Endgame
Chapter 38: Strange Bedfellows
Krillin had a take a moment to get his bearings- Kakarot? Who- the- what- now? Steadying himself, he cocked his head to the side. 'Kakarot… haven't heard that name in a while… haven't seen him in a while, either…' he said, more to himself than the stranger in front of him.
Narrowing his eyes, Raditz raised on hand to his face and tapped the side of a weird, one-eyed glass vizor. Light flashed on the lens. 'You? You're the reading I detected?' He sneered. 'Pitiful. Two 300s, a few 200s, and a smattering of lives beneath my interest…'
'Krillin?' Rayne's voice floated over to them a moment before she came up to Krillin's side. She looked over the stranger and noticed what Krillin had not- a tail was wrapped around Raditz's waist. 'You... ' Her eyes darted up from the tail to his face. 'You're like Kakarot…'
'You know him too?' Raditz suddenly straightened, his gaze shifting towards the crowd of people beyond Rayne and Krillin. 'Do you all know him?' He demanded loudly.
A suffocating silence fell upon the party; every side conversation and quibble fell away, leaving the music of the small brass band Bulma had hired as the only sound present. That is until Bulma quickly ran over and silenced them as well.
'I see it on your faces… the way you look at me…' Consciously, Raditz unwound his tail, letting it waver behind him for the first time since stepping foot on this planet. 'You know Kakarot…'
More and more people approached the edge of the gazebo, forming a wall of people inbetwixt Rayne and Krillin. 'Who are you?' Tien asked, his hands conspicuously empty of any drink.
'Unimportant,' Raditz bluntly answered. 'What is important is that one of you point me in the direction of Kakarot. Otherwise, this party will be irreversibly disturbed.'
'Uh, buddy,' Yamcha said while sauntering forward, 'I don't think you know who you're dealing with. You pretty much ran into the most powerful group of people on the planet!' Yamcha swung an arm to everyone present and nearly stumbled over.
Despite the tangible unease lingering in the air, everyone chuckled at Yamcha's not-quite-drunk antics. What he was saying was true, after all.
A flicker of amusement flashed across Raditz's face. 'Oh? Is that so? Are my efforts to find my brother so amusing to you all?'
'Brother?' Launch muttered under her breath.
'I don't like your tone!' Yamcha said somewhat drunkenly. 'We were having a great time until you and your annoying questions came around. So how about you go and get before we show you the type of power we can throw around!' he threatened.
'Power?' Suddenly, Raditz bent down and clenched his arms, a manic look spilling across his face. 'What do you know of power!?'
0o0o0
On a distant island, high above the churning and foaming sea below, Piccolo sat, scrubbing every bit of emotion from his mind. Fear!... Such a despicable emotion!... Furiously, he worked to rationalize what he had seen- what he had felt. It can't be a coincidence that he had a tail, too… but what does it mean? Why haven't I encountered him before? His power is overwhelming!... It doesn't make sense!
Then, all at once, it descended on him. Like a foul beacon shining down on him in the night, a terrible tingle ran up and down his spine, setting every inch of his skin aflame. Jolting to his feet, Piccolo turned towards the far-off distance, his eyes focusing on some unseen thing. Impossible… this is the true depths of his power? He then vaguely noticed the group of smaller powers nearby. Damn it! Of course he would go to them next!
A few tortured seconds passed as Piccolo visibly struggled to move. Something clicked, however, and the demon blasted off into the sky.
0o0o0
Kami stumbled, catching himself with his staff at the very last second. Pressure raced up and down his flesh, seeking to burst from his body wherever possible. He feebly tried to stand- his body refused. Mr. Popo wasted no time in rushing to his side. 'Kami!' They cried.
Wheezing, Kami took a moment to catch his breath. Even with Mr. Popo's help, it took him a long time to stand.
0o0o0
'Hmm?'
Dr. Gero wheeled to his right to a table full of displays. 'Impossible…' he muttered under his breath. 'The amount of energy- aah!'
A glass measurement device exploded, showering tiny glass shards across the room. Another similar one quickly did the same- soon enough, a cascade of exploding glass fixtures triggered across the room, forcing the Red Ribbon scientist to duck his head and his body underneath his desk. For a few seconds, his hearing was filled with a chorus of breaking glass before slowly tapering off. Once his lab was silent again, Gero cautiously poked his head out and above from his desk. Despite the carnage he now saw, his mind was filled with frenzied speculation. He's finally resurfaced! I must move quickly! Rushing over to his console, he began to furiously type away. He won't slip through my grasp again!
