Bulma paced back and forth outside the room Vegeta was currently occupying. "Why won't he let us in there?! We have every right to know what happened to Goku too!" Gohan put his hand on the woman's shoulder to comfort her. He knew that she was hiding her grief behind her anger and he wanted to keep her as calm as possible. "Relax, Bulma. He has his reasons. I'm sure he'll tell us what happened once he's seen what's on the tape." In reality, Gohan knew that the reason Vegeta didn't want anyone else to see the tape was because he didn't want the murderer to know he was caught yet. The only people who even knew the prince was currently viewing the tapes were Goten, Bulma, and himself.
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Vegeta scanned the hundreds of monitors in front of him, trying to find the one that showed a view of Goku's bedroom. After several frustrating minutes of searching, the prince finally spotted the right screen. He looked back down at the control panel in front of him and pressed a series of buttons that allowed that one monitor to become the main focus among all the others. The other screens were now covered by the selected camera view. Now for the hard part.
Vegeta began to rewind the videotape as he carefully examined the actions zipping by on the monitor. He hit play once again when he caught something suspicious just out of range. The screen showed an empty room, but the Saiyajin could hear what sounded like a struggle going on off-camera. A few seconds later, someone pushed an already dead Goku onto the bed. Unfortunately, the murderer managed to stay just out of camera range. Vegeta growled in frustration and was just about to flip the monitor off when his heightened Saiyajin hearing picked something up. The prince quickly turned the volume up and carefully listened to a conversation that was taking place.
"Damn you! Why?!" "It was a matter of time anyway. Don't be so upset about it! You're such a weakling!" "I'M the weakling?? You're the one murdering people before they even have a chance to fight back!" "But it's more fun that way. The look of panic on their faces is to die for!" ".... You've got a sick sense of humor." "Whatever. You realize what this means now, don't you?" "Yes. That's why I don't understand why you did this." "It'll make things that much more fun, baka. Now stop arguing with me!"
Vegeta's eyes widened as the conversation went on. The voices were familiar. In fact, he knew exactly who they belonged to! But how was it possible?! It just didn't make any sense. Either way, if his suspicions were correct, then everyone was in serious trouble.
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Bulma stopped pacing as the door to the camera room slowly opened and Vegeta stepped out. He looked at her, Goten, and Gohan with a neutral expression on his face. "Well?" Goten asked, practically jumping out of his skin from the stress this situation was causing. "Do you know who the murderer is?" Before Vegeta could even take a breath to reply, the Saiyajins once again felt the familiar and deadly ki spike somewhere within the building. "That way!" Gohan shouted as he and the others took off down the hallway.
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Yamcha slowed his pace as he walked down the hallway of Capsule Corp. He was on his way to the kitchen when he suddenly had the strangest feeling he was being watched. He didn't feel anyone else's presence though, so he figured he was just being paranoid because of everything that had happened lately. He continued down the hall in silence, occasionally glancing over his shoulder as the strange feeling that swept over him intensified. For a split second, the warrior caught a glimpse of someone moving in the shadows. His heart immediately found a new home in his throat. Yamcha spun around and quickly took a defensive fighting stance so he'd be prepared for what was to come. He knew that this was the person everyone was looking for. This was the murderer. He blinked as a low rumble of laughter reached his straining ears and gasped as he heard the killer's voice. "Aw. It's not as much fun when they know I'm about to kill them." Yamcha's mouth dropped open in shock as it became clear who had been killing off the Z senshi one by one. "It's.... It's you...."
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As they neared, Vegeta and the others could clearly hear the pained scream of Yamcha as the murderer attacked him. The sound seemed to echo off the walls, creating an eerie effect. "We're going to be too late again!" Goten cried in frustration. Vegeta, on the other hand, knew they'd come face to face with the culprit this time. The ki hadn't faded out as quickly as it normally did, and that had to mean only one thing; the murderer was waiting for them. "No... We'll get him this time." the prince growled.
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The killer sighed in boredom as he dropped his latest victim on the floor in a bloody heap. "Man... These guys are far too easy to kill. I hope the next one puts up more of a struggle." "The next one is going to do more than struggle!" The murderer's head snapped to attention as Vegeta and the others stopped a few feet away. The prince didn't seem nearly as surprised as Goten and Gohan did. The two demi-Saiyajin's jaws were nearly touching the ground. If he didn't have such a 'sick' sense of humor, he might have found their appearances to be funny. However, if they had been dead and bloody, then he would have been laughing.
"It's about time you got here. And just so you know, Tien's dead too. He screams like a girl..." "Enough!" Vegeta growled. The prince didn't like the smirk set on the killer's face. He was enjoying this way too much. He had no sense of guilt; no regret. It was all one big game to him. "Enough?" the killer asked in mock surprise. "But I haven't even gotten to the fun victims yet! Lucky for me you've all lined up in a nice little row. I don't know if you're just being generous, or stupid." Vegeta glanced back at Gohan and Goten, who both still seemed to be in shock. Goten, however, seemed to be attempting to form words. "But how... You were dead..." The prince looked back at the murderer. "Yes. Tell us how you did it... Kakarotto."
