Vegetasei's Influence Chapter 9
Last Time on VI: If it hadn't been for his brother's obsession with that bastard, half-bred monkey then he still would be alive. If that stupid abomination hadn't been around, Kyouteki would have left all the fighting to him. Without even thinking about it, Taiteki sent a ki blast rushing towards Gohan.
Chichi and Bulma fell to their knees as they watched the attack soar towards Gohan. As the attack came closer to Gohan, Chichi couldn't bear to watch what would be her child's death. Bulma held on to her friend and turned away from the scene that was unfolding. She couldn't watch Goku's child be killed. As Gohan's scream filled the room both women turned their gazes back to the crystal ball.
Gohan closed his eyes and braced himself for the pain he knew would be coming; only it never came. He opened his eyes to see his mentor shielding him with his body. Piccolo had intercepted the attack to protect the young boy.
"Mr. Piccolo!" Gohan screamed in shock and horror. Gohan stared at the Namekseijin's back as Piccolo's body disintegrated from the brute force of the attack.
Raditsu's soldier instincts kicked in and demanded that he take action. Taiteki was enraged and his nephew was the main target. Moving quickly Raditsu grabbed Gohan and shoved him into Kuririn instructing them both to take cover.
Taiteki scoffed at the Namekjin's sacrifice.
'What a fool.' Taiteki thought. All he was doing was delaying the inevitable. He would kill the brat and all of the others in vengeance for his brother's death. Taiteki made to charge at the boy, when he suddenly found the fist of the prince of all Seiyajin firmly planted into his gut.
Vegeta smirked as Taiteki went flying. Vegeta had taken advantage of Taiteki focusing only on Gohan. As soon as Raditsu was back at his side, Vegeta led the other Seiyajin in an assault on Taiteki.
Kuririn pulled Gohan behind a rock formation. The fight was beyond them now. All they could do was watch for the time being. Gohan was still shocked by Piccolo's sudden death, but knew the time to mourn would be later. Pushing his grief to the back of his mind, Gohan focused on the fight that was unfolding before him.
Taiteki flipped and landed on his feet. How could he be so careless as to let his guard down in front of two full grown pure-blooded Seiyajin? Growling in frustration Taiteki turned his attention to Vegeta and Raditsu. Fine, if they want to die before the brat he'd let them. Taiteki launched himself at the two, heading straight for the prince.
Both Seiyajin took to the air in different directions as Taiteki came at them. Vegeta looked down to find Taiteki hard on his trail. Vegetasei's prince smirked cockily down at his opponent, knowing full well it would anger him.
Vegeta charged up an attack then launched it at Taiteki. Taiteki simply dodged, only to be hit from behind by Raditsu. In the blink of an eye, Taiteki was under a double assault. He was reduced to just blocking the multitude of punches and kicks that were sent at him.
Raditsu was pushing himself harder than ever. Without Nappa they had lost a great deal of strength. Raditsu couldn't help but notice that Prince Vegeta was also fighting more fiercely to compensate for Nappa's absence.
Finally finding an opening, Taiteki managed to kick both of the Seiyajin from him, switching targets. It would be easier for him to take out the weaker Seiyajin first, and then he could deal with the stronger one.
Raditsu didn't have time to react as Taiteki came careening towards him. Punch after punch hit him in his stomach before he could defend himself. As he doubled up from the pain, an upper cut knocked him out of the air. Raditsu hit the ground, skidding a few feet across the rough terrain.
Taiteki followed ready to deliver a fatal blow, when Vegeta came up from behind. Taiteki dodged and sent his own attack barreling towards Vegeta. Vegeta moved out of the way and proceeded to charge at Taiteki. Taiteki met Vegeta head on.
Meanwhile, Raditsu was able to recover enough to rejoin the fray. Once again, Taiteki was in a two on one situation. Acting quickly, Taiteki grabbed hold of Raditsu right arm. Swinging Raditsu as if he were a club, Taiteki knocked him into his fellow Seiyajin.
Vegeta recovered quickly and sent a stream of ki blasts at his opponent before rushing him and engaging in a full on frontal attack. Raditsu on the other hand wasn't so lucky. He landed on the ground in a heap. While using Raditsu as a club, Taiteki had managed to twist and break his arm.
Raditsu's arm hung limp at his side, bent at an awkward angle. Without looking down Raditsu moved it back into a proper angle before heading back to the fight.
Raditsu would be damned before he let something like a useless arm stop him from fighting.
While his arm wouldn't stop him, it certainly weakened his effectiveness. He only had one arm to attack and defend with. The tide of the battle was quickly turning against the Saiyajin. Taiteki was letting them have it, with Raditsu taking the brunt of his assault. If it wasn't for his Prince, Raditsu knew he'd be gone.
