Deceit of Dice
BY: Krystyl Kane
Chapter
As the five
of the dragonball hunters went out of the building, they couldn’t help but feel
as if someone was watching them. They shrugged it off, thinking it was only a
paranoid thought. Before they had left Kuririn once again had the hard job of
telling of Goten’s death. Trunks almost went ballistic! He couldn’t know what
to think anymore. To know that his best friend, the one person he could count
on most was gone. Not to mention all the great times they spent. Like the time
they had played a prank on his father. They had switched his saving cream with
a hair tonic. Let’s just say Vegeta had more issues with shaving then any man
on Earth. He sighed, he missed him being around. But good thing they were
getting the dragonballs to wish him back!
Kuririn
took out the dragon radar from his pocket, clicking the large button on the
top. The system booted up like a calculator, displaying all the dragonballs on
the world view. He clicked it until he got the closest range of the closest
dragonball, “Good news guys, the radar says there isn’t one too far from here,
but two. The first one seems to be close to where Gohan lives. And the second
one is more towards the deep part of the forest.”
“Let’s go
to forest first then we can easily find the next dragonball,” suggested Trunks,
who was getting over Goten’s demise.
“Let’s go
then!” then Kuririn was off in a second. The rest flew behind him. Trunks and
Juuhachi-gou, who was carrying Marron, easily caught up with him. Oolong used
his long forgotten transformations powers and turned himself into a mini jet.
They were on a mission!
However
back in the walls of Capsule Corp., the rest were still sitting in the living
room, contemplating on what to do. Chichi was lying on the couch when she began
to stir. The whole time Gyuu Maou
had been staying at her side. He had been fanning her and laid a cold wet cloth
over her forehead. Chichi groaned and slowing lifted her eye lids. She sat up
in a daze, “I just had the most horrible dream... There was some killer after
us and he got Goten…”
Gyuu Maou looked at her with a saddened look, “I’m sorry honey…”
Chichi immediately took her father shirt and cried her heart out into his
chest. Gyuu Maou put a
reassuring hand on her back.
“My poor
child!!” she cried her heart out.
Gohan hung
his head in sorrow. He blamed himself for everything. He thought about the
whole thing. Just last night I was looking at him as he was sleeping so
peacefully. It was just so tranquil. Then the next thing I knew, I screw up,
and he’s gone! …Now Mom’s going to upset forever, all because of me. He turned
away from the scene. He needed to go somewhere. He stood up and left.
He walked
down the long, curved hallway starring at the floor, not focusing on anything.
Gohan tried to force his self to be more contented. But then again how can you
force yourself to be happy when such a thing could happen. So he tried another
approach, forgetting everything. If he forgot who he was, then he’d only be
confused instead of confused and miserable. Wonder if there’s any rocks to
crack my head open on… Worked for Dad, why not me.
As he
continued with his depressed state, he never paid attention to where he was
going. Sure his peripheral vision kept him from running into walls, but then
again he was really out of it. “Ooaf!!”
Gohan shouted as he felt his body suddenly jolt into
another.
“Keep your
eyes out in front, and get the hell out of my way brat!”
Gohan
mumbled, “Sorry Vegeta…” Vegeta
accepted his apology by whacking Gohan’s weakened body into the wall and moved
on.
The teenage
Demi-Saiyajin slid down the side of the wall. “Hey Vegeta… Crack my head open and I’ll do you any favor you’d
like…”
The Prince
sustained his walking pace, “And what could you do for me? Why would I waste my
time on you?”
Gohan sat
in the same position long after Vegeta left. He
stayed there for what seemed to have been forever. He had blocked all thoughts
out of his mind. All there was to him was the long hall, the cold tiles. It was the kind of feeling you would get if you had been
sitting in the same room for hours, that never changed, nor did have any
movement of any kind. Your mind would slowly rot away until there was nothing
left. That’s how Gohan felt.
While Gohan
rotted to nothing, Vegeta went into the room
containing a teary woman mourning over the loss of her son. “Oh stop whining,
their going to wish the brat back.”
Chichi
scowled, “My beautiful child is not a brat!” She screeched at the top of her lungs.
Gyuu Maou had to hold her small body back, “Calm down!”
Vegeta
just ignored her, “Hey woman, get off your lazy ass, you should make breakfast
for our guests.”
“For once
would you call me by my name you bastard!?” he just walked down out of the room
towards the kitchen. “You know I’m going to make breakfast for my guests,
because I actually care for people! Unlike some cold hearted assholes!” she
stormed after him.
“No thanks Bulma you don’t need to get us anything to eat!” the wise
and ever so perverted Kamesen’nin yelled back. Bulma wasn’t the greatest cook. “But I wouldn’t mind pafu-pafu (an: Pafu-pafu is a
Japanese term for breast fondling.)!” Yamucha
snickered.
Bulma
gave off a fume of frustration as she followed Vegeta.
When she got in the kitchen she asked, “So what do you want?”
“Anything
edible, can you manage it?” sneered Vegeta.
Bulma
sighed, “Why do I even put up with you?”
