Deceit of Dice
BY: Krystyl Kane
Chapter IV – Hot as Fire, Cold
as Ice
This was
it! Gohan just couldn’t take it anymore. This time he knew that he couldn’t
trust anyone now. Who ever this was; is going to pay. It wasn’t just because of
Bulma and Vegeta’s death that
triggered this feeling of raw anguish; it was all the elements adding up to
this point. Most of all, his failure to protect… He wasn’t going to sulk
anymore, this called for action. Crushing the letter and photo in his hands he
was determined to figure this out, now matter what the cost was.
His
breathing grew heavier while his muscles tensed. An aurora of blindingly,
bright yellow energy was blazing around his body. The papers disintegrated. The
floor shook underneath his feet as he heard the floorboards crack. The energy
was surging through his veins. If he continued, he probably would have
destroyed that half of the building, but let his body to power down when he
noticed that the carpet was on fire!
Dancing
around in the rapidly growing flames, he managed to rip the bedspread off of
the bed and used it to beat the flames off. The smoke alarm went off. Soon fire
had caught to the blanket. It was no good, the flames were now rising to the
top of the ceiling; black smoke was pilling itself downward towards his head.
Gohan covered his mouth and ducked low. He crawled along the floor out into the
hall and then booked down the halls looking for the others.
Gohan raced
down the halls coughing every so often. He first stopped at Chichi’s
room, she wasn’t there. Next was Yamucha and Puar’s room, still no one there. Where is everyone? He
thought to himself. Gohan shouted through the long corridors, “Okaasan!! Doko ni iru ka!? (Mom!! Where are
you!?)” Then a terrible thought crossed his mind. What if through that early
morning, the killer got everyone?
To his
relief he heard a familiar voice call back, “Gohan-chan!
Achi-kochi! (Gohan-hunny!
Over here!)”
He followed
her voice to the main room, where once again everyone was. “Kono
tatemono o moeru!! (This
building is on fire!!)” he screamed as he entered the room.
With that
everyone was crowding around the door, unlocking the various locks. The smoke
was already starting to disperse itself into the room. Then the door was
unlocked! They pilled through the door. But they had gotten outside, safe that
was the main point.
Videl
rushed over, “Doushita no? Mina ni
daijoubu ka? Asoko ni kemuri o miru!
(What’s wrong? Is everyone okay? I see smoke over there!)” She pointed over to
the burning building.
“Oretachi wa daredemo
ni wasureru? (Did we forget
anybody?)” Yamucha yelled over all the excitement.
Gohan
looked over the group and let out a heavy breath, “Minna
wa anzen… (Everyone’s
safe…)”
Kamesen’nin
jumped in but with a calm voice he interjected, “Buruma
to Bejiita ga inai zo… (Bulma
and Vegeta are gone…)”
From that
moment, Gohan’s heart sank in. He didn’t know what to say. But he had to say
something quick before the others would try and go in after them, “Buruma to Bejiita wa shin da! (Bulma
and Vegeta are dead!)”
Just then
everyone froze. They couldn’t believe it. For the rest of that day, things were
silent. They all just stared as the great building known as Capsule Corp. had
turned into ruins. Local firefighters were too late to save it. So they mourned
that day. Gohan cursed himself, how could have he done this? He though he was
such an idiot.
***
One a more
positive side of the story the dragonball crew had
found three dragonballs already and were working on
the fourth one. They had traveled up to a snowy area up in one of the highest
mountains ever,
Trunks
looked at Kuririn, “So what are we going to do?”
“I have an
idea,” Juuhachi-gou answered for Kuririn.
“W-what’s
that-t Mama?” asked Marron who had been shivering for
quite awhile.
“There are
stations all around the mountain and we might be able to get on of these sherpas to go get it for us,” she pointed forward to the
first station on
About three
hours later as everyone almost was loosing their confidence in Juuhachi-gou, she came back with a dragonball.
