Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Wish For The Past ❯ Fuzzy Side Means Tails ( Chapter 65 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: She who claims to claim that which another claims shall hereby be claimed by legal complaints and forced to disclaim in loud disclaimer what she illegally claimed to claim. (But since I never claimed to own DBZ, and do not claim it now, please don't sue me.)

Weighed down by these thoughts, Bardock followed Goku and Pilaf out of the room in silence, matching his pace to the slow steps his son was taking. He thought again on what the visions might mean, but it was a useless exercise. There was too much that he didn't know, that he couldn't even begin to guess! Were the visions somehow, impossibly, all part of the same future? Or were they two different futures? Two different outcomes weighing in the balance of one decision that had yet to be made? What was the decision? Were there only two possibilities, or was there some way to bypass them both and have the future that he wanted? He didn't want his sons to die... but he also didn't want to leave Goku behind...

Why does life always have to be so difficult?

Sighing heavily, the suddenly weary Saiyan stepped through the rubble of the fallen wall and into the room where they had left the others. And stopped, eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

"Vegeta? What are you doing?"

"We've been walking through this blasted fortress for nearly ten minutes!" Radditz shouted, frustration and unacknowledged anxiety creeping into his voice. Despite the fact that he could now sense both Bardock and Vegeta, the teenager was still worried. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, or that something bad was about to happen. Where was Goku? Of course, his brother wasn't as strong as either Bardock or Vegeta, and since Radditz was still fairly new at sensing ki, he might have simply overlooked his brother... but then again, it might also be that Goku was injured... or dead. "We have that Dragon Radar thing, so we know where they are. Why can't we just punch through the walls until we get to them? It'd certainly save us a lot of time and trouble and I don't feel like spending the rest of my life wandering aimlessly through this maze!!"

Bulma gave him a scornful look. "Do you want to risk bringing this whole place crashing down around our ears? Who knows what kind of machinery runs this place and where it's located! It's certainly not flying on it's own, you imbecile!"

"Bulma's right," Trunks quickly interjected, cutting off the argument before it had a chance to descend into the petty bickering that had plagued their whole trip. Honestly, they're almost as bad as my parents! He frowned. Well, since one of them is one of my parents... He shook the thought away. "Whatever's making this fortress fly, we don't want to risk damaging any of the equipment. Besides, there's no guarantee that the dragonballs are in the same place as the others. It's more likely that whoever stole them put them in a safe place far away from wherever he's keeping Vegeta, Bardock, and Goku."

"Maybe one of us should go get the dragonballs while the rest of us look for grandpa an' Goku an' Vegeta?" Goten tentatively suggested.

"I don't think splitting up is a very good idea, Goten," Bulma argued, one hand on her hip as she glanced down at the eight year old boy with a sympathetic look. It had to be hard on the poor kid to have both his father and his grandfather kidnapped right out from under their noses. "I mean, what would one person be able to do against someone who was able to kidnap three Saiyans all at once? It's probably going to be hard enough with the four of us all together! We don't need to weaken our strength by dividing into two groups!"

"You're forgetting one thing, Bulma," Trunks said. When the others turned to look at him, he smirked a little. "Goten and I are both Super Saiyans, remember? Either one of us is stronger than Goku, Bardock, and Vegeta combined. Maybe the kidnappers could take on three regular Saiyans, but they wouldn't stand a chance against us! Besides, they probably just caught the others off guard."

Radditz opened his mouth to protest that the Prince of all Saiyans would never be so foolish as to lower his guard, but then he closed it again when he reminded himself that Vegeta was only ten years old. Prince or not, he was still a child. And as for his father... well, nobody was perfect, and it seemed to the teenager that his father had become awfully relaxed ever since he'd come to this planet. In fact, it was hard to tell that the man had once been a fierce warrior in command of one of Frieza's planet clearing squads. It certainly came as no surprise to Radditz that his father had managed to get himself and two others captured.

