Chapter 2
For the first hour, they didn't say much. Although Kuririn and Roshi weren't aware of it, Bulma was tracing the kis of the fighters, just like they were. She had recently become very concerned. All three of the kis had gone down after what had felt like a big blast from Piccolo. But what had her most concerned was the fact that Goku seemed really weak. She wasn't all that worried about Piccolo, but she was definitely concerned for Goku's safety. One thing had her very perplexed, however. Late in the fight, a strange, extremely intense power had attacked Raditz. It almost felt like Goku's ki, but not quite. Also, Raditz' ki had completely disappeared just now. Bulma could only wonder what had happened until they arrived. She sighed. Maybe she should break the ice. She knew that Kuririn and Muten Roshi must have been just as worried as she was.
"What do you think we will find when we get there?" She asked them. "Anything could have happened by now."
"I don't know," said Muten Roshi, "but I think it's in our favor. I can't sense Raditz at all. I'm glad about that, though. Because if he hasn't been defeated it'll be up to me to finish him."
"I would hate to put the fate of the world on your shoulders, Roshi," Bulma said, grinning. "About the only chance you'd have of defeating Raditz would be to bore him to death."
They all laughed, but it was nervous laughter. The thought of the battle ran rampant in their minds. Fortunately, they didn't have much farther to go. Magically, it seemed to Roshi and Kuririn, Bulma seemed to know exactly where the fighters were. When they came upon the clearing where the battle had been and where Goku, Gohan, Piccolo, and Raditz were, Kuririn stared at Bulma in disbelief.
"Gee, Bulma," he said, impressed. "You'd think you could sense ki too! How did you find them so quickly? You didn't even ask us to see which way to go."
"Oh, uh, well, uh, on the dragon radar! I remembered where the blip was when I gave it to Goku. I guess it stopped moving from there." She didn't know why, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to tell them the real reason for her actions.
Kuririn seem to accept her excuse. "Look guys!" He said excitedly. "It looks like Raditz is down!"
"Yeah, but so is Goku," Bulma said worriedly. They landed off to one side and ran out to Goku. He was still alive... barely.
"Hey guys," he said weakly. "We did it! But it looks like I'm not going to make it. The only way to beat him was to hold him while Piccolo fired his new attack through both of us."
"Don't talk like that Goku," Kuririn said, rushing to his friend's side. "You'll be fine. You always are."
"I'm afraid not this time," Goku replied, laughing feebly. "Piccolo's energy blast went completely through both of us. Raditz is already gone, and I'm going fast."
"Well, don't worry, Goku," Muten Roshi said. "We'll have you back in no time. We'll wish you back. Right guys?"
Kuririn and Bulma agreed vigorously.
"See?" Roshi said, smiling at Goku. "Then when you're back we can get back to normal. Raditz did kind of interrupt something important you know."
"There's another thing," Goku said, flinching in pain. "We defeated Raditz all right, but we can't celebrate yet. That scouter... you know...the little gadget on his face? Well, it's a transmitter. Piccolo told Raditz about how you all would probably wish me back with the dragonballs. It turns out that there are two more Saiyans out there that have now heard all about the dragonballs. Raditz said that now they're going to come to make their own wishes. Then they'll finish the job that Raditz was sent to do."
"Two more Saiyans?" Roshi exclaimed. "You two had enough trouble with this one! This is crazy!"
"It gets worse," Goku said, grinning. "Those two are each much stronger than Raditz was. So it won't be like dealing with two more of Raditz. It'll be much worse. And to top it all off, we only have a year until they get here!"
"Stronger than Raditz?" Bulma gulped, hardly able to believe it. That seemed impossible!
"So what should we do?" Kuririn said. "I couldn't even offer any help against Raditz."
Bulma picked up Gohan and carried him over to his father. She tried to fight back the tears.
"Find the dragonballs as soon as you can!" Goku replied. He reached up and grasped the hand of his unconscious son. "We only have a year to prepare." That he disappeared, leaving no trace behind.
"What happened?" Bulma said in surprise. "Where did he go?"
"Kami took him," Piccolo said. "He must have wanted to preserve his body for some reason. Don't worry. I'm sure he'll be well taken care of."
Bulma couldn't hide her tears, but she recovered quickly. She told herself that he would be back soon, so she should try her best not to mope. Gohan stirred in her arms and his hat fell off. She bent down and picked it up.
