I am terrible at doing consistent updates. As well as writing fighting scenes. Ironic, as Dragonball Z is all combat most of the time. Ah, hell. Enjoy the chapter.
Summary: Goku has his first assignment with his comrades.
Warning: Nothing.
Disclaimer: I do not own DB/Z/GT. All canon characters belong to Akira Toriyama.
INDULGENCE CHAPTER 4
I was rudely awakened by what felt to me like a waterfall, making me gasp and shoot up from where I was laying. I looked up to see that my brother had dumped a glass of water on me and was smirking in amusement. I went to open my mouth to complain but I was met with a throbbing, sharp pain in my head, laying back down and groaning in discomfort. I had never felt so miserable in my entire life, sick to my stomach and thinking my head was going to explode.
"I take it you don't party very often?" Raditz asked me with one of his eyebrows cocked.
"Ugh…. N-No…" I managed to say, doing my best to sit up again.
"Get used to it. We do this every night when we're home." My brother tossed a uniform at me and snickered. "Now get dressed. We got a sudden assignment and need to ship out in the next hour. I'm sure we'll be able to get it done by the 2nd moon."
I took a few deep breaths to calm my stomach and looked down at the uniform, seeing it was the black spandex with some gloves and boots. How on Earth was I going to be able to do a fighting going to with as sore as I was? When I glanced down at my body, I was shocked to find that I was completely naked with scratches, bruises and bites all over me. I finally looked around the living quarters to see that it had been turned upside down with ripped furniture, overturned shelving, mud and blood splattered on the wall, and broken windows.
"Ahhh so he did wake up!" Vegeta walked into the room with a smirk on his face, coming over to me and petting my head. "Your initiation was a lot of fun last night, Kakarot. I must say, I had my doubts about you." He then laughed in a way I had never heard before, realizing that he was pleasantly tickled.
I blushed and kept myself covered, unable to remember anything from the night before and wondering just what I did to end up naked and covered in wounds. "U-Uh… Thank you…?"
"Not everyone can handle the drops of a nge* and you took it like a champ." The Prince pat my head again and walked over to plop down on the couch, fully dressed in his uniform and armor, watching me with a smile on his face. The smile caused my heart to flutter, something that I had never experienced before with Vegeta. Where in the world had it come from?
"I thought… I thought that my initiation would have been some kind of fight…" I held my head, the pain varying between dull and then unbearable.
"Eh, we know you can fight. Everyone knows how to fight under Frieza's regime. So we like to do something that tests your stamina, control, and all around mental abilities. You passed, so don't worry about it anymore." Vegeta was still grinning down at me, his tail waving around playfully.
"What… did we do last night…?" I broke eye contact with Vegeta and quickly pulled the pants onto my legs to get myself decent. Vegeta's eyes had lingered too long on me and it made the flush return to my cheeks.
"Eh, a little of everything I'm sure. I don't remember much of it myself." Raditz shrugged, putting his armor over his head and getting it secure around his large chest. He slipped his red armband on next and looked over his shoulder, his ebony eyes catching something.
I looked over to and my eyes widened as two scantily clad blue female aliens came through the room on Nappa's arms. They were giggling and stroking his handlebar mustache, coming through the room without a care. I averted my eyes shyly while I heard my brother laughing at my expense. The threesome parted and Nappa promised he would come find them again for another evening of fun, waving goodbye and shutting the door.
"Nappa you are disgusting." Vegeta quipped, rolling his eyes.
"Say what you want, Vegeta. At least I get to have some extra fun where you don't." Nappa looked over his shoulder at the Prince.
Vegeta's face blared red and he snorted. "Oh I'm sorry. I guess I am too above the scum on this planet not to pay to get my dick wet."
"OK! So, where are we going today?" I finally chimed in, wanting to change the subject and get past the awkward talk about my fellow comrades sex lives.
It seemed to work as they all looked at me and their chests were no longer puffed out, nor were their tails flicking around. "We are going to Planet Gantook. It's a tiny place but the warriors are strong and their resources are highly valuable." Raditz spoke up, helping me to change the subject between Vegeta and Nappa.
