Danger on the Road Ahead
"So the prince is still alive after all these years," Wolf said as he stared out the window of his lair. The Saiyan assassin had managed to escape the Wasteland and stole a ship before Frieza blew up the world, years ago. He had followed the escaping Saiyans to this planet and remained unnoticed until now. Oh, how his venegeance was going to be sweet. For years he plotted the death of the Saiyan prince after what he had done to him.
"Yes, I'll finally get my revenege against that brat of Vegeta. Oh, how long I have waited to kill him. I'll love it when he suffers like I did in the Wasteland. He shall pay once and for all," Wolf grinned. He remembered his attempts to kill the king and how that brat of a son of his who had seen him do it. When the prince told of his attempts, the king banished him to the Wasteland to die.
"Zurg! Yasai! Come here at once!" Wolf ordered. Two Saiyans came before him.
"Yes, sir," they both replied.
"You two very well know that the prince has returned," Wolf spoke.
"Sir?" the Saiyans replied again.
"I want you to seek him and kill the party that's with him. I want Vegeta alive! When you two are done killing his friends bring him before me. Is that clear?" Wolf said.
"Yes, sir! Kill the party and bring Vegeta to you. We got it," Yasai anwered.
"Oh, one more thing. Be careful of the Warrior of Light that's with him. Use one of those poisoned bolts. That should take care of him," Wolf grinned again. He knew that soon his venegeance would soon be complete...
The road was a long and dusty one. It seemed that Ritz and the gang had been traveling for hours since they left town. Goku had started to complain of hunger. Even Rawcliffe added his voice his eyes glowing with hungerr.
"Goku, there's some food in your saddle bags. Just reach back there and get some. But don't eat it all. It has to last you until we reach my house," Ritz said. Goku turned and undid the strap of his saddle bag that held the food. He pulled out a few pieces of cheese and a couple of meat rolls. He sat there as his horse padded along, nibbing on the cheese and meat rolls. He handed a few pieces of the rolls to Rawcliffe who happily chirped and began nibbing away as he sat upon Goku's shoulder. Gohan was riding along beside his father and he looked at him with a funny look.
Dad is always hungry..Gohan said in his mind. It was true. Goku had a bottomless pit for a stomach.
More hours passed and they soon came to a forest. But something didn't seem right when they entered it. There was a feeling of someone watching them...
The shot came from somewhere in the trees. The force of the impact knocked Goku off his horse. His mount fled in terror. Rawcliffe hovered above, his eyes red with anger, wanting to protect his fallen ,master. The little dragon growled and hissed as a warning to his unseen enemy. Goku sat up wondering what had hit him.
"Goku are you alright?" Ritz asked.
"Yeah, I think so..." Goku said. It was then he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. A crossbow bolt was embedded in it. From where and whom it came from he did not know.
"You missed!" Yasai said.
"He's still alive? Zurg replied looking up at his partner.
"Yes! You only hit him in the shoulder! The boss said to kill them all!" the Saiyan said.
"Well, I'll keep them busy while you prepare the poison," Zurg said trying to regain his partner's trust that he could do the job. He loaded another bolt into his crossbow while Yasai mixed up the poison for the fatal bolts that would kill Vegeta's party. Zurg aimed carefully and shot it at the travelers.
A hail of bolts was now coming from out of the trees from the right side of the road. Goku was shot again as he started to get up off the ground. He yapped in pain as the bolt buried itself into Goku's arm.
"We have to get out of here!" Ritz said. He had to get Vegeta away from the killers who were somewhere in the tree line. He must protect him at all costs. Ritz made Vegeta take point as he and the others followed with Goku at the rear who was still trying to get up. They must escape since their disguises had been foiled. Blood had stained the sleeve of Goku's robe from the wounds that the bolts had caused. Just as Goku turned to escape, another bolt decided to bury itself into Goku's leg. That was the last straw! He was tired of being shot at. Goku turned and faced his unseen attackers. He could feel the rage boiling in him.
"Hey, look!" pointed Zurg looking up from his crossbow. He had targeted Goku first, because he was the closest to him.
"What?" his friend asked. They both stared in horror at Goku when they relized who they were messing with. They watched as Goku's hair became golden and his eyes turned green.
"The Warrior of Light...." Yasai muttered.
"You better hurry up with those bolts," Zurg said when he relized that he had been shooting at the Warrior of Light.