0o0o0
During the perfect day amid the perfect calm Chi-Chi had carefully constructed within her room, a smidget of sensation started prodding against the edges of her mind. Taking a breath, she pushed it away. Not today. Dad told me to rest, to relax. I can't let my mind be dragged along by something else…
The sensation grew stronger. Closing her eyes, she willed her mind to ignore the growing feeling, but that only succeeded in making it more prominent.
The sensation remained, an infuriating prodding at the very edge of her consciousness. Giving up, she opened his eyes and threw the sheets off of her, sat up in her bed, and broke the sensory shell around her.
Her eyes widened, then dilated. Abject terror seized her. Her hands unconsciously shot to her abdomen, but a moment later she jumped out of bed and burst out of the room.
0o0o0
Stupefied, terrified, frightened, scared, overwhelmed- feeling after feeling after feeling rushed at Krillin, drowning out any coherent thought he might have formed. This… is impossible, he mentally pieced together. No person should be this powerful…
The wind whipped past them in cruel indifference. Yamcha, as drunk as he was, was actually pushed off his feet by the fast-moving gusts. To some degree, they all felt repulsed by the monstrous energy; each and every one of them gradually recoiled backward, moving deeper into the gazebo. Finally, having demonstrated what he wished to demonstrate, Raditz let his power recede back into him, disguising any trace of what he had shown.
They reacted just as the green man had… 'I have not come here to negotiate,' Raditz announced to a crowd of horrified spectators. 'I have come to find out what I want to know,' he said haughtily, 'and I will find out. Either you tell me where Kakarot is or what happened to him, or you'll hurdle faster towards the inevitable. Your choice.'
Before Krillin- or anyone, for that matter- could say anything in response, Yamcha surged past him, running towards Raditz. 'Get lost, pal!' He yelled, pulling back his right arm and emphatically driving it towards Raditz's chest.
The fist made contact, stopping like a car slamming into a concrete wall. Yamcha's expression laggardly drooped.
In one clean movement, Raditz stepped forward and wrenched Yamcha's arm up at an impossibly fast speed, snapping the humerus at the mid-way point and wrenching the arm out of its socket. Wailing, Yamcha was pulled off his feet and thrown over Raditz's shoulder towards the ground like a sack of potatoes; his back cratered into the grass.
Launch was the next to charge, running forward with two ki blasts charged with her hand. When she was five feet away from Raditz, a beam ready to erupt from each hand, Krillin blinked. When he opened his eyes, Raditz was positioned behind Launch, pulling back his elbow from an already delivered strike. She crashed face-first against the ground.
Fighters began swarming Raditz, enveloping him- briefly. A flash of a limb and Suno was sent spiraling backward, crashing through the floor of the gazebo. A twirl of a leg and Rayne was slammed into the ground, her limbs spraying outwards before coming to a morbid stop. Even Tien, who had acted quickly and had approached Raditz from behind, was caught totally unaware when his jab sailed through the air where Raditz' neck had been. A fist then rammed down on Tien's head from above, stunning the warrior. He briefly held himself upright before Raditz snorted from behind him and shoved him to the ground.
Throughout this, Krillin had remained motionless, half-frozen by fear and rapid calculation. He felt a prick of energy well up in his hand.
When Raditz went to step over Tien's prone body, Krillin acted. Jumping up, he held his right arm and blasted a short cone of energy point-blank at Raditz's head, hoping to stun him in some way. A flurry of sound and energy erupted, but with a wave of his hand Raditz swept through the haze, dispersing what remained of the attack.
Raditz smirked. 'Aren't you a fiery one!' The next moment, Krillin felt a knee slam into his gut, delivering such crippling pain than he was immobilized and collapsed to the ground in a heap.
This entire sequence of events had taken a little under five seconds. For Raditz, it took him five seconds to topple Earth's strongest warriors. In what as well had been a different plane of existence from their own, he surveyed the fallen fighters around him. 'Pathetic.'
The only ones left standing at this point was Bulma and Yajirobe- and the samurai was shaking so badly that his sword was rattling up and out from his scabbard. 'Can you tell me something they couldn't?' Raditz mocked.
