Disclaimer: Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT are all owned by Akira Toriyama.

Chapter 7: Located

The enormous being swung its large metallic fist down upon the woman's feeble form. A huge culmination of dust burst from the ground, rising into the dry smoggy air. Wisps of dirt and smoke whirled around the crater created by the monstrously sized hand. The two red spheres situated on the being's head focused on the spot where its hand lay.

Bulma felt a gust of wind sweep itself against her suit. Something had encircled itself around her waist, cradling her securely, and now her body was flying at high speed. She opened her eyes and frantically looked from side to side. She should have died. Wiping the muck off of her suit's visor, she quickly affirmed that she was in fact still alive and breathing.

But, how?

Looking up, she found herself staring at someone wearing a suit similar to her own.

"Vegeta?"

He glanced down at her through his own tinted visor.

Considering his response to be a confirmation of his identity, she let out a sigh of relief. Once again, he had managed to save her in the nick of time. If he had come only a second later she would have been squished like an insect.

And it would have been his fault.

Her relief quickly turned into anger.

"You jerk!" She exclaimed, glaring up at him.

"What are you babbling about now, woman?" He questioned, not particularly interested in what he had done to tick her off this time.

"I almost died because of you!"

He looked down at her, raising one brow in slight bewilderment.

"What?"

"You heard me! You almost got me killed a few seconds ago!"

"You're blaming this on me? I could have just left you to die at the hands of that thing. Instead of berating me you should be grateful." His eyes returned to what was ahead of him.

Bulma aimed her index finger at his face. "You left me behind, remember! You completely abandoned me in the wilderness, on a planet that neither of us knows anything about, and—LOOK OUT!"

Vegeta followed the woman's gaze, turning his head to look behind him just in time to see the same robotic hand swiftly making its way towards them. He maneuvered out of its reach, barely escaping the tip of its blocky fingertips. He increased his speed, leaving behind a streak of blue through the air, and lifted the woman up, cradling her within his arms. He could hear the footsteps of the creature quickly approaching them as it pursued them through the dense smoke. As they ventured further into the smog it became increasingly more difficult to see through the visor of his suit. Everything was cloaked in thick blotchy air and he couldn't sense any ki signatures nearby. He cursed under his breath as he was forced to slow down. The harsh rumblings of metal footsteps had since faded away, but he remained on exceptionally high alert.

"Do you think we lost it?" He heard the woman ask.

He didn't answer her. Instead he continued to fly straight ahead. From the information he had gathered from that disc, there had to be life somewhere on this planet, but then again he had been deprived of the information concerning the toxic atmosphere that the woman had so adamantly forced him to recognize as a danger.

The sudden reverberating sound returned at shocking speed. Looking to his right, Vegeta was caught off guard when the robotic being barreled out of the smoke, its arms outstretched in an attempt to grab its fleeing prey. Cursing under his breath, he narrowly dodged the attack; however, his slight lack of attention caused him to stagger a bit. His grip around the woman loosened and she started to slip away from him. Another gigantic arm tried to grab hold of him again. He moved away, simultaneously pulling her body up to his.

Securing her in his arms again, he increased his speed, gaining as much distance as he could. Bulma wrapped her arms around Vegeta's neck, resting her chin on his shoulder to get a better look at the thing chasing them. Her eyes widened as she realized that the machine-like being was quickly gaining on them.

"It's catching up to us! We need to figure out how to lose it!"

Vegeta turned his head to look over his other shoulder. It continued to pursue them relentlessly. He returned his gaze to what was ahead of him. The fog surrounding them didn't seem like it was going to thin anytime soon despite the amount of distance they had already covered. The only thing he could do was gain as much distance from their pursuer as possible.

The woman's grip around him tightened as he sped up. It didn't help much. The mechanized titan increased its speed as well. Its red eyes glinted and glowed for a second or two, until they fired a pair of red energy beams at it targets.

"It's got lasers! Move to your left!" Bulma shouted.

Without giving much thought, Vegeta did as she ordered and escaped the direction in which the beams landed.

"If you're going to come up with any master strategy to get rid of this thing, now would be good." Bulma said as she tried to get a solid grip on his suit.

"We just found out that the damned thing can fire lasers at us. Don't expect me to figure a strategy out of thin air when we don't even know what it's fully capable of!" He answered.

"Well," she said readjusting herself, "sorry for trying to help! We may not know everything about this thing, but we know for sure that it's definitely trying to kill us. We can't wait forever to find out what else it can do!"

Vegeta looked over his shoulder again.

"It's not going to give up chase anytime soon." He said as he faced forward. "Our best option would be to use a decoy."

Bulma looked down at him suspiciously.

"And just how are we going to find ourselves a decoy?"

Her eyes darted back to their pursuer. It was starting to close in on them again.

"We already have one."

