caught in her throat, the NS 5000 was being knocked off balance, and both women slid vertically on the slippery floor. Metal items fell, missing Pulla's head by mere inches. Bulma tried to crawl up her ships floor, but it kept turning to its side. The engine, which Pulla had forcibly switched on before, now gave a loud, monstrous groan of disapproval. She looked out of the ships window and gasped, then gave a high-pitched scream when she noticed the edges of the crater.

 

“We're gonna die! Bulma! Oh God…!”

 

Bulma had noticed it too. Still slipping as the NS 5000 slowly jerked even more to its side, coming ever closer to the edge of the cliff, Bulma managed to grab onto the leg of one of the control panels. Pulla cried out her name and Bulma watched as her daughter-in-law slid roughly over the tiled edges, her hair ruffling and her arms trying desperately to grab hold onto something. Bulma called her name in fear, her heart swelling in terror for the woman's safety. Over the cliff, scorching lava awaited them.

 

Bulma held on for her dear life as she watched Pulla finally come to a stop. Her body hit brutally against the scarlet walls, her head knocked roughly on the surface before it fell down. For a moment, Bulma thought she had been knocked out, possibly dead, but to her relief, her son's wife was stronger then she appeared. Her blue eyes met hers, her face deathly pale. Her chest heaved up and down frantically, tears flowing down her eyes.

 

But the ship hadn't stopped. At an impossible angle, Bulma was literally dangling from her support. Another jerk, the ship fell…

 

Something stopped them just in time before the ship had crashed into oblivion. Gohan, supporting the entire ship by himself, heaved it up. He groaned in pain under the weight, but to his relief Chibi Gotenks flew towards him and together they placed their only ticket out of Namek, onto the crumbling earth.

 

***

 

Tsuba could feel the side effects in his arm. It felt limp and drained of all the energy in the world. Not only had he felt every blow Gotenks had given him, he also noticed that his lungs ached and his breath rate was harder, more forced. His muscles were screaming for a surface to lay his throbbing muscles. He felt pathetic. Of course, he knew what this numb and prickly feeling in his arm and chest meant. It was fatigue, and it was the side effect of over-using the nano-parachinium. He had been warned, but he was having so much fun. So much fun!

 

“Aaaahhhh…” Tsuba sighed in pleasure as he inserted more blue juice through a needle. His twin was still in the tank, soaking in the crystal blue water, wires attached on every limb. Bubbles floated up to the brim and Tsuba slowly took out the needle, wincing slightly.

 

“You're an idiot,” Yashamaru told him as the kid handed the needle to Shiva, “Both of you.”

 

“Hey, we're not the lazy ones here,” Tsuba retorted, “Just because we prefer using the needle then going in the tank! Besides, that planet wore me out. They put up more of a fight then I expected. Bastards…” he swore bitterly and sighed, resting his head on his hands casually, “Besides, Tsuka hates needles.”

 

Yashamaru `hmphed' as he dried his hair roughly with his towel. He wasn't lazy. Tsuka, Tsuba and occasionally Shiva used the liquid in the needle waaaay to often, because they over-trained and basically over-killed. Their greed and primitive minds not only liked the feel of that needle, they were freaking addicted to the juice. Three of the tanks, now only occupied by Tsuka in the far right one, were used for three purposes: installing the nano-parachinium into a newbie's body, which sometimes took longer then four days, depending on the person's immune system and race (Gobanians are way slower then Hree's; regenerating the near-dead; and finally `feeding' the parachinium in their bodies with an ice-cold liquid they named `juice' (feeding was like refueling the machine that worked on the juice). The latter was only done by Tsuka, who insisted on not taking the needle. As soon as The Voice heard this, he ordered all of them to pin Tsuka down and give him the needle by force. Yashamaru's hand went over his cheek: he could still feel the punch the brat had given him. Tsuka had given such a fight that when they finally managed to pin him down, they had bruises all over their body. The fat lummox even lost some of his teeth. It was something none of them felt like doing again.

 

“Hey, don't finish it you whore!” Tsuba tried to grab her but Shiva simply shoved him away with her curvy leg. She tossed her black hair over her shoulder and yelled back, “Shut up and respect your elders you brat! Besides, you've taken your fair share!”

 

Tsuba growled fiercely.

 

“I'm the one who needs more then you; I'm still a growing child!!”

