Chapter Two
Chapter 2
One Year Later
"What do you mean they're on Earth?!? It took me months to get here! How do
you expect me to get back in time to help?!?" Yangcha paced angrily around
the small planet at the end of snake way.
"Calm down," King Kai told the warrior, "in this hightened state, it will
only take you two days to get back. I just hope that the others can survive
that long."
"Well, I better get started then."
******
Piccolo and Omi tensed. This was the moment they'd trained all year for. The
saiyans had arrived. They could sense the immense powers heading their way,
while at the same time, their friends approached from different directions.
Krillen, and two great warriors of Earth, Tien and Chau Su. (Oh, the horror
of the spelling, the horror!)It was only a matter of time.
The Saiyans got there first.
Piccolo, the experienced fighter that he was, quietly assesed his opponents.
The bald one was easily the biggest, but, judging by the actions of the
other two, also the weakest.
The second black-haired one was obviously in charge. He seemed capable of
ordering all of them around, but the last one....
Ratice had warned him that his brother would be coming. He implied that this
nameless one was the strongest of the three. Looking at the man, Piccolo
could believe it. He knew that the saiyans wore devices on their eyes to
sense power levels. This guy didn't need one. Even though he took orders
from the second one, their was a feeling about him, one of immense power. It
was obvious that if he didn't feel like following those orders, he wouldn't,
and no one would be able to stop him.
Piccolo tuned into their conversation, mentally kicking himself for not
noticing that they had been talking.
The bald one was speaking, "Yeah, I know Kakarot's got a personal grudge,
but can I please just take out these guys? Please? I'm itching for a good
fight."
The powerful one, apparently Kakarot, spoke up, "It doesn't matter much to
me. Why don't you let the Seiba Men go first, and then you can beat up
what's left of them."
"Really? Gee, thanks Kakarot! Let's see, there's only two of them, so I'll
need two seeds."
"Four," said Kakarot.
"What?" The big guy looked confused, obviously how he looked more often than
not.
"Turn on your scouter."
The big man did so, and Piccolo noticed the one in back doing so too.
"Well what do you know? You were right Kakarot! Two coming from the East."
The big man consulted his scouter. Power levels, 702 and-"
"Wait Nappa," the one in back interrupted the tall one, and turned his gaze
to the other fighter. "Can you guess the other one Kakarot?"
Kakarot laughed. Not a very pleasant sound. "Well, let's see. It's close to
his friend's, but less. I'd say about....691?"
Nappa clapped his hands. "Right on the nose!"
"Well done Kakarot," The leader seemed truly pleased. "and here they are
now."
Sure enough, the two beings arrived at the battle scene a few seconds later.
"Hi guys!" Omi greeted them.
Tien and Chau Su smiled down at him. Or, rather, Tien smiled down at him and
Chau Su smiled accross at him.
"And another one from that direction." Kakarot turened his gaze to the West.
"Wow," said Nappa, as the device on his eye began working away, "you got
that one even before the scouter!"
Kakarot smirked. "He's even more powerful than these two. Not by much,
though."
Krillen appeared on the field, coming from the direction that Kakarot had
indicated.
Kakarot turned to Nappa. "Make that five Seiba Men. Do you have enough
seeds?"
Nappa nodded. "Just enough." He proceeded to poke five small holes in the
ground and deposit a small, green seed into each one.
Only seconds later, five green aliens with large heads and claw-like hands
emerged from the ground. They looked to Nappa for direction.
The large, bald alien finally addressed the earth warriors. "Hey, how about
a little challenge, hmmm? The five of you against our five Seiba Men?"
Krillen was about to yell at them that it was all or nothing, when Piccolo
put a warning hand on his shoulder. "Not yet. We need to stall until Yangcha
gets here. I just hope all that training at King Kai's payed off." To the
aliens he yelled, "All right, let's see what your cabbage heads are made
of."
Nappa smiled, and gestured the green men forward.
******
Kakarot payed little attention to the battle. He was more interested in the
power levels of the fighters. Strangely, he didn't seem to sense the one who
had killed his brother. Then he recalled the green man's words. 'We have to
stall until Yangcha gets back.' So, he wasn't here yet. Well, Kakarot would
see that he payed when he arrived. Nobody hurt his family and got away with
it!
He leaned over to whisper to his prince. "The one who killed Ratice is not
here yet. I will fight him when he comes."
Vegeta nodded. "Until then, we can let Nappa have his fun."
Kakarot smiled.
