Yo! Son Goku and friends! Saiyan Saga (Chapter 21)
Raditz
Goku laid down gracefully in the car, snoozing away, his halo shifting up and down slightly. Bulma looked on with intrigue as Oolong chatted up Raditz.
"So what do the babes look like on your planet?"
"Way better than the ones I've seen here. These Earth girls are all either fat or malnourished. I don't even think half of them exercise, dealbreaker already. Where's the tails?"
"Exactly, where are the tails at? I been asking that everyday since Goku showed up."
"HAH-HAH!" Raditz laughed from the chest. "I like you, Pig Man! What's your name?"
"Oolong."
The pair shook hands with bright smiles.
"My name's Raditz, of course, I think you already know but I'm Kakarot's brother."
"You don't call him Goku?"
"Why would I? It's his real name after all and he doesn't correct me."
"Hmm."
"How do you know we can trust him, Krillin?"
"I get that you're skeptical, but Piccolo fought alongside us the whole way and Tien changed his entire philosophy on martial arts in our company. You don't have to drop your guard, but a little faith goes a long way."
Yamcha scoffed and looked to his definitely-thinking-about-going-further partner brushing Goku's hair in the car. She smiled before turning around and jogging towards The Wolf. She embraced his right arm with a bear hug, clinging on tight and small wells of tears rubbing off on the dirt.
"Yo-hoo need to take a shower, dummy." Brushing off some of the muck before placing her cheek right back onto his shoulder.
"Tell me about it."
"I was the most worried I'd ever been, you know that?"
"What? Come on, I can't die, I'm the fuckin' Wolf of the Wasteland."
The Wolf looked to the grass with melancholy before shooting a glance at Krillin. He raised his brow and spoke up.
"I know what's up. You're thinkin'. What's the plan?"
"Kami's dead."
"What?" He responded dumbly.
"Piccolo and Kami are one, when either one of them dies, they bring the other with them."
"What!?" Yamcha almost shoved Bulma onto the ground with his quick turn.
"Yup. Tien told me, he learned a lot about the lookout while we were training. We can't revive anyone with The Dragon Balls."
"No way."
"But there could be another route."
Yamcha let out a celebratory breath through his cheeks and punched his palm in response.
"I'm game."
"I'm pretty sure Piccolo and Kami-"
"~No you're right!"
Krillin looked back optimistically as The Wolf interjected with a solitary right pointer at his face.
"I've been to the ship Piccolo and Kami came in on. They make Dragon Balls back on their home planet don't they?"
"You're in my head bro." Krillin responded with a bright smile, jamming his right index into his temple in a declaration.
"Let's go!" Yamcha let out as they clasped hands and held it in a display of camaraderie.
"When are we going!?" Puar rang out cheerily.
"That's a good question."
"I'm game whenever, Kakarot's not coming of course so it'll have to be me and you Earthlings running this op."
Yamcha took a more defensive pose while Krillin walked in close, presenting a neutral handshaking opportunity. Raditz met it with grace.
"You're treating me with respect even though you don't have to. My brother was right to hold you in such high regard."
"Goku made me a better person too, it's the least I could do." Krillin's more solemn expression shifted into a smirk.
"Welcome to our merry band of idiots, making the wrong choices 13 years and counting." Oolong interjected, leaning against the car with hands raised in an informal declaration.
"Oh my gosh, has it really been that long? No way."
"Yup, I can count, Bulma. I know you must be surprised."
"Shut the fuck up, Oolong." Bulma rounded the back of the vehicle, climbing into the driver's seat while chuckling.
"The sooner the better, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Raditz responded with his somewhat gruff voice before looking over to Vegeta and Nappa laying dormant on the ground.
Nappa's fingertips twitched for only a moment, Raditz springing to action quickly.
"You!" He pointed at Yamcha. "You're coming with me!"
Yamcha's brow sharpened as he followed behind Raditz' large frame.
"You have the least Ki out of the three of us, so it'd be best if you let me and Shaggy handle this."
"Right." Krillin replied respectfully, taking steps back to guard the skycar.
