Chapter 3 – Calling All Saiyans!
Trunks chased after his father, the maddened Prince Vegita, who was speeding away ahead of him. The wind whipped about his hair and face, sending his hair everywhere and pulling on his clothing. All that Trunks could think of was that his father was heading towards the highest power reading, the one he presumed was that brute they had referred to as Brolli, the one who wanted Goku, the father of his beast friend, dead. "Man, why does my father have to go and do something stupid like this! Why couldn't he have just kept on training, I mean, they're very evenly matched him and Goku." He thought as he flew on, Vegita's vapour trail a bright light ahead of him. "Every time I mention Goku, or even Gohan or Goten, he sneers at the sound of their name. Why? What is it about the Son family that makes him so… so… SO MUCH LIKE A DICK!" he screamed at himself. Trunks loved his father, but there were times that Vegita just did things that really pissed him off. His relationship with Bulma was one of them. Night after night they would argue, and Trunks KNEW that his father loved his mother, but was just too proud to let his emotions out fully. A great Saiyan warrior showing emotions like that Vegita would only see as a sign of weakness. But Trunks didn't see why that had to stop his father marrying his mom. "Damn you Dad, why do you have to go and do something like this!" His anger was making him more powerful, Trunks could feel it, and he pushed this energy behind him, pushing him onwards faster, "Maybe if I think about my dad long enough I could catch up with him…" wondered Trunks as he speeded up.
Up ahead Vegita was aware of his son not far behind, though never turned once to see him with his own eyes, nor slowed down to allow Trunks to catch up. "What's that brat up to now! Why can't he just keep his nose out of everything that I do! He's too much like his mother, that one! He will not be as strong as his sister will be!" Vegita thought, putting more energy into his speed and heading onwards and away, swerving around the peak of a tall mountain then flying along a ravine, his speed sending up a spray of water below him. Looking down he saw the reflection of his aura beneath him, and looking downstream he could just about make out the golden aura of his son trying to catch up. "I'll say one this about that boy," he thought, "he has his father's stubbornness!" Not wanting to be caught by his son, wanting to do this alone, Vegita swelled his energy level and vanished in a blur, leaving his son far behind. "There, Trunks, let's see you catch me now!" after several minutes he dared a risk to turn back and look for his son, and when he did saw nothing but open sky. He hovered in the air for another moment before vanishing off again as fast as he could, heading towards the energy signature that could have only been Brolli's. He was aware that another powerful signature had arrive don Earth, as he was sure that the others had felt it too, and that it was closer to the Lookout than Brolli's was, a LOT closer. But the power level was far lower than Brolli's, even much lower than his own son's was. "Yes, let that bastard Kakkarot have that one, and all the others that have landed on this miserable planet. For when I have Brolli…" he opened his hand… "I will crush Kakkarot and the rest of his pathetic family!" He finished, snapping his hand shut deliberately and with a satisfying snap sound of the fingers of his hand hitting the palm.
Brolli stood on a hill, overlooking a city full of people. He watched them with interest, always amused by the way that Earthlings assumed they were the most important creatures in the universe, always assuming they were the ONLY intelligent creatures in the Universe. What rubbish! That idiot Kakkarot… the name burned inside of him, sending a feeling of rage though his body, but Brolli controlled it, barely, and forced himself not to wipe out that city with a comparatively small blast compared to the maximum of what he could do! The rage subsided and he chuckled to himself, watching as cars zoomed back and forth along roads and as pedestrians walked along, never knowing that only a short distance away was a being more powerful than a God, a being who could end their miserably puny lives with the merest flick of an eyebrow. He stood, wondering whether or not to do it. "It would be mean," he thought, "but fuck it! I'm a Saiyan!" then: "It would be unsporting, they are too weak." And he started to turn away, but then turned back, smiling evilly. "But, it WILL be fun!" he said out loud, pointing a stubby finger at the centre of the city. "Bang" he whispered, and watched as the energy pillar shot up through the centre of the city, then spread out in a sphere of pure destruction. Even from his vantage-point he could here the screams and explosions as the city was atomised bit by bit, the sphere growing rapidly, consuming the settlement and all the Earthlings there in. When the sphere faded away, leaving a large smouldering crater with several roads leading into it, he felt a large pang of satisfaction then turned to leave. Another pang hit him, this time it was the sense of a near-by high power level. He turned, looking, then he saw it, the golden aura of a Super Saiyan coming in from the Southeast. It was feint for now, but it would get to him. "Now, is this Kakkarot? (Another feeling of rage blasted through his mind at the sound of the name!) Or perhaps one of the others? Oh boy! I do hope it's Kakkarot!" Again a rage, this time a rage so intense that he winced and took several deep breaths to control it. He stood there and waited, waiting for the Super Saiyan to reach him.