A low beep emanated from the device on Raditz's head. By habit, his sight shifted toward the glass. 'Interesting.' His gaze swept over the felled fighters before him. 'You strike me as a lucky bunch. I imagine we'll see each other again very soon, but until then…' Raditz's feet lifted off the ground. In a few seconds, he was gone.
0o0o0
Bulma's mouth was frozen in place for a few seconds, her attention locked in the direction Raditz had departed by. When her total paralysis inevitably broke, her eyes began frantically scanning her friends scattered like garbage across the ground. Wasting no time, she turned to Yajirobe. 'Korin grows those special green things-'
'-senzu beans?' Yajirobe replied, his teeth clattering from the residual adrenaline.
'Yes! Those!' She gripped him by the shoulders and shook him. 'Get back to Korin and get them now!'
'-but'
She slapped him. 'NOW!'
The slap seemed to shake him out of his terror. Stiffening his face, Yajirobe shook his head once. He then took a few steps away from the gazebo, took a deep breath, and yelled, 'NIMBUS!'
A yellow cloud appeared from above. With some difficulty, Yajirobe clumsily climbed onto it. 'I'll be back as soon as possible,' he said to Bulma. 'But I can't guarantee that I'll have enough beans for everyone.'
'That's fine!' Bulma yelled, shooing him away. 'Just go!'
Yajirobe nodded again. Swinging his gaze to the cloud below him and gripping onto it for dear life, he closed his eyes. The next moment, it sped off into the sky.
As soon as he was out of sight, Bulma spun on her heels towards the frightened waiters and musicians scattered around the gazebo. 'All of you! Run over to the medical wing of Capsule Corp. and tell the interns they're about to get some hands-on experience! And then wake the actual doctors!'
A brave soul said, 'But we're not being paid to do that-'
The person ducked as a heel sailed over their head. Bulma gave him the most vicious look she had ever given to a living thing in her life. 'Now!' she screamed.
Like a rack of pins being hit by a bowling ball, the various party workers burst into action as newly-minted emergency personnel.
0o0o0
Chi-Chi, despite her terror, pushed the door open as quietly as she could. Carefully, she poked her head into the room. 'Is he asleep?' she asked at a whisper.
The Ox-King, her father, who with the strength of a hundred men had carved out a realm from lawlessness and villainy well before her time, cradled a baby no more than half a year old. He held up a short, stout finger and pressed it to his mouth.
Silently, Chi-Chi closed the door behind her and crept over to him. After motioning with her arms, the Ox-King relented and handed the baby over to her. Pressing him to her chest, Chi-Chi noticed a tuft of hair creeping down the center of his face. He's going to look a lot like his father when he grows up.
She held him like this for a few minutes before walking over to the crib and placing him down. 'We need to talk,' she said to her father.
A few seconds later, Chi-Chi closed the door behind them in the hallway. 'What is it?' The Ox-King rumbled unintentionally- he naturally had a very booming voice.
'Something bad is going on,' Chi-Chi curled a hand into a fist and placed it over her chest. 'I feel it in here. Something is very wrong.'
The Ox-King placed a consoling hand on her shoulder. 'Chi-Chi, I know these past few years have been tough- but you can't keep leaping at every shadow you see. Gohan's dad doesn't care about his son…'
'It's not that!' She lashed out, shirking off her dad's arm. Reflexively, they both looked at the door to Gohan's room- after a half-minute of silence, they exhaled. 'Down there,' the Ox-King pointed down the hallway.
'Sorry, I'm sorry…' Chi-Chi resumed once they had moved farther away. 'It's just…', she pressed her hands to her temples in an attempt to collect her thoughts. 'It's not about him… or, at least, I don't think it is.'
'Then what?' he asked. 'What is it about?'
'I don't have a perfect sense of things… I haven't honed or even used my ki sense in a while… but I felt something in the very corner of my mind. It was familiar, dad. It reminded me of his energy.'
'But it's not him?' The Ox-King sought to clarify. 'You're sure it's not him?'
'Dad,' Chi-Chi said with an air of patience, 'I carried Gohan for nine months. I woke, went about my day, and slept with a constant sensory reminder of him. And the ki I felt was not that.'
The Ox-King raised a hand to his face and began running his hand through his beard, intermittently working at some tangles. 'But why now? Why would this be happening now?' He glanced at her. 'The ki was familiar, you said?'
