Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Wish For The Past ❯ The Hunt Begins ( Chapter 37 )

Bardock: *groans and covers his ears* That has got to be one of the worst attempts at a pun I have ever heard!

Brenda: *grins* And so it sounds exactly like Kaio-sama, ne?

Bardock: Hai. Unfortunately.

High above the ground a large fortress floated, armed to the teeth with gun turrets, cannons, and bomb bays. A small helicopter zipped in towards this formidable monstrosity, unconcerned by the apparent danger it was in. In reality, there was no danger to the air craft or its two occupants, for the owner of the flying fortress knew them and welcomed them with open arms. The helicopter swerved and dipped until it was level with an opening in the side of the fortress then darted inside to make a gentle landing on the floor of the launch pad. The two blades on top of the vehicle continued to whir in ever slower circles even after the power was cut, creating a strong wind that threatened to knock over the short, blue man that was running impatiently towards the launch pad.

Before the little goblin could reach the launch pad, though, two people exited the helicopter and made their way towards the creature that was approaching them. Pleased that he would not have to brave the winds that the chopper was making, the blue man, who looked more like a boy, stopped and waited for the two to reach him. When they were within fifteen paces, the woman with black hair and the brown, fluffy furred dog-man simultaneously dropped to one knee and bowed their heads respectfully.

"Well? Did you get it?" the gremlin demanded rudely in a annoyingly high and nasal voice.

The woman gave the creature a triumphant smile and reached into her gray trench coat with one hand. "Yes, sire, we did," she intoned proudly, pulling out a small orange ball about the size of a baseball. Within the ball there hung two little red stars that glinted slightly with reflected light. The blue goblin gave a delighted cry, running forward to snatch the treasured thing out of the woman's hands.

"Yes! YES!! Nyahahaha!!! The first step towards the reign of Emperor Pilaf, soon to be the ruler of the entire world!" The creature known as Emperor Pilaf cackled with glee, dancing around like a sugar-crazed child for a full ten seconds before he turned angrily on the dog man. "And what about you?" he snapped. "Did you get the Thing?"

Proud to have finally some something to please his master, the dog-man grinned and nodded happily. "Yes, sire, I did," he said in a mellow, almost stupid sounding voice. He opened one paw and held out the Hoi Poi capsule for inspection, which Pilaf greedily plucked up as soon as he saw it. "Agent Mai and I even tested it to make sure it works properly. It was a huge success."

"Excellent work, Shao," Pilaf praised, smirking evilly. "With this thing, no one will be able to stop me from getting what's rightfully mine, not even that stupid monkey-boy and his friends. I shall be ruler of the entire world!" Stroking the capsule as lovingly as though it were a beloved pet, the self-proclaimed emperor threw his head back and began laughing maniacally, ensuring that anyone who heard him would be convinced that his sanity had long since leaked out from between his pointed blue ears.

"Now go back out there and get me another dragonball!" he ordered imperiously once he finished his bout of evil laughter. "I've waited far too long to become emperor and I refuse to wait any longer than necessary."

"But, sire, we haven't even eaten yet!" Agent Shao protested.

"Do you want me to use my new toy on you, Agent Shao?" Pilaf asked threateningly, giving the dog-man his best glare. Both Shao and Mai gulped audibly and shook their heads. "Then do as I say and get me those dragonballs!" Both lackeys jumped up and bowed their compliance, anxious to escape the mad emperor's ire, and ran back to the helicopter before he tried to punish them for anything.

Once breakfast was over, everyone gathered in the main room of the Turtle House to lay out plans for the dragonball hunt. Much to his annoyance and Bulma's delight, Radditz once again had to put up with the blue haired girl wrapping cloth bandages around his wounds, though this time there was no need to clean the cuts and scrapes, courtesy of the fact that he had just finished taking a shower. He had been hoping to avoid the eleven year old's ministrations and had even protested that since they were clean and none of them were that serious, he didn't need to have them bandaged. Unfortunately, Bardock had once again stepped in and insisted that his son allow Bulma to dress the wounds to keep them clean and prevent them from getting any sort of infection.

Damn father for showing his paternal instincts now of all times, Radditz silently fumed, glowering at Bardock's back. If he's so concerned for my health, why isn't he the one putting the bandages on!? If he had been paying attention to exactly what Bulma was doing, he might have noticed that she was taking a little longer than last time to finish what she was doing.

