The Deception- -Chapter 6
By Elbereth in April
When Kakkarot opened his door, he found Vegeta scowling at him, which he had expected, but the two Saiyans with him were a surprise.
"Good morning, Kakkarot," Sekot said. "We're going planet purging today."
Kakkarot looked from Sekot to Vegeta to Capran. "All of us?"
"Surprise," Vegeta rasped, scowling harder.
"This will be Capran's first," Sekot stated, slapping him on the back.
Capran glared at him. "Don't touch me."
Vegeta smirked briefly.
"I'll just- -get dressed then." Kakkarot closed the door. They waited outside.
"Vegeta?" Kakkarot called telepathically as he got ready.
"It wasn't my idea," Vegeta snarled. "Probably Frieza's idea of a joke. Putting me and Sekot together. He's a poor excuse for a Saiyan."
"What about the new guy?"
"Don't know. Guess we'll find out." There was a pause. "There's actually two planets that orbit around each other. We purge the first and blow up the second."
Kakkarot stopped with his foot halfway in his boot. For some reason, blowing up a whole planet sounded worse than purging one. 'It isn't really,' he supposed. 'Everyone dies either way. It's just the idea, I guess.'
He sighed and finished dressing. 'I have to not think about it. Just do it. I'm a warrior. I won't make Vegeta despise me. I can do this.'
"You still there, Kakkarot?"
"I'm ready. Let's go." He opened the door.
Vegeta scrutinized him carefully. He knew how squeamish Kakkarot was. "If you embarrass me in front of Sekot. . ."
"I won't. I swear."
"See that you don't."
Vegeta turned on his heel and stalked off. The others hurried to catch up with him.
This time it was Zarbon waiting by their ship.
"Frieza expects you to accomplish this mission quickly and without fail. He wants the new kid to blow up planet Ryoga. He thinks it would be a good challenge. And you're all to purge planet Ryag. Got it?" He sounded bored.
Vegeta half-smirked. "Yeah. Get back to- -what was her name? Lorimaya?"
Zarbon grinned before he could stop himself. "Shut up, Vegeta."
Vegeta ignored him, walking past him cockily, and getting into his ship. Kakkarot grinned before he got into his own ship.
"And what are you laughing at?" Zarbon yelled after him as the door closed.
Their ships left the ground. Zarbon stared after them for a moment. "They're not bad. . . for monkeys."
_________ ________
They landed on Ryag.
"Well, Capran, purge first or demolition first?" Sekot asked.
Capran looked just slightly nervous. "Um. . ."
"Don't be an idiot, Sekot," Vegeta interrupted. "Destroying Ryoga might affect Ryag's orbit so he should do that last thing. Now come on. Let's purge."
Sekot shot him an evil glare. "Are you insulting me?"
"Of course, baka. You're so insultable. You have so many defects."
"We're supposed to fight the aliens, not each other," Capran broke in. He rose into the air. Kakkarot followed. The other two growled at each other and joined them.
"We landed just a few miles from the capital city," Vegeta informed them.
Sekot laughed. "This should be fun."
Kakkarot looked at him in disgust.
They flew into the city and landed on the steps of the Ry Imperial Palace. "Go ahead rookies," Sekot offered with what he obviously believed to be astonishing generosity. "Detonate the palace."
Kakkarot and Capran exchanged glances and powered up.
'Hmm,' Vegeta thought. 'New guy's almost as strong as Vanyar.'
Then the two poured powerful energy attacks into the palace walls. The building exploded. Showers of debris blew up into the air and all around them for miles.
As the smoke and dust cleared, dozens of Ry citizens came running up to the ruins. "What happened?"
"We happened!" Capran yelled, apparently getting into the spirit of things.
He, Sekot, and Vegeta started blasting people. Despite his resolutions, Kakkarot hesitated a moment, but then did the same.
When they'd cleared that city they moved on to the next. And the next. Then Sekot rounded on Kakkarot.
"I've been keeping score and you're way behind. What's your problem?"
"Well, I, I. . ."
"Don't answer him, baka. Tell him to get out of your face!"
Kakkarot shoved Sekot roughly. "Get out of my face!"
Sekot turned red. "Don't talk to me like that!"
"I'll talk to you however I want!"
"I could kill you without even powering up!"