Goku begun to say the words of his attack as he charged up enough energy to blow the entire right side of the forest up , where he had seen the crossbow bolt had came from. He ignored the pain in his injuried spots as he gathered the last bit of energy he needed...
The two Saiyan assassins looked up and they knew that they were out of time. Thye saw the blue energy ball in Goku's hands and they knew that the Saiyan was going to fire it any minute, blowing them to kingdom come. But before Goku could launch his attack, there came a roar as a dragon flew over head..
"STRIKE AND FIGHT!!!!" came a cry.
"Oh, no! The Patrol! Now we're in for it!" Zurg said.
Both Saiyans tried to , but the Patrol rider ordered his dragon to attack. The dragon came in low and then he breathed hot flames at the two Saiyans who were running in terror.
"Good work my friend!" said the rider to his dragon..The dragon nodded his in thanks.They were both agreed that they had did a fine job..
"The healer should be by soon to help you," the rider said to Goku as his dragon hovered above..
"Ok.." Goku replied, sighing with relief that it was over for now...The rider and his dragon took off to see to Vegeta, Ritz, and Goku's friends who had escaped the assassins and leaving Goku behind...It wasn't too long before a younger rider and a healer appeared.
"Hey, Hador! It looks like we have a hurt man over here!" the young rider called. At first, Goku was a little afaird of the two full grown dragons that now landed in front of him. But the Saiyan riders told him not to fear their dragons because they would not harm him.. Goku was sitting in the grass. His leg wound had become too painful to stand on..The healer dismounted his dragon and went over to a now worn out Goku, who was sitting there wincing from the pain and panting from the heat.
"Hello," the Saiyan greeted. "It seems you've been in a scrape..I'm here to fix you up."
Goku was greatful for the Saiyan's help. He could feel his hot blood running out of his wounds, down his arm and leg..He watched as the Saiyan knelt next to him to and begun digging though his bag of things. Goku prayed that it wasn't a needle that the Saiyan was looking for. He was relieved that it was a jar that the Saiyan pulled out..
"Hold still. This stuff strings a little," the healer said. He opened the jar and applied the healing shave onto Goku's wounds. Goku gritted his teeth at the pain that the stuff caused.
"Oh, my name's Hador and this is my dragon Greenflame. I'm only an apprentice healer and this is the first time I've done field work," the Saiyan introduced himself.
"Goku..."Goku muttered his name before wincing in pain.
"My friend here is Kibou and that is his dragon, Cirrus. Kibou is a rider- in-training," Hador pointed to his friend. Hador finished taking care of Goku's wounds and he had bounded up the wounds good and tight.
"Well, how did I do?" the Saiyan healer asked.
"Not bad," Goku answered. Goku discovered not only did the Saiyan made the bandages tight but he made it where he could move his arm and leg without ripping the bandages.
"We better get to your friends," Hador said.
"I lost my mount. Besides my leg really hurts," Goku said.
"I'll be happy to give you a ride," Kibou said after hearing Goku's problem. Kibou had Cirrus lay down and extend his foreleg out for Goku to climb up. Kibou reached over and gave Goku a hand up.
"Ready?" Kibou asked making sure that Goku was hanging on. Cirrus took a few steps forward and leaped into the air. Hador followed behind on Greenflame. It wasn't too long before the two riders spotted the small wing of Patrol riders in a forest clearing along with Goku's friends. They reached the clearing and landed.
"Goku, are you all right?" Ritz asked when he noticed that the Saiyan had bandages on his arm and leg.
"I'm fine. Did everybody else make it out ok?" Goku replied.
"Yes, they did make it out without a scartch," Ritz said.
"Lucky them.....I wasn't too lucky though..." Goku muttered.
Gohan who had been sitting there wondering what happened to his father, came running, as Goku and Ritz went to the clearing where the others were waiting.
"Daddy!" Gohan cried as he ran to his father with open arms. He clutched his father tightly as if Goku would disappear if he didn't. Goku clenched his teeth in pain because Gohan had touched his injuried arm when the little half-Saiyan hugged him. Gohan looked into his father's face which had the look of pain and gave a questioning look if he had done something wrong.
"Daddy..." Gohan muttered.
"It's ok. I'm fine. My arm is sore," Goku said resuring his son that he didn't do anything wrong.