About a
half an hour later Bulma set out two plates
consisting of omelets, bacon, and hash browns with a side of rice. Now all she
had to do was fetch the arrogant prince. She didn’t know why she put up with
him. It had to do with the fact that somewhere inside that hard exterior was a
person. If someone watched the surveillance camera in the kitchen you’d see that
he does show it, but rarely.
She left
the room and about ten minutes later she dragged Vegeta
in so they could eat their meal, “You know I wish you would at least be nicer
to everyone, just this once.”
“Hn,” he replied.
***
Meanwhile outside
of Capsule Corp. out into the wilderness the gang had just located the spot of
the dragonball. It was inside a small cabin in the
woods that was surrounded by foliage. Vines twisted around the angles and moss
was growing on the roof.
Juuhachi-gou broke the silence that they had been in for some time, “How could
anyone live in a dump like this?”
“Maybe it’s
abandoned,” suggested Kuririn.
Trunks
opened the creaky door and crept into the dingy dwelling. There was dust in on
the furniture, there were clothes scattered about the place, and a broke TV was
dangling by its cord off of a self. Trunks tiptoed as the floorboards squeaked
and groaned, with the Dragon Radar leading him into the kitchen. There were
pots, pans, and dishes stacked high to the ceiling. Trunks searched around the
vicinity and then spotted the dragonball it was on
top of the cabinet. Easy; the child merely flew up and snatched it.
Kuririn
looked at his watch, “What’s taking so long?”
Oolong
agreed, “Yeah, you’d think a kid with super power would be able to get a little
ball pretty easily.”
At that
moment Trunks bounded from the cabin displaying the dragonball
in his hand, “I got it! I got it! I got—“his expression dropped from exited to
worried, “…it…”
“And I’m
sure you’ll all too kind and give it back.” Everyone’s attention was diverted
to a being behind them.
Juuhachi-gou let down her guard, “So you live it this shit hole?”
“Live
there? Hardly,” sounded the voice of Juuhachi-gou’s
brother, Juunana-gou, “I was keeping it there for
safe keeping.”
“Well too
bad, because I need it.”
“What for?”
“Long
story, but it’s not like you need to wish for anything.”
“Hey you
never know what ideas that could pop into my head. And I may need a wish to be
granted.”
“Well we need it now. Your little dreams can be fulfilled
another day.”
“Fine, go ahead and take it. Besides lately I’ve been having
plans that don’t require such things.” With that, the dragonball
was theirs and he was off.
Kurirn just stared at his wife, “Well that
was odd…”
The whole time Marron was too
occupied with a dandelion; that she pretended not to notice anything. The great
thing about being that small and cute was that you always get attention for
doing something. No matter how stupid it could be.
“Now let’s go get the next one!” shouted Trunks.
***
No one had
come by for hours. Gohan knew it when the room dimmed and the lights were
turned off. He then felt motivated to get off of his butt, however he was
overcome by suction (an: A term my friend and I use to describe the felling of
pure laziness. Like when you feel so comfortable that you can’t get up.). He
was fighting over he should get up or not. If he stayed then he’d most likely
waste away. If he didn’t then he’d have to deal with his mother’s pain. Gohan
contemplated for a moment and thought it was best to deal with life, even if it
sucked.
First his
hands moved underneath his butt to support his weight, second he bent his legs
up so that his whole body looked as though he were to crab walk. Third, he
tired his hardest to push himself to a standing position. This was the hardest
step. Then with a sudden thrust he hopped to his feet and the suction was
defeated. Now it was only a matter of going to his room to go to bed.
So he
walked along the long corridor until he saw a light in the shaped of an open
doorway spread upon the floor. It led him to the kitchen. There was Bulma at the table dressed in a robe drinking a cup of
coffee. She was staring at the notes laid out in front. With a pencil in hand
she wrote down various phrases.
Gohan
walked in with a slump in his walk and sat down at the table. Bulma looked up from her work, “So where have you been?” He
didn’t answer. “You know moping around isn’t going to solve anything.”
“I can’t help
it. It’s all my fault.”
“Now you
know that’s not true. Everyone makes mistakes. Everything’s going to be okay, Goten’s going to be wished back in just a matter of days
and I’ve been working overtime on this. I think I may have an idea on who it could
be. I’ve been going through the clues and I have a couple of suspects in mind.
Maybe if you helped me on this, instead of moping around, then maybe we could
figure out sooner.”
“I guess
you’re right. I’m just having issues here,” Gohan said in more positive
attitude.
“Good then.
Why don’t you look over these notes? I left some of my hypotheses in the
bathroom.”
“The
bathroom..?” Gohan was a little confused.
Bulma
just shook her head at him like he was stupid, “Well of course, I may be a
genius and all. But I do need to relax every now and then.”
As she left
Gohan looked down the papers in front of him. Whenever he starred into the
blood written letters all he could’ve sworn he saw Goten’s
cheerful face. My mind’s just playing tricks on me, he shook it away.
Just then
he heard the door bell ring from an intercom. A serious and somewhat frightful
expression overwhelmed him. “It’s probably just some associate of Capsule
Corp., yeah that’s it,” he let out a shaky breath, “I’m just over reacting.”