Not that you aren't much better, a little voice in the back of his head mocked. Radditz winced slightly in response. He had to admit, at least to himself, that he'd been just as bad as the others about throwing caution to the wind. As harmless as the inhabitants of this planet seemed, he should have known better than to assume that there was no danger. It was only one of the most basic lessons ever taught! Never underestimate your opponent.

"Never underestimate your opponent," he murmured softly, echoing the thought out loud. And then he realized. Realized that that was exactly what they had been doing. "Goten's right," he spoke sharply, pulling everyone's attention away from Trunks. Seeing their looks of confusion, he elaborated. "We need to split up into two groups."

"But-"

An abrupt gesture from the young fighter cut Bulma off before she could voice her objection. "No buts." Radditz's eyes flashed with determination and authority. He might not have as much experience as his father, but he had been trained as a warrior to know what to do in a situation like this. "We don't know what we're up against here, so once we find the others, we don't know how quickly we'll need to make our escape. Nor can we assume we'll be able to fight our way out, no matter how strong any of us are." He gave a pointed look at the two demi-Saiyans before continuing. "Anything that can take out three Saiyans is not to be taken lightly. Splitting into two groups would save time, and that in turn could very well save our lives."

Annoyed at having been cut off, Bulma angrily tossed her hair over her shoulder and glared at Radditz. "If we're up against something that strong then we shouldn't split up in the first place! Dividing our strength would make it that much easier to capture us!"

"Wrong," Radditz growled, using his height to his advantage so he could glower down at the blue haired girl. "Splitting up will give us a better chance of getting out of this place in one piece. If we're in one group and we get caught, then there's no one else to come to our rescue. Having two groups means that even if one of them is captured, someone will still be out there to come to your aid. And like Trunks said, we have two Super Saiyans on our side. If Goten is in one group and Trunks in the other, that should be more than enough to handle any fights that either group might get into."

Bulma hesitated for a moment. It just didn't seem like a good idea to her, but she really couldn't argue with the older boy's logic. Grudgingly admitting defeat, she threw her hands up in the air. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with and get out of here! The sooner we leave this place, the better."

"Who's gonna go in what group?" Goten asked, fidgeting nervously. He wanted to be in the group that would rescue the others. He had a unpleasant feeling in the pit of his stomach that something was wrong. Something bad was going to happen if he wasn't there to prevent it. Please don't let us get there too late, he silently prayed to Kami.

After a moment's thought, his nine year old friend pointed at Bulma, Radditz, and Goten. "You three go look for the others. We don't know what condition they'll be in when you get there, so in case they're all wounded or unconscious or something, there'll be enough people to carry them out of the castle. I'll go look for the dragonballs on my own."

"What?!" Bulma screeched. "You can't go off on your own! You're just a little boy! It's too dangerous!"

Radditz snorted, muttering something under his breath about her being only two years older than Trunks. Bulma shot him a venomous glare. Trunks merely rolled his eyes.

"Look, I'm probably the strongest person on the planet right now, certainly strong enough that I can take care of myself! You guys will have Goten with you, and he's almost as strong as me, so you'll be fine."

"And what if you get captured?! What if you're not the strongest? What if there's some... some alien or something that's even stronger?! What if the people in this place have technology that could drain your energy?!"

"Have you even bothered to look around you, Bulma?!" an annoyed Trunks shot back, gesturing to indicate the room they were currently in - a bedroom, by the looks of it. "If the people who run this place had stuff that advanced, don't you think there'd be some indication of that in their fortress? This place is hardly what I'd call state of the art, even for the current times! I mean, look!" Latching onto one of the gadgets sitting inconspicuously on a shelf, the purple haired Saiyan held it up for everyone to see. "They're even using old hair curlers of all things!" He paused, frowning. I don't think I even want to know why someone in this flying rat trap has a bag of ancient hair curlers.

Radditz frowned as well. What are hair curlers?

