60Long Distance Communication
Chapter 1: Taking the Initiative
Disclaimer: I do not own DB, DBZ, DBGT, DBS or any of its characters. All rights belong to Akira Toriyama. This is a not for profit fanfiction. Enjoy!
The wind was howling outside of the small log cabin right at the foot of a mountain, threatening to blow open the flimsy glass windows and extinguish the oil lamp on the wooden desk. None of this seemed to bother the young woman sitting on the bed; however, as she stayed in the same position, neither moving nor blinking, staring out the window into the dark mountain ranges outside.
For any stranger unfamiliar with the lone motionless figure, they may have mistaken her as part of the interior decoration in this designer brand clothing filled room but who could've blamed them, for that the blonde haired woman didn't exhibit normal human-like reactions to outside forces, even as ear-piercing sounds of thunder penetrated the thin wooden walls.
Despite of her exterior unresponsiveness though, her mind was racing rapidly, replaying memories of what had occurred the previous month over and over with perfect picturesque memory. Who could've known what was supposed to be an easy mission to eliminate Son Goku, the world's strongest fighter, would turn out as disastrously as it did? Sure, her brother had killed that bastard Dr. Gero and made very short work of the band of warriors waiting for them outside the cave, well, except for the short and bald guy who was kinda cu...wait what?
Evidences of the young woman being a living being began surfacing as her pale cheeks slowly turned light pink and her mouth curved downwards into a frown. Sure, it was fun replaying visions of Seventeen knocking off Gero's head and her breaking that cocky Vegeta's arm, but every darned time the bald midget came to her mind, every time she recalled his dotted forehead, her stomach started to feel weird. How ironic was it that when they first met and she had no attachment to the guy, it was so easy planting that kiss on his head but now that he had gotten her attention, just thinking about his noseless face made her queasy? Heck, even memories of her teasingly kissing him felt wrong now.
Of course how could she forgot what happened later with that green bug-man Cell, whose very image made her skin crawl with disgust. Just a couple of weeks ago, not long after she had been brought back to life at the lookout, the image of Cell's tail engulfing her and her brother would resurface every time she shut her eyes. Episodes of sleep paralysis happened on a daily basis those days when her body unconsciously thought she was still trapped inside that biological prison only to regain control over her limbs and realize they were all just nightmares.
If she could change one thing about her design, through either making another wish to the eternal dragon or petitioning the deceased mad doctor, it was to give her a memory delete function. Yes indeed, a memory delete function would be nice so she could get rid of her two worries forever. Just one mental click and poof, the man-eating monster and a certain brave and kind warrior monk who had wished away the bomb inside of her and tried protecting her when...alright, you know what? Just stop! I can't deal with this anymore!
The previously stiff as statue young woman suddenly threw herself onto the bed and buried her face under the pillow. How was she supposed to deal with these two polar opposite emotions? Sure Cell was dead so that's one problem solved, but what about the monk? She was certain if she really wanted to, killing him wouldn't be a problem at all but could she even bring herself to do it? While inside the hideous monster, she had sensed so much anguish from within him, surrounded by the lost souls of his countless victims the monster had absorbed. Would taking the monks' life turn her into the same kind of creature as Cell? Was it right thanking him by ending his existence?
"Hey sis," came her younger twin brother's voice outside of the closed door yanking her away from her worries, "mind if I come in?"
Quickly, the young woman sprang up from the bed, rearranging the pillow and blanket so as not to give away her head-scratching incident. "Come in Seventeen!" she said with more warmth than she would've when addressing random stranger. After all, Seventeen was her twin brother and companion.
The door creaked opened and in walked a raven haired young man with almost identical facial feature save for a harder jawline and that his hair splits right down from the middle whereas hers was a bit towards the left.
"So whatcha doin Eighteen? Enjoying the view outside?" Seventeen asked surveying the room nonchalantly first looking at the view outside then back at his elder twin sister, a look of enjoyment plastered on his face clearly having a blast at the storm raging outside their little mountain hut and she snorted in annoyance.
