The Soul and The Flesh Part VI Piccolo's Makankosappo hit Raditz right where Gohan had hit his armor, hesitated as it bored through the breastplates, then went right through both men and dissipated. The momentum of the beam broke Goku's hold on his brother, but the job had been done. Goku flew backwards, while Raditz stumbled forward and fell on his face.
Piccolo and Raimi stood for a few seconds, and then Raimi went over to Raditz.
"Damn him! I can't believe he did it… Oh, its you…who are you?" The dying Saiyan asked.
"My name is Raimi, Raditz." She bowed slightly, smiling smugly.
"I've never heard of a Saiyan named Raimi, and I don't know how you could even be here on the Earth, you're too young." Raditz mused. "Still, now Kakarrot is dead, so at least I accomplished that much…"
"Raditz you ass, Goku won't be dead for long" Piccolo told him
"What are you saying?" Raditz asked.
"Piccolo, don't tell him…" Raimi tried to stop him, but he rushed on, gloating in his triumph.
"Here on Earth we have the seven Dragonballs, and they can grant any wish, even to bring one back from the dead. Goku will be back in a week…" Piccolo laughed.
"Curse the bastard, but, still, I'm glad you told me, because I have just transmitted this information to my partners on the planet they are clearing. They know that I have been defeated, and they will come here, to sweep the human vermin off the face of the planet, including you. And I'm sure they will want to make a wish as well…" His words dissolved into laughter as Piccolo stiffened and stared at him, his pleasure at the victory gone.
"How long? How long until they get here?" Goku called weakly.
"Oh, about one solar Earth year. And here is the best part; they are both my superiors in strength! Like your odds? I do hope you all enjoy your last year. Transient joys are the sweetest…just ask your fellow insects. And as for you, Raimi, you face an even brighter future, after all, you are the last female Saiyan in the entire universe!" He laughed crazily. Piccolo lost his temper and slammed Raditz with the remainder of the power summoned for his special beam. Raimi gasped as she realized that Piccolo had decapitated him.
"That's…Very you, Piccolo…", Raimi winced.
"Still laughing? Indeed, I thought not…" Piccolo taunted the corpse.
Piccolo and Raimi looked up, hearing an airship coming. It was Bulma flying Roshi and Kurilin to the scene. Raimi went over to Goku. Even though she hardly knew him, she was holding back tears as she thought that soon he would be dead. She was scared that she would be left friendless in this impossible world.
"He's got to go though. I hope the others will at least give me a chance, where will I go if they don't?" She whispered, scared of the implications of this.
"Raimi…Thanks for helping Gohan…" Goku gasped; the huge hole in his chest was gruesome. No human would even still be alive after such an injury. The eight inch wide hole went completely through him, the edges blackened and burnt.
"Look here's Kurilin, Bulma, and Roshi…" she told him. She rested her cheek on Gohan's silky black curls, looking at the mountains, worried about what the future held for them. She knew that the message was racing towards the two Saiyans, and that they would indeed come to the Earth for the Dragonballs. Damn Piccolo's big mouth!
Kurilin leapt out of the ship and was running to Goku's side before Bulma had even landed. He held his best friends' hand and tried to encourage Goku to hang on. The others stood by helplessly, already grieving for the loss of their friend. Piccolo added to their grief by informing them of the imminent arrival of the two Saiyans.
"You mean, they are even stronger than this one was?" Roshi mused.
"Yes. Although I don't know how much more powerful they could be…" Piccolo said. Raimi sighed and shook her head.
"They are very, very powerful. He had only a small fraction of their power. You are going to have to train like mad to even stand a chance against them." Piccolo scowled at her, not liking her at all. She seemed to be the herald of serious, unpleasant changes in his world.
"Good travels, Goku. May Snake Way lead you home safely!" Raimi said, her voice odd and her words sounding like a blessing. Roshi and Piccolo looked at her curiously, but held their tongues.
"Kurilin, dying sucks, you know that?" Goku joked.
"Don't talk like that, we'll bring you back, you know that!" Kurilin said bravely.
"And Gohan is fine, don't worry about him, okay?" Bulma told him.
"That's good, you won't get yelled at by Chi-Chi, Goodbye my friends, I love you all. Please listen to Raimi, we need to trust her, do it for me, please?" Goku's voice faded, then he disappeared. They stared at the ground where he had been, but only a ghastly pool of blood remained. Raimi looked up at the sky and smiled.
