a/n – Hello everyone! :D I meant to upload this earlier but I had some writers block and couldn't find the will to write this chapter xD As always, please feel free to leave a review or favorite this story, and enjoy!
One Hell of a Trip
"So," Bardock said casually, "I would suggest we go find your friends and get this bastard as soon as possible." Arms crossed across his chest, he glanced across the street, meeting Goku's steely gaze as he did so. The corner of his mouth lifted up slightly, in something akin to amusement.
"Yeah," Goku murmured, his attention drawn away from his smirking father. "I guess we could stop by Capsule Corp. first...I'm not sure how we'll get the others, though." Stroking his chin absently, he continued on, "If we're truly running out of time, I guess it'll just have to be us...hopefully, though, Piccolo and the others will sense the fight and come to use." He sheepishly shrugged his wide shoulders, floating up into the air as he did so. Sensing Bardock rise up next to him, Goku shot off into the distant towards Capsule Corp., where the monster had already began to lay siege.
"Bulma?" Vegeta gruffly barked down the empty hallway, his own words cruelly echoing back. Hands swinging loosely at his side, the Saiyan paused, sighing in frustration. "Blast, where is that damn woman?" He hissed to himself, stomping forward again. Abruptly, his pace lurched to a halt as his foot caught on the prone body lying at his feet. Unbeknownst of this fact, Vegeta caught himself and spun around to find the dead woman sprawled out on the hard tile. Recognizing her as an assistant of his wife's, he leaned down with furrowed brows, brushing his fingers against her cold throat.
Coming up down the hallway behind him, Bulma's heels clacked angrily against the tile as she cheerfully chirped out, "Yes, Vegeta?" Screeching to halt at the sight blocking the hallway before her, she leaned forward over his shoulder, blue eyes wide. "What happened?" She whispered, unaware that the girl was deceased as she bent down to shake her gently by the shoulder. "Are you alright, sweethe-" She cut off suddenly, her eyes focused on a small incision in the girl's neck.
Vegeta barely glanced over at Bulma as he stood up, arms crossing over his chest. "Don't waste your breath, she's dead." Focusing in on the small wound in the dead girl's throat, Vegeta caught a glimpse of a black blur slipping from the corner of his eye. Glancing up, he saw nothing, though his suspicions were raised considerably.
"What's that?" Bulma whispered, half to herself. Leaning forward, she prodded the blood-encrusted wound gently, eyes wide. Turning to glance over at Vegeta, she gave a sharp intake of breath. "She was killed, wasn't she?" She asked, her jaw dropping as the realization struck her. Without pausing for an answer, she sat back on her knees, eyes wide in shock. "I wonder what happened..." She said, biting her lip.
Vegeta gave a simple shrug of his shoulders, thoughtfully staring down at the dead woman. Unbeknownst to the both of them, a dark shape silently slid down the hallway, away from the scene of the crime.
"Whoever did this couldn't have gone far," Bulma murmured, covering her mouth with her hands. Pulling her hair back over her ears, she stood up, clutching Vegeta's arm as began to take charge, saying, "Vegeta, take her out of here before someone else comes along; we don't need everyone to start panicking." Setting her hands on her hips, she bit the side of her thumb as she began thinking. "I'll call the cops, and you go put her in the lab here until they get here." She said, gesturing to the lab that had once contained King Dust.
Grunting in acknowledgement, he bent down, scooping up the dead women easily. He couldn't help feeling slightly disturbed glancing down at the dead girl; with cold, almost gray skin, lifeless eyes staring absently at the ceiling and a mysterious wound in her neck, the presence of the body did much more than raise a few suspicions. Who in the hell had killed her, or was her death just an accident? Shaking off the questions brewing in his mind, Vegeta entered the lab. Beneath his foot, he heard the loud crunch of glass. Furrowing his brow, he moved his foot aside to see a large array of broken glass scattered across the tiled floor. In the hallway behind him, Bulma gave a sharp intake of breath.
"It's gone!" She shrieked, shoving past him and the glass to rush to the containment unit that once held the mysterious ooze, otherwise known as King Dust. Shoulders tensing, she glanced over at the dead girl in Vegeta's arms, her eyes widening with horror as the mind began making connections. "Do you think...?" Bulma whispered desperately, holding a hand over her slack jaw.
Setting the girl down on an empty table in the lab, Vegeta turned to Bulma and stared hard the broken glass dome. Frustration boiling up inside him, he snapped, "How the hell am I supposed to know? Call the damn police already, we'll figure it out later."
Fearing the worst, Bulma complied silently, calmly informing the police that they had discovered a dead girl in the hallways of Capsule Corp. The officer hurriedly told her they'd be on their way as soon as possible, though to expect a delay, as most of the police forces were downtown in response to a robbery gone wrong. After the call was done, Bulma turned to Vegeta again, lost in her frantic thoughts. "Let's hope I'm wrong..." She said, exhaling loudly as she slumped against the counter, exhausted.
