Chapter 7 - The girl with the dragon taboo

The phone was silent now, producing only the occasional scratching sound, but Shu and Pilaf were still staring at it, transfixed as if it had just transmitted the voice of a wandering ghost.

"Is that yer friend, Pilaf?" asked the Ox King, putting down his huge mug of beer.

"Most certainly not!" snapped back Pilaf, and then, loudly enough that the microphones would catch his words, "She is a treacherous wench who abused our trust, and whose day of reckoning will eventually come! No punishment shall be enough to satisfy our righteous anger at this knave."

A giggle came from the speakers. "Keep dreaming, pipsqueak." Both Shu and the Ox King gasped in horror at the sheer disrespect. "You had your chance, and you lost it. I'm not going to make the mistake of giving you another. Any guesses as to why I am calling you from this phone?"

Silence fell on the scene, as the answer to that was way too obvious, and none too pleasant.

"What did you do to Mai?" finally asked Pilaf.

"She's fine, don't worry. We're not criminals. Unlike some other people hunting for the Dragon Balls these days, you know. She's just bound and gagged - we captured her after she barged into our base and tried to attack us."

"Lies! Mai was ordered to stay in the castle, and she's a loyal, trusted subject of ours who would never..."

"Uploading photo now." said Bulma, bored.

Pilaf ran to the plane, where the phone was physically located. Shu was staring at the screen already and nervously biting his thumb.

A picture had just arrived. It showed Mai tied to a chair, with a gag in her mouth, just as Bulma had said. She was awake and her eyes looked definitely extremely angry, but she did not struggle. Next to her was the boy with a monkey tail, the one who Bulma had brought along to the dinner at the castle but never said a word. Shu, having experienced his strength first hand, was not too surprised at Mai's lack of resistance. She must have realised with him keeping guard there was absolutely no point to it.

"So, I expect you to believe me now." continued Bulma.

Pilaf was struggling to put together a coherent sentence. "But when... how... why?"

"This afternoon, with only a few weapons and a lot of guts, and heck if I know." answered the other. "Spared us a lot of trouble, actually, since I was struggling to come up with a good plan to get my hands on the Dragon Ball you just nicked from the Ox King. Good job on that, by the way! You need to tell me how you did it."

The would be king emitted something like a choking noise. Shu reached to the console, pushed a button muting the loudspeaker, then grabbed the microphone. When Pilaf looked at him puzzlingly, he signed to wait, and let him handle this - with a small bow of the head for added courtesy.

"Shu here." he introduced himself, with a bit of a weak voice. "I will continue the negotiations on His Majesty's behalf."

"Shu?" Bulma paused for a bit, thinking. "Oh, right, the little clever guy. When this whole affair blows over, send a CV to us at Capsule Corporation. We have real use for talent, you know."

"I'm, uhm, lusingated by the offer." Pilaf shot him a deadly stare. "But also gravely offended that you would try to sway my undying loyalty to His Majesty's cause." he hurried to add.

"Well, I had to try. The offer is always valid."

"You said you, uh, had no plan. But now you have one?"

"Well, of course. You will give us the Dragon Ball, in exchange for Mai."

Shu frowned. "And what if we, uhm, don't agree? Will you hurt her?"

"My, no. We will just hand her to the police. We have footage of her attacking us, and we also have a few other interesting stories to tell about you guys. I'm sure enough evidence to warrant an investigation from the royal secret services."

At this point, Pilaf was sweating cold. The Ox King joined them, but he still wasn't really getting what was going on. Chichi diligently walked at his side, equally clueless.

"If you won't hurt her," said Shu, slowly, "what stops us from just using the Dragon Balls and having Pilaf become King right away? At which point he can simply pardon her."

"Shu, don't give ideas to the malcontent!" shrieked Pilaf, but the phone paused for a few seconds.

Finally, Bulma spoke again. "If I don't remember badly, Mai damaged the door to your treasure room when she captured me. That means you need to go back from Mount Frypan to your castle, then crack into the vault, and recover the Dragon Ball before you can make your wish, and that's if you already found our five. All we need to do is go to the police in the nearby village. An accusation of high treason guarantees an emergency direct line to the King's office, and there's a Royal Defence Force base within a couple hours of flight from your castle. Are you ready to take that bet?"

