Sins of the Fathers Part 5/?
It had been a long time since she had slept in a bed, and even longer since she had slept in one uninjured. Vegeta had been insistent that she stayed in the Corps building; he had deemed her space-pod unsuitable for a princess of the Saiya-jin. Demonstrating his ingrained hatred of Reizoku, he had ordered the changeling to sleep outside. Bulma however remained on of the few who could change her husband's mind. After a loud 'discussion', one that had destroyed most of the lounge area, she had pointed out that she had let him stay in the Corps building when he was technically still the enemy. Even the prince of all Saiya-jin couldn't argue with that.
Her room in Capsule Corps was remarkably comfortable. Overlooking the sprawling gardens below, it was simply furnished; the few personal possessions she owned sitting on the small table by her bed. An ornamental dagger belonging to her mother, her military dog tags, and a small, disc-shaped device; Rei had long since given up asking what it was, and after last night, Trunks had gotten the hint pretty fast. Burying further into her blankets, Kitara stretched out in comfort, kicking something at the foot of her bed.
Unfortunately, it was Trunks' stomach. The half-Saiya-jin's instinctive reaction was to last out at something, normally the first thing within punching distance. Which turned out to be Reizoku's tail. The punch wasn't hard enough to hurt, but it did jar the changeling awake.
'What was that for?' His voice was thick with sleep. The three teenagers had stayed awake until the early hours of the morning finding out about each other. Their life histories moved onto abilities, and rapidly to the number of battles they had participated in. At that point, Trunks had listened rather than talked as his sister and Rei told him about their fights. In turn, they had both been amazed as he had recounted the battles with the jizouningen and Cell; the battle with Majin Buu had shocked them both. Eventually, they had fallen asleep; Trunks had curled up at the foot of Kitara's bed, while Reizoku had dozed off on the floor. There were still a few hours before dawn, and all of them were exhausted.
'Didn' do nothin…' Trunks sounded even worse than Rei.
Somewhere under the blankets, a very muffled voice emerged. ''S too early to be up. Go to sleep…'
The two warriors shared a half-exasperated, half-exhausted look, shrugged, and went back to sleep for the last few hours until dawn broke.
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Years of marriage and a long-standing dislike before that had given Bulma enough experience to know that Vegeta would turn sadistic if he was late to commence training, and when applied to his son, daughter and a changeling…The human woman tapped gently on Kitara's door. Her mother's intuition told her that Rei and Trunks would be in there also.
Attempting not to tread on anyone or anything, she crossed the room quietly until she was standing over Kitara's bed, close enough to shake her awake.
'Wass th' matter?' She rolled onto her side and cracked an eye open to see who had woken her. 'Bulma? 'S it dawn already?'
'It's just gone past 6am. Vegeta's already up demanding food; I just came to spare you from his temper. I'll leave you to wake these two up.' She smiled and held something up as Kitara crawled out of the blankets. 'Your armour's fully repaired. You get ready and I'll get breakfast for you.'
'Thanks.' Examining the two piles of Saiya-jin and changeling wreckage, she sighed and headed for the sink.
Reizoku and Trunks both received a beaker of cold water in the face, instantly waking them up. Spitting out a mouthful of water, the changeling glared at Kitara as she hauled him up.
'Just be glad I didn't attack you to get you up, Koruudo Reizoku.'
Trunks shook his hair out and looked over at Rei as his sister crashed into the bathroom. 'I didn't know your name was Koruudo Reizoku…' He sniggered.
'And no-one else better find out, Trunks Briefs,' he hissed, staggering to the door.
'You're not a morning person, you know that?'
Reizoku had enough time to make an incredibly crude gesture before he slammed the door.
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Vegeta had been in a foul mood ever since they had left that morning, most of the anger, the changeling correctly guessed, aimed at him. The rest was aimed at Goku and his son, but it seemed as if his dislike had been longstanding, so he didn't give it much thought.
