Dragon Ball SS: Chapter 17

Chapter 17

 

"Beautiful...simply beautiful." The journalist watched the series of photographs open on his computer screen as he downloaded them from his camera. He smiled to himself as he zoomed in on detail in one of the photos.

 

"Oh, and what have we here?"

 

He glanced over his shoulder at the green-haired woman who walked up behind him. She leaned on the back of his chair to look more closely at the computer screen.

 

"What we have is the front page of the Society pages," he replied smugly. "My nose for news never fails me - and that trip to the mall you said would be a waste of my time turned up gold - and diamonds."

 

The woman's brow wrinkled. "What are you talking about?" she asked. "Sure, these are the Briefs brats...but everyone's taking pictures of them. You don't honestly think some random photos of them at the mall are going to trump the articles about their parents, do you?"

 

"Lindi, Lindi, Lindi," the man said with a sigh. "This is why you'll always be a day late and a dollar short." He clicked a button on his keyboard a few times to zoom in on Pan's hand. "Take a closer look at these 'random photos' I took."

 

Lindi's jaw dropped. "Is...that an engagement ring?" she asked.

 

"Diamond," he confirmed. "Purchased at the most expensive jeweler in the mall." He minimized several of the photos to pull up a different one. "I was standing on the balcony above the plaza when I noticed the two of them walk in and look at the ring displays," he said. "These shots aren't the greatest, because of shadows in the store, but they're clear enough for proof if I need it." He clicked quickly through a series of photos of Trunks and Pan looking at various rings, then discussing and purchasing one in particular from the jeweler.

 

"So, Nag-chan, who's the girl?" Lindi asked. "She looks familiar...but I don't recall ever running photos of her before. You know your readers are going to want the full scoop, not just a few teaser pics."

 

"I'm working on it," he replied. "I couldn't get close enough to hear what they were saying; just as I was about to move closer, they were mobbed by some other reporters and took off. I don't think she's a celebrity; I'm going to do some searching and see if she's someone who went to school with him or something."

 

Lindi was still looking thoughtfully at the photos on the screen. "I'm not sure," she said doubtfully. "I have seen these other two girls around the Briefs girl before - they seem to be friends from school. I wonder..."

 

Nagendra looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. "Wonder what?" he asked.

 

Lindi shook her head. "Print me out one of those photos with her in it," she said. "I may have a couple leads...but it will take some digging."

 

Nagendra sighed and clicked the print command. A small printer next to his computer whirred quietly and quickly printed out a copy of the photo. "Make sure my name stays with that photo," he said pointedly.

 

Lindi smiled and waved off his concern. "I know, don't worry about it, Nag-chan," she said. "If my hunch is right, this might pay off for both of us." She picked up the photo from the printer and sauntered away in the direction of her own desk.

 

It was a little more than an hour later when Lindi returned. She walked up to Nagendra's desk and crossed her arms on top of the monitor of his computer. She extended the first two fingers of one of her hands, and Nagendra saw a white piece of paper grasped between them.

 

"Tell me, Nag-chan, how much is the name of your mystery girl worth to you?"

 

Nagendra looked up from his screen; annoyance and frustration were both evident on his face. "That depends on how accurate your information is," he said.

 

"One hundred percent," she replied. "I have both a well-sourced informant and visual confirmation through another recent photo of her."

 

Nagendra sat back and folded his arms. "All right," he said, "I'll bite. What's your asking price?"

 

"Any of the photos you took that you don't use for your own article," Lindi said. "It turns out they'd be beneficial to the story I'm researching."

 

"The story you're researching?" he frowned and gazed at the photos on his screen for a moment. "You were working on the Saiyan origins angle, I thought...the Saiyans who were reported to already be here via the communicator that was found." He suddenly sat upright. "Don't tell me this girl is related to them!"

 

Lindi closed her eyes and smirked. "If my leads pan out, she's a direct descendant," she said.

 

Nagendra blinked in surprise. He sat motionless for a moment, then held out his hand. "Okay, you've got yourself a deal - and a set of photographs. What have you got on her?"

 

Lindi turned the paper in her fingers around to reveal a photograph of Pan at a previous Budokai. "Son Pan," she said. "She's the daughter of a gentleman by the name of Son Gohan. Her father's name keeps coming up in my own research; she looks familiar, because she looks like her paternal grandfather, Son Goku."

 

"Son Goku," Nagendra said thoughtfully. "You mentioned him before - that some of your informants suspect he's Saiyan."

 

Lindi nodded. "And it gets better," she said. "She's not a well-known celebrity, because her father is fairly reclusive; however, she's mildly well-known in the Tenkaichi Budokai circuit. Her maternal grandfather is Mister Satan."

 

Nagendra gaped. "Mister Satan? The World Champion? That Mister Satan?"

 

"The one and only," Lindi replied. "Apparently, his grand-daughter is no slouch, either. When I made the connection to Mister Satan, I called up Belinda-san, who's working on the upcoming Tenkaichi Budokai series. It seems Pan-chan here has fought in the Tenkaichi Budokai - at four years old."

 

"What, four?" he asked in surprise. "But there hasn't been a children's division in ages - did he make special arrangements to get her through the qualifying rounds?"

 

Lindi was already shaking her head. "Belinda-san sent me the video from the 28th Budokai, which is the one she competed in when she was four." She withdrew small device and two more photos. "These two are stills from the video," she said. "The first is her victory over Mo Kekko, who lost to Mr. Buu in the 27th Budokai. Apparently she won rather quickly over him." She handed the photo to Nagendra. "And this one was an unofficial victory; that Budokai was canceled after a number of competitors dropped out suddenly. However, some of the remaining competitors apparently fought for enjoyment after the cancellation."

 

Nagendra was still gaping at the first photo when Lindi handed him the second one. His expression abruptly switched from shock to an amalgamation of surprise and confusion. "This...is..."

 

"Her current fiancé," Lindi finished for him. "Young Mr. Briefs was 18 years old when that photo was taken; the young man on the ground is her uncle, Son Goten, whom it seems is his best friend."

 

Nagendra pinched the bridge of his nose. "Holy shit," he said in amazement. "We really did stumble onto something here, didn't we? If he's 14 years her elder...it has to be because of her Saiyan heritage that he's marrying her, doesn't it?"

 

"I'm still looking into connections," Lindi replied. "But they're almost certainly power-brokering. Can it be coincidence that one Saiyan family is married into Capsule Corp, who are considered the leaders in knowledge and technology, while another is married into Mr. Satan's family, who are considered the leaders in fighting and martial arts?"

 

"And with Trunks marrying this girl, Pan, the two families become linked together," Nagendra said. He folded his hands under his chin and leaned forward, with his elbows resting on his desk. "Fascinating."

 

"Very," Lindi replied. She set the small device on Nagendra's desk. "Go ahead and download the video for your research - I have a copy on my computer already. I need to be getting back to my own work. Send over the photos you're not going to use when you're done with your article - I will likely be a while on mine yet. A lot of what I have is speculation, so I have to wait for a few more of my leads to turn into hard evidence."