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Gine sleepily rolled over. The unfamiliar hardwood-floor she was on with the air mattress was enough to make her open her eyes. Then they shoot wide open in momentary panic and her tail bristled, seeing an empty and strange room she didn't recognize. Where the hell was she?!
But the adrenaline faded as quickly as it came, replaced with grogginess. Gine remembered now that she wasn't sleeping in either the tournament hotel or back at their home on Paozu.
She and the rest of the gang were on Master Roshi's island, or Kame House as it was called. The events of yesterday coming back to her as her drowsiness burned away, the tournament finals, Krillin's murder, Kakarot running off, King Piccolo, what they were going to do, and somewhere along the lines ending up here in the blowup bed in the upstairs guest room of Master Roshi's home.
Gine flew off the blankets and rolled out of the mattress, yawning deeply as she stretched. Gine noticed the other roll-out beds where everyone else slept in were empty, so she was the only one in the room. She then looked out the open window towards the sea. A warm breeze laced with a salty scent filling the room. Judging from the angle of sunlight coming in, it was almost midday.
She must have been out for twelve hours, but she didn't feel too well rested. The last several days of sleeping in strange locations and the exhausting drama of dealing with large amounts of people and the tournament seemed to have drained her quite a bit. And the new situation arising from Krillin's death and King Piccolo certainly didn't help, and her heart aching to know where her son was.
But all things considered, at least she got some amount of sleep. It was far more comfortable than the forced stasis of attack balls, that was for sure.
She got up and put her dress gi back on, taking in the sight of the sea surrounding the island. Gine had never seen the ocean up close before she followed Kakarot around the world towards the tournament. She was enchanted by how expansive, pleasant, and blue it was. She had seen many types of bodies of water that covered entire planets, but she had never seen something that gave a planet such a beautiful color and life. She was slightly jealous of Kakarot when he got to swim in it on this training lap around the globe, and she hoped she'll get to take a dip in it too sometime.
And the island too was something that Gine thought was quite cute. Her mind turned to her and Gohan's home in the mountains of Paozu, she thought it was truly isolated. But this, a tiny spit of land only big enough for this pink house in the middle of the vast expanse of the ocean, thousands of kilometers from anyone to bother them, was truly nice. Though she would've preferred the soul-cleansing, cool and crisp mountain air than the hot humidity the sea gave off.
With enough of gazing outside and fully dressed, Gine walked downstairs to where she heard conversation and smelled coffee...
...
"So, you're telling me that if you get all seven of these Dragon balls together, any wish you make comes true?" Asked Tien from the couch in the living room.
"Yep, but you only get one wish." Said Bulma, sipping her coffee while she worked on the new radar at the dining table. "So obviously we're going to use that wish to bring Krillin back to life."
She saw Gine as she got downstairs and smiled brightly. "Hey, Gine! Was just about to go wake you up. You've been out for quite a while, girl!"
"I have, huh?" Gine said wryly, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"Yep!" Bulma giggled, "Must be nice to not have to worry about bed hair, I bet!"
Gine lifted an eyebrow, "What about my hair?"
Bulma tried to explain. "Oh, you know, since your hair is so shaggy like Kakarot's."
Gine rolled her eyes up to the obsidian mop atop her head. She had no idea why human females like Bulma or Launch could be so obsessed with such trivial things like hair. So, she chuckled politely to go along with it. "Yeah, I guess so. One less thing to worry about."
Gine looked at what Bulma was working on and changed the subject. "How's the radar coming along?"
"I'm almost done, actually!" She said, "Just need to make a few more adjustments and we can head on out of here."
"That's good to hear." Gine said. Then she looked at Bulma closely, looking at the traces of dark circles under her eyes. "Have you been up all night?" She asked incredulously.
"Yep, time flies when I'm workin' on something important." She said with pride in her voice, and not taking her eyes off of her work.
Gine smiled genuinely, "I really appreciate you doing this, Bulma."
Bulma's face lit up. "Hey, don't sweat it! It's all to save the world, right?"
"Right." Gine nodded.
She then turned towards the rest of the gang sitting in the living room. Chi-Chi, Launch, Turtle, and Oolong were staring into a very primitive electronic screen box, or TV as Gohan said they were called. While he, Tien, Chiaotzu, Yamcha, Puar, and Roshi sat on the couches.
"Anything new?" She asked them as she grabbed herself some coffee.
They collectively shook their heads in 'no'. Gohan sat by Roshi and said, "Still no word from the news about anything regarding King Piccolo, so things are quiet for the time being."
Roshi nodded reluctantly, "And still no word about Kakarot either, so he probably hasn't returned to the tournament or come looking for us..."
Gine groaned inwardly, not appreciating Roshi's implication of what may have become of her son. She then saw Krillin's body lying on the floor with his hands clasped. She felt a stabbing pain in her heart at being reminded that this poor little boy was dead, but also how surreal it was that they we
re keeping him around to literally bring him back to life.
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Want to read more?
The next 10+ chapters are already available on my Patreon!
By joining, you'll get:
📖 Early access to future chapters
🗳️ Polls to shape the story
🎁 Exclusive content for Patrons
🔥 Bonus scenes & content you won't find anywhere else
👀 Don't fall behind—others are already ahead!
👉 patreon.com/FanfictionTakashi
(If link doesn't show, just search on Google: FanfictionTakashi Patreon)