Chapter 18
"Well now," Jees said to his cohorts. "Since Vegita has been so kind as to bring along some of his friends to meet us, I think it's only right that we properly introduce ourselves. Don't you agree, Vegita?" He asked, sneering at Vegita. Vegita's only reply was some profane insult snarled in Jees' direction. Jees grinned back at the rest of Team Ginyu, and they both nodded in assent. They neatly lined themselves up before their opponents.
"God, I hate it when they do this," Vegita muttered, glaring at them in disgust.
"What?" Bulma wondered to herself. Could there be anything more ridiculous than playing Jan-ken before a battle?
Suddenly the large orange-haired one stepped forward. "Allow me to introduce myself," he said, poising as if to attack. "I am Rikuum. The first member of Team Ginyu!" As he finished speaking, he jerked himself into the oddest position Bulma had ever seen. He had his back to Bulma and her friends, but he'd craned his neck around so that he was looking back at them. His right arm was pointing straight out away from him, slightly raised, and with his hand rigidly pointing in the same direction, palm down. His other arm was raised in such a way that he appeared to be flexing his bicep, except his hand was pointed in the same direction as his other arm, also palm downward. His right leg was extended far to the right, and was straight and rigid, all the way to his foot. His left leg was somewhat curled, pointing more to the left, and he rested it on the ball of his foot just behind the toes. All things considered, he reminded Bulma of one of those Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Next the really tall blue one stepped up. "I'm next!" He cried, sliding in next to Rikuum. "I'm Baata! Don't forget it!" And, just as Rikuum had done, he placed himself in a strange position. He held his arms out straight like the wings of an airplane, and raised his left leg, bent at the knee, out in front of him, with his foot pointing downward. His other leg pointed straight down, and held all of his weight up.
Bulma was beginning to wonder what kind of fighting stances these were. They certainly didn't look very guarded, or very comfortable, for that matter.
"And then there's me!" Jees cried, sliding in to the right of Rikuum and in front of Baata. "I'm Jees! But I won't mind if you forget, considering the fact that you're all going to die here in a few minutes!" (Kuririn gulped). Jees then assumed his own weird stance, which was quite possibly the strangest of them all. He held his right arm in much the same way that Rikuum held his left, except Jees' hand was balled up in a fist, and pointed down at his shoulder. His left arm pointed straight up, fisted at the end, and really made him seem like he was about to punch Baata in the jaw. He was squatting down a bit, with his left leg pointed straight and jutting sharply out to the far right, while his right leg bent at the knee and pointed, with his foot flat on the ground, in the opposite direction, as it was balancing him and holding up most of his weight. He, like the other two, looked absolutely ridiculous.
Then, as if they had rehearsed it, they all cried out with a big flourish, "Behold the awesome power of... TEAM GINYU!"
Bulma stared at this incredible coordinated display in shock for a few seconds. Then she began to snicker. She tried to hold it in as best as she could, but her chuckles soon grew much more persistent, and she couldn't contain them any longer. Much to Kuririn's horror, and Gohan's surprise, she exploded in a wild fit of laughter.
"Bwahahahaha!" She laughed loudly, holding her side and pointing at Team Ginyu. "I just can't stand it! You three look absolutely hilarious! What kind of ridiculous fighting stances are those, anyway? Have you lost your minds? Do you have any idea how many vulnerable spots you've got in those positions? Wahahahahaha!" She nearly fell to the ground laughing. Tears began rolling down her cheeks. She'd never seen anything so ridiculous!
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Jees said, sounding hurt. "Don't you know a good pose when you see one?!"
"What?" Bulma cried, and she stopped laughing. "You mean to tell me you're posing?!"
"Of course!" He replied impatiently. "Team Ginyu is the most stylish group of mercenaries in the universe! Why shouldn't we pose?"
Bulma just stared at him for a few seconds, quite taken aback by his logic. Then she looked back at Vegita as if to say, "he's kidding, right?" But he just ignored her and glared in absolute disgust at Team Ginyu. Bulma wondered for a second how she was supposed to take these adversaries seriously after that, but then reason told her that they wouldn't be able to get away with stunts like this if they didn't have the power to back them up. So she just shook her head, sighed, and tried to forget it.
"All right then," Rikuum said, as they assumed more practical and comfortable stances. "Now that the introductions are over, it's time to get down to business. Guess what, Veggie-boy? It's your lucky day! I get the pleasure of being your executioner!" Then he struck another hilarious pose, this one being more reminiscent of a ballet pose.
Vegita didn't reply, but he seemed to have had enough. He began to seriously charge up his ki. After only a few seconds, Bulma, Kuririn, and Gohan had to back away from him, since his aura was becoming too forceful for them to remain where they were.
"Geez!" Bulma yelled to Kuririn. "Vegita's really turning up the juice!"
"I know!" Kuririn called back. "Maybe we should just stay out of his way for this one. I have a feeling that this fight is way out of our league."
Bulma and Gohan nodded in agreement, and turned their attention back toward Vegita. He was really pouring on the steam. His ki aura had turned bright blue, and he had a large vein protruding from his forehead. He started to scream, letting his ki explode in a huge surge of power. Growling, he glared at Rikuum, who was gaping at Vegita in surprise.
