Chapter 20
Bulma breathed a heavy sigh and let time resume its pace. She watched Rikuum intently so she could observe his reaction to her new attack.
At first, Rikuum wavered unsteadily on his feet as all the little indentations she'd made on his body filled themselves out. "What the hell?!" He yelled, crashing to the ground and rolling around as he clutched at his face and his midsection. "How in the...? What the hell did you do to me?!" He roared, still rolling on the ground in pain.
Suddenly loud hoots and wild laughter filled the air, and Bulma glanced up to see Jees and Baata rolling on the ground laughing. They looked so silly that she almost grinned when she saw them.
"Rikuum, you're such a wuss!" Jees laughed. "I can't believe you just let yourself get thrashed by a WOMAN! Wahahahaha!"
"Yeah!" Baata exclaimed, pointing at Rikuum. "What good is a fighter who can't even defeat a woman? Maybe we oughta kick 'im off the team, and recruit HER instead!" They both laughed riotously after that, and Rikuum turned red all over. Growling, he stumbled to his feet and yelled for them to shut up. Bulma rolled her eyes. They were acting like a bunch of schoolyard children.
Suddenly Bulma felt a jolt of ki from up in the sky, and she tilted her head up in its direction to see what was going on. She couldn't see anything up there. Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, it ebbed away to the barest trace imaginable. She wondered what had happened, and she glanced over at Vegita. He was staring up in the same direction as the strange ki source too. He shared her look of confusion. She hadn't noticed it before, but it appeared that Vegita could now sense ki. Strange that she hadn't noticed it before, she thought to herself. Well, anyway, he had apparently sensed it too, that strange ki. What could it be?
She labored over it for a few seconds before the answer came to her and hit her all at once like a ton of bricks. Goku! It had to be him! It had even felt like his ki! She could barely sense him now, but that didn't mean anything. Goku knew that the enemies on this planet had scouters. No doubt he was suppressing his ki so he couldn't be detected as easily. She could tell he was getting closer, even though he was still pretty far away. He definitely hadn't reached the planet yet. But even that didn't matter to Bulma at the moment. All she cared about was that he was coming, and he'd be here soon! She was beaming at the sky, with tears streaming down her face, and was completely oblivious to everything else. She was so lost in her reveries, in fact, that she wasn't paying any attention to Rikuum. He had cautiously made his way over to her, occasionally glancing up at the sky to discover just what it was she was smiling at. Finally, after scratching his head a bit, he shrugged and drew his massive fist back to pay her back for that little humiliation that she'd put him through earlier. But just before it was to connect, she darted off toward Kuririn, all the while paying no heed to Rikuum - who lost his balance and fell flat on his face.
"Kuririn!" She said excitedly as she ran up to him and knelt down at his side. "It's Goku, Kuririn! I can feel it! He'll be here any minute!"
"He... he will?" Kuririn said, struggling to look up at the sky. "Are you sure?"
"I'm positive!" She exclaimed, beaming at him happily. "Just hang on for a while longer, Kuririn. I just know that Goku will find a way to make things right!"
She got up and stared curiously at Rikuum, who was angrily wiping the dirt off his face. He stared back at her testily, as if it had been her fault. She was almost giddy with relief that Goku was on his way, and she even felt a little gutsier because of it. But looking at Rikuum made her remember that she still had a job to do. She still had to protect her friends, at least until Goku arrived. But at least now she knew she had a chance.
With a sly grin on her face, Bulma strolled over to Rikuum. She stopped a few yards short of him and assumed a fighting stance. "Shall we continue?" She asked politely.
"What the hell was that all about?" He snapped at her impatiently.
Bulma grinned more broadly and shook her head. "Sorry for that interruption," she apologized courteously. "It was never my intention to be rude, but it had to be done. Don't worry. I won't skip out on you again."
"Well, that's very kind of you," Rikuum said snidely. "I'd hate to think you were avoiding me."