Anxiety quickly coursed its way through her when Bulma heard what he said. She glanced from the robot giant to Vegeta and back again. Her grip on him tightened even more.

"Wait, what—"

Vegeta suddenly made a nosedive, heading straight for the ground beneath them at an alarming speed. Bulma felt her stomach drop instantly as they plummeted towards the ground. In the midst of their free falling, she felt Vegeta loosen his hold on her, allowing her body to easily slip from his hands.

Panicky and confused, she stared at him as he continued to fly downwards. His gaze remained concentrated on the ground while their pursuer gradually closed the distance between them. Right before they hit the ground, Vegeta released her entirely, dropping her safely to the ground, before he quickly darted away from her just as the robot attempted to grab him.

Her body doubled over and rolled away due to the momentum, until she managed to dig her fingers into the dirt to stop. She looked up, out of breath and wide-eyed, as the enormous shadow of the robotic giant loomed over her. Losing sight of her, it continued to go after Vegeta.

Bulma quickly got to her feet and watched it walk away from her. Her mind was racing. Catching her breath, she brought up her arm and tapped the com-link. Once it indicated that she had received a connection, she spoke into the device.

"What the hell are you doing?" She yelled.

The static-filled voice sounded from within Vegeta's suit helm as he turned around to find the machine was still following him. He faced forward and answered.

"What is it now, woman?"

"That was your big plan?" She retorted. "Using yourself as the decoy?"

"Hmph. Don't tell me that you were willing to fill the role."

She ignored the sarcasm in his tone.

"You could've at least told me! I—"

"This thing needs to be destroyed or else we won't be going anywhere. I'll come back once I'm finished here. Then you can thank me for saving your pitiful life when this is over."

"And just what makes you think that you can take it on alone?"

Vegeta didn't answer. Instead he landed on the ground, bent over one knee. He turned around and looked up. He could see the creature approaching from a far distance. It was just enough for him to prepare an attack strong enough to take it down. And from what he sensed, the woman was a reasonable distance away from him in order to keep her out of the crossfire.

He lowered his posture, bending into a fighting stance, and began to charge up his ki. The spike in his energy caused a massive interference to pass through the com link.

"Hello? Hello!"

Bulma tapped the panel on her arm in order to get rid of the interference, until the link finally went dead. Letting out an aggravated sigh, she looked in the direction where Vegeta had headed off to. That unwelcome feeling of worry rocked through her conscious again. She didn't understand why she was experiencing this bad, clenching feeling in her gut all of sudden.

Don't worry about it. She mentally told herself. If he thinks that I'll idly stand away from the action while he tries to get himself killed he's got another thing coming.

She smirked and pulled out her capsule case. After choosing the capsule holding her motorbike inside, she tossed it to the ground, quickly mounting the bike once the smoke dissipated, and drove off.

When the robot was finally within range, Vegeta brought one hand back, cloaking it in a bright blue aura, and thrust it forward. A large beam of energy shot from the palm of his hand. It hit its target at full force, catching it off guard and pushing it back a few meters in the process. The Saiyan grinned as he continued to channel his energy into the attack, making it stronger. The colossal titan lifted its hands up, pressing its palms against the edge the beam. Its large spherical eyes glinted while a contraption on its chest opened and expanded. Once the cavity was fully exposed, its hands released the beam, allowing the massive wave of energy to enter its chest.

Vegeta's eyes widened as he felt the energy from his attack get absorbed. He immediately pulled his arm back, disrupting the energy transfer.

"What the hell?" He growled and glanced at his arm. His hand was quivering. He quickly balled it into a fist and glared at his opponent.

The machine barreled towards him, running at a speed extraordinary for its size. The glow of its red eyes intensified and a series of lasers were shot from them in rapid succession. Vegeta instinctively avoided the blasts, flipping backwards until he finally dodged the last one and landed in a crouch. He noticed the robot's eyes dim to a dark crimson color as it looked at him.

Looks like it has to recharge after firing those lasers, he mentally noted.

It took a heavy step towards him, bringing one of its arms back before swinging one of its fists down on him. Right before the hit landed, he acrobatically jumped onto it and ran up the length of the metallic appendage. The robot's eyes followed him as he quickly made his way to its shoulder.

Jumping in the air, Vegeta gathered another ki attack within his hand. Pulling back his fist, he smirked as he allowed gravity to bring him down.

"Take THIS!" He yelled as he slammed his fist into its left eye. A beam of blue light shot through the being's head, and its colossal body began to fall backwards. However, in the midst of its fall it prepared another laser within its right eye and promptly shot it at him.

Vegeta grunted as he was knocked off. His body sailed through the air and tumbled across the ground until he rolled to a stop. He looked up at the robot through the dirtied visor of his suit's helmet. It was still standing despite its staggering footsteps from the damaged he had inflicted. Lifting his body up with his hands, he ignored the searing pain and stood up pressing one hand against his side.

