Chapter Ten
Dikon approached the crater with a healthy amount of caution. He had never faced a living breathing saiyan before and he didn't want to underestimate him or her any more than necessary.
One saiyan. The only question is which one came? Dikon thought to himself, I hope it's the mother! But, with my luck, it's probably the father.
Dikon glanced at the army of splavoids following him with contempt. Fools, they probably think I will protect them, ha, fat chance!
He grinned as he looked into the crater. The pod was open, curious, where was the saiyan? He frowned, as he slid down the side of the crevice. The pod was empty and there was no saiyan in sight.
Dikon scanned the ground for any clues about the saiyans direction.
There! A single partial boot print betrayed the saiyan's presence. Too large for a female and that meant the print belonged to a male. He inspected the ground again, there were no other prints.
"Why didn't we see him? Why didn't he challenge us?" Dikon sat on his haunches for a moment, "unless he wanted to get the girl back first! Hurry! Back to base!"
**
Bardock grinned, truly the Splavoids were the dumbest species in the universe! No guards what so ever! Still, he didn't let down his guard, not with the little girl tucked in his arms. He would check her later for injuries.
A shrill noise filled the hallway with sound suddenly making Bardock wince and the girl to frown in her sleep. An alarm no doubt, he had been discovered.
"Let them come," Bardock tightened his grip on the sleeping child, "Splavoids are no match for a saiyan warrior!"
**
17 and 18 looked up as the screams came to an abrupt halt and the door swung open.
"Feel better?" Vegeta asked casually.
"Much," Ava gave him a toothy grin before turning her eyes to her mate, "Sasoli is alive and well. I know exactly where she is."
17 studied his wife with no small amount of shock, she had done a one-eighty and her whole manner was... playful...
"Let's land," Ava smiled, "it's time to fight."
"Yes, it is," Vegeta returned her smile with a smirk, "It's been to long."
The androids shrugged.
**
Dikon raced back to the compound with about a thousand splavoids behind him.
Stupid! Of course he would go for the girl first! He had signaled the King Fruin of the saiyan running around the base.
Dikon skidded to a stop along with the splavoids when a large round ship landed between them and the compound.
"Shit," Dikon panted, as the hatch of the ship started to open.
Dikon charged the ship and skidded beneath the door before it could fully open. Luckily, he'd had enough momentum to slide completely under the ship and didn't have to wriggle the rest of the way.
Dikon got to his feet and kept running. There was no way he was going to die for these splavoids. Besides he had his own plans, he would retrieve Blue, use her to lure her succulent mother into a trap, and off they go into space, never to heard from again.
**
"Looks like we have a welcoming committee," 18 remarked when the hatch had completely opened.
"These are splavoids," Vegeta smirked, "kill as many as you like."
The Splavoids regarded them with fear and confusion. The dark male and female were definitely of saiyan descent but the blue-eyed male and blond female were not. Why would they side with the saiyans?
"We have only declared war with the saiyans," the General Paple informed the strangers, giving them a chance to back out now.
They watched with shock as the female saiyan draped herself on the blue-eyed male. A collective 'oh' was heard among the splavoids.
"Kill them," her lips brushed his ear, "and I will get Sasoli."
17 buried his hands in her hair.
"We have to go on adventures more often," 17 smiled amused by her behavior, "I didn't know you could be like this."
Ava laughed.
"That's because we don't fight anymore," she rubbed the tip of her nose against his.
"Well, that's going to change," 17's smile widened into a grin as he lowered his head to kiss her.
"Ahem, I'm sorry to interrupt but we have splavoids to kill," 18 lifted a brow.
"You also have a daughter to rescue," Vegeta rolled his eyes with annoyance.
Ava grinned, planted a huge kiss on 17, and flew over the ship to go inside the compound.
17 flushed with embarrassment.
"Well, are we going or not?"
18 laughed.
"You're hopeless."
Without anymore delays the war to end all wars on the planet Splavish began.
**
Bardock frowned. The siren was going but still there were no guards in the hallways. The splavoids made no sense and he was getting no resistance.
Footsteps... Bardock paused in mid-stride, too heavy for a splavoid.
Bardock ducked into a room just as Dikon turned the corner, and passed the smug saiyan. He went deeper into the room looking for another exit. He didn't know how strong that particular male was and he couldn't risk the girl being taken away from him now, she was his only link to Kakarot.
A scream of frustration filled the air briefly.
Bardock grinned, baring his canines as he studied a window for possible means of escape, and so he missed the female saiyan from his visions when she ran right past his open doorway.
**
Ava ran down a hallway, knowing exactly where she was going since she had rather detailed instructions from the watcher.
A male scream came echoing down the hallway.
Sasoli, Ava put on more speed, reaching out with her energy, searching for her daughter's unique ki signature.
Ava slowed down until she came to a complete stop. Her daughter was not in the room she was supposed to be.
Ava turned around slowly and she frowned completely confused.