Bulma estimated that he was somewhere around 40 or 50 thousand degrees on a scouter. He still wasn't as strong as Rikuum was, but he might be strong enough to take him by surprise.
Vegita suddenly lunged at Rikuum - who had been caught completely off guard - and punched him squarely in the jaw. As Rikuum fell backward from the impact, Vegita shot over and behind him, and then smashed him down into the ground with both hands. He then shot straight up into the air, and while Rikuum was still flat on the ground, he zoomed down and stomped both his feet into Rikuum's chest. Before he could make a move, Vegita grabbed his left leg and began twirling him around and around furiously. Then he let go of Rikuum, who shot straight into the side of a mountain, nearly half a mile away.
Vegita wasn't through yet. His arms were each covered by a huge ball of ki, and were sticking straight out on either side of him. Screaming furiously, he smacked his hands together and charge up tremendously. Kuririn shoved Bulma and Gohan to the ground, then dove down beside them just as Vegita let his ki blast go. It hurtled toward Rikuum and the crumbled mountain with so much speed and strength that it dug a large furrow in the ground as it went. Bulma glanced back to see Vegita, dwarfed by his enormous energy beam, and she wondered if they might possibly have a chance after all.
As Vegita's blast connected, the ground beneath Bulma shook violently, and her ears rang from the fierce multiple explosions caused by his blast. "Rikuum must surely be feeling this!" She thought excitedly.
"Let's see if you can handle this!" Vegita yelled, intensifying his blast even further. The terrain around Rikuum's mountain suddenly erupted in a huge mound of exploding energy, and Bulma knew it would take an extraordinary fighter to survive that. She just hoped that Rikuum wasn't just such a fighter, because as Vegita finally slowed down and stopped, she could see that he was nearly spent. That bout had taken a lot out of him, and Bulma very much doubted he'd have much of a chance if Rikuum weren't at least seriously wounded.
Bulma, Kuririn, and Gohan got up and concentrated on the enormous debris cloud that had resulted from Vegita's blast. They were all very anxious to see what condition Rikuum was in.
Gohan suddenly gasped, and Bulma and Kuririn shared in his horror. They could all sense a huge ki in there, which was definitely Rikuum's. And it didn't seem much weaker than before, either.
"Vegita didn't even make a dent in him!" Kuririn exclaimed. "Look at him! After all that, the guy's barely scratched up!"
It was true. Out from the cloud of dust emerged Rikuum, still very much intact, exept for his armor, which had been blown away. He grinned, fully enjoying the looks of shock coming from Vegita, Bulma, Gohan, and Kuririn. He strode up about twenty yards away from Vegita and began clapping his hands.
"Well done, Vegita!" He exclaimed. "You've improved a lot since we last met, haven't you? This fight may prove to be interesting after all! Now," he said, assuming a fighting stance. "I suppose I should fight for real now. It IS my turn, right Vegita?"
Bulma glanced at Vegita. He didn't look very pleased with this turn of events; that was certain. She wondered how long he could last. She didn't want to think about it, but it did seem that things had taken a very nasty turn for the worse. She had no idea just how right she was.
The first thing Rikuum did was hop straight up in the air. In an instant he had landed and was already making a beeline for Vegita. Vegita didn't even have time to react. Rikuum kneed him viciously in the face, and Vegita went sailing backward.
Vegita regained his control in midair and pushed off an outcropping of rock to help spin himself over and land on his feet. He then rocketed straight up into the air at Rikuum, yelling in rage.
Rikuum and Vegita then did some serious close-combat fighting. Vegita was laying out the punches blindingly fast, much faster than Bulma could keep up with, but she was, however, able to see Rikuum block each one. After about fifteen seconds of allowing Vegita's fruitless attempts to continue, Rikuum drew his fist back and pounded it violently into Vegita's face, causing Vegita to slam down into the ground. Rikuum shot after him to hit him again, but Vegita flew back out of the way just in time to avoid him.
Rikuum must have anticipated this, because in a flash he was right behind Vegita. Rikuum chased him at a pretty fair pace for a couple of seconds, before Vegita charged up and threw an intense energy ball back at his unsuspecting pursuer.
Kuririn and Gohan whooped excitedly, but Rikuum wasn't so easily fooled. He dodged the blast with incredible ease, and flew - much too fast for anyone to keep up with his movements - up and behind Vegita. He appeared, upside down, right behind Vegita. He had snuck up on him so perfectly that he had no difficulty in landing a powerful kick on the back of Vegita's neck, and sending him plummeting to a lake below. Rikuum grinned evilly as Vegita slammed into the water, sending it shooting hundreds of feet into the air.
Bulma and the others gasped, and watched the water intently for signs of Vegita's still being conscious. Thirty seconds, then a full minute went by with no more disturbances on the water's surface. It had since calmed to small ripples by now, and Bulma and her friends were becoming very nervous. It was nerve-racking to see someone get blasted into water, because it was nearly impossible to accurately sense ki through it. Bulma couldn't sense any trace of Vegita down there, but that could mean anything.