"Hey, Rikuum!" Jees suddenly yelled down impatiently. "Will you quit fooling around down there and do your job? Hurry up and dispose of the two little invalids and be done with it! We never even agreed you could fight them, but now that you've ruined them for us, it's only fair that you finish them off. You've lost your chance with Vegita, pal. Baata's going to finish him off. And as for the other one, well let's just say that I'll take care of her." He grinned fiendishly at Bulma, who pretended to ignore him.
Rikuum instantly began to protest, complaining that it wasn't his fault that they had gotten in his way. Vegita was supposed to be his. And he still had to pay the girl back for what she'd done to him earlier. But Jees and Baata were unwavering. They were totally unwilling to listen to him, and it was easy to see that Rikuum was outnumbered. He was fighting a losing battle, and he knew it. Bulma began to worry. She couldn't hold Rikuum off of Kuririn and Gohan forever, especially if Jees and Baata decided to hold her off of HIM. Rikuum flew up to his comrades so he could argue some more, and Bulma glanced over at Gohan, and then at Vegita, who was still standing, hunched over, a few yards behind him. Bulma found herself wanting to tell him about Goku. At least she might be able to offer him some hope. But on second thought, she decided not to. She doubted that he would be all that happy to hear about Goku's arrival anyway. So she looked away, switching her focus to the sky, in the general direction of Goku's ki. She knew that he could land at any minute, but she wasn't sure just when, since he was too far away to judge just how long it would take. She looked back over at Team Ginyu again, and was alarmed to see that Rikuum wasn't up there arguing with Jees and Baata anymore. She scanned around for him, and saw him dejectedly trudging over toward Gohan. Bulma frantically searched her mind for solutions. She didn't know what to do. She didn't see any way to stall Rikuum, other than the obvious option of direct confrontation. Her strength would most likely give out if she tried to fight him during teleportation again, and she didn't think it was a worthwhile method right now anyway, since it didn't do all that much damage, and made him exceedingly angry. Besides, she needed to stall for as much time as she could, and stopping time wasn't going to accomplish that. There was nothing else to do. She had to fight him. She had one more trick up her sleeve, though, and she decided that now was the time to pull it. She'd only been shown how to do it once, and that was by Yamucha, near the beginning of her ki technique training. It was worth a try, though, so she decided to take the chance.
Bulma braced herself, and with a calculating glance up at the sky to see where the brightest of Namek's suns was, she launched herself at Rikuum with tremendous speed. Being careful not to create the slightest sound, she dashed toward him, forming a diversionary ki ball as she went. She hurled it at his midsection, and as he began to turn around, she teleported to the opposite side of him, and she then began punching him in his back, just as he blocked her ki ball. With an exclamation of surprise, he spun around and began blocking her blows.
"You just won't give up, will you?" He laughed, blocking some more of her punches and kicks.
"Not until you do," she snapped, jumping back a bit, and placing her hands, with her fingers spread wide, on either end of her face. "Taiyoken!" She screamed, sending the brilliant flash of light straight at Rikuum's face. He screamed in surprise, and covered his eyes with both his hands.
Bulma wasted no time. She jumped up and delivered an abrupt roundhouse kick to the side of his face. He spun around a couple of times, but managed to remain on his feet. He scrunched in defensively as Bulma began to punch at his face. She landed a good one on his jaw and he fell backwards a bit. Instead of righting himself again, however, he pushed off of his feet and did a backward handspring. He then executed some more handsprings, and was soon several hundred feet away. Bulma raced after him stealthily, completely aware of what he was up to. If he could get her to chase after him, he might be able to hear her coming, and he just might be able to fight back. She couldn't let that happen. She didn't know when the effects of her Taiyoken would wear off, but she had to do as much damage as possible while it lasted, because she knew he'd never give her the opportunity to do it again.
"Rapid teleport!" She screamed, watching him screech to an unnatural stop in midair. She walked around to the other side of him and put about twenty feet between herself and him. She then stopped her teleport, and as he sailed towards her, she jumped up, turned a full 180° to the right, drew her left arm forward, and then, just as his back was to hers, she slammed her elbow into the back of his neck. The force of the blow caused him to spin forward instead of backward, not to mention lose a lot of his momentum. As a result, his face smashed into the ground, and then so did the rest of his body. He slid across the rocky dirt for a couple of yards beyond Bulma, before coming to a grinding, friction-induced stop.