"Give us one minute to discuss this." Shu muted the microphone on their side and turned to the others. "I don't think this, uhm, sounds like a sure plan for her. But it's a risk. She's saying the truth about the army base, at least. And opening that door will be hard, and we don't know if Mai found the other five Balls before leaving."

"What was she thinking!" Pilaf was pacing back and forth, in anger, randomly shaking his fists for seconds at a time. "Now we're in trouble because of her."

"A King that don't protect his subjects," proudly said the Ox King, "is no King at all."

"Sure, sure." said Pilaf. "But what should we do? We can't throw everything away now!"

"She said she thinks we 'nicked' the Ball from the Ox King." intervened Shu. "It makes sense, she saw it moving from Mount Frypan on her radar, but she doesn't know we allied with him. Your Majesty..."

Pilaf turned his head.

"...not Your Majesty, the other one..."

The Ox King followed suit.

"...this woman has a very strong fellow with her. I saw him smash through a coconut shell with a single finger without breaking a sweat. Do you think you would have a chance against him?"

The other's roaring laughter was almost earth-shaking. "What do ya take me for, little ninja? I can beat that nobody like it's nothin'. I trained under the great Muten Roshi, the strongest martial artist there is! I was his second best pupil!"

Shu frowned. "How many of you there were?"

"Two." answered the giant man. "Why?"

The other sighed. "Never mind. You do look quite strong. So..."

"Not another word, lad!" the Ox King grinned ferociously. "I know what ya mean. We'll go find these thieves of yours, and I'll get some rust off my axe. Ya get what I'm sayin'?"

Shu's back was coursed by a shiver. It was unsettling to unleash this fury on someone else, when he had feared for his life being on the bad end of it just a few hours earlier. Still, it was a plan. Possibly even a good one.

"Then, with your permission, King Pilaf, we will agree with a rendez-vous point with Bulma to give her the Dragon Ball. I will take the plane and go back to the castle, while you and the Ox King go meet them. And well, you need to just free Mai, and buy me some time to retrieve the Balls."

"That sounds like a... really good plan." approved Pilaf. "Go ahead."

"Ya don't need to worry!" the Ox King laughed. "We won't just buy time. I'll throw in a few heads into that dowry of yers!"

Chichi, next to him, tugged gently at his leg to draw his attention.

"Oh, right." he scratched his beard. "Can't bring ma' daughter along though, wouldn't want her see all that, ya know, she's impressionable and all. Can I leave her with ya?"

Shu was a bit taken aback. "It's a great responsibility, Your Majesty, but sure. You can trust me with her life."

The other laughed. "Oh, I don't worry about that. She knows how to take care of herself, she can kick yer ass alright! Just keep her entertained so she doesn't get bored while daddy's working."

The ninja sighed. Of course she was a monster too. Guess that weird blade on her helmet wasn't just for show. It did look uncomfortably sharp.

"Is that okay with you, princess?" he asked. The little girl nodded.

"Let's do it then." Shu said. "Give me one minute."

He went back to the phone, re-opened the conversation, and accepted all of Bulma's conditions. A meeting place was agreed upon, at a certain distance north of the mountain. It would take some time to get there, but as it turned out, the Ox King had a car that could take them there in less than a dozen hours. That was not as fast as the plane Pilaf and Shu had come with, but it was perfect, as it would give him more time to go back to the castle and search. They didn't mention any of this to Bulma of course - just lied about their original means of transportation and time of arrival. They agreed to meet the next day. Given the urgency of the matter, the Ox King insisted that they waste no time (his exact words involved something about his axe being thirsty for blood), and him and Pilaf immediately took the car and drove off into the distance.

Shu was left alone with Chichi, who was staring at him up and down - especially his ears and tail.

"We have to go too." he said, suddenly. "Is something the matter, princess?"

She said nothing, but looked a bit restless, clutching her hands and shrugging.

The dog tried a smile. "You can tell me. I will not get angry or anything, whatever it is."

"Mr. Shu," she finally said, looking at him with shining eyes, "you look very fluffy. Can I pet you?"

She had zoomed through the perimeter. The base was protected by motion sensors, easily planted in the terrain, but no defences. Could she have sneaked through instead, kept the advantage of surprise? Unlikely, and it was the middle of the day - had she taken too long, she would have been spotted anyway. For the same reason, attacking from a distance wouldn't have done much good either - all they needed to do was grab their Dragon Balls and run, they had no reason to fight her.

