Saishou Kesen:
Panboukin
By: Miyuki Usuki
A/N: Sorry; this didn't seem to upload right the first time. Anyway, the Saiya-jin dealt with in this story is the fat Saiya-jin from Bardock's crew: Panboukin. For those who have seen "Bardock: Father of Goku" (the dub), this is Shugesh. I choose to not call him by that because that is not his name. In this story, Tora is rightfully Toma, Fasha rightfully Celipa, and Borgos rightfully Totepo. Thank you, and please try to at least enjoy the story!
Vegetasei: Medical Room
The three of us--Celipa, Totepo, and I--watched as Toma confronted the two alien doctors in the facility. For the past few days, checking up on Bardock was a necessity for the poor guy. Toma went to the medical center at least twice a day, once in the morning and once before he retired for the night.
I felt sorry for him; Bardock was nearly killed in almost every single planet we've ever covered and then some, so Toma was pretty worried about him (I'm pretty sure "worried" was the right word). Especially after that damned Kanassasei-jin attacked--what did that alien do to make Bardock collapse without any trace of blood?! Twice?!
With our next deadline coming up real soon, I personally want Bardock to hurry up and get himself healed up soon. Seems like Lord Freeza is giving us a challenge, taking over a planet in a mere two weeks. I'm pretty sure that since we took over Kanassasei in a mere three months, we caught his attention. Maybe, if we're lucky enough, if we do an even better job with Meatsei than we did with Kanassasei, Lord Freeza may just upgrade us. The five of us, after all, are stronger than practically all of the rest of the low-levels!
Well, I best not get my hopes flying out there. Nobody has ever been upgraded by their combat ratings; it's all a matter of mating with the right person. Though you still wouldn't be considered a member of the higher rank, at least your offspring would.
The bad thing about the elites, though, is that they have a major pride problem. They also take everything for granted; don't they know that without the doctors, they would be dead?
Sadly, it's not only the elites who are often disrespectful towards the doctors; it's also our fellow low-levels. Dumbasses, all of them. They really don't know how much the doctors' lives are worth, do they?
I love being a Saiya-jin and everything, but sometimes the rest of us gives our race a bad name. Especially the Prince; his father was a good King, but I doubt that the Prince would be able to follow in his father's footsteps. As far as I've heard--and I hear very little about this political crap--all Prince Vegeta cares about is getting stronger. If anything went wrong with Vegetasei, he wouldn't be able to handle it. Not that anything would go wrong with Vegetasei ever again, but I have this very strong feeling that the Prince would ruin our interaction with the Planet Trade...
"He's all right physically," one of the doctors informed Toma, "but there seems to be strange brainwave patterns."
"I see," Toma noted solemnly.
Uh-oh. The brainwave pattern thing was new. And it didn't sound so great either. Since when did the doctors tell us what the symptoms are, though? They know better than to inform Toma of anything that would put him in a state of, well, worriedness!
Is that even a word?
There was only one thing that could be done to prevent Toma from a long term of depression: get him busy! We have that trip to Meatsei, don't we? Well, why not use it? We don't have to wait for Bardock to get out; sure, if we did wait the deadline would pass, but usually Lord Freeza gives us some leeway if our commander is stuck in the rejuvenation tank. But I don't think Toma's mentality could wait that long, and that would not have Celipa very much pleased.
"It's no use," I told Toma in the same tone that he used, just so that I wouldn't anger him. "We should just leave without Bardock this time."
It amazed me that Toma automatically said, "Okay"; I figured he would have objected it what with the way I worded it. Maybe he remembered that we have a deadline to go for...
Celipa and I started walking down the hall while Totepo stayed behind to wait for Toma to stop talking to the doctors. On the way, Celipa and I started talking. Celipa had a real knack for being able to "read minds", as you might say. She could understand everybody's intentions, and I am no different than the rest.
"That was a smart idea," she praised with a tiny smile. "Keeps Toma from getting peeved easily."
"Also a good way to keep him from making you worried," I joked. "It would be an ugly sight for a female to be worried about her lover, especially if she had a bad temper."
"I do not have a bad temper," Celipa growled. "You guys just happen to mess with me at all the wrong times."
"Bad time of the month, I bet," I muttered. I checked to make sure she hadn't heard me; she had. She had one of those female "I'm going to kill you" looks. "Well, only Toma and I mess with you at the wrong times. How come you let Bardock constantly be rude to you and not us?"
