Chapter 63

“Come at me faster, you lowly, third-class scum!” Vegeta hissed, lowering into a crouch.

His words seemed to have the precise opposite of the intended effect as Kakarott stopped in midmotion, a single eyebrow raised as he eyed the prince. “Is that supposed to make me want to fight you harder, Vegeta?” he asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

Vegeta’s scowl deepened and he stood up straight, glaring at the Earth-raised Saiyan. “What?”

“Are the names you calling me supposed to make me angry?” Kakarott said, looking at Vegeta levelly.

Vegeta’s mouth opened and closed silently, then he clenched his jaw and stared hatefully at the other man. He hated to admit it, but Kakarott was the finest sparring partner he had ever worked with. Kakarott lacked the finesse of Zarbon, but the man was nearly as strong as he himself was. He didn’t want to believe that the son of a third-class warrior could be as mighty as a prince, but the evidence did not lie. Through some sort of fluke, Kakarott was freakishly strong. He wondered briefly if Radditz harbored the same potential his soft-brained brother did.

“Because if they are, it’s not working,” Kakarott continued.

“I said them because I was angry,” Vegeta spat, wondering for the first time if Kakarott’s foolishness was genuine.

To his surprise, Kakarott frowned and shook his head, making a soft clicking noise with his tongue. “Zarbon says not to fight angry,” he admonished.

A painful rage flared through his body at the mention of the green-haired man’s name and Vegeta whirled to face the other Saiyan. “Zarbon knows nothing!” Vegeta snarled. True, he missed the man’s witty banter, but weeks of sparring with Kakarott had made him feel stronger than ever, and he was even starting to get used to avoiding Zarbon.

“Well, he sure trained you well,” Kakarott said, looking down at the floor.

“Silence!” Vegeta ordered, dismissing Kakarott with a wave of his hand. “You are not to speak that name in my presence any longer.”

“But Vegeta, we live on the same ship! You can’t avoid him forever!”

“You dare presume to tell me what to do?”

Kakarott sighed. “Of course not. I’m just saying that you guys should make up. You’re stronger together than you are apart.”

“I will have nothing to do with that weakling,” Vegeta declared, raising his nose in the air and crossing his arms over his chest.

To his chagrin, Kakarott came over and placed a heavy hand on his shoulder. “Vegeta,” he said softly. “Zarbon loves you like a brother, and despite what you say, I can tell that you love him too. This thing is eating the both of you up inside, and it shouldn’t be that way. If you can’t face yourself and how you feel, how do you expect to face Freeza?”

Vegeta’s lip curled and he batted Kakarott’s hand off of his shoulder. “What can you possibly know anything?” he growled. “You can barely tell your ass from a hole in the ground.”

Kakarott burst out laughing, his broad smile taking over his face. “You’re right, I can be pretty dense sometimes,” he replied. “I understand love, though, and how important it is. I wish you did, too. I think you’d be happier.”

“Such things are for weaklings.”

Kakarott shrugged, his beaming grin still on his lips. “Okay, Vegeta. Whatever you say. All I know is that people work a lot harder when they care about one another.”

“Are you done talking?” Vegeta snapped. “You’ve wasted enough of our time.”

Kakarott nodded. “I guess so,” he said, and relaxed into a battle stance.

Vegeta wasted no time and sent a kick sailing at his head when the lights in the training room began to flash red and the sound of alarms reached their ears. Vegeta dropped lightly to the ground, looking around with a growl. “Gravity sequence terminated,” the computer’s voice said, and the gravity of the training chamber returned to normal.

“What’s going on?” Kakarott said, looking up at the flashing lights.

“I’m not sure, but I will find out,” Vegeta replied and stormed from the room.

---

Radditz sighed and mopped the sweat from his brow with the towel, closing his eyes against the worried countenance of the woman on the screen. “But you don’t understand,” she said, blue eyes blinking rapidly. “He’s been gone almost three weeks!”

“I really don’t think you need to worry, Bulma,” he said calmly, rubbing the towel against the back of his neck. He had just finished his latest bout with Zarbon in the second gravity chamber and had returned to his room to her call. He was tired and sweaty, and although he was overjoyed that she had called him, of all people, he still wished he would have had a few moments to rest and clean himself up. Zarbon was never an easy taskmaster, and was even less so now that his friendship with Vegeta had crumbled. The green-haired man drove him hard, putting him in a tank on several occasions, and although he could feel the payoff in the strength coursing through his veins, he was also damn tired.