"If you think that, you're an idiot as well as a weakling." Kakkarot crossed his arms, tilted his chin, and gave his most arrogant smirk. "And I'm taller than you."
Vegeta, who had been smirking from the sidelines, frowned but didn't say anything. Capran, who was also short, said, "Hey!" indignantly, but was completely ignored.
"I'll take you out right now," Sekot snarled, dropping into a fighting stance to begin the stare-down.
Kakkarot took a deep breath. "You're a third-class loser. You don't have the Super Saiyan gene. You'll never know real power. You're no true warrior and no true Saiyan." His mind raced desperately for better insults. He was running out. "You're one energy blast short of a ki attack. When you were a child your mom wanted to hire someone to take care of you but the Ginyu Force wanted too much." What were some of Vegeta's favorites? "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries. . ."
But Sekot was attacking by then.
The fight didn't last too long. Sekot managed to block for a little while, but then Kakkarot plowed his fist into Sekot's stomach, hit him across the face a few times, picked him up, and slammed him into the ground.
Vegeta restrained him at that point. "No permanent damage. We have to finish this planet, remember? Frieza will get all bent out of shape."
Sekot managed to get to his feet and wobbled away. Capran followed, watching to see if he'd fall over. Face glowing, Kakkarot turned to Vegeta. "How was that, big brother?"
"Work on your insults a bit more." But Vegeta was smiling.
"That was fun! I tried to think of things you might say," Kakkarot explained.
"Well, I am a good example. Hn. I'll corrupt you yet." They started after the other Saiyans. "Just don't let Sekot see that you're not killing people," he whispered. "I'll pick up the slack." This stunned him, because what he had meant to say was "start killing more people or else." Just because he felt a warm sort of fuzziness because Kakkarot was imitating him. . . and obviously admired him.
But before he could take it back, Kakkarot had stopped, blocking his path, and was staring at him. "No! I- -I'll do a better job. You don't have to make allowances for me. I won't let you down."
"For the good of the Saiyan Empire, carry on warrior," Vegeta responded automatically. How many times had he heard his mother say that to reassure their supporters?
Kakkarot grinned. He recognized it as some kind of formal, ritualistic phrase. It made him feel like a true Saiyan warrior. "Let's go!"
After that Kakkarot made a decent enough showing. There were no further comments. They left the purged planet and got in their ships. They hovered their spacecrafts above the other planet.
"Go ahead, Capran," Vegeta prompted.
Capran took a deep breath and blew it up. Kakkarot didn't watch. Sekot noticed his not watching. Kakkarot got a cold feeling in his stomach. "Sekot," he said defiantly, "you'd steal the straw from your mother's kennel."
"If we weren't in deep space," Sekot sputtered, almost incoherent with rage.
"Good job Capran," Vegeta cut in over them. "Time to go." They closed their doors, leaving Sekot fuming with his door open, but no one to yell at. So he followed suit and they returned to base.
When they landed, a purple alien told Capran to report to Frieza. Sekot glared at Kakkarot maliciously, but instead of saying anything more, he went off with some of his groupies.
"He's going to cause you trouble," Vegeta predicted. "Come with me."
Vegeta led him to the medical ward. "You know that fighting makes a Saiyan stronger."
Kakkarot nodded.
"Near death is better yet."
Kakkarot nodded again.
"I'm going to almost kill you," Vegeta told him calmly.
"What?!"
"Shut up and listen. As soon as Frieza is done beating up the new guy, Sekot is going to go in there and tell him that you don't like to kill people. That's the way Sekot works. Then Frieza is going to call you in and tell you to kill somebody. Probably some Saiyan. You're going to tell him that who you really want to kill is Jeice."
"You said I'm not strong enough."
"That's why I'm going to blast you and heal you first."
"Will that make me strong enough?"
"We've been training almost non-stop in 300 times gravity. You just purged another planet. Right now we're stronger than everybody but Zarbon, the Ginyu Force, and Frieza."
"Why don't I just kill who he tells me to?"
Vegeta sighed. "Because it'll probably be me."
Kakkarot turned pale. "Well then, hit me."
Vegeta calculated the strength of the attack he'd need. Kakkarot would have probably three hours to heal, and he had to be fully battle-ready, so. . . he let loose a blast.