Vegita flew onwards, heading towards Brolli. He was close, he could feel it, the intensity of the power was incredible! Had Brolli actually grown in power since the last time he had encountered the Saiyan Juggernaut? Impossible! But… at the same time, Brolli's insanity did cause him to destroy things from time to time. "Shit! I was blind to realise…what if he attacks ME?" he slowed down to think, and that's when the ball of light erupted in front of him. It was immense; a bright glowing hemisphere up a head of him, brilliantly vibrant that hurt his eyes when he looked at hit, forcing him to cover his eyes. The glow died away and Vegita looked back in the direction where it had come from. "I am SURE there was a city there last time I looked!" Vegita thought to himself, then added this new data to the fact that an insane Saiyan was around somewhere. "Brolli! If he would do that to a city of innocents, what would he do with the one who has been seen to hang around with that bakka Kakkarot, the one who he seems hell-bent on destroying?"
Vegita suddenly changed his mind and headed back the way he had came. "If I push myself," he thought, "Maybe I could reach that other high reading before Kakkarot does!"
Goku and Gohan headed towards a high power level, it was indeed high, and it fluctuated, like as if whoever it was using energy in bursts, and not using it continuously. There was still a while to go yet, but then they had only been flying several minutes whereas Vegita had had a much bigger head start over them. They needed to make up as much ground as quickly as they possibly could. Gohan looked to his left and at the determined expression on his father's face, something he hadn't seen since they had fought the Majin Buu. "Father!" he shouted over the rush of the wind around them, "FATHER!" Goku turned and looked at Gohan, his green eyes glittering with an in-built kindness.
"Yes son!" he called back.
"What do we do if we cannot get to this Saiyan in time! He feels powerful!"
"Yes son, I know! But we must keep going, we cannot allow Vegita to get to him first!" Gohan nodded, knowing what that would mean, though that would still leave Vegita outnumbered, with this Saiyan, whether or not he had managed to team up with Brolli, that would not leave him out gunned. No doubt Trunks would side with his father, if only to try and prove himself yet again, and then he would have this one, somebody with another incredibly high power level, thought not as stupidly as powerful as Brolli. Back at the Lookout they had split up into different groups to search out the other Saiyans. Krillin, Goten and Piccolo had gone in search of one particular signature whilst Videl and 18 went after another. He could dimly sense them in the distance, as he could distantly feel Trunks way off to the south, this new Saiyan was a large blob in his awareness, but it was all he could do so that he wasn't absorbed by the energy that Brolli was emitting. It was pounding at his mind like a jackhammer, screaming to be seen but Gohan was winning. It was easy to do; all you had to do was concentrate on another power level, so he used his fathers beside him. He had lived in close proximity to that reading for so long that he had grown accustomed to it. In fact he had come to feel a large sense of sadness if he could not detect it and Gohan knew that was because if the father's energy was small, than that was because he was in trouble.
"There, can you feel that?" Goku suddenly shouted, then pointed ahead. A small pinprick of light hit the horizon, stayed there, and then died out. Gohan looked at it, then looked at his father.
"Brolli?" he asked. Goku nodded. "Brolli," he answered. Gohan looked back at where his father had pointed, off to their right over a series of ridges.
"What was it?" Gohan asked, dreading the answer.
"Crest City, the mad bastard just attacked it! He destroyed everybody there with a single attack, Gohan! We have to get him off Earth at all costs! He won't stop until he's destroyed me, and he wouldn't hesitate to destroy the whole planet just to do that!" Gohan felt sickened, then angry and finally enraged. That bastard wanted to hurt his father, just as Uncle Raditz had wanted to all those years ago. But he had stopped him, had given his father enough time to recover and for him and Mr. Piccolo to kill Raditz. But his father had died in that attack as he held his own brother so that Piccolo could put the energy beam through Raditz's body, but that beam had also gone through Goku, and Gohan had seen that. He had also watched his father also sacrifice himself in vain to get the self-destructing Cell off of Earth, only for Cell to survive and to return to Earth much more powerful than he had been. It was only his own anger at his father's death and his father's encouragement from the Other World that had given him the energy to finally wipe Cell out for good! Goku broke Gohan's concentration. "What was that, father?!" Goku looked back at Gohan.
"I said, 'Oh No!'" Gohan frowned.
"What's wrong?! What's happened?! Has Vegita reached Brolli?!"
"It's worse than that, Vegita's heading back and towards the one we're after!" Gohan groaned then looked away, returning his gaze to the horizon where Crest City had once been. Turning back to his father, he narrowed his eyes.