I've quickly come to learn to concentrate on body language when it came to Saiyan behavior since it told me more than what words could describe. Vegeta held his head high because he was the dominant Saiyan of the pack, or the alpha male, which was something that he still did in my universe. Raditz was constantly looping and unlooping his tail because he had an anxiety disorder. Nappa snorted every once in a while to keep the pecking order of all of us in line for Vegeta, as he was the Beta male or next in line behind our Prince. I had only been around my pack for a couple days now, but I was learning so much and I couldn't wait to be able to communicate with them in the form of clicking, chirping, chuffing and growls.
We wasted no time in leaving our living quarters and going to the docks. Instead of taking a mid-sized ship for all of us to travel in, we were given the legendary space pods that I remember as if it were yesterday. I was given my very own that would fit my frame and I was shocked at the large interior. "They are specially designed for long distant traveling and are equipped with hyper sleep gases so that we don't have to be awake for a year while going from galaxy to galaxy." Raditz was explaining to me as I inspected the inside; Brown leather interior, modernized controls and screens, and thick white padding for crash landing so that the driver isn't harmed. I sat inside and had enough room to stretch my arms and legs, the inside deep and comfortable, making me grin.
"These are the most updated versions of the Saiyan pods we had back on Vegesei when you were a cub. We have language software that we utilize in order to learn the planet's tongue in case we need to communicate with them. New seats for those year long journeys, touch screen controls that can be configured to your specific prints, and even radio broadcast." My brother smirked, beaming with pride in our people's ships. "They are also extremely fast, which is why we are using these for our assignment instead of the bigger one. Frieza wants this taken care of today, not tomorrow."
"What exactly are we doing…?" I asked, making myself more comfortable in the pod, not wanting my armor and spandex to make my limbs go to sleep from their weight.
My brother just smirked and pushed a button on the inside of my ship. "You'll soon find out."
The door to my pod shut and vacuum-locked to keep the air inside. I sighed nervously and sat back against the leather, watching the lights turn off and the pod start to turn on, blinking lights and buttons flashing around me while a screen popped up in front of me to show coordinates of a destination. A sound clicked above me and I heard Vegeta's voice overhead, "Coordinates to Gantook are set. Travel time is 2 hours. No language necessary. We get in and get out. No survivors. No scars on the planet, either. Frieza wants their *majani and wants it perfectly preserved." Our space pods shot up into the sky and we were off.
I wasn't sure how to communicate back to Vegeta, the words on the controls and buttons were strange symbols that I couldn't wrap my head around. Instead, I leaned back against the seat and kept my breathing steady, trying not to let my nerves get the best of me. I didn't know if I could bring myself to kill innocent people, or defend myself against these strange beings I was soon to be face-to-face with. I thought back to the night before where I couldn't get my Super Saiyan abilities to come forward, and it worried me. I know King Kai had warned me this would happen, but I didn't actually think it would come true.
/GOKU?!/
I blinked and sat up a little, hearing King Kai's voice in my head suddenly. "King Kai…?" I asked, wanting to make sure I wasn't losing my mind.
/There you are! I have been trying to get ahold of you since yesterday! I thought you might have been dead!/
"Heh… I was lucky I didn't die last night." I chuckled and rubbed the back of my head.
/Where are you now? What's going on?/
"We are going to a planet called Gantook… Do you know anything about it?" I asked, wanting to know just what I was in for before we arrived.
/Gantook? That planet was long since destroyed in our universe. They were known for their plentiful vegetation that had special buds on them. Their people aren't very powerful, but they are extremely protective of their resources and have monsters who watch over them. It seems to me like you are on your way to take care of the monsters and population so that Frieza can take their resources./
Just as I had feared. I rubbed the back of my neck and swallowed my nerves. "King Kai… What should I do? I can't just kill innocent people…"
/You got yourself into this mess, Goku! Don't come crying to me! You told me you understood the consequences of doing this and what your brother and Vegeta do. You are just going to have to figure it out!/
"Wait! My Super Saiyan powers! I don't think I have them…Is that true?"