Although he had succeeded in disabling one of its eyes, it seemed as if the damned thing was still operating as if it hadn't taken any damage. He dwelled on that thought for a moment, trying to deduce how that would have been possible, until he recalled it absorbing his ki attack earlier. It must have used that energy as a power reserve to restore itself after sustaining damage.

Dammit… he thought to himself, so no matter what kind of damage I inflict upon it, it'll just use the energy it took from me to stay functional. Unless…

His eyes widened slightly as he finally came to a conclusion that would bring about the robot's defeat.

He removed his hand from his side and balled both of his hands into fists. His dark eyes remained concentrated on the being standing before him as his blue, flame-like aura enveloped his entire body. The robot looked down at him, its eye glowed a fluorescent red as it focused on his form.

Like any other being, organic or mechanic, this thing has to have some sort of limit.

Vegeta directed the flow of his ki to both of his hands, opening them as the blue energy accumulated at his fingertips. Once he had channeled enough energy into his hands he lifted them up until they were even with his shoulders, extending his fingers and widening his palms. Blue electricity crackled around his arms, feeding more of his ki into his hands, and he brought the edge of his palms together in front of him while slightly curling his fingers. A large orb of pure energy formed between his hands.

The robot shot another, larger red beam at him, and he simultaneously released his ki, releasing an enormous blue beam from his hands. The two attacks collided with one another, producing an enormous explosion of energy as they clashed.

Bulma slammed the brakes on her motorbike when she heard a loud boom in the distance. When she finally came to a stop she was surprised to see a bright purple light emitting through the thickness of the smog. Swallowing the lump in her throat her hands gripped the handles of her bike as she revved it and sped off to where her suits sensors indicated Vegeta's location.

Vegeta kept his footing as he fended off the opposing attack with his own, gritting his teeth. He pushed more of his energy into the attack, forcing the robot's beam back. It relinquished the attack and allowed the Saiyan's beam to hit its chest. He grinned as he watched it open the compartment on its chest in preparation to absorb his attack.

"Now…" He said under his breath before yelling, "time to send you to oblivion!" Gathering up another large amount of his energy, he channeled it into his attack.

The robot continued to absorb the brunt of Vegeta's attack, until its body could no longer consume the excessive amount of energy. Its chest expanded and the compartment closed in an attempt to hold in what it had already absorbed. It fell to his knees as beams of blue light sporadically shot from its body, and in one huge explosion it was obliterated.

Vegeta guarded his eyes against the blast with his arm. When the light finally faded he lowered his arm, letting out a breath, and watched the chunks of metal fall to the ground. He frowned when he sensed a weak and familiar power level approaching him.

Through the smog he saw the woman arrive on one of those vehicles from her arsenal of useless contraptions. When she stopped a few feet away from him and demounted the machine she had been riding on, he glared at her through his helm.

"I thought I told you I'd return when I was finished here?" He said as she approached him.

Bulma turned to look at the pieces of metal that littered the ground a few meters away.

"Looks like you're finished," She shrugged, "besides I wanted to get a look at all the action, but it seems I missed out."

"Tch." Vegeta folded his arms over his chest and glowered at her. "And what if you had ended up dead? Would it have been worth wasting your life just to get a look at some 'action'?"

The woman placed one hand on her hip, raising one brow as she looked at him through her visor.

"What's it to you? I thought you didn't care whether I do or not?"

"I don't." Vegeta replied, looking away from her.

Bulma smiled as she watched his reaction, but it quickly faded when she looked at his suit.

"Ah, Vegeta! Your suit!"

Vegeta was caught by surprise when he felt the woman grab his left arm. His eyes widened and he instinctively tensed at the sudden, unexpected contact. He quickly looked down at her. She was staring at the damage his suit had sustained from his battle. Her eyes roamed over his arm and after slightly lifting it up, she meticulously examined the rest of his armor.

There were plenty of scratches and cuts, but nothing serious enough that it would cause the poison from the atmosphere to leak in. Bulma continued to look over his arm while holding it in her hands, until Vegeta roughly tore his arm away from her.

"Hey!" She exclaimed as she met his black glare.

"What the hell are you doing?" He growled at her.

"I was only checking to make sure your suit was alright! We're surrounded by deadly poisonous gas, if you haven't noticed."

"I'm well aware of that, woman. So keep your hands away from me." He shot back.

"Well pardon me for trying to make sure you don't die of asphyxiation!" She retorted, her anger getting the best of her. "You could at least be a little thankful that I'm even worried about you."

Vegeta was slightly caught off guard by her response. Although he had made it painstakingly clear that he could care less about her death, despite his promise to Kakarot, for some reason she was concerned for his safety. It was somewhat perplexing, and he disliked the unfamiliarity of it. Shoving those thoughts from his consciousness, he looked away from her again.

