played on Tenshinan's lips.
<br />
Never, never would he give it to her. At that moment her dream shattered, and to her amazement, Lunch realized that she had harbored doubts deep in her heart for a very long time. For a short time she had succeeded in burying these doubts under her ardent desire, but now that the pink house of cards of a future with Tenshinhan was broken, the realization came to light. Even when she wanted to give up and accepted prison, she had already known it.
<br />
"Thank you," she heard herself say. “Thank you for your honest words, Tenshinhan.” Then the scene blurred before her eyes and everything went black.
<br />
“Lunch!” His strong arms caught her before she could hit the marble floor. "Lunch, I didn't mean to ...!Lunch! "He shook her gently, but she didn't move.
<br />
"Put it on your bed, I'll see if we have ice in the freezer," said Chaozu. Neither of them noticed how the gap through which they had come was slowly closing again. "
<br />
.............
<br />
“Oh no!” Dende's exclamation startled C17. With a few steps he stood next to the young god.
<br />
"What's happening?"
<br />
"The gap is closing," said Dende, his feelers trembling with excitement. "The 15 minutes are almost up."
<br />
"Maybe she's happy with him in there in that room and willingly stay there," suggested C17.
<br />
"That can't be", Dende shakes his head, "Popo can read his lips well and he saw that Tenshinhan rejected her. After that she passed out, apparently the shock was too much."
<br />
"What? The guy rejects her? Where she risked everything for him?" C17 clenched her fists. "I would love to shake him and shoot at the moon!"<br />
"That doesn't work because we don't have a moon any more," said Dende dryly. "To be honest, I feared something like that. Tenshinhan has never shown any interest in women, at least not in the years since I've been God. Apparently, all he's got is training and his friendship with Chaozu. He's happy with that. "
<br />
“Damn it!” C17 punched a dent in the wall with his fist. "If she can't go back, she'll end her life with a guy who doesn't like her and can't give her anything."
<br />
"Exactly. The gap is already so small that Chaozu would just fit through. I don't know what to do ..."
<br />
“Leave that to me!” C17 lay down in the coffin. "I don't care about Tenshinhan, but I don't want lunch to rot over there ..."
<br />
"Wait! I cannot promise that my healing powers will be of great use, since you also partly consist of non-living matter."
<br />
C17 grinned obliquely at him."Believe it or not ... I don't care. Just do it, for lunch, please!"
<br />
The urge in his voice convinced Dende and with a sigh he activated the device.
<br />
Smiling, C17 closed his eyes and remembered every single moment with lunch. He would never have believed that his cold soul would open up to someone other than C18 and Marron in such a way, greedy for the warmth, for the vitality that lunch exuded. Now that both the brave, strong, wild Lunch and the gentle, maternal Lunch were one and the same, since he didn't have to miss the one while the other was close to him, now Lunch had really become the woman he was with would like to be together, not just a year, or a decade, no, a lifetime ... and more ...
<br />
The last red light turned green, Dende pressed the button and the next phase began. When the large crystal finally showed itself saturated in deep blue, Dende released the force and the gap that had almost closed, widened again.<br />
"Enough ... is it enough?" C17 gasped and doubled up because the loss of energy ate him up inside. Dende nodded and put his hands on C17's chest to heal him.
<br />
"It was worth it ..." C17's head fell to one side, he had passed out. Dende gritted his teeth and grimly released even more of his healing powers.
<br />
"God can do it?", Popo asked carefully. Sweat was already streaming down Dende's face. "No," he huffed, "I took care of the human parts, but I can't do the rest with my strength."
<br />
"Did he have to die?"
<br />
“Not if it gets into knowledgeable hands quickly.” Dende carefully lifted C17 out of the coffin and swayed under his weight. "Uff." He turned to Popo. "Take him and fly to Bulma as fast as you can. She may be able to save him."
<br />
"And what will become of the three in there?" asked Popo.
<br />
"I'll take care of them," said Dende. "Hurry up!"<br />
“Popo do his best!” God's servant flew away, swift as the wind.
<br />
Dende wiped off his sweat, gripped the staff tighter, and stepped through the gap.
<br />
..........
<br />
<br />
"Ah ... she's finally coming to," Lunch heard Dende's voice mutter.
<br />
She didn't really want to wake up, but an inner voice advised her not to hide any longer. Her eyelids fluttered and then she opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Dende's worried face leaning over her.
<br />
"Where ... where am I ..?" She asked. "This is no longer the space of spirit and time, is it?"