Ritz had gone over to a Patrol rider and was talking to him when Goku and Gohan walked up to them.
"Capt. Hoshi said he would give us a ride to my home," Ritz said.
"It looks like Raku's message got to your father," Goku said.
"Yes, it did. We recieved a message that you needed help and we should go to you right away," said the Captian of the wing.
"It's a good thing we came when we did or Goku here would have been a pin custion," Hador added in.
"What do you mean?" his superior asked.
"The enemy had attacked him with a crossbow. The poor Saiyan was riddled with bolts. Thank the stars, that none of them were poisoned, sir," Hador answered.
Goku was very lucky. Before the two Saiyan attackers were scared off, one of them had loaded a poisoned bolt so toxic that even the strongest Super Saiyan would have died. But the only thing they managed to do was leave Goku a very painful wound in his arm and leg.
Everyone unpacked their things out of the saddle bags on their horses and handed them to a Patrol rider who in turn placed them on the backs of their dragons. It was time to say goodbye to their faithful mounts. They turned loose their horses and watched them sped off into the direction where their warm stalls awaited them. Capt. Hoshi had the honor of Vegeta riding with him on the back of his dragon. Ritz rode with Hador on Greenflame while Krillin rode with a Saiyan named Kaze and his dragon Wind. Gohan and Goku were to ride with Kibou. Goku limped badly on his injured leg towards where Kibou and Cirrus waited. The pain had worsen and he muttered something with displeasure as he tried to walk. He couldn't believe that the crossbow bolt had caused so much pain. Kibou could see the expression on Goku's face and walked over to him to help. Goku thanked the young rider as he leaned against Kibou's shoulder. Kibou helped Goku up onto Cirrus' back and then handed Gohan to Goku to sit him up on Cirrus. Then the young rider climbed on and placed himself in front of Goku and Gohan at the base of Cirrus' neck.
"Cirrus! Let's fly," Kibou said to the dragon. The dragon launched himself into the air and below the other Patrol riders and their dragons soon joined him. Capt.Hoshi took the lead and the members of his wing followed behind him. They flew higher and over the mountians heading in the direction of Ritz's home. The sun ahead of them was setting as they flew on.....
"So the prince is still alive after all these years," Wolf said as he stared out the window of his lair. The Saiyan assassin had managed to escape the Wasteland and stole a ship before Frieza blew up the world, years ago. He had followed the escaping Saiyans to this planet and remained unnoticed until now. Oh, how his venegeance was going to be sweet. For years he plotted the death of the Saiyan prince after what he had done to him.
"Yes, I'll finally get my revenege against that brat of Vegeta. Oh, how long I have waited to kill him. I'll love it when he suffers like I did in the Wasteland. He shall pay once and for all," Wolf grinned. He remembered his attempts to kill the king and how that brat of a son of his who had seen him do it. When the prince told of his attempts, the king banished him to the Wasteland to die.
"Zurg! Yasai! Come here at once!" Wolf ordered. Two Saiyans came before him.
"Yes, sir," they both replied.
"You two very well know that the prince has returned," Wolf spoke.
"Sir?" the Saiyans replied again.
"I want you to seek him and kill the party that's with him. I want Vegeta alive! When you two are done killing his friends bring him before me. Is that clear?" Wolf said.
"Yes, sir! Kill the party and bring Vegeta to you. We got it," Yasai anwered.
"Oh, one more thing. Be careful of the Warrior of Light that's with him. Use one of those poisoned bolts. That should take care of him," Wolf grinned again. He knew that soon his venegeance would soon be complete...
The road was a long and dusty one. It seemed that Ritz and the gang had been traveling for hours since they left town. Goku had started to complain of hunger. Even Rawcliffe added his voice his eyes glowing with hungerr.
"Goku, there's some food in your saddle bags. Just reach back there and get some. But don't eat it all. It has to last you until we reach my house," Ritz said. Goku turned and undid the strap of his saddle bag that held the food. He pulled out a few pieces of cheese and a couple of meat rolls. He sat there as his horse padded along, nibbing on the cheese and meat rolls. He handed a few pieces of the rolls to Rawcliffe who happily chirped and began nibbing away as he sat upon Goku's shoulder. Gohan was riding along beside his father and he looked at him with a funny look.
Dad is always hungry..Gohan said in his mind. It was true. Goku had a bottomless pit for a stomach.