 

Shiva laughed at his pitiful attempt and then dodged a punch to her precious face. “And I'm a needy woman, now fuck off!”

 

Tsuba cursed loudly, mumbling a whole lot of unpleasant words as she sighed in pleasure, still injecting more juice into her body. He headed for the locked drawer to take another needle when Strife walked in.

 

“We're leaving in an hour,” he said aloud and then in thought-speak said, “The Voice thinks we're going to look for Scar. The guy stole a truckload of juice before he left for Earth. It was like he expected us to double-cross him…” then aloud he cried, “For goodness sake Shiva, that's too much, even for you. Tsuba, stay away from that drawer,”

 

But just as the words left him, the drawer clicked open and revealed a neat set of clean needles.

 

“Take as many as you like,” The Voice's voice suddenly told them. Strife growled. The Voice continued, “But I've warned you about taking more then you need. You'll be feeling the fatigue sooner and it will be much worse on your body then the rest of your team mates,” the Voice warned.

 

“Whatever,” Tsuba said and pumped more in him, “It's worth it.”

 

Strife gave Tsuba an evil smile and the demon-child looked up at him, unable to read what his leader was thinking. But he didn't care. The fresh juice felt sooo gooood…

 

“Damn!” Tsuba cursed as he fell to his feet. In the corner of his eye he saw his brother suffering too. His lids were low and his breath raspy. His eyes were locked on their opponents, before he ripped them away and looked back at his brother.

 

“Let's get out of here,” he said. His voice was faint and pained with effort.

 

Tsuba nodded and they saw Strife; his body was still strong enough to stand. Even though he was immortal, the side-effects still worked on him. His eyes were staring at the scene before him in amusement: the ship was falling to its side, (he could hear two women inside screaming which sent ripples up his spine) the warrior Namek, Vegeta and Goku's youngest son had fallen and were split from their family, a large crater separating them as lava splashed open, Namek's were suffering under the heat as they watched their planet get ripped apart. He laughed, his eyes displaying his insanity.

 

“Come on Strife, the planet's falling apart!”

 

“I'm immortal you idiots!” he took a breath, his smile never falling from his face. He had completely forgotten about the bodies of his dead team-mates and about the twins and their fatigue, “One person!” he cried, “I need to kill at least one!”

 

Tsuka fell and scraped his elbow as the planet rumbled again. Incredible exhaustion overwhelmed him. The parachinium side-effects had never been this bad on his body. He had to lie down soon, and he meant soon! He got up, and not for the first time in his life did he feel like killing Strife. The man was so selfish! Between the three of them, he was the only one who knew how to fly their ship!

 

Tsuba grabbed the man's arm and tried to pull him away. Strife's eyes seemed fixed on choosing his target, his smile growing impossibly wider. He could barely feel Tsuba's grip on his flesh. He took a step forward, ignoring Tsuba as the child yelled; “Come on!!” Strife raised his finger and looked at the world with a dizzy head and blurred vision. Lava jumped and landed on his body. Tsuba jumped back, narrowly missing one. Even if he could survive in space, he would not survive the force of the blast when the planet would explode. He cursed. He didn't want to die just yet!!!

 

Strife was drenched in sweat and his feet felt like lead.

 

“Just one… one person…”

 

A jet of ki traveled at the speed of light.

 

“Gah!” Videl fell, blood oozed from her shoulder, “Gohan!”

 

Gohan, still balancing the ship to safety, whipped his head round and his heart jumped to his throat. Gotenks managed to help him put the ship down carefully and Gohan immediately raced to his wife.

 

“Videl! Oh Kami…”

 

Strife cursed. He had missed! Darn it, he must be really exhausted to miss a shot like that! Blood drenched the woman's clothes as Gohan picked her up and ran into their ship. Strife chuckled in amusement. Did they think they would escape like that? Hell no! He was going to blow them to smithereens!

 

He charged a full blast, but suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere, Vegeta punched him in the face. Strife flew over Tsuba and Tsuka, landing with a gruff on the ground.

 

Picollo and Goten landed there as well, ready to block anything that was going to be dealt to the NS 5000. On the other end of the ridge, Trunks called out, his son by his side with wide eyes, “Father! You guys, please, come back!”

 

But they ignored him and kept their eyes locked on the remainder of Strife's team.