Chi-Chi nodded. 'It had to be someone related to him- some sort of… Saiyan. This person…' she wrapped her arms around her. 'their ki is terrifying…'
'Could he have contacted someone? Maybe there was a transmitter, or a device or some kind?'
She thought on this. '…No, I don't think so. The only thing he ever showed me was his ship, and you saw first-hand that he destroyed it…'
'Are you sure he didn't use the ship?' The Ox-King stopped running his hand through his beard. 'Maybe he left the planet and returned with some of his own kind?'
Chi-Chi shook her head. 'No, the ship was in terrible condition when I saw it. There's no way that thing could fly. And Kakarot never struck me as an engineering, can-repair-anything type.' A certain lavender-haired woman flashed through Chi-Chi's mind; Chi-Chi smiled.
'So we know nothing,' The Ox-King summarized, 'and there's probably nothing we can do about this new person. So why are we discussing this?'
She struggled with her thoughts for a moment, then said, 'if this person is persuasive, or gains Kakarot's trust in some way…, then things are going to get bad. Very bad.'
'How so?'
'You don't know him like I do, Dad,' Chi-Chi explained. 'The last time I saw him, he was totally in flux. I was getting through to him- I know I was getting through to him-'
'Chi-Chi,' the Ox-King groaned, 'please don't explicate.'
'The point being,' Chi-Chi said, somewhat flustered, 'he's on the edge. Any push in the wrong direction… and he's going to fall down a path he can't return from.'
'That was two years ago, Chi-Chi. How do you know he hasn't changed?'
'I don't,' Chi-Chi admitted. 'But I do know there are a few things I haven't tried yet. I owe it to him to try, right?'
'Chi-Chi,' The Ox-King said in a dark tone, 'you know I care nothing for that man. If he wasn't the father of my grandson I wouldn't let his name be spoken in this house. He can rot in hell, for all I care.'
'And you know I can't cast him out of my life like that!' she pressed. 'if there's a chance- any chance that he can change, or that I can stop him from getting worse-'
'-he's a monster!' The Ox-King yelled. 'You told me yourself- he slaughtered innocent people- he slaughtered our people!'
Both of them fell silent for a moment, the Ox-King's huffing the only sound in the hallway. Chi-Chi's mouth quivered. 'I know,' she said quietly. 'I know…' Stepping closer, she took one of her father's hands in her own. 'I will never forget that. That's why I left in the first place, but… Dad... I- he doesn't know,' Chi-Chi confessed. 'Kakarot doesn't know he has a son...'
The Ox-King's face settled into a long, definite line; he eyed her for a period of time. 'I see.' He let his hand limply slide out of her grip and turned away from her. 'It makes sense, now.'
'I have to tell him,' Chi-Chi said, her voice trembling. 'If someone from his race has come to Earth, I need to try and act against that… I need to try.'
'No.'
Chi-Chi's eyes shot up to her towering father. 'Dad! I-'
'This is final, Chi-Chi,' The Ox-King thundered. 'You may be an adult now, but I can't let you put both you and your son- my grandson- in harm's way. I-' he turned back to her, a tear running down his grieving face. 'I haven't forgotten about your mother. I don't want to be forced to do the same for you.' He paused, wiping a hand across his face. 'Just sleep on it. Take some time to think it through. In the morning, we'll sit down together and decide what to do.'
Chi-Chi stared at him, then twisted her head away in quiet agony, but in the end she still nodded. 'Fine. Tomorrow morning. You better be up early...'
'I promise.' He turned away from her again- he couldn't bring himself to face her. 'Tomorrow…'
0o0o0
Nestled within a glade far away from any stretch of civilization, hidden between two sides of a tall alpine river valley, there was a cave that sat over a waterfall. The contents of it were minuscule- a few bound books with yellowing edges, a pile of discarded fabric and clothes with the look and musk of having been rained on a hundred times, and in the farthest corner of the cave, a modest scattering of lamps, oil, a bedroll, and a sliver of bright, polished metal. Surrounded by the mementos of his past, Kakarot languished in the darkness.
As like other days, with all the momentum and motivation of a daily, rote task, he rose to his feet. Moving past the weak, flickering shadows dancing off the walls, he padded out of the cave, a crude wooden spear in his right hand. His patchy brown shirt and pants hung tight against his skin, wrapping and draping across the cables of muscles hidden just beneath his skin.
His walk took him outside to a platform at the cave's exit that overlooked the luminescent waterfall below and the deep alpine pool at the bottom.