"But what if you're wrong, Trunks?!" the young scientist continued to argue passionately, sparing only a brief contemptuous look at the old fashioned beauty supplies lining the shelf where Trunks had gotten the curlers. Anyone who would use those things on their face and hair was either insane or hadn't been to a beauty shop in at least a decade. "Besides, hair curlers are hardly a good indication of the level of technology these people are using!"

A scowl of irritation was beginning to form on Trunks's face. The way Bulma was protesting, it was almost as if she somehow knew on some level that he was her future son, not just another kid who happened to be a little younger than her. She was certainly fighting this as strongly as his mother would! Well, maybe not that strongly, he silently amended, reminding himself that his mother probably wouldn't have even allowed him to argue at all in the first place.

"It was just an example!" he shouted in exasperation, not particularly caring at the moment who heard him. It's not like they'd been making an effort to conceal their presence here. "Everything in this flying bucket of bolts is ancient! The lights, the fans, the computers, the-"

"Okay, I get the point! But that doesn't mean that they don't have anything more advanced! They could have stolen something for all you know!"

"There isn't-"

"Could we stop arguing about this and actually do something before the people we're trying to rescue die of old age?!" Radditz broke into their heated debate, lashing his tail once in a sharp gesture to emphasize his ire. Seeing that he had their attention, the wild maned teen calmly coiled his tail back around his waist, purposefully underscoring his view of the situation. Of course, the implications of the "battle ready" position of his tail were lost upon his companions, since none of them had been raised on Vegeta-sei. "We're on a mission, not a picnic! If you can't make a quick decision on your own, grab stones or something!"

"Grab stones?" all three echoed in unison, exchanging confused looks.

A long suffering sigh escaped the Saiyan teen's lips. "Yes. You know... each person grab a stone with your eyes closed and whoever has the biggest stone gets to choose." I thought everyone knew about grabbing stones!

Goten's face lit up with comprehension. "Sorta like Rock, Paper, Scissors!"

Now it was Radditz's turn to be confused. "Rock, paper, what?"

"Never mind," Trunks cut in, shaking his head. "We don't have time for an explanation. And we don't have stones, either, so we can't do that."

"We could always flip a coin," Goten suggested, digging his hands through his pockets in search of just such an object. Trunks and Bulma did likewise, while Radditz watched, brow wrinkled in puzzlement. What's a "coin" and why would someone want to flip it? Even after shopping with Bulma, he had no notion of Earth currency - Bulma had paid for all of their purchases with credit cards.

A few moments passed before anyone spoke.

"I don't have any coins on me," Trunks grumbled.

"I only have credit cards," Bulma said, shrugged. "I don't normally carry regular money. Cash is only good for small purchases, because it's too bulky for anything really expensive. Credit cards don't weigh as much and take up less room."

"All I've got is some moldy candy," lamented Goten, holding out the small, disc-like object in his hand. One side was completely fuzzed over with green mold.

"Eeww, Goten, that's gross!" A strange look crossed Trunks's face as he peered at first the candy, then his friend. "Goten? Why exactly do you have that in your pocket?" He cautiously prodded the thing in Goten's hand, almost as though afraid it was alive. Well, considering that it had come from Goten's pocket, that wasn't all that unlikely. "That's gotta be at least a few weeks old!" Frowning suspiciously, he caught the younger boy's eye. "Have you been carrying it around in your pocket all this time?"

"Errr..." Goten looked sheepish. "Maybe...." The truth of the matter was that he'd had that piece of candy since before he came to the past. He had been intending to eat it at some point, but then had gotten so caught up in other things that he'd completely forgotten that it was there, beyond making sure to transfer it from pocket to pocket each time he changed clothes. Now there was no way he'd ever put that thing in his mouth! There were just some things that not even he was willing to eat. It was too bad, though. Goten hated letting good candy go to waste. "It sorta looks like a coin... Maybe we could flip it?" he suggested tentatively, hoping that maybe some good would come out of the moldy sweet.