She went in ready to the idea that shooting the boy would not kill him - but still, it would hurt him and slow him down, so it was a tactical option. She just had not to rely on him going down permanently. Of course, since the sensors had rung the alarms, the boy would get the jump on her. That was expected. It was about taking him out, there and then, and she could have just done whatever she wanted.

But the boy had expected it too. He knew the gun would hurt him, and avoided being hit. One bullet he sent back - hell, it ricocheted on his skin - and Mai was so surprised she got grazed. But she kept firing in a pattern that would force the boy to keep his distance. They were fighting inside the house, and the kid was trying to keep her at bay while not damaging the room and furniture - guess he was worried about his little girlfriend getting angry - and that was really too much, he would have to make a mistake while balancing so much. She had managed to corner him using her guns and then a swift kick to the solar plexus, he was back to the wall, no immediate way to escape, right in time - three seconds earlier, preparing for this instant, she had pulled the pin of a grenade. She threw it. It should have been over.

And yet the boy had simply adjusted his speed and kicked the grenade to explode out of the window, all so damn fast she didn't even see the movement. Next, the punch had her bent over, and she let her weapon fall. She was tied, gagged, photographed, taken as a hostage.

All Mai could think about, through the rage and humiliation, was that fight. Play it again and again in her mind. What could she have done differently, what would have made her win.

For the first time in her life, she hated the answer that stared at her with mocking eyes: nothing at all.

He was too strong. She could never win, not in a hundred, a thousand, a million different scenarios. He was too far above.

Unable to move or talk, she only raised her eyes at the kid, that clueless kid who was guarding her with an air of innocence about him. She looked at him with pure, unadulterated hate. I will defeat you. And I will kill you.

"You were strong," suddenly said Goku, as if he both could read Mai's mind, and was unable to understand her feelings at all, "possibly the strongest I've fought yet besides my grandpa."

That little fucker.

"On guard, Goku!" called Bulma. She was checking the horizon with a pair of binoculars just a few metres away. "I see a car. They're coming."

Goku walked up to Bulma, shielded his eyes from the sun, trying to peer in the same direction. There was a cloud of dust where the car was racing, but making up the occupants was difficult.

"I think I see someone big." he commented. "Neither of them should be big."

"Wait a second... yes, you're right, there's a proper mountain of a man in that car, no wonder it's a convertible, he wouldn't have fit in a normal one. Ok, no, he's not in the car any more, he jumped down..."

Bulma paled.

"He's running towards us, and he's faster than the damn car! And he's got a weapon, and a horned helmet! Goku, I read the stories, that's the Ox King!"

Goku extracted his pole and entered a combat stance. The giant enemy was now less than one kilometre away, and quickly eating up that distance.

"How did they get him on board?" the girl lowered the binoculars now, he was close enough to see with the naked eye. "Goku, you can beat him, right?"

The boy had a deadly serious expression. His eyes were focused, his body tensed up like a bowstring before the shot.

"I don't know," he muttered, "he's running as fast as I would. Bulma, you'd better withdraw. I can't worry about hurting you if I need to win this."

Bulma walked a few steps back, then turned around. "What if you lose?"

"Then I'm afraid it won't matter either way." he concluded matter-of-factly.

Hearing Goku speak that way was definitely a sign that things were extremely serious, she decided. Her brilliant plan was about to backfire spectacularly. Bulma ran to Mai, and pulled her up from the chair - her legs were tied loosely, so she could walk, at least - and ordered the woman to follow her, at gunpoint, to a far enough area in the opposite direction with respect to the one from which the enemy was arriving. Mai obeyed without resistance, but purposefully took her sweet time walking even more slowly than her bonds required. Bulma cursed her inability to do more than that, but she didn't want to get too much on Goku's bad side, since he had been very adamant about what he considered to be fair treatment for a prisoner. If he went down, though, she resolved she would not have a second thought taking Mai outright hostage to save her life if it came to it. He wouldn't be able to complain at that point, anyway.

"YER DEAD!" roared a voice that would have been even deeper if not for the Doppler effect due to how fast its source was coming closer; and one moment later, a giant axe slammed into the ground right were Goku was.

