Chapter 7
Little Kakarot tugged his brothers sleeve as he laid asleep in his bed. The teenager looked up.
"'Niisan!" He squeaked. "Mama says you can take the day off from chores today! She said everybody could take a break."
Raditz yawned and massaged his aching arm.
Well, that was convenient...He thought as he slipped out of bed. He picked up his scouter to call June. She was usually up pretty early. He wanted to see if he could spend time with her.
After all, he could find no other way of spending his last days. Though the boy had told no one, he was aching to tell someone about it. He looked over to his brother who was identifying the note carefully. Then he pointed to it.
"Ay, 'niisan! the 20,000 on here is a bit smudged. Can I see it?" He asked, reaching for the note.
"No!" Raditz called, blocking the boy, which struck Kakarot by surprise. He took two steps back then ran out the room yelling, "'Kaasan! Raditz is scary!" He tromped to the left to his parent's room.
Bardock walked into the room with a scowl. "Raditz, what did you do this time?"
Raditz scratched the back of his head. "I just snapped at him for trying to go through my stuff, that's all."
Kakarot pouted and pointed to the paper. "I just asked if I could see it! He didn't have to be mean about it!"
The Father took a step forward. "Let me see tha-"
Raditz leaped in the way and held out his arms, blocking his dad. "There's nothing on it." He said hastily. "It was just.. um.. In the trash, and I don't want him touching it, it's gross."
Bardock crossed his arms. "Let me see it, Raditz." He growled.
"No!" The boy snatched up the paper before his father could. Summoning up ki in his hands, he burnt it to ashes in a second. He chucked them out the window, and the breeze carried them away.
Before he could even turn around, he was pinned by the neck to the wall.
Bardock hissed in his ear. "What did it say? Why was it so important that nobody touched it, eh? Spit it out, kiddo."
Raditz choked and rasped "I-It was just personal... I have a life, y'know."
Bardock squeezed his neck tighter. "I didn't ask what it was about." He growled. "I asked what it said."
"Let...let me go and I'll tell you!" Raditz gasped. The father released his insanely tight grip somewhat on his son's throat, allowing him to talk normally.
"It was from..." Raditz thought a moment.. "June. Does THAT tell you enough?"
Bardock blinked. "No, one sec." He turned to his youngest son. "Kakarot, out. This may not be for you."
The boy left without protest.
"So..." Bardock smirked. "What did it say?"
Raditz blushed. Great, now I have to make up some crazy embarrassing shit. Ugh, sorry June! He thought as he racked his brains for something.
"Um, it said, um..." He swallowed hard and finished the sentence, his cheeks blushed red. "'I wanna love you all day.' Are you happy now!?"
Bardock laughed, and without replying, walked out.
Raditz sighed. The things I do for you people...
He turned his scouter on and called said girl. June picked up in a cheery voice she usually had after training. "Hey Raditz! What's up?"
The boy shrugged. "You wanna hang out today?"
Over the line, June's face lit up in a smile. "I'd love to!"
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Raditz and June walked peacefully through the woods, hand in hand.
"So.." June said. "How's it going?"
"It's fine..." He murmured under his breath. He couldn't tell her.. Not yet.
Suddenly, he felt a ripping pain in his arm and shoulder. Instinctively he snapped a hand to it.
June looked up anxiously. "Are you alright?" She asked, gently touching her fingertips to his shoulder.
He nodded. "I-I'm fine. Just a charlie-horse." He shook the pain off and wrapped his arm around her waist.
June looked at the ground and sighed. "Good." She hugged him tightly around his waist, because she was much shorter than him. "I'm glad." A warm, loving smile spread across her face. "I can't imagine I'd do if something happened to you."
Raditz bit back a wail of guilt. How could Kasai do this to them? He only hoped that no one would find out. Not yet... He hoped silently.
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"I'm worried about Raditz..." Naira sighed to her husband. "He's had a lot of pain up his right arm ever since yesterday."
