Chapter 026 - At Recoome's Mercy
Her ears were ringing from the sheer noise of the explosion. Corset slowly got to her feet, tending to her ears and glanced over to where she thought Recoome had been. All that remained was a large plume of smoke, still too thick for her to see through. Whist still stunned at the amount of power her father and these guys had, Corset was beginning to grow used to the idea that these guys were capable of far greater things than she was used to!
"Vegeta settled it in one blow! You've gotta admire the stinking evil bastard!" Krillin muttered.
"N-No... A ki! I can still sense a ki!" Gohan shivered petrified.
Recoome's ki shot through Corset's mind as she was able to pick back up on it. Face dropped as the smoke cleared to reveal the brute standing in some sort of ridiculous pose. This was bad.
"T-That's not possible..." Krillin stuttered, "How could he have survived an attack like that?"
"This is crazy! H-He isn't even hurt!" Corset cried shivering in terror. What was her dad going to do? From the feel of his ki, a lot of energy had gone into that attack and Corset knew her father would be suffering because of it. She didn't want it to linger but she couldn't shake off the dreaded feeling stubbornly blocking her throat.
"He's not even breathing hard!" Gohan wailed. "What the heck are we gonna do?"
"Nice try but now it's my turn." Recoome began to walk towards them. His armour had been completely blown apart by Vegeta's attack, his clothes shredded in places, his body injured... yet he walked as if nothing had happened. Corset didn't understand, surely he must have been in some kind of pain? He was bleeding and had cuts all over the place!
"RECOOME KICK!"
Corset barely saw him move but she saw his knee make contact with her father's jaw, sending him flying backwards.
"D-DAD!" she screamed in horror unable to stop herself from doing so.
After a momentary lapse in control, Vegeta regained himself, flipping onto a rock and bolting back towards Recoome. The Saiyan threw punch after punch out at Recoome who anticipated each and every single one. In one shot, Recoome elbowed Vegeta into the ground, the Saiyan striking it hard.
In a dash the fight took to the sky as Vegeta leapt out of harm's way (Recoome's fist striking the ground instead of its intended target), firing down an energy blast which Recoome dodged. He was suddenly behind Vegeta and kicking him down into the water, Vegeta's entry propelling a large column of water to burst up into the air with a terrific smash.
Corset was too terrified of the truth; had he just been...? No, not her dad! He was a tough fighter – regardless of whose side he was on – there was no way he could be beaten like this! Corset'd never seen him be tossed around like this, even if she'd only seen two of his fights. He'd always won...
"I don't think he's coming up guys," Krillin gulped.
Corset stared wide-eyed at the ripples; her dad had to have been hurt badly from the force of him hitting the water. It wasn't looking good at all and she was debating whether to jump in and try and find him.
With no warning there was another blast of water as Vegeta burst free from the surface, pile-driving straight into Recoome with both fists as hard as he could. The sudden move seemed to have caught the brute off-guard as Vegeta continued to pound into him.
The tables turned; Vegeta was grabbed and lifted above Recoome's head. In a bolt of light Recoome was flying full-pelt towards the ground.
"No!" Corset gasped in horror, Vegeta being tossed down and hitting the ground with a large crash, dirt and dust displaced through the shockwave of wind. The dramatic drop in his ki terrified Corset; that had taken over half of his remaining energy.
As the dust cleared Recoome emerged smiling and laughing to himself as he stood over a small crater, Vegeta's legs firmly sticking out of the ground.
Recoome took a step forward and crouched down, grabbing one of Vegeta's ankles. "Looks like I might have overdid it there!" With little effort the towering warrior pulled Vegeta clean from the ground. "Don't tell me you're dead already?"
'Don't be dead, please don't be dead, Daddy!' Corset begged desperately to herself.
Suddenly Vegeta's hands swung forward blasting Recoome straight between the eyes, engulfing his face in smoke. The strike loosened Recoome's grip and the Saiyan fell to the ground on his back, Recoome landing fifteen metres away limp and lifeless.
The attack had startled everyone watching including the three Earth fighters. Corset watched in fear and with admiration for her father as he shakily rose to his feet, hunched over and physically exhausted. She was certain she didn't want to see what was left of Recoome's skull and did everything to stop thinking about it.
"He did it," Krillin smiled.
