***

Vegeta and Bulma stood alone at the top of the entrance, the humid air blowing wind in their faces, the strange redness of the sky darkening to a deep purple. Neither said a thing as they both pondered their own private thoughts. At last, Bulma turned to Vegeta and broke the silence.

"We have to find him."

Vegeta scowled as deeply as he could.

"I don’t need your help." She said firmly in response to his scowl.

He turned to her and rolled his eyes sardonically. "Right. I’m sure you know every nook and cranny of R’haksin, don’t you? I’m sure you know what not to touch and what to avoid." He looked out over the vast, sloping red hills and sharp jagged mountain peaks. "What would you do if you were to fall into a deep crevasse?"

"Point taken." She said shortly. "Will you help me, then? As much as you hate the ‘idiot lint ball’, will you help me find him?"

"Only because I know you wont shut the hell up about it until we do."

"Thanks, I think."

"So, exactly where are we supposed to start looking, then?" he asked. "Do you have any idea how large this Planet is? He could be anywhere. Anywhere. For all we know, he could be dead already. What the hell are the odds of finding an eight inch ball of belly fuzz in such a huge wasteland as this?"

Bulma shrugged helplessly. "I don’t know!" she cried. "I don’t assume he would have gone far. And from the sort of creature he is, he was probably afraid, and went in search of a dark, quiet place. He wouldn’t be wandering around in the open."

Vegeta snorted, although he agreed entirely. "You’re right, I suppose." He mumbled. "So then where would a dark quiet place be?"

"I don’t know; you’re the one who’s been here before. You know more about it than I do."

Vegeta waved a hand over his shoulder and started walking right. He was starting toward a hilly path that seemed to stretch on forever.

"I think I might know." He said over his shoulder. "Let’s go."

* * *

Bulma halted in front of the cave entrance, shaking her head profusely. "Nah-uh." She said. "No way am I setting foot in there." She warily eyed the blackened rock and the great, gaping maw that served as the cave’s ‘front door’. Wind whistled out of it at alarming speeds, creating a shrill high-pitched wail that made her legs feel like Jell-O.

Vegeta turned and scoffed at her. "Really, woman. One second you’re all frantic about finding this little shit head, and then the second something scary steps in your way, you’re ready to forget all about him."

Bulma stepped forward on the red grass and placed a hand on the cool jagged stone of the cave, running her hands over it. She peered inside but only an impenetrable darkness stared back.

"I am not going to forget all about him." she said. "It’s just…we don’t know what kind of slimy things are in there!"

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "What is it with women and everything being ‘slimy’?" he folded his arms. "For Kami’s sake, I’m going to be with you."

"You say it as though that solves everything."

"Doesn’t it, though?" he smirked. "There’s nothing in there that could possibly harm me. If you’re worrying about getting eaten or something foolish like that, then you can stop. I wont let anything like that happen." He paused. "Unless of course, you’d be as stupid as to wander from my side."

"I wouldn’t do that!" Bulma cried defensively. "Do you think I’d be brave enough to?"

A snort. "No."

So, with that settled, the strangely inseparable (and angry) pair walked forward into the night of the cave.

* * *

Ghost chirped uneasily and fluffed his fin-arms in the air, trying to bring some warmth into his tiny body. He had wandered out of Koru’s arms sometime during their time together, and had wandered out of The Dungeons, up a hill, and into a cave. Curious, he had wandered deep into the cave’s passageways and had finally become lost. Afraid and alone, he curled up into a ball and wedged himself into a corner. Somewhere deep inside his mind he thought absently of the blurred, black and white figure that he had learned to associate with his mother. Bits and pieces of scent color and sound drifted through his small mind and made an affirmation; he was without the one he knew as mother. He was entirely alone, and had no way of knowing how to escape from the darkness.

Entirely alone.

Except for the small shuffling noise in the corner.

Ghost perked his ears up and chirped inquisitively. What was that noise? His tiny brain had no way of asserting if it was a good or bad noise, and as any curious animal would do, Ghost waddled cautiously out of his corner and toward the source of the noise. His little nostrils filled with scent, and tiny particles in his brain told him the scent was animal, as was he, and young and male as was he. He drew a tiny breath and chirped a greeting. A small grunt sounded back. He wiggled his little arms in happiness.

He chirped and poked his head around the corner.

* * *

Bulma hated the cave seconds upon entering it. Which had been, by now, a good 20 minuets.

Her first reason being that because of how insanely creepy and dark it was she was forced to walk as closely as she could to Vegeta, who she was positively furious with. Her second reason being that she had no way of knowing who or what was dwelling inside. The third reason being that it was terribly cold. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms frantically in an attempt to keep warm. The bodysuit did not do much to conserve heat.

Now they were so far and deep into the cave that Bulma was starting to wonder if they were going to get out. Judging by Vegeta’s calm exterior she didn’t think there was much to worry about; he seemed to know exactly where he was going, as he chose one direction to the next.