"And why would I be enjoying the view outside? It's not like it's raining fancy clothes," the woman identified as Eighteen stated drily. If her face was capable of more expressions, she was sure she'd look bored or annoyed.
Seventeen heard his twin's usual response and chuckled shaking his head, "no it clearly isn't sis, but why does it matter when you don't even touch the roomful of clothes you appropriated?" the young man asked, his sister's numerous never-worn garments still in perfect condition not escaping his inquisitive eyes.
"I just...don't want to get them dirty that's all!" she rebutted weakly shifting her head away from her brother.
"Whatever you say sister dear, so long as you don't start wearing shirts with that bald midget's face printed on them!" the moment those words came out of Seventeen's mouth, he instantly regretted it as his sibling's brows frowned and her cat-like eyes narrowed giving her the appearance of an angry lioness about to pounce but the young man knew she was more embarrassed than angry.
"I would never do that!" retorted Eighteen feeling her cheeks once again starting to burn and her fingers grasping hard on the wooden bed frame trying to steady herself. "How dare he embarrass me like that? If this had happened out in public, I would have smacked him over the head!"
Two pairs of icy blue eyes locked against one another as the twins waged a silent psychological war of intimidation, neither spoken a word and instead let their frozen stares do the talking.
"Oh you are such an easy read sis, wearing your emotion on your sleeves despite that cold demeanor you so expertly put up for the world to see," thought Seventeen seeing subtle traces of rosy color emerging from her cheeks.
Their staring contest lasted for a good several minutes and the blonde woman's face kept on getting more colorful until it was near tomato red. Seventeen was about to tease her some more thinking it never gets old getting a reaction out of her but then decided to let the matter drop. Holding his hands out in an apologetic manner, the black-haired youth slowly backed away giving her some space.
"Okay, okay I'm sorry Eighteen, just want to check if you'd like to come down for dinner." Apologized Seventeen watching his sister's face slowly returning to its normal shade.
The siblings sat quietly by the dinning table eating their food with the only sound being fire crackling underneath the boiling pot and the rickety wooden walls swaying under the howling gale.
The raven-haired youth chewed through the roasted pork he had cooked up in an efficient and graceful manner, occasionally licking his lips not wanting the flavor rich juice to go to waste. As a cyborg gifted with an infinite amount of energy source, it wasn't necessary for him to consume food but the younger twin still gulped down the meat nevertheless, clearly enjoying the weird experience of acting like a human.
The same couldn't be said of his elder sister; however, as Eighteen slowly nibbled away at the pork skin leaving small bites on its crispy surface, her mind elsewhere as she sat there with an unresponsive look about her.
By the time Seventeen's plate was piled with bones and scraps he wouldn't touch, Eighteen was still on her first serving, barely gotten to the meat underneath it's skin which she had chewed up in an orderly fashion as if unwrapping plastic wrapper from a lollipop.
The younger brother couldn't help but frown a bit at her stupor. It was clear she wasn't into her food and was merely using dinner as an excuse to distract her from the cueball which was failing miserably. Heck, even the warehouse full of cloth upstairs was most likely just a distraction from the most pressing matter on her mind.
"You know," said Seventeen but his sister continued to stare into her food not uttering a word.
"Eighteen," said the young male again raising his voice slightly only to meet the same response.
"Hey Miss Love Stricken Puppy!" said the younger sibling again putting more weight behind his voice.
"Excuse me?" immediately came his sister's angry response followed by the barely eaten roast pork flying his way.
Smirking to himself cheekily now that he had finally elicited a reaction from her, Seventeen caught the incoming projectile in his hand and bit down on it, his teeth crushing the tender meat along with the bone, causing loud chewing noises to reverberate through the room. To Eighteen who had been rudely awakened from her thoughts, the sound of her brother grinding pig bones underneath his teeth sounded worse than fingernails on chalkboards and she covered her ears observing what she liked to call his childish demeanor.
