Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Unexplainables Explained ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

The ship docked on the bustling port slowly, and smaller beings scuttled out of its way, tossing back words that could be assumed vile. Ayamari glanced to the side, where her passenger sat straight-backed and stiff-lipped, not having spoken since they left the ship. Really, she didn’t know what to say….

“Are you alright?”

Bulma jumped and turned toward the other woman, smiling with a tone that looked almost sincere. “Yes. I just…once we free my friends I’ll be busy…. You can go on without me if you wish….”

“Oh. no! I’ll stay here. I don’t mind seeing the tournament anyways. Winner gets their freedom and loser gets death. It can be—” She paused and then turned her head around. “I’m sorry…that was quite rude of me.”

“No…it’s alright. He wants to do this…I just hope I can change his mind.”

Ayamari turned back to her, watching as Bulma unfastened her safety belt and stood. “I have a few tricks up my sleeve.” As Ayamari too stood and they moved to the exit, Bulma turned her head. “Ve—Naku is different than he used to be. I have something to make him remember who he used to be.”

“But—”

At the silence, Bulma stopped and turned fully. “But what?”

Ayamari shied from looking into those constantly liquid eyes. They reminded her too much of her own loss. “You can’t really change into something and go into the past.”

Bulma took a few minutes to digest that. “What?”

“I mean…he can never go back to what he used to be. He can only move forward. He’s changed himself…so that means that he’s new. You can’t go back to the old. You can only move forward. If—if he wishes to change, he must come to terms with what he is…and add it to what he wants to be.”

Bulma was suddenly close to the woman. “You have a thing…it looks like a pyramid. It’s green. Do you still have it?”

Ayamari leaned back from the proximity and then widened her eyes. “How did you—?”

“That’s in the past. We can’t go back there. But you’re right. We can change it—implement to the old. May I please borrow it? You can save a man’s life with it.”

Ayamari blinked before reaching into her pants’ pocket and pulling out the object, handing it to Bulma. “You know what this does don’t you?” Her voice was awed.

Bulma nodded and pressed the button to exit the ship, moving so quickly down it and into the crowd that she was soon lost to sight. Still shaking from the strange encounter, Ayamari shut the door.