“Three weeks, Radditz, three weeks!” Bulma bellowed. “Yamcha, Tien, and Krillin have been looking for him ever since they arrived last week, but now they assure me that he’s not on the planet. They say that they’d be able to find his ki signature if he was still on Arlia.”

“Most likely they would,” Radditz replied, plopping down on his bunk and batting away the blankets that hung off of Goku’s bed. “If they say he’s not on Arlia then he isn’t.”

“Then where is he?” Bulma wailed, gripping her own shoulders and chewing on her lower lip. “I promised Goku I’d take care of him!”

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Radditz reiterated. “Gohan’s half Saiyan, and he’s a sharp kid. Whatever happens, I’m sure he can handle it.”

“He might be too sharp for his own good,” she muttered, glancing away.

Radditz watched her face grow still as she fell into thought, the gauzy curtains of her chambers fluttering in the image behind her. He realized that he missed sunlight after all the weeks he had been in space. “Listen,” he said, hating to barge in on her thoughts but knowing it was necessary. After all, he couldn’t very well lose himself in studying her beautiful features. He reminded himself sharply that she was another man’s wife. “I’m in no position to help you out right now. If we didn’t have this secure frequency I wouldn’t be able to talk to you at all, and this is all we have for communication. We can’t very well go out looking for him. My hands are tied, Bulma.”

“I know, I know,” she muttered. “I’m just worried, and Vegeta would be no help. Goku wouldn’t either, really, and he’d just worry. Now, Zarbon . . .”

“Is still in a black mood,” Radditz finished for her. “He alternates between pouting, rage, and pretending the whole thing never happened. We’re still getting top performance out of him, but he’s on autopilot. I don’t think he needs more to worry about.”

“That’s why I had to talk to you,” Bulma said. “This is a big deal, especially considering what we’re up against.”

Radditz was about to comment further when the lights in the small cabin flickered, flashing red as sirens began to sound. “What the hell?” Radditz growled, standing.

“What’s that? What’s going on?” Bulma asked quickly, her image becoming larger as she leaned towards the screen.

“Nothing. Our radar is picking something up in the subspace behind us,” he said nonchalantly, masking the fear that crept up his spine. He figured Freeza would set someone on their tail eventually, but he had hoped that it wouldn’t be quite so soon. “I need to go.”

Bulma scowled, her sapphire eyes flashing, but she nodded. “Okay. You make sure to call me back, though, and let me know you guys are all right.”

He smiled in spite of himself, unable, as always, to resist her charming frown. “Sure thing. I’ll be in touch,” he replied, and terminated the signal before she could say anything else.

Radditz trotted down the corridor and appeared on the bridge, Zarbon already at the controls. The man’s hair was dripping wet and he had a towel wrapped around his waist. “Going to fight Freeza’s forces shower-fresh, eh?” Radditz growled jovially as he went to Zarbon’s side.

“Hush,” the other man said, his golden eyes flickering momentarily to Radditz’s face. “It’s not Freeza.”

Radditz scowled. Freeza was a known quantity, at least. He wasn’t certain he liked the sound of something unknown descending upon them. “What? What is it, then? Did an asteroid chunk get pulled into our path?”

Zarbon frowned at the screen and pointed. “No, it’s definitely metallic. In fact, I’d say it was one of our own pods.”

Radditz stood up straight, staring at the screen in disbelief as the object drew closer. “Our own?”

“That’s what I said. Its trajectory follows ours, as well, but isn’t as precisely plotted. It appears as if it has been following us. It probably wouldn’t have caught up, but since we’re entering the Denkali system, the gravity of the outer planet of Denkali is affecting our large craft more than it would a smaller one, slowing us down.”

“It followed us from Arlia?” Radditz breathed, his eyes meeting Zarbon’s golden gaze.

“So it would seem,” Zarbon muttered, breaking eye contact and turning back to the screen.

“What in blazes is going on?” a voice demanded, followed by heavy footsteps. “Turn off that blasted noise?”

Zarbon stood stiffly and hiked his towel up a bit. He was perfectly silent for a few seconds, locked in a cold stare with the Saiyan Prince. “The situation is all yours, Commander,” Zarbon said smoothly, and brushed past Vegeta without so much as another glance. Vegeta’s face contorted in anger and Radditz stared after Zarbon in disbelief. He wouldn’t have thought it possible to summon such dignity wearing only a towel, but the green-haired man had pulled it off.

“Commander, what is going on?” Vegeta said, striding over to the console, and Radditz blinked at him. “Commander?”

It took Radditz a few more moments to realize that Vegeta was talking to him. He had heard that title only used to reference Nappa for so long that he had a hard time remembering that he was the new Commander. “Something appears to be following us, sire,” he said, taking a seat at the console.