Good thing, he wasn't there any more. Neither, basically, was the ground, as the strike disintegrated the bedrock itself up to a good metre of depth, leaving a crater in its wake. The kid had jumped sideways, and pushed himself against a nearby rock, towards the Ox King, aiming carefully at the shoulder of the arm that was holding his axe - in a blind spot his weapon couldn't reach. It would have been a potentially incapacitating blow, but the man didn't fall for it, and raised his left hand to meet Goku's feet, fingers open, to grab his legs. But Goku did not just gain forward momentum from his push earlier - he had gained spin, too. He grabbed the giant finger in front of him and pivoted up, towards his head. A well-placed kick hit the man's helmet, and sent him recoiling back one metre, but did not do any further damage. Goku pulled back quickly and landed on his feet, at a safe distance, catching his breath a bit.

The Ox King growled, as the helmet had been dented and turned around by the hit, and he now couldn't see anything as his oculars weren't well positioned any more. He ripped it off his head with his free hand and threw it to the ground. Then turned around to watch Goku.

"Yer a strong kid," he said, raising his axe again, "where'd ya learn to fight like that?"

There was no room in Goku's mind for distractions, so it's not like he chose not to answer - he barely heard the question, registered it as irrelevant to the immediate needs of combat, and put it aside. His opponent was strong and resistant, but also somewhat slow both in body and in mind. That was an opening he could exploit. He remembered something his grandfather would say - that the human eye usually could barely discern movement as fast as half the time it takes to blink, the rest was all your head trying to figure out what happened in between. So he started running around. Jumping in irregular patterns, but with fixed points he would return to and stay in for a long enough time that the image ought to impress itself in the brute's retinas - just before zooming around, and reaching another spot, and another, and another, and repeating the game.

"I got ya!" said his enemy, and he swung his axe in a large arc, hitting Goku - except it wasn't Goku at all, just the illusion of his presence. The axe seemed to him like it was passing right through a ghost. His inertia led him to spin around, and then he saw the real Goku, and he reacted, sure he could recover his balance before he would get in range to hit him, but the kid waved his stick and screamed.

"Stick, get longer!"

The pole extended itself suddenly, and now Goku was in range, much faster than anticipated. It hit the Ox King violently between neck and shoulder. Threw him off, even - but again, it did barely any damage at all to his massive body. Yet, even without suffering much from the hit, the man stopped, as if stunned, and stared at Goku and his magic stick.

"Did ya get that stick from someone called Son Gohan?" he asked.

The name managed to get Goku's attention. "Yes," he answered, "he gave it to me. How could you guess?"

The Ox King frowned. "That makes no sense. He would not give it to just some kid. Tell the truth, ya stole it!"

"I do not steal stuff." replied Goku back, with a tinge of annoyance. "He gave it to me and taught me how to use it when teaching me how to fight. He thought I would need it more than him because I was the one who went hunting the most. He was my grandpa, though I know at least I was adopted by him, so I might as well have called him my father. Did you know him?"

The other blinked in disbelief. "Yer Gohan's adopted son? Of all the things... but it makes sense, it makes sense! I see his teachings in the way ya fight! Always a smart one, he was, always tricking me, and ya too..."

"If you wish," continued the kid, "I can give you information I could only possibly know if I did truly live with him to convince you. For example, when he bathed I always noticed he had a scar on his left thigh. It looked like a cut, but it was healed pretty nicely."

The Ox King relaxed completely and broke into laughter. "Boy, this axe gave him that scar! Bit of a drunken scuffle, nothing serious, we were just having some good fun. That is news to me! Ya gotta know, me and Gohan were both disciples of this master, the best martial artist there is, Muten Roshi..."

"Would that be a bald old man with a turtle shell on his back?" suggested Goku, raising an eyebrow.

"The very same! Ya know him too? World's really small, I tell ya. Heck, if I knew ya could have found him, perhaps he coulda done a better job with ma' castle. Well, that's that now. I spent the best years of ma' life with ya grandpa! We were great friends."

Goku was about to point out that it was funny Son Gohan had never mentioned him instead, but didn't get to before Pilaf finally reached the scene with the car, braking down right next to them. "Ox King! What is going on?"

"Ah, Pilaf, ya wouldn't guess! This kid is the adopted son of ma' old comrade, who studied martial arts with me!"