Kakkarot slammed into the wall and blacked out. Vegeta drug him over and put him in a tank. He was still thinking fast.
'Normally Frieza would just force Kakkarot to kill whoever he commanded but this should be enough of a novelty that he'll be curious. He certainly doesn't care if Jeice dies. I think he'll agree. This would take care of that problem, too. And if he kills Jeice, I think Frieza will let him off without killing anybody else. I hope. Cause I think Kakkarot would refuse to kill me, and then Frieza would kill him. Unless he's interested enough in the Super Saiyan gene that he wants to keep us alive. But he'd only need one of us. And Kakkarot is still more pliable than me. I just don't know.' His thoughts kept circling around and around.
About that time, Valkan entered the room. He was holding his ribs. "Is the doctor around?" he asked, in obvious pain. "I had a little accident sparring with Van."
"He never seems to be around, does he? I'll help," Vegeta offered, glad for a distraction.
"Why are you here? Your brother again?"
Vegeta got out the bandages as Valkan sat down. "There are an awful lot of sparring accidents these days."
"I thought you guys were out purging."
"Just got back."
"How'd it go?"
"Sekot lacks all Saiyan honor." Vegeta scowled with real fury.
"Ow! Vegeta, that bandage is a little too tight!"
Vegeta fixed it.
"What'd he do?" Valkan asked when he'd caught his breath.
"He doesn't like Kakkarot because my brother's stronger than him. I think he's going to spread lies to Frieza."
"So go refute him."
"Frieza's not going to believe me. He's my brother."
"Then Capran. . ."
"I don't think we'll get anything coherent out of Capran for a while." Both their faces darkened as they wished Frieza could never lay his hands on another Saiyan again.
"Well, maybe some other Saiyans can put in a good word."
Vegeta stared. "I've been here seven years and in all that time nobody's gone out of their way to help one other. What's with this sudden outbreak of. . ."
"Saiyan pride?"
Vegeta snorted.
"Seriously. I think that's what it is. Or maybe. . . there's just something about Kakkarot, isn't there? He believes in things."
"I believe in things!"
"Yeah, but. . . you're so angry about it. He's just. . . optimistic."
Vegeta's tail twitched. "Valkan. Go away before I hit you. But if Frieza calls up my brother, gather up our little pack and go see if there's anything you can do."
Valkan smiled and saluted. "Will do. And thanks for the tape up." He left.
'Hn. What's so great about my brother?. . . I just thought of him as my brother. He is not my brother. He is not. Vegeta, be careful. You don't want to get caught in your own trap.'
_____________ __________
They had just returned to their respective rooms and put on new armor when they were informed that Frieza wanted them immediately. A small group of Saiyans trailed along after them.
Frieza was in the throne room with Zarbon, Sekot, a couple of Sekot's followers, and a couple of Saiyans known to be "in Frieza's pay." Vegeta had warned Kakkarot about them his first day. "Murdin and Lishing. They're snakes, not Saiyans. Don't turn your back on them."
Frieza looked over at the Saiyans who entered. "I didn't ask for the whole barrel, Dodoria," Frieza scolded their escort.
"Shall I send them away, my lord?"
"Don't bother. Kakkarot! Step forward."
They faced each other. "Sekot tells me you're too weak to be a real warrior. You don't have the stomach to kill anyone."
"He just doesn't like that I can beat him up. He's lying."
Frieza laughed. "Let's see you prove it. Why don't you kill your. . ."
"Jeice," Kakkarot blurted. "Why don't I kill Jeice? That'll prove I'm a real warrior, won't it?"
Everybody stared at him, mouths open, blinking.
Zarbon laughed. "That's a fine idea."
Frieza pursed his lips, suddenly intrigued. "What an interesting monkey you are. You really think you can beat a member of the Ginyu Force?"
"Wouldn't that prove it?" Kakkarot repeated.
"It would." Frieza giggled. "If you can. At the least, it should be entertaining. Dodoria, go fetch him."
Dodoria looked put upon, but went.
The opposing Saiyan factions glared at each other from across the room. Sekot was sweating a little at this unexpected move, and the fact that about eight other Saiyans were staring at him with unrelieved hate.
Kakkarot carefully didn't look at Vegeta. He concentrated on appearing calm. He really hoped Vegeta knew what he was doing.
