Rocky mountains dotted the desert landscape as Goten and Tien flew through the skies. Shortly after leaving Videl and Erasa to their "mission," the two warriors had been heading off to the next fight, ready to take down whoever they found there. While they had been traveling, the young saiyan had managed to get the whole story from Tien as to why he and his female companions had been so close to the lake.
"So we're pretty much on our own side, unless you and your comrades decide to welcome us," Tien said as he finished his tale. While it wasn't the most exciting subject, it was still something to pass the time with.
"And what of Satan?" Goten asked. "Did he never arrive back at the house or something?"
"I don't know," the bodyguard replied. "He was a bit late as to his return time though."
"He's probably dead," Goten stated.
"Dead? What gives you that idea?" Tien asked surprised
The young saiyan looked towards Tien. "I've dealt with your people all of my life. If there was ever someone that didn't return from a raid, it was most likely that they were dead. If someone did show up, it was a miracle; otherwise ya'll killed any saiyan that came in sight."
Tien got a sad look. "It's a shame then. Videl isn't going to take that well."
Goten, however, showed no sympathy. "This is war. You're government has destroyed billions of lives, broken up countless families; that girl is just another nameless face amongst the masses of victims, she'll have to get use to it like everyone else."
The three eyed man glared at the young saiyan. "How can you say that? He's still a person."
"Where was your sympathy when my father was killed? Mine was killed by a traitor among my people, just like Satan. The difference was that the government betrayed him, not some pathetic man."
Tien quickly looked away. He knew exactly who Goten was talking about, even meeting the man in person. While he wasn't losing sleep at night because of Turles' death, it was quite a different thing to be flying next to a victim of the man's shady dealings.
"Kinda got quiet there. Something up?" Goten suddenly asked.
Collecting himself, Tien calmly replied "It's nothing. I'm sorry to hear about your father."
"It doesn't matter; it was a long time ago. At least now I can do something to honor his sacrifice."
"I understand."
For a few moments the two remained silent, each deep in their own thoughts. That didn't last long, however, as a ki blast flew out of nowhere to strike them. Both warriors dodged the attack and dropped into defensive stances as soon as they could.
"You missed them. You're gonna have to work on your aim a bit, dear," a smooth feminine voice said.
"He he, sorry about that honey. I'll hit them next time," a deep, croaking voice replied embarrassed.
Staring down towards the rocky mountains, two figures stood on top of one of the giant rock formations. A tall blond woman stood there, her arms crossed over her striped shirt. Blue jeans covered her long legs. Next to the woman was a shorter black haired man. The mass of hair looked odd on his head, along with his noseless face. A red shirt and wristbands covered his top half as grey pants covered his bottom. Who were these people?
"Of all of the people we run into, it had to be them," Tien said, staring at the two with distaste.
Keeping his eyes on the two mysterious people, Goten asked "You know these people?"
"Unfortunately yes. The short man is Krillen Chestnut, a martial artist of the Turtle school; a rival of my own school. The woman next to him is Hatchi Chestnut, his wife and Eighteenth chair of the Earth's government," Tien answered, disgust evident in his voice.
"So the woman is a government person? That's great!" Goten said, getting excited.
Tien looked at the happy saiyan surprised. "What do you mean great? These are two of the last people you want to run into."
Instead, Goten said "These were the power levels I was heading for. At least now I don't have to look around for them anymore."
"You were looking for them!?" Tien shouted. "We're talking about a government official, not some lizard thing!"
"You obviously don't know saiyans very well," the young saiyan replied. "The better the fight, the more battle crazy we become. It's time to kick some human ass." At the end of the sentence, Goten dropped from the sky until he landed on a mountain a little ways away from Hatchi and Krillen, Tien joining him soon after.
"What's this? A saiyan?" Hatchi said, finally recognizing the young man before her.
"And that looks like Tien with him. What's that guy doing with a saiyan?" Krillen piped up.
As Hatchi and Krillen analyzed the warriors in front of them, Goten and Tien worked on their battle strategy. "So how do you want to attack?' Tien asked. "Take one of them down quickly and the work over the other? Or should we just do a free for all?"
"I want to fight the woman. She's the stronger of the two," Goten responded. "I think you should handle the short guy easily right?"
The bodyguard smirked. "He'll be easy enough. But you sure you want to take Hatchi on all by yourself? I can join you after I'm finished with Krillen."
"Don't interfere. If I'm gonna die here, I want to die without a crutch," Goten said. "If I do fall, you can finish the job."
"I don't really like that plan but I'll do it. Just don't get killed."
"Don't worry, I won't."
"So we just charge them right?"