"Fascinating." grumbled the imp. "And this changes the situation how?"

"Well, I can't right kill him, ya see. Out of respect." the man scratched his beard. "But they still have yer friend. Say, kid, wouldn't ya maybe let her go?"

"It is not only up to me," said Goku, calmly sheathing his stick, "but even if it were, I don't know if I would do it. I still do not believe letting you gather the Dragon Balls and become king would be a good idea."

"Why? Ya want to become king instead?"

"Far from it. I am simply unconvinced of this individual's suitability as a ruler."

"That would be 'His Majesty' for you." grumbled Pilaf under his breath.

"No, it wouldn't," rebutted Goku, "at least not until you're officially crowned."

Pilaf went back to mumbling complaints, but soon his disdain found a far better (and less scary) target. Bulma was slowly coming forward, with Mai in tow, as she realised that the entire situation seemed to be aimed for a non-violent resolution.

"You!" he screamed, running up to her. "You peasant! You traitor! You double-crossing, sneaky, disloyal..."

"Oh, do shut up." snapped back Bulma, rolling her eyes. "If I had to begin with my complaints about you and your little posse we'd be here all day. Let the people who actually matter talk. Goku! Care explaining what is going on?"

Pilaf made some incoherent rage sounds, then turned to Mai and asked her if she was fine. She merely answered with a quick nod, and not much fuss.

"The Ox King was a friend of my grandpa's!" shouted Goku. "He does not want to hurt me, so we may be coming to an agreement."

"Well, that is... good, I guess. And rather lucky. Do carry on!" encouraged Bulma - still from afar, and immediately retreating to a position from where she could hear the discussion without being immediately in harm's way if things went south.

"Alright, so," Goku said, "I think we're in a position of stall. The Ox King does not want to kill me."

The Ox King nodded.

"Pilaf can't kill me."

Pilaf's eyelids twitched, and he added nothing.

"And I certainly do not want to kill or hurt any of you. We have competing interests, and need to find some sort of mutually beneficial deal we can all agree to."

The Ox King scratched his head. "Boy, yer making ma' head hurt more than yer kick did, and that was some kick. Why don't ya just leave us yer prisoner, and we go all our ways? Like friends, ya know."

"I already said why I can't," said calmly the kid, "but more than that, while I don't like the idea of depriving people of their freedom, Mai was violent and put us into danger. She attacked us without warning, tried to steal from us and possibly kill us. We have no reason to trust her and leave her free. Bulma suggested we could in exchange for the Dragon Ball, but I am not sure this is morally acceptable either. Not unless we have a real guarantee that she will not go ahead to hurt us or anyone else."

"Well, yer right on that, boy. Nobody likes a thief." the man's attention turned to Pilaf, his voice now dangerously irritable "Pilaf! Ya ordered that woman to steal from the boy?"

"Not at all!" replied Pilaf, apologetic. "She was supposed to guard our castle, and study the phrasing of our wish to the dragon. That she left on her own whim is a grave violation of our wishes, and one she will be severely punished for after returning to our service!"

"That is slightly reassuring." Goku nodded, pensive. "But then, don't you think it would be fair for you to take responsibility for the actions of your subject, and repay us to free her by giving us the Dragon Ball, as we asked?"

"He does make sense." admitted the Ox King. "Ya didn't explain the situation well when we came here, Pilaf."

"There was nothing to explain! We have a birthright to our role as King, and we are but trying to fulfil that destiny! Some untoward actions might be necessary, on that road - and yet, we did not order our subject to do anything as underhanded as this. We would ask her why did she think it a good idea, but as you can see..."

"Right! Can't ya free her mouth so we can hear what she has to say, the poor girl!" shouted the Ox King towards Bulma.

"No can't do!" answered the girl. "Sorry, but she may have intel we don't want you to know about us. I'm not going to ungag her until we come to a final agreement. That is, until you realise that your only option is giving us the Dragon Ball. But carry on!"

"Pilaf, I see why ya don't like the girl." mumbled the giant, hunching back next to his co-conspirator. "She's a real pest. Ya think she'd have less spunk when I can split her in two like a twig."

"Right? Right?" said Pilaf, nodding enthusiastically. Goku merely sighed.