Kakarot peered downwards for a second before springing forward and jumping off the platform.
A few minutes later, Kakarot emerged from the alpine pool, his spear dragging a huge fish behind him. With a twist of his weapon, the fish lurched up and over Kakarot's head and slid further down the spear, skewering it like a kebab. He then stepped closer to a makeshift stone firepit and hoisted the spear in a metal frame. Exhaling ki from his mouth, he breathed a fire below the fish into life.
The sun was rising in the sky- it was still early in the morning. Though he had woken up a few hours previously, Kakarot had spent the better part of his day so far thinking. He was doing a lot of that nowadays.
The silence throughout the forest, punctuated by the splitting, hissing sound of cooking meat, was abruptly ruptured by a deep, booming echo. Something was moving through the air very quickly and very fast. Carefully, Kakarot moved into a crouch and ambled into the water. After taking a deep breath, he ducked his head underneath the surface. None of this was new. He had done this a few times over the past few years.
After swimming a few feet deeper, Kakarot let his ki sense spread out over the surrounding area. Expecting it to be another false alarm, Kakarot very nearly choked when he felt a sizable energy drop to the ground where he had been just a minute earlier. He clamped both of his hands over his mouth in an effort to suppress the bubbles of air spilling out.
Several seconds passed in tortured silence. Kakarot could see nor hear anything beyond the silt-laden pond. His lungs started to ache- he would have to come up for air soon.
Just then, faster than Kakarot could react, a hand shot into the pond, grabbed him by the hair on his head, and pulled him out of the water. Kakarot sputtered and coughed as he was wrenched up and tossed to the side, landing awkwardly on a few broken tree branches and cracking them.
As he wiped water from his face, a piece of dry fabric was thrust into his groping hands. Hesitantly, Kakarot accepted it and dried his eyes. He looked up. Chi… Chi-Chi?...
Before Kakarot was a tall, muscular man. Spiky black hair ran down their backside like a cape, jutting out in every possible direction. 'Better?' the stranger asked.
Kakarot handed the fabric back to the man. '...Better,' Kakarot replied. His eyes adjusted- the stranger's features came into focus more, not least the strangely characteristic angularity of their hair. Where have I seen that before?
The man stood over Kakarot for a moment; he seemed to be examining him. Then, the man burst into spontaneous laughter. 'Hah! I feel so foolish! To think that those weaklings could have ever done anything to you!' he barked out laughter, puffing out his chest. 'You see, brother,' he said after his laughter died down, 'you and I, we're different from them.'
'B-Brother?'
'You don't see it?' Raditz drew one hand behind him- his tail swung around a second later. 'I assume you haven't met many people who have these in your travels…'
Kakarot's hands sprung to his own tail, which coiled and shrank with equal parts fear and suspicion. No… this… can't be… 'You're- you're a Saiyan!' Kakarot exclaimed.
'Correct,' Raditz gave a ghastly grin. 'or "your brother", to be more exact. You and I have a lot to catch up on…'
0o0o0
Capsule Corp. had become a madhouse. Frenzied people ran to-and-fro compelled by a frightening and overbearing taskmaster. Bulma stood like a pillar amidst the madness, serving as the only stable and sure thing as friend after friend was wheeled off to a far-flung corner of the medical ward. Alas, she couldn't keep it up forever- she collapsed into a folding chair in the center of the ward just as the sun poked up above the bottoms of the windows.
I have… never been so exhausted in my life. Even now, her eyes tracked people rushing back and forth across her vision on autopilot. She felt her body merge into the chair beneath her- she was going to sleep well tonight.
Not yet. Something mentally prodded at Bulma to stay awake. Not… huh? Belatedly, she noticed someone was physically prodding her. She opened her eyes.
Before her was her Mom; despite the craziness and concern that no doubt had flooded her as it had for Bulma, she was still smiling. 'Dear,' she said, 'we have a visitor.'
Bulma shook herself, trying to wake herself up. 'Huh?...' she asked as her Mom forced her to stand. 'Don't we have better things to worry about right now?…' she asked groggily.
'Bulma,' Mrs. Briefs said fair but firmly, 'it would be better if you just walked with me.'
Guided by her mom, Bulma was led outside Capsule Corp. She reflexively raised a hand to shield her eyes from the sun's bright rays.
Her mom pulled her hand away. 'Mom!' Bulma cried. 'It's bright out!'