Vegeta’s eyes narrowed as he leaned forward, studying the screen. “What is it?”

“One of our own pods, sire.”

“What?”

“It seems that one of our pods has followed us from Arlia.”

Vegeta’s scowl deepened when the lights in the room once again began to flash red. “Now what’s going on?” Vegeta snapped.

Radditz did his best to block out everything but the viewscreen, reading what he saw there with utmost concentration. “It’s docking,” Radditz whispered.

“Docking?” Vegeta echoed, staring intently at the screen.

“Yes,” Radditz replied. “It has docking clearance built-in, since it’s our pod. This ship wasn’t modified for manual docking authorization.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Ask your wife,” Radditz said, inwardly flinching when Vegeta turned his darkly furious stare upon him. Hoping for a distraction, he stood up quickly and saluted. “Requesting permission to secure the bay, sire,” he said formally, being very careful not to make eye contact with his prince.

Vegeta was silent for a moment or two, then nodded curtly. “Granted,” he said, turning to the controls. “I’ll take over here. Make sure the situation is contained.”

“Yes, sire,” Radditz said, and rushed from the room.

On his way to the bay he saw Goku duck into the cabin they shared. “Hey!” Radditz cried. “We have a situation. Come with me.”

“I was gonna take a shower,” Goku said slowly, but turned to face Radditz nonetheless.

“Time for that later,” Radditz growled, grabbing his younger brother by the wrist. “One of our pods just docked and we have no idea who it is.”

“Is that why the lights were flashing and sirens going off?”

Radditz rolled his eyes as he towed Goku down the circular metallic hallways. “Of course,” he snapped. “What did you think they were signaling, the new year?”

“Hey, that hadn’t occurred to me,” Goku said.

Radditz groaned and rounded the corner, barreling into the bay. Piccolo was already there, and the three of them watched as the pod approached, borne towards them. They stood, tense, as the pod slowly opened. “Careful,” Radditz cautioned, readying himself to spring into battle at any moment.

The three warriors crouched, nervous sweat beading on brows, when a small figure jumped from the pod. Ki was immediately gathered and a high voice shouted out “Daddy!”

The three instantly dispersed their energy, staring wide-eyed as Gohan bounded across the shiny floor. “Gohan?” Goku said, kneeling as his son flung himself into his arms.

“Are you surprised?” Gohan asked, trotting over and wrapping himself around Radditz briefly before dashing to Piccolo.

“What are you doing here, runt?” the Namekian growled affectionately.

“I was worried you would get into trouble, so I came to help.”

“Wow, you sure did a great job finding us!” Goku crowed, smiling and Piccolo picked up the boy in an embrace.

“How did you manage it?” Piccolo asked.

“I waited while everyone was busy at the launchpad with you guys, then I climbed into the pod. It took off the same time as your ship, but the stasis must have gotten switched on, because I don’t remembering anything after I honed in on your ship and told the pod to track it.”
Radditz frowned. “Gohan, that was an exceedingly stupid thing for you to do,” he snapped, and the other three turned to look at him, varying stages of confusion written across their faces.

“But, Uncle Radditz-”

“But nothing, kid. You could have been killed by the stasis programs in that pod- it wasn’t designed for a child. You’re lucky you’re not dead. In addition, you steal a pod from the Emperor and go chasing across the universe, which isn’t a good idea since you have no idea where you are or how to get back should you get even more lost.”

“But-”

“I’m not finished!” Radditz snapped, eyes flashing. “Not only have you put yourself in danger, you have shown us all dishonor by deserting your post in a time of war. Your mission was to guard the Empress, was it not?”

“Bulma will be fine,” Gohan grumbled, looking at the floor.

“You don’t know that. She might die because you weren’t there to watch her back. You were supposed to care for her in our absence, and yet you abandoned your duties.”

Goku cleared his throat, looking anxiously around. “Hey, Radditz, you’re being too hard on him,” he said gently.

Radditz whirled on his younger brother, eyes alight with ire. “This is war, Goku!” he shouted. “You’ve never faced Freeza and his forces. You have no idea what you’re up against. There’s a reason that Vegeta’s so afraid, you know, and Zarbon terrified damn near witless! The only thing that keeps any of us going is the knowledge that if we don’t push forward, we’ll die for sure!”

“You’re all that afraid?” Goku murmured.

“Of course! Freeza’s a monster, an abomination! He lives only for the pleasure of controlling lives, and if that means humiliation, degradation, pain, or death, then so be it. His forces numbered in the millions before he took over his father’s and brother’s empires. He’s going to be damn near unstoppable.”