Bulma quickly floated down to the ground and positioned herself so as to assure the most support for what she was about to do. Rikuum began to groan, and he plunked his hands down into the dirt and started to lift himself up. Bulma had to hurry.
"Ka-me..." she began, fiercely concentrating her ki between the palms of her hands. "...Ha-me..."
Rikuum had, in the meantime, gotten to his feet. He snarled, and as he raised his head, his gaze fell on Bulma.
"HA!!" Bulma screamed, letting the blast go. It sped toward Rikuum with the highest speed Bulma could muster. She was absolutely sure that she had gotten him.
Rikuum stepped to the left a bit, and he rammed his right shoulder into the brunt of the blast. Without so much as a grunt, he simply shoved the blast aside, and it sailed off to the right in a graceful arc before landing on a flat plain just less than a mile away, and it exploded in a brilliant flash of light. A few seconds later, the thunderous reverberations of the explosion echoed throughout the battlefield, and the ground shook a little as well. But Bulma naturally didn't pay any attention to any of these things. She just stared, terrified, into the smoldering gaze in which Rikuum held her. He had regained his sight already, and he was glaring furiously straight at her. She stepped back defensively, and she felt a lump form in her throat.
"Oh crap," she thought frantically. "Here it comes."
With lightning speed Rikuum charged at her like a mad bull. Before Bulma had time to blink, she was flying backwards, staring down at Rikuum's enormous right knee, and was beginning to feel an excruciating pain in her stomach. She felt like she was moving in slow motion. With a sharp thud, she found herself sprawling, face up, on the ground. She gagged, and a painful fit of coughing racked her frame. She turned her head aside and she coughed up a mouthful of blood. She spit it out and wiped at her mouth with her arm. She was definitely going to be feeling that hit for a while.
Vegita winced. It was only a matter of time now. He'd tried to warn her, the damn fool. But that stupid girl just had to go and make Rikuum angry with her. Whatever she got, she had brought on herself. Earthlings. He shouldn't have expected anything less moronic from her. Still, he found it terribly hard to watch her destroy herself like that.
Bulma cried out in pain as she tried to get up. Her stomach felt like it was on fire! She fell back again, gasping as she waited for the pain to subside. Still determined, however, she rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself up with her arms. Jerkily, and with a great deal of pain, she pushed herself upright and stumbled clumsily onto her feet.
She looked around frantically for Rikuum, expecting him to hit her again at any second. She finally spotted him, nearly twenty yards away. He was making a beeline for Kuririn.
"Damn him!" Bulma hissed, shooting off after him. Her stomach was killing her, but surprisingly enough, the pain was ebbing away fairly quickly. Perhaps she had lucked out and he hadn't seriously damaged anything.
She raced after him, silently and swiftly, and brandishing a tightly clenched right fist. She caught up with him and swung violently at the back of his neck, but she found herself swinging through an afterimage. She spun around just in time to have her feet swept out from under her. Before she even touched the ground, however, Rikuum grabbed her left ankle and shot skyward with her in tow. She shrieked in surprise and shot an energy blast at him, but he was moving much too fast for her to even be remotely accurate. She kicked and punched at him, flailing about wildly. She definitely did not like being dragged around by her foot!
After only a few seconds of flight they were up over a sharply sloped hill, and then Bulma was staring at the upside-down figures of Jees and Baata.
Jees laughed. "Having problems, Rikuum?" He snickered, nudging Baata, who began to chuckle. "Do you need us to help you dispose of those two little nuisances down there too? Is that it?"
"Catch!" Rikuum snarled, and he flung Bulma at Jees. She crashed into him, knocking him over, and she rolled a few feet away from him before she was able to stop herself. She was pretty slow about getting up. Jees, however, jumped to his feet straightaway, growling at Rikuum.
"And just what was that for?" He demanded, floating up to be eye-level with Rikuum. "What's the big idea, Rikuum?"