He bore little resentment of the Legendary Super Saiya-jin. Goku had merely defeated his father, and perhaps it had been for the best. Koori had told him and Kitara of their fathers when they were three years old. Vegeta had possessed a natural arrogance, while Frieza had possessed a phenomenal ego problem. The defeat by a Legendary Super Saiya-jin had reinforced his attitude, but the eventual death of his father…He couldn't honestly say he had missed him. The few memories he had of his grandfather Koruudo were unpleasant to say the least, and Koola…That was a door he didn't want to open again. He bore nothing but pure hatred of the one who had killed his mother.
He followed the rest of the Saiya-jin as they began their descent. The gravity of Chikyuu was amazing; he felt almost weightless. Judging by Kitara's speed, it was obvious she was appreciating the lowered gravitational pull. Landing beside her on the dusty terrain, Reizoku stood before the five Saiya-jin warriors, attempting to contain his nerves.
Goku took the lead. Stepping forward, he nodded at Kitara, and gestured for her to stand before him.
'Training to reach the level of Super Saiya-jin will require a great deal of effort and sacrifice on your behalf. It won't be easy or enjoyable. You'll get hurt, you'll be exhausted and you will feel like you're killing yourself. But if you can survive that, you will become a Super Saiya-jin. You can become one of the greatest warriors in the universe with our tutelage, but once you choose this path, you cannot turn back. Do you understand this?'
Kitara kept her stance and held her chin up. She knew what the others were asking of her. It frightened her a little, but if her father and brother had done it, then so could she. 'If that is what I have to do, then so be it.'
Goku nodded in satisfaction before turning towards Reizoku and doing the same.
'All warriors have pride. It's what sets us apart from others and shows us who we are. Your father possessed a great deal of pride, but he never possessed humility or deference. It's clear that you possess the qualities that Frieza sorely lacked. If you are to become a great warrior, you must use these qualities wisely. The training will only take you so far. After that, you must follow your own intuition. Understand?'
On the subject of fighting skills and what it meant to be a true warrior, Goku was second to none. It was the respect that Reizoku possessed for the Saiya-jin that made him stand imperceptibly taller as he nodded his assent.
It was rare when Vegeta and Goku worked seamlessly together, but when they did, it was highly impressive. The Saiya-jin prince took over, dropping into a fighting stance as he regarded the two fighters.
'Show me what you can do.' He nodded at his daughter as she crouched, ready to attack.
The speed at which the battle began was impossible to follow with the naked eye. As it was, Vegeta and Kitara were moving at an incredible speed. She delivered a vicious kick to his side, her tail uncurling from her waist for balance. Vegeta blocked, landing a punch to her jaw while holding onto her right foot, still aimed at his side. Flexing backwards, she avoided another blow to her face and used her momentum to flip him into the air. Kicking up from the ground, she launched herself towards him, shoving her fist hard into his gut. He doubled over from the blow and she capitalised, delivering an uppercut straight to his jaw, knocking him backwards and producing a small trickle of blood from his mouth. Wiping the red stain away, he stared at the blood and snarled, his fatherly affection disappearing and his warriors' instinct coming to the fore. Vanishing in a blur of speed, he reappeared fast enough to drive an elbow into her gut, causing her to bend double with the effects of the blow.
The others watched as the spar rapidly turned into a furious exchange of punches and kicks almost too fast to follow. Reizoku observed the battle with no small amount of satisfaction. The two of them were still holding back, that much he could sense. But they had yet to use ki attack, and he had a feeling that Vegeta would be getting a shock when they did.
Deflecting a blow to his leg, Vegeta dropped altitude and glared at Kitara. It was taking a lot of will power not to transform, and it was steadily becoming obvious that she was holding back the bulk of her strength. 'Why aren't you fighting properly, cutting your power loose? You're better than this; you 're my daughter!'
'Because I don't want to hurt you, and I need my strength for my attacks.' Kitara delivered a one-two punch to his shoulder and smirked at him.
'Then show me what you're capable of.'
'You asked for this…' Dropping to barely a few feet above ground level, she brought her hands to her side and began to power up. Her aura glowed white-blue as her fists cupped together and formed a ball of yellow ki. Goku raised his eyebrows in appreciation. It had been a while since he had seen this…
Vegeta's eyes grew progressively wider as he recognised the attack. /Little thief…/ But even as he thought it, the pride in his blood sang.