 

“Trunks, go! We'll catch up later!” Goten ordered.

 

On the other side, Tilo said, “I'm going to tell mum that she can go! The Nameks said they had another ship. Dad, we have to go now! If we don't Strife will overpower them and kill us!”

 

Trunks nodded. With a final look at his father, the brave Namek race and his best friend, Trunks held Tilo firmly and they ran into the ship, giving the sign that it was o.k. to leave. He knew it was a bad idea, and Bulma would kill him if she found out, but they had no choice.

 

****

 

The NS 5000 was hovering in the air as the engines fired up to escape Namek's gravity. Its engines blue, meaning it was on full power, the crimson ship roared and then began its short journey out of Namek's atmosphere, its passengers strapped in.

 

Below, the NS 5000 now only a dot to his eyes, was Strife. He fired up an attack despite his body telling him to rest and wanted to blow Vegeta's head off first. But before he could, Tsuba gathered the last of his energy and punched his leader in the gut. The redhead's eyes widened in shock and felt a sudden paralysis. He fell to his knees, clenching his stomach. Tsuba and Tsuka grabbed their leader and powered up. Their ship wasn't far at all: it was beyond that hill. They could care less about the Saiyans now; they were more desperate to live.

 

“Remember,” Tsuba told Strife chillingly,

 

“-your promise.” Tsuka finished.

 

“Idiots!” Strife managed to say, but they ignored him and Tsuka mumbled something like, “You'll thank us later!” before they blasted off in the distance.

 

The planet began its final phases before it would blow up. In the distance, another ship, shaped strangely, painted white and less then half the size of NS 5000 hovered uncontrollably. It made its way towards them, though Vegeta was barely convinced it would reach them in one piece. It flew in the air like a plane against turbulence, until it finally managed to hover over them. A little way off, the Nameks watched.

 

They knew this was their end.

 

“Flute made it! He's in there! Quickly, you must get to him; he has no way of controlling that thing!” one of them yelled over the noise, pain in his eyes.

 

Goten's throat clenched shut as he felt unbelievable grief in his heart, “But what about them?!” he cried and Picollo too, could only stare at his noble race. His people had been robbed of their home because of Strife… and because of them.

 

The planet was on the verge of exploding. Goten managed to get in despite how wrong it felt for them to live and the Namek's to die. Hot tears swelled in his eyes as he took one last look. Then something grabbed his foot and he gasped.

 

Dangling from his feet was his mother, her arms and legs burnt, her face stricken and smudged with dirt and ash, tears flowing down her face. Her face was in a frown as she held tightly to Goten's foot, “I won't let you save Goku by yourselves! He's my man, and I'm going to be the first to knock some sense back into his thick skull!”

 

Despite how ludicrous it was, how insane and how improbable, Goten hoisted his mother into the ship.

 

“GO!” Goten cried, his own tears streaming down as he watched the Nameks and Vegeta fumbled with the controls. He had never driven a ship, but he had watched Pulla enough to understand the gist of it. Picollo, though, had taken over as soon as he saw Vegeta reach for the wrong button.

 

“What are you doing?” the prince growled.

 

“I don't know!” Picollo replied honestly, but he seemed to be in control as his hands did what his eyes couldn't believe he was doing.

 

“Hurry damn it!”

 

TSEEEWWWW!

 

Picollo wrenched around, taking one last look at his people. He saw a flash of purple before the ship sped off like the speed of light and escaped Namek's gravitational pull.

 

Unwillingly, the ship escaped.

 

***

 

Bulma had seen another ship in the air before they blasted so high in the sky that it was impossible to make out anything. The whole planet was crumbing and red with lava. It was way too late for Vegeta to join them. Her tiny fists pounded against her rigid seat as cried out his name. “I thought he was inside! I thought he was inside damn it, I thought he made it!” She had never realised that Vegeta, Goten and Picollo had been thrown to the other side of the crater. The moment they did, her engines had roared, she almost died… Gohan saved them… and they were back on the ground. Why hadn't Vegeta and the rest joined them?! They must have been distracted. But then why did Trunks say it was safe to leave?!

 

Her eyes flew to her son's in sudden resentment. He looked back at her with pity. She could see the words in his head, “Sorry mum, I'm so sorry…” but he could not speak them, and she had no intention to listen.

