The hours seemed to crawl on ever so slowly as Chi-Chi made her way up Korin's great pillar of a tower. She dug her nails into the engraved stone, no longer concerned by the chipping of her red nail polish as she groaned, clawing her way up, with a push of one foot then another.
I won't be brought down by some high and mighty tower, I'm Chi-Chi Mao! The strongest woman in the world! Wife of Son Goku, mother of Gohan, daughter of the great Ox King! She thought proudly, giving herself the encouragement to push onward, gritting her teeth and furrowing her brows over her dark ebony eyes as she shot one hand upward and grasped the stone. Tiny pieces of the inlaid stone over the ancient bark crumbled as her foot ground against the hard surface, causing Chi-Chi to gasp and hold on tightly as her foot searched for its bearing. She began to slide slowly downward, her nails making rivets as she dug them in and wrenched her body upwards with a roar of defiance. Chi-Chi climbed up higher, wiping the sweat that stuck her bangs to her brow on her sleeve as she continued onward.
The shrill cry of a raven below startled her only slightly as she continued, staring only upward and never down, as Chief Bora had advised her to do. "Caw, caw!"
"Shut up, stupid bird!" Chi-Chi growled out, frustrated by the distracting sound. She looked down at the blackbird circling the tower, before it swooped up and attempted to nab the sparkling wedding ring on her finger.
"Oh no, you don't!" Chi-Chi balled up her fist protectively, making a swing for the bird as it came around again and landed on her fist, leaning down to peck at her hand. Chi-Chi shook her fist, unable to move the other that was gripping the stone desperately as she started to wail, then finally shook off the stubborn bird.
"Get out of here, shoo!" She flapped her hand, sweat building under the other one that was on the tower. The bird cackled, flapping its raggedy wings, loose feathers falling before the beating sun at its back. Then it landed on her head. Chi-Chi screamed and clawed at her hair with both hands until the crow flew away from her grasp, and she realized with dread that both hands were now off the tower, only her legs wrapped around it. Her back began to arch and Chi-Chi fell back, screaming as the sky behind her flashed through her eyes and she knocked her head against the stone, grunting.
She used her strong thighs to squeeze firmly as she could and sat up, quivering until she finally was upright and could grip the hot stone once again. Once upright, she pressed her cheek there and sighed with relief. "Caw! Caw!" Chi-Chi heard the irritating sound once again and growled audibly, roaring in anger. She managed to get the small katana from her waistband and sliced it through the air threateningly.
"Move it, before you become crow filets! I'm no stranger to raw poultry, I'll dice you right up and cook you for my lunch!" She screamed, waving the sword and finally frightening the raven away, sending it squawking back down to the ground after taking an inch off its tail feathers. Chi-Chi chuckled, sheathing the sword and returned her gaze back to her objective; nothing would stop her from reaching her goal. Her figure became just a small speck in the distance as clouds drifted across the sky, partially concealing the great tower.
There seemed to be no end in sight before him as Goku finally slowed his gait. Having run for a few days with only a few breaks in between, he was starting to feel the effects. He had run out of ki early on after flying for the entirety of the first day, then took to running which didn't require any at all and was a good workout anyways. He skidded to a stop, regaining his balance and placing his hands on his knees to take some well-deserved breaths.
He stood back up and looked down the path, sighing. Goku knelt down from the spined edge and took a few armfuls of fluffy yellow clouds and began stuffing his face with their marshmallow-like consistency. They tasted good but it was nothing like Chi-Chi's home cooking. He brushed some yellow puffs from his face and stretched, bending to the side one way, then the other and stretching his legs. "Well, can't afford to waste much more time!" Then he sped off, his unwavering determination undoubtedly the reason for his success.
There was a small oasis full of life at the edge of the long desert, where in its shade two figures sat beneath a tree, cross-legged on the ground with a large, red bento box between them. Launch took the smaller black box and opened it, taking out the chopsticks and popping a fried hot dog cut in the shape of an octopus in her mouth as she observed her strange new acquaintance open his box and disregard the chopsticks with a snort, instead grabbing fistfuls of food and eating out of his hands messily. Launch didn't seem bothered by his bad table manners as her skillful hand started wrapping noodles around the utensils and slurping them down.
Raditz nearly stuffed his entire face into the large bento box that her other self had packed, full of a variety of classic Japanese goodies, onigiri rice balls, tamagoyaki omelets, fried meat, pickled vegetables and an assortment of tiny white radish slices with small smiley faces with large eyebrows and a seaweed cut out that clearly resembled his hair across the back. Launch chuckled, holding the radish up before him and comparing it to how he currently looked, with his cheeks all full of food, with tiny flecks of rice all over, a glaze cast over his dark eyes.