'A little present for you Dad…GYARIKKU-HO!!' The energy surged from her hands, barely missing the air-borne Saiya-jin before disappearing into the atmosphere and dissolving in the vacuum of space.
'Impressive. But try to mimic this…' The Saiya-jin prince clenched his fists as he powered up, his aura flaring gold. His eyes gleamed as he brought his fists in front of him, releasing the wave of ki.
'FINAL FLASH ATTACK!!' Kitara rose into the air, the ki wave following her every movement. Zipping around in the air currents for a few moments, she grew quickly bored and span round, throwing a gigantic blast at the wave before dropping out of its path. The attack exploded as it hit one of the giant outcrops, the light from the explosion temporarily blinding everyone.
The light cleared after a few seconds, but Kitara was nowhere to be seen. The surge behind him told Vegeta that his attack had been successful in provoking her. Whipping round, he grabbed her wrists before she could attack again. 'What else besides my own attacks? And you're still holding back!'
The Saiya-jin prince was unaware of the ki balls glowing in Kitara's fists, but he couldn't ignore the eerie glow in her eyes. They were becoming unfocused, and the colour was starting to drain from the pupils. Soon the pupils and irises were completely white. He let go of her fists and stared at her with concern.
'Are you sure you want to see this?' The look on her father's face gave its own assent.
She smirked and her ki flared blue, radiating from her body in waves. The sky began to darken, even though it was the middle of the morning. The Son males and Trunks stared at the spectacle, then turned to Reizoku, who was floating a few feet of the ground in anticipation.
'Unless you want to be destroyed by the tremors, it'd be wise for you to get off the ground.'
Goten's shout was partially obscured by the roar of the wind, but the others clearly sensed the build-up of energy beneath them. 'What the hell's she doing!?'
'Her ultimate attack. It won't kill Vegeta, but even he can't survive without air.'
The tremors grew and reached a crescendo loud enough to hurt the ears. The ground started to cave in, and water rose in jets from the craters. They stared in amazement, Reizoku with some concern. The attack shouldn't take this short a time to form…
Kitara's entire body was surrounded with a deep blue aura, her eyes still white and unfocused. She screamed and the entire area whited out, the roar of water deafening everyone. As the explosion cleared and the observants lowered their arms from their faces, they looked towards the female and gawked.
A dragon had appeared in front of Kitara, the water from the ground twisting and curling into the apparition's body. Vegeta floated before it, staring in undisguised amazement. Its form reminded him of the Namekian dragon, Porunga… Through its translucent body, he barely registered the smirk on Kitara's face before she raised her fist, and the dragon appeared to crouch, ready to attack.
'Umiyo-Ken.'
She tore through the water dragon's body, her fist landing straight in Vegeta's stomach, cracking the armour with the impact. He reeled from the blow, coughing blood. The roar of water took his attention away from the punch as the dragon enveloped him in a tide of water. It swirled around him, filling his lungs. Using his ki, he propelled himself towards the edge of the mass.
CRACK
His head impacted heavily against the edge of the water mass. She had erected a shield around the water, preventing him escaping into the air. The fluid buffeted him hard. The force rivalled only the punches he had received from Kakarott…
She watched in concern as her father started to lose consciousness, dropping the shield as she saw him float helplessly in the centre of the mass. The water evaporated into the air with a gesture; Vegeta dropped like a stone to the ground.
The landing jolted the Saiya-jin prince awake fairly abruptly, though he wasn't immediately able to stand up. He stared at his daughter in amazement. Kitara had landed by his side and was checking his pulse for any sign of damage to his lungs. 'What…what the hell was that…thing? That dragon…?'
'The Umiyo-Ken. My ultimate attack. It wasn't at full power, but I guess I overdid it a bit, huh?' She blushed apologetically.
'If that wasn't at full…How much power did you put into it then?' Goten stared worriedly at her.
'About a third of my maximum.' Vegeta stared at her a few seconds before passing out again.
His last thought was distinctly unprintable.
TBC