"That should be fine. Just take off after I do; they won't expect me to knock the girl away, so you should be able to hit the little guy with his guard down."
Tien nodded. "Alright then, shall we start?"
Goten smirked. "Yep."
Without even waiting for Tien to reply, the young saiyan launched into the air and charged at the two fighters before him, both of them with their attention on each other. They never knew what was happening until Goten slammed right into Hatchi, sending her flying through the air with the saiyan hot on her trail. Before Krillen could react to help his wife, he was nailed by a right hook by Tien, sending him off in a different direction.
When Hatchi managed to recover herself in midair, she was immediately hit again, this time being sent into the ground, dust being kicked into the air as she crashed into the earth.
Floating above the dust cloud, Goten smirked. He might have overestimated this girl. He was pushing her around so far; not much a fight if you asked him.
Down in the crater, Hatchi berated herself for dropping her guard. This wasn't a normal fighter she could brush off; he was a saiyan, a trained warrior. She'd have to be more careful than usual. Standing up, she held her arms up, aimed at her opponent, unleashing a barrage of ki blasts at him.
Seeing the blasts heading towards him, Goten used a burst of speed to dodge the attack, reappearing behind Hatchi, grabbing her shoulders and planting his knee in her back.
Hatchi let out a cry of pain as she felt the knee slam into her back a couple more times before her saiyan opponent hit her in the head with a roundhouse kick, sending her flying across the plain. Once again she recovered, but she managed to block Goten's charge, counterattacking quicker than the saiyan expected.
Fortunately, he blocked the sudden attack, reacting with a flurry of punches which Hatchi blocked, sending her own barrage at him. For awhile, both fighters launched punch after punch and kick after kick at each other, always blocking the blows, dust being kicked up from their fight.
Then they both separated, jumping away from each other. Once Hatchi landed on the ground, she raised both hands again and fired a ki blast. Goten dodged the blast and started to run, avoiding another blast as it was fired at him. Hatchi continued to send blast after blast after her saiyan opponent, each beam hitting behind him as dirt was kicked up and mountains were destroyed. Just as Goten ran behind on mountain, he disappeared, leaving the large rock to get decimated by his opponent.
Hatchi stopped firing, just standing there with her arms stretched out. Her eyes scanned the surrounding area. Nothing seemed to be jumping at her yet, but it was only a matter of time before the saiyan launched another attack. She'd just have to beat him to the punch then.
Lowering her hands down, she balled one of them into a fist; the other sticking a little away from her body, her hand remaining flat. Slowly, she gathered her ki until she had the right amount, but she refused to let it form. She'd wait until the last possible moment.
Suddenly, she felt the saiyan's ki jump behind her. She knew exactly where he was. Immediately, she formed her gathered energy into a disk that floated above her hand. Swinging her body around, she threw the disk; the disk flying towards a mountain and cutting it in half diagonally. Slowly, the top half slid off its base, revealing Goten, a scratch on his cheek with blood slowly dripping from it.
An astonished look was on his face for awhile until he lifted his hand to touch his face, smearing the blood on it. He hadn't expected that to happen. That disk had come out of nowhere. Maybe he had underestimated this girl.
There was a stillness for a few moments until two loud war cries sounded off, followed by the sound of fists colliding with each other. As each fighter threw their strongest punches, Krillen soon tired of the stalemate disappeared, reappearing behind Tien and threw a roundhouse kick, which the three eyed man flipped over and kicked the back of the short man's head, making contact, and sending him into a mountain.
Floating in midair as Goten had done before him, Tien watched the crumbling rocky mass, waiting for Krillen to launch another attack. Despite having the upper hand currently, the fight had been much more even than the bodyguard had thought it would be. The man's skills had improved greater than expected somehow. After the former monk had met Hatchi, he had left the Turtle school, believing he hadn't needed anymore lessons from Master Roshi, or at least that's how Yamcha had seen it before he came over to the Crane school. Though a rival of Crane, Tien respected the old martial artist's skill. How Krillen could disregard it as he had done was beyond him.
And like expected, Krillen came rushing out of the debris, both of his hands balled into fists. Flying backwards while facing his opponent, Tien maintained his distance until he had gathered enough ki for his next attack. Pointing his finger at Krillen, Tien cried out his attack "Dodon Ray," the beam racing towards his charging opponent.
However, the attack went right through Krillen, an image of him slowly fading away. Before Tien could react, he felt a knee ram into his face, sending him flying. Soon a barrage of ki blasts hit him, exploding on contact and burning him.
As he managed to recover himself, Tien landed on a rocky mountain, breathing a little heavy, keeping himself on guard as he stared at Krillen, who had also landed on a mountain. "You've been keeping yourself in top shape Tien," the monk called out.