Celipa shrugged. "He's significantly stronger than me. I'm used to it. He doesn't mean to get me angry. Stuff like that."
She stopped suddenly and turned to the window next to her. I followed suit, but as soon as I saw what was on the other side of the window, I wished I hadn't. I spun back around and sighed. "Celipa, you need to quit doing that!"
"I'm looking for Bardock's newborn," she told me simply. I rolled my eyes. Why were women made the way they were? I could live well without them adoring infants more than males, especially if those infants aren't even theirs! But I guess it wasn't Celipa's fault that she didn't have any kids for herself yet. Maybe that's why she loved them so much.
"Look, why don't you just tell Toma--"
"Whoa!" Celipa laughed. "Kakarotto looks a lot like Bardock!"
"Who's Kakarotto?" I asked. It was her turn to roll her eyes--did I miss something that was obvious?
"His newborn, you idiot," then she chuckled. "Look for yourself. His hair is the exact same as Bardock's. Even though it looks like he has his mother's eyes."
Celipa wouldn't leave me alone until I looked, I knew she wouldn't, so I had no choice. I glanced over my shoulder, but I didn't bother scanning the room to find the kid. "Where exactly is he?"
She sighed and directed me to where Bardock's newborn kid was. After a little while of following Celipa's voice with my eyes, I saw him. Celipa was right; he looked a lot like his father! I wonder, since Raditz had his father's personality, would Kakarotto have his mother's personality? That seemed to be the trend with Bardock's family: look like one parent, have the attitude of the other.
"Too bad Bardock doesn't seem to care much," Toma's voice muttered from behind us.
From the corner of my eye I could see Celipa turning back around. I shifted my head to face my two friends, one of them rather disgusted with what we were talking about. This, of course, was Toma. He had the same views as I did on the issue of women's obsession with kids. In fact, Toma was practically scared to death of Celipa's constant contact with the younger Saiya-jins. Maybe that's why they don't have any kids yet...
"Well, if you ever turn out to have no interest in your family like Bardock, trust me, you will regret it," Celipa snapped.
"Hopefully it won't be any time soon. I don't happen to like the idea of trying to find someone to replace you while you take care of the kid," Toma muttered under his breath with a scowl.
"It's going to be sooner than you think."
"We should go now," I cut in. This was going to get ugly soon, and Totepo wouldn't have stopped them. Only if they got into a physical fight would he step in, but knowing these two, no fight would start anytime soon.
Toma opened his mouth as if to say something, but then shut it. "You need to be more patient, Panboukin," he scolded with a laugh. "But, okay, let's go before the departure ports close."
Hell
I don't know what the Hell happened. One minute I was celebrating a job well done with the others, the next...
The next, we were attacked by a few of Freeza's minions. And killed.
Apparently, I was the first one killed. Nobody else was down here in Hell yet, but I hoped that none of them would be--well, maybe only one. I really don't want to be lonely, but if that would mean the death of the rest of my friends, well, I can't be selfish. Only one of them would be good enough. But which one?
I refused for one of them to be either Toma or Celipa. Just downright refuse for one of them to die now. I knew Celipa's dream to have a child and a family, and that would not happen if Toma died. Perhaps after a kid was conceived, then it would be all right, but by then the battle with Freeza's lackeys would be over. Is it over already? I hope it's over. I hope I see those four morons here soon.
Even so, Totepo would be the better choice to die, but that wouldn't be good for either of us. To tell you the truth, if I were ever stuck with him I'm sure I'd get bored, but at least I wouldn't get myself killed--er, at least I wouldn't get myself... whatever it was that happened if you were killed again in Hell. That was something that Totepo's presence would promise me, I'm sure of it.
Besides, Totepo never did anything in his life that deserved his death. None of us did. We always followed orders and kept ourselves and each other fit. Hell, we even saved each other numerous times, especially Toma, who saved or attempted to save Bardock's life several times. The rest of us never really did need our butts saved, and when we did Toma was either occupied with something else or elsewhere. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that Toma was destined to be Bardock's protector.
That's only if I didn't know any better.
I really do hope that no one would die except for those damned aliens!
Still, there was only one question that I could actually word to myself: "Why the Hell was I killed?"
***End Panboukin's Story***