Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Nossoreg's Revenge ❯ Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

The other fighters talked quietly among themselves, trying to think of a way to defeat their newest opponent. Nossoreg leaned his head back and closed his eyes, completely confident that he was safe behind his energy shield. Vegeta watched Chi Chi and Videl help Bulma sit back down on the ground, but the hard, cold surface wasn't much of an improvement in comfort for her.

"I say we go ahead and attack!" Yamcha whispered. "After he's out of the way, we can thing of some way around that shield."

"No!" Vegeta said. "Look at his finger on the controller. He's been holding it over the same button since he sat down. It might be a detonating button of some sort. We can't take that risk!"

"Trunks, do you think you can come up with a way to shut the shield off?" Goten asked.

"Sure," he sighed. "If I had enough time. But I'd have to get hold of the remote control's main computer. Wherever that is."

"My guess would be somewhere deeper in the mountain," Gohan said.

Suddenly, Goku reappeared, dragon radar in hand.

"So how are your friends back at the party?" Nossoreg asked without opening his eyes.

Goku shot him a surprised look. "How did you know?"

Nossoreg smiled. "I will always know where you are."

"You went back to the party?" Gohan asked his father. Videl stood at the edge of their shield, her face mirroring his next question. "Is Pan all right?" How about the rest of the people?"

"Pan's fine," he reassured them. "Everyone is. Most of the guests went home already. Master Roshi decided to stay at Hercule's with Pan and Marron. They are making 18 as comfortable as possible," he added quietly to Krillen.

Krillen's courage wavered for a few seconds, but he quickly recovered and squared his shoulders. He had stood by Goku through many years of battles, and he wasn't about to let his friend down when he needed him most. He would just have to wait and hoppe that his own wife would be safe while he did what he could to help the others.

"Now that we know everyone else is settled, shall we get back to the matter at hand?" Nossoreg asked and rose from his chair. "Bring the radar over here and put it in the tray."

He pressed a button on his controller and a small drawer slid out of the wall near the shield. Reluctantly, Goku placed Bulma's dragon radar into it. With a smooth whisper, the tray disappeared back into the wall and another opened by Nossoreg's side. He reached in and removed the dragon radar, looking it over appreciatively.

"Very nice work," he nodded. "I'm quite impressed by the level of technology you were able to manage that long ago. Of course, I would have added a few modifications."

Nossoreg pressed another button and a large panel swung open, revealing a computer terminal and two glass containers. He placed the dragon radar into the first container and began clicking away at the computer's keyboard. A light scanned across the container.

Bulma strained to see what he was doing to her invention. On the computer screen, she could see the technical readout of the radar. Nossoreg continued to work at the keyboard and the readout changed.

"Incredible!" Bulma said. "He's figured out a way to change the radar to lock in on just one specific dragonball. But why? You need all seven to make a wish."

"So why lock the radar onto just one ball?" Krillen wondered.

A low humming sound drew their attention back to Nossoreg's work. In the second glass container, a bright laser flashed back and forth. With each pass, a layer of a new dragon radar formed.

"He's cloning it!" Trunks said, clearly impressed.

Within a minute, Nossoreg was able to remove the new radar from its container. He held it up and pressed the button to test it. The click was familiar to all of them, but there was a new sound as well.

"I have improved the old device so the readout not only shows the direction of the ball, but also the exact distance. You will find that the readout is easy to understand." He tossed the new radar through the shield to Goku.

Goku easily caught it and pressed the button. He was surprised by the detailed picture it gave and showed it to the others. The ball was clearly marked on a topographical map. It also showed the direction and distance from where they stood.

"Impressive," Vegeta said without emotion. "But what about your end of the bargain. Kakarot did what you asked."

"Ahh, yes!" Nossoreg said. "You are absolutely right, Vegeta. Please pardon my technical enthusiasm. Choose something as their reward, Goku. Any one thing from that room may pass through the shield to them. Now, if you will excuse me, I will return to fabricating the rest of the radars." He turned back to the keyboard and proceeded to clone more dragon radars.

"Kakarot, choose the bed," Vegeta ordered. "It will give them something to either sit or lay on."

"Good idea, Vegeta," Goku said and went over to the small bed. He aimed it at the women's cell and gently slid it over to them. The bed easily passed through the energy fields and bumped against the back of their tiny room. Chi Chi and Videl slid it into place and urged Bulma to lay down.

"I am not going to take up the entire bed and force you two to stand," she argued. "We can all just sit on it for now."

Nossoreg pulled the seventh dragon radar from the container and tossed it to the warriors. Now, each one of them had a radar that was locked onto a different dragonball.

"Nossoreg, if we gather the dragonballs, will you let them go?" Gohan asked.

"No," Nossoreg answered. "But if you don't, things could get very uncomfortable for them. I'm sure they could last a little while without food or water, but I don't think you would want that to happen, would you?"

"Hey, Nossoreg!" Bulma called. "I don't want to seem unladylike, but you forgot to put a bathroom in this little hotel of yours."

"I was wondering when that would come up," he answered with a smile. "There is a private bathroom, but I'm going to need Goku's help to get it ready."

"My help?" Goku asked.

"Yes. Now if you would just place your hand on this panel," he said, pressing yet another button on his controller, "you will see what I mean."

A square panel flipped over on the wall with a dimly lit surface. Goku walked over to it and paused.

"Go ahead," Nossoreg urged. "Just press your palm on it and see what happens."

Goku placed his hand on the panel and, immediately, the light beneath it brightened. An electrical hum vibrated through the air. In the woman's cell, another, smaller panel flipped over, revealing a single button.

"That's enough. You can stop now," Nossoreg told Goku.

"What happened?" Goten asked.

"I just borrowed a bit of your father's energy to boot a few systems," he answered. "Now if one of you ladies would be so kind as to press the button, you will find it opens the door."

Chi Chi was nearest, so she reached over and pressed it. A hidden door slid open and a light turned on. Bulma sighed and heaved herself off the bed to check it out.

"It's not the Ritz, but it will do," she announced before closing the door behind her.

"How much energy did it take?" Gohan whispered to Goku.

"Not that much," he whispered back, "but it felt like it could handle a lot more."

"You see, I can be a kind-hearted man," Nossoreg told them. "You didn't even have to complete a task for that one."

"But it wasn't exactly free either," Vegeta noted.

"Now that you know your loved ones are relatively safe and as comfortable as possible at this time, I will ask that we get back to business once more. Your task is to find all seven dragonballs and bring them to me. Each of you has a different ball to find and each ball will earn them a reward.

"Oh, and one other thing," he added and walked back to press a few keys at the computer terminal. "The temperature in their cell will decrease steadily until all seven balls are in my possession. I believe that is incentive enough to do the job as quickly as possible, don't you? Good luck, gentlemen."

Nossoreg used his remote control to open another hidden door behind him and disappeared through it. For a few seconds, they all stared at one another as they processed Nossoreg's ultimatum.

"Don't just stand around like a bunch of idiots!" Vegeta shouted, breaking their trance. "Let's get this job done!"

With hurried goodbyes to the captives, they flew off in seven different directions to find the dragonballs before the women froze to death in the falling temperature of their cell.