Marron ran up to her and gave her a big o’ hug.
Trunks ran
over to her, “Wow you did it! But how?”
“Simple, I
just threatened all their lives and what do you know they come back hours later
with it. They had to go to the next station and had to get it out of two meters
worth of snow and ice.” Oolong and Kuririn just
laughed nervously.
Juuhachi-gou then took out the radar, “Well it seems like we have to travel all the
way over to
Oolong was
all but warm, “Well at least it will be warm there!”
Kuririn
took a look, “It looks like it’s near the northwest coast. We’ve got our flying
cut out for us.”
Trunks shot
off, “Let’s go! We gotta hurry, if we’re going to
wish back Goten!”
“Alright!” Kuririn took a hold of Oolong and followed.
“Boys… Come
on Marron let’s see who can beat them in this race.”
She grabbed a hold of her daughter and she blasted off tying with Trunks.
***
Sitting
away from the rest of his family and friends, Gohan thought of what to do. It
was all because of him that Capsule Corp. was gone. The memories of it were
fading away. It wasn’t just the building, but what it stood for. Being a
strongly constructed it could withstand Vegeta’s
constant training, and always was the shelter of choice for an emergency. Now a
days, a simple fire had melted the frame and it had collapsed in, just as the
strongest fighters of Earth was.
He had
really screwed up this time, he had destroyed all the letters! They had to go
off of memory. What if one of those notes had one clue they over looked and
they could have been saved.
He thought over
the clues. That last one said that one was a lie… But which one? He thought
more and started to realize something about the first clue: Black, blue, red,
orange, yellow… Funny,
Someone who
has a psychotic personality? Vegeta certainly fits
that category, then again so does Mom. Oh let’s just face it! We’re all going
to die! He screamed with frustration in his mind.
Chichi
sensing his discomfort walked over to him and said in a sweet tone, “Gohan-chan? Everyone decided that it would be best to stay
in a hotel for a while. So why don’t you go get a shirt on, and we’ll go,
okay?”
Gohan
chuckled in a sorrowful manner, “But Mom, all my shirts were burned.”
“Well let’s
see if you can borrow someone else’s. Come on we’re going to stay at the ‘Oshika Martenizing Hotel’.”
Gohan gave
Chichi an odd look, “The what?”
“The ‘Oshika Martenizing Hotel’”
***
Unaware of
what had been going on, the dragonball searchers were
hot on the trail for the next dragonball. They had
been flying for hours! And you know what happens with children on long car
trips, the same goes for flying.
Trunks
clutched his stomach and groaned, “I’m hungry…”
Marron,
who was sitting on Kuririn’s back, tugged on his
shirt, “Yeah me too. I’m tired.”
“How much
further?” added Trunks.
Kuririn
looked at the dragon radar, “About fifty more kilos.”
Oolong, who
was sitting behind Marron joined in, “Can’t we stop
and rest for a little while?”
“No we
don’t have any time,” then Kuririn realized
something, “And why do you need a rest stop? I’m the one doing the flying
here!”
Ten minutes
passed and Trunks asked, “Are we there yet?”
“No…”
Five
minutes passed, “Are we there yet?”
“No…”
Two minutes
passed, “Are we there yet?”
“Would you
shut up!?” Juuhachi-gou scolded them. She never had
the patience for babysitting.
Trunks flew
up to Kuririn, “What do you think is happening to the
others?”
“I don’t
know,” Kuririn put on an optimistic smile, “But I bet
they already solved the mystery. And all we have to do is collect the dragonballs and wish Goten back.” Trunks smiled and zoomed
in front. Kuririn was glad he could make Trunks feel
better. But he really didn’t know what to think. All he could do was hope.
***
The next
day Gohan found himself awaking to the hard pillows and lumpy bed of a hotel.
His mother laying in the bed next to his. The light was shining through the
open window onto a small paper on his bed.
Gohan shook
his head with disgust, “Oh shit… Not again…”
Chichi
flipped over her bed and smacked her son, “Gohan-chan!