By Elbereth in April
When Kakkarot opened his door, he found Vegeta scowling at him, which he had expected, but the two Saiyans with him were a surprise.
"Good morning, Kakkarot," Sekot said. "We're going planet purging today."
Kakkarot looked from Sekot to Vegeta to Capran. "All of us?"
"Surprise," Vegeta rasped, scowling harder.
"This will be Capran's first," Sekot stated, slapping him on the back.
Capran glared at him. "Don't touch me."
Vegeta smirked briefly.
"I'll just- -get dressed then." Kakkarot closed the door. They waited outside.
"Vegeta?" Kakkarot called telepathically as he got ready.
"It wasn't my idea," Vegeta snarled. "Probably Frieza's idea of a joke. Putting me and Sekot together. He's a poor excuse for a Saiyan."
"What about the new guy?"
"Don't know. Guess we'll find out." There was a pause. "There's actually two planets that orbit around each other. We purge the first and blow up the second."
Kakkarot stopped with his foot halfway in his boot. For some reason, blowing up a whole planet sounded worse than purging one. 'It isn't really,' he supposed. 'Everyone dies either way. It's just the idea, I guess.'
He sighed and finished dressing. 'I have to not think about it. Just do it. I'm a warrior. I won't make Vegeta despise me. I can do this.'
"You still there, Kakkarot?"
"I'm ready. Let's go." He opened the door.
Vegeta scrutinized him carefully. He knew how squeamish Kakkarot was. "If you embarrass me in front of Sekot. . ."
"I won't. I swear."
"See that you don't."
Vegeta turned on his heel and stalked off. The others hurried to catch up with him.
This time it was Zarbon waiting by their ship.
"Frieza expects you to accomplish this mission quickly and without fail. He wants the new kid to blow up planet Ryoga. He thinks it would be a good challenge. And you're all to purge planet Ryag. Got it?" He sounded bored.
Vegeta half-smirked. "Yeah. Get back to- -what was her name? Lorimaya?"
Zarbon grinned before he could stop himself. "Shut up, Vegeta."
Vegeta ignored him, walking past him cockily, and getting into his ship. Kakkarot grinned before he got into his own ship.
"And what are you laughing at?" Zarbon yelled after him as the door closed.
Their ships left the ground. Zarbon stared after them for a moment. "They're not bad. . . for monkeys."
_________ ________
They landed on Ryag.
"Well, Capran, purge first or demolition first?" Sekot asked.
Capran looked just slightly nervous. "Um. . ."
"Don't be an idiot, Sekot," Vegeta interrupted. "Destroying Ryoga might affect Ryag's orbit so he should do that last thing. Now come on. Let's purge."
Sekot shot him an evil glare. "Are you insulting me?"
"Of course, baka. You're so insultable. You have so many defects."
"We're supposed to fight the aliens, not each other," Capran broke in. He rose into the air. Kakkarot followed. The other two growled at each other and joined them.
"We landed just a few miles from the capital city," Vegeta informed them.
Sekot laughed. "This should be fun."
Kakkarot looked at him in disgust.
They flew into the city and landed on the steps of the Ry Imperial Palace. "Go ahead rookies," Sekot offered with what he obviously believed to be astonishing generosity. "Detonate the palace."
Kakkarot and Capran exchanged glances and powered up.
'Hmm,' Vegeta thought. 'New guy's almost as strong as Vanyar.'
Then the two poured powerful energy attacks into the palace walls. The building exploded. Showers of debris blew up into the air and all around them for miles.
As the smoke and dust cleared, dozens of Ry citizens came running up to the ruins. "What happened?"
"We happened!" Capran yelled, apparently getting into the spirit of things.
He, Sekot, and Vegeta started blasting people. Despite his resolutions, Kakkarot hesitated a moment, but then did the same.
When they'd cleared that city they moved on to the next. And the next. Then Sekot rounded on Kakkarot.
"I've been keeping score and you're way behind. What's your problem?"
"Well, I, I. . ."
"Don't answer him, baka. Tell him to get out of your face!"
Kakkarot shoved Sekot roughly. "Get out of my face!"
Sekot turned red. "Don't talk to me like that!"
"I'll talk to you however I want!"
"I could kill you without even powering up!"
