The Vanishings

Chapter Ten

~By Gina-chan~

 

Ryver, Cojiro and Vegeta-chan were all very tired and crabby when they stopped for the day. Cojiro set up the tents and then joined Ryver and Vegeta-chan in sitting around a fire.

       “See those rocky hills over there?” Cojiro asked, pointing at the hills just over the horizon. Vegeta-chan and Ryver nodded.

       “That’s the Giants’ Land. No one has ventured there and survived,” Cojiro explained.

       “And that’s where we’re going tomorrow to get the Giant’s blood?” Ryver asked.

       “Exactly. It’ll be extremely difficult and the odds are we’ll end up dead,” said Cojiro said. Vegeta-chan lowered his head and then quickly snapped it up again.

       “That’s just the kind of stuff you said before we got the other ingredients!” Vegeta-chan exclaimed, standing up. “You said that it would be impossible to get a fairy’s wing or a Fire Dragon’s scale, but here we are, with those to things, in a bottle!” Vegeta-chan ran off into the dark of the night. Ryver sighed.

       “It’s hard…when you lose someone like that…you take on the responsibility to save the person…and if you fail, they’ll be like that forever…”

 

       “Rah!” Vegeta-chan said, picking up a stone and hurling it towards the rocky hills.

       “Why’d it have to be Rapyd? Huh?!” Vegeta-chan yelled to the sky. He sighed, and slumped down against the tree he had lay Rapyd by.

       “Why am I feeling this way towards a woman?!” Vegeta-chan exclaimed, pounding the ground, and shaking the tree.

       “Why…” Vegeta-chan trailed off, closing his tired Saiyan eyes.

 

       “Heehee! You’ve gathered half of the items we need, Veggie-chan!” Rapyd giggled. Vegeta-chan nodded.

       “But I don’t know about the next item, Rapyd. A pint of Giants blood? How in the world are we suppose to get that?” asked Vegeta-chan.

       “Trust in your heart, Vegeta-chan. It will guide you down the correct path,” Rapyd said, placing her hand on his cheek. Vegeta-chan hesitatingly took her soft hand from his cheek and held it deep in his hand.

       “But Rapyd, what if I fail? I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t save you!” Vegeta-chan exclaimed, grasping her hand.

       “You won’t…” Rapyd whispered, kissing Vegeta-chan’s lips tenderly…

 

       Vegeta-chan woke up to a cloudy day. He got up and took Rapyd’s body and started walking back to camp. On his way there, it started to rain.

       “Great. What a great way to start my day,” Vegeta-chan thought. When he arrived back at camp, Ryver and Cojiro had already packed away the tents.

       “Did you have a good night’s rest, Vegeta-chan?” Ryver asked. Vegeta-chan shrugged.

       “I guess,” he replied. Ryver nodded and she and Cojiro picked up their bags. They started walking towards the rocky hills and the next item.

 

       The rain hadn’t let up at all once they reached the rocky hills. In fact, it had started raining harder. Everyone and everything was sopping wet, but there wasn’t dry shelter anywhere. Vegeta-chan was about ready to stop, but he remembered the person he was carrying.

       “I don’t know what these feelings are, but I have to save her!” Vegeta-chan thought, tightening his grip on Rapyd. Vegeta-chan looked up ahead and saw the light of a village.

       “Is that a Giants’ village?” Vegeta-chan asked. Cojiro nodded. Ryver stopped.

       “We should make a plan before we go,” said Ryver.

       “Good idea. We should leave Rapyd and all of our belongings here and go off to fight the giants. I’ll cut one of the giants and Ryver can bring a bottle along and put some blood in it,” Cojiro explained. Ryver winced.

       “Can’t Vegeta-chan do it?” Ryver suggested.

       “I’m staying here. You need someone to watch the stuff. And I won’t leave Rapyd here by herself,” said Vegeta-chan.

       “Fine by me,” Ryver said, taking her bag off her back and grabbing a bottle from it. Cojiro took off his back and set it on the ground next to Ryver’s.

“Back in a flash!” Ryver said, running over a rocky hill with Cojiro. Vegeta-chan sighed.

“At least the rain’s starting to clear up,” thought Vegeta-chan. And that it was. The rain had cleared up, and Vegeta-chan could see a beautiful sunset in the horizon. Vegeta-chan looked over to the village. He saw bright flashes of light and heard a lot of yelling.

“Good. They’ve already started,” Vegeta-chan thought. He lay down and tried to focus his hearing on the village…

 

“Hehe. They put up a good fight, but they were no match for our supurior strenghth,” a loud, deep voice said.

“Hey boss!” another voice said. “Where should we put them?”

       “Put them in the dungeon. We can eat them later…”

 

       Vegeta-chan quickly said up.

       “This can’t be good,” he muttered to himself. “They need my help…but I can’t leave Rapyd here by herself…”

       “Go, Vegeta-chan,” Vegeta-chan heard Rapyd say.

       “Huh? Rapyd? You can talk?” Vegeta-chan ask.

       “I can’t explain it. But you must go help the others. Nothing will happen to me,” Rapyd said/thought.

       “But Rapyd! I can’t leave you here by yourself!” Vegeta-chan exclaimed.

       “Go! It’s the only way you’ll be able to get the ingredient and revive me!” Vegeta-chan nodded.

       “Okay,” Vegeta-chan said, bending down and kissing Rapyd’s check. “I’ll be back soon.” Vegeta-chan jumped up and flew towards the village.

       “Good luck, Veggie-chan…”