Vegeta was getting irritated. He had his hands full in this fight and that was infuriating in and of itself. Not only did he have to watch his own back, but he had to carry Raditsu's weight in this battle and that made him angry. He was really close to letting the weakling die or commanding him to get out of the fight, but he couldn't. He'd never admit it, but Vegeta couldn't fight Taiteki alone. The little bit of power and distraction Raditsu provided was needed, and this made him angrier.
Raditsu fell back towards the ground, but stopped his descent before he hit it. He stared up, clutching his now wounded side. He grit his teeth, knowing things were out of their control just from the way Prince Vegeta was fighting. Vegeta was angry and when he grew angry and his pride was hurt, he tended to become more reckless in battle. Raditsu knew this from countless sparring sessions and missions with the Prince.
Flying back up and deflecting a ki blast meant for Vegeta, Raditsu got back to the fight. He saluted Vegeta and gave him a smirk. Vegeta just needed to calm down, they weren't beat yet. Vegeta eyed Raditsu for a second and knew the soldier was just trying to calm him. It worked, though he wouldn't be admitting that either.
With his mind somewhat clear again, Vegeta began strategizing. If he was right, the one that could strategize out of the two was dead and Taiteki may just be the brawn to his brother's brain. As they continued their dance of death, Vegeta smirked as his mind began to formulate a plan.
Back on the ground, Kuririn and Gohan watched the fight in growing apprehension. From where they stood things were not looking good. If the Saiyajin didn't win, Chikyuusei would be destroyed. Kuririn bit his bottom lip and cursed in his mind.
'What the hell is taking Goku so long?' At that thought, he looked over at the man in question's son.
Gohan shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He wanted to go help his uncle, but knew he'd probably just make things worse. A flash of Piccolo's death came into his mind and he scowled. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked over at Kuririn smiling down at him.
"Don't worry Gohan. We'll win this. Your dad will come just in the nick of time," Kuririn said, trying to cheer up the boy and possibly himself. Gohan smiled back and nodded. He knew his dad would save them, but even if he didn't, Gohan knew his uncle and the man with him weren't done fighting yet. They were planning something he could tell.
Vegeta signaled Raditsu, and the other signaled back his understanding. They moved into position and Vegeta couldn't help but smirk. The two Saiyajin then quickly flew towards a close by mountain range. Taiteki hadn't expected the sudden retreat and chuckled to himself.
"Think running will save you? Think again." He quickly gave chase.
When he caught up, only the Prince of all Saiyajin could be seen. Taiteki paused in confusion and scanned the area while keeping Vegeta in sight. He cursed when he realized his scouter had long ago been lost in battle. He had no way of finding the weaker Saiyajin. Taiteki shrugged and focused fully on Vegeta. It didn't matter if he couldn't find the other one. Eventually he'd try a sneak attack to protect his prince and Taiteki would be ready.
When the Saiyajin headed towards them, Gohan knew something was up. As Vegeta led Taiteki over their heads, Raditsu had landed beside them. After Raditsu had pushed aside Kuririn's concerns with a simple, "Sayajin never run from a fight" he had told them to be ready to attack. Vegeta knew he needed more than just the wounded Raditsu to win and he figured the two Chikyujin were enough to equal Raditsu's arm.
The two visible warriors rushed each other and connected with powerful punches. It quickly turned into a flurry of blows, but only Vegeta seemed to bother with blocking any of them. It was immediately obvious which of the two had the advantage. Though, that wasn't going to stop the prideful prince from doing what he had set out to do.
Eventually Taiteki knocked the Prince of Saiyajin across the sky. As Vegeta began to slow his momentum, Taiteki readied his ki blast to end him. Suddenly something flashed in his peripheral and dropping the ki blast, he reached out grabbing a hold of the missing Saiyajin's leg before it could make contact with his head. He smirked at the long haired male in his grasp, only to see a smirk being sent his way in return.
The next thing Taiteki knew, Raditsu had launched a ki blast right into his face and sent him hurtling straight into the waiting ki blasts of Kuririn and Gohan. The searing heat pushed him straight into unforgiving rock. He moved his arms in preparation to push himself back up to his feet when a ki blast from Vegeta pushed him back down and deeper into the rock face.
The four warriors that had struck him waited for their enemy to resurface. They knew it wasn't over, but if they caused him some damage and allowed themselves a chance to catch their breaths, then maybe they'd turned the tables.
When Taiteki could finally move again, he couldn't help but laugh. His brothers would never forgive him for this slip up. How could he have forgotten about the other two fighters, especially the Halfling? Kyouteki had always said he had too narrow of a vision. While his brother could see the big picture, he could only see what was directly in front of him. Right now all he saw was the rock of this backwoods planet.