 

And before she realized it, there was another person missing on board.

 

The planet exploded into a million pieces. Bulma cried out like she had her heart ripped from her chest, her body cringing as she not only thought about her husband and friends, but about the helpless Nameks as well.

 

The blast was incredible, and Pulla, staring at her controls as the room flashed red, had just enough time to shriek, “We're not going to make it!”

 

The world went black for everyone on board.

 

****

 

“Oh, KAMI!” Goten had never felt so hurt, so miserable in his life. Why did they have to leave?! Why couldn't they just die, and let the remaining Nameks take their ship?!

 

Vegeta was lost for words. His eyes were avoiding Flute's who wept silently in his seat. He tried to focus on the stars, and not think of what had just happened.

 

“Their alive,” Picollo said. Everybody looked up and stared at the Namek. After a few moments Vegeta snapped, “Impossible! There's no way they could survive that!”

 

“Picollo…” Goten sniffed, “Are you sure you're o.k.?”

 

“Of coarse,” his deep voice said, “I know it sounds crazy, but I can still feel their ki. It's faint, but I know that someone saved them. It's slowly disappearing. Call me crazy, but I could have sworn I saw Supreme Kai appear…”

 

“S… supreme Kai?!”

 

“Yes.”

 

****

 

Hours had passed before Vegeta growled loudly and slammed his fist against the counter. Being cooked up in this small ship, barely larger then his gravity room, had really worked on his last nerve. There was one bathroom upstairs, and a room with not a single bed. Instead, the floor was covered with soft mats where Chi Chi now slept on. Flute had discovered some blankets in an overhead locker and had laid the soft blanket over the exhausted woman's body. When he walked back, he witnessed what could only be called a “heated discussion” between Goten and Vegeta. For a moment he was frightened before he realized that this was something normal between Vegeta and the rest of the world.

 

Goten and Flute had managed to become well acquainted and were now working hard together to follow the dot that blinked on their radar without getting caught. Vegeta growled and Picollo's patient eye opened from his attempts to meditate.

 

“The least you can do is relax…” he said.

 

“Relax? How can I relax when we're flying right into the lion's mouth?!”

 

“It was your idea.”

 

“Hmn.” Vegeta's anger boiled. Yeah, it was his idea, but he didn't think he'd be worrying about Bulma the whole time! Of coarse he didn't tell them, and they all assumed he was just being nervous. Hah, of coarse he was nervous, but not because they were secretly following Strife's ship. He couldn't find anything to do to take his mind off Bulma.

 

Follow Strife's ship.

 

It had been a difficult decision, the most difficult they had to make so far. As they had stared at where planet Namek had once been, its debris floating around their ship, Bulma's ship had come into view. They watched as it simply seemed to just float there, not responding to any of their radio signals.

 

“They're… they're not dead are they?” Goten shook and Chi Chi grabbed the mouthpiece from her son's hand and yelled into it, convinced that her voice would knock some sense into Bulma's crew. But there was no response, and for a moment Goten was convinced that they were gone.

 

“Their alive,” Vegeta stated as his eyes opened. He wouldn't settle for anything else. His arms crossed over his shoulder, “They're just out cold. Gohan's ki is the strongest in there. It's faint and weak, but he's alive. I'm not sure about the rest, but if he's not responding, it can only mean he's been knocked out.”

 

They sighed in relief but then a new question had to be answered: now what? Strife's ship was slowly disappearing from sight. If they waited until the others regained consciousness, which could take hours, they would lose Strife's trail.

 

“Why would we go after him? That's madness!” Picollo retorted at the very idea, but Goten, Vegeta and Chi Chi seemed determined to follow him. Flute, still weeping quietly, didn't care where they went. “If you think shooting down their space ship is going to work-” Picollo started,

 

“It won't, this ship has no weapons,” Flute mumbled hoarsely as he looked up at them. Once again, Goten felt his heart cringe in pity. He quickly looked away, “Yeah, and even if we do Strife's immortal and the twins-”

 

“Can breathe in space, I know,” Picollo snapped, “But if it's not an ambush, then what do you want to do?”

 

“He's right Vegeta,” Goten continued as softly as he could, doing his best to avoid an argument, “Following them brings us away from Bulma and the rest. We might never find them again.”