A cruel smile formed over Goku's, or should I say, Kakarotto's face. "It was pretty simple actually. You all know Paur, right? Goku happen to run into her last night and as the two had a little chat, I got an idea. I knew eventually people would begin to suspect me, or Goku rather, so I took over the conversation; and with a little 'friendly' persuasion, I managed to convince the little rat to transform into me. Now we all know that when Puar transforms, her voice stays the same, so that's why I taped her mouth shut. I didn't want her annoying high-pitched voice to alert you and every dog within a ten-mile radius of the murder. And, of course, she can't mimic my strength either, so killing her was simple. I knew about the cameras in the room, thanks to you, Vegeta, so I was careful to stay out of view. Unfortunately, after the murder, Goku decided to have a bit of a conversation with me. I was distracted and so I fell for his little plan and gave myself away despite my careful planning. I figured Vegeta would hear the two voices and figure it out, so my original plans of killing you all one by one had to be changed. Now I'll just kill you all at once and be done with it."
Gohan, who had become increasingly angry as Kakarotto explained the whole process, was the first to speak. "But why are you just showing up now?! I thought you were gone forever when my dad hit his head as a child!" The Saiyajin tsked and shook his head slowly. "Wrong. And here I thought you were the smart one. After my head injury, I wasn't erased; just pushed to the back of Goku's mind. I still to this day have no idea where that baka came from, but he had taken over my body and I was a prisoner in my own mind! No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't break through the wall Goku had set up to block me out, but things changed when he became a Super Saiyajin. The little transformation awakened the Saiyajin side of him. The real Goku. He even admitted that when he was fighting Frieza, he no longer cared about whether or not he was killing with a sense of justice. He just wanted him dead. He wanted to slowly tear Frieza apart and actually hear him scream in agony. Needless to say, I was pleased. However, he still managed to regain control of himself and held my awakening off for awhile longer, but I already had the window I needed to make my escape. As Goku's power level grew, I became stronger as well, and soon I was able to take control over my body for short periods of time. The little windows of opportunity became larger as time went on, and that's when I decided to get back at Goku for taking control of my body the best way I knew how. And that was to kill off everyone he cared about. At first the baka wasn't even aware of my presence. The death of ChiChi was a total and complete mystery to him. But eventually he caught on. That's when he began to try to stop me. But, as I told Goku, you can't stop the inevitable."
Vegeta carefully considered the other Saiyajin's words. Some things still didn't make sense. "If what you say is true, then how were you able to kill Trunks? I was with Kak--- Goku at the same time that was happening." "Ah, perhaps the first and last intelligent question anyone's ever asked me." Kakarotto mocked as he glanced over at Gohan. "That was a little more difficult to pull off. I'm sure you're all aware of the little technique used to split ones self into twos, or threes, or whatever. With a little practice, I managed to manipulate that technique to the point where I could not only spilt my body into two beings, but my mind as well. The only problem was, Goku's mind had to be willing to allow such a thing to occur in order for me to successfully perform the task. But I found that while he was asleep, I could somewhat hypnotize his subconscious into doing whatever I wanted. So that's when I did it. I would have stayed separate from the baka, but I found that most my power would be left in my original body, so if I wanted to be strong enough to overwhelm my victims, I'd have to tolerate Goku for awhile longer. Over time, I was able to take control of this body for longer and longer periods of time, and now I've almost completely pushed the Goku you know into the prison I was trapped in for so long." Kakarotto smirked and tapped his temple with his finger. "He's a stubborn one though, so he manages to make himself known sometimes; like after Paur's murder, but it's nothing I can't handle."
Vegeta, Gohan, and Goten stared at the evil being that stood before them. He may have looked like the Goku they'd all grown to love...or tolerate in the prince's case, but from just taking one look at his eyes, it was easy to tell the difference. His eyes had become cold and unforgiving, much like Vegeta's eyes had looked when he first came to Earth. And with Piccolo dead, the dragonballs were gone, so that meant they couldn't wish the old Goku back, or bring back any of Kakarotto's victims. Vegeta, however, had taken a particular interest in part of the Saiyajin's story. If he could separate his mind from Goku's, then there was a chance they could destroy the weaker version of Kakarotto once he did so. But, as he had already said, both minds have to be willing for the task to work. And in this case, Kakarotto wouldn't be very willing. But there had to be a way to pull it off. They just had to figure out how.
Kakarotto chuckled as he watched the Saiyajins. Each had different emotions passing over their faces as they thought about everything he'd told them. Normally he wasn't the chatty type, but he had done such a clever job throughout this whole ordeal that he couldn't help but boast about it. However, the time for words was over. It was time for the action to begin. "So. Which one of you wants to die first?"