'Bulma,' Mrs. Brief insisted, 'look ahead…'
Reluctantly, Bulma let her eyes adjust to the harsh sunlight. After a few moments, she became aware of a figure sitting on the ground amidst the gardens surrounding Capsule Corp. Another moment after that, she recognized who it was.
'...Piccolo?' She breathed, as if unsure if she was still dreaming.
'Your father and I can handle everything inside, but…' Mrs. Brief's voice shook for a moment. 'We can't handle this. I don't mean to pressure you, but-'
'No, Mom,' Bulma said authoritatively, 'I got this. Go back inside.' She rubbed her mom's shoulder supportively. 'Go.'
Taking one last look at the dreadful visitor, Mrs. Brief turned back to Bulma and nodded. 'Alright.' Somewhat rattled, she walked back inside.
Bulma took a moment to compose herself- she made sure to steady her breathing as best she could- before stomping over. Just as she was about to launch into her spiel, however, Piccolo spoke without opening his eyes.
'I wouldn't recommend you trying to intimidate me when I've already heard the fear in your voice,' he said, giving her a hard glare.
Bulma stopped short, confusion rising on her face. 'But-'
'I also don't care,' Piccolo said brusquely, 'about whatever desires you may have in this situation. I am here to communicate my intentions.'
She had a feeling that listening was the best thing she could do at the moment, so she pushed her indignation to a place within her far away from her mouth. 'What are your intentions?' she asked evenly.
'You and your friends were attacked by a stranger, correct?'
'...Yes, that's correct…'
'And this stranger had a tail?'
'...Yes.'
'Then we both face a common enemy,' Piccolo remarked. 'For I believe that this stranger is either finding or has found the other one with a tail, and that together, they will wreak destruction on this planet.'
'You- you can't be serious-'
'If I didn't believe any of what I just said to be true,' Piccolo snarled, 'we wouldn't be having this conversation. Do you understand?'
The implication was clear enough. Bulma's mortality flashed through her mind.
'Convey this to those who can still fight,' Piccolo finished. 'I seek an alliance against a greater threat.'
0o0o0
'Kakarot.'
Halted by the mention of his own name, Kakarot turned away from the food he was munching on towards his brother. His brother. Having any sort of family was proving to be a weird concept for Kakarot to wrap his head around. Having someone who'll help me… 'Yes?'
Sitting against a tree, Raditz was consumed with fingering the vizor he had previously worn over his left eye. 'If we're going to know each other, we need to establish trust.' He looked towards Kakarot. 'Do you trust me?'
Kakarot held his brother's gaze for a long moment. 'No,' Kakarot admitted, 'I don't.'
To Kakarot's surprise, Raditz narrowed his eyes and nodded. 'Then you are a Saiyan, after all.'
'I-'
'It is reflective of who we are,' Raditz said, standing. 'Our people killed and fought each other long before our race was brought to the edge of extinction. Even now, we hold on to old grudges and seek to kill each other.' As Raditz said this last part, he seemed to grow distant, like he was envisioning someone or something far-off. He then shook his head, however, and turned fully towards Kakarot. 'Do you understand why am I here? What I have consigned myself to to come here?'
Kakarot remained silent, a tacit response of no.
'I have disobeyed what remains of our race,' Raditz continued. 'The leader among us, Prince Vegeta,' Raditz practically spat when he said this, 'sees himself fit as to dictate what I and another do with our lives to the exact minute. The other Saiyan, Nappa, has been charged with guarding Prince Vegeta's life- he will never disobey a direct order. So,' Raditz sighed, 'that leaves me. I am not a royal like Vegeta, nor am I an old soldier, dedicated to preserving the last font of authority among our race. I am… a normal Saiyan. And I owe nothing to the prince.'
Raditz locked eyes with Kakarot. 'I disobeyed a direct order to come here. I have cut off all communication with the other Saiyans- they are, in effect, dead to me. Do you know why I did this, Kakarot?'
More silence. Kakarot was motionless.
'I did this for you, Kakarot. When I saw your ship had been destroyed, I thought you were in danger, or worse. When I landed and saw this planet in pristine condition, I assumed you had failed, and that the natives who lived here had claimed death over one of the last remaining Saiyans in the universe. But, as it turns out, you're still alive.'
'...You saw that?' Kakarot tentatively asked, feeling his stomach drop and his skin start to sweat. 'You saw the ship be destroyed? How?'
