Title – Determination
Author – Toreina-Mei a.k.a. Jenna
Chapter Four
:
Charged
*****
Confident, I walked up to Piccolo and my father. Maybe I was being bold, but I wanted to make sure they knew I was serious.
"I want to go."
"No," papa said sharply.
"Why not?" I asked with wide-eyed surprise.
"Because we are not going there to start a fight and if there is a fight, I don't want you getting involved!"
I was already prepping myself for a fight. This was too good to miss out on and I should have been mad when he tried to prevent me from going, but I wasn't. I was too excited and I would go anyway. There was something about the prospect of battle that made me believe that it would test my abilities, like it was exactly what I needed to go Super. That's how everyone else had done it: in battle. So I would too. I still needed to say something though, to try and get his permission.
"Stop treating me like I don't know how to fight. You think that just because I'm not a half-Saiyan like you I can't fight. Just because I'm a girl means that I'll get my ass kicked!"
Even though I was acting mad, I had never actually cursed in front of my father and I didn't know how he would take it. Actually, I really didn't care. I held my head up, my forehead scrunched in anger, glaring defiantly at my father. It would have been nice if Piccolo jumped in on my behalf, as I actually expected him to, but of course he wasn't that nice.
"No, Pan, I don't want to lose you!"
"I've got something for you to do, brat," Piccolo said gruffly.
The sentiments that my papa was dragging in didn't settle well with me, I never knew how to respond to it, so I was relieved when Piccolo stepped in. I don't think he even liked to hear anything about it either.
"What?" I demanded.
"Go to Capsule Corp., get Vegeta and Trunks, tell them to meet up with us at the crash site. I want you to get Goten as well."
Piccolo had explained that very carefully, as if it were of some great importance. I just gave him a funny look.
"I thought you said there wasn't going to be any fighting?"
"We're just taking precautions," papa answered. "Now please go!"
"Going, going," I mumbled.
Reluctantly, I left the house, making it a point to stomp on my way out. I took off, flying my fastest, which never was fast enough. Piccolo and my father left just after I did, flying off in another direction. I envied their power and pushed myself to speed up.
My task didn't feel important, but the situation now had that feel to it. I'm not sure where it came from. I could have easily turned around and gone with Piccolo and my father, but I decided I would do what was asked of me. Only because it would give me an excuse to show up.
Seven minutes later I was hovering above Capsule Corp. I could sense Vegeta in the gravity machine below me, which I turned away from; I felt for Trunks because, frankly, I preferred to avoid any kind of ordeal with his father. I would let Trunks get him.
I flew over and tapped on Trunks' office window, where I could see him bent over a desk of neatly stacked papers. He whirled around in his chair, I couldn't make out the expression on his face, and swung open the window. He looked annoyed, like I had caused him some great inconvenience.
"You can't just go flying around here! What if people see you!" he fussed.
I said the first defense that popped into my head.
"Kiss my ass! My dad says there's a spaceship that crashed… eh, wherever. Him and Piccolo went to go see what's going on and they wanted me to come get you and your papa, they want you to meet up with them."
"Damnit. It's just not that easy to leave work, Pan."
"Don't tell me that!" I said, taking the defensive.
Trunks grumbled, but folded himself to fit out of the window, taking off without another word to me. I gaped angrily after him, curling my lip at his rudeness and because he had left me to get Vegeta.
For a moment I stared at the gravity machine. I wasn't afraid of him, not in the least, but he made me uneasy. Not in the way Piccolo did when he stared at me, but I always got the feeling that Vegeta was always ready to break my neck.
I desperately searched for any excuse not to see him, but finding none I floated down and banged on the door. If he didn't answer, then I could just leave. I waited, jerking my head back when I heard an explosion within. The door never opened. So I gratefully left.
I was supposed to get Goten, but I didn't. We hadn't talked since I got back anyway, he had given me a few dirty looks though. I guess I just didn't want to talk to him.
Trunks already had a few minutes on me and I was too eager to get to the spaceship. I hoped the aliens were hostile; I wanted a fight. I was soon caught up to Trunks and speeding by him. The look of shock on his face was great! Then, unexpectedly, he became angry.
"Go home, Pan!"
"No way!" I called, too pleased to be riled.
He tried to catch up to me and I got worried, turning my face forward. I checked back frantically and he was still behind me, unable to catch up. I wondered why he was holding back, but I was much too proud of myself to actually care. I was ahead of him, so I had no reason to care why he lagged behind. He looked frustrated and I laughed at him.
I saw the spaceship before anything else. It was smaller than I had imagined, maybe as large as a standard-sized house. It looked as if it were hovering above the ground, as if it were just about to land, but I realized that it had already landed. The ship looked sophisticated, silver and metal built together into some with pointed angles all around that looked more futuristic than anything Bulma could come up with.