"If you want me to leave her for you, then that's fine with me," Rikuum retorted angrily. "But keep her away from me, you got that? The next time she challenges me, I'll kill her! I've had enough of this nonsense!" And with that, he shot down to the base of the hill, and stormed over toward Kuririn.
Bulma watched Rikuum in desperation. It was for keeps now; she knew that. She couldn't afford to make another mistake with this guy. She decided she'd run at him from behind, and then she'd teleport to another angle as soon as he turned around. She'd have to fight him like that, staying on the defensive, for as long as she could hold out. That was the only way she'd be able to buy any more time. Her options were all gone. Maybe she'd get lucky and wear him down a bit for Goku.
Deciding it was now or never, she sprang out after Rikuum. She didn't get very far, however, because before she had even jumped off of the top of the hill, Jees had one arm wrapped tightly around her waist, and the other wrapped just as tightly around her neck.
"Whoa! Whoa!" He exclaimed, as she struggled fiercely against him. "What are you doing?! Do you have a death wish or something? You heard what he said! Rikuum's not kidding around! He really will kill you if you so much as go near him again!"
"You think I'm doing this for my health?" Bulma snapped at him, squirming around violently. "Or for kicks? Geez, when are you jerks gonna get it? I'm not going to let you hurt my friends any more!"
"I'd say it's probably a bit too late for that," Baata remarked, nodding down at Rikuum, who was rapidly approaching Gohan this time.
"No!" Bulma yelled, fighting wildly to free herself from Jees, but he only held her more tightly. He laughed as she kicked at him with her feet and clawed violently at his arms with her hands. It was all in vain, however. No matter how hard she kicked, punched, or scratched at him, he didn't even seem to feel it. Bulma glanced despairingly down at Gohan. What was she going to do? She could only watch as Rikuum advanced on him. Bulma felt like breaking down and crying. It was over. There was nothing else she could do. She wanted to turn her head away so she wouldn't have to watch, but that would be doing Gohan a dishonor.
"Hey Jees," Baata said suddenly, tapping him on the shoulder. "Didn't Freeza say he'd rather blow up this useless bit of dirt than call in for more reinforcements?"
"Yeah," Jees replied, glancing back at him. "Why do you ask?"
"Because we've got company," Baata said, pointing to the sky off in the distance, in the same general direction as Rikuum. Jees craned his neck so that he could see what Baata was pointing at. Bulma looked up too. She could just barely make out a small glowing speck in the sky in that direction.
"That doesn't look like one of ours," Jees said with mild interest. "Where do you think it came from?"
"Who knows?" Baata said, shrugging. "But we ought to check it out anyway, just to see."
The craft had gotten much closer, in the meantime, and it began its descent, suddenly swooping down toward the battlefield. The engines roared loudly as it zoomed overhead. Bulma scrutinized it closely as it passed over them. Upon recognizing the logo on the side, she gasped in surprise. It was the Capsule Corporation emblem! As unmistakable to her as her own father, and there it was, flying above her! It could only mean one thing. Goku had arrived!
She looked back down at Rikuum. He had stopped what he was doing and was watching the ship as it zoomed overhead. He suddenly began running up toward Jees, Baata, and her. He must have been curious as to what was going on. Bulma involuntarily sighed with relief. At least Goku might get a chance to see his son alive for a little while when he got here. Thinking of that really curbed her excitement at seeing him arrive, though.
Rikuum flew up alongside Baata and watched the Capsule Corp. ship land about a half a mile away. "What's that?" He said, pointing at it. "That's not one of ours, is it?"
They began to discuss what they ought to do about it while Bulma studied the ship carefully. It definitely didn't look like her Namek ship. It was more like an enormous Saiyan space pod. Her dad must've used that design after all. She'd have to ask him about the details involved later. She was definitely interested in finding out why Goku's ship got there in only six days while hers got here in no less than a month!
She glanced at Rikuum and Baata. They were both watching the ship, and they had become practically oblivious to her and her friends. She decided she'd take a chance that Jees was doing the same. She suddenly wrenched and twisted herself around in an attempt to get free.
