Chapter 42
The dark sky was just beginning to show the first signs of dawn when the Z- Fighters gathered outside Capsule Corp to kiss their loved ones good-bye; Bulma was the last to join the group.
"I just tried calling Pan and there's still no answer. Either she and Akira are ignoring the radio or something is blocking the signal from getting to them," she said when she arrived.
"It wouldn't have mattered. They're still a long ways out; there wouldn't have been anyway for them to get here any quicker. One way or another this battle will not last long enough for them to make a difference," Vegeta said as he straightened his Saiyan armor. It had been a long time since he'd bothered to wear it, but somehow it had seemed appropriate today.
"Oh, before I forget, here you go Vegeta," Bulma handed him the Brute Ray.
The Saiyan Prince looked down at it in disgust; it was the very symbol of his weakness, of his failure to keep up with Kakorrot. He tossed it to Trunks, "Here, you take it, I have no need of it." His son, who'd been in the process of strapping his sword into place when the gun had been thrown at him, bobbled the Brute Ray before finally catching it.
Bulma stared at Vegeta open mouthed for a moment and then stammered, "But, but what if you—"
"No!" Vegeta shouted forcefully. "I will fight this battle on my own, with my own power. If that is not enough then so be it, a Saiyan doesn't rely on artificial, temporary powers. Trunks or Gohan can use that contraption, but I won't."
For a moment it looked like Bulma was about to go into a rage, but then she visibly forced herself to relax and said, "Alright, but if you get killed out there, I won't ever forgive you, even if you do get wished back."
Vegeta smirked and nodded. Then looking at his daughter said, "Take care of your mother while we are away Princess."
Bra flashed him an identical smirk and hugged her father, causing him to turn red.
Krillin smiled at the sight and turned to his own wife and child. "You guys take care while I'm gone, okay?
Marron nodded teary-eyed, but Eighteen scowled and said, "You shouldn't be going at all. I'm much stronger than you, I should be the one to go."
Krillin shook his head, "You know we need you here. If one of Ammit's men should slip by us or if..." he swallowed hard, "if we lose, we need some one here to protect our families. Your power can't be detected so you're the obvious choice."
His wife clearly didn't like the idea, but she didn't argue further. The android leaned over and kissed her husband, "You be careful out there, okay?"
"No problem," the former monk said with a cheerful smile and a thumbs-up.
The rest of the Z-Fighters said their good-byes, climbed into the three hover cars that Bulma had gotten for them to use so they wouldn't run the risk of giving themselves away by flying, and headed out.
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The journey to Ammit's landing site took over three hours; it would have been a slightly shorter trip, but Vegeta insisted upon circling around to the far side of the mountain and then approaching on foot. He chose to do it that way for two reasons: first, the rocks would provide them with some cover as they crept closer to the landing area; and second, if Ammit didn't know where they were coming from, it might keep their families safe if they were defeated.
As they all got out of the hover cars and put the vehicles back into capsules, Vegeta turned to them and said, "Now remember, no one makes a sound from here on out. We don't want to make it any easier for them to find us than it already will be, got it?" The others nodded grimly and then the Z-Fighters began their silent hike.
It was almost an hour later when they finally rounded a bend and were greeted by the sight of a huge space ship glistening in the sunlight. Quickly they climbed down the mountain and hid behind some large boulders. Peaking over the top of their hiding places, the seven warriors could see a large army standing at attention, facing the ship, their backs to the Z- Fighters. Gohan did a quick count and whispered to Vegeta that there were at least three hundred aliens in the clearing.
The Saiyan Prince continued to scan the area for a few minutes and then nudged Gohan and pointed toward the front of the ship where an extremely large, red skinned alien in shinny, black armor. The big warrior was standing next to two smaller robed figures, one robed in black, the other wearing a ragged brown robe.
"Is that Ammit?" Gohan whispered, indicating the red alien.
"How should I know? I've never seen him before," Vegeta whispered back in a harsh voice. "All the legends I've ever heard of him say he was a powerful warrior, so it's probably him, but there's no way to be sure."