From afar, I saw Piccolo and my father with three blue, orange-haired men. As I approached, I could see papa gesturing as he spoke, not urgently, but almost exasperatedly. As I got closer, I began to hear some of the shouting from one of the aliens. I couldn't make anything of the pieces.
They were dressed in white gowns, a nasty blue-gray vest overtop. Two of the men had capes tied around their necks. They looked up at me with thick, black sunglasses covering their eyes, and I ignored their gazes, landing behind Piccolo and my father. Trunks was close behind. Papa was ready to say something to me, about being there I assumed.
"You!" one man shouted.
"Is this them, Dumu?"
"Two of them, yes!" he cried.
I think that guy was really wound up. His eyes were wide and he was trying to grin under his bushy moustache - He looked goofy. I wondered if he was insane.
"Gohan, Piccolo," said the man in front, who I assumed was the one in charge, "they will come with us. Their crimes are to be punished on our planet."
"Executed!" the third man shouted.
"Executed?" I burst out. "For what!"
"Excuse my friend here," Trunks said congenially, stepping to the front. "May I ask what you think we have done and what you are trying to charge us with?"
"Certainly," the man in charge said business-like. "You two, along with a third party, came to our planet and stole our most prized scientific study: an orange ball with five black stars that contained an unknown power. One we were very close to discovering. We also have reason to believe that you kidnapped a highly respected scientist: Dr. Myuu. You are to be executed on these accounts and this planet will be searched for Dr. Myuu.
"We didn't steal anything from you," I said.
Really, I couldn't remember if we had or not. It had been a year; I couldnt't remember how we got each Black Star ball.
"She's right. The ball was given to us. And, I'm sorry, but we don't know your Dr.Myuu and we never kidnapped anyone."
"Liar!" Dumu shouted.
"You are both poor liars. Come with us peacefully or we will force you to come with us."
"They haven't done anything and you have no proof that they've even done anything, Nunya. 'Reasons to believe' doesn't count as proof," papa said sternly, speaking with a boldness I had never heard from him before.
Nunya lunged, his companion readily following, Dumu tailing blindly. They came after Trunks and I. They moved so slowly that I could have gotten out of the way and been behind them before they knew I had moved, instead I waited for him. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Trunks had done what I could have.
I grabbed this guy by the wrists and yanked him toward me, driving my knee into his gut. I howled in pain and sprung back one-footed, glaring at Nunya furiously. There was something under his outfit that could have broken my knee if I'd used more power.
My father attacked him, focused purely on the man's head. That made me mad. I wanted to fight my own battle. I watched, waiting for an opening where I could get back in and show my father that I didn't need him. Papa hit the man so hard that he was lifted off the ground and landed a couple yards back. He started powering up an energy blast, so I did the same.
I cupped my hands together, preparing to use an attack that I had come up with when I had been sparring with Piccolo. I was going to put as much power as I could into it; I had to show my father that I was strong.
I knew that papa was using his Kamehameha wave, so we released our energy at the same time.
"Power Blast!" I had named it for exactly what it was.
I shoved it out of my hand, controlling it with one arm, using my other arm to steady that one. The two energy beams traveled at the same rate, far enough apart so that they wouldn't touch and cause a massive explosion, heading for Nunya. He lifted his upper body off the ground, supported by an elbow, and held up an open palm. He was an idiot.
The energy thinned and was seemingly absorbed right into his palm. Something red glinted against the sunlight.
"What!" I shrieked.
He grinned, got to his feet and came after me again. My father tried to interject, but I flew in front and met the man halfway. I aimed for his head, like papa had. I jumped and kicked him to the ground, drawing out more energy to throw at him. Eight energy balls and two beams, all sucked into his palm. I was furious and no longer thinking rationally. I willingly lost control.
*****
Author's Notes – *giggles* I will be writing the 'How-Piccolo-got-out-of-Hell' story. I'm not yet sure if it will be at the end of this story, like a little bonus for reading, or if I will put it up as a separate story. ^_^;; 'Cause I kinda wanted to put something else after the story, but I dunno if I'ma do that. And, since I'm rambling, I'll just hush-hush now.
Thank You's – To Ly, as always. *huggles* You're such a great beta-reader, even if you have a new computer with a really sucky program and can't figure out how it works. ;)
And to my spifferific reviewers: badger wolf, XZanayu, PiccolosdragoN, Chaotic-Souls, Kutie-Pan and mz. I am very pleased to know that you are all enjoying the story and are kind enough to give me your wonderful reviews. ^_^
Planned Update – 1/9/03