"Mmm...delicious!" added the younger brother after the pork had vanished inside his stomach before taking his sweet time to lick the gravy off his fingers, completely disregarding the cold look he was getting from her.
"Hmph, you are hopeless you know that?" eventually said the blonde standing up abruptly from her seat and began making her way upstairs.
"If you really miss him that badly, why not just visit him?"
The blonde woman stopped dead in her tracks hearing those words. Visit him? As in visit Krillin in that pink hut by the beach? Sure, the thought have crossed her mind numerous times, and while simple on the surface the truth was it couldn't be any more complicated. In fact, several prominent questions quickly surfaced whenever she tried taking the initiate, blocking her from proceeding further.
How was she supposed to keep her emotion in check?
How long could she keep her harsh demeanor up before cracks started showing through?
By kami, she should've just left the lookout when she woke up and not returned seeing the strange light. That would at least save her from hearing that blasted wish the diminutive man had made.
"Could you take the explosives out of the androids' bodies?"
Krillin's irritated voice again replaying in her mind as if the guy was in front of her making the wish all over again, his firm and sincere voice preserved perfectly in her memories. All of the sudden, she was no longer in her brother's cabin by the mountain, but rather standing on the lookout. Perhaps it was because her eyes were playing tricks on her, or that her brain had gone haywires, but she could almost make out a blurred image of the bald warrior scratching his head, his eyes looking downward embarrassed at his attraction for her.
"Nothing but a measly human and his stupid crush!" she muttered quietly only for her to hear and cringed at the sentence as soon as it left her mouth. No, there was something else about him, but whatever that was, she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
"I...I don't think so..." finally muttered Eighteen blinking a few times to rid of Krillin's mental image.
"Well, do something about it will you? Either visit him to get this over with or kill the dude, I don't care which!" rang Seventeen's voice from behind her.
"Don't you dare Seventeen!" the words came out before she could control herself while her eyes narrowed dangerously at her younger brother.
"Tsk, just suggesting sis. Visit him or call him or whatever I couldn't care less! Just don't let your solemn mood spoil my fun!" and with those last phrases, Seventeen broke off eye contact with her and went back to his dinner.
Back in her room lit by the lone oil lamp, the young woman resumed sitting on her bed, cycling through all the options left for her.
Visit him at Kame House? Too risky, especially when I haven't gotten my emotions under control. Only a fool would expose her bare and naked inner self to a stranger whom she had barely knew.
Call him perhaps? Yeah right! I don't even have his number nor do I possess a cell phone. Not to mention I don't know how I'd sound speaking to him.
A gift basket then? Now that's just hilarious! How about sending some wine with a letter attached telling him to kindly share the beverage with his friends?
But I can write him a letter! Just a few words on a paper, it wouldn't hurt now would it?
Her crystal blue eyes suddenly snapped wide opened, a gleam never seem in them before sparkled brightly in the beautiful orbs. At last, she has a way to proceed further. She could now take control of her life. Yes, farewell to this stupid pent-up emotion of hers, it's all going to dissipate like smoke and prove to be nothing more than a phase of her life. If that bald, noseless, midget monk thought he's had her bad, well he couldn't be more mistaken.
The cyborg girl's newfound sense of relief didn't last long at all though, for as soon as she sat behind her desk, another thought downed on her, just how exactly was she supposed to begin the letter?
"Dear Krillin..." muttered Eighteen to herself repeating what she had just written to herself.
"No! No no no! He's not that dear to me!" said the blonde before hurriedly grasping an eraser and tried to wipe off the embarrassing words on the paper. In her emotion charged state though, the flimsy white sheet easily tore apart under her inhuman strength, causing the noise of paper ripping apart to register in her ears and a disgruntled huff to escape her mouth.