"If you think that, you're an idiot as well as a weakling." Kakkarot crossed his arms, tilted his chin, and gave his most arrogant smirk. "And I'm taller than you."
Vegeta, who had been smirking from the sidelines, frowned but didn't say anything. Capran, who was also short, said, "Hey!" indignantly, but was completely ignored.
"I'll take you out right now," Sekot snarled, dropping into a fighting stance to begin the stare-down.
Kakkarot took a deep breath. "You're a third-class loser. You don't have the Super Saiyan gene. You'll never know real power. You're no true warrior and no true Saiyan." His mind raced desperately for better insults. He was running out. "You're one energy blast short of a ki attack. When you were a child your mom wanted to hire someone to take care of you but the Ginyu Force wanted too much." What were some of Vegeta's favorites? "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries. . ."
But Sekot was attacking by then.
The fight didn't last too long. Sekot managed to block for a little while, but then Kakkarot plowed his fist into Sekot's stomach, hit him across the face a few times, picked him up, and slammed him into the ground.
Vegeta restrained him at that point. "No permanent damage. We have to finish this planet, remember? Frieza will get all bent out of shape."
Sekot managed to get to his feet and wobbled away. Capran followed, watching to see if he'd fall over. Face glowing, Kakkarot turned to Vegeta. "How was that, big brother?"
"Work on your insults a bit more." But Vegeta was smiling.
"That was fun! I tried to think of things you might say," Kakkarot explained.
"Well, I am a good example. Hn. I'll corrupt you yet." They started after the other Saiyans. "Just don't let Sekot see that you're not killing people," he whispered. "I'll pick up the slack." This stunned him, because what he had meant to say was "start killing more people or else." Just because he felt a warm sort of fuzziness because Kakkarot was imitating him. . . and obviously admired him.
But before he could take it back, Kakkarot had stopped, blocking his path, and was staring at him. "No! I- -I'll do a better job. You don't have to make allowances for me. I won't let you down."
"For the good of the Saiyan Empire, carry on warrior," Vegeta responded automatically. How many times had he heard his mother say that to reassure their supporters?
Kakkarot grinned. He recognized it as some kind of formal, ritualistic phrase. It made him feel like a true Saiyan warrior. "Let's go!"
After that Kakkarot made a decent enough showing. There were no further comments. They left the purged planet and got in their ships. They hovered their spacecrafts above the other planet.
"Go ahead, Capran," Vegeta prompted.
Capran took a deep breath and blew it up. Kakkarot didn't watch. Sekot noticed his not watching. Kakkarot got a cold feeling in his stomach. "Sekot," he said defiantly, "you'd steal the straw from your mother's kennel."
"If we weren't in deep space," Sekot sputtered, almost incoherent with rage.
"Good job Capran," Vegeta cut in over them. "Time to go." They closed their doors, leaving Sekot fuming with his door open, but no one to yell at. So he followed suit and they returned to base.
When they landed, a purple alien told Capran to report to Frieza. Sekot glared at Kakkarot maliciously, but instead of saying anything more, he went off with some of his groupies.
"He's going to cause you trouble," Vegeta predicted. "Come with me."
Vegeta led him to the medical ward. "You know that fighting makes a Saiyan stronger."
Kakkarot nodded.
"Near death is better yet."
Kakkarot nodded again.
"I'm going to almost kill you," Vegeta told him calmly.
"What?!"
"Shut up and listen. As soon as Frieza is done beating up the new guy, Sekot is going to go in there and tell him that you don't like to kill people. That's the way Sekot works. Then Frieza is going to call you in and tell you to kill somebody. Probably some Saiyan. You're going to tell him that who you really want to kill is Jeice."
"You said I'm not strong enough."
"That's why I'm going to blast you and heal you first."
"Will that make me strong enough?"
"We've been training almost non-stop in 300 times gravity. You just purged another planet. Right now we're stronger than everybody but Zarbon, the Ginyu Force, and Frieza."
"Why don't I just kill who he tells me to?"
Vegeta sighed. "Because it'll probably be me."
Kakkarot turned pale. "Well then, hit me."
Vegeta calculated the strength of the attack he'd need. Kakkarot would have probably three hours to heal, and he had to be fully battle-ready, so. . . he let loose a blast.
