Chapter 13 - The Assault

"The battle-fire had dropped over him, burning him everywhere with its righteous heat, sizzling his sight, frying his synapses and roasting his heart in its holy glow."

(Stephen King, Dark Tower Volume III - Wizard and Glass)

Goku took his possessions and said goodbye to Professor Kamisama on Tuesday night. He carried everything he needed in a medium gear on the Golden Nimbus croup and two small side bags that he held in the mare's saddle. However, before riding, he opened one of the bags, took out a small velvet dark box, and opened it. He couldn't help smiling in front of the golden ring adorned by a single white pearl, which he would put on the finger of Chichi as soon as he arrived in West Sayan.

It had been difficult to find a ring for a price that he could pay and thought Chichi might like. But when he put his eyes on that pearl, he saw that it was something delicate and special like Chichi. And he had spent $200 without complaining.

"The price of one of the little cows I bought for her, but it was worth it," he thought, keeping the ring back and jumping on the saddle with a happy nod to the Professor and to Poppo, who was waving until he turned the corner and took the main street, where he trotted joyfully with Nimbus. It was amazing how quickly she had learned his commands. Goku never used spurs, he simply knew how to communicate so that any horse always understood what he wanted, and Nimbus was no different.

He arrived in a few minutes at the Briefs' warehouse, which was one of the largest in the port of New Sadala. After all, Bulma's family was very rich and had business not only in West Sayan. He knocked, and Yajirobe appeared, saying:

"So you had a good week?"

"Yes, I did. "Goku smiled, "and you?"

"Neither good nor bad. But to these guys there was not very good, by the way "he pointed to two men that Goku didn't know and was sitting, with identical expressions of discouragement, overpacks of rice. Goku looked at Yajirobe, intrigued, and said:

"Hi, I'm Goku. Who are you?"

"Rechazados, coitados, infelices ... eso es lo que somos " said the lowest, with a sore expression. The tallest stood up and said:

"Stop being dramatic, Pual. I have said that her anger will pass. "He extended his hand to Goku and said, "Yamcha, husband of Bulma Briefs, your servant."

"Husband? Bulma was not a widow?"

"Well, I wasn't really dead, as you can see," smiled Yamcha. "Neither I nor my partner Pual. We left West Sayan wanting to get rich, but we ended up here, with good money but still far from a million dollars..."

"Muy Lejos..." echoed Pual.

"But let's not talk about this. What are you doing here, Goku?" Yamcha was very proud of himself, dominated the conversation, and any discussion quickly.

"I am the guard of the stagecoach. I was hired to avoid robberies."

"West Sayan's coach always suffered from it. Has it gotten worse in recent times?"

"A lot," said Yajirobe. "They live robbing us. But Goku here had a good idea: we changed the route, passing through the Indian territory. Freeza doesn't go there."

"And the natives?"

"They are my friends!" said Goku, smiling.

"Boy... what a nice pair of guns you have there, huh?"

"You have to see him shooting," said Yajirobe, "that's the fastest I've ever seen."

"Can you show me?" Yamcha took a bottle that was dropped on the warehouse floor and said, "hit in the air?"

"Of course!" Goku said." Whenever you want. But only this one. I do not want the risk of running out of ammunition for the trip.

"Ok!" Yamcha said and threw the bottle up immediately. He barely managed to see Goku draw and throw. He only felt the little pieces falling like rain. "Wow! You are really impressive! He was going to make the biggest success in a rodeo that I was a part of...

"Rodeo?"

"Yes, a kind of cowboy circus. I'm not good at shooting, but I have an ability. I can show you. Pual!" he shouted. "Showtime!"

The little boy sighed and started running from side to side when Yamcha took his rope loop and spun in the air. He threw the rope and lassoed Pual without the slightest effort. As he had not spent any ammunition involved, he repeated the performance several times to impress Goku.

"Boy, where did you learn that?"

"I grew up on a cattle ranch. I raised calves all my life. When I was 17, I got bored with my life and, since I didn't have a father or a mother, I decided to take the road. When I was 23, I arrived in West Sayan with some money and met Bulma. I'm not the gold digger type, as she had money, I decided to hit the road with my old partner Pual and try to get rich... but our attempts didn't work very well." He sighed. "And now Bulma wants a divorce because she thinks I'm a liar."

"But she thought you were dead. What if she had married again?"

"Really, I miscalculated."

Goku and Yamcha spent a lot of time talking and, for some reason, they liked each other and became friends quickly. As they were supposed to go to West Sayan together the next day and Yamcha didn't intend to get rid of his horse, they agreed that they would both go on horseback, reinforcing the coach's safety. However, Goku was confident that Freeza's gang wouldn't attack the coach with the new route.