"Vegeta…"

"Hn?" Vegeta’s eyes flashed to hers in the darkness.

"Do you…think you could…I don’t know…smell him out?"

Vegeta slowed. "Woman, I’m not a bloodhound."

"I know. I just thought that with your ‘superb Sayajin senses’ you would be able to smell if he was here or not." Bulma didn’t try to hide the sarcasm from her voice, and Vegeta knew it. Sending her a dark look, he ignored her and they continued walking on in determined silence.

After a few moments Bulma’s sharp ears picked up something. She swiveled and turned in the direction of the noise. "Wait…" Bulma stopped. "Did you hear that?"

Vegeta came to a stop beside her. He listened for a moment then shook his head. "No. What?"

Bulma shushed him with a finger to her lips. To her left, she could hear the absolute faintest chirping sounds. Ghost! Could it be him? A hopeful smile spread across her face.

"You can’t hear that?" she began walking in the direction of the chirping. "I think its him!"

"Woman, don’t!" Vegeta called after her but she had already started running toward the noise, hopeful that it was her beloved fur ball. Her form faded into the darkness within seconds, and he cursed loudly and gave chase.

It didn’t take long for him to find her.

A short scream burst from Bulma’s lips as she came hurtling out of the darkness, Ghost clutched to her chest, his gigantic blue eyes as wide as saucers. She slammed into Vegeta, her body shaking, her eyes wide with fright.

"What!?" he cried, looking into the darkness after her. He ducked when an enormous clawed paw swung out of the darkness straight at his head. He ducked and yanked Bulma down with him, the current of air from the attack rushing over their heads. He straightened after a second’s pause and pushed her ahead of him, telling her to run.

"What the hell is it?" she screamed. Ghost was madly digging at her, as though trying to make himself disappear entirely from view within her arms. A thunderous roar filled the cave, so loud that Bulma nearly dropped Ghost to cover her ears. A pair of slitted, orange eyes peered out of the darkness and the rock beneath her feet trembled as the beast stepped toward them.

"A Roctorn!" Vegeta yelled over the roar. He ran over to Bulma and extended his hands, his golden Ki flaring to life. Bulma watched as an energy forecfeild materialized around the three of them. He stood, ebony eyes searching the blackness. Bulma cowered behind his back, her tiny Cheribulum whimpering in her arms.

The aforementioned ‘Roctorn’ stepped out of the shadows, it’s massive grizzled head bent low to the ground. At first sight Bulma estimated it to be at least seven feet tall. It stood on all fours, its body and features that of a giant cat. Its fur was dark gray and covered with the same thing Koru’s skin was; tiny clusters of rock-like formations. Its muzzled split wide and pristinely white fangs barred as it raised its head and gave another ear splitting roar. One giant paw swept out and stamped the floor in challenge. It was absolutely massive.

"Don’t worry." Vegeta said quickly to her. "This will be over and done with before you can blink…" Bulma watched as he extended both his hands, spread his arms, and yelled loudly, sending blast after blast of rapid Ki fire. The cave lit up with a golden light and both Bulma and Ghost shrieked, shielding their eyes from the blinding rays. Hundreds of tiny explosions smashed against the great beast, hiding it from view in a reddened gold cloud. Rocks and debris tumbled from the cave ceiling and hit the energy forcefield, vaporizing in seconds.

Vegeta lowered his hands and encouraged the two behind him to step back a bit. They did not need much encouragement. When the cloud lowered, Bulma was surprised to see the gargantuan Roctorn still standing, though slightly bent, its head lowered protectively to the floor. It still stood exactly where it had before. Bulma frowned. What was it doing? Why hadn’t it moved out of the way?

The Roctorn’s body was wounded and bleeding profusely in many different areas, and Bulma watched its flanks as they quivered with the exertion of standing up to the Sayajin Princes massive blasts. Its sheer size was what enabled it to survive the attack. She doubted it would survive another. She almost felt sorry for it and for a fleeting second, pondered merely turning and running and leaving the thing to its peace and territory. She knew Vegeta would have none of it. Behind the Roctorn, six split tails lashed out angrily from its backside, sending showers of dust up from the cave floor. It roared again, its orange eyes searching for a potential opening, and then, with startlingly powerful force, it lunged straight for them.

Bulma squeezed her eyes shut and kneeled behind Vegeta as a brilliant light lit up the cave and she heard the infamous attack words; Final Flash. The Roctorn was doomed. The floor shuddered and Vegeta staggered back a step, bumping into her, as thousands of rocks tumbled down on them, breaking through the forcefeild as Vegeta lost control over it. She felt his body cover her own as she was forced to the floor, nearly crushing Ghost under the combined weight of her and the Sayajin. Vegeta grunted as rock after rock hit his unprotected back but he held up, refusing to budge. The Roctorn’s body thudded lifelessly to the floor in front of them, nearly indistinguishable now. It was a wonder it had not been completely vaporized by the blast. At last the rocks ceased to fall, and Bulma felt Vegeta’s weight lift off her own as he rose, shakily, to the floor.

