In honor of receiving my tenth review on the Boy Kakarott, I am submitting two chapters. These two chapters are dedicated to Blusher who continually remained patient and encouraged me to keep writing. Sorry it's been so long, I've been busy. Wait for the next bit!
Chapter 8
Goku slammed against the wall and fell to the arena floor. His Super Saiyan 2 hair shadowed his face for a moment, and then he looked up, wiped the blood from his mouth, and smiled. The small creature across from him smirked back. Long ago, Goku had learned an important fact of fighting. Large opponents think they are strong and underestimate small opponents, while small opponents know they are stronger than large opponents think they are. Goku as a child had been an example of this over and over again. Because Goku had been small, his opponents didn't think he was strong enough to beat them. This had always given Goku the advantage in those fights.
However well Goku knew this rule, he had just broken it. He had underestimated his opponent just because his opponent was small and had suppressed its power level. Goku stood up and said, "Maybe I should start taking this fight seriously."
The small green skinned alien twitched his ears and laughed. "That might be a good idea." The creature stopped laughing and looked at Goku. "You know," he said, "It really is a pity I have to kill you. I think we might have been friends otherwise. I really do like you."
"I think you would have made a great sparring partner, too," Goku said. Then, he stretched and transformed to Super Saiyan 3. The other creature gasped and backed up a step.
"My," he said, "you really weren't kidding about not being serious before, were you?"
"Sorry, no," Goku said, and in one blow Goku knocked the green creature unconscious and ended the fight. Then Goku walked back to his cell door and entered. He had now been in this place for over a month. Both he and Kakarott had been separated after the first day and he hadn't seen the boy since. The only living creatures he'd seen were the aliens he was fighting and Suldrera. And he could have done without seeing the latter.
He now had over 50,000 points, but last time he had seen Suldrera she had made it sound as though they were heading back to her planet soon. Goku ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. He was worried about Gohan, Kakarott, and Vegeta. He didn't know how they were doing or if they were even still alive. He had fought some opponents that would have been possibly strong enough to take out Vegeta and maybe even the other two. That one today for example. Goku began to pace back and forth in his "box." He had to get out of here. He had thought of every possible way to escape and all of them led to a dead end because she still had Gohan under her control. It had been a week since he had last sensed Vegeta in the arena, and two days since he had sensed Kakarott.
Goku sat on his small cot, and drank some water. Suddenly with a loud clang the door to his cell flew open. He sprang up and peered through the suddenly bright light to see Kakarott being shoved through the door.
"Hey, Kakarott!" Goku said, feeling some of the stress lift from his shoulders.
Kakarott didn't respond, he simply went over to the corner and curled up. He didn't move and Goku instantly felt his concern come back full force.
"What's wrong?" he asked, quieter.
"Nothing," came the cold reply. Goku took a step back. Now what on earth was eating the boy?
Carefully, he sat down as far away from the boy as he could and tried to give him some space. After a while, Kakarott looked up. Goku saw something in his eyes, and he quickly stood up and embraced the boy in a hug. The sobs came then, and though Goku didn't know exactly what was wrong, he was glad he could be there to help.
After a while the crying subsided and Kakarott turned and looked at Goku. Goku was surprised. The boy looked more hardened. A lot of his openness had disappeared and so also, it appeared, had the rest of his innocence.
"What happened?" asked Goku.
The boy almost didn't seem to hear him. Again Goku asked, "What's wrong?"
"I had to, didn't I?" the boy suddenly spoke, his voice cracking, "that's what he taught me. The battle is more important than who you face. Life or death situations require you to win! He even told me if I didn't kill him, he'd kill me! Oh, why didn't he just give up? He knew I was stronger!"
"Who?" Goku asked, knowing the answer to this would answer some of the question.
"My father."
Goku took a step back in shock. "They sent you against your own father?"
"What should I have done? He came out and showed no mercy. He told me he was going to kill me. I had to kill him to protect myself, didn't I?"
"I don't know," was all Goku said, and he knew that response wasn't enough.
Kakarott turned away. Suddenly he slammed his fist against the wall, hard enough that he caused a small hole to form.
"Why don't you tell me what happened?" Goku asked.
Kakarott seemed to think about this for a moment, and then he straitened up, as if that little bit of thinking had cleared his thoughts. "I would like to do that, Goku. I think it might help me regain my composure.
"It started out like any other fight. They opened up my box and I headed out into the bright sun. It still sticks out in my mind, the heat does. It was so hot. Then I saw him. Bardock, my father. He was wearing a red bandanna and he had a look in his eyes that I didn't recognize. 'Kill me,' he said. I said, 'What?' He begged me to kill him. Said that if I didn't kill him, he would kill me. He said he had nothing left to live for. Then he turned around, and I felt so much pity."
"Why?"
