"V-Vegeta, why?" Nappa asked at last.
"The Earthling already had him beaten. It would have been a waste of time." Vegeta shrugged. He turned to the remaining Saibaimen, who shivered when his black eyes fell on them. "Your companion underestimated his opponent. And didn't I tell him to go all out?" he warned, his eyes narrowing dangerously. The message was clear, defeat the Earthlings, or perish at Vegeta's hands. The defenders were gaping in horror, still stunned by his effortless feat. They hadn't even felt him power up to do it. Piccolo looked down at Raimi.
"He destroyed it with a gesture? What a power..." he whispered. She nodded.
"Ah, but he's not the problem; Nappa is the one we must focus on. Leave Vegeta for Goku, Piccolo." She warned. His eyes widened, and then he looked closer at the giant Saiyan.
"Who'll be next? This time, hit with everything!" Vegeta jeered at the shivering Saibaimen. Kurilin moved forward to fight, but Yamcha stopped him.
"Let me do it. I'll teach them that playtime's over." He said, confident.
"Listen, Yamcha, I can..." Kurilin said nervous. His eyes turned to Raimi, looking for some reason to jump in anyway, but she shook her head imperceptibly. Still, there was something about her eyes that worried him.
"You've already been restored to life by the Dragonballs. You don't get another chance." Yamcha said reasonably. He looked at Raimi who smiled sadly and winked at him. He turned to the creature that had stepped forward. "Now try me!"
Raimi clenched her fists, feeling torn by her emotions. She knew that Yamcha was not supposed to survive this bout, but she wasn't sure that she could stand by and watch him die. She trembled slightly as she fought her urge to destroy the Saibaimen herself, and save him, regardless of destiny or fate.
"Ah. A hot shot." Vegeta sighed, not impressed with Yamcha's bravado.
"Show 'em what the Saibaimen are made of!" Nappa yelled.
The combatants stepped forward, and then blurred out, moving so fast that Gohan's untrained eyes couldn't see them.
"They, they're gone!" he gasped, amazed.
"They are moving at super speed, numbskull! Feel their Ki! Everyone can see them but you!" Piccolo told him. Sure enough, everyone else, even the Saiyans, was watching the same areas at the same time. Raimi smiled as she realized that it looked as if they were all watching an invisible tennis match, as Yamcha and his opponent moved about at hyper speed.
Piccolo sighed and watched the fight while he taught Gohan how to see with his Ki a different technique than feeling where someone was. "Gohan, hold your eyes open, don't blink... now, listen closely... if your ears are like your fathers, you can hear a pin drop." Gohan's head began to turn as he followed the sounds of the combatant's blows.
"No, just listen, and now, think ahead to where they are going... see the Ki that they are using... try to predict where they are going next... " Gohan gasped as Yamcha and the Saibaiman suddenly seemed to resolve back into view. He watched them with his eyes turning to follow them; until Raimi chuckled and told him he could turn his head now.
Suddenly, the Saibaiman shot away from Yamcha to try a new tactic. It was slowly becoming apparent that Yamcha had the advantage of it. Raimi could see what it was up to, and knew what to expect anyway. Yamcha dodged the creature as it tried to latch onto him. As it flew past him, he shot an uncalled Kamehameha at it, and slammed it into the ground hard. Its hard shell dug a crater into the ground, and it lay still. It looked dead.
"Again..." Nappa whispered, and Vegeta was beginning to look angry. Yamcha dropped to the edge of the crater, smiling.
"These monsters aren't as fearsome as they look. I'll clean up the other four by myself..." he smirked as he looked at Kurilin and Raimi, then noticed Raimi's pale face. She wasn't smiling, not at all...
The Saibaiman twitched, its claws clicking as it gathered itself. Vegeta smiled.
"Heh Heh...Seems like it's your turn to underestimate..." he laughed.
"What?" Yamcha realized that the creature had only been stunned, and took one step back before the monster leapt out of the crater at him.
"Yamcha, duck!" Raimi yelled, and froze as he barely avoided the creature's grasp. He spun on one foot and marshaled his entire Ki to blast the Saibaiman into bits. It squealed as it exploded, bits of it flying everywhere. Yamcha stood and took a deep breath, then turned and the smile he gave to Raimi made her heart beat faster.
"Thank you, Raimi. He would have got me if it weren't for you... " He said, and strode back to the others. Vegeta was scowling fit to break his face, and Nappa was glowering too.
"I think that they just broke the rules, don't you?" Nappa said. Vegeta nodded.
"Yes, I believe they did, Nappa. What happens when someone breaks the rules?" He said quietly, eyes locked onto Yamcha's back. The warrior had just reached the others, and was looking at the woman like... like... Vegeta was actually startled when Nappa aimed his palm at Yamcha's back.
Raimi looked up at Yamcha, eyes wide. She was glad he was alive, even if it complicated things later. She thought she'd saved him from the untimely death that she'd know him to suffer.
She was wrong.
As the defenders watched Yamcha smile broadly about his victory, they didn't realize that Nappa was about to rectify the Saibaiman's mistake. He aimed and not even powering up, shot a blast at Yamcha. No one could move, it was just too fast. It hit his back, and exploded out his chest horribly. Raimi caught him as he fell to his knees, but she could see that he was dead already. She stared into his wide eyes, so dark a blue that they appeared black, and realized two things.