"I think she's right, though." he said. "While she really could be more... delicate about it."

"Listen, why are ya even working for her? She's weak like a squirrel. I can teach ya more fighting, like your grandpa did. We can just get rid of her and make our Pilaf king, what d'ya say?"

"I do not work for her." Goku frowned. "I work with her. I have my own motives. And I do not like killing, or your apparent eagerness for using it as a solution to your problems. The strength that comes from martial arts should be used with responsibility, for self betterment and to pursue moral goods, not to enforce and perpetuate oppression."

The Ox King sighed. "Yer Gohan's son alright. Sounds like he's talking right through ya right now. Where is he now by the way?"

The kid winced. "He's... not here any more."

"Oh. I'm sorry, kid. He was a good friend. I wish I could have spoken with him one last time. But for ya, he must have been much more."

"Yes." Goku lowered his eyes, hiding his expression from those strangers. "He was."

"Pilaf, ya see how it is. Ya can't really fault him, he's a really good kid. What ya wanna do?"

"I will remind you," hissed Pilaf, "that if I don't get to become king, your daughter that you went as far as making me sign an actual prematrimonial contract about does not get to become queen!"

"Ya came asking for her hand!" roared the other in protest. "And ya said ya could become king! Ya didn't mention this kid! Don't make me use ma' axe!"

"No axe using, please." pleaded Goku.

"Well, what if we give them the Dragon Ball?" Pilaf calmed down significantly upon the mention of weaponry being involved in the debate, "They will only have the one, and we will have the remaining six. We will go nowhere. What good is it even for them?"

To this, Goku lifted a finger. "Actually..."

"Goku!" called him Bulma, alarmed.

"...for the sake of fairness in this negotiation..."

She now was outright running towards him. "Don't you dare! Do you know how much effort did it cost me to..."

"...you should probably know, we already have all the other Dragon Balls too." concluded the kid.

Castle dungeons, Treasure Room, two days before, 11:27 PM

"Bulma Briefs, the game is over! Leave the Dragon Ball where it is, take the elevator, toss any weapons you have on the ground and come out with your hands behind your head!"

Well, that did it. Bulma decided she had to take the risk, and hope her work was good enough to fool whatever safeties were in place. She opened her belt bag, extracted the spherical device, a modified magnetron identical to the one she had set up earlier in their bedroom, and turned it on with the flick of a switch. A faint LED glow confirmed the thing was working. Carefully, she approached the platform where the Dragon Ball was set up with both hands, and then in an extremely nerve-wracking instant she swapped the real Ball for the simulacrum. The weight was approximately the same, and hopefully, the signal meant to fool any radar was good enough to fool the alarms too.

Nothing happened.

Bulma sighed in relief. She slipped the Dragon Ball into her bag - now lined with metallic mesh cannibalised from the ovens she had disassembled, to shield it from detection by the enemy radar - and closed it. Now came the part where she had to confront the angry armed mercenary and somehow manage not to get shot. What was worse, the communicator seemed not to work underground, so she needed to get out of the elevator before she could call help. She was not looking forward to any of that, but hopefully she could talk her way into a stall long enough that Goku would catch up...

Ground floor, Throne Room, one day before, 11:45 AM

After rummaging through all of the stuff left by Bulma Briefs and companion in their room, Mai had found only five capsules that could possibly contain the Dragon Balls. She handled them carefully and took them downstairs, to the throne room, the only one that she trusted as having enough empty space for what she needed to do.

If one of the capsules contained the Dragon Balls, Pilaf had suggested in a rare flash of insight that one of the others, or even all of them, could be booby-trapped, and she agreed wholeheartedly that was a possibility. That would be an easy way to get a good shot at knocking down an enemy who tried stealing them. So she put as much distance as possible between her and her target area, turned on the ventilation systems to disperse any gases that may be freed by the traps, and prepared to open them. She expected any traps to be incapacitating but not lethal - after all, mistakes are always possible, and dying by falling for your own trick is not a very desirable outcome.

She clicked one of the capsules, and tossed it as far as she could. After the usual puff of smoke, a cache smashed against the floor, opened up, and a wardrobe worth of clothes exploded out of it. There were so many, it was hard to imagine they could possibly be justified by a trip any shorter than multiple years. Mai went on to try the other capsules. Three went on with similar results - one was full of lingerie, another of books and magazines, and a third one of assorted electronic components.