"His tail, Goku. His tail was gone. You probably don't understand the full significance of that, because you lived without your own tail for so long, but a Saiyan without a tail is a laughingstock. He is barred from his true power...the power of the Oozaru form. I almost died of shame. He looked at me and he said, 'I have no pride left, no honor, no home, and no purpose. Repay me for giving you birth, and kill me.'
"Then he ran at me. In that moment I could see him more clearly than I ever had before. I remember the few times I'd seen him, how much I respected him, and then I felt my chi coming from within me, and I defended myself automatically. His dust blew in the wind and clings to my clothes. He's on me, Goku, he's on me. And I'm afraid he'll never get off of me."
As he uttered these last words, Kakarott lowered his face into his hands and began to shudder. Goku put a reassuring hand on his back and they both stayed that way for a while, each lost in his own thoughts.
A few hours later, the doors to the outside market swung open. A troop of the Ylgu-Gubs came in and quickly attached their chains to the two Saiyans. "Where are we going?" asked Goku, while Kakarott hung back, still lost in his thoughts.
"To the ship. We are returning to the planet."
They began their march through the market, when suddenly Kakarott stopped so suddenly the it yanked the whole platoon back. "Look!" he cried and pointed over to a stand, and then he fell to the ground and began to violently throw up all over the street. Goku stared incredulously at his young companion and then turned to see what the boy had been staring at. His eyes soon found it. Across the street, there was a stand labeled, "Saiyan Tails for Sale, Become What You Once Were. Only 10,000 credits per tail." Goku felt his stomach heave slightly, a sensation he had almost never felt before. Around 20 tails were piled on the stand, and many people were gathered around trying to buy them. One person walked past casually chewing on a cooked tail. Goku gazed in horror at the barbarianism that surrounded him. Kakarott slowly stood up, still clutching his stomach.
"That's what happened to my father's tail?" he gasped incredulously. Unconsciously, Kakarott felt for his own tail and clung to it frantically. Goku looked down to see that he had already unconsciously curled his own around his middle. Several of the people who were walking past were staring at the Saiyan's tails hungrily, and Goku felt his skin crawl. Their guards began to move them again and Goku and Kakarott were amazed to see several more stands similar to the one they had already seen.
"This is what the Saiyan race is reduced to?" Kakarott said. Inside he was a full of turmoil and shame. "We are reduced to creatures who kill each other for the entertainment of others and creatures who are simply produce? Goku, they are eating our tails! The very symbol of the Saiyan race is being ingested!"
Goku simply stared wide-eyed at the horror that surrounded him. Suddenly, ahead of him he was a long line of Saiyan slaves. Tailless and branded they walked meekly, making no outcry. "This is it," Goku whispered.
Goku's voice seemed to bring Kakarott out of his stupor. "What?" he asked.
"This is it. My dream. The one that made me leave my time to come here. I saw that slave line, and felt that this was what the entire Saiyan race would come to if I didn't come to help. Not that I made much of a difference." Suddenly Goku frowned. "This isn't right though."
"What isn't right?"
"In my dream I was by myself. No one else was near me."
Kakarott suddenly grinned and some of his old humor entered his face. "You are by yourself, Goku. You're right next to me." The boy grinned wider, "Get it? By your self?"
For a moment Goku stood puzzled and then he grinned. "You're as bad as King Kai. Except you're a little bit funny." He then reached over and ruffled Kakarott's hair. "Good to have you back."
However, when Kakarott looked up, his face was dead serious. "We've got to do something Goku. The Saiyan race can't live like this. We've got to set them free. We've become to complacent. Goku, it's up to us!"
"I know, Kakarott. Don't worry, we will do something. In fact, I think help is on its way."
Far out in space a small ship came hurtling toward the Arena Planet.
Inside of it, a black-haired woman and a blue-haired woman sat poised over a small device that closely resembled the dragon radar.
"I'm sure glad you installed this homing signal on him," the black haired lady said. "He was so surprised when I told Gohan it was his decision. I know he never suspected I'd be following after. I refuse to be left out of the battles anymore."
"Well, and you know we had to come with you. Vegeta was so angry with me when he found out I built a ship and sent Goku off to a battle in it without him. If you hadn't been so set on coming, Vegeta would have gone anyway. He's so worried about Goku."
Both ladies snickered. From the back room came an angry roar, "Shut up, woman! I just don't want that idiot to kill himself before I have a chance to!"
Both women shook their heads and at the same time expressed in disgusted tones, "Men!"
Chichi and Bulma smiled at each other, and then Chichi's smile dropped away and she gazed off into space. "Oh, Goku,"she whispered softly, "do try to be careful until we get there."
"Don't worry, Chichi," Bulma said, "they're both strong. They'll be fine."
"Oh, I know that," said Chichi, "I'm just worried about him not making Gohan do his studying."
She managed a steady gaze at Bulma, and even cracked a smile, but both could sense the lie behind her words. She was very worried. Very worried indeed.
And one thing was for sure, things were about to get very interesting.