******
Quite unexpected indeed. Vegeta, for that was the leader's name, had given
them a few hour's time out. Why, when they were down to only three
able-bodied fighters, and the bald one seemed eager for the chance to fight,
Piccolo, for the life of him, couldn't figure out.
He seemed to be getting a wierd feeling from the one they called Kakarot. He
seemed to be depressed. Piccolo recalled that it was his brother that they
had killed a year ago. Was it possible that this space fighter was feeling
some sorrow at the loss of his family? Could saiyans feel sorrow?
Omi was eyeing the saiyans apprehensvely. Piccolo wasn't sure his young
apprentice was ready for such a fight yet. Omi noticed him watching and
smiled up at his teacher. Piccolo smiled back. He knew that if the situation
called for it, this boy could unleash a lot of strength.
******
Vegeta sighed. It looked like this fellow Yangcha wasn't going to be coming
after all. Oh well, he would pay for making them wait by coming back to a
bunch of dead comrades.
Where was Nappa? Probably terorizing some town or other. He'd better hurry
and get back or he might miss the action.
Vegeta smirked. He knew how much Nappa hated to miss a fight....
******
He was finally arriving. Yangcha hoped his friends had survived up until
now. He could only sense two power levels. Not a good sign. There should
have been, what? Five? Definitely not a good sign. Yangcha called the Flying
Nimbus to him. It couldn't do much in battle, but he would get his
destination quicker this way.
He thoughtfully munched one of the Szenzu Beans Korren (Yeah, yeah.
Spelling. I know.) had given him. These guys promised to be tough. He could
sense their power levels even from here. Two were incredibly high, and the
other....
Yangcha shuddered. That must be Ratice's brother. He could feel the awesome
power, and yet....there was something different about this one. For some
reason, he didn't fear it as much.
******
Omi waited for the final blow to come. He had used up all of his power in
his rage when Piccolo died. He just couldn't fight any more.
His dad wasn't coming. That hurt more than any of the injuries he had
sustained in battle. His dad, for all his promises, had failed to come in
time. He closed his eyes and waited.
And waited. And opened his eyes. Had the evil giant had a sudden change of
heart? And....WHY WASN'T HE ON THE GROUND?!? He noticed very abruptly that
he wasn't in the same place he had been seconds ago. He was floating, some
six feet away, on a familiar yellow cloud....
"Nimbus? What are you doing here? But....that means...." Omi looked up to
where the three saiyans were gazing with varied expressions.
"Daddy!"
One of the saiyans turned to look at him, the one Piccolo had been afraid
of. A brief spasm of pain passed over the powerful warrior's face, then
vanished.
******
Daddy.
It would have to be that, wouldn't it?
The poor child. He had to avenge his brother's death but....
The child's father....his target. How could he do it?
WHY was this so hard? He had killed countless times before, many had or were
parents, children, siblings.
And yet....this boy. He seemed so overjoyed to see his father. It brought to
Kakarot's mind his own father....who had been destroyed.
A sudden pain flared up in his chest. No boy should lose his father that
way. Especially one that young.
But....Vegeta. He wouldn't possibly understand. Well, maybe he could handle
it if he just let the other saiyans kill the man and his son.
******
Yangcha knelt by the young boy, handing him half of his last Szenzu Bean,
and beckoning Krillen over to recieve the other half. He completely ignored
the large saiyan making comments behind behind his back.
It felt great to see his son again. And in one piece too. Now, Omi and
Krillen wouldn't have to fight any longer. They could leave it to him.
"You guys stand back, I'll take him alone."
"What?! That's nuts!" Krillen seemed completely horrified by what he had
just heard.
"No, it's okay. I'm a lot stronger now. Just let me handle it, and you two
find a safe place to hide."
******
He really was much stronger.
Krillen watched in awe as Yangcha fought circles around the big alien,
Nappa. There was no way he could have gained so much power, could he? It
didn't make sense, but, he had to believe what he was seeing with his own
eyes.
Yangcha fired another blast that knocked Nappa into the dust at Vegeta's
feet. The big man was quite beat up. He reached out a large hand to his
companion. "Hey, Vegeta, could you give me a hand, here?"
The alien leader smiled. He had quite the sinester smile. "Sure, I'll give
you a hand."
Vegeta grabbed the man by the wrist, and hurled him into the air. With a
very practiced movement, he shot an energy beam at Nappa, exploding him as
if he were shooting skeet.
This was going to get a lot worse before it got better, Krillen realized
with a sinking feeling. If it got better.
******
He couldn't believe that Vegeta had gone through with it. Kakarot knew the
penalty for failure, and he had never really like Nappa much, but still....