"So have you," the three eyed bodyguard replied. "Better than I thought you would be."
Scratching the back of his head, grinning, Krillen responded "Well, I have to thank Hatchi for that. She wouldn't let me slack off if I was gonna stay with her. Heck, she's taught me more than even old man Roshi could've."
Tien scowled. "You shouldn't have left him like you did. Have you no respect for your teacher?"
"Hey, if you had a chance with Hatchi, you would've done the same thing. And it doesn't matter anymore; Roshi's dead."
Tien's eyes widened. "Dead? When did that happen?"
Though a bit sad, Krillen answered "A few weeks ago. He was becoming a threat to the government and was killed."
"He was your teacher, your mentor! How could you've stood aside and let him die like that?" the bodyguard demanded, anger laced in his voice.
"We all take risks in our lives and Roshi's risk ended up being his last. And speaking of risks, what are you, of all people, doing with a saiyan?"
"Cause he's the only one here fighting for the right reason. He's probably the only one here that has any honor."
Krillen let out a laugh. "You're telling me a blood thirsty saiyan has more honor than us? You're being delusional. We all know they would've attacked us sooner or later. We were just the ones to strike first."
What ever kind feeling Tien still had for the man was thrown away. Obviously he had allowed his first lay to corrupt him with the same propaganda that the government feed the rest of the people. "Well, it doesn't matter now. The saiyans are here to show you what it's like to fight real warriors."
Krillen hesitated a bit. "Saiyans? You mean there are more of them here?"
"You bet, each one stronger than the last. While you've been living it up here on Earth, they've been growing stronger and stronger, just so they could fight you on your home turf. Even if you and that blond bimbo do defeat us here, another one will fight you and be your downfall."
Krillen's fists tightened. "Don't you dare call Hatchi a bimbo," he said through clinched teeth.
Tien took note of that. It looked like the monk had a problem with insults to his wife. That could be useful later. "Well, then prove to me that you've gotten stronger monk. Prove you're as strong as you claim to be."
"Fine then!" the short man cried out. Cupping his hands together and bringing them to a side, a blue orb immediately appeared in his hands. Thrusting them in front of him, he yelled out the name of his attack before firing it, "Kamehameha!"
The blue beam raced from the monk as it headed for its target. His eyes widening, Tien leapt into the air, dodging the blast as it consumed everything in its path, an explosion erupting when it couldn't maintain its stability.
However, Tien was ready for a surprise attack and not getting disappointed as Krillen appeared, throwing a barrage of punches and kicks; the bodyguard returning the barrage with his own as both humans attacked each other fiercely.
Goten, however, wasn't having as much luck. Charging Hatchi, the saiyan threw a punch, which she dodged, and imbedded her own fist in his face; another punch planting itself in his gut, bending him over as air, spit, and blood flew out of his mouth; and finally a palm slamming into his face, sending him into a mountain, coming out the other side of it as it fell apart, and skidding on the ground for several feet.
Shaking as he picked himself up, Goten ached all over. There weren't too many places on his body that didn't have a throbbing pain in it. Somehow this human girl had gotten the upper hand on him and hadn't relinquished it since. If things kept up like they were, he wouldn't be living too much longer.
Goten shook his head. He needed to get those negative thoughts out of his head. They wouldn't do anything but effect how he fought and that wasn't something he could afford at that moment. He'd beat this blond bitch down, no ifs, ands, or buts.
Managing to climb to his feet, the young saiyan swung himself around, only to see an outstretched arm clothesline him, knocking him back to the ground.
"Is this the strength of the saiyan race? Pathetic," Hatchi said. To emphasize her point, she kicked the crippled saiyan in the stomach, sending him skidding again, soon rolling on the ground, cries of pain coming from his mouth.
After awhile, Goten managed to quiet himself down. If he ever got his hands on that bitch, he would make her beg for mercy from the pains he would cause her. He just needed to get an advantage now, before he couldn't do anything then be a punching bag. Getting to his feet again, the saiyan floated up into the air, hoping to change the location of the battle.
Turning to look at his opponent, he saw her flying straight for him, a small smile on her face. Breathing heavily, Goten waited until he saw Hatchi pull her fist back and throw it at him. Dodging it, the young saiyan stuck his hand at her and fired a ki blast at her, blowing her away.
As she tumbled through the air, Goten charged her as fast as he could, passing her, striking her with his knee in her gut when she reached him, and then jackhammering her in the back, sending her flying into the ground. Even if he was beaten all over, he would still get his licks in.
Hatchi soon appeared again, looking up at the saiyan. "That was a pretty good shot you had there," she called up to him. "But unfortunately for you, I didn't take too much damage from it. You're going to have to do better than that."