“Sounds to me like Gohan’s safer with us,” Piccolo grated.

Radditz sighed, the fight leaving him as if he had sprung a leak. “It’s hard to say. We don’t really know what Freeza will do. That’s why Zarbon’s so eager to confront him before he confronts us. That way we at least have a little control over when and where we fight. If we just sit and wait Freeza has too much time to plan. No, we’re forcing his hand, and there’s still no telling what will happen.”

“What do you think he’ll do? Goku asked, pulling his son over to him and putting a hand on the crown of the boy’s head. “You’ve worked for him before.”

“Freeza doesn’t expend any more effort than he absolutely has to. If he was efficiency-obsessed like his brother we’d be in real trouble. As it stands, I imagine that he’ll only send the minimum number of forces necessary to stop the uprising. That’s why I think that Bulma stands a chance of winning her part of the battle. She’s smart enough and strong enough to be able to defeat Freeza’s superior numbers. However, she won’t be able to hold off his whole damn army if we fail to kill Freeza. He’ll just keep sending them in waves and waves until the resources of our empire are sapped.”

“And us?” Piccolo growled, his eyes falling gently on the boy at Goku’s knees.

“We have almost no chance,” Radditz replied, looking away. “Our only hope is that Vegeta fulfills his destiny as a Super Saiyan. Otherwise Freeza will obliterate us, and that’s if we even make it past the Ginyu Force.”

“What’s that?” Goku asked, blinking.

Radditz rubbed his temple and shut his eyes, trying to ignore the pressure that was building up in his skull. “Freeza’s elite force of fighters, Goku,” he grumbled. “If I’ve told you once I’ve told you a thousand times. Zarbon could take one of them, and you and Vegeta might be able to take one or two of the others, but Ginyu himself has never been defeated. I doubt we’ll be able to kill all five.” He paused, looking at his nephew and mulling over the situation. “Yes, if Gohan had stayed with Bulma his chances of survival were much greater. Good, almost. But at least with us he’s ensured a quick death. They’ll probably just kill him outright. It’s the rest of us they’ll toy with.”

Gohan made a small noise and pressed himself against his father. “Daddy,” he murmured.

Goku’s grip tightened on the boy and he set his jaw. “I don’t plan on losing,” he said solemnly.

“Few people ever do,” Radditz said, and stalked back towards the bridge.

---

Goku kept an eye on Gohan as they trotted after Radditz’s hulking form. The boy’s face was pale and drawn, and he felt for the first time that perhaps they had bitten off more than he could chew. He was starting to understand why Vegeta so adamantly insisted that emotions were weaknesses- if anything happened to Gohan, he knew that he himself would be undone. Still, unlike Vegeta, he wouldn’t have traded his closeness with his loved ones for anything. He just hoped he had the strength to protect what he cared about. No, he wouldn’t think like that. He loved Gohan and Radditz with all his heart, and that love would give him the strength to win. His mind wandered immediately to Vegeta, and he felt a sudden sadness. Vegeta wasn’t going to get strength from anywhere. He didn’t know if Vegeta loved Bulma, but he figured there was probably more to that story than he saw. He remembered the shattered look on Vegeta’s face when he thought Bulma was dead, after all. Yes, the Prince had to love Bulma, but Goku supposed that those sorts of feelings were easily ignored, especially when attributed to attraction. What he couldn’t figure out, though, was why Vegeta was so stubbornly denying his attachment to Zarbon. As far as he could tell, Zarbon and Vegeta were even closer than he and Radditz were, and it was totally beyond him why anyone would want to deny that sort of joy. Maybe Vegeta just wasn’t used to joy, or maybe he was afraid of it. Goku didn’t know, but he understood that he could do nothing less than his best to help out.

“He’s going to be furious,” Radditz muttered as he palmed open the door to the ship’s bridge.

“Too bad,” Piccolo replied roughly.

“I’m sorry,” Gohan whispered, taking a fistful of the fabric of Goku’s pants.

Goku smiled down at his son, smoothing back the unruly hair from the child’s forehead. “I know you just wanted to help,” he reassured him. “But you’re going to have to train extra hard with Piccolo from now on, okay?”

“Okay,” Gohan mumbled, looking down at the floor as they shuffled onto the bridge.

As they entered Vegeta whirled violently, sending a burning gaze boring right through them. “What is the meaning of this?” he hissed, eyes narrowed. His scowl deepened even further when he spotted Gohan. “What is he doing here?”