Bardock drummed his fingers on the table in though. "'Wonder what could be wrong with the kid..." He thought out loud. "It was weird the way he burned that piece of paper, almost like..." He turned to his wife. "It was a death threat or something."
"Anything he talk about to you?" Naira asked.
Bardock gave a sigh, rubbing his head. "Not that I can think of..." Wait... He thought. Raditz asked me yesterday about Xephyr...and he wouldn't have known about it if he hadn't gone to Tenso... His mind raced with ideas. He stood up. "I need to think for a moment." He told his wife, leaving the room, opening the upstairs window, and hovering onto the roof, whereas the same with Raditz, he thought about a lot of things.
Let's see here...so he asked me about Xephyr after he came back from Tenso. In fact, he was with Tenso for a pretty long time. And then...he seemed in pain when he was talking to me, like trying to conceal it from me. And what was that piece of paper? Wait a second... He hopped off the roof and into the backyard, where Kakarot was busy sparring with no one.
"Kakarot." His father called, but Kakarot, not noticing his father, aimed a punch straight for him. In a matter of seconds, Bardock had both his son's arms behind him.
"Getting there. You're getting there." He patted the son on the head, letting him go. Kakarot stumbled backwards a bit, looking at his father. He could see right through his father and tell that something was up.
"Hai?" He asked, cocking his head in a chibi way.
"I need to ask you something..." His father trailed off. "Yesterday, Raditz picked up a piece of paper off the lawn, right?"
"Hai." Kakarot confirmed. "He picked it up with his right hand."
A minor wave of fear hit Bardock like a brick. "Uncovered...hand?" He asked.
"Hai."
Then the realization hit him like a ton of bricks. Oh Kami...no...it all makes sense now. Staying with Tenso, asking about Xephyr, the pain in his right arm...! It must be that...my son...has Xephyr running through his bloodstream!
Bardock ran inside, eyes wide, and with Kakarot dead on his heels.
Naira stood up and blocked his way."What? What is it?" She asked.
Bardock shook his head.
Niara growled. "I'm sick of the secrets! Tell me, I need to know!" When Bardock didn't respond, she softened her voice. "Bardock, what is it?" She asked, walking up to him in a more-than-graceful way. "Please, tell me..."
Bardock sighed. "All I can say is, he's sick. He's very, very sick. He contracted a virus, it should spread to his heart in only a few days.
Naira bit her knuckle. This couldn't be happening!
"Wh-what happens when it gets to his heart?"
Bardock looked at the ground and closed his eyes. He felt small hands tug his left wrist band.
"Daddy." Kakarot whimpered. "What's going to happen to my brother?"
Bardock fought to keep his voice steady. "He... He's..." The Father took a deep breath. "He'll die.
Naira stood shocked for a moment. Then her eyes rolled up in her head, and she collapsed into her mate's arms.
Bardock jogged over to lay her down on the sofa. When he turned around, Kakarot was standing right where he had been a moment ago, rooted into the spot. His Father approached him with a gentle hand on his shoulder. The boy sniffed. "'Niisan can't die.. He promised he would teach me how to dodge a punch next month..."
Suddenly the boy was screaming. "NO NO MY BROTHER CAN'T DIE! HE WON'T! RADITZ IS GONNA BE FINE, YOU'LL SEE! HE PROMISED!"
The little child broke down in sobs. Then he looked up at his father with a bit of fury ringing in his eyes, and he did something that no one would have expected.
He pointed at his father. "It's all YOUR FAULT! If you had cared about oniisan, then he would be alright!" He ran to the backdoor. "I...I HATE YOU!" He burst out in a passionate yell, running for the forest outside.
"No, KAKAROT!" His father called after him, but the boy wouldn't listen. He hopped into the forest, out of his father's sight. Of course, his father gave chase. Slamming into the back door, he hopped onto a tree trunk and sprang up into the air, taking to flight. Like a hawk looking for prey, he was out looking for a blue and orange blur in the forest. At last, he saw his son.
He landed on a high tree limb, and his son was a few limbs away. After Kakarot turned his head and gasped, he smacked his hand onto the tree limb and catapulted himself five limbs away, but, of course, the more experienced warrior caught up to him with ease.