Goten growled. This was just getting to be too much. It seemed like no matter what he did, this human could outmatch him. It was infuriating.
Just as he was about to launch into another attack, the saiyan paused. He knew that Hatchi just wanted to rile him up and cause him to make a big mistake, one he couldn't afford to make. He needed to be smart here. So far nothing was working, so he needed a stronger attack. Unfortunately, the only attack he could think of was his new finishing move and he needed to make sure she would at least let herself get hit by it before he could really do some damage to her. Maybe if he let her push him around some more, he could pull it off…
"Okay lady, if you're as strong as you say you are, you really don't need to be taunting me. Prove you can take me down."
Hatchi just stared at him before smiling. "As you wish young one."
Suddenly she disappeared, reappearing right in front on him while trying to uppercut him. Goten managed to block the attack and counterattacked. Hatchi twirled out of the way of the punch, still spinning through the air until she roundhouse kicked her saiyan opponent, sending him flying. She wasn't done just yet with him though. Gathering her ki, she fired at blast at him, expecting it to hit and kill the boy.
However, Goten recovered enough to maneuver himself to kick the blast away, taking off to put distance between him and his opponent.
Hatchi just watched with amusement as she saw the saiyan flee. She'd show him that he couldn't run from her even if she wanted him to.
Landing behind a mountain, Goten panted heavily. He was getting tired which wasn't a good thing, his body was still in pain, and it didn't look like he wasn't causing any damage whatsoever. Those were three things that didn't add up to victory. It was now or never if he wanted to defeat this girl. Concentrating, the saiyan gathered his ki slowly, so that Hatchi wouldn't detect that he was up to something. Just as long as she didn't suspect that he was preparing something, everything would be okay.
Suddenly, a tapping sound caught his ears. The more he listened to it, the more it sounded like it was nearby. Sensing the area around, Goten paled when he discovered Hatchi's ki on the other side of the rock. How could she have found him so soon?
Dashing off, the young saiyan moved all over the terrain, hoping to lose Hatchi. However, when he came to a stop, he saw Hatchi had just been waiting for him, sitting on top of one of the mountains. With her legs crossed, her elbows pressed into them as her hands held up her head, the blond woman gave a small smile. "It's about time you got here."
Goten rushed away, coming to a stop right in the open, turning around to watch his opponent. Enough stalling, it was time to enact his last card.
Hatchi leapt off the mountain, landing on the ground, and walking towards the saiyan. She had been amused by the little boy's antics, but it was time to finish this runt off. She had other things to do.
Getting into his stance, Goten hid his cupped hands from Hatchi's sight. He was intent on not letting her see what he was planning to do. If she had any contact with that Cell guy from earlier, she would probably recognize the technique he was about to do. Not an advantage he was willing to give her.
"Kaa…mee…" the saiyan chanted, gathering more ki to his collection. "Haa…meeee…"
Hatchi started on in amusement. She couldn't tell what Goten was up to but it didn't matter. It wasn't like he could do anything to harm her now. Though that stance looked a bit familiar.
Finally, Goten threw all caution to the wind, allowing the assemble ki to form in his hands, the orb encompassing them. This bitch was going to die now…
Thrusting his arms out in front of him, Goten cried out the last word of the chant, unleashing the blast, "HAAAAAAA!"
A large blue blast erupted from the saiyan, racing towards its surprised target. Hatchi was astonished that this kid knew her husband's technique. How he had learned it was beyond her, but she knew she was in trouble if she couldn't stop it. Catching the beam at the last second, Hatchi poured all of her strength into stopping the attack while she was being slowly pushed backwards.
Watching as his blast was slowly being stopped, Goten growled. He didn't have much energy left and what little ki he had reserved, in case this didn't work, was all he had left. Oh well, if this didn't finish the job, then he was dead anyway. Ridding himself of any reservation, Goten poured his remaining power into the beam.
The energy rushed down the beam's path, crashing into the obstacle that was holding it back. Losing her balance from the sudden push, Hatchi was swept off her feet and carried by that blast, flying across the terrain. As she was consumed by the attack, Hatchi screamed in pain, her person being pushed faster and faster until the blast exploded, obliterating her from this world.
As Goten watched the explosion, and felt Hatchi's ki signal disappeared, he smiled in victory and fell backwards, hitting the ground hard. Laying there spread eagle, the young saiyan could rest easy now.
His fight was finally over.
To DragonGirl: Thanks. You got it, no letting up.
To dbzfan952: Wow, didn't think it was that good but I'll take it. And I did like that dream sequence too. Hopefully, I can get this thing finished in the next few chapters.