But he was wrong.

Zarbon was concerned. He had assaulted the West Sayan stagecoach without problems countless times. The driver was more dull-witted than the ones of other coaches from the region from Oozaru to Vegetown. He had never really fought for them.

But he thought about the guy with the spiked hair and felt a bad feeling. If Vegeta wasn't lying, the coach's guard was the same boy he saw shooting at West Sayan. Probably the fastest guy he had ever seen shooting in life, even faster than the damned Vegeta, who was a phenomenon, and ferocious like Raditz, who was the most dangerous guy he knew.

And the guy looked like a man Zarbon had briefly met when he was 14 and entered the gang, named Barddock. His skin was a little lighter, but the fierceness look when he got angry was the same. If Barddock hadn't been caught in the stagecoach completely defenseless and unarmed and afraid for his wife and children, he would never have been killed by the gang. He shot fast and precisely like a demon, just like the boy who was so similar to him.

Zarbon didn't have guts to comment with Freeza, but he even thought that, maybe, that toddler left for the coyotes to devour might have survived. And if one day he really decided to take revenge on his parents' killers, Freeza would be in trouble.

Each group of the gang had a name, a dynamic, and a strategy of theft. The 'birds of prey,' the group made by Vegeta, Nappa, and Raditz, pursued and approached the stage faster and precisely. Ginyu's group used to attack the move, usually shooting at one of the stage wheels. Zarbon's group, known as "the ghosts," used to make a barricade and wait in a curve, guns in hands, read to action.

It always worked. But Zarbon was afraid. He had lost Kiwi, thanks to the guy with the spiked hair. He knew how dangerous, fast, and deadly he was. Worst of all, the young man he had arranged for Kiwi's place, who was called Orlen, was not experienced and much less confident, a 17-year-old boy who could not be compared to any other more experienced. It was the first big robbery with his new group, and that boy could end up dead or terrified, and they could be in jeopardy. But they had no choice, so he rode his grey horse and called them both:

"Dodoria, Orlen, come on. It's two hours of riding to the turn where we'll catch the coach. Watch out for the guy with spiky hair. He can be a little dangerous."

Zarbon was mistaken. Goku was actually very dangerous.

The coach had left Penguin Village and headed down the end of the Paozu Mountains towards the Sayan Plateau when Goku felt on alert. A horse had been galloping quickly towards them, coming from the plain, and he looked back. He relaxed when he saw the Tenshin Indian approaching quickly. He made a gesture for Yajirobe and Yamcha to stop and did the same. Tenshin reached them.

"Haugh, Goku!"

"Haugh, Tenhsin! Did you see anything suspicious?"

"Beware the Bull's Skull Curve." The Indian said, calmly, "I saw a few men from Freeza's gang passing, and there they stay."

"Hmm, "said Goku, "it's one hour until there. Thanks for the warning, Tenhsin.

The Indian nodded and turned around, waving to Yajirobe and ignoring Yamcha. He disappeared on the side road, and Yamcha said:

"This guy makes me nervous with his eye on his forehead."

"He is a good friend, and if he said to be careful, let's take it. Keep the bow on the saddle. Maybe we need him... and you shoot?

"I do, but I don't think I am as good as you."

"Let's see how we turn around. Yajirobe!" Goku looked at the driver, who gave him back a look full of bad will "near the Bull's Skull Curve, you hold the rifle with one hand and the reins with the other."

"You talk as if it were easy, "said the other, with an upset expression on his face.

Goku gave a debauched smile and released the reins, making Nimbus resume its gallop. Yajirobe grumbled something and followed them.

Bulma was sleeping inside the coach, in the company of the sad Pual, since they had left Penguin Village. She had appeared in the morning wearing a beautiful blue dress she had bought in New Sadala. She had promised herself that she would never wear mourning again if she became a widow, no matter what the scandal.

She had ignored Yamcha since they left the city, no matter how hard he tried to please her. She simply couldn't take that husband back, even more so after knowing that he had spent two whole years living on blows. Divorces were a scandal, even more so in the little West Sayan, and they only happened, usually, by the husband's will, but she was determined to end that marriage as soon as possible.

Suddenly the stage stopped, and she woke up. She was about to put her head out when she heard the first shot. She looked at Pual, who had his eyes popped like hers, blenched as much as she could, trying to get protected between the stage benches. Whatever was happening out there, she would be very quiet, praying that it was not a robbery.

For a moment, she thought of Vegeta, who was robbing stagecoaches. She closed her eyes and thought: "Anything but being forced to see that scoundrel again. I'm unlucky. Only rats and criminals come into my life!"