'Saiyans ships were sent to every corner of the galaxy, some containing Saiyan children,' Raditz explained. Consequently, every Saiyan ship was outfitted with a complex tracking system- built to be the last part of the ship to fail- which painstakingly transmitted the trajectory, landing, and status of the pod out into the galaxy. My ship is one of the few ships left that still receive these signals. The moment your ship was destroyed, I became aware of this fact.'
He doesn't actually know how my ship was destroyed… 'So… that's why you came here?' Kakarot asked. 'You saw my ship was destroyed and you were worried for me?'
'Yes… but…' Raditz suddenly brought his hands together and twisted them so hard that his knuckles began to go white. 'You're so weak,' Raditz half-choked out, half-lamented, as if suppressing something far more insidious than anger. 'I could have lived with you being dead… but your power level… it might as well not exist…'
A flash of anger ripped through Kakarot's mind- he stood. 'I have survived on this planet by myself for years. What gives you the right to call me weak?'
Raditz looked at his younger brother, then sighed. 'Here,' Raditz said, tossing the glass peripheral he had been fidgeting with to Kakarot. 'Put this on.'
Kakarot turned over the object in his hands. 'Why? What is it?'
'It's called a scouter. It measures the power level of living beings. Put it on and power up. You'll see what I mean.'
Skeptical, Kakarot placed the scouter over his left eye and slowly summoned his ki. A number appeared and began increasing on the vizor. '200… 250… 279? Is that me?'
'279?' Raditz asked, surprised. He motioned for Kakarot to hand the scouter back over. He checked the number himself. 'You're right,' Raditz said, somewhat shocked. 'Before your power level was 50. How did you manage to increase your strength so much?'
'I wasn't showing it all before,' Kakarot said. 'And "279" wasn't my full power, either.'
'Hmm,' Raditz grunted. 'Interesting.' He handed the scouter back to his brother. 'Regardless, measure my power level. Press the button on its side- it'll lock onto me.'
Kakarot did as requested. Immediately, the number on the screen jumped up, stabilizing at 1,000. '1,000? Is that you?'
Raditz bristled. 'What, are you surprised?'
'No…' Kakarot's eyes drifted up in thought. 'I just never thought of ki sensing in that way. I didn't know it could be compared between different people…'
'Ki sensing? What are you talking about?'
'Hmm?' Kakarot looked back up at Raditz. 'You can't feel me?'
'Your attempts of humor are lost on me.' Antsily, Raditz gestured for Kakarot to hand over the scouter. 'Now give me that back. I'm practically naked without it.'
A small smile crept up on Kakarot's face. 'It turns out the weakling knows something after all.'
Woosh. Kakarot blinked- the scouter was in his hand one second and was gone the next.
Scowling, Raditz re-affixed the scouter to his face. 'Cockiness isn't a good look on you,' Raditz warned Kakarot. 'You would do well to remember that.'
Kakarot glared at his brother for a second, but he grudgingly nodded, sat back down, and began munching on his food again. Leaning against a tree, Raditz watched his brother. Idly, he tapped repeatedly against the side of his scouter. It was in this way that the two Saiyans slipped into silence.
0o0o0
Yajirobe hadn't even needed to tell Korin what had happened when he arrived at the tower- the white cat already had a pouch of senzu beans tied and held out for him when he arrived. Korin had, however, given him the bad news that he had feared: 'The full crop isn't ready- won't be ready for some time. As of now, I only have four beans…
He tightened his grip around the pouch. Worry later. Move fast now.
By the time Nimbus returned to West City, the sun had risen high into the sky- Yajirobe had ridden the better part of the night. The cloud dropped him off in the gardens, near the now ruined gazebo. He had taken one step forward when he sighted a person sitting in a folding chair outside. 'Hey!' Bulma yelled, waving. 'Over here.'
Somewhat confused, Yajirobe proceeded over to her. He held the bag up. 'I have the beans-'
'Yeah, I saw,' Bulma snipped, sipping on a cup of coffee. 'Everyone's stable, so using those aren't a priority right now. Actually,' she adjusted in her seat. 'That-'
Bulma suddenly flinched, like she was realizing something extremely important. 'Come with me,' she directed Yajirobe, taking him by the arm and leading him inside Capsule Corp.
After passing through a few doors and hallways, they stepped into what resembled a panic room, padded to the ceilings with white cushioning. Yajirobe resisted the urge to comment.