Mai weighed the last capsule in her hand. Either Bulma said the truth, and there was a 20% probability that she'd end up with this outcome, or she lied. Considering the character of who they were dealing with, the likelihood of the latter option seemed overwhelming to her at this point. She pushed the button and tossed it. One second later, she was looking at a collection of enough optic discs to store any movie ever produced.

The Dragon Balls were nowhere to be found, and the radar still obstinately reported them as being in the castle. If the signal could be faked, she realised, that meant the one in the treasure room wasn't necessarily safe either - but she couldn't go and check, since the elevator lock was still busted.

Without wasting a moment, Mai went to grab a few weapons, some supplies, then opened up a capsule jet, jumped in and piloted it at top speed towards the position where Shu had sent his drone to invite Bulma and Goku to the castle, hoping their base would still be there.

Moving to the new location had taken a while. It was further north, closer to Bulma and Goku's base, in an unmarked spot in the middle of the wilderness. When they got there, Goku quickly dug a hole with his bare hands where Bulma directed him to. She was still supervising him, while keeping Mai under watch and close enough to both of them. Pilaf and the Ox King observed from afar.

"I'm still not over it!" she said, bitter. "Why did you have to go and tell them?"

"It was the honest thing to do, since we were getting to a deal." replied Goku, while going through dirt and sand like a drill, without breaking a sweat. "And we were reaching a stall, because they thought the Dragon Balls would never be used."

"You mean this way, they will think that since we will use them, they will scatter around the world, and they will at least get another fair chance next year?"

"That's what I told them, yes." the kid raised his head from his work. His hands had just hit on a plastic container. "Won't they?"

"With me having one year of prep time?" Bulma chuckled and shrugged. "I mean... they can try."

"You know," Goku quickly dug around the container, freeing it from the ground, "I am beginning to question whether I should be helping you at all at this point."

"Aww, don't be like that. I'm not a villain."

"I do not think anyone truly is. But you can act like one, at times."

He pulled the cache aboveground, and opened it. The inside was lined with more metallic mesh of the sort Bulma had taken from the ovens. In it lay five of the Dragon Balls, the ones they had collected and hidden there on their way to Pilaf's castle, before even entering his home turf. The sixth, that Bulma had taken from his treasury, was still in her belt bag.

Dragging the balls with them, they came closer to the two self-proclaimed kings.

"So you lied about putting the Balls in a capsule." grunted Pilaf. "In fact, is it even possible?"

"I do not know, and I strongly advice against it." replied Bulma. "I did not try. But if whatever binds magic to the Balls is in any way similar to what binds a soul, or vital energy, to a living creature, then I think there could be a real risk of breaking them for good if you did."

Pilaf gulped.

"I tell you this," continued Bulma, "because in the event of you getting your hands on a Ball in the future, I think it's in our common interest that you do not try. Worst case scenario, we both lose forever what we want."

"We will take your advice in... due consideration." he mumbled in reply.

A ringing sound came from his pocket, and Pilaf picked up a cell phone. Bulma pointed to her ear with one hand while waving her gun with the other, and Pilaf put the call on loudspeaker, with an annoyed moan.

"Shu here," said the voice of the caller, "you will not believe it, Your Majesty, but I have managed to break into the treasury and, well, the Ball is... the Ball has..."

"Been replaced by some kind of dummy that did not however trigger the alarms?" finished Pilaf for him. "Yes, we are aware of that."

"Oh, you are?" Shu stopped for a while, surprised. "I really do not know how it was possible. The device itself is remarkably ingenious - it should not have been even possible to modify the resonance frequency of a magnetron, but apparently using capsule circuitry whoever built this was clever enough to..."

"Will you just stop praising the enemy?" snapped the other, irritated. "Yes, we were duped on all fronts. We know."

"I apologise, Your Majesty."

"It's fine, my dear Shu. Just stand by for further orders."

"So, now, what do we do?" intervened the Ox King. "Yer going to free Pilaf's companion?"

"In exchange for the Dragon Ball." replied Bulma. "As agreed."

"That does not suffice!" screamed Pilaf. "What if you wish for yourself to become king instead? Or something else that will get in our way."