Arriving on the Capsule Corp. grounds midst a slew of police cars, Bardock dryly commented, "Are those damn idiots everywhere around here?" With his feet firmly on the ground, he stared over at Goku, arms crossed. "So, he's in there now?"
"Uh..oh, yeah, he is!" Goku said after a distracted moment of glancing around at the swarming police. In the doors ahead of him, the Saiyan spotted Bulma and Vegeta, standing side by side midst a crowd of police officers and the press. "There he is now!" He said, waving his arm above his head as he called out, "Hey, Vegeta, over here!"
"Well, I'll be damned." Bardock muttered beneath his breath, staring over at the Saiyan prince with a narrowing of his eyes. "Looks just like his old man."
"What do you want, Kakarot?" Vegeta called out dryly, barely glancing in the direction of the Saiyan. As his gaze focused on the orange-clad warrior, Vegeta was met with the shocking presence of Bardock. Recognizing him as a low-class Saiyan warrior, Vegeta swore beneath his breath before shoving through the crowd towards them.
"We need your help." Goku explained as Vegeta neared them. Before he could get in another word, Vegeta stared incredulously at Goku's father as he stood next to them.
"Bardock?" Vegeta said, eyes narrowing as he spat out, "What's next, my damn father's going to show up? Why the hell are you alive?"
Bardock gave the Saiyan prince a cold glance as he said, "We don't have time for a damn reunion. I wasted enough time already." Turning to his son, he snarled, "We need to find this bastard already."
Utterly confused, Vegeta snarled, "Find who? Kakarot, what the hell did you get yourself into now?"
Raising up his hands as if to smooth over the increasing tension, Goku explained, "My father..er, Bardock, came to hunt down this guy uh...what did you call him again?" He turned to his father, but quickly continued as he received another withering glare. "Oh, right, well...I guess it doesn't matter...but he's a king of some planet who suffered from a disease...Bardock says that he's currently on Earth, and the same disease that killed his planet will kill Earth if we don't stop him." Growing more serious, he continued on with a fierce glare at Bardock, "Apparently this 'king' is too powerful for him take on by himself, so he needs us...though, after kidnapping Chi-Chi I'm not too sure I should even trust him."
"Save your damn pride, we have enough to deal with as it is." Bardock said through gritted teeth, turning to Vegeta as he growled, "If you care for this planet at all, you'll come with us."
"Damn it, Kakarot." Vegeta snarled impatiently, glaring over at the younger Saiyan angrily. "I suppose I have no choice...though it would save me from dealing with the chaos going on behind me." Running a hand through his hair, he exhaled furiously as he finally relented, saying, "Fine, I'll help you idiots." Glaring over at Bardock, he questioned darkly, "Where the hell are we supposed to find this king, then?"
Bardock, glaring back with his own dark look, responded with a bit of bite to his tone, "That's why I didn't want to waste anytime...I haven't got a damn clue where the bastard is. He has no power to give off that I can track."
"Uh, Vegeta..?" Goku asked, his voice drawn of his former anger as he peered around Vegeta's shoulder at the cops surrounding Bulma, "What's going on?"
Before anyone could speak another word, a jarring scream sounded from inside.
Raising their heads, those present were met at the sight of a young man rushing down the hallways, his skin an unhealthy pallor, flesh bubbling with swollen purple lumps the hue of a fresh bruise. Screaming, he held a hand to a dark mound wrapping around his neck, then fell to his knees suddenly, his lifeless eyes staring at nothing. Behind him, more people began rushing out, each matching with gray skin and bruise-like bumps on their flesh.
"Damn it!" Bardock swore, "We're too late!" Clenching his fists, he raised up one hand, firing off a series of blasts at the diseased people rushing from the doors. Each one hit its target; thudding to the ground, a sudden silence overcame the grounds as victims of King Dust's horrid disease grew stiff lying against the unforgiving soil.
"You monster!" Goku snarled, turning to his father, horror and anger in his dark eyes. "You killed them!"
Unconcerned with his son's anger, Bardock explained with a small spike of frustration in his tone, "They're infected...King Dust must be around here, then." Lifting up his hand again, he fired more blasts at the dead bodies, incinerating the corpses without batting an eye. "There; they shouldn't infect anyone else now."
Across the way, King Dust rose from his meal, growing stronger. Hissing pleasantly, he expanded out his oozing form, taking on the crude shape of a human. "Come to me...feed your king!" He whispered in savage excitement. Stretching out his arm, he caught a young police officer by the throat, his toxic, semi-solid flesh burning through the young man's skin. Screaming in his grasp, he was instantly silenced as King Dust slipped his arm around his throat, cracking his neck.
"M-monster!" Another police officer cried, taking aim and firing a quick blast of bullets at King Dust. To his surprise, each bullet simply struck him harmlessly before being absorbed into his dark flesh.
Feeding off the dead human in his grasp, King Dust struck out at the surrounding men, shooting out black, oozing tendrils of his flesh that quickly trapped the policemen. Cracking each of their necks with relish, the monstrous King began his savage massacre, his dark gaze meeting those of Bardock, Goku and Vegeta, who each stared on in horror.
To Be Continued