"Kakarot?" She whispered to herself.
She shook her head as the figure with Kakarot's hair ran down the hallway, away from her. He was the right size to be Kakarot but... he wasn't, he was wearing saiyan armor...
Her eyes widened as he turned the corner, revealing what he carried in his arms.
He has Sasoli!
**
Dikon couldn't believe it! The little imp was gone! What was he going to do without a least a hostage?
Well, she couldn't have gotten far! She's probably running around in the hallway! Dikon stepped out of the room and stopped in his tracks. The object of his affections was standing in the middle of the hallway with her back to him!
It's like she's begging me to take her! Dikon made his way closer to her, soundlessly.
"Kakarot?" She whispered.
Dikon's expression darkened. Who is Kakarot? Her mate?
She took off suddenly, running lightly down the hallway, and away from him.
Is she mocking me?! Dikon took to the air and flew full speed down the hallway to her. You will not escape from Dikon!
**
18 sighed as she blasted random splavoids that were foolish enough to challenge her. She glanced at her male companions and rolled her eyes. They had opted for the 'hands on' method of killing the splavoids instead of merely blasting them to death.
"You're getting your clothes dirty," 18 lifted her noise in disgust.
17 separated a green head from its shoulders, getting liberally sprayed with splavoid blood.
"You're no fun, 18," 17 replied, tossing the head over his shoulders almost absently, "What say you, Vegeta?"
"There's nothing like a good massacre to get the blood pumping!" Vegeta shoved his hand through an armored chest plate.
"Men," 18 rolled her eyes again as she picked off splavoids with just enough energy from her finger.
Truthfully, this was rather anticlimactic. The dreaded splavoids were pathetic and easily killed, why they had ever thought they could challenge the saiyans was beyond her.
18's thoughts were interrupted when a familiar figure came racing around the ship.
"Goku?" 18 frowned as the figure swung toward her, still absently killing the little green aliens.
"Yardrat?" He answered, his voice was deeper than it should have been.
The scar made itself known as the male faced her completely. It ran down the left side of his face, as if it had punctured by something sharp, and lethal.
"Who are you?" 18 punctuated her words with her blasts.
The Goku look-alike returned her frown as he beheaded a random splavoid in his way. He started toward her, looking fiercer than Goku at his maddest.
"Who are you, female?" He asked, sharply.
18 repressed a shudder, there was a hardness and intelligence in his eyes that demanded respect and fear. These eyes didn't belong to Goku.
**
Goku and Zarah had finished sparring when Chichi demanded that they come in for a snack. The small saiyan seemed to be extremely uncomfortable in their company, no matter what they did to make him more at ease.
They had just started eating when a strange feeling hit Goku. He paused with a sandwich halfway in his mouth. The world around him had become fluid as if being seen from under water and became steadily darker.
"Goku?" Chichi's voice brought the world back in focus.
Goku shrugged and finished his sandwich.
"It's Kakarot," Zarah informed her as she walked away.
His saiyan name hit him with the force of a kamehameha and his present world became fluid once more, shifted... reassembling itself...
"Bardock.... Bardock..." Goku could hear himself calling someone in the dark.
"Who is it?! Whose calling me?!" A deep voice answered, full of pain and a bit of panic.
The world brightened and became green. Goku stood alone in a proud stance he only took before he went into battle.
This looks like planet Namek, Goku surveyed his surroundings curiously wondering why he was here of all places, and why he had no control over his body to speak off.
"You know who I am, don't you, Bardock?" Goku heard himself say with a firm voice.
"Yes...you're my son..." the voice answered.
Goku felt shock slice through him as his heartbeat increased. His father was standing behind him and he couldn't make himself turn to see him! Dear Kami, I can feel his energy... Goku relished the feeling of his father's ki that was both familiar and disturbing.
"It's not too late to change, father," Goku's mouth moved as if it had a life of it's own, and his voice reflected none of his excitement.
Goku's head moved slowly as if to look briefly at the man behind him. Goku held his breathe.
"It's not too late to be different..." he met his father's eyes which were as black as his own.
Goku could see him! His hungry eyes swallowed up the vision of his father who reached out to him with a bloody hand. Goku wanted to desperately reach out a hand in response as he took in the battered warrior. His father must have recently been in a great battle to have sustained such grievous injuries.
He is a warrior, Goku felt a almost primal energy lace itself into his being, and it was in that moment that he realized what it meant to be saiyan.
"...from him..." Goku finished and saw his father's face contort in horror.
"Goku!"
The saiyan jumped as his wife touched his shoulder. He blinked at his surroundings when he found himself back in Bulma's kitchen.
No! Father! Goku turned to Zarah.
"Say my name," he pleaded, though there was a rough note in his voice, which had never been present before.
"Goku," Chichi answered, eyeing him with concern.
"No! My saiyan name," Goku growled, shocking all three of them with the fierceness of it.
"Kakarot?" Zarah supplied hesitantly.