"I can vouch that Bulma mostly wants to see if the Dragon works, and her wish is rather inoffensive," Goku said, stepping in between the two, "and if she agrees, I could actually explain..."

"Over my dead body!" she shouted.

The kid sighed. "...it's inoffensive."

"And what guarantee do we have that you will not denounce us to the usurper?" inquired further Pilaf, suspicious.

"I'm afraid you will have to take our word for it. As I am sure the Ox King can guarantee, my grandfather was a person who took his promises very seriously, and he taught me to do the same. And after this is over, Bulma wants me to cooperate with a certain project of hers, which means I can also put as a condition that she keeps hers, too."

"Fine by me." the girl shrugged. "It's not like I'd want to solve the issue by calling the cops either, really. It would be a bit anticlimactic. But I don't want any of you around when I summon the dragon! No telling whether the blue imp there will have a sudden impulse to just run to it and express his wish before I get mine. And Goku, you go with them to keep an eye on what they do."

Pilaf's face became purple with outrage to this, but Shu's voice, from the still open call, came first, stopping it. "May I suggest then that we set up, uhm, a camera or something, to record the moment miss Briefs expresses her wish? That would work as a confirmation of it being innocuous, and it would be really useful to just capture some footage of the dragon itself."

Everyone nodded to this extremely reasonable request, including Goku, except of course for Bulma.

"What part of over my dead body did you all not get!" she shrieked. "Goku, do you want me to die of embarrassment?"

"Why is it that embarrassing?" he asked, candidly.

"We can assure you," said Pilaf gravely, "that after you lied to us, stole from us, took one of our subjects hostage, and delayed our ascension to the throne by one year with your treacherous trickery just to pursue whatever your capricious desires are, our opinion of you can not fall any lower, regardless of what your wish is."

Bulma threw her hands into the air. "Ok, fine! Just set up the damn camera, let's do the exchange, then I want you all out of my hair."

The exchange was rather unceremonious, being almost all parties involved severely displeased by at least some details of the overall agreement. Pilaf handed over the Dragon Ball reluctantly, and Bulma had to wrestle it out of his hand as he didn't really want to let it go. Mai's hands were freed and she was pushed towards Pilaf and company, without any of her weapons or gear. Bulma made it an explicit condition that her gag be removed only once she was out of her hearing range. After her health was ascertained, and she shot her fair amount of angry looks at Bulma, they were given a capsule containing a small jet, to use to get away from the place. Bulma would time ten minutes before summoning the dragon, and Goku had to guarantee that they flew in a straight line for at least that long. It would have been ideal if he were the one piloting, but of course, he didn't know how to do that, so that wasn't an option. They decided they would simply fly straight north on autopilot, and since Pilaf refused to do any more piloting work now that he had his subject back, Mai was put in the seat for any emergencies. Bulma explained to Goku how to check that the route was correct, and that she wasn't playing any tricks, by looking at the compass. Worst case scenario, explained Bulma with a chillingly cheerful smile, he was surely sturdy enough to survive a fall from cruising height, which is more than could be said about Pilaf or Mai. Goku frowned at the suggestion but said nothing, and accepted that he'd at least check the direction. The company got on the jet, Mai and Goku sitting in front, Pilaf barely fitting under the hunched mass of the Ox King which took most of the backseat space, and they flew off. Thirty seconds later, according to the agreed terms, Mai's gag ought to have been removed, and Bulma wondered if that was just the wind she was hearing, or if the distance had still not been enough. She sat alone, in the middle of the wasteland, on a rock, with seven glowing magic spheres in front of her, and a chronometer in her hand.

The Dragon Balls were glowing softly and in synch. They also emitted a slight hum that they never did when alone - as if they were resonating together in some mysterious way. It was like the power inside them was pulsing, and pushing to be freed.

Bulma felt a pang of awe and fear. She had already seen and manipulated magic, but this felt a step up. This was nigh omnipotence, laying at her feet. She had not really stopped to think about it while gathering them, and now the full weight of it struck her.

The chronometer buzzed. Ten minutes had passed. Slowly, Bulma got to her feet, put the watch in her pocket, and extended her arms and hands over the seven Balls. She wasn't sure this was necessary, but for such a momentous occasion, it surely felt right.

"O powerful dragon Shenron," she said, loud and clear, "come forth, and grant my wish!"