Then Kakarot rounded on him, firing as much ki as he could pour out, sending the unprepared warrior rocketing out of the treetops and falling to the ground. He looked around for his son, but he was lost from his sight.
Standing up, the warrior took a deep breath, and then he slammed his hand against a hard tree, boring a solid hole right through. Unbeknownst to him, the virus was beginning to take it's course. He ignored the fact that his hand was bleeding. Profusely. "Kami...DAMNIT!" He shouted.
With a quiet snarl and not another word, he turned on his heels and began to walk home. Oh well. He thought. He'll be back as soon as he gets hungry.
Then the warrior noticed a sharp pain in his hand, after the virus retreaded. He looked down at his hand and noticed it was severely bleeding.
Woah...how did I not notice that? He asked himself, full of questions. Well, better rush home, then. Oh jeez...gotta not let my rage get the best of me...but it shouldn't be...
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Kakarot dashed through the trees, tears streaming down his face. It was all too terrible. First Riko, now Raditz! Riko had been like his older brother, but now he was going to lose his real big brother.
It was strange how everybody thought about it, thinking of Raditz as though they had already buried boy clenched his fist even tighter. He would not let Raditz die, no matter what!
"I will save oniisan!" He declared to himself, stopping on a thick limb and sitting down. "I know he won't die!"
"Are you sure about that?"
Kakarot spun his head around, but only a shadow was in the dense forest. He immediately stood up and took a defensive position.
"Who's there?" He asked. "I'm warning you, I'm strong!"
"Yes, yes, we all know you're the supposed "protege son" of Bardock and Naira. And your brother is Raditz, no less. Say, have you heard of someone called...Kasai?"
The boy let out a roar. "He was the one who poisoned my big brother! He's gonna die!"
Out from the shadows there stepped a tall man, holding a yellow stick.
It was Kasai.
The little boy, who had never seen Raditz's murderer before, did not recognize him as the awful man he actually was- A mistake that too many children had made prior to falling into his trap.
Kasai lunged forward without warning and crushed the boy's tail in his hands. With a cry of peril, Kakarot's knees buckled and he collapsed to the ground. All his strength was leached out of his tail.
With a wicked laugh, he dragged the boy into the undergrowth and tied him up. He left a heavy stone sitting on the kid's tail.
"Leave me alone!" Kakarot shouted. "I have to save oniisan!"
Kasai gave a wicked smirk. "The only way to save your brother is to force the Xepher antidote past his breastplate into his heart. And there isn't an antidote."
Kakarot began to cry. "I'll never let you get away with this! 'nissan get you before it kills him."
The man smirked. "Oh, he won't." Kasai began to pace.
"You see, Kakarot, nobody believed that Xepher had an antidote. BUT, given enough time and energy to the cause, you can forage one out of the spores of a Cardiakodus mushroom, (found only in the most remote ends of the planet) The pigments in a Nakseh plant leaf, (Found only in rainforest centers) The blood of a Rhinioccon,(extinct) A rare bacteria found on the corpses of mammals that died of heart-related problems, and the intestinal juice of a Cardico Swine (Sounds like something out of Maplestory...).
Kasai stopped pacing and reached into his pocket with a grin. "I happen to have the antidote, which I composed after finding all needed requirements, just in case I myself were to accidentally touch the note I gave your brother."
He pulled out a needle filled with a pinkish-yellow fluid. Kakarot shivered. He hated needles, but that was Raditz's only hope of life!
Letting out an angry battle cry, Kakarot sprang into action, and at every attempt he could grab the needle, he kept missing. At one time, he managed to get one finger barely touching it, but was flown across the ground, slamming hard into a tree. He barely got up, staggering and panting hard.
"Rrr..." He growled under his breath. "I said...GIVE IT TO ME!" He shouted, and started to emit a furious blue aura around himself.
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Meanwhile, two kilometers away...
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Woah! Bardock thought. He turned his head to the east, feeling a source of power. But from whom?