'We should be safe in here,' Bulma said, downing her coffee in disturbing bursts.
'Safe from what?' Yajirobe asked.
'If you hadn't noticed, Piccolo was outside.'
'What!?' Yajirobe practically jumped, throwing the pouch into the air before he awkwardly caught it again. 'That guy!? What the hell is he doing here?'
'That-' Bulma shook her head. 'I should back-up. Him being here is a good thing.'
Yajirobe's face went blank. 'How?' he asked exasperatedly.
'Piccolo seems to be spooked by the same person that "visited" us; he offered an alliance against our supposedly common enemy.'
'But no-one can fight right now! Except-' Yajirobe's face soured, then shrunk. 'Not me! Tell me you didn't offer me as an ally!'
'No, you don't understand- see, until we give these beans to everyone, we're in no position to fight, follow?'
Yajirobe cocked his head to one side. '...Yes?...So the idea is?…'
'We can hold on to these beans for a little while so as to keep Piccolo's offer open. Get a feeling of his true intentions. Or at least see if he's willing to suffer some minor inconveniences to get what he wants.'
'Bulma,' Yajirobe stressed, grabbing her by her shoulders. 'This is a terrible idea. How do you know he's not going to do something while any friend of ours who could lay a finger on him is bedridden? And you would let everyone continue to suffer in pain?' He started to shake her. 'Are you insane!?'
Bulma gave him a flat, unamused look. She pried his hands off of her one-by-one. 'I may be horribly sleep deprived but I'm not crazy. I made sure everyone is drugged and pain-free right now. And we clearly need time to think through our options. Do you disagree?'
He looked askance. 'No,' he said, sighing, 'you're probably right… but jeez…'
'What?'
'I hate the feeling of being the first and last line of defense…'
0o0o0
After ushering Yajirobe onto a couch- he promptly fell into a deep sleep- Bulma returned to her watch outside. Internally, her mind was spinning. You're playing with fire here, Bulma. Piccolo could rise into the sky right now, raise one palm, and wipe Capsule Corp. off the face of the planet. What good would all your scheming do then?
As she was considering this, her body took her back outside to her fold-out chair. Surprisingly, Piccolo was standing near it. 'I've inferred that every one of your friends is too grievously injured to fight,' he said to Bulma.
She forced her face to remain static. 'Oh?' She said. 'How'd you figure that?'
'I'm talking to you, aren't I?' he sneered.
Bulma felt her face burn- not from shame or embarrassment, but from anger. Still, she kept control. 'So what have you decided to do?' She questioned. 'Are you going to kill us all?'
Piccolo's expression soured, as if she had intimately peered into his thoughts. 'A part of me wishes that,' he conceded, 'but that part would then surely die in the battle to come after that. If I must choose between pride and survival, I will choose survival.' He turned. 'Heal your foolish friends as soon as possible.'
With that, he strode back to the spot Bulma had seen him sitting in earlier. He sat back down and resumed… whatever he was doing. Is he meditating?.
She watched this; after a moment, she fell into her fold-out chair, the weight of the past twenty-four hours catching up to her.
Well, I assumed one thing right...
A/N: Not much to say. New chapter, new stuff. Hope everyone's falls (or autumns?) are going well.
Reviews:
TC9078: Things played out roughly how you expected them to. Lovely Raditz's total dismissal of them probably helped them out in this situation.
LWexe: Ah yes, the party before the storm...
Luke: It got a little wild for a few minutes there.
Legendary-AI: Potentially, it could have been pretty bad. Luckily for everyone, right now Raditz' mind is geared towards finding his brother more than anything else. Information was his primary goal. Otherwise, I imagine the fight would have gone very differently.
And I have seen that fic! Super detailed, super well-thought out, and super well-written. Very talented writer.
skyreal: Thank you! Always super nice to see someone stumbling across the story and getting a lot of enjoyment from it. To answer your questions:
King Piccolo laid the egg containing Piccolo between being hit by Krillin's Kamehameha and being executed by Tien a few minutes later. The time it took for Krillin and Tien to find King Piccolo gave him just enough time to lay an egg without being discovered. I never explicitly wrote this, but it's what I wanted readers to assume/infer based on how I wrote the scene.
Yep, Dr. Gero did create Android 8 in this universe. RIP Android 8.
Chi-Chi was pregnant with Gohan (!).
Thank you for the questions! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