 

“It's a risk I'm willing to take,” he looked at all of then harshly, “If we don't do anything we'll be hunted for the rest of our lives. Chibi Goten and Trunks tried to stop it from happening, but they failed. They and we've been fighting someone who hides somewhere and sends other people to do his dirty work. We can't fight an invisible enemy. If we find out who or what the Voice is, then maybe we still have a chance.”

 

“Yes, but Vegeta think clearly,” Picollo said, “You're sacrificing your life for Bulma and the rest. The last time you did that it was for nothing, you said so yourself.”

 

Vegeta's eyes twitched in anger at Picollo's words, remembering vividly how he had blown himself up to save the planet, but said nothing to defend himself. “This is different,” Goten said, “This time, Vegeta isn't alone. We're with him. And I agree: running and hiding won't solve anything. We're not trying to act like heroes, we just… we just have to act on instinct now and follow Strife's ship. Instinct is telling me to.”

 

“Funny,” Picollo smirked as he crossed his arms, “My instinct is telling me to go the opposite direction.”

 

Chi Chi placed her hands over her hips and yelled, “And don't forget that Goku is with that Voice thing!”

 

Picollo `hmphed' and mumbled, “I guess. If we free Goku we might still win.”

 

And that was how it was settled. With a little guilt, they turned away from the NS 5000 and set course behind Strife's ship. Much to everyone's surprise, Picollo managed to take control of the ship again, and, even though he claimed he had no idea what he was doing. However, the task of following Strife's ship proved to be more difficult then they anticipated. The ship was faster then theirs, and twice they had nearly lost sight of his ship. Only when Picollo managed to work out how the radar worked did they successfully keep their enemy under their watchful gaze.

 

It was a week later when Strife's ship had stopped. Vegeta and Picollo had been asleep; Chi Chi was cleaning part of the ship with a mop she had found. That whole week they had been surviving on frozen aerodactyl and fish, which the Namek's naively thought was sufficient for humans and Saiyans to survive on. It had been warmed warmly by Flute's miniature ki and then given gently to Chi Chi, Goten and Vegeta to consume. Flute and Picollo weren't complaining; water from the taps was sufficient.

 

Goten had been asleep as well, though he was not supposed to. But the young man had grown so tired of watching the radar that he dozed off completely and a bubble now grew larger and smaller from his nose.

 

Then he startled awake when the radar blinked furiously and he looked around, mumbling, “Huh? Wha- I swear I wasn't cheating on you baby! I…” Flute was looking at him curiously and Goten grinned sheepishly whilst rubbing the back of his head in a very Goku-ish way.

 

“What's this?” Picollo said, walking into the room before his eyes widened in shock and started to yell at Goten, “You idiot!” He stumbled towards the controls, “We're right next to…” his voice trailed off, “his ship….”

 

But it was impossible: there was nothing there. Well, that's how it appeared at first glance, before they realised that their ship was surrounded by yellow clouds.

 

“Dust clouds,” Vegeta said as he walked in, “The remainder of a super-massive explosion. Good place to hide… You'd miss it if you weren't paying attention.”

 

It was true. Although there was no doubt that they were in space, the clouds that surrounded them resembled the heavy rain clouds of Earth. They traveled slowly and with extreme caution through the yellow clouds, and Flute couldn't help but make out shapes out of this strange phenomena.

 

“That one looks like a brotra!”

 

“A what?”

 

“A carrot,” Picollo informed him.

 

Goten laughed as he pointed at one that looked a little like Vegeta's hair. Vegeta had either ignored him or he didn't hear. When they looked at him he pointed in the distance. There, where the yellow clouds began to fade, surrounded by cold, bleak, dark space, was the Voice's ship. Attached to it was Strife's ship, deathly, yet amusingly small compared to the Voice's.

 

“That it?” Flute pointed with a trembling finger. Picollo nodded, “Yes. I never forget things like that.”

 

“No kidding,” Goten said dryly as his eyes scanned the surrounding area. His heart was thumping wildly against his chest, and for the first time in the six long days, he felt like turning back. Way back. Within this thing resided something evil, something disgusting and horrible… something strong enough to hunt down the strongest race in the universe… It would be insane to attack something like that with no knowledge, no back-up, no… no Goku…

 

“Smart,” Vegeta said as he looked at the irregular contraption, its surface reflecting the light dully into their eyes, “He has hidden where a planet used to be. No matter which angle you look at it, it's hidden…”

 

“Yeah, and yet we found it. What now all mighty Prince?”