'He did, didn't he?' Corset wondered; Vegeta's attention was still on the taller fighter. She couldn't help feel something about this seemed a little off. Why was her father focusing so much on his opponent?
A couple more seconds passed.
Recoome suddenly bounced off the ground and onto his feet, squatting low to the dirt. For someone whose face had taken quite a scraping from the energy attack, he had a strange smile. "Yeah, that's more like it! No wonder you was one of Freeza's favourites – you're so brutal!"
"H-H-How is he s-still al-live?" Krillin spluttered terrified.
"K-K-Krillin... He's... he's a monster!" Corset gawked. How had he done that? No real person who felt pain should be able to do that! Her father was up against a monster; that was the only way she knew how to describe him!
"So don't you have anything with a little more oomph? Don't tell me that's all that you've got, Vegeta?"
Corset took a shaky step back. No way. There was no way her dad was gonna last much longer; he looked physically exhausted and his breathing was still short and frequent. His ki was nowhere near this guy's ki. They were all going to die. Krillin, Gohan and herself weren't nearly as strong as Vegeta and he was being treated like a toy.
"... Listen to me you guys."
Both Gohan and Corset looked at the seasoned fighter.
"At this rate, Vegeta's gonna be taken down by the big guy," Krillin muttered grimly. "Not even he stands a chance against these guys, they're just too much for all of us combined. As soon as he's taken down, they'll come after us. We've got nothing to lose – as soon as Recoome attacks Vegeta, we charge him!"
Corset repeated it in her mind albeit startled by Krillin's words. 'Charge him? The guy who's strong enough to beat my dad?'
"This is the end!" Recoome's burly voice cut through her thoughts as he struck some strange poses.
"Now, while his defences are down! Vegeta doesn't have the strength left to dodge!" Krillin muttered venomously. "Gohan grab Vegeta, Corset follow my lead!"
"RECOOME-!" The brute yelled striking yet more poses; his ki rising rapidly. Corset knew this was it.
"ERASER GUN!"
A strong bolt of purple energy burst forth from Recoome's mouth rapidly; in the midst of it all the three fighters leapt into action. Krillin and Corset bolted straight for Recoome; Gohan headed for Vegeta.
Krillin slammed his knees down on Recoome's skull, slamming his mouth shut and shutting off his energy attack; Corset head-butting him between his ribs and hip as hard as she could. For the briefest of seconds she couldn't register anything.
There was a catastrophic explosion, knocking Corset onto her back and sending her rolling slightly before she managed to grip hard enough onto the ground. Her eyes were clamped shut, she couldn't hear anything but white noise and could only feel the wind stinging her all over.
The shaking soon stopped as did the wind, fragments of dirt and rock began to rain down to the ground.
"He warped the planet with that attack..." Krillin's voice pierced through her senses. "What power he had!"
Corset opened her eyes and slowly looked up; Recoome not too far away from her. He wasn't moving...
"Not bad little dudes."
She was wrong. Recoome energetically rose to his feet as if nothing had even happened. "Your little sneak attack to my head hit so hard it slammed my mouth shut!" He turned around and smiled at the two startled warriors, a puff of dark smoke belching forth from his mouth. "Just look at my teeth... kinda pisses me off."
Recoome began to approach Krillin, ignoring Corset as he walked straight past her. Corset's feet had glued her to the ground, her head turning as Recoome moved across her visual space. Recoome glanced over towards his teammates, "Hey, Burter, Jeice! Let me do these three little shrimps too!"
"Fine but you'll have to treat us to chocolate parfaits later!" the blue man loudly answered.
"Kay!" Recoome growled. "You see where you stand, munchkin?" His eyes fixated back to Krillin who took a couple of steps back.
Corset couldn't move.
In an instant Krillin had been kicked and sent violently skidding across the ground landing in a crumpled heap.
"Krillin!" The attack hadn't gone unnoticed by Gohan as he dashed over to his fallen comrade.
"Aww damn it, his cue-ball-head didn't skid nearly as much as I thought it would!" Recoome smirked.
Corset looked over; Gohan and Krillin were quite some distance away from her. She could hear Gohan talking but didn't know what he was saying; the words weren't registering in her head!
"... You sneak-attacked me also, didn't you kid?"
Corset jumped and stared straight at Recoome, terrified and struggling to keep her composure as he took a couple of steps towards her. She didn't want to be here right now. Her father and Krillin were both out of the fight; it was just two small kids up against a terrifyingly strong fighter. She wanted to be safe at home with her mama and grandparents!