"Whoa! Calm down, now," Jees exclaimed, steadying his grip. "What are you so worked up about?" He squeezed her a little too tightly and she yelped at the sharp pain this caused around her waist. He eased up a bit then, but not enough for her to be able to move.
"Now, you just behave yourself and stay still," he said, patting her lightly on the thigh, "and I won't have to get physical with you... yet."
The way he said it sent cold shivers down her spine. She was deathly still then. The terror was as plainly visible on her face as the clouds were in the sky.
"Hey, it's opening up!" Rikuum exclaimed suddenly. They all turned their attention toward the door of the spacecraft as it swung down to the ground.
Bulma watched it open with anticipation. A figure stepped out and levitated up into the air. He slowly made a full 360º turn, and then, as he came to face them, he stopped.
"Son-kun," Bulma said sadly. "If only you had gotten here fifteen minutes sooner."
"What?" Jees said. "You know that freak?"
"Yes," Bulma replied. "He's from my planet... but he's a Saiyan."
"A Saiyan?" Baata laughed. "Well now we know there's no cause for worry, don't we?"
Goku was suddenly replaced by a bright red ball of light, and that soon disappeared. The next thing Bulma felt was a sharp, jarring blow to each of Jees' arms. Almost instantly, Jees was knocked backwards, and she was free. But before she could do anything else, some unknown force lifted her up, and she found herself swooping down to the battlesite below. She wanted to scream, but she was moving so quickly that the fast-moving air was whipping all the sound away. In no time flat she was just above the ground, and only a few feet away from Kuririn. She looked around, and discovered, to her utter surprise, that she was resting comfortably in Goku's arms!
"Hi Bulma!" He said affably.
"GOKU!!" Bulma cried, hugging him around the neck ferociously. "Dammit, Goku, you scared the hell outta me!"
He laughed, and let her fly on her own. She glanced up at Team Ginyu. Rikuum and Baata were gaping down at them in surprise. Jees was just getting up, and boy did he look ticked off!
"Goku, I'm glad you're here," Bulma said, lowering her eyes, "but you're too late. Vegita and Kuririn might live, although Kuririn's iffy, but Gohan's as good as dead. Even if we were able to get him back to Earth he'd be a vegetable for the rest of his life, at best. Damn that Rikuum!"
"Aw, don't worry about Gohan," Goku said, smiling reassuringly at her. "He'll be fine. Here, give this to Kuririn. I'll take care of Gohan." He held out a small bean in the palm of his hand. Bulma gaped at it in disbelief for a second before she could regain the ability to speak.
"Is that what I think it is?" She said, barely daring to believe her eyes.
"Yep," he said, nodding happily. "It's a Sensu bean. Go ahead and give it to Kuririn while I give one to Gohan."
Nodding at him as the tears welled up in her eyes, she took the precious bean from him and flew down to Kuririn's side.
"Hey Bulma," Kuririn said feebly. "I must be hearing things. I just heard Goku tell you to give me a Sensu bean. How crazy is that?"
"About as crazy as this," Bulma choked, laughing and crying at the same time. She poked the bean in Kuririn's mouth, and his eyes opened wide as he recognized the taste. He chewed it furiously then, and as he swallowed it, Bulma could already sense the change taking place inside of him. Finally, he picked himself up off of the ground and looked at Bulma as if he were not quite sure that what he was seeing was real. She then smiled and breathed a sigh of relief, and what they saw in each other's eyes was real enough for them to be convinced.
"Gohan!" Bulma said suddenly, and they both turned around, just in time to see the young boy leap joyfully into his father's arms. Laughing, they ran over to join them, and Vegita just looked on in disgusted disbelief.
"Man, Goku," Kuririn said, grinning from ear to ear. "You sure know how to make us wait. Thank Kami you got here when you did!"
"Oh, I don't know," Goku said, chuckling and tousling Gohan's hair. "I'll bet you guys could have held your own for a while longer."
"No," Kuririn said soberly. "Gohan and I got knocked out of it right after Vegita did. It was all Bulma could do to keep that Rikuum off of us. But she knew you were coming, Goku. When she told me she could sense you were on your way and that you'd be here soon, I didn't dare believe it. But here you are!"