He now knew that Vegeta would stop at nothing to make this planet theirs. He
shuddered to think of this beautiful world all charred and ug-
He stopped mid-thought. Was it possible he was falling for Earth? For it's
people? It didn't seem like it could ever happen but.... he was. He knew it.
There was just something about them, something he never expected, Something
wonderful. (2)
Kakarot felt something cold inside of himself begin to melt. Maybe....maybe
he could be happy again. Maybe he didn't have to fight. Maybe there *was* a
better way.
The Super Saiyan snapped back into reality just in time to realize that
Vegeta was aiming a blast at the earthlings. NO! This could not be allowed
to continue. Kakarot quickly accelerated to his maximum speed.
******
Vegeta was unsure how to react. Kakarot had jumped into his beam. A beam
that would have blown quite a chunk from the earth, and would have killed
all the earthlings, including the annoying newcomer. And yet, Kakarot didn't
seem to be hurt....
Finally, Vegeta noticed. Kakarot's aura was golden, he had gone into Super
Saiyan mode. 'Why?' he silently mouthed the question.
Kakarot smiled. "I have decided to protect these humans. They seem to be a
very interesting breed." (3)
In his rage, Vegeta did not notice the underlying pain in Kakarot's voice.
He immediately built up a large energy missle. "If you would die protecting
thse earthlings, then so be it!"
******
Yangcha stared in disbelief. A large, golden sheild spread in front of this
unusual warrior, saving him from his own leader's attack.
Kakarot summoned as much energy as he could, and fired it at Vegeta.
It looked like it was working, too. The bright gold flames greately
dominated the blue ones that Vegeta sent back, but then, to Yangcha's
immense horror, the blue began to grow, dwarfing the other beam and
beginning to overpower the Super Saiyan.
Yancha stared in horror at the conflicting powers, stunned until a little
voice in his head began nagging him. 'Don't just stand there! That guy just
saved your life! Do something!' So he did.
******
Despair overwhelmed Kakarot. He was going to lose. He was too weak from that
last blast. 'At least,' he thought, 'Vegeta will not have enough energy
afterwords to harm the Earth People. He sighed, and began to feel Vegeta's
energy reaching him.
All of a sudden, the beam held back. Startled, Kakarot glanced to his side,
where Yangcha was combining his red beam with the Super Saiyan's own gold!
Feeling renewed, Kakarot redoubled his efforts.
It seemed like ages before he finally heard Vegeta's final, pained cry. It
cut through him like a knife. He had never imagined that he could turn
against his fellows, commit such a treason.
He walked over to the body of his fallen prince. Checked the pulse.
A lifebeat! He was still alive! Kakarot smiled as he picked up the warrior
and returned him to his spaceship. "Home," he instructed the computer. That
should take him far enough away so that at least, he'd have another year to
prepare.
He watched as the spaceship became nothing more than a tiny dot against the
sky. Then he promptly blacked out.
******
Kakarot awoke in a strange room, a strange bed. He struggled to sit up, only
to find he was encased in some sort of thick, white restraining tape. Hah!
If they thought that these would keep him here.... he began to power up.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," came a voice from his left. He twisted
his neck to see. It was the Earthling, Yangcha.
"You really should hold still," he continued, "you were hurt pretty badly,
and you won't heal properly if you keep fidgeting around like that."
"Heal?" Kakarot was confused. If they wanted him to heal, why didn't they
put him in the rejuvanation tank? Why restrain him?
Yangcha laughed at the expression on Kakarot's face. "Yeah, heal. That's
what those bandages are for." He pointed to the restraining tape. "Good old
Earth medicine. Don't worry. I'll see if I can find some Szenzu Beans for
you, and then you'll be out of here in no time."
Kakarot recalled the beans that this warrior had used to heal his friends.
"Thank you. I owe you my life, you know."
"Hey, it's no more than I owe you. Consider the debt cancelled."
Kakarot was momentarily startled, but then he smiled. "It appears I have a
lot to learn about you Earth People."
"Apparently you do, Kakarot."
Kakarot winced at the sound of his own name. It came out harsh on the lips
of these people, and reminded him of his own race. "Please," he said, "that
life is gone, I do not wish to be reminded of it with that name."
"Hey, no problem." Yangcha shrugged. "In fact, Master Roshi's already been
using a new name for you."
"Oh? What?"
"Goku."
(2) Sap, Anyone?
(3) Okay, so maybe Goku isn't all that OOC after all. ^_^
Okay, there's my fic. Hope you liked it. :P Questions, comments, and
constructive criticism are appreciated at:kaged_tiger@hotmail.com
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