I flew back to the island where Piccolo was waiting for me. I landed with determination, shaking the land as I did. Piccolo hurried up to me, "Is everything fine?" I spoke quickly, "Yes, just a few family problems, but its fine now". I looked him dead in the eye, "We go now Piccolo". He backed away from me with a confused look on his face. "Goku…I know things are rough, but we're not ready. This isn't a good idea". Was Piccolo being a coward?
"How much longer will we wait? Until my son is dead? Today is the day Piccolo. We go and fight until we die, as long as my son is alive". My determination was having an affect on him but he was still hesitant.
"Goku, this seems to be a move of impulse. We have to think clearly and be focused, this will be no easy battle". He didn't believe we could do it, but we must try.
"Piccolo, I'm begging you..please. Today is the day, we're at our physical breaking points, this has to be it. I know it". He looked at me with his arms folded, "Are you prepared to die?". I ponded his question and without a doubt I answered, "Yes". He walked towards the edge of the ocean and prepared to take flight and spoke over his shoulder, "Well Goku, seems we have a battle to win". He took flight as I followed him to my son, my Gohan. Daddy was on the way to save you.
We landed near a remote area, north of where we trained. It was cold and beginning to snow. We moved silently through some small woods as we approached the site where he held Gohan captive. This was the first time Piccolo ever bought me here, in fear I would make an irrational decision and come here alone, he kept the location a secret from me. I could see the saiyan pod resting against a much stressed tree from the weight of it. I started to move forward and Piccolo grabbed my arm. "We need eyes on Raditz first", I sat back down and covered the area with my eyes. Moments later….he appeared. He landed near the pod and took a quick glance inside, he walked towards a small fire that needed attention as he stopped and slowly turned in our direction. He smelled the air and then smirked. He spoke to us hidden within the trees,
"Ahhh, Kakarott, Come to die today?" He let out an evil laugh as he spoke, "Hiding in trees now are we? Planning on a surprise attack? Now..now Kakarott we all know that won't do any good. I am darkness, I am the shadows, they will only betray you for me" I immediately raced out of the trees. I looked at my brother, the demon that had caused my family so much pain and grief. I spoke, "I've come for my son Raditz…" He laughed, "Is that all Kakarott? He's right over there in the pod, go have a look", at this moment Piccolo jumped from hiding watching my back as I looked at the pod and then back to Raditz. This seem to upset him, "What? Afraid the boy is dead? Go have a look..brave, saiyan warrior…" he smirked as I hesistated and then slowly walked towards the pod. I placed a hand on the red glass and looked inside, my Gohan. He was sound asleep sucking his thumb. He was a little dirty but besides that he looked fine. My emotions were starting to kick in and take control. I just wanted to hold him, it had been so long.
A noise behind me made me look up, Raditz had already attacked Piccolo and they were fighting. I raced over to help Piccolo in the battle. We threw punches and kicks at Raditz, landing only a few. He moved and dodged our attacks with such speed it was hard to focus. We battled for hours nonstop until ours bodies started to give up on us. Our weakness was starting to show; missed punches and kicks would cost us our life. He kicked Piccolo in the stomach and sent him flying into a nearby tree. I looked away for a second towards Piccolo and Raditz landed a punch right on my jaw, causing me to fall out of mid-air and fall to the ground. He then kneed me in the back. I screamed out in pain as I could feel every bone in my back break. He held my neck as he spoke, "This place….will be your grave Kakarott". He threw my head against the ground and advanced on Piccolo. This was my fault, Piccolo said we were not ready, that we needed more time, and now he was going to die because of me.
He walked over to Piccolo who was battered and wounded. I could see him coughing up purple blood as he struggled to lift himself off the ground, which was now covered in snow. Raditz spoke over him, "No need to move green bean, this will only hurt a lot. And I mean a lot". He stood over Piccolo as he fought against him and ripped his arm off. Piccolo screamed in pain as he continued to move away from Raditz. Raditz laughed at his attempts, "Look at you, still able to move? That's no good, now is it…" He ripped Piccolo's other arm off, and again he screamed in pain. I could hear footsteps as he walked back over to me and grabbed me by my hair and dragged me over to the pod. He slammed my face against the pod over and over, I started to get light headed from the pain, I could feel unconscious building in my body. He slammed it one last time, "I cannot believe you could be so foolish Kakarott, coming here of all places to try and kill me", He pointed to the sky, the moon was full.
"Just so you know for future reference Kakarott, never take on a saiyan during a full moon, it's when they are strongest", he let out an evil laugh. "Now, what to do…what to do", I lay helpless as a murderer decided my fate. I took a swing at him only to have him step on my arm and break it and laugh, "Kakarott, stop distracting me, I'm trying to decide on killing you in front of your boy or in front of your wrench…or how about both?" He spoke close to my ear, spitting as he spoke, "Your boy will be raised as a true saiyan warrior, not as weak and pathetic scum as yourself", he dragged me across the ground by my hair and continued to talk, my hatred growing because I was so close to Gohan and yet again unable to save him and because I wanted to kill this man, I wanted to take his last breath. "And as for the wrench, she seems to be a good enough catch, by the way Kakarott…how is she in the sack? I can't drag a woman around the galaxy with me that isn't good on her knees, get my drift?" He let go of my hair as I dropped to the ground, broken. He walked around me in circles, giving me looks of pure arrogance as he eyes began to get more and more red. I looked at the moon and noticed it was nearly full. He would transform and kill us both. "Kakarott, the world's strongest broken..again". This was a game to him. His eyes were blood red….was he going to transform and kill me, would he kill my only son? I lay on the ground, snow began to fall, I completely forgot about the seasons, time seemed to have no meaning. I rolled over on to my stomach placing pressure on my broken ribs, bad idea. "You know what Kakarott", he spoke to me as if I was already dead, "I'll give you another chance…in two weeks, meet me here. We fight, one last time…." He picked me up by the back of my shirt and dragged me across the snow covered ground over to Piccolo, who I could now see was breathing so slowly he appeared dead to the human eye, and then I passed out.
I woke up laying in my bed with Chi-Chi sitting next to me placing a warm cloth in a small bowl of water and then placing it on my head. I reached out and touched her thigh and she jumped a little and gave me little eye contact. She lightly placed her hand over mine and asked without hesitation, "Is he…" but before she could finish I answered "No". She let out a breath of relief as I explained to her what Raditz told me. She looked at me in complete horror, "Two weeks? You and Piccolo trained for months and you come back battered and bruised and he expects you to kill him in two weeks?" She stood up and walked over to the window of our bedroom and stared out of it, I could see the snow was still falling, it was much more on the ground now, at least a few inches. I sat up in the bed barely having the energy to move but time was my enemy and I had to use the full two weeks to train and save my boy and bring my family back together. I started to stand but still felt a little weak, so I was going to ask Chi for a small lift, so I spoke to her "Chi-Chi I…" but she turned to me with red eyes full of tears, a look she wore daily for the past ten months. I looked at her full of confusion "Chi, what's wrong?" She looked back out the window and covered her eyes as the tears grew more and more, "Chi-Chi please tell me what's wrong?!" I didn't want to yell but I needed to at least try and help her, ease some of the pain. She spoke over her shoulder, "Goku, You have been out cold for 12 days", in two days…you face Raditz for the last time".
He I sat, the strongest warrior in the world, defeated…..
Thanks so much for hanging in with me guys! I'm so sorry for the delay but this stories mean so much to me and I want to give you guys the best because that's all you deserve as such loyal readers. Thanks again and remember. Be Inspired.
Love CaNNes.