"Yeah, I figured that at least one of you would pick up that little signal. I figured I'd let you know I was almost here. But I don't understand, Kuririn. I thought that Vegita was on their side. Why did they beat him up too?"
"Let's just say that a common enemy has made us temporary allies," Bulma said, sighing. "It turns out Freeza wanted Vegita dead even before we got here. I think Vegita was rebelling against him or something like that."
"Yeah," Kuririn agreed. "God, Goku! Everything's been crazy up here! There's so much that we have to tell you! I don't know where to begin!"
"I've got an idea that will save us a lot of time!" Goku said suddenly, snapping his fingers. "Let me try this!" He put his hand on Kuririn's head. Kuririn looked at him in confusion for a couple of seconds, but before he could say a word, Goku had withdrawn his hand, and was nodding his head in understanding.
"Man, you guys HAVE been through a lot, huh?" He said, fishing around in the little pouch that was attached to his belt.
"What just happened?" Kuririn said, flabbergasted. "Don't tell me YOU can read minds!"
"Yep," Goku replied, smiling at him and fishing out another Sensu bean from the pouch. He then tossed the pouch to the ground. "That's something I developed during my training on the way up here. I guess training at 100 times Earth's gravity has some weird side effects."
"A hundred times?!" Bulma squeaked, her eyes nearly bugging out of her head. "You mean to tell me that you worked all the way up to 100 g's in less than a week?!"
"Sure did," Goku replied, scratching his head. "And it was pretty rough at first, too. But I got the hang of it. I'll have to thank your dad when we get back, Bulma."
Bulma smiled. Goku never ceased to amaze her. "Someone oughta write a song about him," she thought to herself. Gravity training, huh? That was an interesting concept. Maybe she'd have to try that out when she got back home.
Goku looked thoughtfully at the Sensu in his hand. "Hey Bulma," he said suddenly. "What kind of shape are you in? You're not hurt badly, are you?"
"Surprisingly no," she said, wiping some dirt off her gi and gingerly feeling the tender place on her middle where Rikuum had kneed her. "I guess I lucked out again. What're you going to do with that Sensu bean, Goku? I'd say that it'd be a waste on me right now."
"Okay then," was all he said in reply. He turned around and faced Vegita. "Yo, Vegita!" He called out to him. "Catch!" He tossed the Sensu bean to Vegita, who caught it and looked at it the way someone might look at a dead cockroach.
"Eat it, Vegita!" Goku called. Vegita looked at him distrustfully a couple of times before finally putting it in his mouth and eating it.
"Um... Goku?" Bulma said, watching Vegita's eyes open wide as the Sensu began to take effect. "Are you sure that was a good idea? What if he turns against us? Vegita's gotten a lot stronger, and I mean a LOT."
"Don't worry," Goku said, winking at her. "So have I. But that's beside the point. If it hadn't been for Vegita, Gurudo would have killed all of you guys. I figured we owed him one."
Bulma wasn't so sure that she agreed with him, but it didn't really matter now. Vegita was now completely healed, so whatever was going to happen was going to happen.
Suddenly Rikuum leapt down off the hill and ran out in front of them. "Hey you!" He yelled at Goku. "I don't know who you are, but you just got yourself in a world of trouble!"
"Is that so?" Goku said, grinning with confidence.
"Be careful, Goku," Bulma said, glaring at Rikuum. "He's the reason why Kuririn, Gohan, and even Vegita got the crap kicked out of them."
"Yeah, be careful, Goku," Rikuum taunted him, sneering at Bulma. "I don't care that you're a Saiyan, either. Everyone knows that Vegita's the strongest one of all of you apes, and I didn't even break a sweat with him!"
"Well maybe I'm an exception," Goku said, frowning suddenly, "because I'm not afraid of you. Compared to me, you're as weak as a baby."
Rikuum started visibly at that bold statement. So did Bulma. What was Goku saying? It wasn't his way to bluff. Just how powerful did he think he was? Or more importantly, just how powerful was he? She didn't know, but she was dying to find out!
On to the next Chapter!