"Oh well," she sighed. "Here's our first one. Here, Muten Roshi. Hold this. I'm going to take Gohan back to Chichi." She gave him the hat and turned to leave.
"Wait," said Piccolo. She turned back around.
"What?" She said.
"I'm taking Gohan with me," Piccolo said. "He displayed an enormous power earlier which, under the right training, will be a formidable force to reckon with when the Saiyans do arrive."
Bulma stared in disbelief at Gohan. She did sense something in him! Biting her lip, she looked back up at Piccolo.
"Chichi's going to blow a vessel," Bulma said as piccolo took Gohan from her. "Don't be too brutal, Piccolo. He's probably been pampered, so he will need to adjust."
"I'll train him in the most efficient way possible," Piccolo said coldly. "If he whines I'll just push him harder, but don't worry about him. He'll survive. You just worry about wishing his father back."
Bulma glared at him. He turned and flew off as Kuririn and Muten Roshi stared at the disappearing figure.
"How could you do that, Bulma?" Kuririn said in amazement. "Why did you just give Gohan over to him like that?"
"Because," Bulma snapped at him, "as frightening as Piccolo is, I don't think that he'll really hurt Gohan. Don't forget that this is Piccolo's planet too. He'll do his part to prepare for the arrival of those two monsters, and I think we should do the same. There are six more dragonballs out there and we'd better start collecting them."
"Well, even if Piccolo won't harm him, we still have to tell Chichi that her husband is dead, and her son was taken by Piccolo. She's going to fly off the deep end!" Kuririn whined.
"What do you mean 'we' still have to tell Chichi?" Bulma said. She and Muten Roshi eyed Kuririn slyly. "We only need one person to tell her."
"What do you..." Kuririn began. Then he realized what she was driving at. "Oh, no! Huh-uh! I won't do it! She'll kill me!" he exclaimed, backing away from Bulma.
"Oh, come on, Kuririn! Chichi likes you a lot! And besides, you're a highly trained martial arts expert. Do you mean to tell me that you're afraid of one little woman?" she chided him.
"If you mean Chichi you're damn right I am! I wouldn't cross her for anything!" Kuririn exclaimed. "If she's so insignificant why don't you tell her then?"
"Kuririn, I'm ashamed of you," Muten Roshi said, trying not to laugh. "That's not the attitude of a true warrior. I suppose all your training was a waste of time."
Kuririn could see that he was outnumbered. He gave an irritated sigh. "You're both weak!" he said angrily. "And you both owe me big!"
Bulma sighed. "Alright, fine. Just try to break it to her gently, and get the other two dragonballs from their house, will you please? I suppose she'll be willing to give them to you considering the circumstances."
Shaking his head in disgust, Kuririn flew off to carry out his unpleasant task. Bulma giggled as she watched him disappear in the distance.
"Poor Kuririn!" she said to Muten Roshi. "I wouldn't want to be in his shoes! I sure hope he forgives us for this!"
"Oh, don't worry. He'll have forgotten all about it soon. We'll all be too busy hunting dragonballs to dwell on things like that," Roshi said.
"I guess you're right," Bulma sighed, remembering the fun and danger they'd all found on their various dragonball excursions in the past. She decided that she would enjoy a new change of pace. She could keep her mind off Yamucha, and she could at least surprise Kuririn and Roshi with her fighting abilities this time. She decided that this would be the perfect excuse to reveal her power.
"Come on," Roshi said suddenly. "Let's go now. We might as well get prepared."
A thought occurred to Bulma as she glanced at Raditz one last time. "Hang on a second, Roshi," she said, running to Raditz' lifeless form. "I'd like to get a good look at this scouter of his," she explained, as she bent down and unfastened the gadget from the Saiyan's ear. She fumbled around with the buttons until a strange figure appeared on its screen.
"Hmmm..." she said, studying the odd characters. "Their number system must be different from ours. I'll have to reprogram this so that I can use it to measure ki like they do. Maybe we can gain an advantage if we know just what exactly they're relying on." She turned and slowly walked toward her air car, mumbling something about fancy internal circuitry.
Roshi followed her, chuckling. Bulma was in her element now. She would be busy for hours with that thing. Maybe he could finally get some peace and quiet. He didn't know it at the time, but he was wrong in that assumption.
On to the next Chapter!