Kakarot? Or June? He thought to himself. Although his left hand was out of commission, he took off towards the source of the power spike. He HAD to find the source!
When he neared the place where the energy was coming from, it suddenly disappeared, or at least became too weak to keep track of. Bardock threw his head back and screamed a curse and he turned back towards home.
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Kakarot struggled under the foot that was stomped onto tail. "I won't let you... Do this!"
Kasai smiled evilly. "Watch me. My plan is unravelling perfectly. June and your Dad'll both see Raditz die."
The little boy wailed. "What's wrong with you!"
The man shook his head. "It's not that I want them to see him die, it's what'll happen afterward that I'M interested in, and killing the teenager was the only way to accomplish this feat.
Kakarot looked up. "Wh-What's gonna happen afterward..?" He coughed.
Kasai's smile reached across his entire mouth. (like a "jeff the killer" smile)
"Oh, you'll see. It'll be stupendous!"
Kakarot grunted under the pain of his tail being smashed. I'm sorry, 'niisan.. I really tried.
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Raditz rested his head against the ground. Parallel to him, June was lying in the grass as well, her head on his shoulder.
She pointed to a cloud and chuckled. "Look, it looks like a saiyan ravaging a village- see the little houses?"
Raditz laughed. Pain in his clavicle silenced him.
It's almost to my heart... He thought sadly. He would never grow up, he would die an eternal child, with no time to set straight his regrets. He sighed.
June sat up and looked down at him. "What's wrong?"
The teenage boy shrugged. "It's nothing... I'm okay.. I'm just not looking forward to going home to my suckish family." He joked.
The girl nodded, it was clear she didn't entirely believe him, no she knew him better than that. Still, she didn't pry. "So," She said. "I can't wait for our next mission." June smiled. "Nothing beats fighting battles alongside the best four saiyans on Vegeta."
"Yeah..." Raditz tried sounding cheerful, fighting down grief. He stood up. "I think I should go home. I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"
June stood up herself and smiled warmly. "Yeah."
Raditz began for home, and when he stepped in the door, his worst nightmare played out before him.
He first saw his father sitting at the table, holding a completely red towel onto his hand, wincing at every moment. Next, he saw his mother, sitting on the couch, her hand on her face.
And Kakarot was nowhere to be seen.
At the sound of the door creaking open, Naira jumped to her feet and darted for him, while Bardock shot up, but did not move from the spot, tethered by his injury.
Naira had tears in her eyes, and she wrapped her arms around her firstborn.
"RADITZ! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US!" She cried.
Raditz's eyes widened. How had they..?
Naira composed herself and continued. "W-We could've helped you... Y-You're gonna be fine, I mean, somebody can probably do something still, right?"
Raditz didn't respond, just looked at the ground. When nobody responded, she looked around the room. "Right...?"
After a long moment, Raditz spoke. "N-No. Nothing can be done... I wish..." Pain was building up tears in his eyes. He wasn't scared of much, but he was scared of death. "I wish there was..."
Then Bardock slammed his bad fist onto the table, feeling pain shoot up his left arm. After shaking said fist, he looked over to his son.
"I swear to Kami," He began, a little enraged, pointing to his son, "When you die, I WILL revive you with my own two hands!"
Then the room went silent for a good two minutes.
At last, Naira broke the silence. "B-Bardock... How is that... Possible?"
"Because I'm a Su-" The father slapped a hand to his mouth. Woah...TOO close...He thought.
Too late.
Naira spun around. "You're.. a...what?"
"A...uh...suburb healer?" He commented, sweatdropping.
"OK mister, now tell me what you REALLY are." She walked towards him in the kitchen, picking up the dreaded frying pan.
Bardock gulped. "I'm a...uh...I have this technique!" He said hastily. "I have a technique, that I obtained on...Planet Kanassa! I have the power to revive people with my own ki! It's really complicated, and it can only be learned by the male gender. So, yeah...that's it." He finished.
Naira seemed satisfied, and she put down the pan and walked out of the doorway and into the next room.
