Way of the Saiya-jin
Chapter 4: Escape from Hayun Goku! The Mission Depends on It!
Time had passed at a snail's crawl for Pack and Aoi. The two found themselves trapped in a dark stone room furnished with a few blankets; and nothing more. Guards constantly paced back and forth through the prison corridor as they kept watch on their recently captured prisoners. The third member of their team was still unconscious from exhaustion. Although he trained in his spare time, Goku still wasn't used to such an extreme exertion of energy. In his fight with Vegeta Jr. during the most recent Tenkaichi Budokai, he became a Super Saiya-jin for the second time in his life. After the match, he passed out for two days. Pan preached ki control to the boy but he preferred to train his body rather than his mind. He never believed he'd actually need to use it.
"How long is he going to be like that?" Aoi asked. She stared across the stone room at the fallen Saiya-jin with a frightened look across her face. Pack couldn't tell if it was from them being in a prison cell or knowing that they didn't stand a chance without Goku. Of course he wasn't going to tell her that.
"I don't know. I've only seen him like this one other time," he said. He walked over to Aoi and took a seat next to her. "He fought in the finals of the Junior Division in the last Tenkaichi Budokai against an impressive fighter named Vegeta. He did some weird thing where he made his hair turn blonde and the two shot across the ring like mad men. I could barely even see them they were moving so fast. He ended up losing the match when he passed out and Vegeta punched him out of the ring. If I remember right, he was out for two whole days,"
"Two days?! Are you kidding me?!" Aoi shrieked. Pack clamped a hand over her mouth to quiet her down and brought a finger up to his own mouth. Aoi calmed down and Pack removed his hand. "What are we going to do?"
"It will be fine Aoi. I'll do as much as I can if something happens," Pack said in a reassuring tone.
A prison guard with a silver chainmail suit draped over him and a sword at his side walked up to the cell. Pack and Aoi turned their heads toward him and sat motionless as the guard opened up the door of metal bars. The guard was carrying three brown, wooden bowls of steaming white rice for what the two believed was their dinner. The guard set the bowls on the ground and without a word, exited the cell and locked it again. Pack tentatively made his way over to the food as if it is was something he'd never seen before. He carefully picked up two of the bowls and brought them over to the corner area that he and Aoi sat. He leaned up against the wall and began to eat the rice with the two chopsticks that were provided. Aoi on the other hand was a little less eager to dig into her food.
"How do we know this hasn't been poisoned?" she asked. She carefully poked at her food like she was thinking something would pop out at her. Pack stuck his chopsticks into his rice and set his bowl down.
"I don't think they're looking to poison us Aoi. I'm sure that if they went through all of this trouble to keep us in a prison cell. They could have killed us right when we crossed the bridge. They have other plans Aoi,"
The princess let out a little cry as she brought her fingertips up to her mouth in fear. "L-like what?" she cried. Pack shrugged and resumed his meal; leaving her in suspense.
"Who knows what goes on out here? Maybe they're making us food to fatten us up so they can eat us," he said jokingly to lighten the mood. Aoi didn't find this funny in the least bit. She found this possibility quite terrifying. Tears began to form in her eyes and she drew her legs close to her body. She rested her head on her knees and began to cry. Pack immediately noticed her sobs and set his bowl back down to comfort her. He lightly placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. "I can't believe this," she said over and over to herself.
A loud yawn brought Pack and Aoi's attention to the other side of the small room. To their surprise, Goku was sitting up and stretching his arms over his head. He partially opened his eyes and was bit confused with his surroundings at first. When he fully got his bearings, he frantically thrashed his head from side to side in terror.
"Where the hell am I?" he shouted. He stood up and ran over to the metal bars. He poked his head out and stared down each direction of the hallway. "I'm in prison?! How did I get here?!"
"Goku! You're awake!" Aoi exclaimed as she wiped the tears from her eyes. Goku turned and saw his two friends looking at him. "Hey guys…where are we?" he asked. He eyed the last remaining bowl of rice and slowly picked it up. He walked over to Pack and Aoi as he placed small bits of rice in his mouth.