Kakkarot slammed into the wall and blacked out. Vegeta drug him over and put him in a tank. He was still thinking fast.
'Normally Frieza would just force Kakkarot to kill whoever he commanded but this should be enough of a novelty that he'll be curious. He certainly doesn't care if Jeice dies. I think he'll agree. This would take care of that problem, too. And if he kills Jeice, I think Frieza will let him off without killing anybody else. I hope. Cause I think Kakkarot would refuse to kill me, and then Frieza would kill him. Unless he's interested enough in the Super Saiyan gene that he wants to keep us alive. But he'd only need one of us. And Kakkarot is still more pliable than me. I just don't know.' His thoughts kept circling around and around.
About that time, Valkan entered the room. He was holding his ribs. "Is the doctor around?" he asked, in obvious pain. "I had a little accident sparring with Van."
"He never seems to be around, does he? I'll help," Vegeta offered, glad for a distraction.
"Why are you here? Your brother again?"
Vegeta got out the bandages as Valkan sat down. "There are an awful lot of sparring accidents these days."
"I thought you guys were out purging."
"Just got back."
"How'd it go?"
"Sekot lacks all Saiyan honor." Vegeta scowled with real fury.
"Ow! Vegeta, that bandage is a little too tight!"
Vegeta fixed it.
"What'd he do?" Valkan asked when he'd caught his breath.
"He doesn't like Kakkarot because my brother's stronger than him. I think he's going to spread lies to Frieza."
"So go refute him."
"Frieza's not going to believe me. He's my brother."
"Then Capran. . ."
"I don't think we'll get anything coherent out of Capran for a while." Both their faces darkened as they wished Frieza could never lay his hands on another Saiyan again.
"Well, maybe some other Saiyans can put in a good word."
Vegeta stared. "I've been here seven years and in all that time nobody's gone out of their way to help one other. What's with this sudden outbreak of. . ."
"Saiyan pride?"
Vegeta snorted.
"Seriously. I think that's what it is. Or maybe. . . there's just something about Kakkarot, isn't there? He believes in things."
"I believe in things!"
"Yeah, but. . . you're so angry about it. He's just. . . optimistic."
Vegeta's tail twitched. "Valkan. Go away before I hit you. But if Frieza calls up my brother, gather up our little pack and go see if there's anything you can do."
Valkan smiled and saluted. "Will do. And thanks for the tape up." He left.
'Hn. What's so great about my brother?. . . I just thought of him as my brother. He is not my brother. He is not. Vegeta, be careful. You don't want to get caught in your own trap.'
_____________ __________
They had just returned to their respective rooms and put on new armor when they were informed that Frieza wanted them immediately. A small group of Saiyans trailed along after them.
Frieza was in the throne room with Zarbon, Sekot, a couple of Sekot's followers, and a couple of Saiyans known to be "in Frieza's pay." Vegeta had warned Kakkarot about them his first day. "Murdin and Lishing. They're snakes, not Saiyans. Don't turn your back on them."
Frieza looked over at the Saiyans who entered. "I didn't ask for the whole barrel, Dodoria," Frieza scolded their escort.
"Shall I send them away, my lord?"
"Don't bother. Kakkarot! Step forward."
They faced each other. "Sekot tells me you're too weak to be a real warrior. You don't have the stomach to kill anyone."
"He just doesn't like that I can beat him up. He's lying."
Frieza laughed. "Let's see you prove it. Why don't you kill your. . ."
"Jeice," Kakkarot blurted. "Why don't I kill Jeice? That'll prove I'm a real warrior, won't it?"
Everybody stared at him, mouths open, blinking.
Zarbon laughed. "That's a fine idea."
Frieza pursed his lips, suddenly intrigued. "What an interesting monkey you are. You really think you can beat a member of the Ginyu Force?"
"Wouldn't that prove it?" Kakkarot repeated.
"It would." Frieza giggled. "If you can. At the least, it should be entertaining. Dodoria, go fetch him."
Dodoria looked put upon, but went.
The opposing Saiyan factions glared at each other from across the room. Sekot was sweating a little at this unexpected move, and the fact that about eight other Saiyans were staring at him with unrelieved hate.
Kakkarot carefully didn't look at Vegeta. He concentrated on appearing calm. He really hoped Vegeta knew what he was doing.