"Shit, come on, Dad! We've got to get there first! Can you go any faster?!" Goku looked back and nodded.
"Yeah! I was holding back so you could keep up!"
"WHAT?! I was holding back so YOU could keep up, old man!" Gohan shot back, grinning. As one, the two Sons powered up higher and shot onwards towards the new power level.
"Come back! We're not going to harm you!" Videl shouted as she flew, chasing after the Saiyan woman who was fleeing ahead of them. The Saiyan turned to look back and grinned, then sent a barrage of Kai blasts towards them. Videl put her arms across her face and blocked the blasts, but when she looked back, the Saiyan had gone. "Damnit!" she yelled, then felt the sharp pain of an elbow in her back. Videl dropped several metres then steadied herself as she had learnt from Gohan, then rolled to the side in a blur, looking up into the eyes of the Saiyan. She had the traditional black hair and brown eyes, but her energy level wasn't as high as some of the others' were. She waited there, watching, studying Videl. Then she pounced, spearing down, both fists clenched out ahead of her. Videl twisted and avoided the attack, realising she had a window to counter but hesitated. "I just want to talk to you!" she screamed after the Saiyan.
"I'm not letting you take my son!" the Saiyan screamed back as she turned in mid-air. Videl looked down at this Saiyan and a smile touched her lips. "She's protecting her son," she thought, then retracted form the fighting stance.
"Listen, I think we've started off on the wrong foot. My name's Videl and I'm just wondering who you are, we thought that the Saiyan were…
"How did you know that I was a Saiyan!" The woman shouted back, clenching her fists and tightening her tail around her waist in anger. Videl thought for a moment, then said:
"Well, the tail gives it away, and there are a few Saiyans here on Earth." The woman backed away in the air, heading for ground level, then turned and fled.
"So this IS one of Frieza's worlds! You'll never take me or my son!"
"Frieza's dead, lady!" Videl turned at the voice, thankful for 18's presence now. When the two Saiyans ha split up, she had gone after the smaller one, thinking her mothering ways would help her subdue the child. The Saiyan hesitated in flight, then stopped, looking back. 18 hung in the air hand son her hips, eyes narrowed and with several scraps and scratches on her cloths. The kid Fru was there too, hanging beside her watching his mother with wide eyes. "WHAT? That's impossible! Nobody can defeat Frieza!" 18 looked at a nail, a one that had been chipped in the brief skirmish with Fru.
"Yeah, well. He was. Twice." Beside her, Fru nodded, obviously had believed the story.
"Mother, there're Super Saiyans here on this world! And Prince Vegita is here, he's one of them!"
"It's the prophecy…" she whispered. Videl frowned, then looked back at 18, who shrugged, so Videl turned back to the Saiyan.
"Prophecy? No wait, we'll talk about that back at the Lookout." Videl added as she started to open her mouth. "For now you can just tell us your name, okay?" The Saiyan woman nodded and moved closer.
"My name is Applor, and this here is my son, Fru," She said beckoning him to her. He moved forward and she hugged him, looking into his eyes. "You see? The prophesy!" 18 moved forward and down, hovering beside Videl and looked down at the Mother and Son.
"That kid kinda reminds me of Gohan," Videl said, looking at him. "When he was younger, I mean. Chi-Chi showed me a load of old photos of him taken just before the Cell games when we told her and Goku we were engaged. He looked so adorable back then, so happy." She sighed, looking at Fru and smiled. 18 looked sidelong at her friend.
"O-o-o-h, Videl, getting broody, are we?" she teased. Videl blushed and tore her attention away from the two Saiyans.
"Well, you know. Gohan's so kind and gentle, like his father. He'd make a great father someday."
"Yeah, there seems to be something about the Sons, they have this irresistible aura about them, I dunno what it is, but 16 definitely felt it."
"Yes, he died to try and protect my Gohan. I wish I could meet him to tell him how glad I am he did, and how much I appreciate his sacrifice." 18 nodded, looked sad for a moment, reflecting on her comrade's loss, thinking about the other stupid loss at the Cell games.
"If those idiot Briefs hadn't taken out his bomb his death would not have been in vain!" she said bitterly, then shook her head clear. She looked from Videl to the Saiyans and opened her hand to them. "Come on, let's get back to the Lookout. I'm sure we can get Mr. Popo to get you something to eat whilst our Guardian checks you out, makes sure you're not harmed." Applor hesitated, then moved forward and beside 18 and took her hand. She brought it away quickly and looked at her eyes with shock.