"After you beat up that robot monster, you passed out and we carried you to the end of the bridge. We wanted to get you into the village for help but we were captured by three warriors and thrown in here," Aoi explained. Now that Goku was eating his food, and Pack was nearly done, she finally decided the food was ok to consume and began to eat as well. Goku took a seat in front of her and quickly finished his meal in typical Saiya-jin fashion. He placed the empty bowl on the ground and sighed.
"What are we going to do guys?"
Pack and Aoi looked at each other nervously before Pack spoke. "We kind of figured you'd have an idea,"
Goku opened his mouth but words didn't come out for a few seconds before he could digest this. "You guys were counting on me to come up with an idea?! Why me?!"
"You beat that robot and you saved Aoi. You've got to have some ideas on how to get us out of here,"
Goku sat stoically across from his friends. He had no clue of what he was supposed to do. He saved Aoi because she was in trouble. It was the right thing to do in his mind. He just jumped into the fray. He didn't have a plan. The robot on Hayun Bridge attacked them. He had to fight him to get across the bridge. Again, he had no plan. Fate would have it that his Saiya-jin instincts would kick in to defeat the monster. This was complicated for the young boy. Two people trusted him with their lives. He couldn't sit back and be the same scared child he'd been all his life. He thought of the stories his grandmother had told him about his great-great grandpa Goku. He was entrusted with the lives of the entire planet. Surely he could save his friends. His great-great grandfather's words rung in his head again.
You have to be brave. You are my grandson after all.
Goku looked up into Pack and Aoi's eyes and saw them patiently waiting for an answer from the newly appointed hero. He gave them a half-smile and ran his hand through his messy black hair.
"Ok…here goes…"
-
"Guards!" Aoi shouted at the top of her lungs. She slammed the empty wooden bowl that previously contained her rice across the prison bars repeatedly. Two guards dashed down the prison corridor and stopped in front of their prison cell.
"Quite the hell down! What's the problem?" a guard asked.
"I can't stand this anymore! I can't believe you place both boys and girls in the same cells! Don't you realize what could happen to me?" she yelled. She extended a finger in Pack's direction as she continued her charade. "I think he tried to touch me while I was sleeping,"
The guards turned their attention to Pack who sat against the prison wall. "He did?!" one of the guards asked angrily. To everyone's surprise, the guards began to enter the cell to discipline Pack as Goku had hoped. As one of the guards was about to strike Pack, he quickly rolled away from a kick that was meant for his head. Goku ran from across the room and kicked one of the chainmail covered guards into the stone prison wall. The guard bounced off of the wall and fell onto his back, holding his now bleeding nose. Pack engaged the other guard in combat and swept his legs out from under him. He immediately jumped on top of him and landed a right hand across the guard's jaw. Aoi stood across the room and watched in amazement as the two boys quickly took care of the heavily armored guards. After knocking one guard unconscious, Goku ran over to the other side of the cell and grabbed a large metal ring full of keys. He picked them up and met Aoi just outside of the prison door.
"C'mon Pack! Let's go!" Goku shouted.
Pack was busy stealing a sword from one of the guards for their escape attempt. He quickly unclasped the belt that carried it from around the guard's waist and clasped it around his own. Without saying a word, he joined his friends and began running down the corridor. As they reached a corner, Goku slowed down and placed his arm out like a gate to stop the rest from going past him. He crept up to the wall and slowly looked around the corner. He saw three guards dressed in the same chainmail as the two they had knocked out. Pack pulled his new sword out of it's sheathe and nodded to Goku.
"Stay back here for a second Aoi. You don't need to get hurt," Goku instructed.
Aoi nodded her head in agreement and watched the two boys quietly sneak around the corner. Goku decided to quicken the process and took a running start. He jumped into the air and slammed his foot into the side of the nearest guard's head. The kick caused the guard to fall into the other two who stood next to him. Pack followed him; slashing the air wildly with his sword. The guards quickly composed themselves and drew their swords.
"We have an escape attempt!" one of them shouted.
