Chapter 5: Fight
"Hello Plenthor!" Raditz called into the room he had just entered.
A stout man about half Raditz's size looked up from the patient he was working on and smiled at them. He finished bandaging the wound and gave the patient some antibiotics before sending him away and fully greeting the three Saiyans that had entered the hospital wing. "Hello there my good friends! Is this the new Saiyan I've heard so much about? Ahhh...This is Kakarot, correct? Oh I remember you Kakarot, yes you were by far the loudest baby I'd ever had to take care of. But look at you now, all grown up! And quiet too, whys that now?"
Kakarot tilted his head to the side. This was the first time he'd ever heard someone speak fluently to him in his new language without one of the devices that both Fasha and Raditz wore on their eyes, and who already wasn't naturally Saiyan. "Kakarot...was here?" he asked looking around. He spotted a tray of needles laying on a table and felt himself seize up inside.
"Oh no, of course not!" Plenthor replied. He took Kakarot's hand and began to lead him away to another large table where he could examine him better. "You were born on Planet Vegeta like all other Saiyans. I have a great fascination with Saiyan anatomy, it's what got me the job there and eventually I was reassigned here."
"Yeah, right before our planet blew up," Raditz mumbled as he leaned against a wall with his arms crossed. "I swear Frieza had this all planned way before we even signed a contract with him."
"Well of course he had it planned out Raditz," Plenthor replied as he took out a flash light and shined it in Kakarot's eyes. "But I doubt he was prepared that far back." He took out a small mallet and began testing the reflexes of his Saiyan patient. "No, he's just making it up as he goes along. Same as you. Oh but listen to me, setting a bad example for you as I babble on about the stupidity of Frieza. We need to watch ourselves, especially you Saiyans."
"You're in no danger of being betrayed by us Plenthor," Fasha said with a smile. "You know we adore you."
"And I adore you," he replied as he began to rub the jointed part of Kakarot's left arm with a stench smelling oil. "But even walls have ears and we shouldn't be taking chances of being overheard."
"Like anyone could understand us anyway."
"And that is why the scouters double as translators." Plenthor held up a jar of nearly transparent liquid to the light, then turned it upset-down and punctured the top with an empty needle which he began to fill up. But in a flash Kakarot was off the table and making a break for the door, which he slammed into and brought his escape attempt to a halt. "Kakarot, what's wrong?"
"No needle!" the youngest Saiyan cried spinning around ready to fight tooth and claw not to have the injection when he couldn't figure out how to open the doors. "No needle, no!"
"Oh dear," was the doctor's response. "I forgot you don't like injections. And I was hoping we wouldn't have to hold you down for this..."
"C'mon Kakarot," Raditz said as he made a slow approach. "You can't tell me you're afraid of getting a shot, not someone as old as you now. It's just one little needle-"
"Three," Plenthor interrupted. Kakarot flattened himself further against the wall and hissed, and Raditz shot him a Look. "Well, I aways was honest with every single Saiyan. I don't know why you'd expect me to lie now."
"Look Kakarot, it's no big deal, you don't need to be afraid, okay?" said Fasha as she took his right hand. "Don't you know me and Raditz would never let anything bad happen to you? This is so you don't get sick from anything we may have that you don't have the antibodies for, okay?"
Kakarot debated for a few minutes, looking over his shoulder at the closed and nearly locked door, before giving in and allowing himself to be led back to his terrifying medication. But he hid behind Raditz and sobbed silently as his older brother held his arm out and the injections were given one at a time. Then his elbow was bandaged to keep the three small pricks from bleeding and he quickly withdrew his arm to his chest. There were several other tests Plenthor had to run, though he mentioned having done most of them while Kakarot was unconscious when first brought aboard the ship, but suffice to say Kakarot wasn't all that enthusiastic about making it go over smoothly.