"You-you're hands are cold!" she blurted out. 18 frowned at the comment, she had the same body temperature of a normal human, or Saiyan for that matter, what did she mean by her hands were cold. Videl also frowned, then touched her friends hands, then put the backs of two of her fingers against 18's nearest cheek, shaking her head.
"Feel normal to me."
"No, not that," Applor said, looking at the android, "she has no life force… she is cold! A shade!" she backed away, glaring at 18, who shrugged.
"I'm an android, a machine designed to appear human. You're right, I have no life energy, because I need none." Applor's glare became a frown as she looked over 18 with curiosity.
"A machine? Interesting... I am sorry for my reaction. Living under Frieza's yoke, you have to be very careful who you make your friends." 18 nodded. Videl watched the interaction between the two mothers.
"Um, would you two mind if we continued this conversation at the Lookout, I'm getting hungry," Videl interrupted, looking nervous. "And I'm also worried about Gohan, I hope he's okay with that other Saiyan." She added in here mind.
18 and Applor looked at her, and the Saiyan nodded.
"Of course, I am sorry for your delay." She motioned to Fru who was exploring the immediate area, looking at the flowers and insects with an expression that seemed similar to Goten's when she had trained with him and his older brother for the Martial Arts Tournament several years ago. Fru joined his mother, who looked at 18 and Videl and motioned with her hand.
"If you would show us the way, we'll follow behind you." 18 looked at Videl, who nodded and flew off.
"If you follow my friend, she'll lead you. I'll take up the rear, make sure you don't get lost," She said and the Saiyan mother nodded, turned and followed Videl, Fru not far behind. 18 sighed and flew after them, making sure neither of them tried to bolt away or sneak an attack against Videl. After all, you couldn't trust a Saiyan.
Piccolo and Krillin touched down on the roof of a rundown-looking hotel in the city of Water Falls, named after the five waterfalls from the surrounding hills that joined the river passing through the centre of the city. Piccolo looked about as Krillin looked down to the ground, guessing they were about ten stories high.
"Hey Krillin, there's a stairway here!" Piccolo hissed, sure there was something wrong here. Krillin looked to him and hurried over to where the Namek beside a doorway. He skidded to a halt and looked down at the door.
"But it's locked." he said. Piccolo groaned at his friend's stupidity and ripped the lock from the stonework. "Oh yeah, we're super strong, hee-hee," Krillin laughed at his own stupidity and followed Piccolo down the stairs into the hotel. Once they reached the main corridors, it looked much nicer than they thought it would have done judging from the outside. Clean walls with artful wallpaper, ornate light brackets and a pleasant tone to the light made the corridors comfortable. They headed onwards, Piccolo looking for any signs of trouble.
"C'mon, shorty. The reading's commin' from this way, several flights down." Krillin just nodded and followed after his larger, green friend. He didn't know why they were being cautious, but they were. Past experience with the Saiyans had taught them to be careful. Piccolo found a stair well and headed downwards, taking the stairs two at a time. After a minute, he paused halfway down one flight then headed back up, walking through the door into the same, pleasant corridor beyond. He looked about, letting his senses guide him, then headed left. He went along and turned a corner at the end of the corridor, the window there showing the grey gloom of the city outside, a sharp contrast to this warm and cheerful setting. They continued along and Piccolo stopped suddenly, Krillin almost walking into the back of him. The Namek was looking at a door, room number 745. He placed a hand palm first on the door and was about to blast it into splinters when Krillin intervened.
"Woah, man! What are you doing? Do you want to give the wrong impression? Take it easy, here allow me."
"Yeah, and let us be blasted into charcoal when the door is answered? Thanks but no…" there was a sudden click and the door opened in front of them. As one, both Krillin and Piccolo jumped back, bouncing of the wall and waiting for imminent Kai blasts. Krillin had his eyes shut and was trembling.
"Please don't kill us Mr. Saiyan, we were only being pleasant and were just coming to see if you were okay…" he was silenced by Piccolo's elbow nudging him in the ribs.
"Shut up you idiot!" he hissed and Krillin opened an eye, peeking out from Piccolo's arm. A man was standing there dressed in a shirt and a tie, he had a puzzled from and was holding a menu in his hand.
"Uh… if you're looking for Miss Cukumbri she's through there." He said, still looking a little confused as he ambled away to the elevator. Krillin laughed, embarrassed, and Piccolo sighed a little, obviously relived that what greeted them wasn't a terminal exposure to Saiyan. Cautiously, Piccolo entered into the small hotel room and was greeted with the immediate smell of leftovers. A large pile of pizza boxes towered over the tables, a pyramid that covered the whole square surface and even hit the floor in some cases.