/Of course you don't! You are back in a time where you haven't yet discovered how to do it. I said that I wasn't sure your powers would go with you. It's an alternate universe Goku, so things are going to be very different and your abilities are going to change to go with the universe you're in./
At this point I was silent with shock and worry, a million questions buzzing through my mind. Just how strong was I now? What if I was the weakest of the entire group? Would I even survive this trip? Would Raditz protect me or save me from an attack, or would he just let me perish so he didn't have to answer for me? I wanted to put my faith into my brother, but this was just day 3 of being with my pack. And what about Vegeta? If I didn't live up to his expectations, would he kill me like he did to Nappa in our universe?
"King Kai…" I started but I wasn't even sure what to say.
/Goku… Just follow their lead and lay low. That's the best thing you can do./
I nodded in agreement, listening to my old friend and mentor. "Lay low. Got it."
/And one more thing! This is the most important of all./
I looked up to the ceiling of the pod, as if trying to look up to where King Kai was speaking to me inside my mind. "Yes?"
/Don't be a hero./
We landed on Planet Gantook within the 2-hour slot that Vegeta had declared on the intercom, and we were already met with the people of the planet. They had been waiting for our arrival and were ready to defend their home, and their precious majani that Frieza wanted. I stood with my brother, standing slightly behind him and looking around his large frame to take in the slim, yellow beings that we had to wipe out. I could already tell that they were weak and I could not sense any true ki within them, but they were not what we had to worry about.
Vegeta was standing at the top of the hill we had landed on, his arms over his chest and his body language screaming respect and dominance. His tail was bristled out and lashing behind him, and I knew it meant he was excited. My brother and Nappa were both wagging their tails in excitement, and I fed off of their energy in an almost instinctive manner. My blood was rushing through my veins and my heart was racing, anticipating the first move, unconsciously hoping that it was the Prince who started it. "Frieza is feeling generous today and is going to give you one last chance to take his offer!" Vegeta barked out to the weak people of Gantook below. "Hand over your planet and join his army, or suffer our wrath!"
One of the yellow aliens wearing robes and an intricate headpiece stepped forward with a staff in his hand, pounding it on the ground. "The day we give ourselves over to that White Tyrant is the day we accept the Devil into our heart!"
"Idiots." Raditz snorted and I looked to him, chewing on the inside of my cheek nervously.
"What do you mean?" I asked quietly, not wanting to distract Vegeta from his intimidation.
"A weak race should always give themselves over to Frieza. They don't stand a chance against his reinforcements like us and it's best to do as he commands." My brothers whispered back, teaching me some of Frieza's tactics to taking over a population.
"But… if they are weak, why send us? Aren't we supposed to be his most powerful defense?"
The ground under us began to rumble and crack, a low, deafening sound bursting through the openings. I struggled to stand on my two feet, looking all around me to watch smaller creatures rushing to get away from where we were. I gasped when the ground suddenly caved in under my feet, my brother grabbing me by the nape of my neck just in time to keep me from falling down to a putrid smelling gas, all of us floating above the immense hole that had just formed.
"That is why." Raditz pointed down and I watched in amazement as a mammoth sized spiny leg rushed up and began pulling itself up, followed by another and another and another.
Before long, we were staring into the face of a long, giant-sized alien centipede with 3 heads, each one having multiple circular mouths whose teeth moved like chainsaws. It had gassy spikes on it's slimy back and had thousands of tiny eyes that stared at us while we stared right back at it. It arched it's back and began to lift it's body up, opening it's legs to show it's sharp underside full of poisonous spikes and more razor-like teeth, letting out a piercing scream that made my ears ring. The smell that came off of the monster was enough to make me vomit, covering my nose and trying to calm myself down.
"Don't let its slime touch you! Its acid will dissolve your body within minutes!" My brother yelled and let me go, immediately flying away from me and going right into battle with Vegeta and Nappa.