There was a blur and an overwhelming feel of pain centring in Corset's throbbing cheek as the world spun around. At some point she made contact with the ground, she wasn't sure when.
She slipped in and out of consciousness for a little while, able to make out the sounds of explosions and see flashes of light. Just when it felt things were quietening down around her, another explosion would break the silence, making her more aware of her surroundings.
When her consciousness finally returned she realised she was face-up staring at the sky. She was still on Namek. There was still a fight going on.
Gohan was fighting.
Shakily Corset rolled over and got to her feet just in time to see Gohan bounce violently against some nearby rocks. The sight terrified her – was he hurt?
She was able to stand and she still had most of her power. Nothing seemed to be broken which was a relief, although her cheek was throbbing. It must have been from when that Recoome monster had hit her.
Seizing her chance to try and catch her opponent off-guard, Corset began to charge up her signature attack. The blue light of her ki shined brighter and brighter as she gathered more and more of her ki.
Gohan tossed up an energy attack; Recoome blew it straight back at him! In that instant Gohan leapt up into the sky, Recoome appearing behind in and striking him down!
Corset saw her chance – she fired off her Kentoka Flash directly at her opponent's back.
To her horror, Recoome turned and swung out his hand, effortlessly slapping the energy attack straight back down to Corset!
The young Saiyan jumped backwards, engulfed by the dust and smoke of her own attack, choked and dry-eyed. She managed to escape the small cloud – running straight into Recoome's waiting fist which connected with her solar plexus. The strong blow pushed out the little breath Corset already had in her lungs and she gagged out, blood dripping to the ground below her. She crumpled onto her face holding her ribs in agony, seething in the burning pain.
Recoome's foot was suddenly on top of her head, pushing her face straight against the hard surface of the ground. Corset cried out, her nose being crushed against the dirt as she struggled to fight back. Her stomach hurt, her whole face hurt, she couldn't get up!
The pressure was suddenly lifted, Recoome's heavy weight no longer on her. Confused and relieved Corset looked up; Gohan held out his hands towards her direction; had he thrown an attack out to free her?
"Alright midgets, you wanna play it that way?" Recoome was high in the air above them. "Let's see how good your dodging skills are!"
Gohan rushed over and helped Corset to her feet, "We need to run!" He cried.
"BOOM!" Recoome yelled, firing off ki attack after ki attack.
Try as hard as she might, Corset couldn't get her body to respond anymore. Although it was far and few, each attack Recoome had dealt had a large effect on her; he was just far too powerful! All she felt were dull aches across her body, her ki wavering as she ran.
Dozens of energy balls rained down on the two worn-out warriors as Recoome laughed sadistically. Both Gohan and Corset were under fire and both scrambled across the ground trying not to be hit.
Exhausted and with every muscle crying out for rest, Corset collapsed just as a blast struck the ground next to her.
The explosion ripped her off the ground and sent her rolling several metres before coming to a stop. Her arms and legs twitched yet her eyes were heavily drooped and her breath short. Her determination to get back up was no longer a match for the overpowering need to rest.
"...P... Pi...collo... I'm... sorry..." She couldn't find any more strength. Corset's body needed to rest. She struggled to stay awake but watched as Gohan was thrown down. The young boy managed to keep on getting back up. Corset couldn't help but notice how much Gohan had changed since Piccolo'd died. He was far more determined, gave up far less often... unlike her... She was still the same.
"... I... I'm the... son of... Son Goku... the warrior..." Gohan groaned, wearily walking towards the towering Recoome.
'Gohan... Stay down!' Corset could barely keep her eyes open as she watched from where she'd fallen. 'You can't fight... anymore...' Even from how far she was she could tell how tired he was.
"I take it back," Recoome smiled, "I don't know what planet you're from midge but you've got more than I thought!"
"... I won't let you beat me!"
Gohan leapt forward blindly charging forwards.
"Tough luck you had to go against me!" Recoome jeered, jumping over Gohan dodging his punch with ease...
His left leg drew back.
There was a terrifically loud crack.
Gohan's ki plummeted as he fell to the ground on his back, head unnaturally far back and body twitching.
The sound echoed through Corset's mind as she stared terrified at her friend. From where she lay she couldn't see any movement and even more alarming was how much his ki signal was waning.
Was he dying?