More hours passed and they soon came to a forest. But something didn't seem right when they entered it. There was a feeling of someone watching them...
The shot came from somewhere in the trees. The force of the impact knocked Goku off his horse. His mount fled in terror. Rawcliffe hovered above, his eyes red with anger, wanting to protect his fallen ,master. The little dragon growled and hissed as a warning to his unseen enemy. Goku sat up wondering what had hit him.
"Goku are you alright?" Ritz asked.
"Yeah, I think so..." Goku said. It was then he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. A crossbow bolt was embedded in it. From where and whom it came from he did not know.
"You missed!" Yasai said.
"He's still alive? Zurg replied looking up at his partner.
"Yes! You only hit him in the shoulder! The boss said to kill them all!" the Saiyan said.
"Well, I'll keep them busy while you prepare the poison," Zurg said trying to regain his partner's trust that he could do the job. He loaded another bolt into his crossbow while Yasai mixed up the poison for the fatal bolts that would kill Vegeta's party. Zurg aimed carefully and shot it at the travelers.
A hail of bolts was now coming from out of the trees from the right side of the road. Goku was shot again as he started to get up off the ground. He yapped in pain as the bolt buried itself into Goku's arm.
"We have to get out of here!" Ritz said. He had to get Vegeta away from the killers who were somewhere in the tree line. He must protect him at all costs. Ritz made Vegeta take point as he and the others followed with Goku at the rear who was still trying to get up. They must escape since their disguises had been foiled. Blood had stained the sleeve of Goku's robe from the wounds that the bolts had caused. Just as Goku turned to escape, another bolt decided to bury itself into Goku's leg. That was the last straw! He was tired of being shot at. Goku turned and faced his unseen attackers. He could feel the rage boiling in him.
"Hey, look!" pointed Zurg looking up from his crossbow. He had targeted Goku first, because he was the closest to him.
"What?" his friend asked. They both stared in horror at Goku when they relized who they were messing with. They watched as Goku's hair became golden and his eyes turned green.
"The Warrior of Light...." Yasai muttered.
"You better hurry up with those bolts," Zurg said when he relized that he had been shooting at the Warrior of Light.
Goku begun to say the words of his attack as he charged up enough energy to blow the entire right side of the forest up , where he had seen the crossbow bolt had came from. He ignored the pain in his injuried spots as he gathered the last bit of energy he needed...
The two Saiyan assassins looked up and they knew that they were out of time. Thye saw the blue energy ball in Goku's hands and they knew that the Saiyan was going to fire it any minute, blowing them to kingdom come. But before Goku could launch his attack, there came a roar as a dragon flew over head..
"STRIKE AND FIGHT!!!!" came a cry.
"Oh, no! The Patrol! Now we're in for it!" Zurg said.
Both Saiyans tried to , but the Patrol rider ordered his dragon to attack. The dragon came in low and then he breathed hot flames at the two Saiyans who were running in terror.
"Good work my friend!" said the rider to his dragon..The dragon nodded his in thanks.They were both agreed that they had did a fine job..
"The healer should be by soon to help you," the rider said to Goku as his dragon hovered above..
"Ok.." Goku replied, sighing with relief that it was over for now...The rider and his dragon took off to see to Vegeta, Ritz, and Goku's friends who had escaped the assassins and leaving Goku behind...It wasn't too long before a younger rider and a healer appeared.
"Hey, Hador! It looks like we have a hurt man over here!" the young rider called. At first, Goku was a little afaird of the two full grown dragons that now landed in front of him. But the Saiyan riders told him not to fear their dragons because they would not harm him.. Goku was sitting in the grass. His leg wound had become too painful to stand on..The healer dismounted his dragon and went over to a now worn out Goku, who was sitting there wincing from the pain and panting from the heat.
"Hello," the Saiyan greeted. "It seems you've been in a scrape..I'm here to fix you up."
Goku was greatful for the Saiyan's help. He could feel his hot blood running out of his wounds, down his arm and leg..He watched as the Saiyan knelt next to him to and begun digging though his bag of things. Goku prayed that it wasn't a needle that the Saiyan was looking for. He was relieved that it was a jar that the Saiyan pulled out..
"Hold still. This stuff strings a little," the healer said. He opened the jar and applied the healing shave onto Goku's wounds. Goku gritted his teeth at the pain that the stuff caused.