"You're gonna look like this thing if you keep eatin' like that! Heheh!" Launch whipped the tiny resemblance at him so that it stuck to his forehead. Raditz paused his inhaling and tried to look at his own forehead, his eyes going cross as his tongue swept over his cheek to lick up some sauce there. Launch chuckled. "I really wish I had a camera! That face is priceless! Ha!"
Raditz finally managed to peel off the radish and crushed it between his fingers angrily, the black seaweed still stuck to his furrowed brow like a tiny flame. She fell over cackling, kicking her legs and pounding her fists on the ground as he stood and growled.
"What's so funny?" He nudged her with the toe of his boot to make her stop her uncontrollable laughter. Launch sat up, regaining her wits and her lunch, popping more noodles in her mouth and smirking at him as he sat back down, the seaweed still flapping on the breeze. She snorted, then gulped, afraid the noodles would come out her nose like they had done once before when Oolong got his tail caught in the door.
"I still fail to understand what has made you so mirthful." He grunted, crossing his arms and lowering his chin to his chest like a petulant child.
"Oh, for the love of- criminy, ya still got seaweed on your forehead doofus!" Launch grumbled with irritation, then stood and quickly plucked it off his brow with the chopsticks, causing him to flinch back and rub there as if she'd done something to hurt him. He got up, brushing off his clothes of food particles and turned briskly away from her, standing as if on guard in his stubborn refusal to leave her on her own.
Launch glared at the wall of hair and didn't hesitate to quickly stuff her mouth with food, then took a large gulp of soda and burped loudly. Raditz cringed at the loud sound erupting from the small female, turning around and staring with widened eyes at her as she simply shrugged and crushed the soda can on the ground. "S'cuse me. I guess that wasn't ladylike." She scoffed, not caring really at all to impress the man with feminine delicacy, and not shy to cram the hot dog creature in her mouth and bite it cleanly in half, making him shudder and turn back around with his shoulders narrowed.
"If you're done eatin', just leave. I know my way back home. I ain't no delicate flower like you're used to." She mumbled, scratching her full belly and resting against the tree.
Something about her features was indeed more hard, more rugged yet still was feminine; she didn't change size, after all, and her body was toned but not nearly anything worth snorting at. He leaned against the tree with one hand and made a deep whine of agitation, scratching at the back of his head and glancing impatiently around them.
He was hot and gritty with sand, his hair plastered to his back. Granted, he had been in much warmer climates, but he'd never gotten used to the sweltering heat beating on his back, and he refused to put some type of feminine hair restraint on just to help aid him in cooling off. He had other methods that had always worked just fine.
"We're not supposed to leave just yet, little Launch and I had plans..." He said, stopping short with a gulp. He looked away from the girl slumped against the tree below him, wiping her brow with her arm and enjoying the shade that his wide girth provided her.
Launch growled, standing and finding herself trapped beneath his arm like an extension of the tree. "Now what? Ya know, I may share a lot of things with Blue, but I ain't no placeholder till she gets back, ever think maybe I have my own plans?"
Raditz growled back, eying her suspiciously. "I suspect you do, not that I approve of...and that is precisely why the safest place for you is with me." He said sharply, placing one hand on her shoulder before she could bolt away.
"Oh sure, I'm real safe with you! Ha! Tien is such a nice guy, he would never do the things I'm sure you have done! You really think I just forgot what you intended to do when you came here!?" She said, crossing her arms defiantly.
Raditz was silent, mulling over his answer. He smirked a small amount remembering how she was the first earthling he had laid eyes on, and he had fully intended to get to know her better, but that was before he met the other Launch.
"I came to retrieve Kakarot, and he was unwilling, so I had to resort to other methods." He said with a shrug.
"What would you have done if he agreed?" She responded, becoming genuinely curious.
"My mission was to retrieve him and return to Lord Frieza. But first, we would have assessed the value of Earth, and if deemed profitable, cleared the planet of inhabitants and turned over the planet to our lord's empire."
He responded honestly, that was how he saw it simply put, being so accustomed to it. He was aware that it was an irrefutable thing to do, but over the years had become immune to feeling sorry for the inhabitants; instead he eliminated them as quickly as possible before they could scream and cry.
Launch was silent; she stared up at him looking for a shred of empathy, some sign within those dark irises that he felt remorse for what he had done.
"...It was just a job to you, huh? Just some way to make a living?" She turned her face and spat, no longer wishing to face him.
"Yes." He murmured, downcast, lowering his head. In a way, it seemed as if he almost felt shameful. Launch turned back and observed how he stared at the grass at his feet, digging into the bark above her head with his nails.
"...I'm sorry for asking. But I had to know, ya know, I hope you don't still feel that way about our planet...? Humans might be pretty dumb and worthless to you but we're not just some parasite in the way of your next paycheck!" She said, yelling up into his face to get some reaction from him.