"Yup, definitely a Saiyan." Piccolo said, looking at the assortment of fast-food cartons and boxes.
"Either that or we've just missed the party of the millennium!" Krillin squeaked, heading further into the room. He opened a door, blushed luminously then closed again quickly. "Uh… uh… sorry miss. Uh... I didn't know you were… uh… um… y'know… um…" The door opened again and a tall, slim dark-haired woman stood there, naked except for a bandanna wrapped around her forehead. She looked down at Krillin and patted his head, smiling.
"You art a…" she hesitated, thinking, "cute little boy." She was hesitating at every word, and the accent was strange, as if she was learning English. Piccolo looked at Krillin's embarrassment and smirked, crossing his arms over his chest and robe.
"Hey, Krillin. I'm sure 18 wouldn't appreciate you cavorting with other women. NAKED one's at that." Krillin looked around, terror on his face.
"Piccolo! No! She'd kill me! Anyway, I'm not cavorting, I'm just… um."
"Yes?" Piccolo asked, enjoying his friend's discomfort as the lady giggled, one hand to her mouth.
"SHUT UP!" Krillin shouted and walked off. Piccolo laughed some more and looked at the woman. Then it hit him; the power signature was coming from her. Here was the Saiyan they were looking for, but… she seemed nice. Almost like Goku. Except… well, a HELL of a lot better looking than Goku ever was.
"Excuse e miss, but are you a… Saiyan?" She looked shocked at the mention of the word 'Saiyan', and stepped backwards.
"Yes, yes. I am Saiyan. But please. I am good. I am good Saiyan, I pay bills." She crossed to a small table that wasn't covered in food packaging and picked up a slip of paper, waving it in Piccolo's direction. "See? Bills." Piccolo raised an eyebrow and looked at her as she danced back the room she had been in. Behind him, Krillin swallowed hard as he tried to ignore certain parts of her anatomy moving of their own free will.
"Well, Miss…"
"Please, call me Cukumbri!"
"Very well, Cukumbri… Er… we would like for you to come back with us. It's not far, it's a place with other Saiyans and…" Piccolo started, but Cukumbri waved her hands.
"No! Nononononono! I like here! Here is good for me!" she said in her broken English. Piccolo growled and watched her.
"Listen, lady! I don't have time for this." He thought for a moment…maybe it would work, it was worth a shot… "Prince Vegita orders it!" It was a risk, but maybe whoever it was who this chit of a girl's parents were, had told her of Vegita. On cue, her eyes widened.
"Vegita? He is here?" Piccolo nodded. "Then no! NO! I will not go with you! Vegita bad man, he betray our home! He betray our peoples!" she shouted, backing away even farther. Piccolo closed his eyes. "SHIT!" he exclaimed to himself.
"Nice going, Mr. Namek," Krillin muttered behind him.
Vegita landed on a mountain track stretching away west. Cliffs lined the north and to the south was a sudden drop. He peered over the edge and looked down into the canyon, watching the swelling waters with white foam crash around rocks and rapids. He looked back up the track and noted that it rounded a corner, decided to follow the trail and headed onwards, walking briskly; Vegita didn't want to loose this guy if he could avoid it.
As he rounded the corner and hand lashed out and grasped the Saiyan by the collar of his battle armour and lifted him up roughly, pulling him face to face with another.
"Why the hell have you been following me!" the man demanded. Vegita's lips rose in a snarl, the tone reverberating in his eras.
"That is no way to talk to your prince!" he shouted, watching the man's face change a little, then fierce determination arose.
"You?" Vegita dropped to the ground as the man released his grasp. "THIS pathetic individual is Prince Vegita?" he shouted at the sky. He turned his attention back to Vegita and scowled. "I will talk to you any way I like! I don't take the orders of a traitor!"
"WHAT?!" Vegita's voice was distorted with anger; he crouched clenching his fists, his aura flashing brilliantly now. "How dare you talk to the Royal blood in such a way!"
"You sat there whilst you're master, the Lord Frieza, destroyed your people and your planet! How dare YOU call yourself Royal!"
"How-how can you know all this!?" Vegita shouted, fists clenched even tighter. Tomatta nodded. "I know, Vegita… I know that you are the lackey of that bastard Frieza and his father King Cold." Vegita stood back, amazed by this persons clairvoyance.
"But HOW could you know! You must have been no more than a child when it happened!"
"I WAS a child when it happened!" the larger Saiyan snapped. Vegita summed him up. Dark hair, big, very big in fact, taller than Cell and vastly broader. The doper figure of Raditz emerged into his mind, and Vegita shook his head.
"You-you can't be!"
"Can't I? Why not, Vegita? Tell me, why not!" Tomatta roared.