"Oh, my name's Hador and this is my dragon Greenflame. I'm only an apprentice healer and this is the first time I've done field work," the Saiyan introduced himself.
"Goku..."Goku muttered his name before wincing in pain.
"My friend here is Kibou and that is his dragon, Cirrus. Kibou is a rider- in-training," Hador pointed to his friend. Hador finished taking care of Goku's wounds and he had bounded up the wounds good and tight.
"Well, how did I do?" the Saiyan healer asked.
"Not bad," Goku answered. Goku discovered not only did the Saiyan made the bandages tight but he made it where he could move his arm and leg without ripping the bandages.
"We better get to your friends," Hador said.
"I lost my mount. Besides my leg really hurts," Goku said.
"I'll be happy to give you a ride," Kibou said after hearing Goku's problem. Kibou had Cirrus lay down and extend his foreleg out for Goku to climb up. Kibou reached over and gave Goku a hand up.
"Ready?" Kibou asked making sure that Goku was hanging on. Cirrus took a few steps forward and leaped into the air. Hador followed behind on Greenflame. It wasn't too long before the two riders spotted the small wing of Patrol riders in a forest clearing along with Goku's friends. They reached the clearing and landed.
"Goku, are you all right?" Ritz asked when he noticed that the Saiyan had bandages on his arm and leg.
"I'm fine. Did everybody else make it out ok?" Goku replied.
"Yes, they did make it out without a scartch," Ritz said.
"Lucky them.....I wasn't too lucky though..." Goku muttered.
Gohan who had been sitting there wondering what happened to his father, came running, as Goku and Ritz went to the clearing where the others were waiting.
"Daddy!" Gohan cried as he ran to his father with open arms. He clutched his father tightly as if Goku would disappear if he didn't. Goku clenched his teeth in pain because Gohan had touched his injuried arm when the little half-Saiyan hugged him. Gohan looked into his father's face which had the look of pain and gave a questioning look if he had done something wrong.
"Daddy..." Gohan muttered.
"It's ok. I'm fine. My arm is sore," Goku said resuring his son that he didn't do anything wrong.
Ritz had gone over to a Patrol rider and was talking to him when Goku and Gohan walked up to them.
"Capt. Hoshi said he would give us a ride to my home," Ritz said.
"It looks like Raku's message got to your father," Goku said.
"Yes, it did. We recieved a message that you needed help and we should go to you right away," said the Captian of the wing.
"It's a good thing we came when we did or Goku here would have been a pin custion," Hador added in.
"What do you mean?" his superior asked.
"The enemy had attacked him with a crossbow. The poor Saiyan was riddled with bolts. Thank the stars, that none of them were poisoned, sir," Hador answered.
Goku was very lucky. Before the two Saiyan attackers were scared off, one of them had loaded a poisoned bolt so toxic that even the strongest Super Saiyan would have died. But the only thing they managed to do was leave Goku a very painful wound in his arm and leg.
Everyone unpacked their things out of the saddle bags on their horses and handed them to a Patrol rider who in turn placed them on the backs of their dragons. It was time to say goodbye to their faithful mounts. They turned loose their horses and watched them sped off into the direction where their warm stalls awaited them. Capt. Hoshi had the honor of Vegeta riding with him on the back of his dragon. Ritz rode with Hador on Greenflame while Krillin rode with a Saiyan named Kaze and his dragon Wind. Gohan and Goku were to ride with Kibou. Goku limped badly on his injured leg towards where Kibou and Cirrus waited. The pain had worsen and he muttered something with displeasure as he tried to walk. He couldn't believe that the crossbow bolt had caused so much pain. Kibou could see the expression on Goku's face and walked over to him to help. Goku thanked the young rider as he leaned against Kibou's shoulder. Kibou helped Goku up onto Cirrus' back and then handed Gohan to Goku to sit him up on Cirrus. Then the young rider climbed on and placed himself in front of Goku and Gohan at the base of Cirrus' neck.
"Cirrus! Let's fly," Kibou said to the dragon. The dragon launched himself into the air and below the other Patrol riders and their dragons soon joined him. Capt.Hoshi took the lead and the members of his wing followed behind him. They flew higher and over the mountians heading in the direction of Ritz's home. The sun ahead of them was setting as they flew on.....