Trunks wrinkled his nose, then shrugged. "I guess that'd work. Clean side is heads, fuzzy side means tails. You wanna call it?" He directed the question at his eleven year old mother.

"Only if someone else flips it!" Bulma was clearly disgusted by the state of the candy, edging away from Goten's hand to put extra distance between herself and the offensive object.

"I'll do it!" Goten shouted enthusiastically. Radditz, bewildered as to what was going on, watched as the boy deftly flipped the candy into the air.

"Tails!" The blue haired girl held her breath and tracked the path of the "coin" through the air. It hit the floor with a faint tmp, bounced a couple times, then finally settled firmly onto one side.

Fuzzy side down.

"I win!" crowed Trunks, looking positively smug. Hey, it wasn't every day that you got the better of Bulma Briefs! Especially when you're her son!

Glowering darkly, Bulma crossed her arms over her chest. "Okay, fine! You win! But you better be careful, Trunks, or I swear I'll-" Though she couldn't find a threat that suited her, the scowl on her face more than adequately completed the sentence.

"Relax, m-err, Bulma." The younger boy gestured placatingly, hoping that no one had caught his slip. He was so used to trying to get his mother to calm down that the protest was almost habitual... including the word "mom." Thankfully, though, it didn't appear that anyone had noticed. "If anything happens to me, Goten and Radditz both know how to sense ki. If I'm in trouble, I can just raise it really high, and they'll know I need help. Same goes for you guys." Pulling out his Dragon Radar, Trunks tapped the button lightly to turn it on. Satisfied that it was working properly, he looked back up at the others. "We'll meet outside this place when we're done. That way we don't have to try to find each other in this maze again."

The other three nodded in agreement - a sulky nod in Bulma's case - then split up, Trunks following the direction arrows on the radar, Goten leading the others to where he could sense his grandfather, Goku, and Vegeta.

Vegeta had been about to fry the annoying woman and dog-like creature for their crime of trying (note the emphasis on the word 'trying') to kill him, the Prince of all Saiyans. However, just before he let the ki blast loose, Bardock and Goku had walked into the room, the younger Saiyan supporting a rather battered looking Pilaf. The oddity of this situation was enough to distract Vegeta from what he was doing.

"I was going to kill them," he answered Bardock's question with a shrug, the ball of energy in his hand forgotten. Frowning, he watched as Kakarot helped Pilaf walk over to his two cronies, who were watching the whole scene with slightly dumbfounded expressions on their faces. What does he think he's doing?

At Vegeta's statement Goku whipped his head around to stare at the other boy with shocked disbelief. "What?! B-but Vegeta! You can't!"

"Why not?" Vegeta demanded, jutting his chin out in a defiant manner. What could he possibly want to keep those three idiots alive for?

Setting Pilaf on the ground in front of the bewildered Mai and Shao, Goku turned around to face Vegeta, gesturing wildly. "You can't kill them! They didn't actually do anything to us! Well, besides kidnapping us, anyway," he added almost as an afterthought.

"They did too do something!" the young prince protested. He lifted his free hand and jabbed sharply in Mai's direction, glaring furiously. "That woman tried to kill me!" A hand on Vegeta's shoulder cut off anything else he might have added. Startled, he twisted around to look up at Bardock.

"Let's just go, Vegeta," Bardock said softly, face expressionless.

Vegeta couldn't believe what he just heard. "And let them live?!" he shouted incredulously. "Didn't you hear what I said?! The woman tried to kill me! And the other two certainly wanted to do the same! I can't just let them go unpunished!!" In a burst of anger, Vegeta hurled the ball of energy in his hand at the floor with a snarl. "They deserve to die!"

"Vegeta-!"

BOOM!

The whole fortress shuddered with the force of the explosion, causing everyone to stumble where they stood. Bardock's attention shifted from the angry prince to the gaping hole in the floor where his ki blast had hit, and a look of horrified realization swept across his face.

"SHIT!"