Raditz looked at her and his face was taut with unreleased emotion, his eyes were as solid and unyielding as flint. "I know that now. I... understand why you would protect this planet, it is... fascinating." He said in a softer voice; his hand on her shoulder suddenly felt much heavier and warmer, his coarse palm moved just a fraction of a centimeter and back as if questioning if it was alright to calm her.
Launch cringed from his touch, squirming further back against the tree, her heart pounding as she realized he was looking at her inquisitively with those obsidian eyes seeming to swallow all of her up. They seemed to catch every tiny movement she made; drilling into her mind in such a way it felt like a violation of her privacy.
Launch snarled with frustration and brought her knee up firmly into his abdomen, causing him to blink and look down at where it was lodged with confusion. Launch retracted her knee in pain and began struggling to get out of his grip, pulling at his fingers on her shoulder with frustration.
"Stop. I'm not trying to harm you." He lifted his hand and Launch scrambled away and fell onto the grass, regaining her wits and sitting up on her side.
He advanced on her slowly - his heavy steps seemed to frighten her with each move, so he attempted to make them softer - and knelt down to her cringing form. Raditz tilted his head and eyed her curiously, as Launch sat up and got herself back together, brushing grass off her clothes and huffing. The female was red-faced and panting from the sweltering humidity, her blonde locks clinging to her cheeks.
Raditz looked around and reached into his pocket where he had stored away a bundle of clothes, and held it out in front of her. It was some type of garment that Launch had excitedly tried on for him before they had left the house, asking if he liked it and he had agreed.
"W-what is that? You want me to wear that?!" She cringed back in disgust, at the frilly, pink one-piece bathing suit.
"Well, yes if you wish to cool off." He said as if miffed and shrugged, then stood and started peeling off his clothes, taking off his tight red shirt and revealing his sculpted stomach and the dark trail that led down to his tightly stretched jeans. Launch flushed and covered her eyes, turning the other way and yowling in distress.
"Don't get naked right in front a' me, I don't wanna see that!"
Raditz lifted one eyebrow and held his clothes in one hand and her bathing suit in the other, stripped down to his black shorts. "Get undressed." He said, and tossed the pink thing towards her and walked away, leaving her alone in the shady grove of trees. Launch turned quickly and saw that he was gone, and the pink item of clothing laid on the grass, along with another pile of clothes and armor.
"Here we go again... Friggin dress up! Why do all men seem to think I'm some kinda dress-up doll?!" She growled and picked up the suit, then peeled a sweaty strand of hair from her face. She heard a loud splash of water and looked from the small opening in the weeds, seeing that he had already taken to the cool water nearby.
Suppose it couldn't hurt just to get in to cool off for a minute, then I'm getting the hell outta here!
He had never seen anything like it, in all of Vegeta's life; the blue expanse of water was seemingly endless. He scanned the water with his scouter, finding low-level forms living under the water. He had been witness to one of these massive mammals as it breached the surface with a great exhale from its breathing apparatus at the top of its skull, then sunk its long blue body back into the water with a hard splash of its wide tail fin.
Who knows what a beast like that eats, most likely much more than even I am capable.
He lifted his eyes from the water and towards the beach, feeling confused by its appearance, the beach he had just been to not longer than a day and a half ago, was completely barren of all the results of the battle. He hovered above the beach and looked back towards the direction he came from.
I'm certain that this is the same area as before, I may have been incapacitated but I clearly recall the direction we came from before that blast...
He came to a soft landing on the sand, his white boots making smooth imprints as he walked carefully down the shore, observing his surroundings with a skeptical eye. He used his advanced olfaction to distinguish the faded scent of blood, of melted plastic and the strange stench of explosives. Yes, this is the place. Vegeta felt something hard in the sand beneath his foot, and as he brushed the sand away he saw it, the blue glass of Nappa's scouter. It was shattered irreparably, the entire device seemed crushed as if it had been stomped on. He disregarded it and continued following the trail, picking up on Nappa's unique scent.
Each Saiyan had a distinct scent that was similar in fragrance to only their closest relatives, Nappa's scent was a sort of an unpleasant skunk-like musk to him; due to the fact that they were both males one another's scent was abhorrent; only a Saiyan female would be able to discern if his scent was pleasant or not, and vice versa.
If the Saiyan female was unrelated to him and in heat, Nappa's scent would be attractive, in fact irresistible. This was how Saiyan genetics had adapted to keep from same-sex relations and interbreeding, which was why Vegeta was able to boast of having pureblood, untainted by inbreeding.
Regardless, the scent was strong enough for Vegeta to track, so he continued to follow it, along with many other strange scents that came from either the beach, or the inhabitants. He could tell that there were lingering humanoid scents, but they smelled strange and different from the somewhat offal scents humans normally had; well, except for the blue-haired woman-
Vegeta snarled outwardly and walked faster, ignoring his thoughts of the woman, locking only onto Nappa's signature trace to the very edge of the beach. He scanned the sand for his dead body, and he was strangely suspicious.