 

Vegeta gave Goten a glacier-cold glare and the young man nearly bit his tongue off, “Err, I meant `sir'…” he smiled weakly.

 

“We get in of course.”

 

They stared at the ship, and even without Vegeta's snappy orders, Picollo steered them towards Strife's ship and hooked theirs against what looked like a landing zone. It had a short see-through tube that, once a ship hooked on, provided sufficient oxygen and temperature for an organism to survive on, and was designed to automatically resize its volume, in order to allow a ship of any size to strap on safely and securely. As Goten stepped out, his head fell back and gaped at the sheer size before him. From their angle, the ship looked even more intimidating then from afar: it seemed like the size of a thousand skyscrapers after they had all gone through a blender. Goten gulped.

 

As the warriors prepared to leave the ship under Flute and Chi Chi's care, the keen and fierce woman jumped out, with her eyes ablaze, her body pumped for battle,

 

“M… mum…” Goten started, “You can't come with us, it's too dangerous!”

 

“I told you, I have the right to get Goku. He is, after all, mine!”

 

Goten sighed. He knew his mother was very serious. They couldn't lock her up in the ship or any of the rooms. Her screeching would probably give Flute the biggest headache on Earth, and besides, she could easily overpower him. They also couldn't take her with: he would never forgive himself if she died.

 

“Are you stupid?” Vegeta snapped, “This is no place for you, get back inside!”

 

“Don't talk to me like that you arrogant, pea-brain! I didn't risk my life to come aboard this ship to clean for you dammit, I'm here to save Goku!”

 

Picollo sighed loudly and couldn't help but show his discomfort and pounding headache. Just one minute of Chi Chi talking gave him what felt like a migraine and he wondered miserably how Goku manages to put up with her without struggling to keep his arms from her fragile neck. But she kept on going on and on, until Picollo finally yelled,

 

“SHUT UP!”

 

It was silent.

 

“I don't care whether or not you come; we first have to find a way inside! If you want to risk you life, fine. But you're going to have to explain that to Goku once he's freed.”

 

For the first time since she had stepped out of the ship, she spoke softly, “At least I'll die trying.”

 

****

 

Vegeta led the group, Goten behind him, the woman behind Goten and then Picollo at the rear. Vegeta stepped cautiously towards the entrance, its appearance like none he had ever seen before. Not only was the green writing on the door in the most alien language he had ever seen, it was constructed in such a way to permanently leave a person confused. Some surfaces had a dull quality to it; others were glistening and shining in the light. Vegeta held his head in his hand as he tried to stay focused: staring at this door and the various reflections on it including his, gave him the most disoriented feeling in the world. He thought he would gag; his head was spinning uncontrollably.

 

“Vegeta,” Goten asked, “Are you O.K?”

 

“No,” Vegeta admitted and finally, the prince was about to collapse before Goten's strong arms held him tightly and upright, “Woah,” Goten groaned under Vegeta's weight, “Get him water!”

 

Neither Picollo nor Chi Chi moved as they stared at one another, uncertain.

 

“You're the closest,” Chi Chi told him and the Namek mumbled something before returning with fresh, ice-cold water.

 

Goten sprayed some on Vegeta's face and he slowly came to.

 

“Here,” Goten said, handing Vegeta the cool water once he could stand and the prince gulped it down.

 

“Sorry. I haven't… slept in a while,” he lied and returned towards the door. His face quickly scanned it until he found a button and pressed it. The door slowly opened and they stepped in.

 

It was pitch-black, save for the light that streamed in from the outside door. The room looked like the remains of a workplace that had been run-down and destroyed. Sparkless wires hung from the broken ceiling and white tiles were cracked and fading. Desks and chairs were overturned and computer screens were black and smashed in. Glass lay scattered on the floor and reflected some of the stars from outside as they walked inside. The only thing missing were bodies.

 

“What happened here?” Chi Chi gasped as she slowly tried to avoid glass while the other men carelessly crushed it under their feet.

 

“Maybe he had a tantrum and killed everyone in here?” Goten looked around, avoiding the wires and strange-looking objects.

 

“The Voice should have no idea we're here…” Vegeta suddenly whispered. Just being in here felt like being watched from all angles.