"Who the hell are you calling Shaggy, bruh?" Yamcha prodded immediately, brushing aside Raditz' large mane of black hair.
"What else can I call you, Earthling?" A snide smirk crawling across his face, clearly enjoying the frustration Yamcha had.
"You only get to call me Yamcha."
"How bout' this?" Raditz shot back. "Me and you, one on one, whoever wins gets to decide the nickname they'll have going forward."
"You're on!" The pair shook hands fiercely over the unconscious body of Nappa. "As if I'd ever lose to a Saiyan! I'm 3 for 3 you know! I've beat Goku and these two goons here. You're lucky I wasn't there when you showed up the first time or else I'd be 4 for 4."
"Oh please Yamcha, you never beat Goku."
"I was Definitely about to whoop his ass before you came along. It didn't feel right beating up a kid in front of a girl."
"Honestly, I'm the last person who wants to be stroking Yamcha's ego but it kinda looked like he had Goku's number that first fight."
Puar nodded feverishly at Oolong's statement but Bulma waved it off and stared into the clouds. Just moments later Nappa woke, his eyes groggily shuttering open and revealing the now night sky. His face lit up the second he saw Raditz.
"Raditz?" He asked with a shaky disposition, eyes bloodshot from the damage the Solar Flares did.
"Hey there big guy. Me and my boys kind of rocked your shit. No rejuvenation chambers here, sorry." Raditz smiled cockily and raised his hands high in a mocking declaration.
Nappa coughed up a lung as he rose, Raditz and Yamcha standing to their full height, The Wolf backing off and taking a stance for a better angle.
"Easy, Nappa's not gonna make a move, Earthling."
Yamcha's stance said otherwise, digging his left heel into the ground further.
"Grrgh." He grunted out as he leaned over his left knee, positioning his body in an upright sit.
"Vegeta's pretty fucked up if you're worried about your precious prince." Raditz pointed with a smile and a thumb at the limp Saiyan body with a hole through it.
"No way…" Totally caught off guard.
"Worry not, Nappa. He's still very much alive. Now." He squatted down low, his elbows on his knees as he positioned his cheek over his left palm. "What's the next move?"
Raditz' confidence was something clearly perturbing Nappa as he had wide eyes and sweat bearing down on him.
"Is this the same guy I used to know? How..?"
"If you say something we like, you just might get to come out of this alive. Now?" He shook his head, prodding and mocking the other Saiyan with his facial expressions. "I'll only ask one more time. What's the next move?"
"We'll leave this planet, never come back, never make any mention of it."
"Decent."
Beads of sweat rained down his bald face and onto his wispy goatee.
"Though you know, Lord Frieza, The Emperor, Salza, the others…" He added a pause for dramatics. "They can look at the travel logs, ship coordinates, your scouters. They know that Earth exists and that puts me and my brother's friends in danger." Raditz snatched the green scouter from Nappa's right eye and crushed it raw in his right hand. "What's your plan for that? Hmm?"
Nappa looked back at Vegeta who himself started to move. Yamcha was on top of him in no time, sitting on his back lackadaisical.
"Good shit, Earthling."
"Yeah, whatever."
"We could say that Earth is inhospitable and incorrectly charted on the maps."
"Again, decent. You're really not too bad at this, Nappa. But again, also, not quite good enough."
"MIA?"
"Hmm."
There was a pause, Krillin eyed the conversing Saiyans intently as Bulma leaned over the car door frame next to him.
"On one hand that puts less pressure on Earth than the previous but on the other they might come looking for The Prince. Here's what I'm thinking." Raditz stood up tall and started pacing around.
Nappa's full attention was drawn by the older brother.
"You go back to Vegeta, tell them that The Prince went rogue and make sure that he doesn't go back to The Cold Estate."
"Really? How?"
"If you program Vegeta's pod coordinates for him, you think he's gonna wake up from the gas in that state?'
Nappa nodded his head to the side in agreeance as he shifted his gaze over to The Wolf sitting on The Prince.