Radditz bowed, placing a closed fist over his heart. “He followed us, sire,” Radditz said calmly, but Goku noticed his fist was trembling.

“What?” Vegeta said, voice deceptively calm.

“He hijacked a pod and followed us,” Radditz repeated.

Vegeta’s features glazed over and he crouched slightly, beckoning towards Gohan. Gohan looked up at Goku, who pressed his lips into a line and nodded slowly, gently pushing the boy towards the man. “Yes?” Gohan said softly, eyes wide.

“Did you steal one of my pods?”

“Yes.”

“Were you not ordered to protect my wife?”

“Yes.”

“Why did you abandon your duties?”

Gohan swallowed hard. “Because I wanted to help Dad and Uncle Radditz,” he replied.

“Did it not occur to you that you might have put my wife in mortal danger?” Vegeta said, voice taking on a menacing timbre.

“No, sir,” Gohan squeaked.

Vegeta’s face twisted in a snarl and his hand lashed out, catching Gohan by the front of the shirt. He lifted the child off of the ground and held him mere inches from his face, eyes flashing with wrath.

Goku made a strangled noise and moved towards his son. He didn’t like the look on Vegeta’s face, and he wasn’t entirely sure that the man wouldn’t harm his child. Before he could take his second step, however, his path was blocked by a brawny, blue-skinned arm. Goku’s mouth dropped slightly open and he fell back, seeing Piccolo do the same out of the corner of his eye. Zarbon strode forward, back ramrod straight, and stood directly in front of Vegeta, eyes cold as he gazed steadily down upon the shorter man. He reached out and took Gohan by the back of the shirt, prying him from Vegeta’s tense grasp, and set the child down on the ground. He didn’t release him, however, and Goku’s insides twisted as Gohan shot him a pleading, frightened look. Goku wanted desperately to go to his son, and something akin to panic began to take hold of him, held in check only by the instincts that screamed at him to hold perfectly still. He made a comforting gesture at his child and returned his eyes to the two men before him, locked as they were in a ferocious stare.

Vegeta’s expression tightened as he glared into Zarbon’s face, and the taller man’s eyes were just as ice-filled as the Saiyan’s were brimming with fire. Tension filled the room and sweat began to pop out on Goku’s brow. This was a silent battle of wills, and there was no way he could see for one man to beat the other. The air nearly crackled between them as they stared at one another, and Goku wondered if they would all go mad before they even got to meet the Ginyu Force. It was like they had all been turned into statues by the terrible spell Zarbon and Vegeta were weaving between them.

It was Radditz who broke the silence at last, rushing to the console. “We’re only 72 hours from Denkali Four,” he said, turning and fixing his superiors with a level glance. “No other ships are in the vicinity.”

Both Zarbon and Vegeta snapped their heads to look at Radditz. “Drop the cloaking devices,” Zarbon ordered.

Vegeta made another move towards Gohan but was blocked by Zarbon’s massive body. “You,” he hissed beneath his breath.

“I dare to do a lot of things,” Zarbon replied icily. “Gohan, go back to your father.”

Gohan made a small noise and rushed back to Goku’s side, staring wide-eyed at the adult men in the center of the room. “Thanks, Mister Zarbon,” he began.

“I don’t want to hear it,” Zarbon said sharply, still not taking his eyes from Vegeta’s face. “You’ll wish I sent you packing back to Arlia by the time this is all said and done. You behaved very poorly, Gohan. I would have expected it from someone less, but you have always shown such discipline in the past. I had hoped that you, of all people, wouldn’t abandon duties you knew to be so vital to our operation.”

Goku felt Gohan flinch against him and knew that Zarbon’s reprimand was far worse for the boy than any physical wrath Vegeta would have used. “He’s just a kid,” he heard himself whisper.

“That may be so, but he is still a trained warrior, and as such should have a certain amount of discipline. I only wish that we would have known we couldn’t count on him before we assigned him with such a vital task,” Zarbon said.

“Hey, you’re being too hard on him,” Piccolo began to protest.

Zarbon held up a hand and shook his head. “I don’t want to hear anything from you,” he said sharply. “Neither you nor the boy were invited to this little party in the first place.” Still looking pointedly at Vegeta, he sighed. “Radditz, please see to it that the bridge is cleared.”

“Yes, sir,” Radditz said quickly, herding Goku, Gohan, and Piccolo from the room.

Goku glanced over his shoulder at the pair, still standing and staring at one another. He shook his head at so much pain between two people where there should be support, and then the door slid shut, barring them both from sight.

---

62 / Bulma’s Hideout / 64