Bulma, for her part, was absolutely delighted to have a second opportunity not only to touch Radditz but also to show him that she had knowledge of first aid and medicine. Not enough to make her a doctor or a nurse, but perhaps enough that she could impress her crush and get him to notice her. Rule number 39 of Ways To Attract Men clearly stated: Show him that you have valuable skills. Since he was obviously a fighter, having a girlfriend who could tend your injuries if you got hurt in a fight was definitely a good thing. A the thought of actually being Radditz's girlfriend, Bulma's mind started to wander and her fingers lingered over a bandage she had just placed on a thin cut on the teenager's lower back. Her fingers brushed up against something furry during her daydreams and her mind snapped back to attention. She looked down to find that she was touching Radditz's brown tail where it emerged from his spine. She watched in absolute fascination as the thing twitched back and forth in an agitated manner. Sure, she'd seen and touched Goku's tail more than once, but this was entirely different. Biting her lip nervously, she found that she was very tempted to stroke the wandering brown appendage.

Before she realized what she was doing, she found that her hand had acted on its own and had curled gently around Radditz's tail. Lost in his own thoughts of vengeance against his father for forcing him to suffer the female's attentions once again, he didn't appear to notice that Bulma was holding his tail in her hand. That is, until she began to hesitantly stroke it with the tip of her finger. All at once his thoughts ripped away from Bardock and he gasped involuntarily and stiffened, eyes widening to their fullest, and every muscle in his body tensed and shuddered despite all his self control. In contrast to the rest of his body, though, every hair on Radditz's tail fluffed out and the limb itself curled almost happily around her arm. Startled by such an extreme reaction to something as simple as petting his tail, Bulma hastily pulled her arm away, allowing the thing to drop. Not content with sitting still, the tail swished and curled in a lazy, content manner. Radditz, however, was not so pleased.

Whipping his tail protectively around his waist, Radditz snarled angrily as he snapped his head around to face Bulma and gave her his harshest glare. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" he growled, jerking away roughly to gain more space between himself and the blue haired girl, his face flushed in embarrassment and mortification. Even Bulma's love-addled mind could not miss the fury his voice contained, nor could anyone else in the room. All conversation stopped as everyone turned their attention to the confrontation between the two.

"Wh-what?" Bulma stammered, surprised by the venom of his words.

"Never, ever touch my tail again!!" Radditz yelled, eyes flashing darkly. Standing up abruptly, he stormed out of the house, indifferent to whatever plans might be made during his absence. He only knew that if he stayed in that room one second longer, he'd probably snap.

After Radditz vanished through the doorway, silence blanketed the room, until Goten spoke up. "I don't understand. Why did Uncle Radditz get so mad when Bulma petted his tail?" He scratched the back of his head in confusion, looking up at Bardock in hopes of receiving an answer. "I always like it when kaasan pets my tail."

Bardock squirmed uncomfortably, glancing at the non-Saiyans in the room, then back at his grandson. Goten wasn't the only one with a puzzled look on his face, though. Both Trunks and Goku stared up at Bardock expectantly, along with the five humans present. Vegeta snorted quietly. He knew well enough what had happened. "Well," Bardock began uncertainly, unconsciously mimicking his grandson by rubbing the back of his neck. "It's really not something you'd understand until you're older. It's fine to pet a child's tail, but once they reach a certain age..." He trailed off, uncertain how to continue the sensitive topic. Kuso... I never had to explain this to Radditz. It's just one of those things that Saiyan children pick up on their own.

Unsurprisingly, Master Roshi was the first to pick up on what Bardock was hinting at, despite the fact that he was human. He had heard about how sensitive Saiya-jin tails are from Goku, and since his mind tended to make frequent visits to the gutter, he could guess what Radditz's reaction and Bardock's words actually signified. Being the old pervert that he is, it also didn't take him long to go from 'sensitive' Saiyan tails to 'sensitive' female Saiyan tails and his nose promptly began to bleed. Noticing this, Bardock gave the venerable old man a dirty look, silently telling him to shut up and leave the 'explaining' to him. Fortunately for him, Roshi was still very much distracted with hentai fantasies about Saiyan women and so did not bother trying to educate the clueless chibis.

Taking a deep breath, Bardock said, "When you get older, your tail will get more sensitive, so you probably won't want to let anyone touch it, unless you really trust them." Without knowing how to continue without getting explicit and not wanting to damage their childhood innocence with the truth, he could only hope that would satisfy them for now. "Do you understand?"

Thankfully, all three of the boys nodded their comprehension, taking Bardock's word for it with the blind faith that only children seem to possess. Bulma, however, was nowhere near as naive as the chibis and had observed the reactions of the older males. Radditz's involuntary response, Roshi's bloody nose, and Bardock's discomfort with the subject added together in her mind and it didn't take long for Bulma to figure out the real explanation for Radditz's behavior. An embarrassed flush spread across her cheeks as she realized exactly what she had done to Radditz. I don't care whatthe books say... I never meant to be that forward! she moaned inwardly. Great. Now I've embarrassed Radditz and made him... react like that... in front of his family. What if he hates me for it?

