Dragon Ball X: The Okaro Saga

Man In The Picture.

"Alright, we're here." Okaro said, standing about an one car's distance from the door to the apartment of Araime's family. Those simple three words were all that had been said since Okaro and Sam had left Scrolixiden's study. 

"I see that." Sam said, not taking his eyes off of the door. Okaro could tell that Sam was hiding something, he had noticed this even when they were on the way to the palace. 

"That's it," Okaro crossed his arms and looked at Sam, "What's going on?" Okaro didn't like this feeling of uneasiness, this feeling that something much larger then this simple missing person case was going on in the background. 

"What do you mean?" Sam raised his hands in self defense. 

Okaro saw right through that, "Are you kidding me? Cut the act and tell me why you've been acting this way." He had been lied to enough in his past to believe any of this. 

"W-... fine." Sam lowered his hands and pulled out the picture they had received from Scrolixiden. "The man in this picture... I know who he is."

Okaro took a step back in surprise, then calmed his mind to think this over. "So you met him on one of your previous trips here?" There was likely more that Sam was hiding, but Okaro decided that it'd be best to let Sam open up about all of this on his own.

"Something like that," Sam slowly handed the picture to Okaro, "his name's Araime by the way." Okaro looked at the picture closer then before, trying to study for any details he may have missed.

"You want to tell me how you two met?" Sam looked at Okaro with a worried glance after he had raised his voice in angry tone. He hadn't have meant to speak in that tone but he couldn't help himself, he didn't understand anything that was going. There was clearly information that Okaro didn't have.

Sam softened his glance and placed his hands into his pockets. "On one of my trips to this planet... I had delivered Okaran goods to the same location where Araime worked. He helped with unloading and afterwards I invited him and a few of the workers who helped with unloading the goods to a night on the town, while we were there Araime and myself bonded fairly quickly over a few stories that we had shared with the other." 

Okaro waited to hear more from Sam but after a few minutes of no words spoken between the two he shoved the picture into Sam's chest and Sam grabbed a hold of the picture. "There's clearly more to all of this, talk." Okaro had calmed himself, trying to show Sam that he just wanted to understand.

Sam gave the picture one last look before placing it back into his pocket and looking back at Okaro. "After that night Araime and myself kept in touch through Social Media but... about a month ago..." Sam looked to the ground that lied between himself and the door.

"He went silent." Okaro could barely get the words out, he knew what it was like to lose connection with those he cared about. 

Sam slowly looked at Okaro with eyes that showed mournfulness, "I could've..."

The door to Araime's apartment opened slowly revealing a short halh in a night gown. "Can I help you?"

...

"So your name's Qeeshal?" asked Okaro, Qeeshal allowed himself and Sam to enter the apartment and take a seat on the couch in the living quarters while Qeeshal herself sat in chair that sat across from the two heroes. 

"Indeed it is." Qeeshal looked down at her hands which were rested on her lap, she looked to be apathetic. This was an all to familiar look for Okaro, he had worn the same look for a long time after the events in his previous life.

...flashback...

...6 months after the battle with King Plake...

Okaro sat in a chair in the cockpit looking down at his hands and remembering all of his time spent with the people on Contak. 

"Okaro do we really plan on just flying through space doing nothing for the rest of eternity?" asked Lady Sareth, who was guiding the ship through the emptiness of space. 

Okaro gave no response, he just simply closed his eyes.

"Okaro you can't just stay like this forever." Lady Sareth continued.

Okaro gave no response again.

"Okaro! Snap out of this! You know Sitsi and the others wouldn't want to see you like this! They would want to see the old you!" Lady Sareth no longer was navigating the ship. Now she had her full attention on Okaro.

Okaro slowly opened his eyes and mouthed the woman's name that Lady Sareth had just mentioned.

"Look," this time Lady Sareth took a calmer approach, "I know this isn't easy but..." That's when Okaro snapped.   

"WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT IT?" Okaro stood from his chair and glared down on Lady Sareth, his ki flowing out of him uncontrollably. "HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY KNOW WHAT IT MEANS TO LOSE EVERYTHING?!" 

Lady Sareth stood slowly and placed her hands on the shoulders of the crying cloned saiyan. "Okaro he took everything from me as well. He killed my family so he could have me, then he used me to do the same to you. I feel the pain that you feel." 

Tears began flowing down Okaro's cheeks as he fell back into the chair he was previously sitting in. Lady Sareth moved her arms around Okaro to embrace him in a tight hug which Okaro returned, their foreheads meeting as they continued to cry. That's when by instinct alone their lips met for a gentle, kind kiss. The two tightened their grasp on the other and the kiss became more passionate. 

"NO!" Okaro pushed Lady Sareth away, sending her to the floor after rolling some. 

Lady Sareth quickly gathered herself and reached a hand out to Okaro, "Okaro, I'm sorry."

Okaro shook his head violently and instant transported himself to the training room., the one place he felt safe. 

...end of flashback...

"So he just disappeared?" Okaro came back to when hearing the question that Sam had asked. He had completely tuned out during that flashback.

"Y-yes." Qeeshal wiped tears that had been forming in her eyes. 

"Do you have any idea where he might have gone?"asked Okaro, taking Sam off guard showing that he must have known about Okaro and his daydreaming.

"Well," Qeeshal grabbed a hold of her arm, "I have this terrible idea that he might have went to to the black market." 

"I know where that is." Sam stood and motioned to Okaro to do the same. "My partner and I will go check all of this out and see what we can do." Okaro nodded, although he felt a little uninformed. Sam gave him a look that said 'I'll inform you later.'

"Thank you." Qeeshal continued to look at her lap as Sam moved to the door, but Okaro stopped by Qeeshal and gave her shoulder a squeeze which caused Qeeshal to look up at him.

"We will bring him back to you, I promise." 

...end of chapter...

Who's ready for some action?! I know I am. We're finally at the end of the Batmos arc. There are only two more chapters left in this arc and just be prepared the next one is a longer one. Overall I'm still very excited for where this story is going and can't wait to bring it to life. What will happen when Okaro and Sam finally face the Space Pirates? Find out in the next chapter!

P.S. How about that Okareth moment?