Something did not seem right when he looked at the rock pattern of the cliffside. The layers of sediment seemed fairly even, with varying tones of green, beige, yellow and brown, except in one area where things seemed, well for lack of a better term, fuzzy...
He narrowed his eyes but couldn't seem to concentrate on the strange pattern, it was simply a blur of color in his otherwise perfect vision. Vegeta scanned the obstruction with his scouter, warily coming closer, and as the readings came on the screen he stood against the rock wall, making himself flatter and moving impossibly slow so as to not alert them of his presence. The screen read many power levels, there were a plethora of numbers flashing across the screen ranging from at the smallest of 10, to a familiar range of 4000, which he knew with a smug grin was Nappa.
He felt somewhat strangely though, as he read Nappa's reading other numbers in the thousands came up as well, and to his surprise one was even at 17,550, nearly as strong as his! It was flickering between 50 and 45 though; for whatever reason this being was weakened. Vegeta took a sharp intake of breath and quelled his surprise when an opening was made in the wall, and out of it came a humanoid man wearing a red gi with a green snake pattern that wrapped around his back and down his arms, with two long, black sheaths at his hips. He scanned the shore for activity, narrowing his hazel eyes and scowling. His reading was 1184, weaker than Raditz, and it was steady. Vegeta smirked; he would be no challenge at all.
The floor beneath his shined boots was suddenly very interesting as Zarbon walked across the glossy white tiles, each click of his heels echoing as he came to a stop at the scuffed area where he had stood for many a year in attendance to his Emperor. Zarbon released a soft exhale and raised his eyes to observe his master, who sat levitated in his hoverchair, gazing out at the many ribbons of color that floated past. In all of the galaxies that Frieza owned, this part was the most beautiful. Zarbon smiled and sighed as he too observed the passing stars, lowering his paperwork and tilting his head to brush back a soft green lock of hair.
"Do you plan to continually admire my backside, or are you prepared to give me the latest readings, Zarbon?" A rasping, cutting voice sliced through the air, sending a quiver through his spine. Zarbon straightened, clearing his throat and shuffled through his paperwork.
"Apologies, my lord. I have gathered the reports you requested."
"Good. Let's hear it." Frieza said lowly, slowly turning to face him with one pale, clawed hand resting on the armrest, his crimson eyes luminous, dark sanguine pools. Zarbon looked at the numbers on the paper and began to read them off.
"The last signal from ship 276 was cut off today, and it has been presumed inactive at this point. Raditz's scouter has been inactive for a span of two and a half days. Nappa's is inactive as well; the last power reading came in at a level of 1650, which was before his became untraceable as well." He read, swallowing and lowering the paper.
"...So, we can take it that the lesser two have presumably perished. No matter." He said with a shrug, rolling his eyes. Frieza tapped his claw on his chin and curled his black lip up cunningly.
"Let's have Vegeta's readings, I'm sure there must be something worthwhile there." Zarbon nodded eagerly, shuffling the papers and reading quickly.
"Ah yes, Vegeta's last reading was just a few minutes ago, sire. It read 17,550."
Frieza nodded, satisfied.
"So, these Earthlings have slightly above average power for lower beings. They should not be much of a challenge for him. Send him a message, to finish up whatever he is doing there and report back promptly. I want a full report on what happened to Raditz and Nappa - he was responsible for them - as well as Kakarot's location. If I find that Vegeta has failed to locate Kakarot in Raditz's place I will be most disappointed." Frieza said with a grating seethe, slashing one hand through the air in haste. Zarbon nodded, his eyes darting to the paper and back nervously.
"Right away, sire...erm, well, there is also a matter of importance we should consider.. In both Vegeta and Nappa's scouter logs I found a power reading of 1650.. It's not threatening to us by any means but I found this quite odd because it flickered momentarily between 1650 and 20,000... " He said, puzzled.
Frieza mused on this tiny bit of inconsequential information, playing at his pale cheek with a black nail and lowering his eyelids. Zarbon swallowed, awaiting a response. After a few long minutes of thought, Frieza finally answered, with a lazy tilt of his horned head.
"...This fails to be urgent news, Zarbon. Although, it is curious. As weak as it may be, to vary in such a degree... That demands the question, what kind of weak humanoid being that resides on Earth could contain such power without falling victim to spontaneous combustion!?"
His voice hitched up with agitation, his eyes widening at the thought. He had seen it many times before when a being held too much power within them for their mortal form to bear, that ki could very well burn through their flesh if highly aggravated, and explode; leaving only a blackened smear across the ground where they stood.
