An Amity Revived
Chapter Eight
Midnight. There should be stillness everywhere at this time. And there was. Nothing was moving besides the air and dust. Nothing made a sound save for the small whistling of the wind. Nothing could be seen at all. The excessive amount of clouds covered the region, making it impossible for stars to penetrate. There was no moon to be shown, for around this time there was a new moon; the natural satellite was between the sun and the planet. Everything was dark and empty.
A very tiny rumble soon destroyed the peace that had finally arrived. It was the sound of a space shuttle beginning to ignite for lift-off heard many distances away. Suddenly, where there were no galaxy-contributing forms of light before, there was now a twinkling blue star against the blanket of ebon that would cause distraction to anyone that was awake. The shiny, tiny dot gradually became bigger and bigger with the vibrating noise. A figure came speeding past, a trail of aura following closely behind him.
Toma's face was stern, almost panicky. His fists were clenched at his sides, for the concentration was aimed to hurry back as soon as possible --without delays. He held a perfectly straight form with the exception of his head, which was facing in the direction he was going. The shimmering aura around him glowed brightly, allowing a guidance light for him so he wouldn't miss his target.
Soon, the first part of Toma's goal was reached. He caught notice of the holes in the ground which were wide enough so he wouldn't have to worry about mistaken them for something else. Dropping the aura, he stopped abruptly, bringing his arms over his head as he landed gently. There was a small grinding when he stepped on several balls of dirt and weak rocks, his armored boots still carrying the strength it had a long time ago. When he started walking, however, not a single noise was made.
Like earlier, Toma didn't expect anyone to be back at the landing site yet, but he wasn't about to go look for the others. Soon they would either give up and return or succeed and return. However, he already knew the report when one of them arrived, although he hadn't found the last pod crater himself. He had learned something quickly before the others did; that was why he came back.
Bored and having nothing else to do, the sub-leader walked on the edges of each deep ditch, going along in a vertical direction. He passed by his own first. It was just barely lying on its side, the door hanging open. It seemed to have dust or dirt sprinkled on top of the roof, some of the smoky white coating on the ship showing only in very little places, but a lot at once. Still, the ship seemed to be luminous against the surrounding darkness, allowing him to see that the inside was no different than the last time he had seen it. The next pod over, Celipa's tiny ship, was no different.
He halted upon approaching the Panboukin's pod. Since he had quickly adjusted to the dark, he noticed that there was something peculiar about that one-man spaceship. Unlike the first two, the pod was a perfect sphere standing upright, the creases on the door heading towards the sky. This caused curiosity within the Saiya-jin and perhaps a little anger while he surfed down towards the small ship.
Like a casual skier, he stopped suddenly a few inches from the pod, letting some of the dirt that surrounded it burst up in the air. Toma got a small peek at the plump figure inside, but no details could be seen. He angrily pounded on the side of the metal, producing a hollow noise. When that did not help to awaken the man inside, there was only one other thing for him to do since he could not pry open the door.
"Wake up, you dumbass!" Toma yelled irritably, pounding the sides even harder. Again, the echo of a vacant tin can was the only response. "Stubborn bastard," he growled, quitting the violent jams on the pod and his loud shouts. He wasn't waiting for the door to open just yet. In fact, a sly smirk approached his face and a gleam caught in his eyes.
The sub-leader shuffled his feet, making several footsteps going lighter and lighter. He crouched low and spread his legs, having his arms spread out like a bird showing its true wingspan. Each inhale only grabbed a teaspoon of oxygen, each exhale letting out half as much. His body kept perfectly still with only slight trembles from the arms suspended in the air and his struggles to keep it there without moving them. The deep, lopsided grin held strong throughout the ten seconds he held the position, never wavering.
Swiftly, yet not making a single sound, Toma stood upright, placing his feet a shoulder's width apart with one a couple inches right in front of the other. He leaned forward and brought a fist back to the side of the titanium, this time pounding with happy enthusiasm rather than angry. In a sing-song voice he called out, "Rise and shine! Come on out already, you lazy bum!"
There was an audible grumble coming from the inside followed closely by the small clicking noise of a button. The door opened slowly, making an airy release. A rather irritated figure emerged from the sphere, and the eyes narrowed when they found the source of the trouble. Toma only laughed. Loudly.
"What is so damned funny?" Panboukin snapped. "I was trying to get some sleep!"
Toma paused his guffaw, still wearing that smirk of his. "Proof that that tactic works on anybody! So, what the hell were you trying to do? Get out of the hard labor that you don't want to do?"