 

“Why not?”

 

“Because there's a tracking device on the NS 5000.”

 

“WHAT?!” Goten's jaw dropped, “How do you know that?!”

 

Vegeta kept on going, despite the fact that he knew the others were suddenly lagging slower; being more cautious. Every sound caused Chi Chi to pause for a moment, every flicker in the dark. Finally when they reached another, larger set of doors, did Vegeta continue in a low voice, “It's the only way Strife could have found us on Namek. Right now, he thinks we're either dead or in Bulma's ship.”

 

“Yeah, but don't you think Strife would have told him by now that we're alive?” Goten walked closer towards the door, trying to sound as steady as he could, “It doesn't take a week to recover like you said,”

 

Vegeta couldn't help but grin broadly, “Well, since we have no idea how fast they need to regain their energy we will just have to take the risk, won't we?”

 

He stepped towards the door with all the confidence in the world and found a red button by the door and pressed it. It was about to open when a loud siren burst from nowhere.

 

WEEEEEEEEEE! WEEEEEEEEEEEE! WEEEEEEEEEEE!

 

Picollo clenched his ears shut.

 

From the ceilings fell what could only have been laser turrets. In the split of a second the lasers fired and scraped Goten by the knee, causing blood to fly out, and Vegeta fell on his chest, narrowly missing a beam by inches. The only ones that remained unharmed were Chi Chi and Picollo, but the cross-fire was so great it was nearly impossible not to get hit. Chi Chi suddenly cried when a beam cut a deep gash in her left arm, causing her blood to seep and trickle onto the dirty tiles. She fell on her knees and Goten swore fiercely, got up and raced towards his mother. Chi Chi heaved up her head and was caught in a tight embrace by Goten as he shoved her back out, missing a fatal shot to the spinal cord.

 

Meanwhile, Vegeta had tripped on a loose wire the size of a tree root and his face smashed painfully against an overturned table. Searing pain shot through his nose and face and for a while he saw stars as he crept behind the table for cover. He too swore loudly and held his face tightly, trying to numb his pain. He didn't bother wiping the blood from his nose as the very table that was protecting him was slowly getting blasted to bits.

 

“Cherry Bullet!”

 

The ball hit one of the turrets square on. Picollo kept dodging the other beams, and fired another beam to the one closest to him.

 

“It's not working!” he cried and called out for Vegeta to escape. But the prince could hardly move as the beams surrounded him.

 

As though reading Vegeta's thoughts, Goten cried from outside the room, “DON'T GET HII! Whatever you do Vegeta, don't let it touch you. You heard what Tilo said, the machines on Senord were pretty nasty!”

 

“Dammit,” Vegeta got up and decided to run, but a beam scraped his ankle and he cried out, the pain coursing through him like an electric shock and magma hot fire roasting his flesh combined. He nearly tripped if it weren't for Picollo who extended his arm and reeled him in. He quickly let go of the prince and the two of them made a run for it, back into their ship.

 

****

 

Flute stood over Chi Chi and slowly began to heal the woman's wound. The last traces of her wound began to disappear and sizzled shut before her eyes.

 

“Thank you…” she smiled warmly and got to her feet, where she joined the discussion between the three warriors.

 

“Now what? There's no way of getting inside!” Picollo snapped. Vegeta held his head in a large packet of ice, his mouth open and his lids closed softly. His back was away from everybody as he sat on the chair. His ankle didn't hurt anymore, but his pride was shredding him.

 

“There must be a way,” Chi Chi butted in, knowing that they didn't really want to hear her voice, but she didn't care, “A way to... distract those things, or disable them?”

 

Goten sighed. If ki couldn't destroy them, what could? Obviously the substance those things were made out of were even stronger then parachinium, because a Kamehameha had easily taken off Scar's arm which was supposed to be drenched in that stuff. Disabling them was also impossible; if either Goten or Vegeta got close they'd be killed, and even if they did, none of them actually knew anything about machines or computers.

 

“We could get someone to disable it for us…”

 

“Oh yes, now there's an idea,” Vegeta said sarcastically, his back still turned from the group, “We'll just go on a planet and ask them kindly? Meanwhile all the infected robots will kill us before we can even explain our little situation.”

 

“Well then, there's only one solution, isn't there?”

 

“And what might that be?”