Not giving up so easily, the cyborg woman quickly took out another blank sheet, ready to get the whole ordeal over with but this time, the unnecessary pressure exerted on her pencil snapped the poor wood and graphite stick in half.
It took ripping through several sheets of paper and breaking countless pencils to draft out the opening address, as Eighteen went from "Hello Krillin", which she deemed to be too friendly to "Hi Krillin", too casual this time for her taste until finally she settled with just "Krillin" written in beautiful cursive font.
Hopefully my elegant handwriting alone can convince him of the importance of this matter!
Next came the body paragraph and to her dismay, would prove to be even harder than the opening address.
"Should I thank him for removing the bomb inside me? Kami forbid it! I've already told him I'll never thank him for it! Then what about for protecting me after I got spit out by Cell? No, that might give him the wrong idea and it's not like I owe him anything!" thought Eighteen, her fingers digging into her scalp, too afraid to put down anything until she was sure what to write.
"Why not just ask him why he was attracted to me? Why he wanted me and Seventeen to be happy?" then came these ideas, perhaps she should just be straightforward with him, "but what if Krillin wrote something generic like "cause you are beautiful" or that "you are the first woman to set eyes on me"? What if he was just like all those stupid cat-calling idiots interested in her appearance alone?"
For minutes, her pencil hovered above the paper debating what to put down and what to leave out. With every approach having their own risks, there was no foolproof way to get her message across while knowing his reply will be to her liking.
Finally, after close to an hour of the most intense mental exercise she has had, of going through her memories of the monk and trying to decipher his personalities so she could anticipate his possible responses, her slender wrist went to work. Now driven by carefully calculated hand pressure, the pencil jogged down its contents fluidly and without fail. Stroke after stroke, she poured her heart out down onto the blank white sheet, occupying the empty space with a part of her until with a sigh, her hand stopped having signed her signature, #18.
Holding the paper neatly in her fingers like her life depends on it, Eighteen put her labor of love inside an envelope her brother had obtained from a nearby postal office during one of his bored trips downtown. When her always-experimental sibling had returned that day holding stacks of envelopes in his hands, she had mocked him for being so human and taking home garbage they'd never use. Well, little did she know it would be her turn to embark on this human-like journey, attempting to communicate her thoughts with another human being.
Just before she was about to run out the door to mail her letter though, a thought suddenly struck her and her angelic calm face once again twisted in a deep scowl. She didn't know Kame House's address!
"Oh great, so even after writing this I still have to go there myself is that it?" shouted Eighteen in disbelief almost banging her head on the wall.
Staring out the windows, her blue eyes narrowed with displeasure at the storm now in full swing, the wind screamed clashing against their little wood cabin carrying large droplets of rain against the windowpane. In that instant, the blonde cyborg really considered waiting for the weather to subside but her heart was beating faster than ever, powered by her new resolve and she knew there was no point delaying the inevitable.
You had better be worth this Krillin!
With it, Eighteen carefully stored the freshly written letter in her pocket, the words still hot with emotion as she opened the door and blasted into the night sky. Lightning was crashing down all around her while heavy rain threatened to blurred her vision but none of that troubled the determined young woman. Acting on an instinct, she conjured up a green energy barrier shielding her and the letter from nature's harsh elements until her form cut through the dark stormy clouds and was greeted by the pale moon on the other side.
The bright moon shone against her petite form, illuminating the top of the dark stormy clouds below. At first there was nothing to guide her as thick coverage blocked her from the geographic features below, but soon the clouds dispersed, giving way to the occasional street lights that illuminated the numerous mountainous roads. Now guided by the sparsely lit lights and barely identifiable mountain ranges, she made her way towards Kame House with her heart racing as she drew close to her destination with every passing second.
The landmass below her began to transform with thick rocky terrain gave away to small towns and then bustling cityscapes. A while later and even the cities began to leave her field of vision, replaced by vast open darkness that was the open sea. The stars above her now became her companion and guidance during the lonesome trip, their relative positions to one another pointing her towards her destination.