"Ah, I sense the hand of that cursed Kami-sama in this!" Piccolo nodded. "He's the only one with the power to take him just before his last breath. He must have some plan for Goku, a queer plan at that." He turned and looked at Raimi. "Well, what do you think?" He challenged.
"Well, yes, it was Kami-sama, and Goku is now on his way..." She told them to their great surprise. "I'll let Uranai Baba tell you more about that, okay?" She looked down at Gohan sadly. His life was changed irreversibly; his scholarly ambitions were history, for a while at least.
"But what, how do you know this?" Bulma asked. "How could you know who Baba is?"
"Never mind that! We have to get the other six Dragonballs and wish Goku back." Kurilin said. His tactic worked, Bulma was distracted from the strange girl.
"Hey, how did that so called brother of Goku's find him so easily anyway?" Bulma asked.
"The queer machine on his face…" Piccolo started.
"It's called a scouter." Raimi added.
"…It seems to track an opponents strength and position."
Bulma's eyes widened, and she went over to Raditz body to look at it. "Wow, hey you get it, okay Kurilin?" They watched nervously as the small man pulled it off the giant's ear and leapt away from the corpse. Bulma snatched it from him and opened it, looking at the circuitry.
"Wow…hmmm…got it, got it, this does that and that…this thing is one awesome machine! I should be able to fix it up." She said, eyes caressing the scouter lovingly. "When I fix it we should have no trouble finding the others or the Dragonballs!"
"Well, we should hurry to the Turtle House, then. And someone has to tell Chi-Chi…Piccolo, what are you going to…" Master Roshi said. His voice faded as he saw Piccolo's face. Piccolo was growling, straining as he attempted to do…something. With a wet sliding sound, his severed arm regrew, the fingers clicking when he moved them.
"Gah!" Bulma wheezed, totally disgusted.
All of them, even Raimi who had known what he was doing, stared at him, then Kurilin commented, "That's real handy!" Smiling in admiration, he watched, as Piccolo slowly looked Raimi over, and then frowned. She realized that he was actually frowning at Gohan.
"Listen, I'm going to take Goku's kid." He told them. Bulma Roshi and Kurilin gasped in horror at the thought.
"But why would you?" Bulma asked. She looked over at the sleeping child.
"I know! You want to eat him!" Kurilin said. He was teasing the Demon-King, but Piccolo didn't know that. His eyes widened in horror at the thought.
"I do not! Listen, just before you all got here, this child showed the promise of having great power, greater than Goku, or even that Saiyan. I'm going to teach him how to use this power, because we are going to need all the help we can get, when those Saiyans arrive."
"But, I think we should ask Chi-Chi first," Kurilin said, but Piccolo stood straighter, and glared at him.
"I'm taking him, and if any of you try to stop me, I'll kill you all!" He snarled at them, and looked over at Raimi, who still held the boy in her arms. She looked down at Gohan's face, relaxed in sleep, and felt very close to him. She felt almost as if he was her own child, and she wanted to keep him safe, but she knew that she had to give him to Piccolo. The warrior was right, and it was what was supposed to happen, anyway.
"Unfortunately, you are correct. You are the only one who can push him hard enough to develop as much as he must in the time we have. So, here he is." Ramie opened her arms, and Gohan floated over to Piccolo. Roshi and Bulma were quivering with fear, and Kurilin was stunned.
"We shall see if I can develop him. He may just be too young. I'll bring him back in one year either way. Tell Goku to be patient, if he makes it back." He took off, and disappeared in the distance. They stared after him, then, they turned to Raimi with dirty looks.
"I know Goku told us to trust you, but I'm not so sure we should." Kurilin said matter of factly. Raimi nodded in understanding. They must think she was as vicious as Piccolo.
"I know that seemed heartless and cruel, but he will make Gohan into a splendid fighter. And Goku has a very good reason to trust me." Raimi said calmly. "And what would that be?" Bulma asked.
"Because he remembers me, and I him, from sometime in the past, but the best part is, I can ride on Kin-to'un. Remember? Only someone with a pure heart and good intent can ride it." Raimi smiled as they thought about this. Bulma came around before the others, smiling with warmth as she realized it was true. She rubbed her rear as she remembered her own attempts to ride the magic cloud in her teens.
"Okay, who are you then? And where do you come from?" Kurilin said.
"We should head back to the Turtle House first, and I'll explain on the way." She suggested. After a moment's hesitation, they agreed to this plan, and set off, with saddened hearts, and Gohan's four star Dragonball all they had to show for their awful afternoon.