 

“We have to get Bulma to do it for us.”

 

There was another sigh and Vegeta pushed himself, still avoiding their eyes, “Do you have the faintest idea how big the universe is?” he didn't wait for her to answer, the question of coarse was rhetorical and he turned away from the control panel, walking wearily to his bedroom, “The chance of finding Bulma is one in a million. We have no idea where they're headed and there's no way of finding out. Even if we do find her, what makes you think she'll be able to figure it out? She's simply…” the next word was spoken softly and with a little grief, “… human.”

 

He turned away from them, his shoulders slumped and their faces staring back at him with disbelief.

 

“Does that mean… we've lost?” Goten looked at Picollo who crossed his arms in response.

 

“No, it means Vegeta is tired of thinking. I'll go again. That thing only attacks Saiyans.”

 

With that said, Picollo walked back into the eerie room, the damage much worse then when they had first stepped in. Cautiously, he pressed the button and waited, his muscles tense and his jaw tight. His stern eyes waited and waited, until the door opened.

 

Success.

 

He stepped in, but then his excitement fell to his feet and into the ground. There was another door, and this time it looked like it could only be opened by a code. He growled and without fear blasted a heavy wave towards the door. The yellow ki hit the door; it was enough to kill anyone, but the door wouldn't open. It was scratched, but the door may have been 20 metres thick. It would take them a life-time to destroy the door. With a heavy sigh, Picollo returned to their ship.

 

Flute was by the control panel, his head resting heavily on his hands as Picollo stepped in. “Any luck?” the young Namek asked.

 

“No.”

 

“Guys,” Goten said, his shirt off his chest and his mother sitting on one of the chairs, slowly dozing to sleep, “we have two options. One, we can wait for Strife and his gang to get into their ship and we find a way to ambush them, and force the code out of them. That would obviously be suicide. The second option is get to Bulma. Since we don't know where they could be, we could wait for either King Kai or Supreme Kai to clue us in, but since neither of them has been able to contact us in a week, I guess it's impossible fir them to communicate... Also, Supreme Kai has been unable to get to us.”

 

“The Supreme Kai won't get to us. He probably thinks the situation must be handled by us. After all, he only offered his help when Buu was the threat: he had a history with Buu. He doesn't want to interfere with this enemy,” Picollo said coldly, his every word spoken with new realisation it even scared him.

 

Goten felt betrayed. How could that be true? Maybe it was true. Supreme Kai, ruler of the universe, could not interfere, unless he was affected. He, after all, did nothing to help the universe before the coming of Buu. It was disrespectful, especially towards a man who had so much authority and power, but that he'd abandon them like that? Goten felt alone… really, really alone… It swelled within him and as he put his shirt back over his head did he continue, “So finding Bulma it is?”

 

“There's always a way. And we will find one.”

 

***

 

That night, she had died. While they had been unconscious, even with Gohan's shirt bandaged tightly around her wound, it wasn't enough to stop the massive blood flow. When they had removed the blood stained shirt, the wound had been deep: right through her shoulder. During the black out, it had gotten infected, and her body had slowly given up on her.

 

She just wouldn't wake up, no matter how many times Gohan tried to shake his wife, she simply wouldn't wake. She was an empty shell, and he kissed her cold lips over and over, as tears streamed down his face, killing him that she didn't respond. He squeezed her icy hands and cried out her name, his voice croaking the longer he cried, until he could virtually scream no more and only whimper muffled words as he dug his face into her chest and neck and face, en effort to restore his beautiful woman. Finally, Pulla wrapped her hands around the grieving Saiyan and with the help of Trunks, took him away from her body.

 

***

TBC (duh…)

 

A.N: Come on people! It can't be that hard to review! Not even; “I like the story.” ?! Huh?! What kind of motivation is there for me?! I feel so… unloved! (Sobs). No seriously though, if you have a heart, just tell me what you think of my story. I won't stop writing, that's for sure, but it helps me to know if I'm entertaining you guys! Next chapter will be posted soon! Luv, MizuSasuke or DARKMizuSasuke

 

(By the way, I do know what I'm doing . I had the idea for this story a long time ago so I'm not writing this as things pop in my head. Well, not all the time. Anyway, until the next episode!!!)

 

IF YOU DO REVIEW PLEASE DON'T LEAVE A SPOILER!