One was that she was going to kill Nappa, no matter what she knew of the results of the day's battle.
Two was that she couldn't stop the deaths of her friends, if they were fated to die. She was not here to do that it seemed. So what was she her for?
She felt numb as she touched his face and closed his eyes, and then laid him on his front so Gohan wouldn't see the ghastly ruin of Yamcha's body. She stood, and stared at Nappa with eyes that blazed her hatred for him. He wasn't concerned, not in the least. On the contrary, he couldn't wait...
"Yamcha!" Kurilin cried as he knelt over his friend. "How am I going to break this to Pu'ar and Bulma?" He said, and looked at Raimi angrily. She looked at him with eyes full of sorrow.
"I... I tried, Kurilin, I really did, the Saibaiman was supposed to kill him, not Nappa," she said, and choked. "Good Travels, Warrior. May Snake Way lead you home." She whispered, and Kurilin remembered when she'd said that to Goku as he died. It must be some kind of formal farewell... He stared until he realized what she meant. Raimi's eyes dropped back to Yamcha's back, and she reached out as if to touch him one more time, but stopped. Kurilin jumped to his feet in righteous fury.
"Pick up your trash, little man!" She heard Nappa taunt.
"Shut... Your... Mouth... " Kurilin replied, his voice deadly. "Get back all of you!" he warned the defenders. He powered up, and sent a slow thick beam towards the group of aliens. Raimi stood and watched as the area was washed white by his Ki.
"Chauzu, get back, it'll blow you to pieces!" Tien warned, surprised by Kurilin's power. He and Chauzu backed off, along with Gohan, though Piccolo and Raimi stayed put.
"Tremendous power, but no speed! It's like a sign saying, "Get away"!" Piccolo criticized, as Saibaimen darted in all directions. The Saiyans didn't back down from the beam racing towards them, obviously feeling able to handle it. However Kurilin showed that like Master Roshi, who had trained him, he was a master of Ki energy. He split his hands, and the beam swung upwards sharply, so close to Vegeta that he was forced to lean back from it, and his hair looked as red as Raimi's in its light. The beam went high in the air, and then split into six different rays, each ray falling to hit either a Saiyan or a Saibaiman. Vegeta and Nappa could be seen trying to block just before the dust rose, obstructing the defenders view of them. Everyone peered into the cloud.
"He did it!" Tien and Chauzu called.
"No, I missed one," Kurilin panted.
"Wow...Wow Kurilin!" Gohan gushed, and then the last Saibaiman dashed out of the cloud, headed right for Gohan. The boy was stunned with surprise, unable to move. Suddenly Raimi's hand came down on its arm, halting it mid-attack. It gurgled in fear as she looked down into its eyes, and took it by the neck. Everyone watched, curious about what she would do. She smiled sweetly at the creature, and it squealed, looking for the other Saibaimen for some support. It was all alone now though, and looked up at her, quivering.
"Shine, Baka Na Saibai!" Raimi said softly. It gibbered at her, and her smile turned cold, as she flexed her fingers on its neck. She didn't appear to be doing anything to it, but the guys could feel that something was going on. The Saibaiman gurgled, and began to glow slightly as Raimi charged it with her Ki. Finally she flung it away; it landed on its feet, and seemed unharmed, until she turned and raised her hand, two fingers pointed up. It exploded mightily, and Raimi's smile faded. "That was for you, Yamcha, I'm so sorry I couldn't do more..." she said softly..
"Hey, how strong are you anyway?" Tien asked. She shrugged, not willing to answer.
"Thank you Miss Raimi." Gohan said. Raimi nodded and smiled then knelt in front of him, her face serious.
"But Gohan, you must be more alert. What if Piccolo or I weren't close enough to help you? You must be ready, and be strong. Don't be caught napping again, okay?" She saw Piccolo nod in agreement.
"She is right. I wish she had left it to me, I could have used a little warm-up for the great battle to come..."
Gohan blushed with embarrassment, but seemed to get the message. Raimi turned to look at the clearing dust cloud. The party was just beginning...
"Heh heh heh...I hope it will be a great battle..." Vegeta's voice came from the dust. He and Nappa emerged, smiling.
"Now what say we end playtime?" Vegeta purred.
"Now it's time for the real thing!" Nappa added.
"It's not possible! It didn't affect them at all!" Tien said worriedly.
"They...they must have taken it head-on too..." Chauzu squeaked.
"But, I used my full power! So this is what Saiyans are..." Kurilin said, thinking that they were very lucky that Goku had lost his "programming" to destroy the Earth, because his race sure seemed to be nearly indestructible. Certainly even Gohan was tough; it couldn't have been easy to be trained by Piccolo.
"By the way, you..." Vegeta pointed at Raimi. "That was very clever. You are stronger than we thought; I'll be watching you."
"Thank you for noticing my puny power!" She laughed. He was guessing, since he wasn't wearing his scouter. He had never developed the psychic skills that all the warriors of the Earth's Defense had; he never had needed them. Still, Raimi knew he had it in him to learn, once he figured out that they could do it. She just hoped it would happen too late to help him with Goku...