"But… Raditz… only had ONE brother! That bakka Kakkarot!" Vegita shot a glance to this new Saiyan; the one who he feared was related to that dog Kakkarot and his idiot brother.
"Oh, THEM! Mere saplings. The genius Bartok did the best thing he could when he developed that energy-cloak, the thing that got us safely away from white-skinned swine. That, fed with the pure energy from our attacks made the ship the ultimate warship. Unfortunately, Bartok and my father were killed in the stand against Frieza, and the rest of the crew were killed when we crashed-landed on my new home, where I was raised and trained, broken of my Saiyan Conditioning!" Tomatta clenched a fist and held it up. "But I knew of your treachery from the beginning! Bartok had given us things. He had left us with full records of what was happening, how The King and Frieza were manipulating us! How you betrayed your people at the King and Frieza's hand!" The hand unclenched and a finger pointed at Vegita "And YOU will pay for your crimes!"
"But it's not like that! I knew no other way! My father told me it was for the good of the planet! I wasn't to know he would risk insurrection to try and take me back!"
"HAH! Yes, that thing which incriminated your father. But you stood back and watched. YOU let your father die, Vegita. You let your WORLD die, and YOU let your people die at the hands of a unworthy warlord."
"He was too powerful… too powerful…" Vegita mumbled to himself. Memories of that day flooding to his mind, how Frieza had shown him the dead body of the King after they had left the Vegita system, how Frieza had recorded his planets destruction and left it running in Vegita's quarters day after day for the months that followed. A reminder to the Prince what would happen if he tried to betray him as his father had done. Anger boiled in Vegita, anger at himself, but that anger boiled away leaving rage, insufferable rage, which spilled out and directed it self against Tomatta.
"NO! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED, YOU BASTARD!" Vegita cried as he lunged forward, his rage pushing him into Stage 2 of Super Saiyan.
Tomatta had been expecting this, blurred as he jumped and brought a solid kick down into Vegita's back. Vegita fell heavily to the floor, flipped up and backwards, avoiding another kick. "This man isn't even Super Saiyan! How can he floor me with a single kick!" Vegita crouched low, bringing his arms out in battle stance. Tomatta did the same, though taking up a different position, and leapt. The blur arched through the air, lashed out, hit the air where Vegita had stood. Vegita appeared behind him, struck with the hell of the hand, aiming for the top of Tomatta's neck, hoping to break it, but missed. Tomatta was above him now, upside down. Vegita looked up in time to see the other Saiyan flip around, bringing his foot down into Vegita's face. Vegita yelled as he bounced back and down, slamming against the cliff face. Tomatta dropped to the floor and sped forward along the ground, blurred but an audible scream, heading towards where Vegita lay prone on the floor. He pushed himself up, jumped and continued his ascent. A black blur sped up past him and then an elbow smashed into his back, sending him down again towards the Earth, but the attack hadn't been powerful enough to send him all the way down. He stopped in mid air, turned and fired a volley of energy blasts where Tomatta had struck him. He hit nothing but air, then wheeled around when a fist caught him on the side of the jaw, spinning him in the air on his own axis, the a vicious kick to the gut doubled him over and hurtling back along the trail.
"Coward! Come back and fight!" Tomatta laughed after him as Vegita crunched against a rock face, passing through it, shattering the rock into shards of pebbles, then hit the ground leaving a large trail. He flipped up and leapt into the sky, looking for the other Saiyan, still not sure who he was, other than Kakkarot's cousin.
"I am no coward, you weakling!"
"Weakling?! My father was your king's bodyguard, one of the most powerful Saiyan on the planet, a Saiyan who could trace his ancestry back to the first of the Super Saiyans!" Came the Saiyans voice from beside Vegita's ear. Vegita spun and back off several yards, staring intently at the newcomer.
"Your father was no Super Saiyan! I know THAT for a fact!"
"I never said he was, you poor fool, but I have the Super Saiyan blood running in me, as do you and the rest of the Royal family, well, what's left of it." Vegita snarled and lashed forward, again hitting nothing but air. "But, then again… what would you care about them?" That was it, Vegita was now REALLY getting pissed off at this bullshit.
"YOU BASTARD! NOW YOU'RE RALLY GONNA DIE!" Vegita screamed with rage, launching himself into the attack. He threw rapid series of attacks, all being blocked or dodged with ease by his appoint, though some got through and he felt his fists connect with face, ribs and head, a splash of blood spurting upwards as Tomatta's lip burst. A punch knocked Vegita's head backwards, and a kick doubled him over once more, this time sending him skywards. He was dimly aware of a blur shooting upwards beside him, then something caught him. Vegita looked around and saw Tomatta holding him by the back of the battle armour, grinning insanely, a grin that Vegita remembered belonging to an old companion. "You are truly Raditz's kinsman…" Vegita thought, before another fist gripped his head. Vegita went wide eyed with terror and brought his arms up to protect his face just in time as Tomatta brought his knees up one after the other.