"Kami…" Bulma breathed as she stared at the mangled body. Vegeta staggered forward a step, oblivious to the already black bruises under his shirt and the blood pouring from his shoulders. He seemed to be in no pain, and Bulma didn’t find it surprising. He stretched his arms and rotated his shoulders, his face a mask of sweat and surprise. They both stared down at the body, their chests heaving. Bulma tried to comfort the nearly hysterical Ghost, who was still whimpering and digging frantically to get away from the scene.

Vegeta wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, clearing the sweat from his lips and chin. He glared. "Now do you see why that idiot fuzz bucket was a bad idea?"

Bulma didn’t say anything. The smell of the quickly congealing blood on the cave floor was making her stomach waver.

"Are you all right? Does your back hurt?" she asked cautiously. Anyone else would have been crushed. Vegeta would merely call it a ‘scratch’.

Vegeta shook his head disgustedly and was about to walk away when a sudden tiny grunting from behind him stopped him in his tracks. He turned around and looked down at his feet, where a tiny infant Roctorn was stumbling forward blindly on unsteady legs.

"Oh…" Bulma covered her hand with her mouth.

The Roctorn had been protecting its young.

One after another, ten infant Roctorns waddled and stumbled out of the darkness, their nearly blind eyes and soft, pinkish skin showing the three who stood before them how utterly defenseless and young they were. They were no bigger than Ghost, who watched them all with growing curiosity. They must have been what he had been playing with when Bulma had found him. She felt her eyes tearing up when she watched the infants crawl toward their mother, little noses sniffing, tiny feet pawing tentatively at her still form. When she did not move they sat down on their haunches and stared at her, their heads bobbing with the exertion of so much movement. The smallest of the ten began whimpering, its voice raising to a high pitched whine as it tossed its tiny head back and quite literally cried its loss to whoever cared to hear.

Vegeta watched them for a moment before turning to her with his expression of indifference. "Let’s go." He said quietly.

"GO?" Bulma cried. "What the hell do you mean, ‘let’s go’? We can’t just leave them here!"

Vegeta glowered dangerously. "Yes we can, woman, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do."

Bulma shot him back a glare with equal hate and walked toward them. "Then you go. I’m…" she paused.

"Yes," Vegeta stepped toward her. "I’m interested. Let’s hear it. What are you going to do with these ten monstrosities?"

Bulma stared down at their tiny forms as they sniffed once more at their mother and then clustered around her feet, pawing and mewling. She swallowed hard. "I don’t know." She whispered. "Please…we can’t leave them…they’ll die."

Vegeta growled. "Woman, there is absolutely nothing we can do about this. Either I kill them and put them out of their misery, or we leave them here."

"You’re not killing them." she said with clear finality.

"Then what?" he snarled. He looked down when one of the Roctorns crawled up to his boot and nuzzled its face into it, a deep growling sound gurgling from the back of its throat. It jumped back, much livelier than its siblings, and swiped a tiny paw at Vegetas boot. Vegeta felt a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth and tried hard to ignore it.

Bulma caught it.

"We can take them back," she said quickly, her mind racing as to what she could say to convince him. "We could take them back to the ship and raise them there, and then when we leave, we can either take them back here or take them somewhere else. They’ll be old enough to survive by then."

Vegeta crossed his arms and shook his head. "Bulma, do you have any idea how fast these things grow?"

"Exactly!" she cried, "They’ll be big enough within weeks!" she bent down and extended her hand for the infants to sniff. They clustered around her, standing on their hind legs and balancing their forelegs on her fingers. Some fell over and rolled over backward, mewling frantically. Bulma giggled. "Their whiskers tickle."

She stood abruptly and looked at him with pleading eyes. "Vegeta. Please. Just until they’re old enough. You just said that wont take long. We can’t leave them here to die! They haven’t even begun to live yet."

More growling and snarling. "Ten baby Roctorns and a Cheribulum. The ship will stink within minuets. You can say goodbye to sleep for the next few weeks."

Bulma smiled. "Does that mean yes?"

Vegeta faltered. "No, I mean-

Bulma grinned hugely and bent to scoop some of the Roctorns in her arms. Ghost scrambled up onto her shoulder in fright, staring down with huge blue eyes at the strange mewling passengers in his ‘mothers’ arms. The Roctorn that had swiped at Vegeta’s boot growled softly and lunged and feinted at Ghost, who chirped loudly and ducked behind Bulma’s neck.

Vegeta smirked. "I like that one already."

Bulma walked by him with her mewling armload and smiled. "Thank you." She said. "I just might forgive you now."

He snorted, and bent to scoop his own armload of the Roctorns up. "I seriously don’t know why I let you do this." He snarled his face darker than the darkest raincloud. Bulma shrugged.

"You know what, Vegeta? Neither do I."