Rikuum hovered overhead, grinning and studying the water. He lowered himself to just a few feet above the surface, and then called out to Vegita, saying he couldn't hold his breath forever. Bulma suddenly noticed a line of bubbles forming way on the other side of the lake, heading toward Rikuum, and they were moving forward fast, which meant, depending on how far down Vegita was, he was probably very close to being directly underneath Rikuum by now.
Sure enough, just as Rikuum noticed the bubbles, only a little way off by now, Vegita shot up out of the water, fists extended, and rammed into Rikuum's stomach. He rocketed him skyward for a good distance, then, after slowing down, he began throwing punches into his gut.
Bulma thought that at last Vegita had an edge, but suddenly she saw that she was wrong. Rikuum had regained his composure, and, bending over, grabbed Vegita around the middle. Poor Vegita kicked his legs around frantically, but Rikuum simply lifted him high above his head, and then shot down towards the ground, with Vegita in tow, at a tremendous rate of speed. As Bulma, Kuririn, and Gohan cried out in horror, he slammed Vegita into the ground with so much force that it felt like an earthquake even from the few hundred yards away where they were standing.
The dust cloud cleared to reveal Rikuum standing over a small crater, with Vegita buried, headfirst and up to his waist, in the center of it. Chuckling, Rikuum bent down and grabbed one of Vegita's feet.
"Gee, I hope my plaything isn't dead yet!" He said with mock concern, yanking Vegita out of the ground like a turnip.
Vegita groaned painfully. It appeared that Vegita had been beaten. But he suddenly drew his hands back, and then launched a blast of ki right into Rikuum's face.
Unable to dodge it at such a close range, Rikuum bellowed in surprise as it knocked him backwards, and he let go of Vegita, who landed on his back in the small crater. From the looks of it, that must have been Vegita's last bit of strength. He didn't look like he could take another large hit anymore.
"Hey guys," Bulma whispered. "We have to do something about this. Vegita's going to die very soon if we don't step in. I may not care much about him, but I don't think I can just stand back and do nothing while this monster destroys him."
"I agree," Kuririn said. "Besides, he's no good to us dead anyway. He'll probably double-cross us in the end, but we won't be able to beat Freeza, or even these guys for that matter, without him."
"You're right," Gohan said. "I don't know how much of a chance we'll have against that guy, but we were going to have to fight him eventually anyway. We might as well try to save Vegita first."
Rikuum had gotten up again, and he looked a little worse for the wear. All of his hair had been burned away, save for a pointy, jagged lock of it on the very top of his head.
"Well now, Vegita," he said, chuckling sinisterly. "I'd say your time is about up. I don't use this technique on many people, but then again, not many have given me this much trouble before."
Vegita had managed to get to his feet, and what a mangled mess he was, too! There was no way he'd get up again if Rikuum so much as kicked him again.
"Here's the plan," Kuririn said. "When he begins this attack, Gohan and I will sneak up behind him and cut him off. At the same time, Bulma, I want you to teleport in there and get Vegita to safety. Then stick with him. Keep the other guys offa him, understand? Gohan and I will handle Rikuum."
"All right," she said. "What do I do if you need help?"
"If that's the case then either I or Gohan will have to call you in first. Don't leave Vegita alone unless we say so. He's our only way to beat Freeza."
"That'll have to do it, guys," Gohan said. "Rikuum's charging up his ki!"
He was right. Rikuum was kind of hunched over, and his aura was crackling and sparking like crazy. "Prepare yourself, Vegita," he shouted, "for the Rikuum Eraser Gun!" He opened his mouth wide, and Bulma sensed an incredible surge of power concentrating itself there. He was going to do that same trick that Nappa had done, only on a much larger scale.
"That's it guys!" Kuririn cried. "Let's go!" As he and Gohan shot over behind Rikuum - who had already formed the blast by now, and was just beginning to launch it - Bulma teleported to Vegita's side, grabbed him around his waist, then shot about twenty yards away with him, just out of reach of the small explosion caused by Rikuum's blast. She saw, much to her satisfaction, that Kuririn had gotten to Rikuum first and kicked him in the back of the head, causing his mouth to close right in the middle of his "Eraser Gun," which exploded inside his mouth! Not allowing him a chance to recover, Gohan began punching him violently in the stomach, while Kuririn held back in case Rikuum knocked himself loose.
"Dammit, you fool!" Vegita cursed Bulma feebly. "Whatever happened to leaving my fights to me? I was just about to make my move!"
"Don't push me, Vegita," she scolded. "I wouldn't have done that for you if I didn't think we need you to beat Freeza. Besides, you didn't look to me like you were about to make any kind of move except allow yourself to be blown to bits. So just be patient. You'll probably get another shot in, at least against one of the others, if they're as strong as this one is."
"Worse," Vegita muttered. "I'd say we're about out of options. We'll just have to fight them until we give out. That's all we can do."
Bulma shuddered and looked at her watch. Goku was due to arrive any time today. She hoped it would be soon.
On to the next Chapter!