I didn't have time to wait around before one of the massive heads came right for me with it's multiple mouths snapping, making me shriek and fly away from it, shocked from how fast it was as it continued to follow me. I could hear its jaws snapping at me, right on my feet and I fear that it was going to get it's jaws on me and make me a meal. I made a quick turn right before its jaw clamped around my foot and I sped off to my brother who was working with Nappa. They fought in ways I had never seen, unable to pull my eyes away from them as they each came into the monster to blast them in turns, almost like a pack of dogs, frustrating the head. Suddenly, it let out a scream and shot out its poisonous mucus at us.
We all flew off in different directions so that it didn't touch us and I once again found myself avoid the head from before, flipping around to blast it with some of my ki, hitting it in some of its eyes and laughing when it growled. When I glanced over at my brother and Nappa, I realized they were trying to take out it's eyes as well, figuring out that they were completely defenseless without their sight. Blown away by my fellow comrades intelligence in their knowledge of alien-monster fighting, I decided that they could handle themselves and instead I wanted to see how Vegeta was doing.
Blasting more of the eyes of my opponent, I flew over the top of it and looked to see that the Prince was merciless in his attacked against the monster, slicing pieces off of it with his ki and zipping back and forth. I couldn't help staring at how he moved with the way his muscles flexed and the determination in his actions, admiring his cocky smile and fast thinking. Just like the Vegeta in my time, he gave it his all and was relentless with his assaults, never giving his opponent time to take a break or even a breath. I have always been in awe of Vegeta since the first day we met, and see him this way was a treat in and of itself. He didn't just leave his opponents breathless, he left me that way as well.
"Kakarot watch out!" Vegeta barked out suddenly at me and it snapped me out of my daydreaming. Before I knew it, I had gotten hit in the back by one of the acidic spikes of the centipede.
The impact sent me falling to the ground and I could already hear the sounds of burning armor from the acid. Lifting myself from the rubble, I scrambled around to try and take the armor off of me, unsure of how to get the heavy artillery to unlatch and panic set in. Vegeta landed on the ground with a loud thud and ran to my side, kicking me down onto my stomach and jumping on top of me, grabbing at my armor and ripping it clean off of my body. He threw it aside and we both watched as it completely melted away from the deadly acid, each one of us panting from the near death hit. A high-pitched shriek of the monster caught out attention and we looked up to see Raditz and Nappa were working together to control a head, having taken out nearly all of the eyes.
I looked to Vegeta and gave him a thankful smile. "Thank you for that, Vegeta! I thought I was a goner for sure!"
Vegeta hissed at me and pushed me to the ground. "You need to pay attention, Kakarot! You are going to get this pack killed! I won't save you again!" He shorted and blasted away from me, going to help the others.
I pouted a little and then shook it off, realizing I needed to get my head into the game and help to defeat the nasty centipede. I brushed myself off and hurried to join them. Eventually we fell into a perfect fighting rhythm, each of us taking turns on an attack of two of us going in together for a more deadly hit. I had never fought this way before and it was addicting, fulfilling my lust for battle and breaking for just a moment in order to take a breath, only to go back in again. We destroyed on of the heads, and then we followed with another almost moments later. Now that it was the 4 of us, we all went in at the same time, surrounding the snapping jaws and spitting mucus and shooting large amounts of ki at it. With the combined force of our powers, the top it it's head exploded in the back and it's insides burst all over, finally killing the monster. My brother and Nappa let out howls of success, my heart pounding with excitement and I couldn't help tossing my head back and letting out a howl of myself. I was so exhilarated and pumped up from the fight that it just felt so right, amplifying the excitement I had coursing through my body. Sharing this moment with my brother, Nappa, and Vegeta was overwhelming and I wondered how I ever lived my life without them.
I looked over to admire Vegeta's howling but was panicked to see that the monster had raised it's headless body up and was going to crush the Prince by hurling it's entire body on top of him of it with it's teeth-filled underbelly. "Vegeta!" I yelled out and rushed to him, causing him to give me a strange look. A large spike that fell from the monster then hit him from behind, sending him plummeting to the ground.