She was going to go lay down. She felt a headache coming on…. '   '   ' “You want to what?” Bulma rolled her eyes. “I said I want to free the prisoners from Earth. There should be five males and one female. All fighters and all signed up for the tournament. But—” She reached down the front of her shirt and groped herself much to the purple man’s astonishment before letting the money stored in her bra peek out, then she slipped it back in and patted her chest. “—maybe I’m speaking to the wrong person.” As she turned away, she heard the chair the man sat on frantically screech across the floor as he called out to her. “No! You’re speaking to the right person!” She turned slowly and raised a brow, amused by the fact that he looked to be practically ready to jump over the desk separating them. “Oh?” He nodded vigorously. “Oh yes—” Before he could finish she was walking toward him and then behind him, toward the entrances to where the cells were—and all the warriors for the tournament. “Good. Then I’ll just pick up my friends—” She deftly dodged the hand that grabbed for her and walked briskly down the corridor, hearing the man follow after her. “Wait a minute—” “Goku! Piccolo! Gohan! It’s Bulma! Answer me!” She shrieked as a green hand snapped out of the grill across the door and practically plastered her to the bars. She blinked at black eyes that looked her up and down before they flickered to the nervous guard behind her. “If this is a rescue attempt then maybe you should’ve knocked out the guard.” She swatted at the hand with a scowl until it released her and snaked back into the cell. Damn elastic limbs…. “No, this isn’t a rescue mission as in ‘I sneak in and help you all escape’ mission. This is a ‘use a huge amount of money to buy my friends out of jail’ mission.” “Yeah, Piccolo, this isn’t Monopoly. They don’t have Get Out of Jail Free cards.” Bulma heard the distinct sound of a sigh of disgust from Piccolo’s cell and grinned. “Goku! Is everyone here?” Two hands wrapped around the bars of a grilled door two doors down and she could see spiky hair trying to force itself through the bars. “Bulma! Yeah! Everyone’s here. Except for Oolong and Master Roshi….” “That’s okay. Piccolo has the balls to take care of that.” She smirked as she heard Piccolo choke on air and turned to the guard. “Release them.” “You said you’d pay—” “Oh fine! How much?” “Um…well…a-a million each!” She smirked and pulled out the wad, giving the man a nice show again before shoving the money into his clasping hands. “There. Keep the change. Now let them out.” He stared at the money with shining eyes, doing a quick count of what he held and widening them considerably. Bulma nudged him none-too-gently and he jumped, getting his keys with fumbling hands and unlocking the cell doors one by one. Piccolo glared at Bulma, who looked too happy to be affected, as he stepped calmly out of the cell. He looked fine physically…but he could regenerate and make new clothes. Then again, all of them looked well as they gathered around her, hugging and exclaiming over her appearance and how they glad they all were to be together and okay. A cleared throat interrupted their get-together and the man nervously fidgeted. “You’d better leave. Before my boss gets here.” They all agreed with the sentiment alluded to and moved as one toward the exit before a cleared throat again interrupted them. “Um…” he fidgeted again. “…can you hit me?” Goku blinked at the man. “What?” “Hit me!” “I can’t—” A hand suddenly shot out, literally, snaking around all of them and punching the man solidly in the face. He crumpled to the ground with a shocked look on his face. As one they turned to Piccolo, who merely rolled his eyes and turned around, exiting the place. Leaving the others to follow along after, Bulma hurried after Piccolo, grabbing onto the tail of his cape as he turned a corner and almost knocking him backwards. He turned and swiped the cape from her grasp, practically growling. Of course, she ignored him. “I need you to do that meditation thing again?” He blinked at her. “What mediation thing?” She pointed toward the docks and headed in that direction. “The one with the thread room. I need to talk to Vegeta.” He raised an eyeridge, looking at her as if she were crazy. “Who’s Vegeta?” She almost stopped walking. Of course…they’d forgotten too. “I—you’ve all forgotten him. He wished for us all to forget him. That’s how Joso managed to surprise us. It’s why we all have a gap in our memories, things we can’t explain that seem missing.” Piccolo seemed to mull this over, tossing the idea around before nodding. “I’d wondered why we didn’t get any advanced warning. They didn’t find The Lookout—but the planet’s been sold.” Bulma nodded. “Can anyone still there get to the dragonballs?” “According to Kami,” his mouth twisted, “they already have.” She motioned toward the ship to indicate their direction again. “Then all I need is to talk to Vegeta. I—have to try one more time…. You—did something. You said you put us both in a meditative state. We ended up somewhere.” She looked up at him and saw narrowed eyes looking back at him. “I know the technique you speak of…. But he needs to be in a—” “I know.” She reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a small green pyramid. “I’ve adjusted this. It was supposed to be used to kill him. Instead it’ll force him there.” “Force him?” She glared up at the slightly suspicious tone. “You forced him last time!” He turned his face away and acted as if he hadn’t accused her of anything. “When are you going to do it?” “I’ll sneak back into where the cells are an hour before the tournament starts. Then I’ll shoot him while he’s inside the cage.” “What about the guard?” Bulma turned her eyes slowly toward Piccolo and smirked. “Why I’ll knock him out.” Piccolo chuckled and waited till Bulma had walked up the ramp and opened the door before he too followed, by then everyone else had caught up. “Come on in. I’ll explain everything over a snack.” To which Goku replied, “Food!” “You want to what?” Vegeta glared at the man until his finally shifted to look elsewhere. “I want to enter the tournament.” “But you have to be a prisoner—” “So then imprison me.” There was a brief silence before the man heaved upwards with a sigh and moved toward the corridor. “Fine then. Follow me.” Vegeta followed the man without a word and