"Worry about yourself. I don't need someone watching over me like I'm some sort of helpless child." He said, dropping the subject all together and turned his back to her.

Closing his eyes, he reached out with his senses to check for any power levels in the nearby vicinity. After scoping out the area for a few seconds he located one ki signature a few miles away. Opening his eyes, he mentally marked where the signal was coming from as he spoke to the woman behind him.

"There's a ki signature nearby. Only a few miles from here."

When he turned around he found Bulma was standing next to her motorbike, preparing to mount it. He made his way to her, stopping when he was beside her.

"You won't be needing that." He said just before she sat down on the seat.

She looked at him, slightly tilting her head.

"Why not? You said it's only a few miles away, right?"

"Yes, but only I know where the specific location is. We'll fly there instead."

Bulma raised an eyebrow out of curiosity.

"And what's wrong with me taking my bike? I could just follow you there using the tracker on my suit."

Vegeta crossed his arms and scowled.

"The last time you tried following me you almost got yourself killed when you couldn't keep up. Plus it'll be difficult for you to navigate through this type of environment. So we'll avoid the headache of me having to save your life by traveling together rather than separate."

The woman frowned at him.

"If it's such a headache than you should've just let me die, but I guess that would mean you'd never get a chance to use that gravity simulator, huh?" She smirked smugly.

Vegeta glared at her.

"Shut up and encapsulate that damned thing before I change my mind."

Bulma shrugged and looked away nonchalantly, "Fine, fine." Despite the front she was putting up, she inwardly admitted that she was fearful for her life when he shot that evil death stare of his at her.

He stepped back when she got off of the bike, watching her pull out her capsule to store it away. Once she was finished, she pocketed her case and looked at him expectantly. Vegeta stepped towards her, placing one hand on her back while placing the other behind her knees. He cradled her in his arms, instantly frowning when she wrapped her arms around his neck, and levitated into the air. After locating that same ki signature, he turned in that direction and flew off.

It only took ten minutes to reach the area where Vegeta had sensed the ki signature. When he descended to the ground he released the woman in his arms. He looked around, feeling for the energy he was sensing. It was difficult to see anything through the smog, however. He heard Bulma call out to him from a distance. Turning in the direction of where he heard her voice, Vegeta walked over to her.

"What is it?" He came to stand behind her. She had her arm lifted up horizontally in front of her chest and she was looking ahead of her. The screen on her arm lightened and then dimmed repeatedly.

"Something's definitely here." Bulma said as she glanced down at the device built into her suit. "It seems to be right in front of us, but I can't tell what it is exactly."

Vegeta remained silent as he listened to her.

He couldn't see anything visible or tangible in front of them, but he could still sense that same power level. It was near. He looked around. But it seemed that whoever, or whatever, he had sensed was remaining very well hidden. Taking that into consideration, he decided to stay on high alert.

Bulma caught his attention again when she reached her hand out in front of her. It looked as if her fingers were touching only the thick smoke around them, until it parted around her fingertips, causing ripples to form from her hand. Both of their eyes widened as they watched the ripples expand.

"It's…some kind of force field." She said as she moved her fingers over the strange surface. More ripples and waves formed from the direction she swiped her hand in.

Suddenly a light tremor passed underneath her hand, startling her as she quickly pulled away. A soft beeping sound went off, increasing in frequency as the seconds passed by. Vegeta quickly recognized what it was and grabbed Bulma around her waist. She screamed as he pressed her body to him and jumped away from the explosion that went off exactly where they were standing.

Portions of the force field dissipated, revealing numerous sets of guns and weapons aimed directly at them. That ki signature was now in front of them, but Vegeta couldn't discern what it was through the unaccommodating atmosphere. Cursing under his breath he prepared himself for battle, until he noticed that the weapons aimed at him were being recalled.

When they all disappeared, he looked on as a tall figure emerged from the force field.

"It's not often that I get many visitors such as yourselves." A deep, gravelly voice sounded from the distance.

The figure revealed itself as a large, rather muscular man wearing a face mask over his elderly, long bearded face. He stepped forward with his hands in the pockets of a pair of strange looking overalls.

"The name's Gratan." The man said as he looked at the pair of stranger standing in front of him. "And what might yours be?"

I'm baaaaaaack! LOL thanks for waiting everyone. I really hope that you enjoyed this chapter! I know I kinda left you guys hanging for a while with that cliffhanger in Chapter 6, but maybe this satiated your need to read more!

On another note, I've uploaded the first installment of a new story of mine called "UNDERWORLD". You should check it out (and maybe leave a review)!

Anyways, thank you for reading Chapter 7 of Quest! Make sure to favorite and leave me a review so that I can know what you think about the story (even if you didn't like it, lol).