The father looked back at the doorway, and saw that his son had taken the opportunity to slip away to his room.
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Raditz buried his face in his pillow and screamed into it. A memory flickered in his mind, a memory that had haunted him since the day it happened.
Twelve years old, Raditz clawed frantically at the dirt as the horrible creatures pulled him further and further away.
"DAD!" He screamed. "HELP ME!" His fingers dug into the dirt, but it did nothing. "I'm sorry...!" He wailed softly, unable to be heard. Eventually, one of the horrid Adumintians spoke up. "Alrighty, guys. Lets show this kid what we're made of. He raised a foot, and stomped on Raditz's back.
The boy let out a cry of pain. Was this how it was gonna end for him?
An Adumintian reached down and snatched him up, with a partner, each held one of Raditz's arms.
Another one of the native soldiers swung a fist over the young boy's face.
Raditz screamed as the pain dislodged his jaw. The next strike knocked some teeth out of his mouth.
The boy began shaking, his mouth filling with blood, when the next punch sent him biting his own tongue. It was split nearly halfway to the middle.
Punch after punch, blow after blow to the face, splitting his lips, bashing in his jaw in.
Still, he managed to keep shouting for his father.
Why wasn't his father coming to help him?
One of the Adumintians grabbed hold of Raditz's armor. It ripped the chestplate off, and kneed him in the stomach.
The boy recoiled, still being held down. Adumintains swarmed him, stamping on his feet, pulling his hair, grabbing hold of his limbs and snapping them in their hands.
Pain. intense, horrific pain. still he managed to keep screaming at the top of his shaky lungs.
"DAD! PLEASE HELP ME! PLEASE! DAAAAAAAAAAAD"
And still, nobody came.
A few of the soldiers had knives, and they raked them across Raditz's skin.
He was only twelve years old, the agony was so great that he crumpled and vomited.
It didn't make much of a stain on the great pool of blood.
Again, he screamed, and then broke down crying. His dad would never save him. He didn't care. His father would gladly let him die in this horrible, gruesome, humiliating way.
One of the soldiers used it's knife to rip a gash in Raditz's cheek, and then...
Then the last thing he saw was an evil, wooden spear penetrate his bare ribs and splinter off.
And then he was unconscious.
He lied there there for Kami-knows how long, drifting in and out of wakefulness.
Then he heard a voice. His father was there, holding him. Was he dreaming?
He could hear his father asking him if he was okay. Tears...and the words, dreamlike and far away, coming from his own dad's lips. "I love you, son."
He slipped away, and then he saw his father, his Super Saiyan father, reviving his empty shell of a body. He was alive because his father brought him back.
Raditz moaned at the awful memory, and sunk his face deeper into his pillow. Was that gonna happen again?
Or would he be unable to be saved?
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Kasai had begun to grow bored. Crushing the boy underneath his foot had given him another idea. An awful, unexpected idea. He gave a crooked smile. He let the boy's tail go, and Kakarot scrambled backwards, taking a defensive position. Kasai turned his back to him and began to walk away. He purposely dropped the needle on the ground, looking back at the boy.
"Not gonna take it? I'd say you have an hour to save your brother..." He commented. "Go ahead, no traps or anything." He showed both his hands and kept them up.
Kakarot looked at him funny for a second, walking slowly towards the needle. He then quickly swiped it, and Kasai gave an honest smile, shooing the boy away.
Once Kakarot had left, Kasai took a tiny vial of the the real antidote and sunk some of it into his bloodstream. He gave a long sigh.
"Some boys just don't know when something will contain and be laced with a virus..." He told himself before jumping onto a tree limb and out of sight.
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Kakarot dashed through the door. Before his father could say anything, the boy dashed upstairs into Raditz's bedroom.
"Onnisan!" He shouted, holding the precious "antidote" against his chest. "I can help you!"
Raditz looked up, a look of hopelessness etched across every line of his face. "How? Nothing can be done."
The little brother shook his head. "I have the antidote!"
Raditz sat up. "You.. You have what?"
