The Female Warrior

Chapter 9 - Emperor Pilaf's Castle

DO NOT OWN DRAGONBALL; ALL characters and scenes belong to their respective owners, Akira Toriyama and Toei Animation. I only own the scenes and people not correlated into the canon series.

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(y/n)'s pov

I groan and sit up, my head pounding slightly. I realize my chin is no longer on my hand, and I am resting on Goku. "eek!" I yelp, leaning forward quickly and almost falling off. Wait. Falling... off? I look down and realize I am on nimbus. That explains it. Goku looks at me with a tilted head. "Why did you yell (y/n)?" I groan and rub my face. "Sorry, I didn't realize I was leaning on you." Goku shrugs. "It's fine, you must have been pretty tired."

Stifling a yawn, I nod and look back ahead. As I look at our surroundings, I notice something in the distance. Squinting my eyes, I peer into the horizon. At the same time, Goku gasps behind me. "Woah!" A castle grows larger in our vision, the thief of the dragonballs holed up inside. I whistle, impressed. "That's a massive castle." I hear some murmurs of agreement from the car beside us. Bulma's eyes are the size of saucers. "Look at the size of that place!"

When we arrive, Goku and I stand on nimbus while the others stand in the hover car. Goku takes in the height. "It's huge!" Oolong steps out of the hovercar, hands behind his head. "Not bad for a summer home." With keen hearing, I hear Yamcha and Puar conversing but pay them little heed. Goku jumps down and I follow. I knock on the doors with my fist. "These doors are sealed pretty tight." Bulma nods. "See if you can open them Goku."

Goku shrugs and steps forward, pressing on the doors. With many grunts of frustration and effort, the doors slide open. The door reveals a large dark corridor, and we all stand in awe. Goku smiles and starts walking forward. "Let's go! Come on (y/n)!" I shrug and follow. I have nothing left to lose.

Bulma however, shakes in her spot. "Uhh, it's dark as night in there." Oolong gulps and nods. "Yeah, and twice as scary." I roll my eyes at them. "Scaredy cats." Bulma huffs and crosses her arms. "I'm not a scaredy cat, I'm just aware and sane enough to know when something is fishy." I feel my eyes narrow. "Are you implying that I am insane?" Bulma shrugs. "Your words not mine. I know from watching horror movies that walking into a dimly light castle always ends up bad."

I scoff and turn around. "Let's go, they're being sissies." Bulma growls before stomping in. "FINE! I'm coming, you happy?" I kick a rock and mutter under my breath. "Not particularly." I got a good punch for that one.

Yamcha, Oolong and Puar follow us and together we explore the unknown. As we walk down the hallway there is a tense silence until small screeching noises can be heard. Oolong pauses mid stride. "Hey, do you guys hear something?" I pause with him, tilting my ears towards the noise. As soon as Bulma opens her mouth to respond, Goku shouts. "Look out!" From the ceiling, a bunch of bats fly outwards, knocking into us with their wings.

Everyone covers their heads and I grit my teeth, hoping they leave soon. The bats were making me feel overwhelmed. Overwhelmed. Outsmarted. Outskilled. The words spiral in my head, slapping my in the face. Ivy, Ivy, Ivy... I try to push them down but I can't. They just keep swirling. Overwhelmed. Outsmarted. Outskilled. Stop that! Ivy, Ivy, Ivy... "NO!" I shout, not realizing others were looking at me. Panting, I notice Bulma on the ground.

"Why are you sitting Bulma?" I question, trying to distract myself. Bulma seems to study me a moment longer before glaring at Yamcha. "That jerk pushed me away and into the wall! Now my butt hurts!" Everyone focuses their attention to the two of them. Good, they weren't looking at me anymore. Yamcha winces under Bulma's hard gaze. "I-I thought you were a bat..." I roll my eyes and help Bulma up before we continue.