Panboukin huffed, folding his arms angrily across his chest and having a skeptical expression worn on his face. "What do you mean, 'what the hell am I trying to do'? What are you doing back? Have you found whatever it was you sent us out to look for? Or did you lose trust in us already?"
"Dumbass," Toma muttered, mimicking the other man's arm movements, his lips coming into a tiny frown. "You assume too much."
"You should know better than me about that," Panboukin answered. His arms somehow swayed back to his sides, and it was now his turn to wear a cocky smirk. "So, which is it?"
"When the other two get back I'll tell you, but by then it will probably be too late to point out anything," Toma explained somewhat reluctantly all of a sudden. The two of them knew just as well as any other of the crew that Totepo was mission-oriented. He would not return until he accomplished a task a higher authority gave to him, or until he had forced himself to accomplish no matter what. Celipa, on the other hand, was unstable as far as goals went. She lost interest quite quickly to something she really had no heart to do in the first place.
"Point out what? That this is totally useless and we should just go home already?" Panboukin retorted, shamelessly sarcastic. Toma waved the cynicism aside and answered:
"Like I said, when the other two get back. At least now you'll be able to learn some patience."
Panboukin rolled his eyes, letting out a deep breath of annoyance. Exhaustion, even. "So why did you wake me up? You could have waited and let me get the rest I needed."
Toma shook his head, the smirk returning to his face. "Nah, I would rather see you suffer of having to stay awake longer. You're just too fun to torment. Both you and Celipa."
Again, Panboukin showed his signs of irritation, this time muttering to himself more gibberish. The words couldn't be made out, but the sub-leader could care less. Toma walked out of the crater, and as tired as the overweight Saiya-jin was, he followed, knowing that there was no longer a use to go back to sleep. He would just be awakened again and end up even more grouchy than he was now.
No no no. A battle he was losing. He couldn't bear it again. The last time he lost a battle was his final battle, but that was something he was soon happy and proud of. With this loss, however, nothing good will emerge. Everything he worked hard for would be put down the drain immediately if his opponent were to find the correct information. Therefore, he must struggle to win! He must!
However, this was proving to be a difficult task. Much more difficult than any other the Resurrector had to do in all of his entire lives: his time while he was alive and his time while he was dead. Was there an afterlife for an afterlife? He seriously doubted it, just like previously he doubted being able to die again. But with the pain he felt, anything was possible in the afterlife as it was in the living world. And if that were so...
Damn it! There was no way out of this. He had to stand strong and fight back with twice as much strength than he had within him. Maybe he did have that amount and just didn't know it. But he didn't care. Didn't care at all. He could not afford to give up or give in. Either send this bastard back where he belonged or send him back to where he would be much more appreciated. That certainly was neither Heaven nor Hell.
The Resurrector would not be punished for this. He knew he wouldn't. Dead people who still had their spirits, mind, and bodies combined as one in Hell always ended up two or three ways: escaping from Hell, being sent into another Hell, or put like most other members of the evil afterlife: living in spirit but not in body or mind. It made little difference whom they were and whom they were related to. Very little difference.
But it was different with the four Saiya-jin that had just recently been resurrected. And this traitor's fate, too, was going to be different. He was going to make sure of that.
Across a flat table there were large clumps of dirt piled in various places. Child-like behavior came across and scattered their outside doings inside, enjoying themselves as they did. Insects had been crushed in the palms of their hands and splattered with their demolished homes and everything else they had struggled to keep strong and prosperous. It was a sad event, but these were insects; the children didn't care.
Once the children retreated from the table, they had their own little ordeals to handle. But they did not notice that a rock unconsciously fell from one of the piles, causing a dent in the surface of the table. It wasn't a big rock; it didn't weigh much at all. But it still made the surrounding bits of dirt that had been on top of its landing position fly up in the air, causing more of the insects' dissection and spillage of guts if a boulder came tumbling on them.
Then one child returns. He is the same age as the others, but more carefree. He did nothing to help the filthiness of the table and felt terribly left out. But he sees the newly formed dent and immediately takes notice of the pebble lying in the middle. He picked it up, examining it with great interest before tightening his grip on it and running off to catch up with his other friends, leaving the mess behind.
Some time after, another insect flies up to the scene. The first thing he notices is the dent made in the table. As the flying insect looks closer, he also notices that there is nothing there that could have caused the somewhat tiny crater in the first place. Slyness approaches the emotions of the fly, and it speeds off elsewhere on the table somewhat ecstatically.
The answer to the question was now revealed.