A dull pain shot through one of Vegita's arms and he sensed the broken bone there, felt the numbing pain as the knee struck it again. Vegita roared out, screaming in agony as again and again the knee smashed into the same arm. Tomatta brought his knee up one final time then stopped, leaving Vegita hanging limply from his hands, Vegita's right arm mangled and hanging free at an unnatural angle.
"Going down?" Tomatta asked, grinning wildly as he wiped the blood from his chin that was running from the corner of his mouth. In true Saiyan style he was enjoying every moment of this battle, an eye blackened from one of Vegita's fury-powered punches. Then Vegita was falling, the wind whipping his face and golden-metallic hair as he dropped, twisted arm hanging out to his side. He turned in the air, cradling the shattered arm into his body as he dropped now feet first, pushing out with all the energy he could muster, letting himself drop down slowly most of the way, then collapsed the rest, exhausted and agonised by his throbbing arm. Slowly he rolled to his feet and staggered off, his golden hair flickering back to black, his torn battle armour hanging from his body, revealing cuts and bruises underneath. He leapt up and hovered off, his head pounding from the beating he had just received, and the same thought kept rolling around in his skull: "The man didn't even go Super Saiyan!" He kept moving as far as his tired and battered body could manage, getting out of earshot of the mad-cackling laughter of the other Saiyan, the Saiyan who had bested him and had only received minor injuries. Then he collapsed in a heap, wincing as he damaged arm bounce doff the floor.
Goku and Gohan neared the canyon where Tomatta and Vegita were, and they felt a flare of energy from Vegita. They pressed onwards, aura's flaring as they continued, following the energies as one grew stronger as the other remained the same; the strange one. Then, just as soon as Vegita's power level peaked, it started to recline bit by bit. Then, after several more minutes it was so feint it was barely readable. Goku looked at his son and looked down below. A glow could be seen from the floor, it was still and as Goku and son declined they saw it was coming from the sprawled figure of Vegita. Then the glow vanished, leaving the tattered remains of Vegita's battle armoured body visible. He looked a mess, even more so than usual, his hair was messed and an arm lay on the floor in a painful-looking angle. Goku once more looked at Gohan then landed, several yards up the trail from where Vegita lay. Gohan landed behind, started forward, unsure what to do. Goku held a hand out, stopping his son's passage.
"Don't go near him, he brought this on himself when he made that wish." Gohan looked at his father, shocked with the words of malice that came from his mouth. Never before had Gohan seem his father so angry that he would leave an adversary for dead. Years ago, when he was a lot younger, he had spared Piccolo, and he had done the same to Vegita when he first attacked the Earth. Now he was just going to leave him there?
"Is he alive? I mean… he looks…" Gohan asked, not wanting to press the subject. Goku stood there, lips tight an his eyes narrowed, looking at the fallen Vegita.
"He's alive, barely." The voice rumbled from behind them, and both Goku and Gohan spun around to look at the tall man leaning against the cliff face, wiping blood from his mouth with a piece of his black robe. "His life force is feint, but he's alive. I wanted to teach him a lesson, not kill him." he leaned back and stretched his arms, flexing the muscles in his arms, legs and back after the fight, then yawned. "I could have done if I had so desired, but I decided against it," then with a nod towards Vegita, added, "Unlike him and his crew, I don't kill my own." Goku stepped forward and frowned.
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"I'm saying that this… this… waste is a betrayer to his own people, and I have wanted to teach him a lesson since I saw the recordings that Bartok left me." Goku stiffened at the name and Gohan sensed something wrong.
"Dad? What is it?"
"How do you know my father's name!" Goku demanded, clenching his fists and glaring at the man, roughly the same size as him self, but with hair that reminded him of somebody… somebody close…
"I thought your father was Gohan, who I was named after?" Gohan asked, uncertainty creeping into his voice.
"Lad, your grandfather… your BLOOD grandfather was a genius amongst our kind, a man named Bartok. He wasn't much of a warrior, but those around him loved him for the things he invented for battle. Techniques, equipment, weapons, Warships… he invented them all." Gohan looked from the tall warrior to his father and back again.
"I asked you a question, how do you know the name of my father." Tomatta looked at Goku, and smiled. A strangely warm smile, off putting from someone who had just bested Vegita, leaving him unconscious on the floor.