The Bull Skull Curve had that name because of a very white stone, covered with limestone and with an elongated side that, from afar, looked like a big bull skull set against the road. It was the second most dangerous curve of that road, losing only to the three crosses' curve, where Goku's parents had been killed many years before.

Zarbon, Dodoria, and Orlen were stopped. The horses crossed the road, just after the curve, waiting for the coach, not knowing that it was a mistake and that they would be surprised and not the coach. They heard the sound of the horses' hooves beating, believing that the coach was approaching and would have to stop when he saw them, obstructing the passage.

But Goku had planned his action very well, already coming with his revolver in hand, ready to go into action as soon as he turned the bend. He and Yamcha came right in front of the stage, Yamcha already with his bow prepared to help if necessary. When they turned the curve and entered the field of vision of the three bandits, everything accelerated.

Zarbon rolled his blue eyes as soon as Goku turned the turn. But it was too late. He had no reaction time. One-shot hit him in the forearm and another in the shoulder. As if it was possible before Dodoria could give him cover, he was hit too, but in hand, dropping the revolver with a scream. And when Goku was going to take care of Orlen, the third rider simply fired, running towards West Sayan. That's when Yamcha went into action.

The boy spilled his brown horse and was already terrified and sorry to have sought Freeza's gang to join them. He thought he would be shot in the back, but instead, he suddenly felt himself being torn out of the saddle by a strong grip in the middle of his body, falling down in a matter of seconds, feeling a rib break when he hit the ground and ate dust.

His next vision was that of a smiling face surrounded by black hair that leaned over him and said:

"Hello, boy... it looks like you're going to be hosted by West Sayan jail..."

Meanwhile, Dodoria and Zarbon, recovered from the initial fright and very experienced, tried to react to Goku, who had come close enough for a left-hand shot. Unfortunately, Goku was faster and shot each other on the shoulders, disarming them immediately for both of them. He got close to Dodoria and pointed the gun to the face of the burglar, who surrendered immediately, scared. Even wounded and without strength in his arms, Zarbon fired the horse deviating in the opposite direction of West Sayan.

"YAJIROBE "shouted Goku "he's making his way towards you!"

Yajirobe stopped the wagon and shot the rifle but missed the shot, and Zarbon continued shooting, disappearing in a curve of the road. Zarbon had run away, not sure what he would do. But the assault on the stage had been frustrated.

Goku and Yamcha finished tying Dodoria, who was injured. With a series of complicated knots difficult to untie, Yamcha tied him and Orlen to his horses' saddles, which were tied to the stagecoach's horse pair. Goku decided he didn't want the risk of having the burglars traveling inside the coach.

"What will you do with us? "asked Dodoria. "I'm hurt."

"You hold on until we get to West Sayan, "said Goku. I know you are not seriously hurt. But I don't think you'll ever shoot straight again."

"And me? "asked Orlen "it's my first time with the gang! I'm not even a threat!"

"Tell that to the sheriff of West Sayan and then to the judge of Fierce's Landing or New Sadala," said Yamcha. "I'm not so sure what jurisdiction we're in..."

"Come on, Yamcha, enough of this talk," shouted Goku. "I want to arrive before nightfall, and we lost at least one hour because of these scumbags... Run, Nimbus!"

He ran the mare, and Yamcha followed him. Yajirobe cracked the whip, which accidentally hit Dodoria's ear, which screamed.

"Oops! Sorry there, Mr. Bandit! I'm not used to taking passengers in front of the stage, "shouted Yajirobe, happy to know that this time the gang of Freeza had lost."

Inside the cabin, Bulma sighed with relief. After all, the rude guy had been a good investment... and Yamcha hadn't been at all useless.

Maybe she gave him a chance.

Notes:

1. For some reason, I thought it was funny that Pual only spoke Spanish. First, he says that they are poor, dragged, and unhappy, and then he complains that they are "very far away" in allusion to the million dollars aspired by Yamcha.

2. I'm not part of the crowd that hates Yamcha just because he dated Bulma before Vegeta. Here he is really a rascal, but he will have his cool moments, wait.

3. I love Yajirobe's bad mood. That's why I put him on the fic to be the coach driver and have the opportunity to talk bullshit at ease.

4. The chapter quote alludes to that transformation Goku goes through every time he enters a battle. That shooting is only the first one.

5. In the next chapter, "Heroes of West Sayan," Goku and Yamcha arrive at the city with their captives. But Freeza doesn't like who fails, so he will send someone to "take care" of this case. Guess who?