Zarbon chuckled softly, his soft chuckle making Frieza smile in turn, then they began to laugh together raucously. Zarbon sighed and wiped a tear from his eye.
"I suppose it is of little consequence, if such a being exists surely they will blow themselves into nothing but ash before long!" He chortled, throwing the paper in the air and shaking his shoulders with laughter.
"Very well, Zarbon! What an amusing fate indeed!" Frieza responded and joined in the strange cackling laughter, that in its ring held a fetid air of malcontent.
At the door, Dodoria stood in wait to be allowed in, wiping his pink spiked brow clean of sweat. The sound made him highly unnerved, as well as the memory of what had become of the last being that had suffered auto-ignition on Frieza's watch, and it was no laughing matter.
"This freaking blows! He's going to repay me for all the damage he caused!" Bulma ranted as she picked up the scattered pieces of the destroyed space pod off the ground, swearing under her breath as she examined them to see if it was worth trying to reattach them or not.
How did I let him get me so distracted?! He gets into my head and just turns me into a blushing idiot!
Bulma tossed the warped metal into a bin, where they would be melted down and recycled later. For now, her concentration was getting herself back together; her college graduation ceremony was coming up and she hadn't even gotten the cap and gown, let alone prepared her speech!
Bulma paced around the yard picking up tiny bolts and scraps of metal, yelping when one sliced deep into her fingertip and she fell to her knees, gasping, clutching her wrist and only able to stare as the blood pulsed out.
"Babe? What are you doing?" A familiar voice said from afar, then came closer as Bulma's vision washed over with rosy-hued panic, the blood ebbed out freely down her arm, to her elbow and dripped on the ground.
"Oh man, you got yourself good! I'll get help!" Yamcha's familiar voice was a small comfort in her ears, then was torn away as he ran in the house screaming for help. Bulma began to feel faint, her hand growing numb and tingly, then she fell to the ground listlessly, staring out blankly at the blades of grass before her.
"Oh, my sweet angel! What happened?!" Bunny cried out, her hands concealing her enlarged blue eyes as Dr. Briefs knelt down and snapped his fingers in front of her face.
"Yamcha, my boy, start putting pressure on the wound. Panchy darling, fetch me a glass of ice water, please." He said, and continued snapping his fingers at her listless gaze. He sighed through his thick mustache as his daughter's eyes remained glazed over with fear.
Bulma's anxiety and depression had become worse since returning home from her ventures across the world; he was sure it was a case of her going stir-crazy, exacerbated by the lack of excitement her life had now. She mainly stayed home working on various projects, never going out with friends besides Yamcha to drink on rare occasions, and on many of those came stumbling back into his house and straight up to her bedroom with the boy.
After his leave to train in the wilderness, Bulma had begun to isolate herself to the point that it was unhealthy, and as he observed Yamcha hovering over her and speaking sweet nothings into her ear he frowned deeply with disapproval, though it was concealed by his gray and lavender facial hair.
"It's ok, Bulma, we've got this taken care of, don't worry. Your Yam Yam is here, I'll get you all cozy in bed and all relaxed... I'll get Mr. Snuggles and a nice warm cup of tea, turn on your favorite movies and we can just cuddle up in bed alll day..."
Bunny came out promptly with the glass of ice water, her hand shaking as she handed it to her husband, who quickly splashed it on his daughter's face; he didn't like to do such a thing but it was the only way to snap her out of it. They got her to her knees and she sputtered out water, gasping and looking around in a panic.
"Vegeta?! Where's Vegeta?" She gasped, startled by her own unexpected outburst; subconsciously searching for the comfort that he always seemed to be able to provide somehow, if he were there...
He would have caught that before there was even a chance I could have been hurt... Vegeta...why did you leave?
Her eyelids fluttered dazedly as she saw the concerned faces of her loved ones around her. Yamcha took her into his arms and got her up, scowling.
"Don't worry about him, I've got you now. Let's get you inside, babe." Yamcha said, getting her to her feet.
Dr. Briefs glared intensely from beneath his bangs and followed them closely indoors, with Bunny following behind. She put her pink nails to her chin and tilted her head curiously at her husband, recognizing his tense expression and feeling concerned as they came inside. She touched his shoulder and he shrugged her off gently, turning quickly and storming downstairs to his lab.
Yamcha was unaware of the tension radiating off Dr. Briefs as he babied Bulma and cooed at her as if her brains were mush, picking her up and carrying her upstairs as her worried whimpers for Vegeta's safety could be heard.
"He took his a-armour, his armor! He d-destroyed..the ship and he's-said that this bad person named Fr-Frieza was going to know he didn't find K-k-Ka...ka..rot...!"
She wheezed, beginning to hyperventilate now, quickly hushed by Yamcha, her legs flailing out as he stilled them and talked to her softly, her gasping breaths turning into frantic shrieks.