<br />
"No," smiled Dende. "Tenshinhan carried you through the gap that C17 opened for you."
<br />
"C17?", She looked around, but except Popo and Dende could not see anyone in the guest room.
<br />
"Popo brought him to Bulma!" Said the servant. "You're trying to save his life."
<br />
"What?" Lunch sat up and threw back the covers."What happened?"
<br />
Dende explained in a nutshell that 17's feelings had opened the gap again for her and that the cyborg had been damaged twice by the loss of energy and that they feared for his life.
<br />
Lunch's face grew paler and paler. She swallowed hard. "I want to see him!", It came decidedly from her lips. "Please take me to C17."
<br />
"You don't ask about Tenshinhan?" Asked Dende. "He and Chaozu have already left to continue training in the desert. She actually wanted to wait until you woke up, but I thought that it would only make you sad to see him and to know that it was all in vain .. . "
<br />
"Tenshinhan ..." Lunch put a hand on her heart and listened to herself. Yes, there was still something there, but that was just silent melancholy, a quiet mourning for all the time she had invested in this hopeless love. Her eyes opened wide when she suddenly realized that another name was now engraved in burning letters on her soul.<br />
"Thank you for your trouble, God Dende," she said, still amazed at this sudden realization. “But Tenshinhan is safe from me.” The joke easily crossed her lips, but then she got serious. "C17 is much more important to me. I want to see him, please!"
<br />
"I still have cloud outside," said Popo. "You want to try to move up?"
<br />
Lunch nodded. She was still a little unsteady on her feet, but she declined Dende's help with thanks. The cloud, a duplicate of Gokou's cloud, hovered knee-high in front of the palace. Lunch took a deep breath and hopped onto the cloud, praying that she would accept it. And in fact the yellow cloud did not give way, but rather cushioned it safely. "Please take me to Bulma's house," said Lunch, "as quickly as you can!"
<br />
She knelt down to offer as little air resistance as possible and looked back at Popo and Dende one last time. "A thousand thanks to both of you for everything!"
<br />
Then the cloud hissed away.The strong wind tore her hair back and brought tears to her eyes.
<br />
Still, she didn't ask for a slower pace. Far below her the landscape rushed past, towns, fields, forests and lakes, the sea, islands and the desert. Finally the cloud slowed and Lunch could see details. The streets and buildings of a large city spread out below her and the cloud flew purposefully towards a yellowish, igloo-shaped house. In front of the door the cloud sank to knee height. "Thank you, cloud. Please wait here for me!" Said Lunch, jumping on the floor and ringing the bell for storm.
<br />
"Come on!", It rang from inside and a rather exhausted Bulma yanked the door open. "Who wants something from ...", the sentence got stuck in her throat when she saw the fearful face of Lunch. "Popo told me, but I didn't want to believe it!" She exclaimed. "You look great, lunch!"
<br />
But Lunch wasn't after compliments."C17," she gasped. "How's C17?"
<br />
“The cyborg?” Bulma sighed and rubbed his forehead. "It looked pretty wild, I can only say ..."
<br />
“And?” Lunch grabbed Bulma by the shoulders. “Is he ... is he ...?” She couldn't put her worst fear into words.
<br />
"Not so stormy!", Bulma released Lunch's grip and rubbed her shoulders. "You have a really strong grip, just like the old, wild Lunch." She grinned and made the victory sign. "You're talking to a genius here. Of course I got it. It's as good as new."
<br />
Lunch filled her eyes with tears of relief and she hugged Bulma fiercely. "Thanks ... you don't know ... how much that means to me. Can I see him?"
<br />
Bulma patted her on the back. "You like him a lot, don't you?" She asked carefully. "I always thought you had a weakness for Teshinhan ..."
<br />
"I did too," Lunch admitted and wiped away the tears of joy."But now I know that my heart is no longer attached to him, but that it belongs to C17 ...", she paused, "... if he still wants it." The thought that C17 thinks she is fickle and rejects it could only now came to her, and new fear crept up inside her.
<br />
"You have to ask him that yourself," said Bulma. "He is no longer here. Half an hour ago he flew home immediately after the successful repair. He wants to cure himself there, he said."
<br />
“Thanks for everything, Bulma!” Lunch hopped up on the cloud again. “Say hi to Trunks and Marron.” She knelt and waved to the amazed Bulma, who had only now noticed the cloud. "Off to C17's house in the forest!" And the cloud flitted away with her.
<br />
............
<br />
How long he had slept C17 couldn't tell. It must have been a good 12 hours.