It was the creatures last assault against us, wanting to crush us in its death and it seemed it might work on the Prince. I flew as fast as I could, watching as Vegeta was ripping at his armor to try to get it off of him before the acid burned through. I grabbed ahold of him and we were both falling to the ground, pulling at the armor with all of my strength and finally breaking the back of it, yanking it over his head and throwing it off to the side. Even though it only took a few seconds of quick work, we had no time to stop ourselves from hitting the ground, creating a large hole in the rocks and dirt. We shook off the pebbles and looked at each other, me grinning and laughing in relief while he just stared in bewilderment.
"Don't make me have to do that again…!" I joked, mocking him in a playful manner from his earlier statement.
Vegeta shook his head and smirked. "A life for a life, Kakarot. Consider yourself repaid."
I opened my mouth to say something else but the smell of the insides of the centipede monster came to my senses, making me look up to see that the enormous creature was just a few feet from dropping on us. Without thinking, I threw myself over Vegeta's body to shield him from getting crushed by the jagged teeth and acidic mucus, shutting my eyes tightly and waiting for the inevitable.
The monster collapsed, making a deafening sound and causing the planet's foundation to rumble and shake, gripping tightly to Vegeta and still expecting to get severely harmed or even killed. Nothing happened to me and it made me open my eyes, looking around to see that there was a humming blue force field surrounding Vegeta and me with the dead creature lying on top of it. Vegeta and I looked at each other, still clinging to each other's bodies as we searched for the answers that our eyes raised.
"You…. Were going to give your life for me…?" Vegeta asked me, slighting out of breath.
I blushed and broke our eye contact, trying to think of the right thing to say, shocked at my own actions. "I…" I started, looking back to him. "You… are my Prince… Why wouldn't I…?" I gave him a shy smile.
Vegeta went to say something to me but the monster began to move over us, making us both look up. The ground shook around us while the spikes and body of the creature began lifting up. I fear that it was still alive, wondering just how we were going to take it out this time and keep it down, especially trapped around some kind of force field. I kept the Prince covered with my body and anticipated the next move of the creature, watching as it completely lifted off of us and the ground, then was tossed off to the side. Both Vegeta and I looked over to see Raditz and Nappa flying towards us, my brother's arm stretched out as a stream of the blue from our force field was connected to us.
"Are you alright?" Raditz asked us in concern, flicking his hand and the blue energy around us disappearing.
"We saw that damn thing was about to crush you like some fucking bugs! Thank the gods Raditz used his brain for once." Nappa hurried over and reached out his hand, pulling Vegeta to his feet.
My brother pulled me up as well, patting my back. "At least I have a force field ability, Nappa." He snorted and then looked to me, smacking me in the back of my head. "Are you fucking crazy?! What were you thinking trying to use yourself as a shield?"
I rubbed the back of my head and looked to my brother, pouting. "Owe! What?! I was doing it to protect him! He's our Prince so we should do it, right?!"
"That beast would have killed you AND Vegeta. There are only a handful of us Saiyans left, Kakarot! The last thing we need is for 2 of us to die!" My brother scolded me, looking quite upset with his fail frizzed out around his waist.
"Hey! Would you two stop bitching?! We have a genocide to complete!" Vegeta barked at both of us, shaking off his near-death experience and blasted off with Nappa towards the people of Gantook.
My brother huffed and shook his head, reaching over to grab me before I left with the others, pressing our foreheads together. "LOOK… If anything happens to you, it's on me. I promised our Father that when we reunited, I would take care of you no matter what. Please do not dishonor him or fail me."
Raditz's words struck me hard, left speechless as he pulled away from me and flew off to join Vegeta and Nappa. My heart ached and I felt flutters in my stomach, the raw emotion of my brother's statement about swearing to our father he would take care of me making me tear up. Maybe if I had known that, I would have been more understanding to what he was trying to do when we first met in my universe. I missed my brother, hating that I didn't get to experience him the way I needed to, betting that there was some questions he could answer for me that Vegeta could not.
"Kakarot c'mon!" Vegeta yelled for me, the screams of the people of Gantook also bringing me back to reality.
"Don't be a hero, Goku…" I took a deep breath and raised into the air, blasting off to join my brother, Nappa, and my Prince.
TBC.
Swahili Translations:
nge = Scorpion
majani = Grass (Weed)