was led down a corridor that was—appropriately—dimly lit. When the man stopped before a door and opened it with his key, Vegeta said nothing, merely striding past him and keeping his back to the door as it was closed, the lock clicking shut. He turned then and looked at his surroundings, moving toward a bench and seating himself on it. And he waited…. '   '   ' “Are you quite sure you want to do this?” Bulma turned from the door where Piccolo waited and nodded at Ayamari. “Yeah. I need to.” “I know but—” “I’ve done this before. I know…what will happen. I just have to try. I—hope.” Ayamari nodded slowly. “I understand. See you at the tournament.” Bulma nodded as she walked out the door beside Piccolo. “See ya!” As she walked silently beside Piccolo, she was grateful for his silence. But—she had to say something. “I’m going to give him back himself, before he dies.” “You know it won’t work.” She nodded. “Yes…but—I have to get rid of what’s killing him. I have to heal him.” “Then that thing will heal him?” She continued ahead, not looking around her as they walked. She wasn’t looking at Piccolo especially. “Yes…but I’m not going to tell him. He wants to die.” “Why?” “Cause he’s given up. “I once told him that if anything happened he would break. He didn’t believe me. But—when I realized it was him…when I talked to him…he was—broken.” “Maybe he is not much broken as blinded.” “That’s why I’m going to heal him. When I hit him with this—it’ll cure him as well as put him in the meditative state…. But…” She shook her head suddenly, seeing the desk with the guard behind it in front of them. “Different guard.” Piccolo nodded and shifted slightly, his cloak hiding one arm. Bulma watched as it snaked downward and then slithered through the crowd, creeping up the chair’s back leg and headrest as the hands reached over and deftly pinched the man’s neck. He slumped over, his head hitting the desk hard. He made not a sound. Nobody noticed the downed guard, and Piccolo easily shrunk his arm back to normal side. “It’s clear.” Bulma nodded and moved past the guard and into the corridor, Piccolo following behind. She stopped just inside the corridor and moved unerringly to a cell as Piccolo watched. “Vegeta?” There a shuffle inside the cell and two eyes glittered at her. “What the hell are you doing here?” “Sorry….” Then she pointed the pyramid at him. As the green beam of light hit Vegeta, she felt Piccolo stand behind her and a sudden pressure on the back of her head. The threads…he’d somehow missed the threads. So many of them—broken. It was depressing…as he’d said the first time he saw it. “That thing should’ve killed me.” “I reprogrammed it.” He turned around to see the woman standing there, hands lying limply at her sides. She seemed different somehow…. “What do you want?” “For you not to die.” “That’s not possible….” “What if it was?” With two strides she was in front of him, some of that fire that had been missing returning. “If it were possible to cure you, would you—” “No woman.” She nodded slowly and turned her eyes away and his brows furrowed. He grasped her chin and tilted her head back. “Why do you—love me?” She blinked in his hold but did not try to break free. “Why don’t I hate you, you mean?” He released her and scowled. “That wasn’t what I asked.” “It was what you meant.” Silence stretched between them and she looked around, her eyes seeing what he couldn’t. “So many threads…so little of them find each other…. I wonder what this place really represents?” “Questions with no answers.” She turned back to him and shook her head. “For you maybe—but I see the ones that aren’t broken too….” “They found their answers.” “I think they found more than answers.” She sighed and turned around, looking all around her. “I keep telling you…if you wanted a place to belong, you had one.” “I don’t now—” “Yes you do.” He blinked and tilted his head. “I caused the selling of your planet, the loss of your friends, and you— You can’t stand there and tell me I’d be welcome.” “For—Vegeta, everyone makes mistakes. Yes, you made some really huge, gigantic, stupid, thoughtless—” He growled. “Woman….” “—mistakes. But no one is going to shun you. You’re…you were underneath that—thing for twenty years. That doesn’t just go away. And you were stuck on an unfamiliar planet with unfamiliar people and you couldn’t even act as you used to. No blowing up planets, no killing people…but you still felt like you had to watch what you said, watch what you did…everyone has an agenda.” She turned suddenly and leaned in toward him. He blinked as she placed her hands on his chest. “You’re right. I had an agenda. Ever since I saw you on Earth I was attracted to you. You didn’t speak much. You yelled a lot, but you kept to yourself. You were a puzzle and an enigma and it was easy to figure out some of your reactions, but then you’d surprise me.” He started to retract from her, his mouth opening and his eyebrows furrowing, but she leaned forward and caught his lips with her own. He stilled and then moaned, leaning forward and catching her in his arms before breaking from the kiss with a gasp. “Are you attracted to me too?” The whispered words made him growl and he tightened his hold on her. “Would you be amused if I said yes?” “I’d be pleased….” He looked down at her before leaning back in again, this time flicking out his tongue. It was her that made a sound this time, crushing them together so forcefully he almost fell over backwards. He growled and— '   '   ' Bulma blinked and let out a very loud and profane curse. “You’re welcome.” She craned her head up to look at Piccolo and realized she was lying on her back. She sat up slowly and glared at the door. “I wasn’t cursing at you.” “He did something stupid?” “Shut up, Namek.” “No and yes….” “Two prolific answers from the gods of wisdom themselves. Come on. The tournament is about to begin.” He turned and began to walk away. “I was there for an hour?” When Piccolo didn’t answer but continued on his way, Bulma rolled her eyes and stood up. “You’re going to be there?” Bulma didn’t turn to view those black eyes again. “Yes…. I told you I would be.” “Don’t.” She tilted her head to the side and began to walk away. “Why do you care, Vegeta?” The question had no malice in it. It was simply curious. Vegeta was not given the time to answer as she turned the corner and was gone from sight. NEXT