"Because, Kakkarot, brother of Raditz, sons of Bartok: I am your cousin." Goku stood there mouth open in shock as Gohan tried to digest all this new information.
"I have a cousin?" Goku finally managed to say. Tomatta nodded and offered his right hand, which Goku accepted slowly.
"Yes, you have a cousin, who is named Tomatta. You're father Bartok was my Uncle on my father's side, a man very distantly related to the royal family, that is why we can do this." His hair flashed golden and his eyes went green with energy as the golden aura swept around him, blowing his hair and dust around the trail. Goku nodded and released the grip on his cousin.
"So, you will join us?" Goku asked, Gohan looking from one to the other.
"Of course, kinsman. We stand united, Tomatta and Kakkarot!" Gohan smiled.
"Alright! Talk about a family reunion!" Goku laughed, and Tomatta reached over and ruffled the younger man's hair, as Piccolo had done earlier to Goten.
"Just wait until I tell mom and Goten!" Tomatta looked at Goku, a grin working its way across his mouth.
"Kakkarot! You old scoundrel! You're married?" Goku laughed and nodded.
"Yeah, for nearly twenty-five years now. This is my first born, Gohan. Goten is my second boy, and looks just like is old man, this one takes after his mother," Gohan grinned. "Well, mostly," Goku added.
"Aha-a-a-h! Well, Kakkarot…"
"No, please! I HATE that name! Call me Goku, everyone else does!" Goku pleaded. Tomatta frowned and studied Goku.
"Goku?"
"Yeah, it's the name my adopted father gave me." Tomatta was about to say something when Vegita moaned behind them. He grinned and nodded at the Prince.
"Is there somewhere where we can go and talk properly? I don't want to be here when HE wakes up." Goku nodded and took Tomatta by the arm, feeling the tightness of the muscle there and lead him away.
"Sure, I'm heading there now. Perhaps the others are already there." His belly rumbled and Tomatta laughed. "You are indeed a true Super Saiyan, my cousin! Only a Saiyan's belly rumbles like that!" Goku and Gohan laughed as they flew off back towards the Lookout.
Krillin flew onwards, a scowl on his face, the clouds flashing past them. He looked back at Piccolo who was lagging behind, his heavy white cloak fluttering in the wind.
"Hey, Piccolo, I don't see why we had to knock that girl out. She wasn't doing anything." Piccolo muttered under his breath and rubbed his jaw.
"The crazy bitch ripped my arm off and tried to break my face!"
"Well there was no need for what you did!" Krillin shot back.
"What?! All I did was hit her!"
"With your severed arm, Piccolo!"
"What? I do it all the time!" Krillin shook his head, he wasn't convinced they had handled it the way they should have. After Piccolo had mentioned Vegita's name, the Saiyan went nuts, grabbed one of Piccolo's arms and wrenched it off his body before hitting him in the face with the fisted end, whereupon Piccolo grabbed it back and it her with bloody end as he grew a new one. She feinted heavily, sending the large, box-piled table flying and in the confusion the two guys had jumped out the window and flown off. It wasn't too far to the lookout, and Dende would be there to help out if she was too damaged But she was a Saiyan, these people lived for battle, so Krillin figured she would be alright.
They kept flying onwards, the Lookout appearing over the horizon and Krillin laughed. "Nearly there! C'mon Piccolo!" Piccolo grunted.
"I'm going as fast as I can. Man, for a stick, she's damn heavy!" Krillin laughed and picked up speed, and then felt Videl off to his left in the distance. He cupped his mouth and shouted: "Hey Videl! I'll race you back to the lookout! Last one there's cooking dinner!" He waited for the reply and it came.
"Sure! But I'm not sure if I should win or not because I couldn't bare the guilt if everyone died of food poisoning if you won!" Krillin scowled.
"Hey! My cooking's great! You wouldn't know great cuisine if it hit you in the face!"
"You wouldn't know great cuisine if you read it in a book!" Piccolo grunted. Videl laughed and waved.
"See you at the Lookout, shorty!"
Goku, Gohan and Tomatta sped homewards, making great time as they were fully charged, all of them Stage 2 and flying as fast as they could push themselves. Goku couldn't wait to reveal his knew guest, but he had no idea where he could stay. He was sure Chi-Chi wouldn't allow another Super Saiyan in the house! He just smiled and kept thinking: "This guy knew my father!"
Now each of the groups are returning to the Lookout, what will Brolli do? What will Vegita's reaction be to the severe beating he received at the hands of Tomatta, and will he be thirsty for revenge? And Tomatta… is he REALLY Goku's cousin? Only time will tell.