"Bulma, he can take care of himself. All I'm worried about is you. Just think about how niiice it will be to relaaax... You need to forget allll about him and all his stupid..."
Bunny listened, and nodded to herself sadly, going to the kitchen with none of her usual excitement. Opening the cupboard, she took out a box of crackers, and on second thought, opened the medicine cabinet and read the label of an orange bottle of prescription medicine and sighed, pouring a tall glass of water and shaking a round blue Valium pill out of the bottle for Bulma.
Where is that Prince Vegeta man? This hasn't happened to her since he's been around... Such a nice young man…
A loud shriek echoed across the desert plains, then an enormous splash as Raditz dove headfirst into the pond and sent Launch flying out and back down into the water laughing. She was feeling giddy with mirth as he swam beneath her kicking feet like a predatory shark. His long black mane slicked down his back like a dark fin as she crawled back onto the bank and got herself up, waiting until he was well out of reach to jump back in, whooping with joy.
She cannonballed into the water with a much smaller splash, coming up a few moments later on his shoulders, clutching his hair to get a good grip. Raditz smiled and stood up in the deep water, striding through it effortlessly as she kicked her feet and laughed, carrying her to the vine so that she could stand up on his shoulders and grab onto it.
"Okay, now you get over there and catch me!" Launch cackled, clinging to the vine and climbing up to the shore. He dove back in the water and waited at the other side as she ran forward wildly and swung up into the air, screaming, "Cannonball!"
She crashed into the water, her hair a streak of gold as it dipped beneath, before they came back up with a gush of water. Launch was cradled in Raditz's arms, laughing and clinging to him without a care in the world. He looked down at her questioningly for a moment, then couldn't help but smile himself.
"I wanna go one more time!"
"It's getting cold now, Launch, why don't we dry off and rest for a while?" He said and began carrying her ashore, squeezing his eyes shut as she squealed in his ear in disapproval,
"Noooo! Raditz! One more time! Again, again!" She cried out, pounding her fists on his chest where his wet bandages were sagging, causing him to grunt softly.
"Ah, don't.." He sat down suddenly in the sand, panting as he clawed at his chest. Launch shook herself out of her elated mood and pulled her hands back quickly.
"Are you hurt?" She picked at the bandages, peeling them away quickly and eyeing the soft healing flesh of the wound, sighing with relief when she saw that there was no fresh blood there. She discarded them, watching as the skin there paled and the irritation calmed.
"I'm alright, I just need a break now..." He sighed, lowering her down with him and leaning against the sand on his elbows.
"That was fun, huh? I haven't had that much fun in a long time! Heh, that was great!" She enthused as she came off his lap and sat down on the sand next to him, looking down bashfully and smiling.
I would have never guessed I could enjoy spending time with him so much... Guess my other half doesn't have bad taste in men after all... She giggled to herself and covered her mouth, her cheeks flushing pink as Raditz closed his eyes and put his arms behind his head, sighing. The sun radiated down on him, lighting his pale complexion and bathing it with a rosy blue hue, as the sky started to become more colorful once again. Launch shivered from the cold; she wanted to get closer to Raditz to dry because he was so warm, but she wasn't sure how Blue would feel about her snuggling up with her man. She rubbed her nose and quivered more violently, her blonde hair long and soaked, water trickling down her back that was bared by the suit, but concealed her modestly with a large bow.
"Ah.. ah, choo!" She sneezed, causing Raditz to sit straight up and grab the blue haired girl eagerly, crushing her to himself and nuzzling her as if he hadn't seen her in ages.
"Oh! Brr!" Launch said, and took cover in his embrace happily, sighing as he pulled her on top of him and kissed her hungrily. The sun seemed to be frozen in time, never leaving its highest apex– though they had left in the morning and spent hours here, it was as if the world had given pause, and let the summer day drag on, and on so that they may play and laugh their worries away. Launch smiled and squinted her violet eyes as the sun beat down on her pale skin. Her indigo locks were damp, but not for long as Raditz gradually allowed his ki to come to the surface and dried them both. She rested her head on him and smiled.
"So did you have a nice day, Raditz?"
He laid back down and lowered his eyelids, musing with a low hum. "I... suppose. But…. Should I feel bad for enjoying it so much? You were supposed to be here, not her."
"Don't worry, I was there too!" She said happily, smiling. She was glad her other half was now getting along with him as well.
"What? You mean...?" He asked, feeling almost guilty. Have I done anything inappropriate!? I don't think so. Raditz thought as he prepared himself to be slapped, hardening his features.
"I can see through! It looks like you guys had a lot of fun!" She said brightly, kissing his cheek comfortingly.
"I'm... not sure I understand…" Raditz said uneasily, looking down with knitted brows. Launch put her finger to her chin, and tried to think of a way to explain how it felt to be on the inside as the other Launch was out.