"Prince Vegeta!" The large alien's deep voice boomed out over the clearing, causing all of the Z-Fighters to duck down behind their rocks. "Prince Vegeta, we know that you are out there! Come on out your Highness, we've been looking forward to meeting you for so long. During our travels we heard many rumors that the most powerful warrior in the universe, the great Prince Vegeta, was located on planet Earth. That is why this little dirt ball was chosen as the point from which the Dark Empire would rise again." The large warrior paused for a moment and looked around expectantly before saying, "Still hiding, huh? Perhaps this will get your attention," he raised a hand and immediately several fighters began to power up, their power levels quickly reaching that of a new Super Saiyan.
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Akira's eyes snapped opened as he suddenly felt numerous power ups on Earth; a moment later Pan rushed back into the gravity room. She looked at the young man questioningly; he nodded.
"It's starting."
"Well? What are you waiting for? Let's go," Pan said impatiently.
Akira shook his head, "No, not yet. I don't sense any of your friends and I don't want to screw up any plans Vegeta or your dad might have. We need to wait."
"But what if they don't have a plan? I mean, Ammit's early isn't he? Maybe dad and Vegeta haven't come up with a plan yet."
The Akira considered this for a moment and then said, "That could be, but we can get there almost instantly and I'd rather not risk messing anything up. I think we need to stay here for the time being, we'll be able to get there the instant we're needed."
Pan obviously didn't agree and glared at him venomously, but didn't argue the point further.
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"Krillin," Vegeta hissed.
"Uh...yeah?" the gray haired man replied, slightly unnerved that the Saiyan Prince had called him by his name instead of using some sort of insult.
"We are going to need senzu beans, lots of them. We didn't get the chance to get any before Ammit arrived and, until now, didn't know exactly what we were up against. If there are any more fighters with this kind of power we will be hard pressed to win this battle without aid."
"But it'll take me hours to climb back to the cars and get to the Lookout..." Krillin said in confusion.
"You dolt, you aren't going to go back to the cars! We need those beans now! So, get going."
The former monk leapt into the air and sped towards the Lookout.
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"I thought that might get your attention," the big alien called out as Krillin sped through the air away from the mountain. "Oh, come now your Highness, there's no need to run, we only want to talk to you. However, if you are this much of a coward then perhaps there is no need for discussion," he nodded to one of the warriors in the front row that had powered up and the creature immediately sent a ki blast chasing after the flying figure.
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"Oh, shit!" he brought his hands up in a defensive position, knowing that it wouldn't make much of a difference.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"Well," said Pan after a couple minutes of silence, Akira turned and looked at her. "I guess since we aren't going anywhere for the moment we should at least try to get a little stronger while we wait.
"Are you crazy?" the young man asked, turning away from her and refocusing on earth. "We could be leaving to fight hoards of bad guys at any moment...and you want to train some more?"
She grinned wickedly at his exposed back, "I was thinking more along the lines of teaching you a little Saiyan Heritage 101."
Akira gave her a confused glance over his shoulder, "Uh, come again?"
The only answer he received was a ki blast that ripped into his back.
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A/N: As always, thanks for all the reviews (over 90 now!). It warms my heart to open my email and see that I've gotten another review (it also inspires me to update a bit faster). Sorry to say, but it's going to be a little wh has taken a while, my brain's been freaking out on me the last several days. I don't know if anyone else gets like this, but I've found myself fixated on the plots for several stories that up until a few days ago I hadn't even thought about. In particular I've been thinking about a sequel to this story. In fact, it got so bad that I had to sit down and write out the first chapter to it just so I could focus on this one again. Is that weird?
A/N: Oh, and before I forget, I wanted to throw a little commercial in here for a fan fiction that I was pointed to by a reviewer. 'DragonTek' (1798353) by Nadz is pretty darn good, even for those (like myself) who don't have the foggiest clue what Tekkaman is. Nadz isn't getting nearly the amount of reviews that he deserves for such a great story, so if you're interested, I suggest you check it out.