A perverted cackle from Muten Roshi brought Bulma out of her self reproach. "Whoooaa boy, do I ever wish I had a tail now!" he mumbled to himself, loud enough that Bulma could hear perfectly well. With their Saiya-jin hearing, so could everyone else, excluding Yamcha, Krillen, and Lunch. Bardock and Bulma both glared daggers at the martial arts master, while Trunks, Goten, and Goku simply looked clueless. Vegeta remained expressionless, not caring one way or the other.

"Well, we all know where his mind is," Bulma muttered under her breath. Deciding that it was time to change the subject, she raised her voice. "We should be getting back to planning the dragonball hunt!"

Just as desperate as Bulma to switch to a less embarrassing topic, Bardock gave the girl a grateful look, then said, "It would take too long to really stock up enough food to last us for very long, so I've decided that we'll spend the rest of the day hunting until we fill the empty capsules that we have. After that, we can hunt for food as we need it during the search for the dragonballs. We have two dragon radars now, the one Trunks brought with him and the one Goku has, so we could split up into two groups. However, I'd prefer it if we stick together as one group. It'd be easier to keep track of each other and all our talents can be pooled together. Who all is coming with us?" By 'us,' he clearly meant the people with Saiyan blood.

Bulma was the only one to raise her hand. Lunch, Krillen, and Master Roshi explained that they had no real interest in searching for the lost dragonballs. Yamcha shrugged and said, "Well, I kind of left Puar behind and she'll be mad at me if I just abandon her. You don't mind, do you Bulma?" Pleased that her best friend had thought to ask about her feelings, Bulma smiled and shook her head.

Nodding to himself, Bardock turned his attention on the eleven year old girl. "That being the case, how do you intend to accompany us? We can all fly, except Goku, who's still learning, but he has Kinto'un if necessary. If this were a short trip, I'd offer to carry you myself, but I'm guessing this trip will be well over a day in length."

"Oh, that's no problem," Bulma replied easily. "I can always take an air car."

"Actually, I have a better idea," Trunks interrupted. "Your air car is probably really slow, so maybe you should use one of mine." Being from the future definitely has its advantages, he thought. I can only imagine how slow we'd have to make ourselves go just to keep from losing Bulma!

A flicker of annoyance crossed Bulma's face at the insult to something she had helped to create, but she brightened when she thought it over. "Hey, that would be great! Think maybe I could take a peek inside?" she asked, a wheedling tone to her voice.

"Absolutely not," Bardock refused, frowning with irritation. "Trunks, letting Bulma get hold of any technology from the future could really mess up the timeline. I don't think that's such a good idea." At his words, the girl looked crestfallen, disappointed that she wouldn't be able to examine some of her inventions from the future.

"But, Bardock-san," Trunks protested. "So long as she doesn't actually look inside the car, what harm could it do? Besides, do you really want to travel as slowly as the air cars of this time go?" He smirked faintly as he pulled out his trump card on this matter.

Bardock only had a think about it for a moment before he sighed in resignation. "Okay, Bulma can use your air car. But only," he added sharply before either one could celebrate, "if Bulma promises not to take it apart!" Bulma sighed, but decided not to let it get her down too much. After all, at least she was still being allowed to go with them! "Now that that's settled," Bardock continued, "we should get started on gathering food."

After several hours of all of the Saiyans fishing, the food capsules were filled and they were ready to go. Bulma allowed Yamcha to take her air car so he could get back to Puar, since she wouldn't be needing the thing for a while. They thanked Master Roshi for his hospitality and Lunch for cooking, and set off, Bulma in her newly acquired, or, rather, borrowed air car and holding the radar she'd lent to Goku, while the other six hovered in the air. The idea was that Bulma would carry one Dragon Radar so that she could follow the Saiyans even if she couldn't see them, and vice versa. Goku had wanted to ride Kinto'un from the start, but Bardock shook his head and said that he expected his son to practice flying as often as possible until it became second nature. Not only would it be a useful skill, but practicing controlling his ki in such a way would be good to develop some of his hidden strength.

With a final wave to the island's inhabitants, the seven members of the group took off, heading for the nearest blip on the Dragon Radar screens. Even Radditz, who was still angry about the earlier humiliation, couldn't help but admit that he felt a thrill of excitement as they started on their quest with new adventures and unknown perils around every corner.

And so the dragonball hunt began.

Please review. (Eventually, I'm going to think up something better to say at the end of each chapter...)