"Well, it's almost like watching TV... except, you can't see a clear picture really, or hear everything, and I feel really sleepy when I'm there, so sometimes I doze off a bit... But I wake up whenever I feel something touch her, it's weird, like a ghost is touching me!" She quivered, rubbing her arms.
"But when you touch Launch, it feels nice, like a warm hug..." She said, wrapping her arms around him.
"I'm happy when she's happy, whatever she feels I feel...Sometimes our thoughts get all mixed up!" Launch giggled, and shrugged. He sighed, feeling a bit relieved. He didn't really have anything to worry about, he supposed. He liked the other Launch just fine, and she was pretty too, but she was with that other man... He frowned and squeezed her tighter.
"I don't like Tien touching her... something about him is strange." Raditz said softly, stroking his hand over her hair. Launch nodded and curled closer to him, her eyes becoming larger with her anxiety.
"I... don't like it either," She whispered, and shuddered. "I could feel...um.. well...his-" She looked away from him and tucked her hair behind her ear nervously. Raditz suddenly tensed.
"Feel his what?" He softly growled.
"Well, you know... when she was.. on top of him, it felt painful... like something pushing and pulling my insides... It didn't feel good like it did to her... He scares me!" She yelped softly, hiding her face in his hair. Raditz breathed out harshly, sitting up and digging his fingers into the sand. His eyes became alight with an intense heat as he stared out at the shimmering horizon, panting.
"Raditz...?"
"I am going to kill him! I will kill you, Tien Shinhan...!" He growled, getting up to his feet. "NO! Raditz, you can't fight yet! You aren't fully healed!" She cried out, clinging to his arm desperately.
He was blind with rage; white sparks crawled across his skin and began to swirl around him, causing Launch to jump back from the shock.
"Go home to Master Roshi and Krillin. You are safe there. I will deal with Tien." He growled softly, turning to gaze at her as the light around him became darkened to dazzling fluorescent ruby.
"Raditz! Please don't do this..! He doesn't have to die!" She cried, attempting to grasp his arm but he pulled it away for her own safety.
"...Perhaps I will not kill him, for you. But he will learn his place, Launch..."
Raditz became sublime before the violet sky, his black daggers of hair raising and lashing all around him as he contorted his face with the pain of leaving her.
"I will return to you. No matter what." He spoke softly, then was gone, as she fell to her knees and sobbed, digging her nails into the earth, screaming his name.
There was an unsettling lack of sound from above as Nappa rested fitfully, his head slumped to the side in an uncomfortable position, as his irises fluttered beneath the lids in a deep sleep.
They were concealed in the cover of an overhanging edge of a deep, icy cold sea trench. Nappa held the two boys beneath his arms protectively, watching the dark, shifting forms in the water. The Neptunians were searching for them with those deadly third eyes that had nearly cost them their lives. Having physical strength no longer mattered here; no, as Nappa had discovered, mental power was the Gemini's strength, so powerful it could be considered magic. Nevertheless, they had finally gotten to the edge of the labyrinth and evaded the Gemini's trickery. All three of them wore a special respirator mask that drew oxygen from the water, and converted any air - no matter how poisonous - to be breathable. Saiyans could hold their breath for longer than humans, but their mission took place entirely underwater and so the necessity arose.
"Let's go! What are we waiting for!?" A small, grating voice nagged at him, as the young Prince tugged at Nappa's tail with his, where behind their backs each tail was wrapped together in such a way that was hard to control. When Saiyans were in close proximity their tails tended to have a mind of their own, and as Nappa coiled his around the boys, he took the place of each of their deceased fathers for the time being. At least until they were no longer whelps, then they would be too old for tail wrapping… although some more feeble-minded adolescents would hold onto the childish trait longer.
"We must be quiet, Prince Vegeta. We're waiting until they go back into the caves. It's not safe." He responded softly, staring out into the water with narrowed eyes, his crew cut hair floated in the water, its small spikes black with a faint hue of dark blue.
"I'm hungry! When do we get to eat?" The other boy looked up, his hair much too long for his small, wiry stature. Raditz was tall for a Saiyan child. They take longer to fully mature, going through many periods of growth until well into adulthood. His long limbs were an indication that he would be tall, unlike Vegeta, who was oddly small for his age. He would grow into the hair pattern as well; Saiyans retained the same pattern of hair for most of their lives, save early and old age, then it would remain perfectly shaped for the rest of their long lives.
Nappa furrowed his brows and began to grind his boots into the silty soil, clutching the children tighter and clenching his jaw.
Raditz and Vegeta clung to the crooks of his burly arms, squeezing their eyes shut as he used his brawny legs to propel them out of the trench. Nappa used his sheer strength to barrel through the water, out of the city and into the dark depths of the deep ocean. All became abysmal and cold; he lit his eyes softly with a florescent pink ki, lighting the darkness and the tiny bubbles surrounding them with a hazy pink aura. He released them, allowing the boys to swim on their own, still carefully attached to his tail.