"Vegeta killed my brother's comrades, it's only fair that he receives a just punishment on an unforgiving world with no rejuvenation chambers to bail him out. I'm not killing him, just like Kakarot wouldn't want me to, but the chances of survival aren't supposed to be high. I think that's pretty generous of me, seeing as we could do whatever we want with him right now."
Yamcha finally broke out with a smile at Raditz' comment. Nappa's brow furrowed and he nodded.
"Excellent."
Nappa
Raditz typed in the coordinates of a far off planet as Nappa climbed into his pod. Yamcha stood watch over the large Saiyan as Krillin and Raditz ran the numbers for Vegeta's pod. After a while the pair dragged Vegeta's limp body and threw it in the sphere shaped vehicle, Raditz quickly typing something on the console before a misty fragrance sprayed and the hatch closed.
"It's horrible." Bulma chimed in as she looked about the wreckage of West City.
Puar came in close for a hug which Bulma reciprocated and the older brother backed off, the pod zooming away into the aether. Yamcha gave Nappa the stink eye until Raditz and Krillin waltzed over. Raditz typed a couple commands into the console and it caused Nappa to furrow his brow at him. Kakarot's brother just smiled and the hatch closed.
Only seconds later his pod launched into the starry sky above and he looked down, soon enough only seeing dots, and then clouds, and then a blue and green orb.
"What'd you do?" Krillin questioned plainly.
"I disabled the party function that links squad's locations, he'd either have to be back at The Cold Estate to find Vegeta or search for him manually now."
"Where'd you send him?" Yamcha turned around to meet his gaze.
"Arlia, it's pretty fucked up, we'd probably get torn to bits in seconds the way we are now. I have no idea how The Prince is gonna survive that one." Raditz laughed out a tad maniacally.
The two Earthlings and the Saiyan peered on into the sky, the small grey orb vanishing beyond the clouds.
"Heh-heh." Nappa laughed out plainly. "They were right to take precautions, but I'm not going back for The Prince."
He smiled with pride as he sank back into the deep red velvet of the pod. Exhaling and taking it easy. His chipper demeanor was dashed just as easily for a moment.
"Sorry my liege, but we're better off without him. I hope you don't take it too hard." He thought to himself as he crossed his thick arms behind his back.
Nappa looked out of the pod again and the large orb that was Earth gradually continued to decline in size slowly. He grunted out sharp through his nose and went back to relaxing. A large pointer finger on the console coaxed the mist onto his figure and he fell into a deep sleep.
Fortune Teller Baba
Gohan hugged tightly onto Goku's frame and Goku hugged back, Chi-Chi's embrace also smothering the child from the other side as the family hugged it out in a group effort.
"Thank you, Goku."
"I always keep my promises, Chi-Chi." He brushed her hair aside with a smile. "I just worry that I may have been the cause for Chiaotzu, Tien, or-"
"Don't you ever say that bro." Yamcha cut him off, placing his hands over Goku's shoulders firmly, Gohan jumping off. "I'm never gonna let you say anything like that. You came in clutch and we got the win thanks to you, and we're just gonna leave it at that."
Goku's small bit of melancholy was torn away and a sly smile came back to him. He hugged back Yamcha who was kind of unprepared for it. Yamcha smiled himself, and then reciprocated.
"You'll take care of em' up there won't you?"
"You bet!"
Yamcha and Goku saluted each other with their index and middle fingers outstretched, thumb and other leftover fingers curled inward on each other. Goku turned and the turtle students knocked the back of their fists against each other with warmth. Krillin said nothing, only a wide smirk. Bulma hugged onto Goku tightly and he laughed. As the two separated Raditz and his brother made sharp eye contact.
"Say hello to the blue bastard for me, will ya?"
"Huh-Hah!"
"It's time to go, Goku."
"Okay, Baba."
"Goku."
"Hmm?"
"I would say thanks for saving the world again, but we all know this won't be tha last time. For whatever reason we jus seem ta attract the crazies."
"It wasn't me this time, it was all of us. Even you."
Goku's warm smile brought Oolong back in time as he vanished into nothingness.
Vwa-Vuish!