Eighteen chuckled to herself, thinking how ironic it was that the knowledge of celestial navigation, a skill instilled in her by the mad scientist whose sole purpose for doing so was to have her kill Goku, would be used to guide her through the starry night.
"To Kame House!" the celestial bodies above her seemed to scream out at her in the darkness.
"To the place where Krillin resides! That is where the next stage of your life will unfold!" she could almost hear the stars communicating to her and a light blush formed on her pale cheeks.
"Whether that man will give you the answer you so desire or not, give it a try and you'll have no regrets!" and she couldn't agree more with that mental statement.
At last, the vast emptiness of ocean gave way to tiny islands and Eighteen's mouth curved up in a small smile knowing she was close to her goal. She began making her descend to get a closer look, feeling cool night wind brushing against his skin as the smell of ocean water invaded her nostrils. Floating just high enough to remain unnoticeable while still allowing her a good look of the mostly desolate rocks, the petite young woman surveyed each island with patience uncommon to her, letting not a single detail escape her crystal clear eyes.
If kami worked in a mysterious way, lifting one up when least unexpected but plunging them down rock bottom just as one was within an arm's reach of their goal, then this deity was surely exerting this strange influence on her thought Eighteen. What was supposed to be a quick finding a pink house on an island soon turned into a massive search through hundreds of identical landmasses. Running out of patience, the blonde woman gritted her teeth in anger.
And to think I have already taken out the letter out of excitement!
As if lending a helping hand to the woman in distress, a whitish blue beam of light suddenly came shooting forth from one of the islands, illuminating the surrounding dark landscape in a tint of beautiful blue glow.
"The Kamehameha! It's got to be Krillin!" in her excitement, Eighteen blurted out those words without noticing it before rocketing toward the source of light at top speed.
The beam faded just as she had arrived at a nearby island and sure enough, it was the pink house with red roof surrounded by palm trees just as she remembered. Standing on the beach was the figure who she had come to seek answer to, a white aura engulfing his form as he powered up another energy beam in his hands.
"Ka-me-" began the man known to her as Krillin concentrating his life energy in his palms for another blast.
"Ha-me-" the white orb grew stronger and Eighteen hid herself behind a tree least her blonde hair reflected the bright light giving her away.
"Ha!" another energy beam came shooting out of his extended palms, the bright light piercing the night sky like a shooting star flying upwards escaping Earth's gravity.
Something in her snapped upon seeing this unscheduled light show. Perhaps she just wanted to engage in the same activity as Krillin, or perhaps it was just to release the pent up emotion stored inside of her, artificial human number Eighteen, a former human girl forcefully converted into a cyborg against her will, started gathering artificial energy in her two palms. Before long, her surrounding was engulfed by a shade of beautiful pink as strong artificial ki wave gathered on her palms.
"What the hell?" she could hear these words coming out of the dumbfounded Krillin and smiled.
Seems like I have gotten his attention!
The pink energy beam escaped her palms forming a pink pillar of her own. The width was much narrower but was no less powerful than the white seconds ago. Cutting through the pitch-black darkness, it soon escaped Earth's atmosphere, its elegance witnessed by all in the surrounding area.
Eighteen calmed down after firing off the blast, her surrounding reverting back to their original night shades. The darkness didn't last much longer; however, as the warrior monk began flying towards her direction, the white life energy engulfing him lighting up the surrounding darkness.
"Sorry Krillin, but not today." She said planting her letter on the ground before taking off back towards her brother's mountain log cabin.
I'll be waiting for your reply, don't disappoint me!
A/N: And here's the first chapter of my take on how Krillin and 18 got together. Hope you all liked it. Do leave a comment or constructive criticism. Also, while this may be the first fanfiction under this profile, it is not by any means my first fanfiction so don't be afraid to voice your opinion. Thanks and have a great 2021!