"And now, for your final test Kakarot," Plenthor said as he finished writing down the overall results on a form. "To see how you've evolved as a fighter! Off we go then, to the training rooms." And he led the way, stopping only at the front office to make sure that someone was there to cover for his absence.
The training rooms, for very obvious reasons, wasn't more then a two minute walk from the hospital wing so they were there very shortly after they left and greeted by a great crowd of people for it was like Fasha had said, there were a lot of people wondering what Kakarot knew as a fighter. Among those that were able to squeeze into the actual room they found Prince Vegeta and his bodyguard Nappa, with Torah flagging them over. He seemed downright giddy about all the excitement.
"Everyone recognizes you as Bardock's son!" he said once the three Saiyans had joined him and Nappa. Kakarot noticed out of the corner of his eye Vegeta and Plenthor slipping away to a more quite corner, but didn't really have the ability to look and see why as Torah began rambling on about how he was sure to be as great a fighter as his dad. "Because even though we were third class fighters, we could finish jobs even elites were scared to take on, and it was all thanks to you father's pep talks and confidence in us!"
"Stop scaring him Torah," Fasha said as she stepped between Kakarot and the over excited babbling Saiyan. "He doesn't want to hear about all this and neither do the rest of us."
"You're the one who doesn't want to hear it," Torah replied with a slightly sulky air in his tone. "But you just do your best in there, okay? Because it runs in your blood, you'll be fine."
Kakarot nodded, though he still didn't understand what was going on. At that time Plenthor returned with Vegeta and Kakarot noticed one slight thing before he was whisked away to a set of doors on the opposite side of the room from which he entered and that was that on the left side of Vegeta's face, barely noticeable so later Kakarot had to wonder if it wasn't perhaps just his imagination, was a scratch that looked much like it had been made by the claws of a whip. But Vegeta was shallowed behind a large group of people and when Kakarot turned around, he found he was just outside a set of doors. Plenthor handed the paperwork he'd done on Kakarot over to one of the several people monitoring screens which currently were off. After they exchanged a few words the doors opened and Kakarot was told to go inside and wait for the fight to begin.
It was darkly lite inside the room and a little stuffy. But compared to the cluster-phobic feel of the previous room, it was much more agreeable. Above Kakarot was one single glowing red light and it didn't give off enough glow to see the walls or far corners where the dark, dark shadows lay. And in one of these shadows Kakarot heard another door swish open and he saw two glowing red eyes and a sharp white fanged toothy smile leering out and him.
Kakarot barely heard the commence announcement over the high-pitched scream and the confusion of having the most ugliest green thing hurtled toward his head at a speed he could just barely follow. He blocked just in the bare nick of time and found himself face to face with what he could only described as a long lost cousin of Piccolo, though certainly not as evolved as his former archenemy as it head was more or less a ball of lettuce with a crudely craved face.
It broke away and retreated to the shadows where it slipped around and attacked from behind. The Saiyan spun and blocked again with his arm though this time he reversed the movement of his adversary by flinging him back the way he came with a flick of his wrist. But his opponent kept coming back. After a few good minutes of this sparring, Kakarot began to get slightly annoyed. He increased his power and shot a small energy blast, one that surly would've fried a regular human alive, but of course this was no human and it did little to hinder it's fighting. Which furthered to annoy Kakarot, but he was reluctant to power-up any further. After all, the last time he had cut loose he had killed those he loved. What would he do if something went a miss and Raditz got in his way? And even if he could keep it together and everything under control, it was still pointless killing. He didn't approve of pointless killing. And to top it all off, he didn't think that was the way to win this battle; after all, these were called the Training Rooms, there was no killing in training, you never kill your opponent while training. But then why couldn't he win a round?