Vegeta swam slower than the others, quivering. His jaw shivered violently as he became pulled by Nappa, too weakened to swim on his own. Nappa turned back and placed him beneath his chest, wrapping the appendage safely around the child and continuing to swim behind the dark locks of Raditz, who was more hardy. Raditz was toughened by his naïvety that sometimes got the best of him, consequently having to fight alone because of that for most of his childhood.
"Look, sea stars!" He cheered out, pointing at the frilly tentacles that danced delicately down, their five limbed bodies spun slowly on the current, sparkling and glowing with bioluminescence. His large obsidian eyes were full of glittering light as he gazed at the alien phylum, reaching with one hand as if in a trance.
Nappa swam forward and grabbed him by the ankle, tugging him back.
"Careful, son. Those are dangerous. We can't just go grabbing strange things like that." He said sternly, causing Raditz to turn back and nod glumly.
"Fool, you would have been electrocuted like before..." Vegeta mumbled; although weary, his voice still held a condescending tone. Raditz growled back and furrowed his spiked hair at him, causing Nappa to tug on his tail and make him yelp for his disobedience.
"...You're right, Prince Vegeta, it would be foolish..." He said in a sulking tone. Raditz followed along obediently as Nappa took them away from the ethereal creatures, swimming further down into the cool depths, until they saw a soft blue light at the seafloor. Nappa landed stealthily, crouching behind the cover of rocks and coral. He watched for a long time, observing the small abode and the female gemini that lived inside, hearing her soft singing voice and drawing closer to the sound.
She peered out the window at the flickering rosy illumination, suddenly cutting off her siren song and staring out with widened eyes.
"Nappa, your eyes!" Vegeta snapped, slapping him on the shoulder. Nappa only blinked dumbly, his eyes still fully luminous as the woman opened the door and swam closer to investigate the light. Vegeta climbed onto his lap and slapped his cheek, gripping his hair and shaking him in an attempt to get him out of the trance. He shuddered with fear and covered his ears as she began to sing her haunting tune.
"Do not conceal thyself...
Come...come to me...
I am the voice that shall set you free,
My call brings your relief...
I alone, in the darkness you seek.
Hath long-awaited for the tide to carry,
Tis' the man so tall, so scary
To death he speaks,
Life he does not treasure.
To kill our people, such a morbid pleasure.
Why, it is something you seek
This man of the stars,
with bright eyes aglow,
there is still so much you do not know."
Her lilting voice rose and fell as she sang; the pale-skinned girl was floating effortlessly on the water, her soft hand curled with translucent webbed skin to her chest, where she wore a soft fabric wrapping made of the strangest violet silk.
"What sorrow befalls you, female creature, to sing in such a beautiful manner?" Nappa muttered oddly, as if the words were not his own, getting to his feet and dragging one heavy boot after another as the small boys clung to him, attempting to hold him back as they protested.
"I have called you to me, man of the stars. I beg you, have mercy. Please allow me to show you my kindness." She said, sealing her siren spell.
He came to meet her, and the Gemini woman flinched back at his close proximity, blinking her large ruby eyes with concern as ribbons of blood floated around the hulking man. The two children quivered, their tiny tails bristling at his ankles, growling deep in their bellies as threateningly as they could. The woman smiled; reminded of the feral creatures that clung to the edges of society, drawn into the warmth and tempting smells.
She reached over and touched his cheek softly, easily removing his respirator and tracing her finger down his prickling facial hair, giggling. Nappa gazed at her with surprise, his mouth fell open and he took a sharp intake of breath and was startled when he realized he could actually breathe in the water.
"I see that you have two small children. I am sure that they're hungry and cold. Would you like to come in?"
"Uh... y-yes... for a short time, then we really must be going." He responded, and allowed her to take his large hand in her delicate grasp, pulling him towards the entrance of the warm sanctuary.
Nappa's eyes flew open and his chest rose and fell rapidly as he snapped out of the dream, glancing around himself and realizing that he was not on Planet Neptune anymore. He was here, in a dirty, pitiful place that he couldn't escape. He squeezed his eyes shut and strained against the Ki-draining devices, electricity suddenly sparking around the shackles as his muscles bulged with vigor. Nappa struggled to sit up and break free, a sensation like a heartbeat fluttering in his throat as it reacted to something amiss in its nature – a disturbance. He gasped, as with the sensation, he realized that the cause was somewhere nearby. Nappa calmed himself and laid flat on the table, ignoring the stinging burns from the shackles and staring at the ceiling instead as he listened with his acute hearing to all of the things going on in the Gemini Cult Sanctum.