Have I taught you nothing at all!?”
“Sorry Mom,
but this is getting old,” he motioned to the note, “I mean I’m actually
starting to believe that by the end of this. We’re all going to die. I mean
nothing we’ve done has stopped this guy. We might as well face the facts, we’re
going to die. Maybe it’ll be a good thing. No more evil beings coming after us
and beating the absolute crap out of us. Hey I’d get to see Dad again, so would
everyone! You know I think I might like this whole dieing thing,” he stated
merrily.
“Gohan-chan! I can’t believe what you just spat out of your
mouth!” she slapped him, “You have to live life to the fullest. Now I don’t
want to have a suicidal son to worry about. So you know what!? Stop thinking
these thoughts!!”
He pulled
on a stern face, “Mom, look, the killer got Goten, Bulma,
and Vegeta! I mean the killer got Vegeta!
He was smart enough to poison him, because he knew he was strong. One by one
he’s taking people out!” he raised his voice, “Soon enough he’ll take us all
out! I really doubt that we’ll solve this in time! I mean how much time have we
actually dedicated on it? The only one who really worked on it was Bulma, but oh look, he took her out!! This guy is no idiot!
He first took out Goten, because he was small and to pull us into a sense of power,
‘hey we’re the strongest in the world, he may have got Goten, but he’s not
strong enough to get us’! Then they got Bulma,
because she’s a genius and would most likely solve it! Then Vegeta!
He may act like he doesn’t love Bulma, but he would
retaliate! See Mom we’re all going to die! We won’t know who the killer is
until we collect all of the letters! But by then it’ll be too late!!!”
Chichi eyed
her son in the face with a tone of disgust in voice, “Are you done?” she almost
whispered.
Gohan took
a deep breath and said with a strong voice, “Yeah… I am!” He was proud of
standing up to his Mom. He was now one of the rare who do.
She stepped
up to him giving her biggest smile, “Good!” She frowned and yelled at the top
of her lungs, “I can’t believe you’d say such things! Your head is full of
crap! You—“
Gohan
interrupted, “Now look at what he’s doing now! He’s tearing us apart!”
“Or maybe
you’re the one tearing us apart!”
“What!?”
“Let’s see
who was sharing a room with Goten? Who knew of Bulma’
research? Who just explained everything!?” She took a step back towards the
window, “I’ve always dreamed of you being as smart as can be, but why this!?”
“B-but I
didn’t do it!”
“Oh sure,
that’s what you want me to think!”
Gohan
walked over to his mom and spoke softly, “Look Mom, I didn’t do it. I would
never hurt anyone. Now why don’t we just sit down and talk.”
Chichi
backed herself up to the window, “Stay back!”
“Mom I’m
sorry for yelling, please just sit down.”
“Oh you’re
not getting me,” she climbed up on the windowsill, “You murderer!”
Gohan
stretched his arm out to grab her, but he was too late, she jumped… Just then
he felt so alone. He had practically no family; some killer was going to kill them
out. Not to mention there was another matter of the unread note telling of more
unfortunate news. This was just great, his mom, dad, and little brother were
dead. It was only a matter of time before he died and the whole Son family
would be gone.
With a
miserable sigh he picked the note and read:
“Remember your friends?
Two short, two small
One slightly mechanical
You better save them
No matter where
You go I know
Where you are
Stop running
Fight me
You have three days
Left until then”
*******
Gomen, gomen… If you’re wondering why I’m writing some of their
speech in Japanese, it’s because I’m just plain bored. Never mind my bad
grammar here! I don’t know informal speech that well. So don’t bite my head
off! My sensei has only been teaching us polite forum. And I don’t think that
it would be very appropriate to use polite forum. Since DBZ characters rarely
do.
Yeah, yeah,
I know you could see the whole suicide thing a mile away…
Sorry it
took so long for this chapter to get out. Currently I have been moving from
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