The clock ticked on and the minutes struck the first hour of this continuing bout. It was really beginning to grate on his nerves and the constant screaming wasn't helping Kakarot to think any clearer. Forsaking all he had learned as a "human" on Earth for at least a few seconds of peace and quiet he let his power wash over him in it's maximum and unleashed his Saiyan fury upon the body of the deranged little green thing. And when it was over and his senses had returned, he realized that his hands had again taken the life of something that was innocent and didn't deserve to die. At first his mind had just the slightest problem comprehending it for there wasn't even a body, just a darker mark on the floor, and the memories of the battle that had taken place were instantly repressed and he began to wonder what exactly he was doing and where he was when another door was opened and from it two more of what he just faced where thrown into the room with him and the process started over again.
Once those two were taken care of, in the same way the first had been disposed of, three more took their place. Then four, then five, six...
And each time the numbers grew Kakarot's will to allow this to keep happening dwindled. But not at all in a human way, for as everyone knows Kakarot is not a human. His Saiyan Rage and instinct took over, blocking out any other thoughts, especially those of what was right and what was wrong. And by the end of the eighth round of green loins for the gladiator, there littered the ground bodies and pieces of those he'd slain. As Kakarot he stood dead center in the irony smell of blood mixed with that of burnt flesh, covered in the runny life liquid of all his fallen foes; Goku and all his teachings far from his mind, letting the true essence of what it was to be a primitive Saiyan wash over and consume every fiber and cell within his body, to give himself completely up to the power pulsing in his very veins.
And finally, the battle seemed to stop and with it died his thoughtless mind and all that which drove him in the fighting. He looked around and couldn't seem to recall how so many bodies had gotten there, or how he himself had gotten into the room that he was in. Worst yet, he couldn't find a door to let himself out, it all looked the same around him, and something told him he didn't want to go near the shadows. "Rrrr..." he started to mumble as he did another 180 on the room. "Rrr...Rraaahditsshhh? Raditz...Raditz, where are you? Raditz? Raditz?"
Outside the training room everyone was dead silent as they watched the battle play out on the screens that had previously been blank. Half the people there expected Kakarot to get smacked up within five minutes of there very first round. Word had gotten around that the planet Earth was a rather peaceful planet with no real need to go to war with anyone or thing so it was natural to assume this Saiyan would've had no experience and may have just as well been a clueless child trying to wield a bastard sword weighing close 800 pounds. The other half was divided in half itself with one quarter totally supporting him (though they wouldn't openly admit it in the crowd for the obvious reason of being killed for hoping that one day there may arise a power that could over throw Frieza) and the other quarter hoping he dies yet not really giving a damn if he lived for they were also the people who hated Frieza, yet they distested Saiyans as well.
So when all eight rounds had been won by him everyone found themselves quite speechless. Some had even left as the later battles got more violent, fearing the Saiyan might try to break out of the room and that he and his companions would start a riot. Others were just going to be sick. And when Kakarot stood among all the death at the end, covered in blood and looking like a forbidding sight, all were scared to move or talk or even breathe, forgetting that he couldn't see them for a minute. But that passed and a soft murmur ran though the crowd like a wildfire through a dry grassland when he started calling for his brother.
"Well," called Vegeta's voice above all the others so that most of them stopped to hear him. "Don't just stand there, open the damn door and let him out!"
"Not yet," came a softer voice and everyone turned to see. "I'd like to have a private word with him."
By now Kakarot was trying his best not to have a mental breakdown. He'd covered his face with his hands so he didn't have to see where he was and in hopes that it would muffle the putrid smells in the room. But then it hindered his breathing, especially since he was trying to take deep, soothing breaths to keep himself from just going crazy, though that's hard to do when one keeps breathing in the smell of fresh blood every time they inhale.
He heard the sound of a door swishing open and lifted his head up to see stronger light fall upon the wall he was facing. "Raditz?" he said, his hopes soring only to crash when he turned around to find that it wasn't his brother but the very last person he wanted to see at that moment.
Frieza gave one good look around, showing no expression of any type of emotion on his face whatsoever before taking a few more steps into the room and allowing the door to swish close behind him, locking the two of them in the room alone with each other.
End Chapter 5!