Taiteki hurled himself out of the rubble and turned to look at his opponents.
"Impressive. But that is the last time you'll get a hit like that on me." Taiteki then laughed in a manner that revealed the relation between him and Okami. Still laughing, he shot straight into Chikyusei's defense and despite being slightly injured; his bloodlust had never been higher.
Kuririn wondered if being hit by a train was a good analogy for the way it felt when Taiteki collided with him. He was sure if Raditsu and Gohan hadn't acted he would be able to see through his stomach at the moment. Pushing the pain down, he sent a ki blast right at Taiteki's arm, preventing it from taking Gohan's head off his shoulders.
Gohan stumbled back a bit, only to have Vegeta push past him to knee Taiteki in his stomach. Gohan caught his uncle's eye and the two launched forward at the same time. Taiteki blocked Raditsu and let what he thought was a simple punch from the brat through, only to get a small ki blast to the shoulder. Gohan caught his uncle smirking at him and couldn't help but smile; maybe he could help after all.
Vegeta made sure Taiteki's attention was on him. As the strongest and the leader, he wanted Taiteki to know it was the Prince that sent him to his grave. He made sure that the fighter couldn't afford to take his eyes off him. With a combo of kicks, he sent Taiteki's head snapping back into a punch from Kuririn. When Taiteki's head came back forward from the impact, Vegeta made sure his knee was there to meet his opponent's face.
Raditsu smirked as he led Gohan through their attacks. He could finally see the training the Namekseijin gave his nephew and was happy to see that the kid caught on quick. He was sort of using the boy as a substitute for his arm. Keeping Gohan on his right side, the boy bolstered his defense and allowed him to attack more smoothly. Feeling his kick make contact with the side of Taiteki's leg, Raditsu felt they may just win.
With four against one odds, it may have made a huge difference if their opponent was anyone else. However, while Okami had torture and pain, and Kyouteki had strategy and the mind, Taiteki had fighting and the body. With four on one, against two and half Saiyajin, and being injured and bruised, Taiteki never felt more alive.
Letting out a laugh as his opponents struck him; he reached out and grabbed one. The tables were turning once again. Breaking from the group, Taiteki slammed his victim's face into his knee, uppercut him further into the air and then, bringing his fists together, slammed the weakling back into the ground before sending a ki blast after him. All of this, he did before the others could catch up.
Gohan rushed and grabbed Kuririn from midair, stopping him from being slammed into the ground and being seared in the ki blast. Gohan lost control of his momentum and the two skidded to a stop on the ground. Rolling over and jumping to his feet, he ran back to the other fighter's side. He rolled Kuririn onto his back and he sighed in relief as Kuririn opened his eyes, blinking.
Kuririn's eyes were a bit unfocused, but he was definitely alive and semiconscious. Gohan looked over to the crater that would have been Kuririn and knew the man would have died if he'd been caught up in it. He looked back up toward the fight when something caught his attention. He snapped his head quickly in its direction and his eyes widened at what he saw.
Raditsu and Vegeta reached Taiteki seconds after he'd finished his assault on Kuririn. Taiteki was ready for them. Kicking Vegeta aside and sending him back several feet, he grabbed Raditsu's wounded arm. Raditsu gritted his teeth as pain ran through the already ragged limb. Taiteki twisted it before throwing Raditsu through the air and blasting him to the ground.
Raditsu landed hard and skidded before finally stopping. He knew he wouldn't be able to move his arm again. Rolling onto his back, he fully realized how much pain he was truly in. He shouldn't be getting back up, but he had to. Forcing back the darkness that promised rest from pain, he opened his eyes.
Raditsu looked up to find what looked like his father staring back at him. He was confused for a few seconds before he heard Gohan's voice calling out the word, "Daddy!"
"Hey, bro. Mind if I step in for you?" Goku asked kneeling by his brother. Raditsu half smirked.
"Go right ahead, Kakkorot," Raditsu chuckled before closing his eyes and passing out. With Kakkorot there he didn't have to get up again, at least not for this fight.
Author's note:
Hey everyone, long time no see huh? Sorry about that life caught up with me pretty fast and fanfiction writing got booted to the trunk for my original work and school. However since I really don't like the thought of just leaving this here incomplete before I even get to some of the better stuff I have planned for it, I am getting this started once again. I did debate whether or not to edit the previous chapters but decided against it for now. If I'm going to finish this I'm going to have to just plow forward. Speaking of editing I also managed to find myself a really good beta reader. So everyone, give Kori no Tsubasa a round of applause for all the help. Well hope you enjoy this new installment and all those to come. See ya later.