Goku connected a punch with the side of a guard's head and sent him flying into the wall. The guard's head bounced off the wall and he fell to the ground like a ragdoll. Pack on the other hand was struggling mightily with the two guards that were attacking him. He held each end of his sword with one of his hands as he blocked a blow from one of the guard's sword. A second guard was preparing a strike aimed at Pack's unguarded legs. Goku ran as fast as he could to aid his friend. As the guard swung his sword at Pack's legs, Goku rammed into the guard with his left shoulder; knocking him off balance. The guard fell to the ground, but as he fell, he swiped at Pack's left leg and gave it a small cut. Pack looked down at his leg and saw blood quickly staining his pants. The guard he was fighting took this opportunity to knee Pack in the stomach. Pack instantly let go of his sword and grabbed his stomach. Goku spun around and saw the guard with his sword held high over his head. Goku stretched a hand toward the guard and screamed.
"Pack! No!"
The room lit up with a bright bluish light as a ball of energy left Goku's outstretched palm. The beam slammed into the guard's chest and knocked him back into the wall. The guard looked down at a hole that was made in his armor and stared wide eyed at Goku. For that matter, everyone was staring at Goku. Nobody had a clue of what had just happened. The guard got up shakily and ran away down the corridor. Goku retracted his hand and turned his palm toward his face.
Did I just use my ki like grandma Pan had always wanted me to learn how?
Pack, still on the ground, stared at Goku with a frightened look on his face. "W-what did you just do?" he asked. Goku turned to his friend, but was silent for a moment. He himself still wasn't too sure.
"I think I just fire a ki blast,"
"A ki blast?! What's a ki blast?!" Pack questioned frantically.
While Goku explained what he had just done, a guard grabbed Aoi from behind and began carrying her back down from where they had come from. She thrashed her arms and legs, hoping to get free of the guards grip, but all her efforts were futile.
"Goku! Pack!"
They instantly began running down the hallway after her, gaining ground with every step. The guard passed through a doorframe at the end of the hall and made a right turn. The boys kept close, following him through the door and were met by a flight of stairs. They ran down a few steps and jumped the rest of the way down to save time. The stair cases twirled around as they made their way down into the basement of the prison. Goku and Pack reached the bottom of the final flight of stairs and entered an enormous stone room that was illuminated by a dim red light. They saw that the guard was now standing on a platform across the room from where they stood. Goku began walking toward the platform with a look of pure anger in his eyes. The guard still had Aoi slung over his shoulder but now had a villainous smirk plastered on his face. Goku stopped walking halfway to the platform and began to speak.
"I'll give you a chance to let her go without getting hurt. I will fight you if I have to. You've already seen what I did to your friends,"
The guard gave a laugh. "You're quite the little fighter. I will say that I'm impressed with your skills. It's unfortunate no one will ever see them again," he said. He placed his free hand over a large red button and pressed it into the stone. The ground began to quake and dirt fell from the ceiling. The wall across from them rumbled loudly as it slowly rose from the ground. Goku clenched his fists and took a deep breath as he was unsure of what was happening.
The wall stopped with a booming crunch. Out of the darkness stepped a man at least seven feet in height. He wore nothing but a pair of frayed pants that only went down to the top of his calves. His body was tan and covered with scars from previous battles. His huge muscles bulled as he flexed as if he hadn't moved in years. His face was expressionless and his eyes were hidden by his wild green hair and a pair of sunglasses. The guard laughed maniacally.
"I've been waiting to see Karasu fight again for years!"
Goku clenched his teeth together as he watched the giant crack his neck and knuckles as he prepared for the inevitable fight. Pack walked up behind Goku and placed his right hand on Goku's shoulder.
"I've got your back Goku," he said in a serious tone.
Goku didn't say a word to him. He kept his eyes focused on the silent giant as he slowly made his way toward him. Sweat slid down Goku's cheek and dripped down onto the floor. The Saiya-jin prepared himself by sliding down into his fighting stance. Pack stood to the side of him now with his arms bent at ninety degree angles with fists clenched.