Although he said it, he didn’t fully believe it. The feeling of not knowing was
driving him crazy; there was always a ‘what if’ lingering in his head. The door
bell rang again. His heart was accelerating. He stood from the chair and
cautiously made his way to the front room. It was getting darker as he moved
away from the kitchen. His hands were stretched out, making sure that he didn’t
bump into anything. There was a battle of will power versus his racing heat. He
could feel the beats were pulsating in his ears, bum-bump, bum-bump, bum-bump,
in his chest, bum-bump, bum-bump, bum-bump, and in the tips of his fingers,
bum-bump, bum-bump, bum-bump…
Then there
was a knocking at the door. He was halfway there. Gohan clenched his fist and
let out a deep breath, relaxing himself. “It’s just some ordinary person at the
door,” he said to himself very sternly. “…In the middle of the night…” With
determination he swiftly sped walked to that door, unlocked the several
security locks, and flung open the door, expecting to face the worst.
There in
the doorway stood a teenage boy about the same height as Gohan. He had wild
hair much like Gohan’s but it was orange with red highlights and had amazing
eyes of gold. He wore black baggy pants with a loose blue shirt. For a moment
they just stared at each other. The other person smiled, “Hi Gohan, remember
me?”
Gohan was
just astonished, “L-Leon?”
“Wow,
didn’t think you would remember me.”
Gohan had
let out a sigh of relief. He was actually quite ecstatic about seeing his long
forgotten friend. “How could I forget the guy who helped me get over my dad’s
death? I haven’t seen you in forever!” He paused, “But how did you know I was
here?”
“That’s
where I come in,” from the shadows emerged Videl.
Now Gohan was confused more than ever, “Wait a minute, but how
did you know I was here? And how do you two know each other?”
“Well, how
about we talk about this inside,” Videl hinted,
“where it’s warm.”
Gohan instantly
protested, “Well you see, I can’t do that. There’s this big lock down on
Capsule Corp. right now and I just can’t let you in, no matter what the
circumstance.”
“Okay then
let’s freeze!”
Taking off
his shirt revealing his muscular body (an: And that one is for all you Gohan
crazy chicks out there!), Gohan offered it to Videl
and gave a semi-sympathetic look, “Sorry…” He closed the door behind him, which
immediately locked itself. “Well I guess we’re stuck. Now tell me what’s going
on.”
They all sat
on the steps just as Videl began their tale, “Alright
it all started yesterday when he,” she pointed at
“But that
still doesn’t explain how you knew I was here.”
“You seem
to forget that I work on a lot of crime cases and I used simple logic. You had
to have been here because you often visit the, oh so famous, Briefs family. I
remember you once telling me that they were like family.” She just simply
smiled at him, “Now how do you two know each other?”
“It’s a
pretty long story…” Gohan didn’t know what to say since it revolved all around
the death of his father. He just couldn’t reveal to her the whole ordeal with
Cell, the artificial humans, Trunks coming from a parallel future to warn them,
and most of all that her father was a fake.
Leon butted
in, “To make it short, I met him in the woods one day and I helped him get over
the death of a loved one. I guess you could say we became friends.”
With that
last sentence Gohan was reminiscing in old memories. He had first met
Gohan was
snapped back to reality when Videl snapped her
fingers in front of his face, “Hello? Are we in there?”
“Oh sorry!”
“So why is
Capsule Corp. under lock and key?”
Gohan
explained the whole thing to them in about ten minutes. They all then discussed
it for hours. Videl was more than shocked and her
first impression was to contact the police. Of course Gohan had to explain why
that wouldn’t help any. But at some point in the early morning they fell
asleep, using each other as pillows.
In late
afternoon, Gohan and Videl were woken up by a rather
distressed
Suddenly
his eyes were wide open as he read:
“You know you’ve failed again
But this time two friends are dead
I said one friend would die each
night
I never said that more than one
friend would
There is more than one way to kill
You can strangle
You can beat
You can explode
You can poison
Guess which method I used?
Guess who I am
Before it’s too late”
“Oh shit!”
Gohan cursed. Videl couldn’t believe it was really
happening. Gohan ran about the primacies looking for any subtle hint. He
noticed it, one of the high windows were open! He flew to it and was inside Bulma and Vegeta’s room. They
weren’t to be found. On their bed laid two photographs of them. They seemed to
be sleeping in the pictures, but he knew what it meant. They were gone…
Lifting one
of the pictures, the one of Bulma another letter was
laying behind it. Gohan raised it to his face, with his body trembling with
anger.
“Oh too bad…
They’re dead too…
Listen up well
Here’s your next clue
Some advice for you
Never trust the enemy
One of these letters
Is a deceitful one
A lie
Guess who I am
Before it’s too late”
*******
Well that chapter
was a little bit longer than I had meant it to be, but oh well. I hope I spiced
things up a bit for you all. Sorry for not updating for so long, I’ve been
swamped with school work and such. Oh and a special thanks to CrazyGohanGurl for the suggestion of the character
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