Kakarot jumped up and down. "The antidote! If you stick it in your heart or blood flow, it'll heal you!"
Raditz took the needle in his hand, and stuck into the vein in his wrist.
A moment after he pushed the plunger down, he felt a searing pain in his chest. He collapsed to his knees, and grabbed his little brother by the collar.
"Th-That was the virus.." He choked, his voice mangled in pain. "Y-You touched it... it was against your chest... It's only a matter of minutes until you become-"
Foam began to form in the corner on the teeneger's lips. "Until you become like me.." He finished, and then spat out the blood.
The virus had reached his heart, which it was infecting, while at the same time being pumped to to every organ in his body.
Which means, of course his brain.
He twitched and clawed his way to the window, his brain wasn't under his control anymore. It was hardwired to find a way to save it's body.
The seizuring boy flew clumsily outside, his limbs jerking madly. Finally he landed and rushed into the woods, toward where Kasai was.
Kakarot dashed downstairs to get his father. When he got there, however, he felt an immense pain in his chest.
Bardock stood to face him. "Kakarot.." He began. "Are you oka-"
The little child had a reaction like Raditz's, and launched out the door.
Bardock raced after him.
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Raditz stumbled and tripped his way through the forest, coughing and gagging. Then who did he bump into but June, who was still there, singing a soft melody to herself.
He collapsed at her feet, shaking.
Her eyes widened, and she put her arms on his shoulders, holding him up.
"Raditz, what happened!?" She asked seriously, fear creeping it's way up her heart.
Raditz looked into her eyes, trying to keep his voice steady. "J-J-June.." He rasped. "I-It's Kasai.. You were right. He..He got me infected... June..."
The girl tried calming him down, to keep her mind off her own panic attack. "Raditz!" She said, clinging both hands to his face. "You're gonna be okay. Calm down now, it's alright, I'm here, come on, please!"
Raditz's body went again haywire. He bolted off further into the woods. Now Kakarot, Bardock and June were all right behind him.
Bardock growled. The virus started to take its course once again. Emitting a bluish flame around himself, he took off way past Kakarot and headed straight for June and Raditz. When finally, he reached a clearing, Raditz was crumpled on the ground, June had caught up and was at his side.
Suddenly, out from behind the Father tumbled the youngest boy.
Kakarot fell on the ground. He was young, and since he had pressed the virus directly to his heart, it was having a much quicker effect than it was on his brother, who was almost a fully matured Saiyan.
The boy shivered on the ground, and his father knelt down.
Bardock placed a hand on his youngest son's head. The boy's eyes flicked up.
"Daddy..." He sniffled. "I don't hate you..." And before his father could say anything back, Kakarot faded to unconsciousness. Bardock shook him. He kept on shaking him, willing the boy to wake up and go back to being his good-natured, smart-alecky self.
Meanwhile, Raditz was lying, and inch from death, in the dusty ground. June had her hand supporting his head.
The boy reached up a trembling hand to envelope her own.
"June.." He coughed. "I'll be fine... You have to kill Kasai, he'll only stop once he's dead. You need... to beat him... He can't win."
There were tears clouding the girl's vision. She nodded, her face red and damp. "Raditz..." She sobbed. "Y-You can't die!"
He shook his head, and wiped some of the tears off her face. "I love you, girl. Don't worry 'bout a thing."
The faintest traces of a weak smile creased her face. "I love you... I promise I'll get Kasai back for you..."
The teenage boy smiled warmly, then his eyes closed, his hand fell, and his consciousness left him. Only his breathing remained. June pressed her face to his chest and cried.
On the other side of the clearing, Bardock was shaking his son so hard he was practically throwing the kid back and forth.
Kakarot shivered for a moment. Bardock looked up, hopeful.
And then the last of the energy in the 7-year-old's body left him, and he fell limp.
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Well, tune in for the next chapter! so for the whole, like, 10 ppl who read this, I really hope you enjoyed!
There I go practically killing off Raditz again -_-
Well, be sure to tune in! You guys are the best!