Goku growled again when nothing happened. He could practically feel his sharp canines as he barred his teeth, the wild energy seemed to only increase in intensity.
Chichi swallowed uneasily, she had never seen her husband like this, ever.
"Goku honey, what's wrong?" She almost flinched when he glared at her.
Goku took a deep breathe as he tried to calm the energy within that was threatening to take over. It wasn't her fault she disturbed his vision. She just doesn't understand. He looks just like me! He thought helplessly, wanting just one more glimpse.
"Kakarot, what has happened?" Zarah watched his fellow saiyan curiously.
"I saw my father," a fierce grin crossed Goku's face.
"Your father?" Chichi lifted a brow with disbelief coloring her voice, "Isn't he dead?"
Goku let the smile slip off his face as the wild beast went still as if it had never been. His heartbeat slowed down to it's usual pace, funny, he hadn't realized his heart had been pounding.
"What is his name?" Zarah asked, as he started to relax in their presence.
"His name is Bardock," Goku breathed, as the energy stirred with greater intensity.
"Don't you mean his name was," Chichi watched her husband, concerned.
"No, I meant what I said. He is alive... my father is alive!"
The energy surged demanding release.
"Come on, Zarah, let's go see him!"
Zarah's eyes lit up as he reached out a hand to Goku--
--Only to have it slapped away by Chichi.
"Goku, you cannot take a five-year-old into space on a mission to find your dead father. Remember, Vegeta said you two were the only saiyans left alive in the universe," Chichi scolded him.
"He's wrong," Goku said firmly, the energy swirled in his system, "What about Ava, Chichi? She is as full-blooded as the rest of us!"
"Maybe... he thought she had died for some reason," Chichi shrugged.
"Exactly, Chichi, Vegeta wouldn't count her if he thought she had died! Just as he wouldn't count my father if he thinks the warrior died with the planet."
Unnoticed, Zarah relaxed completely, and had started to swing his legs absently.
"Goku, he's dead and has been dead almost as long as you have been alive," Chichi shook her head, trying to get her husband to see reason.
"You're wrong, he's alive, and he will come for me," Goku felt the energy surge as he felt the truth of the statement hit him.
"Come for you? As in take you with him?" Chichi demanded, as Goku seemed to zone out.
Goku shrugged off her questions as he tried to reign the energy back into a more manageable level.
"Goku, listen to me, he's dead," Chichi demanded his attention, her temper close to boiling over.
"You're wrong," Goku repeated softly with complete conviction.
"Then what about US!? YOUR family?!" Chichi blew up.
Goku's eyes widened in surprise then narrowed as the energy he had been trying to contain erupted.
"How can you ask me that?" Goku's voice was deadly quiet at first then started to build with frightening intensity, "How many times have I saved this world, Chichi?! WHO did you think I did it for?! It was ALL for YOU!! I died twice so that you may live! You and Gohan! And Now Goten! All for YOU!!!"
In a rage he threw a chair and listened with satisfaction as it shattered upon impact. Chichi just stood there, silent.
"Kakarot?" Zarah broke the sudden silence.
"What?" Goku surveyed the damage as the energy finally settled.
Goku winced, the chair was firewood. Damn, Bulma's going to kill me.
"What does he look like? Your dad?" Zarah questioned innocently, completely unfazed by the entire incident.
"He looks exactly like me or I look exactly like him... Except he has a scar down the side of his face and he has his tail," Goku smiled as he picked up the pieces of the broken chair, shrugged, and dropped it.
"His name... is Bardock?" Chichi asked hesitantly.
"Yeah...Oh, sorry, Chichi," Goku grinned sheepishly, his hand going behind his head, "I don't know what came over me."
Chichi regarded her husband with new eyes and realized how lucky she truly was.
"No, Goku, it's my fault... I should know better than to doubt you," Chichi gave her own version of a sheepish smile.
Zarah frowned at the adults with sudden confusion.
"That's... ok..." Goku fumbled for words, he wasn't used to her apologizing, "I... it's just... I never knew my father and I want to meet him, besides you guys, he's the only family I have..." Goku tried to explain.
"I understand, what I wouldn't give to see my mother," Chichi sighed and put a hand to her temple, "All this stress is going to give me wrinkles."
"I'll love you anyway," Goku teased.
Chichi blushed making him laugh.
"You people are weird," Zarah glared at them.
Without another word the small saiyan picked up his dish, put it in the sink, and left the room.
"What's all that about?" Chichi frowned.
Goku shrugged.
End of Chapter Ten
AN: AHHHH! ::Slams the door shut and leans against it:: Finals... I barely escaped with my life! ::Takes a deep breathe to calm down:: Ok, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, though, I am a little worried about the Goku scene... I don't know, you tell me... ::Listens to the door:: They're coming! AHHHHHHHHH! ::Door is broken down and Michelle is forcefully dragged through it:: You can't stop me from writing!! Even if I return to school, I'll never stop writing!